THE HISTORY

OF THE

CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA

CHAPTER I.

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Bartholomew Dias plants the Cross on S. Croix Island, anddIScovers South Africa in 1486-Visits of Portuguese,English, and Dutch-Dutch East India Company plant aColony on the Cape Penmsula in I6S2-Character andProgress of the Settlement-First Establishment of DutchReformed Consistory-Attitude of Dutch Reformed Minis­ters and Catechists towards the Heathen-Dealing of theAuthorities with the Natives-Slavery at the Cape­Beginnings of Eaucation-Emigration of Huguenots afterthe Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in I68s-PierreSimond, the first French Huguenot Minister-Hostilitybetween Dutch and French Nationahtles-SubsequentFusion-Its effect npon the South Africa of to-day­Decadence and Misgovemment of the Dutch East IndiaCompany-Effect of the American and French Revolutionsin South Africa-First Kafir War, 1781-8econd Kafir War,1789-The Orange Faction and the "Nationalsn-TheSurrender of the Cape to England in 179S.

THE fifteenth century was a great period of adven­turous voyages of geographical discovery. ThePortuguese, encouraged by the piety and enterpriseof Prince Henry the Navigator, sailed into unknown

B

14 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

seas to discover a route to the East Indies, withthe same courage that Columbus showed when hediscovered America.

In 1486 three small vessels were despatched byJobn II., King of Portugal, to find an ocean road toIndia by sailing round Africa. The traditions ofearlier navigators, who may possibly have doubled theCape, were long lost in the mists of historic antiquity.One vessel was left behind on the West Coast nearthe equator, but two vessels of fifty tons each, undercommand of Bartholomew Dias, boldly sailed intothe unknown Southern Seas. He first landed atAngra Pequena Bay, now the port of German South­Western Africa, and set up a stone cross on PedestalPoint, which, after standing in its place for more than300 years, is now in the Museum at Lisbon. Hesailed southward again, and was carried past theCape to Algoa Bay, where, on Holy Cross Day, helanded on the rocky islet which he named "Ilheo daSanta Cruz." The island of S. Croix, as it is nowcalled, lies eight miles distant from the pier of PortElizabeth. It must always recall the memory of thefirst Christian men who touched South African soil,and of the first Christian service held in South Africa.

Bartholomew Dias and his crews landed with theirchaplain, who celebrated the Holy Eucharist beforethe council was held to decide on their further course.Reluctantly Bartholomew Dias decided to return, andafter proceeding as far as the mouth of the Kowie, helanded again at S. Croix to bid farewell to the crosshe had set up, and sailed westward to discover the

tHE MAKtNG OF SOUTH AFRICA. t 5

Cape, where he met with the bad weather which isso frequent off Cape Agulhas and Cape Point. Hecalled it the ce Cape of Storms U (Cabo Tonnentoso),but King John, who saw that Dias had solved theproblem of the sea route to India, changed the nameto the Cape of Good Hope (Cabo tie Bona Esperan{fJ).

In 1495 King John was succeeded by Don Em­manuel, who despatched in 1497 an expedition underVasco da Gama, and after having doubled the Cape,on Christmas Day he passed Natal, and gave it thename it still bears (TIerra de Natal), in memory ofthe Festival of the Incarnation, when Christian menfirst saw it. Vasco da Gama sailed on and landedon the northern side of Delagoa Bay. After this hetouched at Sofala and reached India.

The Portuguese avoided the South African coastand did not attempt settlement. In 1510 D'Almeida,the Portuguese Viceroy, called at Table Bay on hishomeward voyage from India. A dispute arosebetween his men and the Hottentots, whose villagewas on the present site of Cape Town. The Viceroylanded a force to chastise the Hottentots. A battletook place on the site of the present parade-ground,and D'Almeida, with sixty-five of his officers andmen, fell before the assegais of their nimble foes,who suffered little loss in the attack.

This incident is worth recording, because it wasa chief factor in preventing the Portuguese fromattempting a settlement in South Africa. Had theydone so, and had they maintained their power, SouthMrica would never have beco~e what it is now.

16 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban would havebeen places on a level with the miserable half-castecivilization of Delagoa Bay, Inhambane, and Mozam­bique. The decadence of Goa and Angola is witnessenough to the failure of the Portuguese as rulers andcolonists in India and Africa.

