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KECOEDS OF THE CAPE COLONY.
TVl^-r
RECORDS
OF THE
CAPE COLONY
From JANUARY to JUNE 1824.
COPIED FOR THE CAPE GOVERNMENT, FROM THE
MANUSCRIPT DOCUMENTS IN THE PUBLIC
RECORD OFFICE, LONDON,
BY
GEORGE MCCALL THEAL, D.Lit., LL.D.,
COLONIAL HISTORIOGRAPHER.
VOL. XVII.
PRINTED FOR
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CAPE COLONY.
1903.
LONDON :
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.
CONTENTS.
DATE PAGE
1824
1 1 Jan.- Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 1
13 Jan. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to R. Wilmot, Esqre. . 1
Enclosure concerning J. Z. Bergeon ... 2
15 Jan; Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Landdrost of
Albany ........ 2
„ Letter from the Rev. F. McGleland to the Bishop of
Waterford ........ 4
„ Letter from Lieutenant T. C. White to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 5
18 Jan. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant-
Colonel Bird 6
19 Jan. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 6 „ Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant- Colonel Bird 8
„ Letter from Sir. William Parker to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre. 9
22 Jan. Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 10
23 Jan. Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Landdrost of
Worcester ........ 11
24 Jan. Memorial of Messrs. Thomas Mills and John Saunders . 12
26 Jan. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 14
27 Jan. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant
T. C. White 15
„ Letter from Residents at Bathurst to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 16
28 Jan. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant-
Colonel Bird 18
„ Letter from the Assistant Colonial Secretary to Mr. George
Greig 19
„ Letter from Landdrost Cuyler to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 19
„ Letter from Mr. Charles Blair to Lord Charles Somerset . 20
30 Jan. Letter from Sir Rufane Donkin to R. Wilmot Horton, Esqre. 21
vi Contents.
DATE PAGE
1824
30 Jan; Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Bird to the Commissioners
of Enquiry 22
»• »» M ^<*
Letter from the Assistant Secretary to Government to the
Fiscal 24
Proclamation by Lord Charles Somerset ... 24 Letter from Mr. Henry Nourse to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 25
31 Jan: Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 35 n » » 36
Letter from Earl Bathurst to the Commissioners of
Enquiry 36
,j Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 37
Enclosure concerning Schools for Slave Children . 41
1 Feb. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 42
2 Feb. „ „ „ 44
3 Feb. Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 4."> „ Letter from the Assistant Secretary to Government to Mr.
William Edwards ....... 46
„ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 46
Enclosure : Petition to the House of Commons . 47
4 Feb. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Mr. William Edwards 48 „ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 48
5 Feb. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 49 ,, Opening of a Church at Stellenbosch .... 50
7 Feb.- Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 51
8 Feb. Letter from the Reverend William Geary to J. T. Bigge,
Esqre. 52
„ Letter from J. T. Bigge, Esqre., to the Reverend William
Geary ........ 52
„ Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Major Somerset 53
9 Feb. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Earl Bathurst 54
Enclosure concerning the Reverend William Geary . 57
„ Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant- Colonel Bird 59
9 Feb. Statement of Mr. Benjamin Wilmot .... 59
„ Letter from the Deputy Colonial Secretary to Mr. William
Edwards 66
„ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to the Deputy Colonial
Secretary ........ 67
10 Feb. Letter from the Landdrost of Worcester to the Commis- sioners of Enquiry ...... 67
„ Letter from the Reverend William Geary to the Commis- sioners of Enquiry 68
„ Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to the Reverend
William Geary 71
Contents. vii
DATE PAGE
1824
10 Feb. Letter from the Reverend William Geary to the Chaplain
General of His Majesty's Forces .... 72
11 Feb.- Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 73
„ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 74
„ Petition of Mr. William Edwards to the House of Commons 74
12 Feb. Letter from Harry Rivers, Esqre., to the Commissioners of 77
Enquiry ........ 77
„ List of British Settlers to whom Title Deeds have been
delivered ........ 78
,i Letter from Mr. John Foulger to Earl Bathurst . . 79
14 Feb. Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to Lord Charles Somerset 80
80
16 Feb. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 81
»> „ »> M 81
18 Feb; Letter from Harry Rivers, Esqre., to the Commissioners of
Enquiry 82
-„ Additional Grants of Land to British Settlers ... 83
„ Letter from Mr. Thomas Pringle to Lord Charles Somerset 85
19 Feb. General Military Orders 86
„ Letter from Captain Fitzroy to the Reverend William Geary 86
„ Letter from Mr. Thomas Pringle to P. G. Brink, Esqre. . 87 „ Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 87
„ Letter from the Landdrost of Uitenhage to the Commis- sioners of Enquiry ...... 88
Enclosures concerning Mr. Sephton's Party of Settlers 88
20 Feb. Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to Mr. Thomas Pringle . 90 „ Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to Mr. Robert Hart . 91 „ Government Advertisement concerning Trade . . 91
21 Feb.- Return of Settlers on their Locations in Albany . . 94
23 Feb. Return of Settlers in the Fieldcornetcy of Bathurst . . 98 „ Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lord Charles
Somerset ........ 99
24 Feb. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 99 „ n » » 100
Enclosure concerning Mr. P. H. Faure . . . 101
,, Letter from Miles Bowker, Esqre., to Lieutenant R. S. Haly 102
25 Feb. Letter from Commodere Nourse to John William Croker,
Esqre, 105
„ Letter from Mr. John Foulger to R. W. Horton, Esqre.- . 108
27 Feb.- Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 108
28 Feb. Letter from the Reverend William Geary to the Commis-
sioners of Enquiry Ill
29 Feb. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to the Reverend
William Geary . . .'..'. . . 112
Vlll
Contents.
DATE PAGE
1824
29 Feb: Letter from the Fiscal to R. Wilmot Horton, Esqre.- . 113
Feb. Memorial of Winegrowers, Merchants, and others . . 116
Description of the Zuurveld . . . . . . 117
1 March. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre. 122
1 March. Return of Troops on the Frontier . . . . . 123
2 March. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 123 „ Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Lord Charles
Somerset ........ 124
4 March.- Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Major Somerset 126
5 March. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 127
6 March. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 128
Enclosure : Memorial of the Winegrowers and others 128
8 March. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to the Reverend
William Geary 133
„ Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Major Somerset 1 34 „ Letter from Major Somerset to the Reverend William
Geary 135
,i Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset 135
9 March. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 136 „ Letter from the Collector of Customs to Lord Charles
Somerset . 137
,; Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Sir Herbert
Taylor 138
10 March. Warrant issued by Lord Charles Somerset . . . 138 „ Letter from the Deputy Colonial Secretary to the Chief
Justice 139
,i Letter from the Deputy Colonial Secretary to Mr. Launcelot
Cooke 140
11 March. Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to Lord Charles Somerset 140 „ Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 141
13 March. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 142
»» » »» >» 14o
144 144
15 March. Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Earl Bathurst . 14.")
16 March. Letter from the Fiscal to the Assistant Colonial Secretary 14 7 „ Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 148
„ Letter from Sir Rufane Donkin to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre. 149
18 March. Letter from the Foreign Office to R. Wilmot Horton, Esqre. 151
19 March. Letter from Sir Rufane Donkin to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre 152
Contents.
IX
DATE PAGE
1 82 1 19 March. Statement of Captain Aitcheson to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 152
„ Statement of Lieutenant Rogers to the Commissioners of
Enquiry 154
;, Memorial of Mr. Charles Breeze ..... 156
23 March. Letter from the Fiscal Denyssen to Lord Charles Somerset 157 Enclosure : Regulations for apprenticing Negroes , 167 „ Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissionera
of Enquiry 170
,. Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Robert Wilmot, Esqre. 171
„ Memorial of Mr. James Thomas Erith .... 171
25 March. Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to the Landdrost
of Albany 172
„- Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners
of Enquiry 174
26 March. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 175 „ Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 175 m » >» » 176 ,, Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........
Proceedings against Messrs. Cooke, Edwards, and Hoffman
27 March. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset „ Letter from Mr. J. G. Brink to Mr. L. Cooke .
28 March. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset „ Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Scott to Lord Charles
Somerset .......
v, Letter from Mr. L Cooke to Mr. J. G. Brink .
29 March. Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset „ Report of Messrs. Truter, Kekewich, and Napier . „ Letter from Mr. J. Ingram to the Fiscal Denyssen .
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset
30 March.
31 March.
1 April.
2 April 6 April. 9 April.
10 April. 12 April.
Statement of Major Somerset to the Commissioners of Enquiry ........
Present state and prospects of the British Settlers . Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst »» >> >»
Enclosures concerning a wharfmaster at Simonstown . Letter from the Reverend Dr. Manuel to R. Wilmot Horton, Esqre. ........
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from Mr. George Greig to Earl Bathurst Memorial of Mr. C. F. Liesching .....
Memorial of Dr. John Laing and others . .
176 177
209 210 210
211 212 213 214 215 216 217
217 220 230 231 232 233 233
235 236 236 237 238
x Contents.
DATE PAGB
1824
12 April; Certificate of Dr. F. L. Liesching 241
13 ApriL Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 242
14 April. Letter from Mr. William Hart to the Commissioners of
Enquiry 242
16 ApriL Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Colonial
Secretary ........ 244
Enclosure concerning the Reverend Mr. Geary . 244
;, Letter from Dr. James Barry to Lord Charles Somerset . 245
19 April. Letter from Mr. Thomas Willson to Earl Bathurst . . 246 „ Memorial of the Reverend William Geary, with Lord Charles
Somerset's comments upon it .... 247
20 April. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 267
21 ApriL Letter from J. T. Bigge, Esqre., to Lieutenant Colonel Bird 268
22 ApriL Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somer-
set, with the Governor's comments upon it . . 268 24 ApriL Letter from Mr, William Hart to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 272
„ Memorial of Mr. Benjamin Wilmot .... 273
26 ApriL Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 275 „ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to the Judge in appeal,
with Lord Charles Somerset's comments upon it . 276
28 ApriL; Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 277 „ Letter from the Assistant Secretary to Government to the
Fiscal 278
,; Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Colonial
Secretary ........ 278
29 ApriL Letter from George Harrison, Esqre., to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre.. 279
30 ApriL Letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary to the Colonial
Medical Inspector ... ... 280
„ Letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary to the Fiscal . 280 „ Letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary to the Burgher
Senate 281
1 May. Letter from Mr. F. G. Farewell to Lord Charles Somerset . 281
4 May. Letter from the Reverend W. Dakins to Sir Herbert
Taylor ." 282
„ Appendix to the Memorial of the Reverend W. Geary, with
Lord Charles Somerset's comments upon it . . 283
5 May. Letter from Mr. P. G. Brink to F. G. Farewell, Esqre. . 292 „ Letter from the Fiscal to Lord Charles Somerset . . 293 »> »> »> »f • ^y* ;, Notice of the Discontinuance of the Commercial Advertiser . 295 ;, Letter from the Fiscal to the Editor of the Cape Gazette . 296
6 May. Letter from Lieutenant-Colonel Bird to J. T. Bigge, Esqre. 296 „ Letter from Clergymen at Aberdeen to Robert Wilmot,
Esqre. 297
Contents. xi
DATE PAGE 1824
6 May. Memorial of Mr. John Bailie 298
8 May; Notice concerning a Newspaper 299
h » 299
„ Letter from the Fiscal to Lord Charles Somerset . . 300
„ Warrant for the Suppression of the Commercial Advertiser 300 „ Letter from the Secretary of the Matrimonial Court of
Albany to the Landdrost of Albany . . . 302 „ Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Assistant
Secretary to Government ..... 303
9 May.- Letter from the Fiscal to Lord Charles Somerset . . 305
10 May. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 305
»» >» »» »» • «JvO
„ Letter from Sir Herbert Taylor to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre. 307
„ Letter from Mr. Thomas Philipps to R. Wilmot Horton,
Esqre. 308
11 May.- Letter from Mr. George Greig to Earl Bathurst . . 310 14" May. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 311
„ Letter from the Fiscal to Lord Charles Somerset . . 312
„ Letter from Messrs. Pringle and Fairbairn to the Fiscal . 312
15 May. Evidence given by Mr. Richard Millington to the Commis-
sioners of Enquiry ...... 312
16 May.; Letter from the Landdrost of Worcester to J. T. Bigge,
Esqre. 315
17 May.; Letter from Mr. P. J. Theron to the Commissioners of
Enquiry 316
18 May.; Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 320 „ Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to the Commissioners
of Enquiry ........ 321
a Memorandum by Mr. Thomas Pringle .... 322
Memorial of Mr. Charles F. Liesching .... 326
19 May. Note on the state of the late DrostdyHouse at Tulbagh . 327
20 May,- Letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary to the Colonial
Medical Inspector ...... 330
Enclosure concerning the sale of Medicines . . 330
;, Evidence given by the Reverend Mr. Vos to the Commis- sioners of Enquiry ...... 333
-,i Letter from Fieldcornet D. J, Theron to John Gregory, 1
Esqre. 333
Enclosure concerning Tulbagh .... 334
;; Statement of Mr. Johannes H. Fischer .... 335
21 May. Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 339
Enclosure : Instructions to Commissioner Hayward . 340
„ Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 350 Papers on the removal of the drostdy from Tulbagh to
Worcester . 351
Xll
Contents.
DATE
1824 24 May.
25 May.
26 May.
28 May.
29 May;
30 May.-
31 May,-
2 June.
2 June.
3 June.- 5 June;
6 June.
7 June.
11 June. »>
12 June.
13 June;
14 Junej
Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to W. Hayward, Esqre. . Letter from the Colonial Medical Inspector to the Acting
Colonial Secretary .....
Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst
Enclosures concerning a church at Port Elizabeth Petition to the king for a free press Letter from the Acting Colonial Secretary to the Chief
Justice .......
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from Mr. Charles D'Escury to the Commissioners of
Enquiry .......
Trial of William Edwards for libel
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset
Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Bird to the Commissioners
of Enquiry .......
Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant
Colonel Bird ......
Letter from Mr. Charles D'Escury to the Commissioners of
Enquiry .......
Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Earl Bathurst
Memorandum by Mr. Thomas Pringle .
Letter from Mr. D. P. Francis to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ... ....
Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst
Enclosure : Letter from Sir J. A. Truter . Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Bird to P. G. Brink, Esqre, Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Earl Bathurst Letter from Mr. John Gregory to Mr. D. P. Francis Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to the Fiscal . Letter from the Chief Justice to the Acting Colonial
Secretary .......
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from Mr. Thomas Pringle to the Fiscal . Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset Letter from George Harrison, Esqre., to R. Wilmot Horton
Esqre. .......
Letter from the Fiscal to Mr. Thomas Pringle .
Examination of Mr. Thomas Pringle
Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset
Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst
PAGE
356
Contents. xiii
DATE PAGE
1824
15 June: Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst . 485 „ Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 486 » ti >» j> • 486
>» >» >» >> • 48/
16 June.- Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to Lord Charles Somerset 487
17 June,- Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset . 488 „ Evidence given by Mr. Martinus Melk to the Commis- sioners of Enquiry ...... 488
18 June; Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to the Commissioners
of Enquiry 492
„ Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant
Colonel Bird 492
„ Petition of William Edwards 493
,, ,, ;,- ..... 495
„ Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Earl Bathurst . . 498
19 June; Letter from J. T. Bigge, Esqre., to Lord Charles Somerset. 499
21 June* Letter from Mr. Charles D'Escury to the Commissioners of
Enquiry ........ 501
22 June; Return of Commandos against Bushmen in the district of
Graaff-Reinet 507
RECORDS OF THE CAPE COLONY.
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset.
Colonial Office, London, llth January 1824.
My Lord, — I do myself the honor to transmit to your Lordship the Copy of a Letter which has been addressed to this Department by the Reverend Doctor James Ross, and other Ministers of the Church of Scotland, recommending to my notice Mr. George Morgan, whom they consider to be a Gentleman who will prove well qualified to discharge the duties of a Minister of the Reformed Church at the Cape of Good Hope. And I also transmit for your Lordship's information the accompanying copy of the answer which I have caused to be returned to Doctor Ross, and by which your Lordship will observe that I have sanctioned the preparation of Mr. George Morgan for the discharge of the duties of such a situation.
,1 have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to R. Wilmot, Esqre.
Cape of Good Hope, \Ztk January 1824. Sir, — Having upon receipt of your Letter of the 30th September 1822, with enclosures from the Baron Fagel, called upon the Orphan Board at this Place to make the necessary
XVII. B
2 Records of the Cape Colony.
enquiry relative to the death of Jacques Zacharias Bergeon, a Soldier, belonging to a Regiment of Dutch Jagers, said to have come to this Colony in the year 1 802 ; I have now the honor to transmit to you, for Earl Bathurst's information, a Copy of a Report made to me by the Orphan Board on this Case, from which you will perceive that the Board has been unsuccessful in obtaining the information required. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Enclosure in the above.]
Orphan Chamber, Zlst December 1823.
Sir, — In compliance with the tenor of your letter of the 28th January last, requesting information relative to the death of Jacques Zacharias Bergeon a Soldier belonging to a Regiment of Dutch Jagers which came to the Colony in the year 1802, We have the honor to state for the information of His Excel- lency the Governor, that not finding the death of said Bergeon, or his Will registered in this Office, we applied to the several Landdrosts of the Respective Country districts for the infor- mation required, but we regret to say, that our researches have been unsuccessful, for it does not appear that a Man of that name has ever been known in any of the districts, so that we are to conclude that said Bergeon did not die within the Colony, as in that case his death must have come to the knowledge of the proper authorities. We have &c.
The Board of Orphan Masters.
(Signed) J. A. Truter.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Landdrost of Albany.
Colonial Office, loth January 1824.
Sir, — I have received and laid before His Excellency the Governor your letter of the 24th ultimo, in reply to that part
Records of the Cape Colony. 3
of my communication of the 22nd October last which respects those heads of parties of Settlers whose names are stated in the list No. 2 which accompanied it, and His Excellency having been pleased to approve of your several suggestions, has directed that titles to the locations as measured by Mr. Knobel shall be forthwith prepared for Messrs. Arthur Barker, Samuel Liversage, Daniel Mills, Nathaniel Morgan, William Owen, Thomas Phillips (Lampeter), and Benjamin Leech, the last mentioned being the person who remained on Mr. Perkins' location. These titles will be sent to you for delivery as the last were, as soon as completed.
His Excellency has further decided that W. Clarke's loca- tion bo ceded to John Marshall, Jeremiah Honey, Henry Marshall, Richard White, William Wentworth, Henry Brooks, Thomas Campkin, and the widow of the late William Clarke. That William Cock's location shall be granted to the twenty-one adults remaining thereon, of whose names it will therefore be necessary that you transmit a list to this office, and that the location of W. Holder be divided among W. Holder, Wm. Hiles, James Powell, and Alexander Kidwell, of all which subdivisions separate diagrams will be required here as soon as possible, in order that titles may be made out. With respect to the remaining individuals mentioned in your letter, to whom you recommend certain portions of land to be granted, I am to call upon you (with reference to my letter above alluded to) to cause such allotments to be measured and the diagrams thereof forwarded to this office, in order that titles may be prepared accordingly. I have &c.
(Signed) C. Bird.
b 2
Records of the Cape Colony.
[Original.]
Letter from the Reverend Francis McCleland to the Bishop of Waterford.
Clan William, South Africa, \5th January 1824.
My Lord, — It is upwards of three years since I took the opportunity of thanking your Lordship for the very flattering character you were so kind as to give me, when looking for the appointment which I now hold.
From various unforeseen causes the settlers have entirely failed, and out of one hundred and twenty two families that arrived here with me, only six remain.
I have hitherto endeavoured to bear up against the manifold hardships attending every man on first setting foot in a strange country, but as my Countrymen have abandoned their locations and are now scattered all over the Colony, the ties that bound me to Clan William are in a great degree dissolved.
There are many circumstances to deter the English from coming to this immediate district. It is now ten o'clock and your Lordship will perhaps scarcely credit me when I inform you that the thermometer is upwards of one hundred, that for want of servants or mechanics to build, we are frequently obliged to cook our own victuals exposed to such a burning sun, that for three months last year myself and family could with difficulty endure the light, in consequence of ophthalmia, and that when this or any other sickness overtakes us, we are obliged to let them run their course, being nearly one hundred miles distant from medical aid.
The poorest curacy in Ireland would be preferable to our present situation, but leaving home out of the question, if I might hazard an opinion there are many places, Stellenbosch, Graaff Reinet, the Paarl, where an English Clergyman could be much more usefully employed than in this remote place, as there are many English families residing there and no Episcopal Church whatever. Should a change however be impracticable, our comforts here would be greatly increased could His Excel- lency be prevailed on to accommodate us with a couple or even one prize negro as a servant, and a small house.
