L’ENVOI.
I had not long to wait for the _Dunkeld_, the coasting steamer which
runs between Capetown and Mozambique, and after a day and a half’s
pleasant sail I landed once more in D’Urban. Here I remained a few days
only, pending the arrival of the next steamer, but long enough to find
to my cost that I had not crossed the alluvial flats of the Maputa
country with impunity. A sudden attack of malarial fever almost
prevented me from prosecuting my journey, as I was scarcely able to
embark when the time came for me to leave, and on reaching Port
Elizabeth I was obliged to go into hospital. A few days’ care enabled me
to continue my homeward journey, although, as is usual with this fever,
I am yet reminded at intervals of its pertinacity when once it has
gained a hold upon the system. The results of this fever are usually so
serious and fatal that I have been fortunate in escaping so lightly.
Leaving Capetown on February 16th, by the S. S. _Northam_, and bidding a
regretful adieu to South Africa, I naturally, when I saw its shores
receding, turned my thoughts to the future, to the country to which I
was bound, and to the new interests among which I should be thrown.
There is always something sad, as it seems to me, in closing any of the
chapters of the book of one’s existence. It may be oftentimes that the
change of scene has been eagerly looked forward to, that labors once
congenial, have proved irksome and well-nigh intolerable, that one has
anticipated release from their bondage with the same feelings as—if the
professional simile be pardonable—the long bed-ridden patient expects
the hour when he may be allowed to move about again, and yet,
nevertheless, there is even, with the most joyful hopes for the future,
a certain feeling of regret. “Old custom” has made sweet what would
otherwise seem undesirable, and doubtless had the prisoner of Chillon
suddenly been set free, even after but a few months’ captivity, his
delight at release would not have been unmingled with an unreasoning,
wistful regard for the very manacles that had bound him. How much more,
therefore, must I experience this sense of sadness, as I conclude these
volumes, the elaboration of which has been with me a labor of love,
since I was inspired with the hope that their publication would serve to
destroy many a foolish prejudice against these sunny lands, and was vain
enough to trust that they would aid in attracting the attention of
philanthropists, capitalists, and intending emigrants, to what Lady
Florence Dixie entitled “The Land of Misfortune,” apt enough perhaps at
the time that her work was published, but now, I both hope and believe,
likely to prove a misnomer.
The regret that I feel, as I write these brief concluding words, is
intensified by the thought that I have left, perhaps forever, a country
where I have found many friends among literally all “sorts and
conditions of men;” among men of every nationality, of hues and natures
the most diverse, from the stout and stalwart yeoman of England to the
pallid yet skillful and versatile disciple of Confucius—from the acute,
sharp-witted, and business-like “stranger” hailing from the land of
“Stars and Stripes” to the sturdy Basuto; from the Scandinavian with his
bright complexion and sunny hair to those “images of God carved in
ebony,” the warlike Zulus; from the bright, laughing-eyed sons of the
Emerald Isle, to the dusky worshippers of Vishnu and Siva; from the keen
and cultured member of the Hebrew race, with all its marvellous history,
to the pious adherents of the Prophet of Allah; and from the Africander,
descended from brave men and noble women who left all they held most
dear on earth for the sake of their faith, to the native toiler in the
mines, who has traversed hundreds of miles in his journey, from his home
in the far interior. Among all, I repeat, have I found many friends, and
I cannot leave them without penning these few words of affectionate
farewell—words which if wearisome (being purely personal) to the general
reader will, I trust, be accepted in the spirit in which they are
written by my South African friends.
That I have once and again struck out fairly from the shoulder at
various shams and swindles, all who have had the patience to so far
follow me will perceive, but they will, I hope, also perceive that I
have been ever ready to give credit where credit was due.
This book would be incomplete without a few words on the all-important
subject of emigration. Poverty, as it is known in England and the Old
World, is very rare—I mean of course poverty among those who are, in the
time-honored phrase, at once “able and willing to work.” That there are
abundant instances of those who prefer frequenting the public-house to
attending to their daily labor is a sad truth, and that there have been,
are, and will be, cases of undeserved misfortune is equally an obvious
matter of fact. But to those who have a trade at their fingers’ end, or
do not fear work, manual or mental, have grit or religious principle
enough in them to resist the temptations which, as will be seen by those
who have perused these chapters, are sure to beset them, I would say,
Come to South Africa—not to be disappointed if after five or six months
you are little better off than when you came, but to have a tolerable
certainty of gaining, without a constant dread of work falling short, a
decent and respectable living. Of the opportunities that present
themselves to capitalists it is not necessary to speak, as those who
have read the chapters dealing with the diamond mines and the gold
fields will form their own conclusions. This at least may be said, that
the man with capital, if he has good advisers, need not fear but that in
almost any part of South Africa (unless indeed he choose to gamble in
scrip when the best of advisers may be occasionally off their stroke) he
will receive returns for his expended capital, such as he would hardly
in his most sanguine moments imagine in a day-dream at home. The bona
fide investor (as opposed to the speculator) will probably find that a
visit to the diamond or gold fields will repay him not only well, but
handsomely. To the average Englishman South Africa has been more or less
a _terra incognito_, and the idea prevailed that it was throughout
infested with venomous reptiles and colossal lions, while malarial
fevers were only an unavoidable evil. On this subject at least I can
speak more or less _ex cathedra_. While the summer months, as in all
subtropical climates, are trying and mean, if more than the usual amount
of rest—I do not mean sleep—be not taken, there will be an excessive
expenditure of vital force, with the consequent unlikelihood of
longevity; yet those who are willing to exercise a little care in
dietary, etc., need be under little or no apprehension of the various
local fevers; while as I have pointed out, and as will be endorsed by
some of the most distinguished members of my profession, so far as chest
complaints are concerned, the climate of South Africa surpasses that of
southern France and at least equals Madeira.
I have but once more to bid farewell to my old friends, and my new
friends, the gentle readers with whom I am unacquainted, and to express
the hope that they will peruse, if not with profit at all events with
some interest, these leaves from a diary of TWENTY YEARS IN SOUTH
AFRICA.
[Illustration]
APPENDIX.
COMPARATIVE YEARLY EXPORTS OF DIAMONDS FROM THE
PROMULGATION OF ACT 48, 1882, TO DECEMBER 31ST,
1886.
│ │ │ │ │ │
───────────┼────────────┼──────────┴──┴──┼────┴──
│ Carats. │Declared Value. │Average
│ │ │ per
│ │ │ cent.
───────────┼────────────┼──────────┬──┬──┼────┬──
1882 Four │ 796,546⅝│£1,156,273│14│ 6│ 29/│
months │ │ │ 1│ │ │
1883 │ 2,413,953⅜│ 2,742,521│ 1│ 0│ 22/│8
1884 │ 2,263,686⅝│ 2,807,288│ 3│ 4│ 23/│9
1885 │ 2,440,788⅜│ 2,492,755│13│ 2│ 20/│5
1886 │3,135,432⁶⁄₈│ 3,507,210│14│ 0│ 22/│4
───────────┼────────────┼──────────┼──┼──┼────┼──
Total, │ 11,050,407⅜│12,706,049│ 6│ 0│ 23/│
───────────┴────────────┴──────────┴──┴──┴────┴──
CLAUSE II.—OF R. SOUTHEY’S (LIEUT. GOV. OF GRIQUALAND WEST) DESPATCH
DATED APR. 11TH, 1874, TO SIR HENRY BARKLY, K. C. B., G. C. M. G., GOV.
OF CAPE COLONY.
“A policy under which people who desire to leave the country with their
wives and children and stock, because they regard the exceptional laws
to which they are made subject as oppressive and intolerable, and who
while endeavoring to carry their desire into effect peaceably may be
pursued by armed forces, may have all their property confiscated, their
women and children captured and placed in forced servitude with their
white fellow-subjects, and be themselves thereafter tried for rebellion,
under savage instead of civilized laws, is to my mind a most
objectionable policy, and one which should be superseded as quickly as
possible.”
PETITION OF JONATHAN MOLAPO AND OTHER BASUTO CHIEFS. PRESENTED 21ST
MARCH, 1882, BY J. W. MATTHEWS, M. L. A., SENIOR MEMBER FOR KIMBERLEY.
_To the Honourable Speaker and Members of the Honourable House of
Assembly of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, now in Parliament
Assembled._
The humble Petition of the undersigned chiefs, sons and grandsons of the
late Paramount Chief Moshesh, their councillors, headmen and followers,
humbly sheweth,—
1st. That the Peace Preservation Act was proclaimed law in Basutoland by
her Majesty’s High Commissioner and Governor of the Colony of the Cape
of Good Hope, from 21st May, 1880.
2d. That thereupon your petitioners, her Majesty’s loyal native subjects
of the Basuto nation, did obey the said law, and surrendered their guns,
her most gracious Majesty the Queen having been pleased previously to
command their obedience, and to assure them most graciously of her deep
interest in the welfare of her Majesty’s Basuto subjects, for proof of
which your petitioners beg to refer to Earl Kimberley’s letter of 13th
May, 1880, to his Excellency the Governor, Sir Bartle Frere, which was
duly communicated to your petitioners by the Governor’s agent and chief
magistrate in Basutoland, Colonel C. D. Griffith, C.M.G.
3d. That, owing to influences and wicked dispositions, which are now
matters of history, the greater portion of her Majesty’s subjects in
Basutoland, misled by the chiefs Lerothodi, Masupha, Joel Molapo, and
other minor chiefs, rebelled against her Majesty’s commands, took up
arms, slaughtered numbers of her Majesty’s loyal and obedient subjects
for having obeyed her Majesty’s commands, and carried on open war
against her Majesty’s colonial forces.
4th. That your petitioners, at the risk of their lives, and with the
loss and sacrifice of all they had been possessed of before the
rebellion, in cattle, sheep, horses, grain, wagons, ploughs, houses,
lands and various other properties, remained faithful to her most
gracious Majesty throughout the rebellion, and at her Majesty’s call did
even enroll themselves for active service, fighting her Majesty’s
battles against their rebellious countrymen at Kalabani, Lerothodi’s
Village, Mafeting, Makwai’s Berg, Kolo, Tweefontein, Boleka, Maseru,
Thlotse Heights, Mohalie’s Hoek and Quithing, in all of which the loyal
Basuto subjects of her Majesty acquitted themselves to the satisfaction
of the Commandant General of Colonial forces, as is most abundantly
testified to in numerous dispatches, and in the official lists of killed
and wounded.