The English and Dutch soon began to seek com­mercial relations with the East Indies, and it becameevident that the Cape was a convenient port of call,and that its possession was the key to India. In1591 an English fleet, under Admiral Raymond, putinto Table Bay on the way to India, and traded withthe natives for fresh meat. The first fleet, fitted outby the English East India Company under AdmiralLancaster, put into Table Bay in 1601, and remainedseven weeks to enable the men to recover fromscurvy. For the next fifteen years the fleets of theEast India Company used Table Bay as a regularport of call, and in 1619 the directors resolved tobuild a fort there, and made overtures to the DutchEast India Company to set up a joint establishment.The Dutch Company refused to join them, and inJuly 1620 an English fleet, under Captain Fitzherbert,proclaimed English sovereignty at the Cape, andhoisted the British flag on that part of the Lion'sHead which is now used as a signal station. Theycalled it King James's Mount, but did nothing elseto take effective possession of the country.

England was soon to be convulsed by the strugglebetween the King and the Parliament. The seeds oftrouble were sown by James I., and his unfortunate

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 17

successor reaped the harvest. The long and bitterconflict that ended with the death of Charles I.on the scaffold gave England no leisure to thinkof extending her colonial possessions. The DutchEast India Company stepped in, and on April 6,1652, Commander Jan van Riebeek, with the shipsDromedan"s, Reiger, and Goede Hoop arrived in TableBay to plant the flag of the Netherlands and to founda colony. Van Riebeek was an able man and emi­nently fitted for his position. A fort was soon built,gardens were laid out, and great care was taken tomaintain friendly relations with the Hottentots. Theexpedition consisted of lSI men exclusive of officers.The Company did not leave them without the minis­trations of religion.1 The settlement was not con­sidered large enough for one of the Company's paidchaplains, but a catechist (or "sick-visitor," as hewas called in Dutch Reformed phraseology), namedWylant, landed with the colonists, and conductedservices regularly. These catechists were not allowedto preach, but were obliged to read printed sermons.

Dysentery, scurvy, and famine beset the infant

1 The Dutch authorities were equally careful of the cause ofreligion in their other colonies. Dean Hook, in a speech atLeeds, at a meeting of the S. P. C. K. in 1840, alludes asfollows to the contrast between English and Dutch rule atCeylon-" Look at the island ot Ceylon. When the Dutchwere in possession they built churches and schools; but whenEngland came into possession we called that bad policy. Thechurches were neglected, the schools were suffered to decline,the former system of idolatry was re-estabhshed, and its priestshad increased salaries awarded."-Lift ofDean H(J()/l, p. 273.

18 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

settlement, for the Hottentots would not sell theircattle. Out of I 16 men, only 60 were able to work.In this time of sore distress Mr. Wylant ventured topreach to the people in his own words, instead ofusing the prescribed printed sermon. But the DutchReformed ecclesiastical discipline was rigid enough toreach the solitary and isolated catechist at the Cape.The Ecclesiastical Court at Batavia complained tothe Dutch Governor-General of India, and a despatchwas sent to Commander Van Riebeek ordering himto restrain such irregularities. The natives were verydifficult to deal with. The Hottentot clans nearTable Mountain were always at war with one another,and they were perpetually stealing from the colonists.

But the Dutch of that date were free from raceprejudices. Van Riebeek brought up a Hottentotgirl in his own house and taught her the Christianreligion. She was baptized afterwards by the nameof Eva, and married to a Dutch surgeon named VanMeerhof. The Company provided a bridal feast,and gave the bride a wedding present of £10.1 VanRiebeek held the view that the profession of theChristian religion placed black and white on the samelevel. He approved of mixed marriages, and itappears from the register of the Fort, that in 1656

1 The sequel to this story is a sad one. After the death ofher husband, Eva relapsed into dissolute ways and neglected herchildren. The officials remonstrated with her in vain. Shereformed for a time and relapsed again. On her death, in1674, Governor Goske allowed her Christian burial, and shewas interred within the church at the Castle.