Records of the Cape Colony. 5
Emboldened by the disposition your Lordship has already evinced toward myself and others of your probationers, I have presumed to give you some insight into our situation, assured that were your Lordship's influence exerted on my behalf with the Earl Bathurst or His Excellency Lord C. Somerset, it would soon operate to our advantage.
I hope your Lordship will pardon this liberty. Here I am a perfect stranger, but were I even at home where I ought to have many a fostering hand, I feel I could not apply to any one with such hopes of success, as the Bishop of Waterford.
I have &c.
(Signed) F. McCleland.
[Original.]
Letter from Lieutenant T. C. White to the Commissioners
of Enquiry.
Cape Town, January 15th 1824.
Gentlemen, — Being extremely desirous to avoid the expense of an unnecessarily prolonged residence in Cape Town, I take the liberty to request that you will have the goodness to allow me to be informed of the earliest moment at which I may leave the Colony without prejudice to the case which I had lately the honor to submit for your consideration.
I beg leave further to request, in reference to the injurious language of some of His Excellency the Governor's communi- cations through the Colonial Secretary, and to your decision on my request for an investigation into the circumstances to which it related, that you will have the goodness to put me in possession of some documents, through which I may be enabled to bring the subject under the notice of the Government in England, free from the objections and difficulties which a supposed silence in this country might occasion. I have &c.
(Signed) T. C. Whitb.
Records of the Cape Colon?/.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Commissioners op Enquiry to Lieutenant Colonel Bird.
Uitenhage, 18th January 1824.
Sir, — A representation having been made to us by F. I. Potgieter, an Inhabitant of this District, that he had been driven by the Caff res in the year 1819 from an estate named " Ockert Heyn's Post," which he held in the Zuurveld, that it had been re-occupied for him on the retreat of the Caffres, but that he heard afterwards that it was to be given to H. O. Lange ; and the said Potgieter having stated to us that he has successively addressed three memorials to the Government, praying for Land to be granted to him in compensation for his losses, but that he has received no answer to either of them, we request accordingly that you will be so good as to inform us whether these Memorials have been presented to His Excellency the Governor, and what the decision of His Excel- lency may have been.
We take this opportunity also of requesting that you will be pleased to inform us whether His Excellency's decision may have been taken upon the memorials of J. A. Landman and C. P. Landman, stated to us to have been addressed to him on the 15th September 1821 and renewed by them on the 31st January 1822. We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
W. M. G. COLEBROOKE.
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset
Colonial Office, London, 19th January 1824.
My Lord, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of
your Lordship's dispatch No. 51 of the 11th September last,
tating that you had been under the necessity of throwing
Records of the Cape Colony. 7
upon the Public Treasury the expence of completing a road which had been in part executed by the Magistracy of the district of Stellenbosch, and soliciting my sanction for an ex- penditure of £2500 which this work would require.
In replying to your Lordship on this occasion it is necessary that I should recall your attention to my dispatch of the 21st January last, in which you are enjoined to continue in the strict observance of the instructions of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury of the 18th March 1816, which provide (clause 18) that no service shall be undertaken by your Lordship which should cause an expenditure above £200 sterling unless you had previously received the sanction of His Majesty's Government. Looking therefore to the amount of the sum required to complete the work now under consider- ation, and adverting to the expediency of enforcing the principle of the Instructions above referred to, I feel it my duty to inform Your Lordship that I must withhold my Sanction to the measure you have adopted until I shall have received such further information from your Lordship as may show that a paramount necessity rendered the execution of the service unavoidable and that the urgency of the case has compelled your Lordship to act under the 19th clause of the Instructions of the Lords Commissioners, which specifies that if an Emer- gency shall arise in which a previous reference could not be made to this Country for a regular authority for incurring any contingent charge (exceeding £200) you are to authorise the same, stating in the fullest manner to the Commissioners of the Treasury and to the Secretary of State for the time being the grounds upon which you have felt it necessary to deviate from the antecedent clause of their Lordships' Instructions.
I have only further to observe that detailed estimates of the work should accompany your Lordship's explanatory dispatch.
I have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Commissioner? of Enquiry to Lieutenant
Colonel Bird.
Uitenhage, l^th January 1824.
Sir, — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 9th Instant, in answer to our inquiry that we had the honor to address to you requesting the claims of a soldier of the Dutch East India Company to his right of Bur- ghership, by virtue of the articles of Capitulation signed by Sir David Baird at the last capture of this settlement. By the reference which thro' your kindness we have been enabled to make to copies of that Document, we find that the case of the Soldier does not come within any of the concessions of Privilege that were secured at the capitulation to the other classes of the inhabitants ; but as it appears by the other documents which you have been good enough to communicate to us, to have been deemed proper by His Majesty's Secretary of State that the admission to the rights of Burghership of aliens who have resided in the Colony 5 years uninterruptedly, should be subject to the payment of a certain fine fixed by the Colonial Government we believe at the sum of 250 Rixdollars, we beg leave to trouble you with an inquiry whether you are aware of any instance in which this fine may have been reduced or dispensed with in consideration of the poverty of the applicant.
We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge, W. M. G. Colebrooke.
Records of the Cape Colony.
[Original.] Letter from Mr. William Parker to R. Wilmot
HORTON, ESQRE.
Passage West, 19<A January 1824.
Sir, — I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 11th instant, stating it must rest with me to procure whatever corroborative statements may be necessary to support the charge I preferred against Colonel Bird.
Having given the address of Lord Howden and the Rev. Doctor Jones, and Mr. Dennis, the latter of whom was the first who informed me of Colonel Bird's hostility to the Protestant Religion, and as these respectable individuals I am certain will not flinch from the avowal of the facts they have told me, and which are so plainly stated in my affidavits, I have only to say that I cannot in justice to my distressed family incur any further expense, which I can by no means afford, to procure the corroborative statements to which I have so pointedly referred.
Every circumstance that has transpired from the Cape, respecting the condition of the settlers, especially the feeling report of the committee at Cape Town for their relief, dated in September last, an abstract of which is now before me in the St. James1 Chronicle of the 13th January, confirms the sound- ness of my conduct. Considering this document as authentic, bearing the name of the Rev. Doctor Philip, to whose kind advice under God, I am mainly indebted for the preservation of the lives of my large family, I take the liberty to send to you, for the perusal of the Earl Bathurst, the second part of the pamphlet of " The Jesuits Unmasked," and I beg his Lordship's reference to pages 103, 110 and 111. Indeed the course I have to pursue is now so simple, as I have such a great manifestation in this report of my strong allegations, that I should be derelict in that duty, I owe to my God, to my country, and to my wife and children, did I relax in my arduous endea- vours to bring the whole of the Cape emigration, the ensuing session, before, if not the cognizance of Parliament, at least the awful tribunal of public opinion.
Never, Sir, was a man better prepared by the possession of
10 Records of the Cape Colony.
facts than I am. In your letter of the 4th of March last, you attempt to exonerate the Colonial Government from all further responsibility, as I would not accept of a location in the Zureveld : Lord Bathurst, from the report of the benevolent committee at Cape Town, will now be able to judge what kind of country the Zureveld or Albany has proved.
Sir, it was on public grounds I had the honour to be intro- duced by the Government of Ireland to the Colonial Department in 1819, and it was public grounds that elicited his present Majesty's most gracious disposition towards me, therefore I am sure that the British public will be with me in that bold and manly part, it is now my determination to adopt.
I lost an immense property in the year 1810 and 1811, by orders in council, and with the assistance of some friends to whom I am indebted, I was enabled to proceed to the Cape, after experiencing many difficulties. It is due to these friends and to my immediate family connexions, it is due to my honour and character, that I should not yield one step to official men, who evidently persist in the most culpable errors. I have &c.
(Signed) Wm. Parker.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles
Somerset.
25 Long Market Street, Cape Town, 22nd January ISlM.
My Lord, — As your Lordship is aware of the professional duty which necessarily leads me into misunderstandings with which I have no concern, and of the occasion from a duty to my Client that I adopt their sentiments and expressions, I feel it scarcely requisite to make any excuse to you for con- ducting a complaint against one of your Officers.
But I do feel it needful for my own sake in transmitting the duplicates of Mr. Cooke's Memorial through your Lordship to the Treasury to say that I do not enter into this business from choice. I told Mr. Blair what was advised by me in hopes that the affair might have been managed by a slight concession
Records of the Cape Colony. 11
on his part. And although I will never shrink from the per- formance of my duty to my Clients, there is no man who would do a duty which might be painful to your Excellency with more sorrow than myself, no man in the Colony more unwilling to thwart the measures of His Majesty's Government than I am, nor is there a man alive more willing to devote his life, his everything, to the honor or Service of his Sovereign or the sacred representative of a beloved King.
My Father, My Lord, had the happiness of serving His Majesty for years as a Captain of Dragoons, he was personally known to some of those before whom this Memorial may be laid. I have also the honor of being so known, therefore feel it absolutely imperative on me to write this letter that it may never be supposed I have swerved from the principles of loyalty and affection to Government in which I was educated.
The other Copy of the Memorial will be forwarded by post. And as Mr. Cooke is speedily departing for England he will pursue the affair in person before their Lordships with the assistance of Counsel. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Colonial Secretary to the Landdrost of Worcester.
Colonial Office, 23rd January 1824.
Sir, — In reply to your letter of the 12th Instant enclosing a Copy of one from the Deputy Landdrost of Clan William, stating in reference to the late decision with respect to the Hantam Mountain, that he is informed that the Horse Sickness is not supposed to occur above once in seven years in the Hantam District, I am directed to acquaint you that His Excellency the Governor sees no necessity for the Hantam Mountain being kept useless in those years in which the Horse distemper does not prevail, but His Excellency is of opinion that among the regulations to be established when the Hantam Mountain shall have been surveyed and its capabilities ascertained, it
12 Records of the Cape Colony.
should be stipulated that the Inhabitants of the Hantam Field Cornetcy shall have a right of Commonage on this Mountain for Horses only, according to the extent of the Horse Stock which their respective places are calculated to support, paying a certain Stipend to Government for the Commonage, but that nevertheless the Mountain should be kept vacant every year until the season for apprehending the Horse distemper shall have passed. I have &c.
(Signed) C. Bird.
[Original.] Memorial of Messrs. Thomas Mills and John Saunders.
To the Right Honourable the Earl of Bathurst, His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonial Department.
The humble Petition of Thomas Mills, Corn Chandler, and John Saunders, Slop Seller, of the New Road Saint George's East, Humbly Sheweth
That your Petitioners respectfully request permission to submit the following facts to your Lordship's humane con- sideration, being fully persuaded that the extreme hardship of the case of those whom your Petitioners are about to represent, will not only excite a generous sympathy in their behalf, but also be considered a sufficient apology for their intruding themselves on your Lordship's attention.
That in the year 1819, Your Petitioners having had under their consideration the encouragements at that time held out by His Majesty's Government, to induce Individuals to Emigrate to the New Settlement in South Africa, came to the determination of, and did, at a very heavy expense, fit out their two Sons viz. Thomas Mills and John Saunders with a general assortment of Implements used in Husbandry, and other necessary articles for such an adventure ; and after having paid the deposit money, and complying with all the other regulations required by your Lordship's directions, the said Thomas Mills and John Saunders joined Mr. Bailie's Party, and proceeded in the ship Chapman from the River
Records of the Cape Colony. 13
Thames, in the month of November in the year above- mentioned.
That on the arrival of the said vessel at Algoa Bay, they proceeded with the said party to their destination, and took possession of such Land as they were entitled to, under the Superintendance of the Government Agent appointed for that purpose. That on obtaining possession of the same, they commenced cultivating it, and in due time purchased such Cattle to stock their Farms with, as their circumstances and inclinations admitted of. It was at this period that they began to cherish the Hope that their most sanguine expectations would be realized, but your Petitioners were concerned to receive the sorrowful tidings of the failure of their first crops, but even this sad communication was accompanied with an assurance of their determination to persevere and wait with patient and firm expectation that their future efforts would be successful, but Alas ! their next crops met with a similar fate, those distressing and discouraging circumstances, combined with others equally unfortunate, could have but one effect upon the minds of these young and unhappy adventurers, the consequence of which was, that their accumulated misfortunes soon compelled them to give up their Land, and by this corn- pulsatory act (which they could not avoid) their prospects in the Colony are quite hopeless.
That for temporary relief under their pitiable situations, your Petitioners have sent out small supplies to them, but which are, in the very mode of transmission, rendered doubtful of ever reaching its destination, therefore, for this, and other reasons, this kind of support cannot be repeated, they will therefore have to struggle with their miserable circumstances, unaided by such extraneous assistance.
That after a lapse of three years, the said Thomas Mills and John Saunders, in order to avert the worst of calamities, viz. that of starvation, make application for a Pass to quit the Colony and be allowed to proceed to England ; but here again, the hand of misfortune visited them, the authorities of the Colony refused the necessary documents for that purpose, without assigning any cause for such a refusal, the lamentable result of which is, that they have for a long time past, been suffering the greatest privations. We beg leave most respect-
14 Records of the Cape Colony.
fully to remind your Lordship that it was expressly understood by all, before they left this Country, that they should after the expiration of three years, be at liberty to quit the Colony if they should think proper so to do.
That your Petitioners would cautiously avoid taking up your Lordship's valuable time by further details, yet they cannot suffer the present opportunity to pass by, without respectfully entreating a reference to the deplorable statements published in the Morning Chronicle of the 13th Inst., of the perilous situations of the Settlers in general, and which accounts have caused the most painful feelings in the minds of your Petitioners.
Your Petitioners do therefore most humbly pray, and con- fidently rely, on your Lordship's known humanity to interfere in their behalf, and that you will be pleased to cause an order to be forthwith sent out to the Government at Cape Town, to remove any obstacles that may be existing, and that the said Thomas Mills and John Saunders and his family may be permitted to proceed to England without further hinderance. And Your Petitioners (as in Duty bound) will ever pray.
9 New Road, St. George's East, 24th January 1824.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst.
Cape of Good Hope, 2Gth January 1824.
My Lord, — I do myself the honor to transmit to your Lordship the enclosed additional List of appointments which I have conferred, and encreases made in the Salaries of the Civil Servants during last year, as they contain Items in the ordinary expenditure of this Government which require your Lordship's particular sanction ; and anticipating your Lordship's ready approval thereof upon perusal of the satisfactory reasons given for their expenditure, I beg your Lordship will communicate the same to the Auditors of Colonial Accounts. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
Records of the Cape Colony. 15
The list is of an additional collecting clerk at the market, an additional overseer at Buck Bay Farm, a church clerk at Hot- tentots Holland, and increases in the salaries of two school- masters and a few others, chiefly connected with the post office.
[Original.]
Letter from the Commissioners op Enquiry to Lieutenant
T. C. White.
Uitenhage, 21th January 1824.
Sir, — We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th inst., and as it is not probable that the pressure of business in this district, and the numerous claims similar to your own that we are prepared to examine in the district of Albany will enable us to enter upon the investigation that you have solicited at as early a period as you seem to wish, we have no difficulty in stating to you that although we declined the investigation of the misunderstanding that took place between His Excellency Lord Charles Somerset and yourself from an impression that it was a matter purely of a personal nature, yet nothing has arisen out of it that will preclude us from proceeding in the investigation of your claims to a confirmation of the grant of land that was assigned to you, as well as to the augmentation that you have solicited, at as early a period as other engagements of a similar nature will permit.
We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
William M. G. Colebrooke.
16 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from Residents at Bathurst to the Commissioners of Enquiry.
Bathurst, 27 th January 1824.
Gentlemen, — We the undersigned most respectfully beg leave to represent the unfortunate situation, actual losses, and Serious disappointments occasioned us by the destruction of the Town of Bathurst.
In the early part of the year 1820 His Excellency the Acting Governor, General Sir Rufane Donkin, visited these Frontiers for the purpose of fixing upon the most eligible and central situation for a Drostdy Town in the new Settlement ; which point being settled at Bathurst, a Provisional Magistrate was immediately appointed, a company of Soldiers stationed for the protection and further advancement of the Town, a Board of Landdrost and Heemraaden, and a Commissariat Estab- lishment appointed and fixed ; a Drostdy House commenced, and a full Court of Justice held ; in short every movement tended to confirm the intentions of Government to make it the principal Town on the Frontier, and so general was this impression, that at a public Sale of the Government Erven held in the Month of June 1821, a number of Erven were sold at the unprecedented rate of from 500 to 1100 Rixdollars each.
Under these circumstances (we being the first inhabitants) were induced to expend very considerable Sums in building and other improvements, and had already established our- selves in our respective occupations under the idea of reaping those advantages naturally looked for and expected by those persons whose emulation and energy led them to become the first founders of a flourishing and opulent town ; but alas it appears these expectations were only raised that we might more keenly feel the disappointments and misfortunes we were doomed to experience by the changes made on the arrival of His Excellency the present Governor.
The first step towards the destruction of the Town was the removal of the Seat of Magistracy to Graham's Town in the Commencement of the year 1822, which was shortly followed by
Records of the Cape Colony. 17
the removal of the Troops and the Commissariat Establishment, but notwithstanding these extremities we have still retained a degree of composure, comfort, and satisfaction from our remaining in some measure upon a level with the respective Locations, there having been a considerable portion of fine grazing ground attached to the Town, we were enabled to turn our attention to breeding and feeding Cattle, which has been carried on to an extent far beyond any Location in the Settle- ment ; but now as a final stroke to the future benefit or advantage to either the Town or its few remaining Inhabitants, the most considerable and by far the most valuable part is taken from us, in consequence of which one individual has been put to the enormous expense of 65J Rixdollars from his Cattle having trespassed on the above ground in going to drink of the water they had been accustomed to for these three years. Thus after having experienced these Calamities and distresses beyond what has generally been felt by the Community at large, lost near four years' labour and exertions, and actually expended many thousand Rixdollars, we at present remain the unfor- tunate occupants of only a house and small garden, even to which we cannot procure a Title without an additional Expense. We view with pleasure a field of Commerce opening by the probable navigation of the River Kowie, and the late altera- tions made with respect to the Government Farm at Somerset, which holds out encouragement both to the Farmer and Labourer by furnishing a Market for the produce of their industry, but it is melancholy to state that we are prevented from partaking of the general benefit likely to arise from these resources by the confined situation in which we are now placed both as to Land and our Finances, which have been exhausted in the manner above stated. That we are by no means upon a footing with the most unimportant Location in the District, and we have no hesitation in asserting that had our rights extended so far, or had there been the least encouragement held out to us, agricultural pursuits would have been carried to a much greater extent than is at present the case, but which is now stretched to our utmost boundary.
Upon these particulars we humbly beg your most serious consideration, and shall be most thankful for such assistance and relief as may be thought consistent with our various cases,
xyii. c
18 Records of the Cape Colony.
and which you may think requisite to recommend to His Excellency the Governor. We have &c.
(Signed) S. Biddulph,
John B. Biddulph, Thos. Hewson, James Carney, J. Hartley, Dond. Gunn, E. Griffiths, Geo. Anderson, James Vice, Ed wd. H. Dell, Wm. Bond.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant
Colonel Bird.
Uitenhage, 28<A January 1824.
Sir, — Having had occasion to refer to the Landdrost of Uitenhage to ascertain the result of an application stated to have been made by Mr. Bernardus Rens for a grant of land situated near the Sunday River, we have received from the Landdrost a copy of the Resolution of the Board of Landdrost and Heemraden transmitted to you on the 15th of January 1817, to which as we are informed there has been no reply, and that a second Memorial from Mr. B. Rens has also remained unanswered.
We request that you will have the goodness to inform us what may have been the decision of His Excellency the Governor upon these memorials, and in what manner the land in question may have been disposed of. We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
W. M. G. COLEBROOKE.
JRecoi'ds of the Cape Colony. 19
[Copy.]
Letter from the Assistant Colonial Secretary to Mr. George Greig.
Colonial, Office, 2%th January 1824.
Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to inform you that he has been pleased to fix the rate of Postage to be paid for the Paper you have established at One Skilling for each number sent to the Country districts. I am &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
[Copy.]
Letter from Landdrost Cuyler to the Commissioners of
Enquiry.
Uitenhage, 28th January 1824.