5th. That in the month of April, 1881, and after open war had been
carried on for nine months, negotiations were entered into between her
Majesty’s Governor and High Commissioner and the Basuto chiefs then in
rebellion, when your petitioners, knowing the character, feelings, and
real objects of the rebel chiefs, as in duty bound, made humble petition
to his Excellency the Governor, setting forth their apprehensions in
regard to the consequences to themselves and their country that would
assuredly arise from any arrangement which would not include a perfect
submission of the rebels and the maintenance of a force sufficient to
enforce such submission, to which they never received a reply, nor even
acknowledgment.
6th. That subsequently, an agreement having been come to between his
Excellency the Governor on one part, and the rebel chiefs of the Basutos
on the other part, a document was published in the English language, but
never publicly given out in Sesuto, bearing the signature of her
Majesty’s Governor, Sir Hercules George Robert Robinson, G. C. M. G.,
known as the Governor’s Award, bearing date 29th April, 1881, and by
which an end was put to actual hostilities in Basutoland.
7th. That the Governor’s Award having become known to your petitioners,
they, feeling alarmed at and grieved with the apparent want of any
tangible provision whereby the carrying out of the Award could if
required be actually enforced, and further foreseeing great troubles and
miseries to themselves arising from such a state of things, again
approached his Excellency the Governor by humble petition of 11th of
May, 1881, setting forth all their apprehensions and grievances, to
which humble petition they never received either a reply or
acknowledgment.
8th. That subsequently, to wit, on the 25th August, 1881, a change of
government took place in Basutoland, Mr. J. M. Orpen succeeding Colonel
C. D. Griffith, C. M. G., in the office of Governor’s agent, and from
the first day when Mr. J. M. Orpen took over the government of
Basutoland, your petitioners are grieved to say their rights and
interests as her Majesty’s loyal and obedient subjects were ignored,
they themselves were treated in every respect as if they had committed a
crime by remaining loyal, whereas the rebels were encouraged in every
way, and treated with a deference and submission as if their act of
rebellion had been a virtuous and meritorious one; and the Colonial
forces were gradually withdrawn from Basutoland, whilst it was a
notorious fact that the rebels had not in any way complied with the
conditions of the Award.
9th. That notwithstanding the open defiance of the Queen’s authority
throughout Basutoland; notwithstanding the notorious anarchy which
prevailed from one end of the country to the other; notwithstanding the
persistent, obstinate refusal of complying in fact with his Excellency’s
Award on the part of all the rebel chiefs; notwithstanding the repeated
insults and injuries inflicted upon and forcible expulsion by the rebels
of such of your petitioners as, in accordance with Mr. Orpen’s desires,
had tried to reoccupy their former grounds; notwithstanding the direct
insults and affronts offered frequently to the Queen’s representative
and her magistrates in this country by the rebels; and notwithstanding
the earnest reports of those magistrates in Basutoland who, from many
years’ experience in the country, were best able to advise the
government as to the real state of affairs; yet, the Acting Governor’s
agent continued and persisted in officially reporting to the government
that matters were satisfactory, that things were quieting down, that the
Loyals’ cattle were being gradually restored, and that, more
particularly in Mafeting and Leribe districts, the Loyals had returned
and still were returning to live amongst the rebels, by whom they were
well received, all of which official reports were diametrically opposed
to real fact.
10th. That consequently, and as a natural sequence of such a policy, the
conditions of the Governor’s Award remained unfulfilled in almost every
particular clause thereof: the cattle fine was only partially complied
with, no guns were surrendered, gun licences were taken up in,
comparatively speaking, few instances, and then only without even the
production, much less the surrender, of a single gun, and on payment of
such insignificant sums, that in many instances even the sum of two
shillings and sixpence sterling was accepted, instead of one pound as
laid down in the Award; the great bulk of the cattle, almost all the
horses, all the sheep and goats, and every description of movable and
immovable property belonging to your petitioners, and which, according
to the Award, should have been restored to them, were retained in the
hands of the rebels, who refused to give them up; not a single sixpence
of compensation was made to traders and others for losses inflicted upon
them during the rebellion, and your petitioners being debarred from
re-entering upon their lands and houses, were kept in the greatest
misery, depending upon government rations, scarcely adequate to maintain
themselves and their families, cooped up within confined areas around
the fortified camps of the diverse seats of magistrates in Basutoland.
11th. That under these heartrending sufferings, and exposed daily to
insults and injuries, not only on the part of the rebel Basutos, but,
they grieve to say it, under continued pressure and insults heaped upon
them by and through the acting Governor’s agent, your petitioners never
swerving from their loyalty to her Majesty’s government, again, and for
the third time, approached most humbly his Excellency the Governor by
respectful petition of 20th October, 1881, setting forth again their
miseries and grievances, and representing the true state of affairs in
Basutoland, to which humble petition they have never received either
reply or acknowledgment; but the said petition, for reasons unknown to
your petitioners, was held back by the acting Governor’s agent, from the
20th of October to the end of November or beginning of December, and,
subsequently, your petitioners were harassed and persecuted beyond
measure by the acting Governor’s agent, who persisted in representing
what is absolutely untrue—that your petitioners had been instigated by
some white man to petition his Excellency; that the petition had been
made by the said white man, and that its contents were not true, whereas
the said petition was the cry from the hearts of your petitioners, and
contained nothing but what was absolutely and strictly true; saying
which, according to truth, your petitioners nevertheless humbly maintain
that they have a perfect and constitutional right to ask any man, white
or black, to draft, write, or translate such letters or petitions as
they may deem expedient to address to the authorities in matters
concerning their interests, and that neither the Governor’s agent nor
any other official person serving in the government, has a right to
object to or to discredit such documents bearing your petitioners’
signatures in any way whatever, on account of such having been drafted,
written, or translated for them at their own request by any person
whatsoever.
12th. That all the grievances and miseries of your petitioners remaining
unredressed to the present day, the Governor’s Award being succeeded by
an Ultimatum, which holds out the eventuality of an entire cancellation
of the Award, whereby your petitioners, after having been dealt with
more harshly and unjustly ever since they ventured to exercise their
undoubted rights as free subjects of her Majesty the Queen, to petition
his Excellency the Governor, would now be cast away entirely, and
deprived even of the most solemn acknowledgment of their most sacred
rights, which had been clearly laid down in the Award, and all their
most humble petitions having been studiously ignored, your petitioners
have but one anchor of hope left to them, to which last anchor they
would now cling by approaching most humbly and yet most hopefully your
Honourable House with their cries for justice.
13th. That your petitioners, before the rebellion, were possessed, in
round numbers, of 28,000 head of cattle, 7,000 horses, 29,000 sheep and
goats, 200 wagons, 400 ploughs, 12,000 bags of grain, and property of
other description to the amount of £12,000 sterling, all of which losses
have been duly registered at the diverse magistracies, and the lists of
which losses will be found on official record, besides the value of
their lands and the great comfort of their families, and tribal rights
and positions, which cannot possibly be valued in money, and all of
which they sacrificed in order to remain loyal subjects and faithful to
her Majesty’s commands.
14th. That your petitioners, taking all the obligations of loyal
subjects upon themselves, are fully aware that they owe, and they are
fully prepared to maintain, that loyalty, as a moral obligation towards
their most gracious Sovereign Lady the Queen, even in adversity, and
they would cheerfully bear all their losses without a murmur, nor would
they dare to trouble her most gracious Majesty’s government with their
complaints and prayers for redress, if they knew or were told by her
Majesty’s government that the power of the government had ceased to be
strong enough to carry out her Majesty’s promise of protection, or to
enforce the terms of the Award given by her Majesty’s Governor of the
Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, in which case your petitioners would
loyally sympathise with her Majesty’s adversities in her dominions in
South Africa, and, although poor and miserable by the misfortunes of
war, they would nevertheless rally round her Majesty’s throne, and,
being unable to give any more, they would at least offer their last drop
of blood in the defence of her Majesty’s prestige and in the maintenance
of her Majesty’s rule in South Africa; but
15th. That your petitioners’ faith in the might and good faith of her
Majesty’s all-powerful rule over her glorious Empire throughout the
world has not in the least been shaken by recent events in Basutoland;
and they being convinced of this power, and fully confident that their
interests are now as dear to her Majesty as they were when Earl
Kimberley expressed her Majesty’s sentiments towards your petitioners in
his letter of the 13th May, 1880; and further knowing that the justice
of your petitioners’ claim to be reinstated in all the rights and
properties lost by reason of their loyalty during the late rebellion has
been clearly laid down in his Excellency’s Award, and was acknowledged
as indisputable by both the last and the present responsible Ministers
of the Cape Colony, and being fully convinced that all their present
miseries and wretched situation is exclusively due to the mistaken
policy adopted by the present government of Basutoland in dealing with
the rebellious chiefs.
Your petitioners, therefore, approach your Honourable House most humbly
and most hopefully, and pray that it may please your Honourable House to
inquire into your petitioners’ case, and if it so please your Honourable
House to permit your petitioners to plead their cause at the bar of your
Honourable House, by a deputation of three chiefs whom your petitioners
have chosen as their spokesmen, and to grant generally such relief to
your petitioners as your Honourable House may deem meet, and in duty
bound will ever pray.
JONATHAN MOLAPO,
_Chief of the Leribe District_.
MOKHETHI MOSHESH,
HADIYANA MOSHESHOE,
(And 896 others).
BASUTOLAND, _March 14, 1882_.
PROTEST AGAINST ANNEXATION PRESENTED BY PRESIDENT BURGERS TO SIR
THEOPHILUS SHEPSTONE ON APRIL 12TH, 1877.