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 19

one Jan Wouters married a freed slave named Catha­rina. But the mixing of races is an unmixed evil.The descendants of the early Dutch colonists at thepresent day view mixed marriages with an abhorrencewhich is shared by the English of South Africa.Some English Independent missionaries, at the begin­ning of this century, married Hottentot and slavewomen from good but mistaken motives, and sub­sequently a European lady married a Kafir ministerof religion. There is ample justification for SouthAfrican public opinion against mixed marriages. Eachrace has its own national characteristics. The nativeraces of South Africa are perfectly capable of develop­ing a Christianity and civilization of an independenttype. The offspring of mixed marriages are generallyremarkable for exhibiting the faults of both races andthe virtues of neither. But to return to our subject.A careful study of the Cape records and archivesproves beyond a doubt that the early Dutch settlersshowed every desire to treat the natives well, and tobring them under the influence of a Christian civiliz­ation. The stern Calvinism of the Dutch Reformedfaith did not tend to produce a tolerant type ofChristianity. The authorities would not allow aRoman Catholic Bishop, who was accidentally de­tained at the Cape, to perform any public services.But their contemporaries, the English Puritans andthe Scotch Covenanters, were just as intolerant as theNetherlanders at the Cape. There was a simplepiety about them which appears even in the officialrecords. In Van Riebeek's diary, in 1654, the

20 THE CHURCH 011' SOUTH AFRICA.

anniversary of the settlement is commemorated asfollows-u It is resolved to celebrate this day, beingthe 6th of April, in honour of God, and with thanks­giving, so that it be instituted for ever as a fixed dayof thanksgiving and prayer, and that thus the benefitsgranted to us by the Lord may not be forgotten byour posterity, but always kept in memory to the gloryof God." There had been a good deal of sicknessamongst the colonists in 1656. Van Riebeek setapart June 29 as a day of fasting and prayer, andissued an official admonition that the people werenot to sit down to meals without asking a blessingfrom God, and returning thanks after the meal wasover.

Those who disobeyed this order were fined a shil­ling for the first offence, and two shillings for thesecond, with further punishment to follow. We maysmile at the impossibility of making people pious byAct of Parliament, but the effect of Van Riebeek'sinjunction upon their ancestors is felt at the presentday throughout the Boer population in South Africa.A traveller in the country districts of the Cape Colony,or in the remote parts of the Transvaal and FreeState, will find that the most illiterate and unculturedof the Boer farmers scrupulously obey the order ofVan Riebeek. Grace before and after meals is anessential part of the Boer's religion.

In 1657 a new departure was made. Hitherto allthe Europeans were the soldiers or servants of theDutch East India Company. A certain number ofthem now became colonists and burghers, and had

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. :2 I

farms allotted to them. The colony began to be areality. Vines and other fruit trees were introduced,oaks and firs were planted, horses were imported fromJava, and sheep were sent out, carefully selected fromthe best flocks in Holland. Rabbits were sent outfor Robben Island, but with strict injunctions not toturn them loose on the mainland. The Dutch werewiser than the Australians in this matter. SouthAfrica has been spared the rabbit plague that hasproved so ruinous in Australia two hundred yearsafter our coast islands were stocked with rabbits.

The Government gardens at Cape Town becamein time the most famous botanical gardens in theworld, until they ceased to be cared for after thecolony finally became English in 1806. The beau­tiful oaks and fir plantations which now adorn theCape Peninsula, Stellenbosch, and the Paarl, owetheir origin almost entirely to the diligence of theearly Dutch settlers.

Slaves were introduced into the colony in 1658, butslavery in South Africa was never disgraced by thebrutalities which accompanied it in other countries.One of the first slave regulations of Van Riebeek wasthat the slaves should be taught the Christian religion,and if a slave became a Christian and was baptized hebecame free. The first school in South Mrica wasopened in 1658 by the catechist Van der Stael, whowas Van Riebeek's brother-in-law, for the instructionof slave children. In 1659 the Burgher militia wasformed to assist the regular garrison in the defence ofthe colony. Van Riebeek's law of universal military

22 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

service is still in force in the Cape Colony, whereevery able-bodied man is liable to be called upon todefend his country. It was enforced in parts of thecolony during the Basuto War of 1881.

In April 1662 Mr. Van Riebeek was succeeded byMr. Wagenaar as Commander of the Cape Colony.He had governed the infant settlement wisely andwell. He was jealous of the interests of the Com­pany, and hampered the free Burghers with traderestrictions. But he did his best to maintain goodrelations with the Hottentot clans, and he laid thefoundations of the South Africa or to-day upon a basisof order and civilization that has stood the test ofmore than two centuries.

Commander Wagenaar's first Council meeting re­newed the regulations forbidding colonists from in­sulting or molesting the Hottentots. War broke outbetween England and Holland in 1665, and theCompany at great cost began to build the historicCastle at Cape Town, which is still the residence andhead-quarters of the general in command of the troopsin South Africa. One of its foundation stones waslaid by the Rev. Johan Van Arckel, the first regularlyappointed Dutch minister in South Africa.