Gentlemen, — I am honored with the receipt of your Letter of yesterday respecting the locating of Mr. Francis the Settler, and have the honor in reply to acquaint you that the first Settlers were located by Orders from the Colonial Office, fixing the spot, but latterly the Settlers heaped upon us faster than Mr. Knobel could sketch &c, when we were directed to set them down westerly of the last, &c, &c.
I enclose the letter I got respecting Mr. Francis, and the sketch I then held from the Surveyor of fit Places to place Settlers on, with the route to the same, and where you will see Mr. Francis' name marked. The directions he alluded to, to have got from Captain Evatt, was merely my directions, to be communicated to the Drivers of the Waggons and the party, where about they were to go, and when notice was sent to Graham's Town to the Deputy Landdrost to see them located.
I do not recollect to have ever seen Mr. Francis till some considerable time after he had been located, nor can I remember ever hearing from Mr. Knobel that Mr. Francis wished another place.
When Mr. Francis was going to Cape Town, some six or eight
c 2
20 Records of the Cape Colony.
months ago, he called upon me and shewed me his name on Mr. Knobel's Map, in a different place to where his Location was. The Error in the map I could not explain to him. Mr. Knobel might perhaps do that better. I have &c.
(Signed) J. G. Cuyler.
[Copy.] Letter from Mr. Charles Blair to Lord Charles Somerset.
Custom House, Cape Town, 28th January 1824. My Lord, — After returning my thanks to your Lordship for the communication of the Memorial of Mr. Cooke, I have in remarking upon it to state to your Lordship that in my official capacity I did in pursuance of the Act of the 47th Geo. 3rd and of the Order in Council apprentice the Prize Negro Jean Elie, captured in the Victor, to Mr. Samuel Murray. And that on the decease of Mr. Murray I gave over Jean Elie to Mr. W. W. Bird for his son-in-law Mr. Pegou, under whose care and protection I could place him satisfactorily for about six months, being the remainder of his term. I was ignorant of Jean Elie being let out to Messrs. Cooke and Thompson by Mr. Murray, or I should have objected to it, and in hiring this man whom I apprenticed for the sole use of Mr. Murray, Mr. Cooke by his own acknowledgment began by doing what was not allowed by me and persisted in his wrong by harbouring him after Mr. Murray's death and disobeying the Collector's order for removal. The act and order in council which enjoin an apprenticeship not exceeding 14 years do not require me to give reasons of preference, but I consider the man's service in a regular married family most beneficial, particularly at the close of the period. With regard to Mr. Cooke's History about the freedom of Jean Elie I know nothing. I received him after regular condemnation by the Court of Vice Admiralty, and do not consider it to be any part of my duty to scrutinize the acts of that Court, but must remark on the unjust conduct of Mr. Cooke, who convinced that Jean Elie was free, paid thirty-five rixdollars per month for six years to Mr. Murray and not to Jean Elie the Freeman.
Records of the Cape Colony. 21
With regard to the words charged by Mr. Cooke, the greater part is false, and it is also to be observed that the Court of Justice of this Colony takes cognisance and redresses every offence committed by one Individual against another, and that having been summoned before the Fiscal at the instance of Mr. Cooke, I duly attended and answered to the charge, which was abandoned by Mr. Cooke, I presume, with the view of forwarding thro' your Excellency a string of observations scurrilous, slanderous, and false in every respect. To assertions and charges thus originally attempted to be made clandestinely I forbear to make any reply other than by an immediate action at Law against Mr. Cooke in the Court of Justice, conscious that in the honorable performance of a duty extremely un- pleasant from the Malice and rancour of disappointed Indi- viduals, I have on all occasions to the best of my Judgement strictly adhered not only to the spirit, but even to the letter of the Acts of Parliament and Orders in Council in this Case provided.
I have therefore only to add my anxious hope that your Lordship will have the goodness to enable me to protect my character as a Servant of Government, by ordering the Public Prosecutor to receive my instructions and to proceed against Mr. Cooke in due course of Law. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Blair, Collector of Customs.
[Original.] Letter from Sir Rufane Shawe Donkin to R. Wilmot
HORTON, ESQRE. 12 Upper Grosvenor Street, January 20th 1824.
Dear Sir, — I have just seen an article in this day's Morning Post by which I am led to infer that some attack has been made on His Majesty's Government, and on Lord Bathurst in par- ticular, relative to the Settlers at the Cape of Good Hope.
This cannot refer to the strong article in the Times of yes- terday, for in it there was no reference made either to his Lordship or the Government, and if any such attack such as
22 Records of the Cape Colony.
seems implied in the Morning Post has been made, I beg leave to say that I am quite ready to address you officially to say that whatever misfortunes may have befallen the Settlers no part of them can be attributed either to His Majesty's Government generally, or to the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
Nothing could be more ample, or indeed munificent than the manner in which the Settlers were sent out, nothing could exceed the foresight and anxious care manifested in all the Despatches and Instructions relative to them from the Colonial Office, and, with a consciousness of this, the Settlers were strongly and gratefully impressed, Moreover, when circum- stances compelled me to make any immediate disbursement for their aid, it was sanctioned at home at once, nothing there- fore can be more devoid of all foundation and Truth than such an attack as the Morning Post seems to be repelling.
I hope you will not think this an improper Intrusion of mine, but that you will attribute my troubling you to an anxious desire on my part to enable your Department (under which I once had the honor of serving, and towards which I feel both respect and obligation) to refute, should occasion be, any in- sinuations of the nature I have alluded to. I have &c.
(Signed) R. S. Donkin.
[Copy.]
Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Bird to the Commissioners of Enquiry.
Liesbeek Cottage, 30/A January 1821.
Gentlemen, — I have been honoured by your letter of the 18th January, stating that a representation had been made to you by I. I. Potgieter on the subject of certain Lands called " Ockert Heyn's Kraal " granted to H. 0. Lange, and repre- senting that he had made three successive memorials to Government for lands in compensation for his losses without having received any answer thereto.
Being confined to my bed in consequence of a very serious accident, I directed the Inspector of Lands to make the neces-
Records of the Cape Colony. 23
sary inquiry into and examination of this subject, and I have the honor to enclose Mr. D'Escury's report to me hereon, of the accuracy of which I have no reason to be doubtful.
This report will at the same time answer your further query respecting the memorials of J. A. and C. P. Landman.
[I have &c.
(Signed) C. Bird.
[Copy.]
Letter from Lieutenant Colonel Bird to the Commissioners
of Enquiry.
Liesbeek Cottage, 30<A January 1824.
Gentlemen, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter from Uitenhage dated 19th inst. in reply to mine of the 9th, in which I had the honor to enclose for your information the documents necessary to shew how and by what authority aliens might be admitted to the rights of Burghers in this Colony ; and in reply to your further query, whether I am aware of any instance in which the fine of Rds. 250 payable on such admissions may have been reduced or dispensed with in consideration of the poverty of the applicant, I have the honor to state, that for the reason mentioned in my reply to your letter of the 18th, not having had it in my power personally to examine the books on this head, I desired the Assistant Secretary so to do, who has informed me that there is no instance such as you advert to.
A Burghership was however issued gratis to J. Tier, Messenger of the Colonial Office, in consequence of long and faithful Services. I have &c.
(Signed) C. Bird.
24 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Assistant Secretary to Government to the Fiscal.
Colonial Office, 30/A January 1824. Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to forward to you herewith in original a letter transmitted to His Excellency by Mr. Edwards a Notary in Cape Town, styling himself the attorney to Mr. Launcelot Cooke, together with the Documents therein referred to. And as these Papers contain assertions injurious to the character of the Collector of His Majesty's Customs at this place, His Excellency desires that you will be pleased to refer to Mr. Blair, in order to obtain every information for prosecuting Mr. L. Cooke for defamation of a public Servant. I have &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
[Copy.] Proclamation by Lord Charles Somerset.
Whereas by my Proclamation bearing date oth July, 1822, it has been ordered and directed, that from and after the 1st Day of January, in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred and Twenty-seven, the English Language shall be exclusively used in all Judicial Acts and Proceedings in the Supreme and Inferior Courts of this Colony ; and whereas the majority of the Population in the Albany District is now English, I have deemed it expedient, that so much of the aforesaid Proclamation of the 5th July, 1822, as may be considered to regard the Albany District, should be abrogated and repealed : — I do therefore hereby order and direct, that all Judicial Acts and Proceedings in the aforesaid District of Albany, which shall be entered upon, or commence on or after the first Day of March next, shall be carried on in the English Language ; — and I hereby further order and direct all Persons concerned to take due Notice hereof, and to conform themselves to the Provisions of this Proclamation.
Records of the Cape Colony. 25
And that no Person may plead Ignorance hereof, this shall be published and affixed in the usual manner.
God save the King !
Given under my Hand and Seal, at the Cape of Good Hope, this 30th Day of January, 1824.
(Signed) C. H. Somerset.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. Henry Nourse to the Commissioners op
Enquiry.
Cape Town, 30th January 1824.
Gentlemen, — I have the honor to acknowledge your communication of the 14th Inst., in which you state that you have received the instructions of Earl Bathurst to report to him whether any Public inconvenience is sustained by a Grant of Land made to me by the Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin on the Banks of the Kowie, and that as the opportunity will soon be afforded you of ascertaining those particulars with which Earl Bathurst is desirous of being informed, you will be glad to receive from me any explanation of the circum- stances under which the Grant was made ; and you are pleased to say further, that it will afford you great satisfaction to bring to the knowledge of Earl Bathurst any claims I may have had to the liberal consideration of Government, and which His Lordship is already prepared to receive.
In affording you the information required as far as is in my power, it appears expedient that I should first set forth the nature of my Claim to the consideration of Government as leading to the grant of the ground in question ; at the same time I hope I may be pardoned for observing that while I am grateful for the favorable disposition of Government, I am aware of nothing in this Grant manifesting a consideration beyond that afforded to any other individual without any such claims, such, and much more extensive Grants being almost of every day occurrence throughout the Colony, and if I have
26 Records of the Cape Colony.
any advantage it is only in the choice of a position more applicable to my views.
In doing this it becomes necessary for me to state, that being established in the Wine Trade and general commercial Concerns in London, my connexion with the Cape commenced on the receipt of intelligence of the re-capture of the Settlement in the year 1806 ; when I despatched hither a vessel with supplies under the management of Mr. Kenneth Duncan as Supercargo. The result of this expedition was the establishment of Mr. Duncan here as my Agent, and our operations continued to be attended with success until his sudden death by a fall from his Horse in the year 1815, leaving his Widow, a Lady of the Colony, sole Executrix, and as it appeared or was assumed, without any intimation that he was only the agent of another ; from this circumstance the whole of a very considerable property became involved in dispute and litigation, and the deterioration and ultimate loss on what was recovered was great, and much remains unadjusted to this day. On this occasion my Brother in Law Mr. Christian assumed the management of the Establishment here under the firm of Nourse, Christian & Co., and our transactions were extensive, but a chain of unfortunate events succeeded, and we were never able to recover from the embarrassment commencing with the foregoing event, and my private resources at length failing to meet the tardiness of operations and Returns from hence, gave way, and I ultimately came out to the Colony in the year 1820 with the personal full powers of the Creditors under which the affairs of the House were wound up and finally closed.
It was during the period of these transactions, with views certainly of a private as well as of a public nature, that I continued one of the most, if not the only, watchful Member of the Commercial Community in London connected with this place, in suggesting to His Majesty's Government such altera- tions in the existing Laws protecting the interests of the Colony against the introduction of New Laws militating against them, and submitting to the Lords of Trade such encouragements to its productions as from time to time occurred to me ; and while I acknowledge with thankfulness the polite consideration and attention I at all times experienced from the Government
Records of the Cape Colony. 27
Agent to the Colony, Mr. Courtney, and the zeal with which he met every proposition likely to prove beneficial, I am sure that he as well as Mr. Lack, Secretary to the Board of Trade (if I may not be allowed to appeal to Earl Bathurst himself and Mr. Robinson) will bear testimony to the trouble I have occasioned them in pursuing these objects.
It is difficult at this distance of space as well as of time, unprepared for such a requisition, to trace the various instances in which I have thus obtruded myself, sometimes with effect, and oftentimes perhaps without, and such evidence as I can produce is found only in detached Memorandums.
I am however I think enabled to manifest to you a chain of circumstances that will shew they have not been unimportant on many occasions, but as these are much too voluminous for a post dispatch, I shall confine myself for the present to those immediately relating to the Grant in question.
Among other representations, I had frequently called the attention of Mr. Courtney, as well as the Lords of Trade, embodied in Memorials on other subjects, to the difficulties under which the Cape generally, but more particularly the English residents, labored from the extreme high price of Labor, and suggested the expediency of extending the same encouragement to the Cape as was done to Canada. The cessation of Hostilities and consequent distress of the lower Orders in England induced me to submit a proposition, of which the enclosed No. 1 is a Copy, to Lord Sidmouth, then Secretary of State for the Home Department. His Lordship in reply politely thanked me for the suggestion, and directed me to communicate with Earl Bathurst, the subject falling more immediately under his Lordship's department, and I consequently transmitted a Copy of my Ideas to the Colonial Office. Soon after this period a Subscription was set on foot in the City for the relief of distressed Seamen, and others annoying the streets of London, and a sum of money was raised, more than adequate to the object. I endeavoured to engage the Committee of this fund to undertake my scheme, but without effect, at length Mr. Courtney said that he would introduce the subject to the Committee on the poor Laws, of which he was a member, and subsequently on the 7th February 1819 wrote me the annexed Note No. 2. He afterwards
28 Records of the Cape Colony.
expressed a desire, and took an opportunity at the House of Commons, where my attendance on the interests of the Colony was frequent, to introduce me to Mr. Sturges Bourne, the president of the Committee, who after much Conversation expressed a desire to promote the Object. The Session was far advanced, the Committee were to meet only once again before its close, which was to be the day but one next after this interview, against which Mr. Bourne begged me to collect what evidence I could, and attend the Meeting. I could think of no one so likely to give the Committee information, par- ticularly of a local nature as Mr. Burchell, with whom I was slightly acquainted, and who I knew to be at that time pre- paring his Botanical Work on the Cape. He was resident at Fulham, and the next day was occupied in engaging him to come forward on this occasion, having much difficulty to overcome his retired habits and disposition. We met by appointment at Mr. Courtney's Office, at the Board of Controul, an hour before the Sitting of the Committee for the purpose (with Mr. Courtney'sassistance) of arranging a code of Questions best calculated to elicit the required information, but Mr. Courtney's engagements from the arrival of some Indian Despatches preventing his attention to us, the hour of Sitting arrived, and we were hurried before the Committee without any such previous preparation, which circumstance I mention to account for the irregular and perhaps irrelevant manner in which I felt our evidence was given. The result however was the immediate moving in the House by the Chancellor of the Exchequer of a vote of Fifty Thousand pounds for the purpose of giving encouragement to Emigration to South Africa.
Thus tho' but a worm at the foundation, yet as the first mover of the Stone I claim some right to a liberal participation in its consequences.
Under this feeling and in relation to my own circumstances at the time, I addressed a Letter to Earl Bathurst, of which tho Enclosure No. 3 is a Copy, and No. 4 the reply.
I wrote to Mr. Goulburn as per No. 5, (by which you will perceive my intention is to call consideration to points which I thought might escape notice) to which No. 6 is the Official reply. I addressed Earl Bathurst as per No. 7, and No. 8 is the answer.
Records of the Cape Colony. 29
Previous to my embarkation on board His Majesty's ship Vigo for the Colony on the 27th March 1820, I applied for the promised letter as per No. 8 to the Governor, and No. 9 is the Copy of a Note accompanying the same. As soon as I had finally brought my affairs to a close, I presented this letter to the Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and subsequently I presented a Memorial of which No. 10 is a Copy, and No. 11 the reply. And in February 1821 I set out from Cape Town, taking with me a person of the name of Dunn, who had come out at my suggestion, and who, having been brought up as a Country Auctioneer and appraiser of Land and Stock, I thought might be useful to my views for the District of the new Settlement, visiting on my Route every intermediate Bay, Port and River, and being joined in my expedition by Mr. B. Moodie and Lieut. Donald Moodie, from the one I gathered information of the Interior, and was assisted by the other in forming my opinion of the nautical practicability of the various Bays and Rivers.
We arrived at Bathurst, and viewed the condition of the surrounding Settlers, then at least promising. I visited the mouth of the Kowie, traversed and sounded it with Lieut. Moodie, and was I believe the first to suggest to the Acting Governor Sir Rufane, whom I met at Bathurst, the prac- ticability and advantages of such a communication. I formed my opinion and my plans, and referring to my sentiments, expressed in my address to Earl Bathurst (No. 7) and to much earlier opinions to the Board of Trade, which I can produce, that in establishing a commercial connexion with a New Settlement of this sort it is necessary to ascertain how or in what manner you are to be paid for your supplies. I at this period formed the opinion that Cattle was the readiest circu- lating medium of this and the back or Northern Districts, the most natural produce and the only one that could be brought into early operation, all others being remote, and therefore if I could take cattle in payment of my goods I should establish an advantageous Connexion for them and for myself.
The next question was how to appropriate this produce. I made my calculations, and altho' I knew the undertaking to have failed on a former occasion, and from the result to be deemed impracticable, I flattered myself with better success,
30 Records of the Cape Colony.
and better knowledge of markets, and determined to resume the experiment of Salting Beef for the Supply of the Navy, of Shipping, and for exportation to various markets then in my contemplation, and of drying the Hides &c. so as to render this an important available return.
In furtherance of this view, tho' unexplained to Sir Rufane Donkin, and consistent with the view I have taken of this Subject from the Commencement and set out upon as will appear from the Chain of Documents submitted, I solicited of the Acting Governor a Grant of Land at the Mouth and on the right bank of the Kowie, the opposite side being in the occu- pation of Mr. Thornhill ; this was at first refused on the plea of being already, and only the day before granted, but having some idea that Sir Rufane was misinformed on this point, I was obliged to assert a priority of claim founded upon a portion of the circumstances herein detailed, and it being found on investigation that I was correct and that the Land in question was unalienated at the time of my request, I obtained the promise of 2,000 Morgens situated according to my desire, and I mention these circumstances in connexion with my first position, merely to shew that almost any other person might have had the same, and that such grants were common at this time, before and since.
I have stated that I believed I was the first to suggest the practicability and advantages of a Communication by the Kowie, an acknowledgement which I believe is upon record in the Cape Gazette under the designation of a Commercial Man, and I believe my own subsequent shewing caused my Grant to be thrown back, one if not two Miles from the Mouth of the River, at which however I was promised to be allowed one hundred yards frontage for the purpose of erecting Stores &c.
Tho' no part of the condition of the Grant, I promised Sir Rufane in subsequent conversation that I would manifest the practicability of the River and open the communication, and I wrote to my correspondents in England on the subject of sending out an Humber Keel, as they are called, a kind of vessel I considered the best calculated for the purpose. With these views having likewise an Erf given me in the projected Town of Bathurst, I commenced by enclosing and building a Cottage thereon for the temporary residence of Mr. Dunn, part
Records of the Cape Colony. 31
of a plan for building a more regular House and Stores when labor should be somewhat reduced.
At this period a degree of spirit was infused into the minds of the Settlers, Bathurst was promising to rise fast, it was made the Seat of a Drostdy or Sub-Drostdy, a Drostdy House was building, other Government Buildings were projected immediately opposite my own Erf, temporary Barracks were erected, and it was understood that a portion of the Military (the readiest foundation of a new Settlement or Town) would be stationed there.
I left Bathurst, leaving Mr. Dunn to represent me, and leaving in his possession effects and money to the amount of Rds. 5000 for the prosecution of my views. I went to Port Elizabeth, and my Erf there being ill-situated, having been marked out for me unselected in Cape Town, I purchased part of another more suitable to my objects, for which I gave fifteen hundred Rix Dollars to a Dutch Colonist, and immediately directed a Store to be built upon it, viewing a connexion between Port Elizabeth and the Kowie to be indispensable.
On my arrival in Cape Town, I immediately dispatch a Schooner (the Elizabeth of 25 Tons) with Merchandize for the Kowie, after some difficulty and disappointment which will be easily comprehended I (that is the vessel) effected the first entrance of any Craft into the Kowie, and discharged her Cargo in the River. She returns to Port Elizabeth, reloads and re-enters the Kowie and discharges. I then order her round to Cape Town, but in attempting to weather Cape Recife she is driven upon the Rocks and totally lost. Some circumstances arising out of the nature of the undertaking rendering the Insurance questionable, I am at present the Loser of at least Ten Thousand Rix Dollars by this part of the enterprize.