_Whereas_ I, Thomas Francois Burgers, State President of the South
African Republic, have received a despatch (dated the 9th inst.) from
her British Majesty’s Special Commissioner, Sir Theophilus Shepstone,
informing me that his Excellency has resolved, in the name of her
Majesty’s government, to bring the South African Republic by annexation
under the authority of the British crown; and whereas I have not the
power to draw the sword with good success for the defence of the
independence of this state against a superior power like that of
England, and moreover feel totally disinclined, in consideration of the
welfare of the whole of South Africa, to involve its white inhabitants
in a disastrous war by any hostile action on my part, without having
employed beforehand all means to secure the rights of the people in a
peaceful way: Therefore, I do hereby, in the name and by authority of
the government and the people of the South African Republic, solemnly
protest against the intended annexation.
Given under my hand and under the seal of the state, at the government
office at Pretoria, on this the 11th day of April, in the year 1877.
PROCLAMATION.
_Whereas_ her Majesty’s Special Commissioner, Sir Theophilus
Shepstone, has thought fit, in spite of my solemn protest entered
yesterday against his Excellency’s intention communicated to me by
missive dated 9th of April, to carry out that intention, and has
to-day proclaimed the authority of her Britannic Majesty’s government
over the South African Republic; and
_Whereas_ the government has decided to submit provisionally under
protest for the purpose of, in the meantime, sending to Europe and
America a deputation, in the persons of Messrs. S. J. P. Kruger and E.
P. Jorissen, for the purposes of defending the right of the people and
for endeavoring to arrive at a peaceful solution of the matter:
Now, therefore, I, Thomas Francois Burgers, State President of the
South African Republic, hereby, on behalf and by advice of the
executive, command all officials, burghers and inhabitants, to abstain
from every word and every deed of violence by which the work of the
deputation may be made fruitless, and I exhort all burghers and
inhabitants to assist in maintaining the decision of the government
and in the preservation of order and the prevention of bloodshed.
THOS. BURGERS,
_State President_.
GOVERNMENT OFFICE, Victoria, _April 12, 1877_.
Shortly after the proclamations were read, most of the officials
assembled in the Volksraadszaal, where his Honor the President addressed
them, in a state of great emotion, very nearly in the following words:
“Gentlemen, officials of the South African Republic: You are no
strangers in the land. You also know what the government has resolved to
do. We bow only to the superior power. We submit because we cannot
successfully draw the sword against that superior power, because by
doing so we would only plunge the country into deeper miseries and
disasters. We have resolved to appeal to England herself; and if we get
no redress there, then we will seek the friendly intervention of other
powers that have acknowledged our independence. I have called you
together to make one request to you: continue to occupy your offices in
abeyance of the result of this appeal. No other oath of office will be
demanded from you, and you can continue to serve under the oath once
sworn to the Republic. I have pledged my word for you, and I know I can
depend upon you that you will not disappoint me. Serve the new
government with the same honesty and fidelity with which you have served
our government, for by that you will serve the people. I am leaving my
office under protest on behalf of myself, of the government, of the
officials, of the Volksraad, and of the people. Grant me therefore this
one favor, that you serve the people so long, and redeem the pledge that
I have given for you. I thank you for the fidelity which you have shown
me in your posts as officials. I leave my office with the certainty that
I have not offended any one of you willfully, and if I have perhaps done
so from weakness, I ask you to forgive me.”
Mr. Consul of Belgium: “You are the only representative of a foreign
power present here to-day. You know what has happened here to-day, and
you know also what has caused this event, and of course you will
communicate every thing to your government. I thank your government,
your king, your people and yourself, for the brotherly hand offered by
Belgium to this youthful Republic. Be you my spokesman to your king and
people, and tell them that, although the government be altered, yet the
people remain. Meanwhile I request you, Mr. Consul, that you remain here
at your post until the result of the protest shall be known. And now,
gentlemen, for the moment I leave the scene. I wish you God’s richest
blessing. Farewell. Be true to yourselves, to the people and to the
government.”
Mr. Swart briefly addressed his Honor in a few words of farewell,
uttering the hope that the day may soon come when we would again welcome
him as head of the state. He then handed to his Honor the key of the
government office.
His Honor said: “Here is the key of our office. I hand it over to the
superior power and thereby give it into the hands of God, who will at
the proper time deliver it to the right man. I order you—it is my last
order—to deliver it to the chief of the new government and conduct
yourselves worthily as men and officers. Farewell.”
THE ZULU ULTIMATUM.
_Message from his Excellency the Lieutenant Governor of Natal to
Cetywayo, King of the Zulus and chief men of the Zulu nation._
1. The Lieutenant Governor of Natal sends, in the name of the Queen’s
High Commissioner, these further words to the Zulu king and nation.
2. These are the words of the High Commissioner and they are sent by the
Lieutenant Governor, through the same officers who delivered the words
of the Award in respect of the disputed boundary question, namely:—The
Hon. John Wesley Shepstone, Secretary of Native Affairs, Natal; the Hon.
Charles Brownlie, Resident Commissioner for Native Affairs in the Cape
Colony, at present attached to the staff of the High Commissioner; Mr.
Henry Francis Fynn, Resident Magistrate, Umsinga Division, Natal; and
Colonel Forester Walker, of her Majesty’s Scots Guards, lately attached
to the staff of the High Commissioner; to be delivered by them to the
Zulu representatives, that they may be duly communicated to the king and
council and people of the Zulu nation.
3. The king and nation will recognize in the Award that has just been
given on the matter of the disputed boundary, the determination of the
British government to give effect to the words which have been spoken at
different times by its representatives in this country regarding the
matter.
4. The dispute respecting the boundary was one that had existed for many
years. It was a question between the government of the Transvaal
Republic and the Zulu nation. The latter made many and frequent
representations to the Natal government on the subject. The government
of Natal was always anxious that the dispute should be settled by
peaceful means, and always counselled the Zulu king accordingly. It
considered that the dispute might be and could be settled properly and
satisfactorily, by means of an impartial inquiry; and was always ready
to use its good offices for that purpose. The opportunity for doing so,
however, did not occur. The years passed without any settlement of the
question, and at length last year the Transvaal came under British rule.
Now when that took place, the Zulu king, if he trusted the British
government, had every reason to believe that whatever rights the Zulus
might have in the disputed territory would be investigated and accorded
to them. But, without waiting, the king sent armed Zulus on to the
disputed territory, and by threats obliged the European settlers in it
to leave their homes. This proceeding on the part of the Zulu king might
well have been resented by the English government: but having regard to
the promises and words of its representatives in times past, and
desirous to avoid all appearance of prejudging a long-standing question
in which its own interests had become involved, it withheld its hand in
order that the inquiry so long spoken of might be held.
5. The inquiry was instituted by the government of Natal, and was held
by trusty persons appointed by the Lieutenant Governor of Natal. It was
held in the presence of the representatives both of the Transvaal
government and the Zulu king and nation, and all that was said and put
forward in support of these claims by both parties was heard and
considered.
6. It is clear from the inquiry that some negotiations took place
between Cetywayo and the Boers in 1861. Cetywayo’s right of succession
to the late king Panda was then very uncertain. Two other sons of Panda
were in the hands of the Boers, and the evidence goes to show that
certain promises to cede land were made by Cetywayo, partly in order to
obtain the surrender of these two sons of Panda, and partly in
consideration of presents of cattle.
7. What were the extent and character of the promises made by Cetywayo
has since been disputed, but promises of some sort there undoubtedly
were. Certain land was also beaconed off, but no recognition or
confirmation of the cessions said to have been promised appears ever to
have been given by the king Panda, or by the great council of the Zulus,
and accordingly the commissioners who inquired into the dispute, after
careful deliberation, recorded their finding against any authoritative
or sufficient cession of that land having been made by the king or
nation. This decision has been accepted by the High Commissioner and has
now been communicated to the Zulu king and nation. This Award assigns as
belonging to the Zulu nation, and as subject to the Zulu king, a great
portion of the disputed land claimed by the king, which lies between the
Buffalo and Pongola Rivers.
8. But while the British government in this way gives up to the Zulu
king and nation land which is thought by the commissioners to be by
strict right belonging to the Zulus, and while the British government
has, and always will have, a due regard for it, at the same time will
strictly require all that is due to its own honors and the just rights
and interests of the Queen’s subjects.
9. It has already been intimated in connection with the Award, which was
an Award regarding the territory lying on this or the south side of the
Pongola River, that on the other, or north side of that river, the Zulu
king must not, as he has of late appeared inclined to do, attempt to
take any action in respect of that territory, as if he had any right or
jurisdiction there, but that if the king has, or thinks he has, any
claim of any nature in that direction, he must state them to the British
government, by whom they will be duly considered.
10. The High Commissioner has under his consideration the proceedings
connected with the outrage that was committed some months ago in Natal
territory by Zulu subjects, the sons, relatives and people of the Zulu
chief Sirayo. This has been a grievous and gross outrage committed on
British territory. Mehlokazulu, Inkumbokazulu and Tyekwana, sons of
Sirayo, and Zuluhlenza, a brother of Sirayo, with a large number of
armed attendants, crossed the Buffalo River into Natal territory in two
parties, and by force and violence took out of Natal territory two Zulu
women. Having taken these women back into the Zulu country, they there,
as it is reported, killed them.
11. The Lieutenant Governor of Natal, when he heard of these
occurrences, sent messages, one on the 1st and another on the 6th of
August, to the king, stating what had occurred, and requesting that the
sons and relatives of Sirayo, the ringleaders of the outrages, should be
given up to the Natal government for punishment for the offences
committed by them in Natal territory. Cetywayo, in reply, admitted that
Sirayo’s people had done wrong, but he has endeavored to make light of
the offence, and he has not given up the men as desired. Instead of
doing this, they sent £50, which he wished the Natal government to
accept as a fine in lieu of the punishment of Sirayo’s people. The money
was not accepted, and the king was told that such a fine would be no
punishment for those guilty of the offence, and no reparation for the
outrage. The king said, however, that he would lay the matter and demand
of the Lieutenant Governor before his great council; but many weeks have
passed and no further intimation has been received by the Natal
government to show that the king has laid the matter before the council,
or what the deliberations of the council has been.