In August 1665 the first Dutch Reformed Consis­tory was established. It consisted of the minister,the deacons (who were selected by the Civil power),the elders (whose election was confirmed by the Civilpower), and the "Political Commissioner," who was amember of the Council of Policy which governed thecolony. This Erastian subjection of matters religious

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 23

to the control of the Government continued untilthe Dutch Reformed Synod obtained, in 1843, fromthe Legislative Council of the colony, an cc Ordinance,"or Civil enactment, which liberated its action from thedirect control of the State.

The Heidelberg Catechism and the Confession ofthe Synod of Dort have always been the authoritativestandards of the Dutch Reformed Communion, wher­ever it has been planted. Its South African branchhas adhered absolutely to those standards in theirliteral integrity, and has shown the greatest dread ofthe laxity of belief which has been connived at by theDutch Reformed authorities in Holland during thepresent century. In 1663 the school, which had beentemporarily closed, was re-opened. The children ofBurghers were taught for a small fee, whilst Hottentotand slave children had free education, and weretaught pro .nco, to quote the wording of the regula­tions. A controversy arose upon the subject of bap­tizing the children of heathen parents. The classis ofAmsterdam decided that they could be baptized ifdue care were taken that they were "Christianly andvirtuously brought up," but some objected on thescore of the impossibility of carrying out this con­dition. Mr. Van Arckel died, and was temporarilysucceeded by Mr. Johannes de Voocht, who carriedout his predecessor's policy of baptizing slave children.On a Sunday in 1666, the congregation were assem­bled for worship in the great hall of the old fort.Commander Van Wagenaar and his officers werepresent, and also Mr. Baldeus, chaplain of an India-

24 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

man lying in Table Bay. Mr. de Voocht preached,and baptized a European child. A slave woman thencame forward with her infant for baptism, but beforeMr. de Voocht could begin the baptism, Mr. Baldeusrose in protest and stopped the service. saying that heknew more about the question than anyone present.The Commander was astonished, the congregationwere disturbed, and Mr. de Voocht gave way. DutchReformed ministers have always exercised a mostcommanding influence in South Africa, and if weseek a parallel for it we shall not readily find it in theinfluence exercised by Presbyterian ministers in Scot­land, or Lutheran ministers in Germany. This in­fluence remains in South Africa to the present day,and is a most important factor in the social, political,and religious life of the country. But the interferenceof Mr. Baldeus was contrary to instructions receivedby the authorities at the Cape. Commander Wagenaarsummoned his Council ofPolicy (a bodywhose meetingswere always begun with prayer), and the question ofthe baptism of heathen children was solemnly debated.

This blending of civil and ecclesiastical authority inthe government of the colony, which found its expres­sion in the constitution of the Church Consistory, andmade it a natural process (or the Civil government todebate a theological question, had many evil after­effects. British Governors, 150 years afterwards,claimed and exercised the power of an "Ordinary"over the English clergy, and in one case an EnglishGovernor tried to (orce a clergyman to unite inmarriage an uncle and niece.

TH~ MAKING OF SOUTH Al!'RICA. 25

But although the Cape Council of Policy had betterhave left ecclesiastical questions alone, we are boundto admit that their decision in this instance was ajust one. The interference of Mr. Baldeus waspronounced unwarrantable, and Mr. de Voocht bap­tized the slave woman's child on the followingSunday.

These by-gone controversies are worth recording,because they show that the Dutch in South Mrica200 years ago were alive to their responsibilities· withregard to the spread of Christianity and civilizationamongst the slaves and Hottentots.

In 1666 Mr. Wagenaar was succeeded by Com­mander Van Quaelberg, who held office till he wassucceeded in 1688 by Commander Borghorst. Duringhis term of office the French took possession ofSaldanha Bay with a powerful fleet. But when thefleet had sailed, the French landmarks were destroyedby the Cape authorities, and a small military postformed at Saldanha Bay to prevent further encroach­ments. In 1670 Mr. Van der Broeck arrived asSpecial Commissioner to inspect the settlement. Hedealt firmly with the beginnings of a great evil. Thecheap produce of the Cape vineyards had alreadycaused the establishment of too many licensed public­houses and canteens. The Commissioner and Councilclosed all of them except nine, which were left toprovide board and lodging (or strangers visiting theport. In 1670 Mr. Borghorst was succeeded by Mr.Hackius, who died in 1671, and was succeeded byMr. Van Breugel, as a temporary appointment. In

26 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFR1CA.