I have established an Agent, Mr. Andrew Nicol, at Port Elizabeth, which has given much facility to the Shipping visiting that Port. I have at least thirty if not Forty Thousand Rix Dollars Capital floating between my two Establishments of Bathurst and Port Elizabeth, from which my Agents only have hitherto derived one tittle of benefit, not a Stiver having yet reached me.
In the meantime the views of Government changed, the
32 Records of the Cape Colony.
fostering hand of power was withdrawn from Bathurst. The Military were removed. The Drostdy and other public Buildings discontinued, and it was understood the whole were to be concentrated in Graham's Town, and the practicability of the Kowie, as far as Government was concerned, was con- sidered visionary. Bathurst consequently and necessarily sunk.
You Gentlemen will visit it, and you will find that my Agent, Mr. Dunn, supported by me from that time (June 1821) to this day by a Salary of Rds. 100 per month besides House Rent and Garden, in firm maintenance of my original views, tho' paralyzed by this change of circumstance, is almost the only remaining vestige of the once promising town of Bathurst, and you will say, Gentlemen, on reading this statement of facts, whether I have not paid sufficiently dear for the Grant in question, which is rendered valuable only by my own par- ticular views of its appropriation, separated from which you will find in the course of your investigation, that a Dutch or German Colonist would scarce pay the fees of Office for its attainment, and I am sure you will on comparing the circum- stances of the Grant with others, which will no doubt fall under your Observation, excuse my expressing some surprise, whence and how it should become an object of particular enquiry, having, I am sure, on my part taken no undue measures for its acquirement, and I cannot on the contrary but feel a little disappointment when on a rechange of the views of Government with respect to the Kowie these circumstances and pretensions should be lost sight of, and others placed in a situation to reap the benefit of my blighted prospects.
I have now Gentlemen to state to you, how far I have proceeded in carrying my views into effect, and how they have been necessarily paralyzed by these events, and to shew that I have left nothing unturned that my individual agency, unsup- ported and unaided, could effect towards their accomplishment.
Previous to my setting out for the frontier in 1821, I endeavored to engage Rear Admiral Lambert, then com- manding the naval force on this station, to draw his supplies of Cattle required for St. Helena from Algoa Bay, as being cheaper and better, but the Rear Admiral declined the sug- gestion, on account of the increased distance and difficulty of Navigation for the conveyance of Live Stock. In 1822, the
Records of the Cape Colony. 33
earliest possible period (the Seasons for Salting being confined to the months of May, June, July, and August), Mr. Dunn Salted a few Casks of Beef by way of experiment, the Casks being made of the Wood of the District, and sent them to me. I sent samples to H.M.S. Andromache, but the pickle having leaked out, the Beef was only partially approved, and I derived no farther benefit than the experience.
I afterwards engaged Capt. Owen of H.M.S. Leven, com- manding the Squadron employed in the Survey of the East Coast of Africa, to try the experiment, and he ordered three months supply to be prepared for him against his return to Algoa Bay the following April, this was therefore Salted out of the usual Season and ready for delivery at the time appointed, but owing to the loss of H.M. Schooner Cockburn, attached to the Squadron, Captain Owen becoming inconvenienced in Stowage, this Beef was not taken, and a proportionate Surplus now remains on hand in Algoa Bay. Mr. Dunn continued Salting in the Months of May, and June, and furnished me in the whole about Sixty Casks of upwards of 330 lbs. each.
In October last H.M.S. Andromache being in Algoa Bay, and the Commodore visiting Bathurst in person, and the superiority of the pasturage, appearance of the Cattle, &c, being evident, and viewing the importance of the object to the Colony, he was induced to receive on board Twenty One Casks of this Beef, upon the understanding that for what proved good and fit for H.M. Service I should be paid at the rate of Irish Beef supplied to the Victualling Yard in Simon's Bay, but the risk and responsibility of its proving so good and fit remained with me. The Andromache being destined on a Cruize to the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar &c, the trial was a desirable tho' an arduous one, and for the unquestionable success of it I appeal to the Commodore, founded on the survey and examination of the proper officers of the Ship, the men I know found it far superior to the Irish, and one cask of this quantity has been reserved and deposited in the Victualling Stores in Simon's Bay for further proof of time. This Supply of 21 Casks was taken promiscuously from the pile I have stated as being at Algoa Bay and part of it, (the numbers appearing to run from No. 1 to No. 44) was that prepared for Captain Owen and salted in March last.
XVII. D
34 Records of the Cape Colony.
I have thus at considerable labor and expence proved the practicability of rendering this an Article of valuable export from the District in question, as originally devised, and I am now soliciting Government for support and some exclusive protection to an undertaking of the kind on such a scale as to render it an object of Colonial importance.
I have stated that my views on this subject were paralysed by the change of circumstances at Bathurst. When Bathurst was, as I have stated, promising to rise into importance and made a Station for Military, when Government Stores were projected at the Mouth of the Kowie on the left Bank, and consequent Military protection rendered necessary at that point, I could with comparative Safety, as your observation will point out, collect a quantity of Cattle on the grant of Land in question, but the moment these positions were abandoned by Government this Security vanished, and your information on the then and the present state of the Caffres will point out to you that it would have been the height of temerity to have prosecuted such a scheme beyond the course of experiment I have pursued, and that it is not until definitive and confident protection shall be given to this part of the District, that I can prosecute my views with any reasonable prospect.
I have now Gentlemen given you at least a circumstantial Account and explanation of this transaction, and of my relative views, and I commit myself to your impartial judgment, with the hope that these views may find some support from your favorable representation.
I have perhaps troubled you with much irrelevant matter, but I have thought it best to be thoroughly explicit, and place the entire chain of circumstances before you, and I have only to add, with respect to those further grounds of Claim to the favorable consideration of Government, as set forth in my Memorial No. 10, that for the reasons assigned, combined with the want of time, I cannot transmit them by this conveyance, but I shall be prepared on the looked for return of your Commission to Cape Town, to submit to you such proof of the Services I rendered the Colony in the way stated, as will satisfy you that I have not advanced an untenable position. I have &c.
(Signed) Henry Nourse.
/,'. conh of tin: Cape Colon//. • 35
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset.
Downing Street, London, Slat January 1824.
My Lord, — I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch, No. 60, of the 4th November last, stating that you had commenced drawing Bills upon His Majesty's Treasury for the sum of £125,000 sterling, in order to provide for the relief of the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope, agreeably to arrangements sanctioned in my despatch of the 15th of November 1822.
After having been encouraged to hope, from previous com- munications received from your Lordship, that you would not have occasion to draw for any part of this money, it is with great concern, as well as surprise, that I find, from your despatch now before me, that the whole amount thereof will probably be required. Such an intimation has imposed upon me the necessity of directing that the circumstances which have caused so unexpected a demand should be fully explained by your Lordship, and that your explanatory despatch should be accompanied with an exact statement of the distribution which you propose to make of the money in question.
As the Commissioners of Enquiry have been directed to report upon the expediency of the measures your Lordship has considered it necessary to adopt, with a view of relieving the difficulties of the colonists, it will be advisable that you should communicate with those gentlemen upon the subject, apprising them of the arrangements you have made for the distribution of the assistance to be granted, and placing in their possession whatever information may have decided your Lordship to avail yourself, at the present time, of the arrangements sanc- tioned in my despatch before mentioned. With such infor- mation, in addition to their own observation of the state of the Colony, the Commission of Enquiry will be enabled to fulfil the instructions which are now sent to them — instructions which are equally necessary on your Lordship's account, and for the satisfaction of the Treasury and Parliament.
I have &c. (Signed) Bathubst.
d '2
36 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset.
Colonial Office, London, 3ls< January 1824.
My Lord, — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's dispatch No. 54 of the 8th October last stating the grounds on which you have been induced to direct that a House situated in Graham's Town should be purchased as a Residence for the Secretary of the district of Albany and re- questing that the sum required for this contingent service, amounting to ten thousand Rix Dollars, may be admitted as a charge in the accounts of your Government.
Although I am not disposed to withhold my sanction from a measure which appears to have been adopted by your Lordship in order to diminish a charge which under the general regulations of the Colony, the Secretary of the district of Albany has been allowed to make on account of House Rent, yet I cannot allow the present occasion to pass without ex- pressing my hope that the purchase in question has not been concluded without an express reservation that fulfilment of the contract should depend upon the sanction of His Majesty's Government, as an unconditional agreement would have been justifiable only in a case where a positive emergency rendered it necessary that a contingent charge exceeding £200 sterling should be sanctioned by your Lordship without previous reference to this Country. I have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to the Commissioners of Enquiry.
Downing Street, London, 31«< January 1824.
Gentlemen, — I transmit to you herewith a copy of a despatch which I have addressed to Lord Charles Somerset, in answer to a letter which I have recently received from his Lordship, in which he states that the distresses of the colonists
Records of the Cape Colony. 37
had induced him to commence drawing Bills upon the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury to the amount of £125,000 agreeably to arrangements sanctioned in my despatch of the lath November 1822, of which a copy is also transmitted herewith.
And I have to desire you would take the subject of this correspondence into your immediate consideration, and after communicating with Lord Charles Somerset thereupon, report to me, for the information of His Majesty's Government, your opinion upon the expediencies of the measures which His Lordship has now considered it necessary to adopt, with a view to relieve the present distresses of the inhabitants of the Cape of Good Hope ; and that you would also report upon the distribution which his Lordship proposes to make of the money in question. I have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst.
Cape of Good Hope, Zlst January 1824.
My Lord, — I have had the honor to receive your Lordship's Despatch of the 21st of July No. 72, with Six Enclosures, containing Copies of the Circular Instructions which your Lordship had addressed to the Several Governors of His Majesty's Possessions in the West Indies, in conformity to certain Resolutions which had been unanimously adopted by the House of Commons in the last Session.
In reply to the Copy of the Instructions marked A of the 28th of May 1823, I have the honor to inform your Lordship, that the flogging of Female Slaves in this Settlement has been prohibited, that the flogging of Males under the Authority of the Magistrates has long since been forbidden to exceed, even in extreme cases, 39 Stripes, and that by the 17th Clause of my Proclamation of the 18th March 1823, herewith enclosed (No. 1) establishing a general improvement in the condition of the Slaves here, the domestic correction of the Males is
38 J,'rcords of the ('<</><: CoUmy.
confined to 25 Stripes and to what may be considered a mild domestic correction, and that there is also a restriction as to the implement with which such limited domestic correction is to be inflicted. The practice of using the Whip, or driving Slaves to their work by the Sound of it, is totally unknown in this Settlement.
In answer to your Lordship's Circular of the 9th of July, relative to the importance of establishing the means of Religious Instruction for the Slaves, I am happy in being able to call your Lordship's attention to the 4th Clause of the enclosed Proclamation, in which you will perceive that I have been prompted by views Similar to those which have guided your Lordship on this Subject, and that the means for attaining that object, as far as they can be usefully employed at present, have been established here. A Statement of the expence which will be incurred for the Establishment on that Head, as nearly as it can at present be calculated, I have the honor to transmit (No. 2) and the assurance which your Lordship gives me that His Majesty's Government will not hesitate to apply to Parliament for such pecuniary grant as may be necessary for these establishments, will render the measure extremely palatable and enable me to continue it upon the most effective and beneficial principles. There being no Sunday Market in this Settlement and the Sabbath being observed as a day of Rest, the clause on that subject requires no comment.
Relative to the admission of the Evidence of a Slave in the Courts of Judicature at the Cape of Good Hope, if I might presume to offer an opinion to your Lordship on a subject of this Magnitude, I should recommend that the Law existing here respecting it should not be disturbed. The 12th Clause of the enclosed Proclamation admits the Evidence of Slaves who have been baptized. And it is necessary for me to explain to your Lordship that no adult receives Baptism here until he has undergone Examination by one of the established Clergymen and has been found to possess such a degree of Religious information as entitles him to receive that Holy Sacrament. Previous however to the enactment alluded to in the 12th clause of that Proclamation, the Evidence of Slaves not having received Baptism was admitted in the Courts of this Colony
Records of the Cape Colony. 39
in cases where every circumstance corroborated the testimony given.
In October 1822 J. W. L. Gebhardt (the son of the Revd. Mr. Gebhardt) was tried for excessive punishment of a slave which caused his Death and condemned upon the Evidence of Slaves, none of whom had been baptized, and there was no other Evidence than that of these Slaves adduced for the Prosecution, except that of the Members of the Inquest (and the Surgeon attending it) which sat upon the Body after Death.
Respecting the Marriage of Slaves, I beg to refer your Lord- ship to the 5th, 6th and 7th Clauses of the Proclamation enclosed, by which I trust every provision is made on that Head.
Upon the Subject of the Manumission of Slaves, I will immediately direct your Lordship's Instructions to be put in Execution ; but it may be proper to explain to your Lordship that there is at present no Tax of any kind laid upon manu- missions at the Cape of Good Hope. The Law, as it stands, only requires a payment of 50 Rixdollars (about £4 Sterling) to the Church fund to entitle the manumitted Slaves to main- tenance when old, infirm or rendered incapable of supporting themselves. To guard against any fraudulent motive for manumitting a Slave, no manumission can take place except under the express sanction of the Governor for the time being, who requires certificates to prevent the mischiefs alluded to in this clause of your Lordship's Despatch. Nothing is more common here than for a Slave to purchase his own freedom, and any agreement between the Master and Slave for that object is recognized and becomes effective. I am not aware that any obstacle to manumission can arise from the circum- stance of Slaves being mortgaged or from an uncertainty as to whom they belong, as the Slave Registry appears clearly to obviate the latter and the necessity of enregistering all mort- gages at the Colonial Office fully prevents the former ; I will however refer this subject particularly to the Chief Justice, and if any difficulties can arise, will require him to suggest such provisions in the Law as shall meet your Lordship's views on this point.
The loss of Deeds of Manumission is already provided for
40 Records of the Cape Colony.
by the Regulations of the Slave Registry, as no one can be a Slave at the Cape of Good Hope who is not identified in that Registry.
With respect to the Sale of Slaves with other property, it appears that the Laws argued upon by your Lordship attach solely to the West India Islands ; the 7th clause of the enclosed Proclamation provides against the Separation of man and wife or mother and children by Sale.
Relative to the domestic punishment of a Slave being deferred 'till the following day, and to a Plantation Book being kept for the purpose of making Entries of such punish- ment, the nature of the offences committed and the free persons present at the punishment, I conceive such a Regulation totally inapplicable here, although I conclude highly necessary in the West India Islands.
Your Lordship will perceive how strongly protected against ill treatment or undue punishment the Slave at the Cape of Good Hope is by the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Clauses of the Proclamation of the 18th March 1823, and in this thinly peopled Country where a Boor possesses perhaps only one Slave and that neither he nor any Member of his Family can write, it would be next to impracticable to carry this measure into execution ; and the attempt to enact it might cause a ferment and a degree of dissatisfaction extremely embarrassing to the Government.
Upon the next point in your Lordship's Despatch, the Saving Bank, I have the honor to inform your Lordship that I estab- lished one here shortly after my return from England.
I have now touched upon all the points to which your Lord- ship's Circular Letter of the 9th July 1823 has called the attention of the Governors of the British Colonies, with the view of giving your Lordship the best information which my Local experience enables me to supply ; and if I have repre- sented any of the measures recommended by your Lordship as not applicable in this Colony, I hope your Lordship will believe that it has not arisen from any want of anxiety or ab- sence of inclination in the cause of the Slaves or in the adoption of measures suggested by your Lordship for ameliorating their condition, as I trust my Proclamation of the 18th March last sufficiently proves, but there exists scarcely any Similarity
Records of the Cape Colony. 41
(except in the name of Slavery) between the condition, the treatment and the Labour of the Slave in this Colony and the Slave in the West India Islands. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Enclosure 1 in the above.] Proclamation of the \%ih March 1823.
[Enclosure 2 in the above.]
Estimate of Expence for erecting Schools for Slave Children, Dwellings for the Masters, and the amount of their Salaries and the Sums required for maintaining these Establish- ments throughout the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
15 School Houses, each to be divided into two Apartments, one for Boys, the other for Girls, the Partitions to be thrown open during the performance of Divine Worship, at Rds. 5000 each Rds. 75,000
For Apartments to be added for a Dwelling for the Master, at
Rds. 1000 each 15,000
Fitting up with Forms, Tables, Desks, &c, at Rds. 1000 each . 15,000
Capital laid out .Rix dollars 105,000
ANNUAL EXPENCES.
Salaries of 15 Schoolmasters, at Rds. 600 each . . . Rds. 9,000
Salaries of 15 Schoolmistresses for the female Scholars at Rds. 360
each 5,400
Repairs, Books, Slates, &c, computed at annually . . . 4,500
Annual Expenditure .... Rds. 18,900
The above Expence will fall heavily upon the respective Districts, and were a Grant made by Parliament for defraying the first expenditure (say £10,000) it would have a most beneficial effect in promoting the general measure and be most gratefully felt by the Colonists.
42 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst.
Cape of Good Hope, 1st February 1824.
My Lord, — I have had the honor to receive Your Lordship's Despatch of the 10th of August last No. 73, and it is with deep regret that I remark your Lordship's displeasure upon my having issued the Proclamation for bettering the condition and treatment of the Slaves in this Colony on the 18th March 1 823 ; but I trust that your Lordship will be satisfied upon that Point when I shall have had the honor to state the motives by which I was actuated, and shall have more fully explained the Clauses which appear objectionable to your Lordship, and which I shall take in the order in which your Lordship has observed upon them.
The objection stated by your Lordship to the 12th Clause I have fully explained in my Despatch of yesterday's Date No. 70, by which your Lordship will perceive that the admission of Slave Evidence under particular circumstances is no new Law here, and that no adult Slave is baptized unless the Clergyman administering that Holy Sacrament finds, that the Slave has proceeded so far in Christian knowledge as to entitle him to partake of it.
With respect to Clause 4th. The making it compulsory only as it regards the Slave Children of Christian Proprietors will I believe be found consistent with every principle of the British Constitution. There are a few Mahomedan Slave Proprietors here, their Slaves are also Mahomedans, and it may perhaps occur to your Lordship upon further consideration, that it would be a stretch of power and assume a character of Des- potism, not recognized by any British Law, to compel the children of Mahomedans to become Christians, and the attempt might lead to serious Commotion. The advantages that are offered by the Establishment of Schools are great, and every fair Inducement to become Christians is held out.
With regard to clauses 8 and 9. Whatever the result may appear in Theory I ascertained previous to framing them that in Practice here they would have the effect of inducing Slaves to become Christians by that little variation in the age of
</•</.%• of the Cape Colony. 43
separation, and that the children of 8 years old are too young for Persons to be desirous of purchasing them without their Parent.
In Clause 10 Your Lordship is desirous of being informed u liy the Proprietor of a Child born out of Wedlock should not be compelled to have it baptized ? Of all the difficulties that presented themselves in framing this Proclamation, (and they were numberless) there was perhaps no one that was less easy of Decision than this. Two main objects were to be attained : the one to induce Heathens to embrace Christianity, the other to check the System of Concubinage, so general amongst Slaves, and to establish lawful Marriages.
The Clergy refuse to marry Slaves who are not Christians, and they do not baptize them unless (as has been above explained) they have received religious Impressions which entitle them thereto. Under these considerations it was after much Investigation deemed right to make it compulsory on all Proprietors to have their Slave children born in Wedlock baptized, as it was thought by those most acquainted with the feelings of the Slaves to be the best Encouragement to Matri- mony amongst them.
To Clause 17 I have replied in my Despatch of yesterday No. 70.
With regard to there being no Directions in the Proclamation as to the Courts in which the Penalties are to be recovered or as to the Persons by whom an Action for the recovery of them is to be maintained, I have to observe that there is no choice of Courts here. The Court of Justice is the only Court in Cape Town, and the Fiscal is there the Public Prosecutor.
In the Country Districts the only Courts are those of the Landdrost and Heemraden, and the Secretaries to the respective Districts are the Public Prosecutors.
It is now necessary for me to explain to Your Lordship the Inducements I had to issue the Proclamation previous to sub- mitting it for your Lordship's sanction.