12. Her Majesty’s High Commissioner has now therefore to require that
the Zulu king will forthwith send in to the Natal government for trial
under the laws of the Colony, for the offence committed by them in the
Colony, the persons of Mehlokazulu, Inkumbokazulu, and Tyekwana, the
sons of Sirayo, and also Zuluhlenza, the brother of Sirayo, who was
wrongly accused, as he was not one of the party who came into Natal
territory, but was at Umhlan-den-Hlorn at the time; he is accordingly
exempted from this demand, but the others now demanded must be sent in
and delivered over to the Natal authorities within twenty days from the
date that this demand is made. The Zulu king is required, in addition,
to pay to the British government a fine of 500 head of cattle for the
outrage, and for his delay in complying with the request of the Natal
government. These cattle must also be sent in within the period above
named.
13. There has also been another offence committed by Zulu subjects on
the persons of British subjects at Middle Drift on the Tugela River,
below Fort Buckingham. These two British subjects, Messrs. Smith and
Deighton, were, while at or near the drift in the month of September
last, surrounded by a party of fifteen Zulus who, armed with guns and
assegais, in an excited state, took hold of the two white men, and made
them sit down, demanding what they were doing there, as the ground
belonged to Cetywayo. Gradually the Zulus became more quiet, and after
detaining the two white men for an hour and a half, or thereabouts, they
allowed them to go. This interference with and treatment of two British
subjects was an interference and treatment which was unwarrantable. It
was an offence against the persons of two British subjects which cannot
be passed over without notice, and as a punishment for the offence, and
a warning against the commission of similar offences in the future, the
High Commissioner requires that a fine of 100 head of cattle shall be
paid to the British government. This fine must also be paid within the
period of twenty days from the date of the communication being made.
14. The two cases referred to have been cases of offence—one of them of
a most serious and outrageous nature—committed by individual Zulu
subjects on British territory, or against the persons of British
subjects, for which it has been found necessary to demand that
reparation shall be made in the manner above stated.
15. There is also the case of Umbelini, a Swazi refugee living in the
Zulu country, who is charged with having recently made a murderous raid
into the country north of the Pongola River, which is claimed as British
territory by the Transvaal government. It will be necessary for the
offenders in this case to be given up to be tried by the Transvaal
courts for the offence of which they have been accused, and a further
communication will be made to Cetywayo when the Transvaal government has
stated who, besides Umbelini, must be given up to be tried.
16. But beyond these matters which relate to certain offences committed
by certain Zulu subjects against the British government, the attention
of her Majesty’s Commissioner has of necessity been given to the state
of government and the state of affairs in the Zulu country, as affecting
both the conditions of the Zulu people and the peace and safety of the
Queen’s dominions lying adjacent to Zululand, and of other tribes and
peoples, the allies or friendly neighbors of the British government.
17. In the time of the late king Panda the relations of the British
government and the Zulus had always been of a friendly nature. The
English government and the Zulus were near neighbors, and all the Zulu
nation can bear witness that the English government never did anything
unfriendly, or showed in any way otherwise than most friendly and well
disposed towards the Zulus. Panda, it is well known, was established in
the chieftainship by the Dutch emigrant farmers, who defeated the Zulu
king Dingaan. It was after this that the English came into Natal and
established relations with Panda and the Zulu nation.
18. Panda’s reign was a more peaceful one than those of his
predecessors, and his rule was milder and more tolerant. He encouraged
trade. He allowed Christian missionaries to settle on the land, and set
aside stations for them and gave them land, and there was good promise
of an improvement in the condition of the Zulu people.
19. Unhappily, during the latter part of his reign, and when he became
old, trouble came upon the land in consequence of the difference between
Cetywayo and his brothers as to who should be successor to the king.
20. Panda had always behaved in a loyal and friendly manner to the
British government, and when, on account of the continued excitement and
uneasiness in the Zulu country, he asked the Natal government to
interfere, the government sent Mr. Shepstone, the Secretary for Native
Affairs, to recommend Panda to nominate a successor, and so remove the
uncertainty on that point, and the cause of dispute among the brothers.
The result was the nomination of the house of Cetywayo, which, settling
the dispute of succession, gave quiet again to the Zulu country.
21. After the death of Panda, the sons of the late king, and the headmen
of the Zulu nation, assembled and sent messengers to the government of
Natal saying that the nation found itself wandering because of the death
of the king. “There was no king,” they said, and the messengers brought
from the nation four oxen, representing the “Head of the king” to the
Natal government. They further asked that Mr. Shepstone, who had been
present at the nomination of Cetywayo, might go and establish what was
wanted, and, at the same time, breathe the spirit by which the nation
should be governed. They said, moreover, it was the will of the nation
that the new king should be the son of the British government.
22. The government of Natal had no wish to mix itself up with these
arrangements of the Zulu people; but eventually it consented and sent
Mr. Shepstone to take part in the installation. It was the wish of
Cetywayo that this should be done—it was the wish of the whole Zulu
nation. In consenting to this, the British government had no selfish
object of any kind. It did not seek to obtain a single foot of land for
itself, nor any advantage nor any privilege whatever. It wanted nothing
for itself, and demanded nothing for itself. Its only motive in
complying with the wish of the Zulu nation, and in taking part in the
coronation of the new king, was that in doing so it might help to assure
the peace of the Zulu country and promote in some degree the welfare of
the Zulu people.
23. In taking part, therefore, the only conditions it made were in favor
of the good government of the people. At a formal meeting held previous
to the installation between Mr. Shepstone, Cetywayo and the headmen of
the Zulu nation, several matters were discussed, chief among which were
certain regulations or laws for the better government of the Zulu
people, which were to be proclaimed on the occasion of the installation.
Subsequently, on the day of the installation, the laws were formally
proclaimed by Mr. Shepstone.
24. It was proclaimed:
1. That the indiscriminate shedding of blood should cease in the land.
2. That no Zulu should be condemned without open trial and the public
examination of witnesses, for and against, and that he should have the
right of appeal to the king.
3. That no Zulu’s life should be taken without the previous knowledge
and consent of the king, after such trial has taken place, and the
right of appeal had been allowed to be exercised.
4. That for common crimes, the loss of property, all or a portion,
should be substituted for the punishment of death.
25. Now these laws were formally proclaimed by Mr. Shepstone, who
represented the British government in Natal, and proclaimed with the
formal consent of Cetywayo, of the chief men of the nation, and of the
natives then assembled. It was not done as a mere idle ceremony or form:
it was not done in secret but in public; it was not done in the dark,
but in the open day; it was not done in solitude, but at the royal
kraal, in the presence and the hearing of the king, the chiefs and the
assembled people. They were laws for the good government of the Zulu
people. The subject of them had been carefully and deliberately
discussed beforehand between the British representatives and Cetywayo
and his councillors, and agreed upon, and then afterwards, in the
hearing and presence of the people, the laws had been solemnly affirmed.
26. These laws for the well-being of the Zulu people were the conditions
required by the British government, in return for the countenance and
support given by it to the new Zulu king, by the presence of its
representative, and by his taking part in the king’s coronation; and
once spoken as they were, they cannot be broken without compromising the
dignity, the good faith, and the honor of the British government.
27. The British government now asks, How has it been in this matter?
Have the promises then made been kept? Have the laws which were then
proclaimed been observed? Let the Zulu king answer!
28. There is but one answer. The king and people know very well that the
promises have not been kept. They know that these laws have not been
observed, but that they have been broken time after time, and that they
are almost daily broken in the Zulu country. They know very well that
the lives of hundreds of Zulu people, men, women, old and young, have
been taken since that day without any trial at all, that the
indiscriminate shedding of blood has not ceased, and that the killing of
Zulu people has gone on as if no promise had ever been made, and no law
ever proclaimed.
29. Hence it is that all Zulus live in fear to lose their lives any day.
No man knows when he may be suddenly set upon and killed, and all
belonging to him destroyed or taken away.
30. How can these things be? Were the words which were spoken at the
coronation mere empty words, meaning nothing? The Zulu king knows that
it is not so, and that it cannot be so. The British government in Natal
did not want, and it did not ask, to take any part in the installation
of Panda’s successor. It wished well to the Zulu country and the Zulu
people, but for itself it wished for nothing, it asked for nothing. It
was Cetywayo himself, it was the Zulu nation assembled together, that
sent to the government to ask it to take part. Even then the government
did not desire to take any part in what was being done, but it consented
to do so, asking nothing for itself, but asking certain conditions for
the good of the Zulu people.
31. The conditions which it asked were conditions for the protection of
the lives of the Zulu people, that they might not be condemned and slain
without trial, without knowing what their offence was, without cause,
and without chance of justice. These were the laws proclaimed.
32. The British government cannot, then, allow that the words which were
once spoken on its part should be empty words, or that the promises
which were made to it, and for which it became the mouthpiece and the
guarantee to the whole Zulu nation, should be treated as if they were
mere idleness and empty sound. But for five years they have been so
treated, and now it can be no longer so.
33. The promises have not been kept, and how is it possible they can be
kept so long as the present system of government is maintained by the
king?
34. The present system of government is destroying the country. All the
young men, all the able-bodied men of the country, are taken as
soldiers. They are taken from their homes at an age when they are
becoming useful to their parents, and are kept for several years in the
compulsory service of the king. They are not allowed to marry, as the
other men around them, as in Natal, as among the Amaswagi, as among the
Amapondo. They cannot marry when they desire to do so, but they must
await the permission of the king, and they are often kept for seven
years without the permission to do so. They are not allowed to labor for
themselves, or to plant, or to reap, or to live in quiet and in peace
with their families and relatives. They are constantly summoned up to
the king’s kraals, as if for war, although there is no enemy to fight
with, and thus they come to fight among themselves, and blood is shed,
and there is distress and moaning in the land; or they are sent out in
parties to surround the kraals of those who have given offence to the
king, or who are accused by private enemies, and who then, without trial
and without a word, are killed, their kraals laid desolate, and their
families, and all they have, carried off and destroyed.