1671 Mr. Goske visited the Cape as Special Com­missioner. He found the beginnings of the evil of ahalf-caste population, and tried to deal with thematter by legislation. He ordered the slaves to besent to church twice on Sunday, and taught to sayprayers by the Catechist, and also that the womenshould, when sufficiently instructed, be baptized andlawfully married to men of their own colour. But theevil continued and still continues, although the lastquarter of the nineteenth century shows a distinctabatement of it. In 1672 Mr. Van Overbeckarrived as Special Commissioner. The Hottentotclans of the Cape Peninsula had been decimated bysmall-pox, and had become hangers-on to the Euro­pean community. The Commissioner thought that itwould be as well to purchase the rights of the Hot­tentot chief Schacher, who ruled these clans, and alegal document was drawn up and signed to thateffect on April 19, 1672, which is still preserved inthe Deeds Registry at Cape Town. An agreementbetween a European community and a handful ofnatives who lived by domestic service, and doing littlepieces of work for the Burghers, was necessarily a one­sided bargain, but it defined for the time the bound­aries of the colony, and preserved the Hottentotswithin colonial limits from the attacks of their nativeenemies. Gradually the Hottentot chiefs acceptedthe alliance of the Cape Government, and becamethe vassals of the Dutch East India Company. Whena Hottentot chief died, his successor was formallyacknowledged by the Commander, and accepted from

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 27

him a staff of office as a symbol of authority andallegiance to the Company.

In July 1672 war broke out between France andEngland, as allies, against the United Netherlands.The Dutch were hard pressed, and the invading armyof Louis XIV. in person occupied three out of theSeven United Provinces. 'Villiam of Orange becameStadtholder, and soon changed the aspect of affairs.Charles II. had dragged England into the contestagainst the will of the nation, and peace betweenEngland and the Netherlands in 1674 followed theresolute resistance of William of Orange, who ulti­mately drove the French out of the provinces theyhad occupied. The Cape was the outpost most indanger. From time to time an English occupationwas feared by the authorities, and in 1672 the colony,which by this time possessed a population of 600

Europeans, became a Governorship, and Mr. Goske,who had visited it as Commissioner, became the firstGovernor. He took vigorous defensive measures, andin December 1672 captured S. Helena, which wasat that time the refreshing station of the fleets of theEnglish East India Company. A Dutch garrison wasleft at the fort, but Commodore Munden recapturedthe island in May 1673, and it has since remained apart of the British Empire. But Governor Goske wasnot entirely occupied in matters of offence or defence.The small community at the Cape was the onlyorganized settlement of Europeans in Africa, and theirmeasures of orderly government laid the foundation ofthe widespread European civilization which forms the

28 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

South Mrica of to-day, with its keen local patriotismand strong national feeling. The details ofcivilizationtwo centuries ago, and the regulations in which it wasembodied, are not unworthy of record, if SouthAfrican citizens desire to understand the heritage oflaw and order they have received from the early Dutchcolonists. Land in South Africa is still surveyed inDutch morgen and eroen, and the use of the Englishacre and rood is unknown. A carpenter will use anEnglish foot-rule, but the lineal measurement of landis still carried on by the Cape or "Rhynland " foot,which differs from the Imperial standard.

The Roman-Dutch law is still the basis of SouthAfrican jurisprudence, and will never be superseded byEnglish law. The Dutch language will always be themother tongue of the majority of South Africanpeople, who, although they learn English and speakit fluently, have the same strong feeling for theirmother tongue as the Welsh show for their ownancient language.

Governor Goske founded an institution in 1674which is still in existence.

The deacons of the Dutch Reformed Consistoryalready helped destitute people, and provided fordestitute orphan children from charitable funds. In1679 they had a capital of '£1535 available for thesepurposes, which was eminently creditable to so smalla community.

But something more was wanted for minors andorphans of another class. Governor Goske foundedthe Orphan Chamber, which was composed of five

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 29

officially appointed trustees, who were the guardiansof orphans and minors, and who preserved the legalrights of minor children by a previous marriage in thecase of the re-marriage of a widower or widow. NoIe-marriage could take place in the colony without aformal certificate from the Orphan Chamber that therights of the children by the previous marriage weresecured. At the present day an Order of Court issubstituted for the certificate of the Orphan Chamber,but the principle is rigidly maintained, that no re­marriage can take place until the rights of children bya previous marriage are legally secured. A clergymanis punished if he solemnizes such a marriage, and allmarriage registers in the Cape Colony contain acolumn to be filled in which is headed "Parents'consent or Judge's Order," the former applying tominors, and the latter to the cases above~mentioned.