I had not learnt in the Month of February (when I was framing this Proclamation) that new Laws respecting the Slaves were likely to be enacted in the Month of June following, and from Enquiries I had made of Persons, competent to give me the Information, I found that every Circumstance relating to
44 Records of the Cape Colony.
Slavery in the West Indies was so completely at variance with the Slavery in this Colony, that the Laws which would suit the one would be totally inapplicable to the other, and the further I dived into the Customs, Habits and Employments of the Slaves here, the more I found that all Regulations which it would be wise to make, must depend upon local Information and Experience.
Another consideration acted very powerfully in my mind. Slaves are the only property of any value in this colony. Land is of none in comparison, and it will occur to Your Lordship how nicely it was necessary to balance any Interference not only with the most valuable Property of Individuals, but with their feelings and authority. Authority that had grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength, and which they regarded as a Birthright sanctioned and confirmed by the Laws of the Mother Country.
The Impression made by the Execution of the Son of the Revd. Mr. Gebhardt presented an opportunity not to be lost. I felt it, and availed myself of it to declare, (in affirming as Judge in the Court of Appeals the Sentence passed by the Court below on that Individual) my intention of considering the Condition and Treatment of the Slave Population. Had I delayed, that Impression might have worn off and I should have had to struggle with prejudices and feelings hostile to the humane object I was so anxious to attain and in which Your Lordship and His Majesty's Government have been so laudably employed. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathubst.
Cape of Good Hope, 2nd February 1824.
My Lord, — Considering that the distant period fixed (1st of January 1827) for establishing the English Language exclu- sively in the Legal Courts in this Colony had reference solely to an expectation that the Language of the Mother Country
Records of the Cape Colony. 45
was not likely to be in general use at an earlier period, and finding that, in almost every case brought before the local Court of the District of Albany, the parties use English, and taking also into consideration that the only two (out of Seven Members who compose that Court) who are not Englishmen born, are well acquainted with the English Language, I have deemed it expedient to promulgate the Proclamation herewith transmitted, which I trust will meet with your Lordship's fullest Approbation. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles
Somerset.
25 Long Market Street, 3rd February 1824.
My Lord, — Mr. Cooke having this morning requested me to accompany him to England for the purpose of prosecuting his complaint against Mr. Blair to the Lords of the Treasury and the House of Commons, we jointly waited on the Fiscal to take the usual oath preparatory to obtaining a passport, which Mr. Denyssen refused to administer because he had received from your Excellency the Memorial which I had the honor to request you officially to forward.
As I am convinced it would be an injustice to believe you had intercepted the complaint of one of His Majesty's Subjects to the proper Metropolitan authorities, I request your Lordship will be pleased to direct that the obstruction may be removed, as Mr. Cooke is thus prevented from seeking for redress and wishes me to present a complaint to the House of Commons saying he is detained here that he may not seek for Justice where none ever sought in vain. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
46 Records of the Cape Col-
[Copy.] .
Letter from the Assistant Secretary to Government to Mr. William Edwards.
Colonial Office, 3rd February 182 ;.
Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, and to inform you that His Majesty's Fiscal having notified to His Excellency that Mr. L. Cooke's attendance before the supreme Court of Judicature here will be required for answering a charge which the course of his official duty has rendered it necessary for him to prefer against Mr. L. Cooke, and in which His Majesty's Fiscal also considers that you are implicated, His Excellency is compelled to withhold the requisite permission for yourself and Mr. L. Cooke to quit the Colony until the Proceedings alluded to by His Majesty's Fiscal shall have been terminated. I am &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset.
2.~> Long Market Street, 3rd February L824.
My Lord, — Not feeling disposed to stoop tamely to this illegal interference of the Fiscal in interdicting all complaints to His Majesty's Minister, nor wishing again to send any Memorial thro' your Lordship, and yet unwilling to give you the slightest offence, I take the liberty of submitting to your Lordship the Copy of a Petition I mean to forward to a relation in Parliament by the Elisabeth.
If you wish to have any phrase fairly altered I have not the least objection to conform to your wishes.
I ever regretted that Mr. Blair forced Mr. Cooke to adopt these measures and reluctantly engaged in them alt ho' I do not so reluctantly engage in this complaint as I have no notion of
Records of the Cape Colony. 47
this omnipotent officer presuming to punish the People of England for endeavouring to exercise their most undoubted
right. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
[Enclosure in the above.]
To the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled,
The Humble Petition of William Edwards of Cape Town in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, Notary, Sheweth,
That being retained by Mr. Cooke a Merchant in Cape Town to prepare a statement of an insult he had received from the Colonial Collector of Customs on a Complaint to the Right Honorable the Lords of the Treasury he made the same in duplicate with evidence in support thereof attached thereto one copy of which he forwarded to England and a duplicate thro' His Excellency the Governor on the 23rd of January last.
That being requested to accompany Mr. Cooke to London in order to conduct his complaint before their Lordships or your Honorable House as might be deemed most proper He this morning applied to the Office of the Fiscal for a Passport to leave the Colony for that purpose, which was refused, the said Fiscal alledging that he intended to prosecute applicants for writing such Memorial.
That your Petitioner immediately wrote a letter to His Excellency the Governor a Copy of which is hereunto annexed, and received the answer also hereunto annexed from the Deputy Secretary to Government.
That your Petitioner considering this conduct of the Fiscal in intercepting a complaint to their Lordships of the Treasury as a misdemeanour and infringement of the right of His Majesty's Subjects to lay their complaints before His Minister annexes a copy thereof and of the depositions in its support which were so intercepted.
And humbly prays that you will cause the said Fiscal to be summoned to meet your Petitioner at the Bar of your Honorable House to answer for having so intercepted the said complaint
48 Records of the Cape Colony.
thereby as far as in him lay endangering the pure adminis- tration of Justice, and that protection from the insolence of office for which all His Majesty's English subjects so naturally look from the Metropolitan Government. And he will ever pray &c.
[Copy.]
Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Mr. William Edwards.
Newlands, 4th February 1824.
Sir, — It appears by your Letter which you addressed to me yesterday marked private just received, that you are under a total misapprehension as to the cause of your and Mr. L. Cooke not obtaining at the present moment the necessary Certificates for quitting this Colony. The Law Officer of the Crown having reported to me that your and Mr. L. Cooke's attendance would be necessary in a cause he is, Ratione Officii, about to bring before the Court of Justice of this Colony, and consequently that the ends of Justice would be frustrated by your or Mr. L. Cooke's departure previous to the decision of that suit, it becomes necessary that I should withhold the required Certificates, having ever considered it the first duty of a Governor to act in obedience to, and in support of the Laws of the Colony over which He presides. I am &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Chari.ks Somerset.
Cape Town. 4th February L8 My Lord, — As it appears by your Excellency's letter that I have misapprehended the conversation of Mr. Denyssen occasioned probably by his ignorance of the language in which he attempted to speak, I sincerely regret the trouble I have caused you.
Records of the Cape Colony. 4$
I submit with pleasure to all the directions or wishes of your Excellency, and shall now wait the result of the Fiscal's operations, holding him nevertheless responsible. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
[Original.] Letter from Lord Charles Somerset to Earl Bathurst.
Cape of Good Hope, 5th February 1824.
My Lord, — I have done myself the honor within these few days to reply to your Lordship's Despatch (Circular) of the 9th July 1823 and that of the 10th August 1823 No. 73, and have now the honor of addressing myself to your Lordship in answer to your Lordship's Private and Confidential Despatch of the former date.
The proposition contained therein, relative to the intro- duction of Task-work amongst the Slaves, is altogether, I fear, impracticable here ; the labor of the Slave in this Settlement being of a nature too various to admit of any organization to establish that measure, but your Lordship will observe that in the 16th Article of the Proclamation which I issued on the 18 March 1823 for improving the condition and protecting the Slaves of this Colony, I particularly forbad the employment of Slaves beyond a limited number of Hours each day, unless they were remunerated for their extra work, which remuner- ation will tend to benefit the Slaves here in like manner with the advantages proposed for the West India Negroes, by entitling them to compensation for all work performed beyond the Task allotted to them.
The other point to which your Lordship has particularly called my attention, is a general enactment that all female Children born subsequent to a certain period shall be free. Although there can be no doubt that at some remote period this measure would accomplish the ultimate extinction of Slavery, still as it would deprive the Inhabitants of this Colony in the same progression of the only property regarded as valu- able here, upon which species of property almost all Securities
XVII. E
50 Records of the Cape Colony.
for Loans or Mortgages are given, I consider that without some moderate compensation for the emancipation of each female Infant, the measure would be felt as a direct privation of property, would shake all pecuniary transactions and excite a commotion and dissatisfaction extremely difficult to allay. Were a compensation given, say £12 Sterling for each Female Infant after it had lived a week, the measure might be accom- plished in this Colony without a murmur under £6000 per annum, which Sum would of course gradually decrease as the measure proceeded.
The Qualification recommended by Your Lordship of apprenticing for a certain number of years such female child to the Proprietor as a remuneration for the expence incurred in bringing her up, exists at present here with regard to appren- ticed Prize Negro and Hottentot Children, which is found to be the best Security for their being reared with care and experiencing kind treatment. I have &c.
(Signed) Charles Henry Somerset.
[Printed Slip.] Opening of a Church at Stettenbosch on the 5th of February 1 824.
On Thursday the 5th instant, the consecration of the Church, appropriated for Slaves and Slave Children, took place at Stellenbosch. His Excellency the Governor, attended by Captain Fitz Roy, the Landdrost, and Mrs. van Ryneveld, and all the principal Inhabitants of Stellenbosch and its vicinity, honored the ceremony with their attendance. An excellent Sermon was preached on the occasion, by the Rev. Mr. Borcherds ; after which, the Rev. Mr. Faure addressed His Excellency in English, in which he expressed, in the most appropriate terms, the gratitude of the Inhabitants, for the very extensive means which had been afforded by His Excel- lency, for the instruction and the improvement in Religion and Morals of all classes of the Community.
Records of the Cape Colony* 51
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles Somerset.
Cape Town, 1th February 1824.
My Lord, — As it states in my letter of the 4th instant that I was willing to abide your Excellency's pleasure as to the result of Mr. Denyssen's proceedings in the case of Mr. Blair without having first consulted my Client, and as he is dissatisfied with that measure in consequence of having other important business which requires his attendance in London, I am reluctantly compelled to prefer a Petition for him to Parliament against Mr. Denyssen.
But seeing the measure pregnant with mischief to your Officers and perhaps trouble to yourself, I write to propose that Mr. Cooke may have his passport on giving security to answer the consequence of the charge alluded to by the Fiscal and the Deputy Secretary in his letter, and I will take the responsibility of proving the facts stated in the memorial on myself, as I have always avoided professionally setting forth things out of the reach of proof ; and I will remain here pro tempore to do this.
In case permission or Bail is granted no Petition shall be forwarded to Parliament until I see the result of the intended proceedings, when I may probably join Mr. Cooke in London.
May I beg Your Excellency to inform me where I may address the copies of the papers and correspondence to the Commissioners of Enquiry, Mr. Cooke having been advised by several of his friends to do this. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
e 2
52 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Reverend William Geary to John Thomas
Bigge, Esqre.
Graham's Town, &th February 1824.
My dear Sir, — Will you as a private Individual, and a lover of Justice, and not in your Official Capacity, favor me with your Opinion as to the propriety of my despatching a copy of the following Note to Major Somerset ? Its nature will apprise you of the purport of my application to you.
I cannot even guess, dear Sir, at the motive of this strange conduct, unless it be my illuminating in common with many other quiet and loyal men in honour of your arrival. I am &c.
(Signed) Wm. Geary.
[Copy.]
Letter from J. T. Bigge, Esqre., to the Reverend William
Geary.
Graham's Town, Sunday Morning.
Dear Sir, — I must request that you will excuse me from giving any opinion whatever upon transmitting to Major Somerset the Letter, a copy of which you have done me the honor to enclose in your Note just received.
I beg to remain &c.
(Signed) J. T. Bigge.
Note by the Reverend William Geary.
N.B. As Mr. Bigge favored me with his unsolicited advice on a Case between the Colonial Government and myself on the day preceding, I construed his silence into a tacit permis- sion, presuming that the same kindness would hinder me from doing any act of indiscretion that might injure myself.
Lord Charles Somerset, in consequence of this Letter, and for no other reason as declared in General Order dismissed me from the Military Chaplaincy, and the Military never attended Divine Service till my successor arrived at Graham's Town, a period of nine months.
Records of the Cape Colony. 53
[Copy.] Letter from the Reverend William Geary to Major Somerset.
Graham's Town, February 8th 1824.
Sir, — While in the Pulpit of the Chapel this morning, (Sunday) expecting as usual the attendance of the Military, I observed the Troops halt in front of the Building, and then march away ! This message also from yourself was at the same time communicated to me by Brigade Major O'Reilly " That the Troops were not to attend Divine Service, till further Orders." *
I think it my duty, Sir, as Chaplain to the Military to admonish you, that you are taking an awful responsibility on yourself (and for which at the last day you must render an Account) namely, how far personal pique to a Minister, for which you can assign no reason, authorises you to deprive the Military of the benefits of Divine Service.
But whatever may be your feelings on this point, I think it but candour to yourself, and respect to my office to inform you, that unless you make an apology to me for this public, unprovoked, unprecedented and most wanton insult offered to a Clergyman of the Established Church, in actual attendance on his Official Duties, I shall instantly transmit a Copy of this Note to my Lord Bathurst, who, I am confident, is too warm a friend to our Church Establishment to suffer the meanest of its Ministers to be thus grossly insulted !
I beg you to recollect that this is not the first time you have offered me this insult ! I am Sir &c.
(Signed) William Geary.
* The real Instructions brought by the Brigade Major, were " That the Troops were to attend Divine Service no more ! ! "
54 Records of the Cape Colony,
[Original.] Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Earl Bathurst.
Graham's Town, 9th February 1824.
My Lord, — It is not without reluctance and regret that we have formed the determination of submitting to your Lord- ship's early notice the conduct of an Individual in this Colony and of making any deviation from that strict line of duty that has hitherto withheld us (except in cases especially authorized by your Lordship) from the investigation of personal conduct.
The hope however of averting the calamity of domestic dissension from the noble families of His Grace the Duke of Beaufort and of His Excellency Lord Charles Somerset, and the necessity that we feel of making your Lordship acquainted with the character of a person who violating a confidence reposed in him by a member of those families has risked the chance of spreading disunion among them for the purpose of gratifying feelings which we cannot but at present regard as mercenary, and has exposed to hazard in a discontented com- munity like this the character of Lord and Lady Charles Somerset, will (we feel confident) be a sufficient excuse in your Lordship's mind for the line of conduct that we have pursued.
Soon after our arrival in this place on Wednesday last we were informed that the Reverend Mr. Geary, who has during the last three months been distinguished by the violence of his invectives against the Colonial Government and the District Magistrate Mr. Rivers for what he terms their oppres- sive conduct in reducing his fees as chaplain or resident Clergy- man of the District, had shewn to several persons a letter he had received from the Duchess of Beaufort, in which her Grace had been pleased to inform him that in consequence of a letter she had received from Lord Charles Somerset he would certainly be entitled to considerable fees in his present situation, and after expressing her satisfaction that a person of Mr. Geary's exalted piety and excellence had been appointed to a situation in which he was capable of rendering much service to the community, her Grace also expressed a hope that he would be of much service to Lord and Lady Charles Somerset, " as they were not religious people."
This was the shape and terms in which the report first
Records of the Cape Colony. 55
reached us, and we had also reason to believe that it had been circulated throughout the community by the authority of and with some pains by the Reverend Mr. Geary himself. After conversing upon the subject with Major Somerset, the Com- mandant of the Frontier and Son of Lord Charles Somerset, we agreed with him that it was most desirable to keep the report from the knowledge of Lord and Lady Charles Somerset, and to endeavour if possible to prevent its transmission to England in any shape that might wound the feelings of the noble writer of the letter or affect the persons to whom it applied.
After some consideration of this report both with reference to its public consequences and to the conduct of the author, we determined to make some particular inquiry of one of the persons to whom (we were informed) it had been com- municated, having first learnt that she was one in whose discretion confidence might be placed. We accordingly pro- ceeded this morning to take her declaration, a copy which we now have the honor to enclose, by which your Lordship will at once be enabled to trace the malignity of motive that actuated Mr. Geary and the unparalleled treachery with which he has violated the confidence reposed in him by her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort.
As we could not prevail upon ourselves to take any step that might be fatal to the interests of Mr. Geary without first informing him of such intention, we requested his attendance for that purpose. He admitted in our presence part of the opprobrious terms he is said to have applied to Mr. Rivers, confirmed the open perusal of the letter and the strict obligation to secrecy enjoined to him by the Duchess of Beaufort, but to our utter astonishment attempted to justify this worst and last act by the remoteness of the situation and by the small number of friends to whom he had disclosed the communication confided to him, as he admitted it was under a strict injunction of secrecy. Upon our requesting him to name those friends, he was unable to do so in more than one instance, and his inability to remember the person to whom he made so particular a disclosure as that which we have the honor to transmit has led us to infer and to apprehend that the knowledge of the report has been more widely circulated.
56> Records of the Cape Colony.
In the course of our interview Mr. Geary offered and pressed us to peruse the Duchess of Beaufort's letter. This we posi- tively declined, but from his account of it we are induced to hope that the offensive interpretation that has been put upon one passage by the wife of Mr. Geary, and which we apprehend has found its way into the Community in the terms that it reached us, is not borne out by the real words of the letter itself.
Of this we trust your Lordship will receive a confirmation, if Mr. Geary should adopt the suggestion we have conveyed to him by enclosing the letter of the Duchess of Beaufort with any statement he may address to your Lordship.
According to Mr. Geary's account of the letter the Duchess, after expressing her zealous hope that his services will be beneficial to the inhabitants of this part of the Colony, trusts that they will be equally beneficial to Lord and Lady Somerset, to whom tho' she gives credit for possessing good and amiable qualities yet she is not aware that they are influenced by the " highest motives " (inferred to mean) those of religion.
The strict injunction of secrecy which Mr. Geary fully admitted appeared to have followed this passage.
Although we had great satisfaction in finding that the direct imputation conveyed in the first report was much mitigated by Mr. Geary's repetition of the passage, and felt some difficulty in suppressing the sentiments of indignation that his insen- sibility to the disgrace of violating such a sacred confidence had created, we yet felt it our duty to recommend to him to take an early opportunity of explaining himself as far as possible to your Lordship, to meet the statement that we intended to make of this transaction, and to use every means in his power to check the further propagation of the report in this Colony or in England.
We feel certain that by placing Your Lordship in possession of it as well as of the authority and circumstances from whence it originated, we have adopted the best means for ensuring the tranquillity of the noble Families to whom it relates, and having done this we trust that we have not overstepped the bounds of our duty if we have afforded your Lordship an opportunity of judging of the character of a man who must from his situation
Iircorth of the Cape Colony.
possess some degree of influence over the members of this Community.
Of his claim for more liberal remuneration in the shape of fees than has been allowed him in a schedule lately published by the authority of Lord Charles Somerset, of the refusal of glebe land, or of a grant of land and of other personal grievances from which Mr. Geary hopes to justify the irritation of mind under which he has been led to commit this and many other acts of vehemence, we forbear at present to speak. The former he has not yet submitted to us, if even we shall deem them fit subjects for our investigation ; the latter we forbear to enter upon, as they have been made the subject of prosecution that is now pending in one of the Courts of Justice. We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
William M. G. Colebrooke.
P.S. Since writing the foregoing letter we have received one from Mr. Geary which we beg to enclose to your Lordship, together with the reply that we have sent to it.
We regret that he should not have complied with our recom- mendation to send the letter of the Duchess of Beaufort under seal to your Lordship, and it only remains for us to hope that the ill consequences to be apprehended from the conduct of the person in whose hands this document remains may be as far as possible averted.
[Enclosure in the above.]
Graham's Town, 9th February 1824.
Mrs. Onkruydt (wife of Mr. Onkruydt Acting Secretary to the District and District Clerk) states to the Commissioners that about two months ago she called upon Mr. and Mrs. Geary at their house in Graham's Town. She found them at home and alone.
The first subject of conversation started by Mr. Geary was that Mr. Rivers the Landdrost had taken away his (Mr. Geary's) fees. He even said that Mr. Rivers was a thief, and had robbed his children of their bread.