35. Thus the army is made an instrument, not for the defence of the
country but for the oppression of the people. All the best interests of
the Zulu country and the happiness of the Zulu people are sacrificed in
order that the king may keep up this large army. For what purpose is
this army kept up? Is there an enemy? Where is the enemy? Cetywayo knows
very well that there is no enemy, and that there is no occasion for this
large army. In the days of Chaka or Dingaan it might be different, but
now on all sides of the Zulu country is the territory of the British
government, or of its allies and friendly neighbors. The king knows very
well that the British government is a peaceful and friendly power, and
that it wishes well to the Zulu people, and that it wishes them to live
in peace and comfort. The king knows this well, for did not his father
live to become an old man under the shelter of the British government,
and has not Cetywayo himself grown up to manhood under the eye of the
English?
36. With regard to the native neighboring tribes, the Basuto, Amapondo,
the Amaswagi, and others, they are either the subjects or the allies or
neighbors of the British government, and the Zulu king knows he has
nothing to fear from them. They are, besides, peaceful people and not
given to war and aggression.
37. For what purpose then does the Zulu king keep up this large army,
which brings so much hardship and so much misery upon the Zulu people
themselves? It can serve no good purpose. It can be made of no use,
except it be used for the oppression of the Zulu people or for
aggression upon British subjects or the allies and neighbors of the
British government.
38. There is, therefore, no real need for the army. The present system
is working the destruction of the Zulu people. The army was used against
the very people of the country to which it belongs. It is the strength
of the nation destroying the nation itself.
39. Let the natives say if this is not so? Besides, while the king keeps
up this army, while he is continually calling it together, it is
impossible for his neighbors to feel secure. They never know what may
happen, and the British government is obliged to keep large numbers of
the Queen’s troops in Natal and the Transvaal in order to protect
British subjects against the dangers of a possible aggression by the
Zulu king.
40. This state of things cannot last. It is dangerous to the peace of
all the countries adjoining Zululand, and it is hurtful to the Zulu
people themselves. The British government cannot allow it to continue.
It has become absolutely necessary that some change should be made.
41. It is necessary that the military system which is at present kept up
by the king should be done away with as a bad and hurtful one, and that
he should instead adopt such military regulations as may be decided on
after consultation with the great council of the Zulus, and with the
representatives of the British government.
42. It is necessary that the Zulu army, as it is now, shall be
disbanded, and that the men shall return to their homes.
43. Let the obligation on every able-bodied man to come out for the
defence of his country, when it is needed, remain, but until then let it
be that every man shall live, if he please, quietly at his own home.
44. Let every man then be free to remain at his home, and let him plant
and sow, and reap and tend his cattle, and let him live in peace and
with his family.
45. Let him not be called out for war or for fighting or for assembling
in regiments, except with the permission of the great council of the
nation assembled, and with the consent also of the British government.
46. Let every man, when he comes to man’s estate, be free to marry. Let
him not wait for years before he gets permission to do this, for
oftentimes the king forgets to give the permission, and the years pass
on and the man becomes old. But let him be free to marry when he
pleases, as it is in Natal.
47. So will the king have contented subjects.
48. Then with respect to the promises made at the coronation, let rules
at once be laid down that any Zulu, man or woman, old or young, who is
accused of any crime, be tried by properly appointed indunas before
punishment, that no one may be punished without cause, and that the life
of no one be taken until the offence of which he is accused be heard
openly against him; and on answers given by him in self-defence, in
order that those by whom he is tried may say whether he is guilty or not
before he is punished: and if any one is declared guilty let him not be
killed before the king has given his consent, and until the person
declared guilty has been able to make an appeal to the king.
49. Thus it was promised it should be at the time of the coronation, but
the promises have not been kept.
50. But in future it will be necessary that the promises be kept, for
the British government holds itself bound to see that this is so; and in
order that they may be kept, and that the laws regarding them may be
duly carried out, the Queen’s High Commissioner, on behalf of the
British government, will appoint an officer as his deputy to reside in
the Zulu country, or on its immediate borders, who will be the eyes and
ears and mouth of the British government towards the Zulu king and the
great council of the nation.
51. What words the king or the council of the nation may desire to say
to the British government can then be said through this officer, and
also what words the British government may desire to say to the king and
the great council can be said through him, so that all misunderstanding
and questions that arise between the two countries, or between the
subjects of the two countries, may be dealt with and settled through
this one officer speaking with the king and the great council.
52. This officer will see that the rules regarding the trials of all
Zulus before punishment are kept, and that no man is killed without
trial, but that all men may have an opportunity of answering the
accusations brought against them, and if need be of appealing to the
king.
53. He will see also that the arrangements to be made regarding the army
are carried out; that no one is called out for war without necessity;
that all men are allowed to live at their homes in peace; and that every
young man is free to marry. So will it be well with the Zulu people.
54. The late king Panda allowed several European missionaries to settle
in Zululand. Cetywayo also allowed them to stay in the country, but
during the last two years some of the natives living on the mission
stations were killed without trial, or form of trial, and others were
terrified, and thus the missionaries have, most of them, been obliged to
abandon their stations; and the High Commissioner desires that all those
missionaries who, until the last year, lived in the Zulu country and
occupied stations, as also the natives belonging to the stations, be
allowed to return and occupy their stations. He desires also that all
missionaries be allowed to teach, as in Panda’s time, and that no Zulu
shall be punished for listening to them. If any Zulu wishes, of his own
choice, to listen to the missionary he is free to do so. If any native
living on a mission station does wrong, he will be liable to punishment,
but he must be tried first.
55. If any case of dispute occurs in which any of the missionaries, or
in which any European is concerned, such dispute should be heard by the
king in public and in the presence of the British resident; and no
sentence of expulsion from Zululand shall be carried out until it has
been communicated by the king to the Resident, and until it has been
approved by the Resident.
56. These are the words of her Majesty’s High Commissioner, which the
Lieutenant Governor of Natal sends to the Zulu king and the chief men of
the nation, and for the whole Zulu nation,
57. These are the conditions which her Majesty’s High Commissioner, in
the name of the British government, considers necessary for the
establishment of a satisfactory state of things in the Zulu country, and
for the peace and safety of the adjoining countries. Let, therefore, the
king and the chief men of the nation consider them, and let them give
their answer regarding them within thirty days from the day on which
this communication is made to the Zulu representatives, in order that
her Majesty’s High Commissioner may then know if the king and the great
council agree to the words which are here given, and will give effect to
these conditions, which are necessary both for the peace and safety of
the Queen’s subjects and allies and also for the safety and welfare of
the Zulu people, to which the Queen’s government wishes well.
(Signed)
HENRY BULWER,
_Lieutenant Governor_.
JOHN DUNN’S LETTER.
_To the Aborigines Protection Society_—
I beg to write, for the information of your honorable Society, and state
that I am an Englishman by birth, and have been a resident of the Zulu
country, and living among the Zulus, for the last twenty years, and I
can confidently say that there is no white man in this part of South
Africa so fitted to judge of their feelings towards the English race as
I am.
I would not now address your honorable Society if it were not that I
have noticed a very strong, wrong and arbitrary feeling gaining ground
against the Zulu nation on the side of the white population in this part
of South Africa. A strong feeling of color and jealousy I cannot
understand, unless it is on account of the independency of the Zulu
race, a feeling taken up without any just cause, and that feeling is now
on the verge of breaking out on the pretext of a false claim of land
boundary; a claim pretended to being upheld for the Dutch Boers, who are
no friends of the English race, and are well known in this part of South
Africa for their encroaching propensities on any land belonging to the
natives of this country, to evade English laws, on the pretext of
getting permission to graze cattle, on the grass becoming scarce on
their own farms, and afterwards claiming the land. A claim in which the
Natal government have always upheld the Zulus, and now, since the
annexation of the Transvaal (in 1877), the head of the government there,
who professed to side with the Zulus while he was in Natal, has now
turned round and claimed for the Dutch a country thickly inhabited by
the Zulus.
I write this for the information of your honorable Society, in the hope
that you will try and put a stop to proceedings which will, if carried
out, be the cause of bloodshed in an unjust cause, as I can assure you
nothing but the grossest act of encroachment and oppression will cause
the Zulus to take up arms against the English race, who wish to live at
peace with them, not being ripe enough for civilization or civilized
laws.
The standard rule that is gone by against the black races in this part
of South Africa is the Amaxosa, or Cape Frontier Kafir, who is not to be
compared to the Zulu; nothing but forced Christianity or civilization
will spoil the Zulus, and the class of foreign missionaries we have in
the country does more injury than good to them. Let them say what they
like in their reports to the societies, they make no converts to their
faith, besides the pretended ones or vagabonds, who imagine that by
being clothed and under the garb of Christianity they will be exempt
from all king’s service and laws of the country, and be allowed to roam
about and do as they please.
The Zulu nation, judiciously dealt with, would remain a firm ally and
friend to the English, and it would be a shame for any false notions of
power on the English side to take advantage of such power, and destroy
the Zulu race, which would undoubtedly be the case if they were
overthrown; they would then become a lot of bold rogues, and eventually
give much trouble.
One of the most unfair features in the case is this, that the head of
the Transvaal government (Sir T. Shepstone) has always advised Cetywayo
to remain quiet, and not to go to war with the Boers in disputing the
boundary, promising him to see him righted, when, if it had been left to
the Zulus and Boers themselves, I am sure the Boers would have got the
worst of it. He now turns round and is prepared to fight himself, when
he knows he is only too well backed up by England for the Dutch, England
not knowing the real facts.
The Zulus acknowledge no individual title to land, permission only being
given to squat, the land being looked on as belonging to the squatter
only so long as he occupies it.
But before sending the above letter, I thought I would consult Mr. H.
Escombe, and he advised me not to send the letter, as he had no doubt it
was the intention of the English government to disarm all the native
tribes in South Africa, and that I would only be making a fool of
myself, or words to that effect, but at the same time advising me to
wait the arrival of Mr. I. Sanderson, who was editor of the _Natal
Colonist_, a colonial newspaper, now defunct, and who was expected out
from England shortly. I acted on Mr. Escombe’s advice, and on the
arrival of Mr. Sanderson had a conversation with him, and gave him the
letter. He pretended to think well of my proposal, but before he had
time to carry it out, affairs, as regards Zulu matters, came to a
crisis, and Mr. Sanderson died shortly afterwards, and so ended this
matter.