Governor Gaske's Council were absolute in mattersecclesiastical. The Dutch Reformed Consistorysubmitted two names for the election of an elder, andthe Council of Policy refused both of them, andcalled for a fresh appointment. This subjection ofecclesiastical matters to the Civil power exercised anevil influence in South Africa, which has been felt inrecent times, and has reacted on the English Churchin Natal as well as in the Cape Colony.

When all danger of England capturing the Capeseemed over, Governor Goske left, and was succeededin 1676 by Mr. Johan Bax, who died at the Cape in1679. The foundation stone of the present DutchReformed Church in Adderley Street, Cape Town (then

C

30 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

known as the Heerengracht), was laid in April 1678,but the building was not completed till 17°3. Theclock-tower of the old fabric is still standing, and wascarefully restored in 1893. An acting appointment ofbrief duration intervened before the appointment of aman who left his mark upon the colony. CommanderSimon Van der Stel took office in October 1679.He was an ardent patriot, and his chief desire was tomake the Cape Colony a close copy of a province ofhis beloved Netherlands. He began to examine thecountry, and rode into a lovely and fertile valley wherehe founded the town of SteUenbosch, named afterhimself. He obtained scientific botanists to takecharge of the Company's garden, which became themost perfect collection of plants, trees, and flowersin the world. Little is now left to show what thegarden must have been 200 years ago, except thebeautiful avenue leading to Government House,Cape Town. In 1683 the first school at Stellenboschwas opened in a building which on Sundays was usedfor religious worship. Stellenbosch is now the educa­tional centre of the Dutch Africanders throughoutSouth Africa. The Victoria College, with its ablestaff of Professors, gives an education whose excellencehas been shown in the Honour Lists of the CapeUniversity, besides successes won at EdinburghUniversity (which is the favourite resort of SouthAfrican students of Dutch descent), and also in theolder Universities of Oxford and Cambridge.!

1 It is necessary to mention these facts, because English publicopinion very frequently errs from ignorance of South African

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 31

Stellenbosch also contains the Theological Seminaryfor candidates for the Dutch Reformed Ministry.Many a Boer farmer with a clever son looks toStellenbosch as an educational Mecca, whether hewishes his boy to be a minister, a doctor, or to enterthe Civil Service.

Commander Simon Van der Stel is better remem­bered in South Africa as the founder of Stellenbosch,than as the man who first saw the value of Simon's

matters. We have heard of persons, otherwise intelligent andwell informed, speaking of the Boer population of South Africaas a body of ignorant and uncultivated men. The Africandercolonists of Dutch and Huguenot descent are frequently includedunder the term Ie Boer" or Ie farmer," as descriptive of theirEuropean nationality and ancestry, whereas it really describesthe mode of llfe adopted by most of them. There are fewBoer farmers of the lowest class who are as unintelligent asthe peasantry of Saxon descent who form the agriculturallabourers of the south of England. Most of them are shrewd andresourceful, bold pioneers, keen shots, and excellent men forguerilla warfare. Many of them are distinctly clever. PresidentPaul Kruger of the Transvaal is a type of the uneducated class.He has attained his present remarkable prominence, as a states­man and dlplomatist, by the sheer force of his firm characterand shrewd intellect. Sir Henry De Villiers, the present ChiefJustice of the Cape, is a type of the educated class. He wasoffered a seat on the Privy Council, which is a unique distinctionfor a colonial born judge. He declined the honour mainly, it isbelieved, because he would not leave the country of his birth.The Hon. J. H. Hofmeyr, the leader of the Africander Party inthe Cape Parliament, is another type of the same class. He isone of the most prominent and enlightened colonial statesmen inthe British Empire, and his patriotism for his native land ismanifested by his far-sighted determination to maintain the unionbetween South Mrica and England.

32 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

Bay, although Simon's Bay has become an impreg­nable naval station, and the key of British maritimesupremacy, as commanding the sea route to India,Australia, and New Zealand.

We have already mentioned the arrival in thecolony of Moslems from Batavia, who were theancestors of the considerable population of Moham­medan Malays in South Africa. Some of theseMalays were sent to the colony by the Dutch EastIndian authorities as political prisoners.