He then said that the Duchess of Beaufort had promised that he should have his fees, and he would shew Mrs. Onkruydt a letter to that effect. He proceeded to open his writing case,
58 Records of the Cape Colony.
and taking from it a letter, offered it to the Declarant, but she did not like to peruse it, upon which Mr. Geary said he would read it to her. He accordingly read it, and as far as she can recollect, the letter stated that Lord Charles Somerset had informed the Duchess that Mr. Geary would have good fees. It went on to express a hope that Mr. Geary would do a great deal of good, and that Lord Charles Somerset had expressed to the writer his Thankfulness to her for having sent out so excellent a clergyman. The letter proceeded with certain passages applying by name to Lord and Lady Charles Somerset, the import of which the Declarant not having understood, she asked Mr. Geary the meaning. Mr. Geary replied that it meant that neither Lord nor Lady Charles Somerset were religious people, and that the Duchess hoped that Mr. Geary's advice would do them a great deal of good.
The letter concluded with a sentence that appeared to the Declarant to imply that the Duchess had written the letter in confidence to Mr. Geary.
The Declarant states that she has not been upon habits of great intimacy with Mr. and Mrs. Geary, but that she visited them until this last occasion, when she was so much struck with the indelicacy of Mr. Geary's proceedings in disclosing a confidential communication, that she thought it her duty to mention it to her Husband that he might be on his guard, tho' she declares that she has never mentioned it to any other person whatever.
Declarant is not herself aware whether the contents of the letter are known to any other person, but she feels convinced in her own mind, from the impression she has received of Mr. Geary's character, that he would not scruple to disclose and communicate the letter to any other person who might call at his house, the Declarant not being intimate there.
Declarant adds that no injunction whatever of secrecy as to the contents of the letter, or the conversation, was suggested or prescribed to her by Mr. and Mrs. Geary.
The above declaration having been read over to me, I affirm it to be true.
(Signed) Catharina Onkruydt.
(Signed) John Thomas Bicge,
William M. G. Colebrooke.
Records of the Cape Colony. 59
[Copy.]
Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to Lieutenant
Colonel Bird.
Graham's Town, 9th February 1824.
Sir, — We beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 30th ultimo conveying to us an answer enclosed from Mr. D'Escury to our inquiries relative to the fate of certain Memorials of J. J. Potgieter, and we hasten to assure you both of the deep concern with which we have learnt the cause of your present confinement, and of the regret that you should have allowed yourself to be disturbed, during a period so critical, by any enquiry that emanated from us.
We sincerely hope that your recovery from this severe accident that has befallen you will be speedy and complete, and that in case any official communication from us and written under ignorance of the accident that now confines you should reach your hands, you will be good enough either to delay the answer or to instruct Mr. Brink to furnish it, as your own Discretion may dictate. We have &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
W. M. G. COLEBROOKE.
[Original.} ; Statement of Mr. Benjamin Wilmot.
Albany, February dth 1824.
i To His Majesty's Commissioners of Enquiry.
The Statement of Benjamin Wilmot of the District of Albany, Southern Africa, sets forth
That he has been endeavouring for two years to obtain compensation for six of his oxen lost out of the Scutt Kraal, first through the medium of the Landdrost Harry Rivers, Esquire, to whom he applied under the idea that as it is the first and chief duty of all Landdrosts to settle differences and to prevent litigation that he was bound to decide upon this
60 Records of the Cape Colony.
matt' er or direct some other mode of proceeding, instead of whicAi he would neither entertain the subject nor give a decided answt 3r ; afterwards of His Excellency the Governor, and lately of the Honorable the Court of Circuit, in which Court he insti- tuted a Suit against the District which he is told is represented by the iLanddrost and Heemradens for compensation for the loss of time and expences necessarily accrued in the prosecuting his claim before the Landdrost who refused to act in the affair.
About the 13th day of May 1822, the day before Mr. Man- ceased to 'act as Undersheriff, Mr. Wilmot and his friend Mr. John FouTnier saw Eighteen of his Oxen in the Scutt Kraal and acqua inted Mr. Marr of it, who said they were sent in by Old Nell a nd there was only two skillings each to be paid, on Mr. Wilrmot's returning with the change he paid four rix dollars and icour skillings and went to the Kraal to turn them out when onfy three were then there, the remainder having been sent out by the herdsman ; these three he took away and called several times the same day for the others, but the cattle did not come in till it was too dark to discern one Ox from another. On his calling next morning he was told that Mr. Marr was suspended and that Mr. Wathall had the key, who refused to give them out without the fees being again paid to him. The Secretary Mr. Le Sueur on hearing these facts told Mr. Wathall he was authorized in demanding payment to himself as the oxen were given over to his charge with the key. Mr. Wilmot being unable to pay the fees a second time although he had offered to sell one of them for the purpose to the Slaughterer, returned home above 20 miles and called two days after to pay whatever sum might be demanded, when only nine of them were then in the Kraal, which he took out and paid for to Mr. Wathall and received a Certificate from Thomas Cardon of the nur^er then delivered. On enquiring what became of the ot~ • six no one could give any satisfactory account, but said ?eme cattle had been owned and taken out by Mr. Retief and ethers.
About the beginning of June following said Mr. Wilmot saw one of the six missng oxen yoked in Mr. Retief's waggon, which he in an angry mood, because the waggon was proved to him to be his although he had denied it, sent it to the Scutt Kraal and desired Mi, WTathall not to deliver it to anyone
Records of the Cape Colony. Gl
without an order from the Landdrost. Blackbeard the Con- stable put it into the Kraal amongst the Cattle taken from the Caffers instead of amongst the impounded beasts (this ox was marked R. G.) ; on enquiring of Mr. Ward what had become of this Ox that had been so long in his charge, he said he could not tell.
About the beginning of July following another of the missing Oxen Mr. Wilmot saw in the Scutt Kraal, which Mr. Ward also refused to deliver out till the Landdrost should order him, and was sold to Mr. Retief at a public sale although Mr. Wathall acquainted the Vendue Master that it belonged to said Mr. Wilmot. This ox was branded in each horn with the letter C.
All which particulars said Mr. Wilmot laid before the Land- drost at the seven several interviews he had with him on the subject, and could obtain no further answer than " really I am too busy to attend to this now," by which expression from the number of interviews he had had with the Landdrost on the subject he concluded that his case was become an old affair and that he must obtain his rights by some other move. It then occurred to him that His Excellency the Governor Lord Charles Somerset would grant his (Mr. Wilmot's) rights and therefore he wrote out a statement of the above facts, and as he was then severely suffering by Dysentery from not being able to purchase anything to live on but flesh at that scarce time, he joined this subject to that of the loss of his oxen, and directed it to His Excellency, but has not had any ansiver thereto. Mr. Wilmot conceiving that he must have recourse to legal proceedings to obtain satisfaction for his losses, con- cluded that the Court of Circuit was the proper authority to hear and determine his complaint, and applied to Mr. Onkruydt for a Summons to appear before the Court of Circuit, and was told by him in the presence of Mr. Phillips that there W9M sufficient time, but on being told it was against the proprietors of the Scutt Kraal, he appeared astonished and said " you cannot sue them." When Mr. Wilmot had related the par- ticulars of this complaint he advised the Summons to be taken out against Marr, which having refused to accede to he requested a statement of complaint in writing to be left with him that in the mean time he would consult with the Landdrost
62 Records of the Cape Colony.
and in a day or two he would be able to tell him if he could issue the Summons, and that no advantage should be taken of the delay, and made many kind professions of services and advice. On Mr. Wilmot's calling upon him with his written complaint he Mr. Onkruydt, notwithstanding the long dis- cussion he had had with him on the subject and his own pro- fessions of advice &c. pretended to know nothing of the affair, and in the presence of Heemraden Hope and Mr. Huntly refused to issue a summons, declining at same time to give his reason for so doing.
Immediately on the arrival of the Honorable Court of Circuit, said Mr. Wilmot presented a Memorial to that Court for a Summons against the District of Albany, setting forth concisely Mr. Onkruydt's refusal to issue one without his assigning any reason for such denial, and at full length the particulars of his case and laid his damages at 500 Rixdollars.
The Court in the presence of Mr. Onkruydt said that the application was not made in time, to which Mr. Wilmot replied that he was prevented from making the application before from the then recent excessive rains and from an accident to my left eye which confined me to darkness and my chamber in excruciating agony for upwards of a fortnight ; and that all human laws and regulations must give way to the Divine Will and to inevitable necessity. The Court thought proper thereupon to grant him a summons against the District, which was made known to him by Mr. Onkruydt in the presence of said Mr. Hope in the following words : " Mr. Wilmot, the Court has directed me to inform you that they have thought proper to deviate from the usual mode of proceeding, and have granted your case a hearing, which will come on for trial on Wednesday the day of . You will
therefore give me a statement of your case and names of Wit- nesses that I mny have them summoned."
On which day having prepared himself to substantiate his case and collected evidence together, instead of having his cause brought on for a hearing as he confidently relied upon, the Court thought proper to make the following objections, and finally refused to proceed to a hearing.
First objection. That he had better sue the Scutt Kraal Keeper whose neglect had caused the loss of the cattle.
Records of the Cape Colony. G3
2ndly. That as the District is the proprietor of the Scutt Kraal and is represented by the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden, he said Complainant could not sue them, for how could they as a body be brought before the Court.
3rdly. That he had better (and urged him) to bring his Suit before the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden as the manage- ment of the Scutt Kraal is in that Court, and as his complaint arose from the neglect of their Servants, and as they must have power to enquire into the conduct of those Servants they might hear his complaint.
4thly. That if he (Mr. Wilmot) consented to bring his case before the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden, and they should in their breasts consider he had sustained damages beyond the amount of 300 Rds., they could apply to the Governor for an extension of their power to do justice to this his individual case.
To which said Mr. Wilmot then submitted that as the Gentlemen or Committee who represented the District had placed an individual to do the duties of that part of the District revenue the Scutt Kraal and to account to them for the profits &c. of the Scutt Kraal, that he became literally their servant, and as such the Law would consider the acts of him to be the acts of the employers or Masters, and that as Conservators of the District chest they ought to have taken proper sureties for the due performance of his trust.
2ndly. That although the same Gentlemen may act in the capacity of a Court of Judicature, it was not incompatible for them to hold another situation, although they may sit one moment in their judicial capacity, the next moment they might sit as a Court or Committee of management, and that whatever regulations or appointments were made that did not immediately relate to the judicial administration, it could only be made in their capacity as a Committee and not as Judges ; though it might be inconvenient for all the Gentlemen who represent the District to attend the Court, having public business to attend to, they might as a Corporation appoint an individual (their Secretary) to answer to any complaint that might be alledged against them.
3rdly. That as the members of the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden must actually be the Defendants, that they could
64 Records of the Cape Colony.
not sit to try this cause, because they would be acting in the double capacity of party and judge, that although these members may have power to enquire into the conduct of their servants ex parte as Masters and dismiss them, they could not legally try and condemn them in pains and penalties as judges.
4thly. As he had already applied to His Excellency the Governor on the subject without getting any answer he did not wish to rely upon that expedient.
After this discussion which had been urged also previous to his having had his memorial for a hearing granted, and as he thought waived, the Court directed the Suit to be brought before the Court of Landdrost and Heemraden, and that the expences incurred in their Court should abide the event of the Cause, to which he bowed in submission as their decree, not in assent, for he then said he would rather drop his claim than have it decided by the individuals against whom he had to complain.
The next morning Mr. Wilmot presented the following memorial :
Your Memorialist offers his respectful thanks for the sug- gestions and advice of your Worshipful Bench, but that in the paramount necessity of his case he hopes will be found sufficient excuse for his thus renewing his application that his cause may be brought before you.
He most respectfully submits that the Law limiting the jurisdiction of the local judicature to a specific sum of money in all actions of damage or recovery must be a definite one, and that as the damage he has laid makes his case not cog- nizable by the District Courts according to the Proclamation of the Executive, it can only be tenable before your Worshipful Court.
That the Servants of the local Magistracy being the aggressors in your Memorialist's case eminently disqualifies it for becoming the judges of a dispute between an indifferent individual and the person its patronage has given the appointment, a con- clusion your Memorialist is the more compelled to make from the general dissatisfaction on all subjects connected with the impounding of cattle.
That your Memorialist's damages are increasing in strict
Records of the Cape Colon//. 65
ratio with the delay of giving him justice, and that in the procrastination he contemplates by looking to the Board of Landdrost and Heemraden for redress, he only foresees a Contest so interminable as to leave the simple merits of his Case a matter probably of much intricacy whenever judgment shall be given.
That with better prospects now in his native Country and an anxious desire thereon immediately to return, he is particu- larly solicitous for decision.
Your Memorialist therefore intreats your Worshipful Body will rescind your determination of yesterday and give his Cause a hearing.
And he will ever pray.
(Signed) Benjamin Wtlmot.
The Court thereupon further objected that they could not proceed to try the Members of another Court without further powers from Cape Town ; what these powers were and how to act Mr. Wilmot was wholly at a loss until within a few days of this, when perusing the Cape Kalendar for the amount of stamp duty on a power of Attorney he accidentally saw the decree Venia Agendi was enumerated, when it instantly struck him that the want of this decree from the full Court was the only obstacle the Court of Circuit conceived existed to pre- vent their proceeding to determine the cause, to which reasoning if he had been made acquainted he should have submitted in reply that it could not possibly be a hindrance because the whole Body could have been tried with no more difficulty than one of them could if a case on a simple contract debt had been brought against one of them in his private capacity as a mer- chant, and also that the decree being a matter of course might have been granted any time before the verdict was enforced, and also that it was not needed because they were not to be questioned about acts done in their judicial capacity.
Your Relator is superlately (sic) unhappy that he is to be delayed from embracing his prospects in England, which is now bright, because he did not foresee what the most appre- hensive and penetrating mind would not have imagined without an intimate knowledge of the Colonial Regulations, which a'
xvn. 9
60 Records of the Cape Colony.
foreigner cannot be supposed to know (this decree of Venia Agendi).
Your Relator respectfully entreats your Honors will consider the hardness of his case and present unhappy circumstances, arising not from his own default but the taciturnity if not the default of those very authorities who ought to have redressed him ; and from the general calamities of the Colony.
If your Honors should be of opinion that there is no existing Law to meet the justice of his case, I must appeal to your Authority as the Representative of His Britannic Majesty whose compassion is infinite to grant him a free passage to his native Country.
(Signed) Benjamin Wilmot.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Deputy Colonial Secretary to Mr. William Edwards.
Colonial Office, 9th February 1824, Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acknowledge his receipt of your letters of the 4th and 7th instant, and to inform you that having fully explained to you in the Letter I addressed to you by His Excellency's authority on the 3rd instant, the reasons which compelled him to with- hold Mr. L. Cooke's certificate for quitting the Colony, He has only to refer you to the contents of that communication.
I am &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
v/.s of tin fa fit f'ti/i 67
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to the Deputy Colonial
Secretary.
Cape Town, 9th February 1824. Sir, — As your letter of the 3rd instant referred to in yours of this day is contradicted by one of His Excellency to me on the 4th I shall close all further correspondence on the Subject and take measures which may set this matter to rights.
I am &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
[Copy.] t
Letter from the Landdrost of Worcester to the Commissioners
of Enquiry.
Worcester, 10th February 1824.
Gentlemen, — In reply to your letter of the 19th Ultimo requiring information relative to the removal of the Dover party of Settlers with Mr. Menzies from the Karega after they had built and cultivated to a certain extent, &c, I beg leave to state that soon after the late Acting Governor quitted the frontier in 1820, I received orders thro' Colonel Cuyler to remove certain parties of Settlers according to a memorandum he had received from Sir Rufane Donkin dated either from the Lourie River or George, a copy of which the Landdrost sent me along with some detail for obtaining transport to carry these instructions into effect, all which I left among the Records at Bathurst, the original remaining in the custody of the Landdrost of Uitenhage. This document may be of some use to you, as I apprehend the other parties which were removed at the same time will also state their case, altho' I took every means to convince them that all those movements were made in conformity with instructions from His Excellency the Acting Governor. I have &c.
(Signed) C. Trappes. i 2
68 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Reverend William Geary to the Commissioners of Enquiry.
Graham's Town, Tuesday Morning,
February \0th 1824, £ past 7 a.m.
Gentlemen, — I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your note of yesterday evening's date, (but which I have only just received), and deem it of some importance that the circum- stance which formed the subject of your late interrogation to me should be fairly stated to you, previous to your communi- cations with my Lord Bathurst, to whom I shall also take an early opportunity of writing, but I cannot possibly arrange the matter I wish to disclose to him as early as the present, nor perhaps the succeeding post.
Not many weeks since a Lady, whose apprehension is certainly not the most brilliant, favoured us with a morning call. The Fiscal's summons, which I had but lately received, naturally became a subject of conversation, and in the course of my remarks I could not help observing how remarkable it was that the day on which it was received should have brought me a communication of so opposite a nature from the Duchess of Beaufort, and drawing the letter from my Portfolio without thinking of the prohibitory paragraph that formed a part of its contents, I tossed the letter to Mrs. Geary and requested her to read it, which when she had done the said Lady (a Mrs. Onkruydt and the wife of a Functionary in this Town) exclaimed " influenced by the highest motives ? " what does that mean ? Does it mean his high connections at home ? It was impossible for both of us to forbear smiling. Mrs. Geary however explained, and the interpretation, that was given (by one absolutely in- capable of malice or misrepresentation) appears to be the one that this treacherous character (who with her Husband have frequently complained of the Landdrost's conduct, and of my obtaining no redress for the grossest insult from Wathall, a flogged and disgraced Sergeant in the army and still in office), I say Mrs. Geary's innocent interpretation so unsuspectingly and frankly disclosed to a fellow complainant seems to be the one this treacherous character has made so unfair and mis-
orde of the Cape Colon//. 09
chievous a use of. The letter was never given her to read. The truth of the fact happily speaks for itself. For Gentle- men permit me to ask, if a principle of delicacy (by which I think you informed me she stated herself to be actuated) had really had the least influence in preventing her from reading the letter (which she also declared had been offered her for her perusal), would it not have operated in repressing her inquiries on the subject of that letter after hearing it read, and even have subdued a ivish for any explanation of its contents ? It is admirable how Providence so frequently makes the most trifling incidents the means of detecting falsehood. For I wish to observe to you that Mrs. Geary had long been im- pressed with a belief (from the use her visitor had made of a prayer book she lent her at church) that she was incapable of perusing even print in the English language, was it then likely that under such an impression she would hand her manuscript to read ?
My enemies' cause must be a bad one indeed, if in recri- minating they can seize with such avidity (what you must excuse me still for believing) such trifles as these. I exceed- ingly regret that the conveyance to England of anything I may have been tempted either unguardedly or confidentially to disclose under a temper irritated and goaded by injury, persecution, and insult (I use these expressions with caution) from the Governor of the Colony and Mr. Rivers the Landdrost of Albany, should prove in the slightest degree painful to the feelings of that truly excellent and exalted Christian character the Duchess of Beaufort.
I throw myself however on her candour, not meaning to justify what I am confident her Grace will feel no disposition severely to condemn. My ill-treatment has been shameful and ungrateful, I have fought the Battles of Lord Charles when the Landdrost meanly skulked away and left me alone, jealous of any favorable feelings His Excellency might have expressed for me, for when I had actively engaged in procuring many signatures in favor of the Governor, in opposition to a memorial that had been sent home, and the thing was pros- pering beyond my hopes, which Mr. Howard the much injured and oppressed clerk can testify, Mr. Rivers sent for me, and expressed a wish that the affair might drop, without assigning
70 Records of the Cape Colon//.
any reason, but Mr. Howard immediately became, and has since continued the object of his malice. I immediately said if it was his advice, I would proceed no further, but he answered with his usual caution, No, I don't advise, but I should wish the matter would take its usual course, and that you should not concern yourself with it one way or the other, but I assure you I do not grudge you any popularity you may have acquired by your late conduct. The first opened my eyes to the real character of Mr. Rivers. I declined interfering any further in consequence of this intimation, suspecting my conduct was unpleasing to Lord Charles, nor did I discover my mistake till after a considerable interval, when I renewed my exertions in favor of His Excellency, but the opportunity of serving him materially was gone by. Our opponents taking advantage of the interim had been most active, and but few additional signatures could be procured. The memorial however was completed and despatched to England ; my activity in this business (tho' exerted in the fairest way) was grossly mis- represented in the Morning Chronicle. Gratitude to Lord Charles for some attentions he had shewn me, and a belief that he was really calumniated, induced me to take the active part I did, and I should have been far better pleased had any other individual taken it up. But I do feel it hard to become the victim of persecution through the arts of an unprincipled magistrate, kept in a state of irritation for months together I feel no disposition to deny that I have been urged to speak in harsher terms of my enemies than charity would dictate, but certainly not more offensively than truth would warrant.