APPENDIX TO GOLD FIELDS CHAPTER.
The following _resumé_ of the opinions of Dr. Schenk, a geologist who
has paid several professional visits and has lately made researches at
the gold fields, an account of which, I believe, he purposes shortly to
publish in Germany, is taken from the letter of a correspondent in the
Pretoria _Volkstem_ under date February, 1887, and will be perused with
considerable interest by geologists.
The Barberton formation, the doctor said, consisted of very old and in
most instances highly metamorphosed rocks, composed of slate and
sandstone, with interposed eruptive rocks of greenstone (diorite,
serpentine, etc.). These rocks are highly erected, dipping invariably at
great angles, often perpendicular, and run from east to west. In this
formation the gold-bearing veins or reefs are situated, and these with
few exceptions run in the same direction (this is, for instance, the
case with the reefs at Moodie’s and with the Sheba, etc.), nearly always
accompanying the eruptive rocks. The gold, in the doctor’s opinion, came
from the interior of the earth with the eruptive rocks to the surface,
and was therefore concentrated in these reefs, which consist of quartz,
and often contain iron along with the gold. This formation probably
corresponds in age with the Silurian formation of Europe, and is found
also in Swaziland, Zoutpansberg, and the recently discovered gold fields
of the Tugela. There is no young formation overlying these rocks at
Barberton, but in the Drakensberg and at Witwatersrand a younger
formation lies unconformably over the older rocks. This the doctor
concluded to be of Devonian age. It consists of large beds of sandstone,
with here and there slate and greenstone. This younger formation had
subsequently been folded in the same way as the Barberton rocks, though
not so highly erected. The Barberton formation, he is inclined to think,
proceeds beneath this formation in a westerly direction to Witwatersrand
and thence to Bechuanaland. Regarding the presence of the
before-mentioned younger formation, he considered it was due to the
overflowing of this part of the country by the sea, which by wearing
away the higher portions of the mountains, and destroying their rock,
including the gold-bearing reefs, formed a more level plain and covered
it with the destroyed masses of the old formation. This new formation,
therefore, was simply a re-deposit of the old one under a different
appearance. The sandstone schists abounding at Witwatersrand were no
doubt formed of the softer rocks, while the conglomerate resulted from
the destruction of the hard reefs before alluded to; these probably
having been reduced, by the action of the water, to sand and pebbles,
which afterwards became cemented into a solid mass. The conglomerate of
Witwatersrand, Dr. Schenk further observed, is imbedded in the
sandstone, to form a series of large belts, the extremities of which are
at the surface. His reasons for coming to this conclusion were that at
Witwatersrand the conglomerate dipped to the south, while between
Heidelberg and the Vaal (southward of the Rand) it dipped to the north,
or in an exactly opposite direction, and between these places it lay
more horizontally, thus affording grounds for supposing that the
conglomerate at one place is connected with that at the other. The
doctor, in conclusion, remarked that the Witwatersrand conglomerate was
a most peculiar formation, and that he had never before seen anything of
the kind. It did not, in his opinion, run into a reef, as many old
diggers and others seem to suppose; but the reefs from which it
originated, and which he judged to be the continuation of the Barberton
reefs running through this place, he considers to be somewhere in the
vicinity of the conglomerate, but at a considerable depth from the
surface.
-----
Footnote 1:
A brandy of great strength, never matured, and frequently adulterated
with most noxious substances by unscrupulous canteen-keepers and
illicit liquor dealers.
Footnote 2:
“South African Mission Fields.”—Carlyle, Nesbet & Co. 1878.
Footnote 3:
“Boers and Bantu.”—By George McCall Theal.
Footnote 4:
“Lives of R. and M. Moffat.” 1885.
Footnote 5:
Dr. Lindley told me that he was reduced to such straits during this
tedious land journey that, on one occasion, all he had left to support
life for a whole week was a few handsful of sugar eaten from time to
time.
Footnote 6:
“John McCarter. Dertien Jaren Herder en Leeraar in die Kerk.”
Amsterdam, Höveker & Zoon.
Footnote 7:
“Commentaries on Native Laws, Customs and Usages, with some Remarks on
Interpretation and Annexation.”—By John Courtenay Chasman Chadwick, J.
P., Attorney at Law, Maritzburg, Vanse, Slatter & Co.
Footnote 8:
Umtagati, one highly criminal, a murderer, poisoner.
Footnote 9:
Isiropo, unchaste, not a virgin.
Footnote 10:
Circuit Court D’Urban, before his Lordship, Justice Phillips, Feb.
12th, 1867. Trial of Nokahlela, Gumaudi, Matyobani, Umguquini,
Pambili, Umgabuka and Kongota.
Footnote 11:
The chief native adviser.
Footnote 12:
According to the _Statesman_ of India, no Chinese soldier in Tonquin
during the late war lost an opportunity to eat the flesh of a fallen
French foe—believing that human flesh, especially that of foreign
warriors, is the best possible stimulant for a man’s courage.
Footnote 13:
Again, Hibbert, in his “Lectures on Religion in Mexico and Peru,”
asserts that cannibalism was once universal in our race, arguing that
all primitive sacrifices were originally suggested by the idea that
the Divine Being had the same tastes and proclivities as we ourselves.
The Rev. W. R. Blackett, M. A., in relation to this, says: “This is a
remarkable _bouleversement_ of reasoning. It might perhaps be safer to
argue that, as human sacrifices have been universal and cannibalism
has not, the aim of sacrifice could not be merely to gratify supposed
human tastes in the deities to whom they were offered.”
Footnote 14:
According to Mr. Surveyor A. Moor, the top of the falls above the
level of the administrator’s residence, which is seventeen miles
(horizontal) distant, is 5,643 feet, and the height of the falls
themselves 1,862.5 feet.
Footnote 15:
The cypress trees in the cathedral grounds in Maritzburg are grown
from seed collected in this pass by Captain Allison, and presented by
him to the dean and chapter.
Footnote 16:
The acting resident magistrate at D’Urban and coolie immigration
agent.
Footnote 17:
Remittent fever of a virulent and exceptionally fatal type had been
prevalent in Mauritius for a considerable period some year or two
previously.
Footnote 18:
Many of my readers will be familiar with the unhappy dissensions which
used to exist in the Church of England in South Africa. These partly
arose out of Bishop Colenso’s (Bishop of Natal) orthodoxy being
impugned, and partly from the ritualistic practices the opposite
section indulged in. The particulars of the dispute, which for years
occupied the attention of the gentlemen of the long robe, are too long
and perplexing for me to enter into. Suffice it to say that, though
beyond all doubt both parties were convinced they had right on their
side, yet to lovers of the good old Church the dissensions were much
to be regretted. Bishop Colenso, however, in the long run gained the
day.
Footnote 19:
The Anglican Sisterhood of St. Michael and All Angels.
Footnote 20:
Since enlarged.
Footnote 21:
Kafir pox, a varicelloid disease, believed to attack only natives,
also known as “Watcht en beitje” pock (Dutch, “wait a bit”), as it
delayed them on their road.
Footnote 22:
An Act to legalize gambling by this means came before the legislative
council this year (1887) but was rejected. The arguments “for and
against” were very funny. One Dutch legislator, when the subject was
under debate, brought forward as a clinching argument that “when Jonah
was on board a vessel on his way to Nineveh it was decided by a
totalisator that he should be thrown overboard,” while another (who
had a large open Bible before him) referred to the Revelations, where,
he said, it was pointed out that “roovers, woekeraars, and spelers,”
could not enter the kingdom of heaven. He said God’s Holy Word did not
justify gambling, and where could they get a better authority than the
Bible? The name “totalisator” was in itself so big a word to pronounce
that he often wondered that people’s tongues did not twist in
pronouncing it (loud laughter).
Footnote 23:
It may be interesting to my readers to mention that “Vaal” means dun
or mud color, the tint of the river, especially noticeable during
flushes, when so much clay from the banks is held in suspension,
though at no period has the stream the crystal clearness of the Isis
or the Cam. The inhabitants of the banks are facetiously nicknamed
_Vaal penses_, in meaning much the same as “yellow bellies,” the
designation applied with rustic humor to the dwellers on the fens in
Lincolnshire by the agricultural population of the surrounding
districts.
Footnote 24:
August 1886. Since then many more amalgamations of companies have
taken place.
Footnote 25:
The recent extension of the railway to Kimberley has of course much
reduced the price of fuel, though it is even at this day so high that
the home manufacturers or householders would shudder to contemplate
paying half the price.
Footnote 26:
Vulgarly called carbon by the diggers.
Footnote 27:
Diamondiferous soil.
Footnote 28:
This was written before the discovery of the Cape diamond fields.
Footnote 29:
The French and Central companies of the Kimberley mine have sunk
shafts comparatively recently about 620 feet deep (in 1886), and are
still in this rock. It is of various textures and colors, and contains
agates, jasper, calcite, iron pyrites and various other minerals.
Footnote 30:
Resembling charcoal in its mineral condition.
Footnote 31:
This waste ground accumulated in vast masses or heaps, one of these
being known by the Scriptural name of Mount Ararat.
Footnote 32:
These boys were known by the oddest of names. One unfortunate native,
arrested for some trivial offense, when asked his name in the Charge
Office replied “Go to h——!” and gave the same when interrogated the
second time, on which the sergeant in charge knocked him down, but
regretted doing so when he found that that was really the name which
had been bestowed on him by his master. Only a few months since
another native arraigned gave his name as “B——y fool.” On being asked
by the magistrate who gave him that name, he replied that he chose it
himself.
Footnote 33:
Instead of “whims,” in which the horses trot round in a circle, some
of the diggers used “whips” in which the horses trot backward and
forward.