Sultan Ageng, the last independent Prince of Java,was aided by the English and by Sheikh Joseph, aMoslem religious teacher of great influence, in hisresistance to the Dutch. He was defeated, andSheikh Joseph surrendered to the Dutch in 1683.He was sent to the Cape in 1694, and died atSandvliet in the district of Stellenbosch in 1699.His tomb, which is called the Kramat, is still a centreof pilgrimage for the Moslems of South Africa.After the lapse of nearly two centuries, it is carefullyguarded, as a holy place, and the Malays enter theenclosure with uncovered feet to pray at the tomb oftheir venerated saint. Mohammedanism in SouthAfrica bas a very strong hold upon the Malaypopulation, who are sober and decent citizens. Inthe presence of an overwhelming majority of ChristianEuropeans, the worst features of the religion ofMohammed do not find expression, and conversionsfrom the Malay population are at present compara­tively rare.

Governor-General van Drakenstein visited the Cape

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 33

in 1685, and made various fresh regulations. Theemancipated slaves had proved idle cumberers of theground, and had become burdensome to the Churchfunds as paupers. For this reason he enacted thatonly well-conducted slaves were to be emancipated,although the rule of freeing slave children, baptized ininfancy, and brought up as Christians, remained inforce. Slaves under twelve years of age were sent toschool and taught reading, writing, and the Christianreligion. The Dutch Reformed minister had to visitthe school twice a week, and on Sundays after thesermon he caused them to repeat the HeidelbergCatechism. No white children were allowed at thisschool. The idea of divorcing religion from educationis utterly foreign to the minds of our Boer populatio.nunto this day.

A State system of undenominational education hasbeen for many years at work in the Cape Colony. InAustralia and New Zealand, where the schisms andsects of English Christianity have followed the Flag,and influenced the whole population, sectarianjealousies have combined to banish religion from theState schools. The only part of South Africa wheresuch a policy has a chance of prevailing is the Colonyof Natal, where the English population is larger thanthe Dutch. Religious education is the rule of the Stateschools of the Transvaal and Free State Republics, andin the Cape Colony the undenominational system existsonly on paper. The School Committees can sanctionreligious teaching, and the Dutch Reformed ministersand their elders are all-powerful throughout the country

34 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

districts. We may state broadly that definite Christianteaching, such as Mr. Athelstan Riley has been con­tending for at the London School Board,l is the rulein all South Mriean State schools where the Dutchpopulation is in the majority. Here is a definite pointgained by the careful religious foundation laid bythe Dutch pioneers of our civilization two centuriesago.

Governor General van Drakenstein made oneseriol1s blunder. He allowed the Company's officialsto hold farms and trade on their own account. Vander Stel was granted the farm Constantia, which hemade famous for the product of Constantia wine. Inyears to come the abuses which resulted from thisunwise permission were amongst the chief causes ofthe downfall of Dutch rule at the Cape. In 1687 achurch was built at Stellenbosch, and a congregationregularly formed. Van der Stel in the same yearfounded the village of Drakenstein, which afterwardsbecame the home of the Huguenot refugees. He wasa great tree planter. He ordered every farmer toplant one hundred oak-trees, which he supplied fromthe Government gardens. Nearly 5000 oaks weresuccessfully planted by his order in the Cape andStellenbosch districts alone.

I The main dlfficulty that beset the religious controversy onthe London School Board in 1893, bas been to define the meaningof the word U Christian" as applied to the teaching in schools.It is naturally more difficult to define what is meant byU Christian teaching" in the midst of the complex beliefs ofLondon, than in the simpler atmosphere of South Africa.

THE MAKING OF SOU'tH AFRICA. 3S

The Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by LouisXIV. in October 1685, was an act of persecutingintolerance that cost France the loss of thousands ofher best and most industrious citizens.

For some time previous to this date FrenchProtestants had been emigrating into the Netherlandsin small patties, and had attached themselves toexisting Dutch Reformed Consistories, with the privi­lege of holding services in their own language. TheDutch East India Company thought that Huguenotemigrants would be serviceable in South Africa, soinducements were offered, after the Revocation of theEdict of Nantes, for a selected number of them tosettle at the Cape. In 1687 the Huguenot emigrantsembarked in the ships Voorscnoten, Borssen!Jurg,Ooster/antl, China, and Zuid Bevelantl, in numberabout 150. The majority were young men, as itwas difficult for men with families and women toescape from France. The French Huguenot ministerPierre Simond, with his wife and family, came tominister to their spiritual wants. Commander vander Stel was civil to the French emigrants, but hebitterly resented this influx of foreigners into thecolony which he desired to keep for "my ownNetherlanders." The kindly Cape Burghers raiseda subscription to meet the pressing necessities of therefugees. Some of them were settled at Stellenbosch,but most of them, and eventually almost all of them,formed a strong community at Drakenstein. PierreSimond was a man of deep earnestness and strongwill.