But I now for ever take my leave of them. There is a Providence on whose aid I regret I did not more implicitly rely, who can not only defeat their most subtle machinations, but has promised to overrule them for good to those who unreservedly trust their concerns with him. Into his hands then I solemnly commit my cause, and whatever persecutions, injuries, and insults malice may doom me yet to sustain, it shall be my prayer that " his strength may be made perfect in my weakness " so as to enable me to bear everything in future with the meekness and fortitude of a Christian.
They may and will ruin me, as is evidently their intention, and which fchey have nearly already accomplished, but they
/o cords of the Cape Colony. 71
cannot deprive me of that peace of conscience which can make even a prison assume a smile, and without which the stateliest palace is after all but a dungeon.
The questions you chuse to propose to me Gentlemen I shall think it my duty respectfully to answer, but I beg leave to state to you it is not my intention, henceforth to accuse any indivi- dual, to submit to you one paper or trouble you with a single complaint. My Enemies have thus far succeeded.
I enclose you a copy of her Grace's letter, which you are at full liberty to use according to your discretion, but the original it is not my intention to part with. I have &c.
(Signed) William Geary.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Commissioners of Enquiry to the Reverend William Geary.
Graham's Town, 10th February 1824.
SIRj — We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, explaining to us the circumstances under which you state that the letter of her Grace the Duchess of Beaufort was disclosed to Mrs. Onkruydt, and offering at the same time to our consideration certain claims that your conduct had given you upon the favorable opinion of His Excellency Lord Charles Somerset as well as the manner in which those claims were treated by Mr. Rivers.
We shall not fail to give due weight to your representations on these subjects, and with respect to any change that you may think fit to make in the mode of bringing the conduct of Mr. Rivers to our notice, we shall neither forget the expressions that you have made use of in our presence nor those which you have been pleased to adopt in your letter now before us.
We beg leave however to apprize you that whenever we think it expedient to enter upon the investigation of the judicial administration of Mr. Rivers we shall request your attendance at this office, leaving it entirely to your present
72 Records of the Cape Colony.
option to offer or withhold until we shall require them the documents and proofs that you say are in your possession.
We beg leave to return to you Sir in the unsealed state in which it was sent a paper which you inform us is a copy of the letter of the Duchess of Beaufort in which secrecy was enjoined you.
Having requested the original in a sealed state for the purpose of being transmitted to Earl Bathurst, and through his Lord- ship's means to avert the calamity of family disputes, we regret to observe that our efforts have been defeated by an attempt on your part to make us parties to a breach of confidence, an act of which we trust we are both incapable. We beg &c.
(Signed) John Thomas Bigge,
William M. G. Colebrooke.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Reverend William Geary to the Chaplain General of His Majesty's Forces.
Graham's Town, Cape of Good Hope, February 10th 1824.
Reverend Sir, — I beg leave to submit to you a Copy of a letter I addressed on Sunday last the 8th instant to Major Somerset the Commandant of the Frontier, the subject of which will apprize you of the propriety of my troubling you with this address and at the same time spare me the necessity of making any comments on so gross and truly undeserved an insult. It is already known to His Majesty's Commissioners.
I have &c.
(Signed) William Geary.
Ji'<i<trds of the Cape Colon//. 78
[Office Copy.]
Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to the Commissioners of
Enquiry.
Downing Street, \\th February 1824.
Gentlemen, — I enclose you the Evidence on the subject of Emigration, given by me before the select Committee on the Employment of the Poor in Ireland, in the course of the last Session. I beg to refer your particular attention to the Evidence in page 44 to the end, which was given by me from notes placed in my hands by Mr. Ingram. At the time that I communicated with Mr. Ingram on this subject, I cautioned him in the strongest manner to guard himself against the slightest inaccuracy in his general Statement ; and begged him to take particular care to understate all his points, rather than the contrary. His statements were at the time corro- borated by other persons who were then in London. I told him that he must at once be aware that after a lapse of time necessary for communication to and from the Cape, this Department would be informed whether such Statements were inaccurate or not ; and that the most serious consequences would inevitably result to himself if it should be discovered that he had deceived the Government on those points. The Statement which I have given in evidence is that which he gave to me after having received all these cautions, and I have therefore to request that you will specially report to me with respect to its accuracy.
I also enclose you a paper drawn up by Mr. Parker, which he is now circulating in the South of Ireland, and in which this emigration of Mr. Ingram's is commented upon in very strong terms, as a measure calculated to ruin all the parties who embarked with Mr. Ingram, and you will observe from Mr. Parker's own printed statement, that he says he did not at the time offer any objections to this plan, lest it should be supposed that they had originated in envious feelings. The fact is that he corroborated all the statements at the time.
If it were to be proved by your report that the data given by Mr. Ingram, and on the presumed accuracy of which the Government sanctioned that emigration were false and un- founded, I have no doubt that Lord Bathurst will immediately
74 Records of the Cape Colon ij.
instruct the Governor to remove Mr. Ingram from the Colony. Mr. Ingram was recommended in the strongest manner by Sir Nicholas Colthurst and Lord Ennismore, members for Cork, who represented themselves to have known him all their lives, and by several other persons. His proposals were not accepted with any reference to an obligation to be conferred on him, but with reference to the data on which he grounded his request. I remain &c.
(Signed) R. W. Horton.
[Copy.]
Letter from Mr. William Edwards to Lord Charles
Somerset.
Cape Town, llth February 1824.
My Lord, — In your character as Governor of this Colony I take the liberty of requiring you to forward the accompanying Memorial to Mr. Wilmot the Under Secretary of State, who being a Member of the House of Commons will receive it as a Parliamentary Paper.
The papers referred to in the margin will be shewn to him by Mr. Charles W. Wynne, the Honorable Mr. Bennett, or Mr. Hume, to each of whom copies shall be sent. I have &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
[Copy.]
4
Petition of Mr. William Edwards to the House of Commons.
To the Honorable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled.
The humble petition of William Edwards of Cape Town in His Majesty's Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, Notary, Sheweth :
That being retained by Mr. Cooke a Merchant in Cape Town to prefer a complaint against Mr. Blair the Colonial Collector of Customs for insolence and abuse concerning a Negro appren- tice, and that in the course of his enquiries into the affair bo
Record* of the Cape Colony. 75
many transactions of an improper management of the appren- tices came to his knowledge he felt compelled to state them to the Lords of the Treasury in order to draw their Lordships' attention to the Collector's conduct.
That having done this in a written Memorial on the 23rd day of January last, he forwarded one copy of the complaint thro' His Excellency the Governor and another by post to the Treasury, and your honorable House will see (from the Copies hereunto annexed) that the charges against the Collector were of such a nature as to require an immediate investigation by His Majesty's Colonial Law Officers into the transactions of His Majesty's Collector of Customs.
That on the 3rd day of February instant your petitioner intending to accompany Mr. Cooke to England for the purpose of carrying on the said complaint before the Lords of the Treasury applied to Daniel Denyssen the Fiscal of the Colony to take the usual Oath prior to obtaining a passport, which the said Daniel Denyssen a Native of Amsterdam in a very rude and haughty manner refused to administer alleging as his reason that he had received the said memorial from Lord Charles Somerset with instructions to prosecute your Petitioner and the said Mr. Cooke.
That your Petitioner thereupon applied by letter whereof a Copy is hereunto annexed to His Excellency the Governor, setting forth the assertion of the said Daniel Denyssen, to which he received the answer also hereunto annexed from Mr. P. G. Brink a Dutch Native of this Colony, attempting to confirm the said Daniel Denyssen's assertions.
That he again wrote to His Excellency the Governor and received the answer signed by His Excellency declaring that your Petitioner had totally misapprehended the said Daniel Denyssen's intention, yet on again applying to the said Daniel Denyssen for passports this day, your Petitioner and the said Mr. Cooke were again refused. ■
That on reading the Affidavits of the said Mr. Cooke and your Petitioner, the letter of the said P. G. Brink and your Peti- tioner's to the Governor, your Honorable House will perceive that he could not have totally misapprehended the conver- sation, unless the said Daniel Denyssen and P. G. Brink were ignorant of the true meaning of the words they used or pur-
7G llecords of the Cape Colon//.
posely told a falsehood to calumniate the sacred representative of Majesty which the said P. G. Brink perseveres in by his letter of the 9th Instant.
Your Honorable House will perceive by the Affidavits of the Gentlemen who this day accompanied your Petitioner and Mr. Cooke what was the manner and conduct of the said Daniel Denyssen.
And your Petitioner humbly submits it was the duty of the said Daniel Denyssen the moment he read the charges contained in the Memorial to the Lords of the Treasury, to have required your Petitioner's assistance together with Mr. Cooke, to pro- secute the said Collector of Customs, they being at least of equal respectability and credit with the said Mr. Blair or Mr. Daniel Denyssen, and it is impossible the said Daniel Denyssen could have been permitted to see that Memorial by His Excel- lency the Governor for any other purpose.
Yet contrary to this man's duty to our Gracious Sovereign, contrary to the solemn oath he had taken, contrary to his duty to God and to man, winking at crime in office, sanctioning inhumanity, cruelty, insolence and oppression in authority, instead of standing forth the bold Champion of Public Justice, he scandalously lends himself the minion of power to punish two Gentlemen who were seeking to do what it was his duty to have done, and he would willingly increase the suffering of Mr. Cooke.
Mr. Cooke and your Petitioner had preferred a complaint to His Majesty's Ministers, and they have yet to learn where is the crime of seeking for Justice where Justice is sure to be found.
Your Petitioner begs humbly to state that this Daniel Denyssen is a Native of Amsterdam, having early in life taken an oath of fidelity to the Government of Holland, and that although the conquest and cession transferred the allegiance of every native born inhabitant of the Colony to His Majesty the King the Oath of Allegiance which this man so greedily swallowed to procure his office cast a suspicion over his character which his conduct in this affair confirms.
That your Petitioner having been informed of many other actions of this man of equal injustice and oppression will reduce the detail thereof into affidavit and cause the same to be laid before your Honorable House herewith.
Hscorih of the Cape Colony. 77
And that as the said Daniel Denyssen can only have been actuated by a wish to deprive His Majesty's subjects of any further redress than such as he chooses to mete out to them, and that as your Petitioner has so little dependence in his learning or his integrity as to be unwilling to submit to him what portion of right he shall receive, or to allow the said Daniel Denyssen to choak up the avenues to even handed Justice, or to intercept, interdict or proscribe those who know where to seek it better than himself.
He humbly prays that the said Daniel Denyssen may be summoned to appear at the bar of your Honorable House, to answer for His conduct in having presumed to intercept a complaint to His Majesty's Ministers lawfully enabled to redress the grievance complained of ; For having arbitrarily refused to your Petitioner and Mr. Cooke their Passports, thereby keeping them prisoners here, that they might not seek for Justice at home ; and for having threatened them with a prosecution, thereby deterring His Majesty's subjects from laying their complaints at the foot of the Throne, the invaluable and indisputable right of every Englishman.
Your Petitioner further prays that your Honorable House will make an order that he may be instituted the Prosecutor against Mr. Blair in the stead of the said Daniel Denyssen if the said charge be proceeded in before the Court of Law here, so that Mr. Blair may not be acquitted on a fictitious prosecution.
And further that your Petitioner may be heard by Counsel before your Honorable House, there to criminate and prosecute the said Daniel Denyssen in the premises. And he will ever pray &c.
(Signed) W. Edwards.
Cape Town, 11 February 1824.
[Copy.]
Letter from Harry Rivers, Esqre., to the Commissioners of
Enquiry.
Graham's Town, \2lh February 1821
Gentlemen, — I have the honor agreeably to the request contained in your letter of this day's date to transmit a List
78
Records of the Cape Colony.
of those British Settlers in this District to whom the Titles to their Grants of Land have been delivered, and to state that the Title Deeds do not contain Mortgages for the balances due to Government on account of Rations issued to the party, but that the Heads of Parties are required to sign and acknow- ledge the correctness of the Commissariat Accounts.
I have &c. (Signed)
Harry Rivers.
[Copy.] List of British Settlers to whom Title Deeds have been delivered.
|
Extent of hand |
|||||
|
granted. |
|||||
|
Name of Settler. |
. |
||||
|
llorgen. |
Roods. |
||||
|
Alexander Biggar . |
909 |
468 |
On the Carrega River |
||
|
John Stanley |
541 |
235 |
Blue Krans |
||
|
George Pigot . |
1828 |
388 |
Do. |
||
|
William Howard |
804 |
376 |
Near Graham's Town |
||
|
William Smith |
2135 |
360 |
Governor's Kop, 12 miles E. of G. T. |
||
|
George Dyason |
1448 |
. . |
Torrens or Brakke River |
||
|
G. T. Tho'rnhill |
843 |
132 |
East bank of the Kowie Mouth |
||
|
John Mandy |
628 |
119 |
Near Fish River |
||
|
John H. Dixon |
890 |
300 |
Waay Plaats |
||
|
Richard Hayhurst |
604 |
260 |
Near Bathurst |
||
|
Miles Bowker. |
513 |
196 |
Riet River |
||
|
Charles Hyman |
1353 |
400 |
Do. |
||
|
George Southey |
700 |
146 |
Near Waay Plaats |
||
|
Edward Ford . |
1154 |
400 |
Riet River |
||
|
Hezekiah Sephton |
5000 |
On Hassagay Bush River |
|||
|
James Richardson |
714 |
400 |
Near Kowie Mouth |
||
|
George Smith |
1476 |
Do. |
|||
|
B. Leech |
665 |
232 |
On Carrega River |
||
|
Thos. Philipps |
1021 |
410 |
Corn Plaats |
||
|
Nottingham Party |
2768 |
282 |
Near Bathurst |
||
|
Edward Gardner |
862 |
32 |
On Carrega River |
||
|
Nathaniel Morgan |
628 |
450 |
Near Graham's Town |
Graham's Town, 12th February 1824.
(Signed)
Harry Rivers.
Records of the Cayc Colony. 70
[Original.] Letter from Mr. John Foulger to Earl Bathurst.
25 Rood Lane, Fenchukch Street, February 12th 1824.
My Lord, — It. is with much diffidence I venture on the liberty of drawing your Lordship's attention for a few moments to the situation of the Settlers in South Africa, which is now distressing in the extreme.
I am aware that your Lordship's time must be fully occupied, but I am sure that your benevolent heart will feel for the miseries of the unfortunate.
Perhaps your Lordship knows that the crops have failed ever since the Emigrants were located in Albany, and the inundation this season has swept away all their remaining hopes.
The class of persons suffering is not the labouring poor, but that class which was once respectable in this happy country, and who were able to take with them some property, but the crops failing, their money expended, without decent clothing, and almost without food, they are reduced to a wretched state.
As a merchant trading to the Cape, I flatter myself that I possess correct information, and my brother in law having taken on himself the situation of Gratuitous Secretary to the Society formed in Cape Town for the relief of the Suffering Settlers, my information is derived from close investigation on his part. This Society has done what it could, but the mass of misery is greater than it has means to remove.
It is the wish of several persons, well acquainted with their distresses, to call a public meeting in the City, and open a subscription on their behalf, and it would afford them sincere gratification if Your Lordship would condescend to take the Chair on that occasion, and I beg further to solicit, that your Lordship would allow myself, and one or two gentlemen who have been at the Cape (not as Settlers) the honour of an audience for a few minutes, when we should be better able to explain the situation of those on whose behalf I have ventured to obtrude on your Lordship's notice. I have &c.
(Signed) John Foulger.
HI) Records of the Cape Colony.
[Office Copy.]
Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to Lord Charles
Somerset.
Colonial Office, London, February \Uh 1824.
My Lord, — I have received Earl Bathurst's directions to transmit to you the accompanying copy of an order of the House of Commons, and to request that your Lordship would give the necessary directions that the Documents therein mentioned may be immediately prepared and transmitted to this Office, and I am directed to add that a return has been made to the order in question as far as the Records of the Colonial Office supply the information required. I have &c.
(Signed) R. W. Horton.
[Office Copy.]
Letter from R. W. Horton, Esqre., to Lord Charles
Somerset.
Colonial Office, London, 14th February 1824.
My Lord, — I am directed by Earl Bathurst to draw your Lordship's attention to the accompanying Copy of a letter addressed to Sir R. Donkin on the 31st July 1821, and to request your Lordship would give the necessary orders that the Slave returns therein mentioned may be prepared with the utmost possible dispatch, as the address of the House of Commons requiring such Documents has since been renewed.
I have &c.
(Signed) R. W. Horton.
Records of the Cape Colony. 81
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset.
Downing Street, London, MSth February 1824.
My Lord, — Having communicated with His Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department respecting the case of the female Slave Rosalyn as reported in your Lordship's dispatch of the 28th of April last, I now transmit to your Lordship a Pardon which His Majesty has been graciously pleased to grant to that person, upon condition that she shall be imprisoned and kept to hard labour for the term of five
years. I have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
[Office Copy.] Letter from Earl Bathurst to Lord Charles Somerset.
Downing Street, London, IQth February 1824.
My Lord, — I have to acknowledge the Receipt of your Lordship's dispatch of the 24th September last in which you detail the reasons which had induced you to cause a Schooner to be built for the purpose of being stationed at the River Kowie ; and I have to acquaint your Lordship that under all the circumstances of the case, I shall notify to the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury my sanction of the expence which will attend the building of this Schooner.
I have likewise to sanction the erection of a tread Mill in the prison of Cape Town ; but I desire that female prisoners may not be subjected to the discipline of that Machinery ; and the notice of this subject affords me an opportunity of instructing your Lordship to make arrangements in all the prisons of the Settlement for exempting Prisoners generally from laborious discipline previously to their Trial. I have &c.
(Signed) Bathurst.
xvii.
82 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Letter from Harry Rivers, Esqre., to the Commissioners of
Inquiry.
Graham's Town, \8th February 1824.
Gentlemen, — I have the honor in compliance with the request contained in your Letter of the 16th Instant to transmit Copies of such Letters as I have received from the Colonial Government authorizing additional Grants of Land to the English Settlers, and of the instructions relative to the issue of the Titles to the original Locations, and I have the honor also to enclose a List of those persons who have been granted augmentations and specifying the extent and description thereof.
There are many other persons who have stated to me that they had received promises of additional Grants from the late Acting Governor, but for which I do not find any authority in the Office. Many Memorials have been also addressed to the Governor for additional Grants, which Memorials have been referred to the Landdrost to report on the Localities of the Land asked for and other circumstances, but such reports have in a few instances only been furnished, as the boundaries and situations of the original Locations of which the diagrams were sent to me in June last had not been till then communicated so distinctly as to enable me to make the required reports, and His Excellency had therefore decided not to make any additional grants until the Locations should have become grantable.
This period has now arrived, and I believe it is the intention of His Excellency to accede to all additional Grants to which there shall not be any local objections, and which the industry and good conduct of the Memorialists may justify, and I shall now proceed with the inspections and reports without delay.
I have &c.
(Signed) Harry Rivers.
Records of the Cape Colony. 83
[Copy.]
Return of English Settlers whose Applications for Augmenta- tions of their original Allotments of Land have been acceded to.
J. Goodwin. Granted 425 morgen near Graham's Town.
Miles Bowker. Granted 1270 morgen in addition to Loca- tion. Granted an Erf in Graham's Town.
Major Pigot. Location extended originally from 2000 acres to 1828 morgen. Granted 46 morgen on the banks of the Kowie. Granted an Erf at Bathurst and one at Graham's Town.
Samuel James (Head of Party). Granted in extension of Location the waste Land between Mr. Austin and Kleine Mond River, a large Grant not measured.
W. Wait (Head of Party). Granted in extension of Loca- tion a Plain towards the Sea not measured, and Location not yet granted.
Richard Bradshaw (Head of Party). Granted an extension of Location not measured.
J. C. Chase (of Mr. Bailie's Party). Granted 500 acres distinct from Location, not measured.
G. Futter. Granted an Erf at Graham's Town.
Richard Daniels. Granted additional Land adjoining his Location, not measured.
W. Thackwray. Allowed to take possession of E. Turvey's Location in addition to his own.
J. Stanley (Head of Party). Granted the full Location of 1100 acres for himself individually.
J. Latham (Head of Party). Granted 1000 acres in addition to Location, not measured.
A. Biggar (Head of Party). Location extended originally 1300 acres to 909 morgen. Granted a small farm near the Mill river distinct from Location. Granted an Erf at Bathurst.