Footnote 34:
Much of the debris of the early days pays handsomely to rewash with
the present improved machinery, and licenses authorizing such washing
are issued by the chief of the detective department. It is believed
that the privilege has been frequently abused and made a cloak for the
illicit traffic in diamonds.
Footnote 35:
The De Beers’ Mining Co. of De Beers’ Mine, Limited.
Footnote 36:
Dutch for stones.
Footnote 37:
The public press repeatedly drew attention to the “poison” that was
retailed to the natives, and I well remember the following sarcastic
lines that were published about this time:
“The best of all methods, so others maintain,
To free them from ignorance’ yoke,
And enable them civilized freedom to gain,
Is simply to give them ‘Cape Smoke;’[118]
When mixed with tobacco, red pepper and lime,
With dagga and vitriol, too,
The draught is delicious, enchanting, sublime—
Why, it even would civilize _you_!”
Footnote 38:
Slang Jewish expression for an illicit or stolen diamond.
Footnote 39:
A noted detective officer.
Footnote 40:
A very much overrated mine, five miles from Kimberley, rushed on the
last Sunday in April, 1876.
Footnote 41:
In the session of 1885 the diamond trade act was extended, with but
trifling alterations, to the entire of Cape Colony, which in spite of
all the efforts of unscrupulous men, who are themselves well known to
be in the trade, still remains in force.
Footnote 42:
Some idea of the extent to which this organized system of robbery is
carried on may be formed, when I tell my readers that since the
passing of the diamond trade act in 1882 up to Dec. 31st, 1885, 19,272
carats of diamonds, valued at £37,829 have been recovered by the
detective department.
Footnote 43:
“Over the Free State line,
Whatever is yours is mine.
If I’ve a stone
Its all my own,
No ‘John Fry’[119] shall make me groan
Over the Free State line.
I’ll never have cause to pine,
The I. D. B. is happy and free,
Over the Free State line.”
Footnote 44:
The Gold Law No. 6, passed July 30, 1885. Clause 78 reads as follows:
“78. Any person purchasing, trading or receiving rough gold or uncut
precious stones from colored persons, either on a proclaimed public
field, or elsewhere within the limits of the South African Republic,
shall be fined a sum not exceeding £1,000 and imprisonment for a
period of not more than five years, with or without hard labor, beside
the forfeiture of such rough precious metal or uncut precious stones
to the State.”
Footnote 45:
See further particulars at end of chapter.
Footnote 46:
As an instance of what risks they will run I may mention that in
November, 1886, on a post-mortem being made on a native who died under
suspicious circumstances at Du Toit’s Pan a sixty carat rough diamond
was found in his stomach.
Footnote 47:
I should not omit here to mention that this clique which arrogates to
itself the name of the “Mercantile Community” is powerful enough to
send their representatives not only to parliament, but to the town
council.
Footnote 48:
Three of these cases have occurred in which conviction followed, and
the offenders received sentences varying from five to ten years’
imprisonment.
Footnote 49:
I must here warn my readers against falling into the mistake of
supposing that I attribute the depression of trade now existing to the
absence of the enterprising and formerly ubiquitous illicit, many
causes having conduced to bring about the present stagnation.
Footnote 50:
While I am given to understand that this female searcher acted with
some brutality on this occasion, I have not the slightest doubt that
such violence was quite unauthorized by the authorities.
Footnote 51:
Jail.
Footnote 52:
The celebrated street in Paris during the rage of Law’s Mississippi
scheme.
Footnote 53:
The South African Exploration Company did this in the early part of
this year, and recovered £696 and interest at the rate of 6 per cent,
from the defendant.
Footnote 54:
A great change has again taken place. The Rose Innes has been
incorporated with the Central, and the shares of the latter company in
the spring of 1886 were selling at about £160, though nine or ten
months previously they were down as low as £20, and no demand even at
that.
Footnote 55:
The soundness of the investment of money in our Diamond Mining scrip
under the diminished cost of working, owing to the extension of the
railway, the increased care taken in the searching department, and
consequently increased yield of diamonds, has been lately much taken
advantage of by European capitalists, and at the present time I have
never, for years, known the Fields in a more prosperous condition.
Footnote 56:
A favorite Boer expression when abandoning an expedition.
Footnote 57:
Lieut. Governor Southey in a long dispatch dated Kimberley, April
11th, 1874, in reply to a dispatch from Sir Henry Barkly of March
11th, the same year, and which was written after Langalibalele had
attempted to escape from Natal, said in clause
“15. The alterations and changes made by the Cape government, and with
which I am desired to co-operate, are made avowedly at the instance of
the Natal government; and you have furnished me with an extract from
one of that government’s communications upon the subject. I should
have been glad to have been permitted to peruse the whole of the
letter, as I have reason to believe that they attribute their late
troubles, in a large degree, to the facility with which natives can
obtain guns in this province, instead of, as in my opinion they should
do, attributing them to their own mismanagement and mistaken policy.
“16. It is not true that (as the colonial secretary of Natal
erroneously alleges) arms and ammunition at the diamond fields pass
more readily from the diggers to the natives than specie; the natives
receive their wages invariably in specie, they are paid weekly, and
the usual rate of pay is ten shillings for the week. Those who obtain
guns purchase them as a rule just before leaving for their homes, and
only after producing the permits to purchase which the law requires.
Comparatively speaking, but few Natal or Basuto natives come here; the
great bulk of our native laborers come from the interior northward of
the South African Republic, and considerably beyond the legitimate
boundaries of that state, and their guns are not acquired for war
purposes, but for purposes connected with legitimate and beneficial
trade.
“17. I cannot concur in the opinion of the lieutenant governor of
Natal that the acquisition of arms by the natives of the interior, who
come here and work in the mines, is fraught with danger to the peace
of South Africa, and I am unable to see why we should cherish a
friendly feeling with the neighboring republics any more than with the
various native tribes. I should consider it very undesirable to
purchase the friendly feeling of those republics at the expense of
injustice or oppression toward her Majesty’s own subjects or
unfriendly acts toward the aboriginal inhabitants of the country. I
may here state that the native tribes of the interior have ever
evinced the greatest possible friendliness toward us, and English
travelers, English traders and English missionaries have invariably
been received and treated with all respect by them, while on the other
hand the governments of the republics have on several occasions been
charged with unfriendliness toward us, in official documents addressed
to them by her Majesty’s representatives in South Africa. I believe we
shall best exhibit our friendliness toward the republics by setting
them an example of justice and toleration, and that we should act an
unfriendly part if we pandered to their prejudices or supported them
in oppressing the native population.”
Footnote 58:
I have even seen the rebels drilling in the market square with their
rifles, at four in the afternoon, ordered to “Right about face,”
“Present arms,” so that their rifles would point straight at the
government offices.
Footnote 59:
I recollect at the time calling upon Mr. Froude, who was a _guest_ at
Government House.
Footnote 60:
Who at once ran away to escape the punishment he deserved.
Footnote 61:
As far as Major Lanyon was personally concerned, future events proved
that it had not mattered to him whether the bill passed or not.
Footnote 62:
See chapter 25.
Footnote 63:
And, as my readers will have noticed, of the Griqualand West
legislative council as well.
Footnote 64:
To Englishmen this act contained a curious clause. No person within
the province could sell or barter to any native (except under certain
provisos) any liquor of an intoxicating nature, and my readers can at
once realize the difficulty of logically reconciling the anomaly of
allowing a man a voice in the government of his country and precluding
him from the right of purchasing a glass of beer.
Footnote 65:
An expression applied to Griqualand West by the Hon. I. X. Merriman, a
Cape colonial politician.
Footnote 66:
Curiously enough the sixteen petitions, signed by 1,218 persons,
presented to the Volksraad praying for this law were couched in
precisely the _same_ terms; they all complained of the _same_
nuisance, and each alleged that on the _same_ day the _same_ decision
had been arrived at in the different places from which the petitions
came, although in many of these districts not a single coolie or Arab
was living. This law, as the _Volkstem_ (the principal newspaper in
the Transvaal) says, is not only “ineffectual, but pernicious and
condemnable.” See copy of law in appendix.
Footnote 67:
This is the motive generally attributed to the late Sir Pomeroy Colley
in making the ascent of Majuba during the absence of Sir Evelyn Wood.
Footnote 68:
In Great Britain the coal measures have an extent only of 11,859
square miles, in France of 1,719, and in Spain of 3,408.
Footnote 69:
In July, 1886, the Kimberley papers gave publicity to a rumor that a
ring had been formed by the proprietors of collieries in England,
alarmed at the growth of the coal mining industry in Natal, to
undersell for an indefinite period, and by these means strangle
competition.
Footnote 70:
Majuba is 6,000 feet above the sea and 3,000 feet above Mount
Prospect.
Footnote 71:
Our total losses at Majuba were 6 officers killed, 9 wounded and 6
prisoners; non-commissioned officers and men, 86 killed, 125 wounded,
53 prisoners.
Footnote 72:
The official reasons, or rather the official excuses, for the loss of
the day, are a transparent gloss, intended to hide gross mismanagement
on the one hand and a panic-stricken retreat on the other. They are
the following, extracted from the _Gazette_: (1) The slopes below the
brow of the plateau were too steep to be searched by our fire, and
cover existed up to the brow; (2) the rocky ridge we occupied in
second line, though the best we had time to hold, did not cover more
than fifty yards to its front, as the plateau rolled continuously to
the brow; (2a) the men were too exhausted to intrench, and hardly fit
to fight; (3) when the Boers gained the last ridge ours had to descend
almost impassable slopes, and many were shot in doing so.
Footnote 73:
Boer commandment at Bronker’s Spruit.
Footnote 74:
Sixty-six officers and men killed sixty seven wounded, and nine
missing.
Footnote 75:
Mrs. Charles Garnett.—A Visit to the Leper Hospital of Bergen.—“Sunday
Magazine,” May 1886.
Footnote 76:
In the last session of the Natal legislative council the vote for
Langibalele’s support was reduced from £500 per annum to £50. He has
now returned, but has only to thank the financial state of Natal for
his “ticket of leave!”
Footnote 77:
See Appendix.
Footnote 78:
He showed that the “record” of the trial, which lasted four days, was
simply an ex-parte statement of evidence taken from witnesses, called
by the crown, examined by the crown prosecutor and cross-examined by
nobody! Not a single witness was called for the defence, the prisoner
having been kept in solitary confinement from the time of his arrival
(Dec. 31st), and not allowed to speak to any one, white or black, who
might try to find witnesses for him.
Footnote 79:
Native term for wiping out their enemies.
Footnote 80:
Warriors not being allowed to marry until they had drawn blood on the
battlefield.
Footnote 81:
“John Dunn, Cetywayo and the Three Generals.” 1886. Natal Printing and
Publishing Co. Pietermaritzburg, Natal.
Footnote 82:
Since writing the above England has decided to annex what remains of
Zululand.
Footnote 83:
For petition see appendix.
Footnote 84:
At this time there was daily issued here and at Mafeting 3,930 full
rations.
Footnote 85:
Since burnt by the rebels.
Footnote 86:
The petition, which was signed by Jonathan Molappo, Mokhethi Moshesh,
Iladiyane Mosheshoe and 896 others, I brought away with me and
presented to the Cape legislative assembly on March 21st, 1882. In the
appendix will be found a copy of the petition itself.
Footnote 87:
The political resident at that period.
Footnote 88:
A few months previously the Sprigg ministry had been defeated, session
of 1881.
Footnote 89:
Since the time I was in Basutoland Colonel Clark, who, during the
Transvaal war, after Captain Falls’ death, surrendered the court-house
at Potchefstroom, when it was set fire to by the Boers, has been
appointed agent in Basutoland. This imperial appointment was made
early in 1884 when the colonial government was relieved of its
responsibility in that country by the home government.
Since Colonel Clark has been in Basutoland the amount paid in taxes
has greatly increased, for whereas at first the receipts were at the
rate of £450 a year only, they now, Masupha having agreed also to pay
hut tax, exceed £5,000 per annum. But from the best authority I learn
that Colonel Clark’s power, although he is personally liked by the
Basutos, is merely nominal, and they would even now be too wide-awake
to pay taxes, if they were not afraid of the confiscation, or in other
words of the robbery, of their cattle by their chiefs, and if they did
not fear the personal vengeance which would result on their resisting;
they prefer, therefore, to buy the semblance of British authority at
the rate of £1 a year per hut, rather than have their cattle stolen
without any redress whatever.
Footnote 90:
The average Sunday attendance at St. Cyprian’s is now 500 at morning
and 700 at evening service; the congregation having more than doubled
within the last five years, though the population of Kimberley has
certainly diminished. This fact must be subject of great gratification
to the clergy of this church. The new church at Beaconsfield (Du
Toit’s Pan), named All Saints, is a very handsome stone and brick
structure, and the lately consecrated bishop laid the foundation stone
of a new church (St. Alban’s) at De Beer’s, about the end of September
1883. There is also a small church (St. Augustine’s) situated at the
west end of Kimberley, the present incumbent of which is the Hon. and
Rev. Mr. Lyttleton.
Footnote 91:
A magnificent monument to the late Mr. Ornstein, subscribed to by
members of all denominations on the Diamond Fields, was consecrated in
October, 1886.
Footnote 92:
The South African native has no religion, worships no God, and his
only idea of spiritual life is that his soul, when he dies, takes up
its abode in a snake, and that the spirits of his ancestors have the
power of working good or evil, or of causing sickness and death.
Footnote 93:
A fractured diamond.
Footnote 94:
This gentleman’s forte was Roman Dutch law. During his residence on
the Diamond Fields he acquired the soubriquet of “Emphytensis” in
consequence of his efforts to establish the practical identity of a
certain Roman leasehold tenure of that name, and the quit-tenure of
the Cape Colony, thus attempting to establish the rights of the Crown
to all diamond and precious stones. His endeavors were, however,
without avail, and he was laughed at for his pains.
Footnote 95:
A noted hostelry near the court-house.
Footnote 96:
This is exemplified in the names by which white people of any
importance are known among them. For instance, a pompous friend of
mine, now an important government official in Natal, was known by the
natives as “Totovian” (Intotoviane) after a most offensively
odoriferous grasshopper with which he waged incessant war. But the
most biting example of native sarcasm, I think, consisted in the name
applied by them to a florin (2s. piece) that of “Scotchman.” This
conveyed, in one word, their appreciation of the Scotch cheese-paring
tendency; as they were shrewd enough to observe, that in cases where
an Englishman would give half a crown, his Highland neighbor would
give only two shillings.
Footnote 97:
Shakespere.—Henry VI., Part ii., Act iv., Scene 2.
Footnote 98:
This class of scoundrel gave Christiana the fictitious appearance of a
population, but this is more fully explained in the chapter on Diamond
Legislation.
Footnote 99:
_I.e._, thirty-six miles, for so are distances reckoned in South
Africa.
Footnote 100:
These I describe in the account of another journey to the Transvaal.
Footnote 101:
This beautiful building has since been completed.
Footnote 102:
Literally, a dram of liquor—meaning a trifle.
Footnote 103:
In pondering over the state of matters then existing it was impossible
for me not to picture in my mind the change time had wrought! A few
short years before, I had seen and listened to Thomas Francois
Burgers, full of eager anticipation of the future before him, speak
most hopefully of the Transvaal, at a banquet given in his honor at
Kimberley, as he passed through to assume the “dictatorship” of that
republic. And when, in touching upon some observation I had made in
proposing the toast of “the press,” he had emphasized the fact that
“the pen was mightier than the sword.” And now, his expectations
unrealized, his fond hopes withered, his ambition blighted,
broken-down in health and spirits, it was not to be wondered at that
he made no strenuous opposition to the advent of British rule.
Footnote 104:
Sir Theophilus Shepstone arrived in Pretoria with his twenty-five
policemen in January, 1877. He announced to President Burgers that
unless he could make arrangements that would be satisfactory to the
Imperial government with regard to the government of the Transvaal he
was authorized to annex it as a portion of Her Majesty’s dominions.
President Burgers called a special session of the Volksraad, and
proposed a new constitution, but that did not meet with the approval
of the British Commissioner, and on the 12th of April, 1877, as I have
mentioned before, the country was proclaimed British territory, and
Sir T. Shepstone assumed the administration of affairs. He continued
to hold that position until the 18th of December, 1878, when he left
for Zululand in consequence of the threatening aspect of native
affairs there. The government was administered for a time by the
senior military officer before the arrival of Colonel Lanyon. Sir T.
Shepstone never returned.
Footnote 105:
Mr. Christian Maasdorp, now nominated to a seat on the Eastern
District’s bench, but who then held the commission as Attorney
General, resigned “when he found it impossible (vide Transvaal
_Advertiser_, November 20th, 1885) to countenance the chicane and
tyranny of the Lanyon administration.”
Footnote 106:
Sir Garnet Wolseley was assisted by an executive council consisting of
Colonel Lanyon, administrator, Colonel Harrison, commanding H. M.
troops, Mr. Melmoth Osborne, Colonial Secretary, Mr. C. G. Maasdorp,
Attorney General, and Mr. H. C. Shepstone, Secretary for native
affairs. There were also three non-official members, viz., Messrs. J.
Marais, J. C. Holtshausen, and J. S. Joubert, who with the members of
the government composed the Executive Council under the Constitution
promulgated on November 8th, 1879. A legislative assembly was at the
same time called into being by the Wolseley constitution, and the
under-mentioned gentlemen were nominated: viz., Messrs. J. R. White,
O. W. A. Forsman, J. A. Esterhuizen, A. H. Stander and J. H. Nel. The
last session of the legislative assembly concluded very shortly before
the war broke out, which put an end to the constitution and British
authority at one fell swoop.
Footnote 107:
“To our homes.”
Footnote 108:
_Convention of Pretoria_, Article 23: If not released before the
taking effect of this Convention, Sekukuni, and those of his followers
who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the
boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location
Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding article.
Footnote 109:
The first Sekukuni war broke out in October, 1876, the treaty of peace
being signed February 5th, 1877. The second Sekukuni war, begun under
the Shepstone administration in March, 1878, resulted in the complete
destruction (under Sir G. Wolseley) of the tribe, and the capture of
the chief, who was held a prisoner of war, as I have mentioned, until
the convention of Pretoria was signed in August, 1881. The Mapoch
(Niabel) and Mampoer war commenced near the end of 1882 and was about
ten months in duration. Mapoch surrendered 12th of July, 1883, to
General Joubert, who had conducted the operations against both chiefs.
Footnote 110:
The Government is wakening to this fact and is beginning to take
active measures.
Footnote 111:
I regret to learn that this gentleman, who was much esteemed in
Barberton, is recently dead.
Footnote 112:
One of the latest analyses gives Welsh coal 81.0 carbon, 6.40 ash;
Transvaal 77.20 carbon, 7.20 ash.
Footnote 113:
The truth of my prognostications has, I am sorry to say, become to a
certain extent verified even before my ink is dry.
Footnote 114:
In the appointment of a British Resident care will have to be
exercised that no one interested in the gold speculations of the
country be nominated.
Footnote 115:
The census returns of the entire population in 1864, twenty-three
years ago, was 1098.
Footnote 116:
In the concession granted in 1873 to Moodie for a railway from Delagoa
Bay to Pretoria, a grant also was made him of 850 farms of 6,000 acres
each, in case he should be successful. Curiously enough these were the
very farms on which the present Kaap gold fields are situated.
Footnote 117:
This was brought forward very prominently in the report of the select
committee on Railway to Delagoa Bay, appointed by resolution of the
House of Assembly, 5th of April, 1880, C. K. White, chairman.
Footnote 118:
Cape Brandy.
Footnote 119:
Chief detective officer at the South African Diamond Fields.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
1. P. 228, added missing footnote anchor.
2. Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in
spelling.
3. Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.
4. Re-indexed footnotes using numbers and collected together at the end
of the last chapter.
5. Enclosed italics font in _underscores_.
6. Denoted superscripts by a caret before a single superscript
character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in
curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}.