Walter Currie (of Wilson's Party). Granted 1000 acres in addition to Location, not measured. Granted an Erf at Bathurst.
Captain H. Crause and Lieutenant J. Crause. Granted each 2000 morgen in addition to Location and in compensation for losses at Fredericksburg, place not fixed.
g 2
84 Record* of the Cape Colon;/.
Lieutenant C. Crause. Granted 2000 morgen contiguous to Bathurst in addition to Location in compensation for losses at Fredericksburg.
J. Armstrong (of Scanlen's Party). Granted a small Erf at Graham's Town.
Captain Butler. Granted a farm of 1062 morgen instead of 1000 acres. Granted a piece of Ground at Graham's Town.
H. Sephton (Head of Party). Has been promised 500 acres in addition to Location. The full Location has been granted to this party originally consisting of 100 families, although two- thirds have not resided.
C. J. Thornhill (Head of Party). Location extended origin- ally from 1400 acres to 843 morgen. Granted an Erf at Bathurst.
C. Hyman. Location extended originally from 1100 acres to 1358 morgen.
C. Ford. Location extended originally from 1000 acres to 1154 morgen.
W. Smith. Location extended originally from 1100 acres to 2125 morgen, and the full Location has been granted although few persons have resided.
Captain D. Campbell. Entitled to land for 7 persons, has been granted a farm of 2996 morgen contiguous to Graham's Town. Granted two Erven at Graham's Town and one Erf at Bathurst.
S. Biddulph. Granted 904 morgen in lieu of Location.
Mr. T. Phillips (Head of Party). Granted an Erf at Graham's Town and an Erf at Bathurst.
Mr. Bailie (Head of Party). Granted Land in addition to Location, not measured.
Mr. Bissett (Wilson's Party). Granted an Erf at Bathurst.
D. P. Francis. Granted an Erf at Graham's Town.
G. Dyason. Granted an Erf at Bathurst. Promised a Grazing Farm in addition to Location, and allowed an Erf at Graham's Town as Field Cornet.
T. Mahony. Promised a grant in addition to Location and granted an Erf at Bathurst.
Granted an Erf at Bathurst to each of the following : W. Dell, Richard Pearse, J. Mandy, James Vice, Robert Vice, Joseph Hewson, W. Bond, W. Anderson, — Bradford, W.
Records of the Cape Colony. 85
Stanton, W. Boardman, W. Dold, J. Jarman, James Corney,
B. Gunning, W. Griffiths, G. Jarvis, and T. Hartley. Artificers to whom Small Building Lots at Graham's Town
have been granted : W. Lee senior, W. Lee junior, W. Penny,
C. Penny, Matham, Willis, J. Jones, Weatherage, Biggs, Searle, Webster, Keene, Holland, Venables,. Clark, Thackeray, Leach, Walker, Bagshaw, Ploughman, Wright, Wells, Pain, Oats, Fowler, Jeffries, Jenkinson, Wood, Miller, Hartley, Penny, and Sergeant.
Graham's Town, 18th February 1824.
(Signed) Harry Rivers.
[Copy.] Letter from Mr. Thomas Pringle to Lord Charles Somerset.
Cape Town, February \8th 1824.
My Lord, — I take the liberty to address you at the instance of some of my Friends at the Baviaans' River, who request me respectfully to state to your Excellency that they labour under great disadvantage this season in having no market for their surplus produce, on account of the Somerset Farm refusing to purchase from them, and advertizing for a large supply of wheat and barley to be furnished by Contract at Cape Town. There being no other market within reach of their Location they humbly request that your Excellency will be pleased to consider their situation and allow them to deliver what quantity of wheat and barley they can spare (which may be altogether above two hundred muids) to the Somerset Establishment at a reasonable price, which favour would be of great avail in promoting their prosperity. They add that they are ready to furnish the grain at a rate considerably lower than it would cost the Government if purchased here and forwarded to the interior by sea and land Carriage.
Committing this matter to your Excellency's gracious con- sideration, I have &c.
(Signed) Thos. Prinolk.
86 Records of the Cape Colony.
' [Copy.] General Orders.
Head Quarters, 19th February 1824.
No. 1. The Landdrost of Albany having expressed to the Commander of the Forces the obligation under which he feels himself to the Officers and men on duty at Graham's Town on the night of the 4th Inst., by whose prompt and able assistance and exemplary forbearance a Tumult of a most dangerous character was quelled without any casualty having occurred,
The Commander of the Forces begs to express to every Officer and Man employed on that occasion his best thanks for the activity and soldier-like conduct they displayed, and most particularly for the temper and forbearance with which they executed their duty under circumstances of extreme provocation.
No. 2. His Excellency the Commander of the Forces has been pleased to dismiss the Reverend William Geary from his Appointment as Chaplain to the Forces at Graham's Town, and he is hereby dismissed accordingly.
(Signed) M. G. Blake, D. A. General.
[Copy.]
Letter from Captain Fitzroy to the Reverend Wilijam
Geary.
Military Secretary's Office,
Cape Town, February 19th 1824.
Sir, — The Commandant on the Frontier having transmitted to His Excellency the Commander of the Forces a letter addressed by you to him on the 8th Inst., I am directed by his Excellency to inform you that the Tone of Insolence in which that Letter is written is so inadmissible in Military Life, and so entirely inconsistent with the Regulations of His Majesty's Service, that were you a Commissioned Chaplain to the Forces, VHis Excellency would not hesitate to arraign you
Records of (he Cape Colony. 87
before a Court Martial ; but as your Appointment to perform the duties of Chaplain to the Forces stationed at Graham's Town and its Vicinity does not bear a Commission, His Excel- lency is pleased to dismiss you from that Appointment, and you are accordingly hereby dismissed therefrom, as will appear in the General Order of this day to the Army in South Africa.
I have &c.
(Signed) Ch. Fitzroy, Military Secretary.
[Copy.] Letter from Mr. Thomas Pringle to P. G. Brink, Esqre.
Cape Town, February \§th 1824.
Sir, — I beg leave to tender for the supply of one hundred muids of wheat at fourteen Rixdollars the muid to be delivered at the Government Farm of Somerset or at any Post within that distance from the Baviaan's River, the delivery to take place on or before the first of June 1824. I have &c.
(Signed) Thos. Pringle.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Landdrost of Albany to the Commissioners of Inquiry.
Graham's Town, 19th February 1824.
Gentlemen, — In reply to your letter of this day's date I have the honor to transmit a List of those Settlers to whom money has been advanced on Loan by the Colonial Government, and to state that no money has been placed in my hands by His Excellency the Governor for the relief of the Emigrant British Settlers who had suffered most by the inundation and heavy Storm in October last. I have the honor to enclose a Copy of my Correspondence with the Colonial Secretary on this Subject. I have &c.
(Signed) Harry Rivers.
88 Records of the Cape Colony.
[Enclosure.]
List of English Settlers to whom Sums have been advanced by the Colonial Government :
J. Collis Rds. 600, J. Pawle Rds. 200, T. P. Adams Rds. 250, J. Walker Rds. 50, B. Burnett Rds. 150, Ellen Griffiths Rds. 250, Isaac Dyason Rds. 500, C. Crause Rds. 500.
[Copy.]
Letter from the Landdrost of Uitenhage to the Commissioners
of Inquiry.
Uitenhage, 19th February 1824.
Gentlemen, — I have the honor in reply to your letter of the 16th Instant respecting the removal of Sephton's party of Settlers to transmit herewith the original order to their being located to the westward of the line already taken up. Their being placed on the Riet Fontein must have been by some mistake. I have the honor to hand you a copy of an extract from a letter from Sir R. Donkin desiring their removal, as also the copy of a letter from me to Captain Trappes directing the same.
As to the future disposal of the lands to Mr. Nourse or the smallness of Major General Campbell's party, I bear no know- ledge of it, as such was after the separation of the Drostdies and formation of that of Albany. I have &c.
(Signed) J. G. Cuyler.
[Enclosure 1 in the above.]
Distribution of Land to Settlers per Aurora Transport, for the guidance of the Landdrost of Uitenhage.
Director : Mr. Sephton. Number of Settlers entitled to Land : 100. Number of acres entitled to : 10,000. Land to be granted : 10,000 acres. Remarks : The spots measured by Mr. Knobel being now all located, Lieut. Col. Cuyler will
Records of the Cape Colony. 89
place these Settlers upon spots in the rear (or westward) of the line antecedently taken up ; care must be taken that on each spot to be located there be some spring of fresh water.
Colonial Office, Cape of Good Hope, 8th May, 1820.
By command of His Excellency the Acting Governor.
(Signed) C. Bird.
[Enclosure 2 in the above.]
Extract from a Letter from Sir R. S. Donkin to Lieut. Col. Cuyler, dated George, June 13th 1820.
My dear Sir, — I was yesterday evening favored with yours of the 10th, and I certainly am not very well pleased to find that Lynch's Post has been occupied by Settlers, when I so very clearly and so frequently declared my having allotted that portion to Major General Campbell ; this being the case, Mr. Sephton and his people are in the situation of any other people who have got possession of another person's property, and they must move to be located elsewhere. I am sorry for the inconvenience they will be put to, but it cannot be a serious or a material one, as I find that only part of Mr. Sephton's people are actually located, some of them being still on the road, and the part that has been improperly placed on Lynch's post has been there so short a time that they can neither have built nor ploughed. I am &c.
(Signed) R. S. Donkin.
[Enclosure 3 in the above.]
Uitenhaoe, 24th June 1820.
Sir, — His Excellency the Acting Governor having in his communications from George dated 13th and 14th Instant directed the future locations for some of the new Settlers, by which some of those parties already located are to be removed, I enclose a memorandum shewing the alterations made in consequence, and have to beg of you to notify to those parties who are to be removed, to hold themselves in readiness to remove accordingly. It is intended that the waggons bringing
90 Records of the Cape Colony.
on the Settlers now at the Bay will after putting them down on their lands, remove those who are to be put on other lands, to their proper locations, which waggons we are to expect at Algoa Bay for the purpose of bringing on the Settlers at present there, on or about the 1st of next month, and I hope no delay will take place in the speedy removal of the Settlers to their ultimate destinations. I have &c.
(Signed) J. G. Cuyler.
Extract of the Memorandum.
Mr. Sephton's party to be located on the Assagaay Bosch River, immediately above the place of Scalkwyk, leaving the entire of Joel Smuts or Lynch's Old Post for Major General Campbell who is expected. B. D. Bower, who is now upon this ground, to be removed. Mr. Menzies now at the Kasoga to be put on No. 51 on the Karega immediately above Parkins. Messrs. E. Ford and Hayman now on Lynch's post to be removed to No. 22 where they were first intended, above Siebritz's on the N. side of the same river.
[Copy.] Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to Mr. Thomas Pringle.
Colonial Office, 20th February 1824. Sir, — In reply to your letter of yesterday's date tendering on behalf of your Friends at the Baviaans' River to supply the Colonial Government with one hundred muids of wheat at fourteen rixdollars the muid to be delivered at the Government Farm Somerset, or at any post within that distance from the Baviaans' River, the delivery to take place on or before the first of June next, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acquaint you that he has been pleased to accept the same. I have &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
Records of the Cape Colony. 01
[Copy.] Letter from P. G. Brink, Esqre., to Mr. Robert Hart.
Colonial Office, 20th February 1824.
Sir, — I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acquaint you that He has been pleased to accept a Tender presented by Mr. T. Pringle, on behalf of his Friends at the Baviaans' River, to supply the Colonial Government with one hundred muids of wheat at fourteen rixdollars the Muid, to be delivered at Somerset Farm, or at any post within that distance from the Baviaans' River, the delivery to take place on or before the first of June next. I have &c.
(Signed) P. G. Brink.
[Copy.] Government Advertisement.
His Excellency the Governor and Commander in Chief, has been pleased to direct the following Order of His Majesty in Council to be made public, for general information.
Cape of Good Hope, Feb. 20th, 1824.
By Command of His Excellency the Governor.
(Signed) C. Bird, Secretary.
At the Court, at Windsor, the 19th September, 1823, Present, The King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.
Whereas His Majesty was pleased, by His Order in Council, bearing date the 24th day of September, 1814, to establish certain Regulations therein set forth, touching the Trade and Commerce to and from the Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, and the Territories and Dependencies thereof ; and whereas His Majesty was pleased by the said Order, amongst other things, to direct, that Goods, Wares, or Merchandize, the Growth, Produce, or Manufacture of the Countries to the Eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, legally imported into the
92 Records of the Cape Colony.
said Settlement, or into the Territories or Dependencies thereof, might be exported from the said Settlement, or the Territories or Dependencies thereof, to the Ports of the United Kingdom, subject to the Rules and Regulations contained in an Act, passed in the Fifty- third Year of His late Majesty's Reign, intituled, " An Act for Continuing in the East India Company, for a further term, the Possession of the British Territories in India, together with certain exclusive Privileges ; for establish- ing further Regulations for the government of the said Terri- tories, and the better administration of Justice within the same ; and for regulating the Trade to and from the Places within the Limits of the said Company's Charter," or to any Ports or Places to which a Trade in such Articles was permitted to be carried on from the said Settlement, or the Territories or Dependencies thereof, under the Provisions of an Act, passed in the Fifty-fourth Year of His late Majesty's Reign, intituled, " An Act for the further regulation of the Trade to and from the Places within the Limits of the Charter of the East India Company," and subject to the Rules and Regulations in the said Act contained, provided, however, that nothing in that Order contained should extend, or be construed to extend, to permit any Vessel, under the burthen of three hundred and fifty tons to export from the said Settlement, or the Territories or Dependencies thereof, to the Ports of the United Kingdom, any articles, the growth, produce, or manufacture of any countries, situated within the limits of the East India Com- pany's Charter : And whereas by an Act, passed in the last Session of Parliament, intituled, " An Act to consolidate and amend the several Laws now in force with respect to Trade to and from the places within the limits of the Charter of the East India Company, and to make further Provisions an it h respect to such Trade ; and to amend an Act of the present Session of Parliament, for the registering of Vessels, so far as it relates to Vessels registered in India," so much of the said Act of the fifty-third year of His said late Majesty's reign, as authorizes His Majesty's Subjects to carry on Trade and Traffic to and from the Ports and Places within the limits of the said Company's Charter, with all the provisions, restrictions, and limitations in the same Act contained, for the regulation of such Trade, and for the disposition in the United Kingdom of
Records of the Cape Colony. 93
all articles manufactured of silk, hair, or cotton wool, or any mixture thereof, imported under the authority of the said last mentioned Act, from any Port or Place within the Limits of the said Company's Charter ; and the whole of the said Act, passed in the Fifty-fourth year of the Reign of His late Majesty, together with certain other Acts, passed in the Fifty-fifth, Fifty-seventh, and Fifty-ninth years of His said late Majesty's Reign, and an Act passed in the second Year of the Reign of His present Majesty, all which Acts relate to Trade to, from, or between Ports and Places within the Limits of the Charter of the East India Company, have been repealed : His Majesty is pleased, in virtue of the power vested in His Majesty by several Acts, passed in the Forty-seventh and Forty-ninth Years of His late Majesty's Reign, and in the first year of His present Majesty's Reign, and by and with the advice of His Privy Council, to order, and it is hereby ordered, that so much of the said Order in Council, bearing date the 24th day of September 1814, as relates to the tonnage of vessels importing from the said Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, its Terri- tories and Dependencies, to the ports of the United Kingdom, goods, wares, and merchandize, the growth, produce or manu- facture of Countries to the eastward of the said Settlement ; and also so much of the said Order as subjects the exportation of such goods, wares, and merchandize to the provisions of the said Acts of the fifty-third and fifty-fourth years of His late Majesty's reign, be, and the same are, hereby revoked : And His Majesty is hereby further pleased to order, that such goods, wares, and merchandize so exported, shall be subject to the provisions of the said Act of the last Session of Parliament, so far as the same are applicable thereto, in like manner, as if such goods, wares, and merchandize had been exported from any port or place within the limits of the Charter of the East India Company.
And the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain.
(Signed) C. C. Greville.
94
Records of the Cape Colony.
[Copy.]
Return of Settlers in Albany residing on their Locations on the 21st February 1824.
|
Names of the Men. |
Names of the Women. |
Number Number of | (if .Miii Children. Servants. |
|
|
W. Smith's Location. |
|||
|
William Thackwray John Thackwray .... David Hobson .... |
Dorothy Thackwray Mary Ann Hobson |
4 |
|
|
Captain Bagot' s Location. |
|||
|
Robert Wood Bagot Robert O'Connor . . ... |
Mary Bagot Harriet O'Connor |
2 |
|
|
Mr. Clarke's Location. |
|||
|
Jeremiah Honey .... John Marshall .... William Wentworth William Wentworth junior Thomas Kamkin .... |
Ann Honey Frances Wentworth |
3 2 |
|
|
Major Pigot' s Location. |
|||
|
George Pigot Amos Boucher ... Richard Boucher .... Priestwood Boucher John Pancas ..... George Pratt ..... |
Elizabeth Pigot Catharine Pigot Sophia Pigot Lucy Pancas |
2 |
|
|
Captain Campbell's Location. |
|||
|
Duncan Campbell .... |
Mary Ann Campbell Sarah Tilbrook Jane Stroud |
5 |
|
|
Mr. Stanley's Location. |
|||
|
John Stanley .... |
Sarah Stanley |
||
|
Mr; Liversage' s Location. |
|||
|
Samuel Liversage .... Richard Forrester .... William Mumford .... Abraham Robinson Thomas Manly .... William Ford .... David Venables .... James Cannon .... |
Harriet Liversage Mary Forrester Mary Mumford Mary Manly Sarah Ford Jane Venables |
6 3 4 7 t 6 |
Records of tJie Cape Colony.
95
|
N inn! mt Number |
|||
|
Names of the Men. |
Names of the Women. |
of | et Mm Cbildren.'Servants. |
|
|
Morton's Location. |
|||
|
John Fournier .... |
2 |
||
|
William Calverly .... |
|||
|
Thomas Calverly .... |
|||
|
William Calverly junior . |
• |
||
|
Peter Daniel . ... |
Eliza Daniel |
2 |
|
|
George Blackmore .... |
Mary Blackmore |
4 |
|
|
John Grimsdale .... |
Mary Grimsdale |
2 |
|
|
Ann Mitchley |
6 |
||
|
Peter Daniel junior . . |
|||
|
James Willmot .... |
Ann Willmot |
||
|
Benjamin Willmot .... |
|||
|
William Bowles .... |
|||
|
Howard's Location. |
|||
|
William Howard .... |
Elizabeth Howard |
6 |
|
|
Sarah Cadle |
5 |
||
|
Mary Burns |
4 |
||
|
Henry Harper .... |
|||
|
John Poulton .... |
"Ann Poulton |
10 |
|
|
William Tarr .... |
Susan Tarr |
4 |
|
|
Giles WiUan |
Rachel Willan |
3 |
|
|
Thomas Bainbridge |
Elizabeth Bainbridge |
3 |
|
|
John Neland ..... |
Sarah Neland |
3 |
|
|
Edward Herly .... |
Mary Herly |
||
|
James Watts .... |
2 |
||
|
Edward Hanger .... |
Catharine Hanger |
1 |
|
|
Morgan's Location; |
|||
|
Nathaniel Morgan .... |
Mary Morgan |
2 |
|
|
George Phillip .... |
Ann Phillip |
3 |
|
|
James Thomas .... |
Martha Thomas |
3 |
|
|
Charles Kestal .... |
Grace Kestal |
6 |
|
|
William Thomas .... |
Elizabeth Thomas |
5 |
|
|
Carlisle's Location: |
|||
|
John Carlisle |
|||
|
Frederick Carlisle .... |
|||
|
Sarah Phillips |
2 |
5 |
|
|
Burnet's Location: |
|||
|
Bishop Burnet .... |
Mrs. Burnet |
1 |
|
|
Perkins' Location. |
|||
|
Benjamin Leech .... |
Ann Leech |
4 |
|
|
Menzies' Location. |
|||
|
Richard Bowles .... |
Elizabeth Bowles |
8 |
|
|
William Marsh .... |
Susannah Marsh |
4 |
96
Records of the Cape Colony.
|
Number |
Nnmber |
||
|
Names of the Men. |
Names of the Women. |
of |
of Men |
|
|