36 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

The French congregation at Drakenstein was con­sidered a branch of the Dutch congregation atStellenbosch, and a school for the emigrants' childrenwas opened there. Van der Stel tried to avoidgiving the Frenchmen farms and allotments near oneanother. He desired to blend the two nationalitiesas speedily as possible. But the Huguenots wouldnot submit. They clung together and petitioned theCommander for a Church and Consistory of their own.The Rev. Pierre Simond headed the deputation, andVan der Stel denied their request in emphaticlanguage, accusing them of ingratitude and sedition.The Huguenots appealed to Holland, and held apublic meeting in which they resolved not to inter­marry with the Dutch. They declared that they hadbraved the anger of Louis XIV., and that it was notlikely they should be afraid of Van der Stell Many ofthe Dutch Burghers retaliated, and the races, who wereafterwards blended into one people, were, for thetime being, in deadly enmity.

The Revolution of 1688 took place, and the decad­ence of the Dutch Republic began when Williamof Orange became King of England. In 1690 theDutch East India Company conceded to theHuguenots the right of a separate Consistory atDrakenstein, but ordered that all French childrenshould be compelled to learn Dutch in the schools.Van der Stel's policy of amalgamation eventuallyprevailed, and under the rule of his son, William Vander Stel, who succeeded his father as Governor in1699, the French language was dropped in the public

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 37

worship of the Consistory of Drakenstein in 1702.

Mr. Simond was succeeded by the Rev. Hendrik Bek,and a catechist was allowed to minister to theHuguenots in their own houses in French. WhenPaul Roux, the French catechist, died, the DrakensteinConsistory requested the Council of Policy to appointa successor, as there were still living some twenty-fiveold people who did not understand Dutch, but in 1723

the Dutch East India Company decided that theCouncil of Policy must refuse their request. Thesuppression of the French language was a high-handedproceeding, but it was thoroughly done, and theHuguenot element in the population was merged intothe common national\ty of the colonists. But it wastoo distinct a type not to make its influence widelyfelt. At the present day most of the leading menamongst the Dutch Africander population of SouthAfrica have French names, and show their Frenchancestry by certain national traits in their character,which generations of intermingling with Teutonic stock,.and the use of Teutonic speech, have been unable toobliterate and efface.

Hitherto we have traced a story of successfulcolonization, based upon wise foundations of law andorder. But the decadence of the United Netherlandsaffected the commerce of the Dutch East IndiaCompany, and the Cape Colony suffered accordingly.

The Governorship of the younger Van der Stelhistorically marks the parting of the ways. TheCompany could not pay its officials at the former highrates, and the officials were allowed to trade on their

38 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

own account. The administration of the Cape be­came corrupt. A Burgher named Adam Tas pro-­tested against Van der Stel's Govemment monopolies,and was arrested and kept fourteen months withouttrial. The Huguenot and Dutch farmers of Draken·stein rode armed into Stellenbosch, and defied theCivil authority successfully. Other arrests wereattempted, and some were carried out when the CapeBurghers' petition of grievances was answered favour·ably from Holland.

Governor Van der Stet, his second in commandElsevier, the Stellenbosch magistrate, and (we regretto add) the Rev. Petrus Kalden, the Dutch Reformedminister of Cape Town, were summarily removedfrom office for using their public position as a meansof feathering their own nests. Adam Tas and thearrested Burghers were released, and Governor VanAssenburgb, a military officer of some ability, wasappointed to replace Van der Stel in 1708.

A sketch of the state of the colony at this timewould show a prosperous community of Burgherswho were very jealous of their rights, and full ofopposition to the least indications of tyranny orcorruption in their Government. South Africannational feeling had already begun to find voice, andthe colonists were not any longer content to exist forthe benefit of a trading company in the mothercountry. Cape Town had become a place of con·siderable size and importance, and the farmers weregradually extending the boundaries of the colony bytaking up unoccupied land.

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 39

In 1713 South Africa was first visited with small­pox. The plague practically destroyed the inde­pendent existence of the Hottentot clans throughoutthe western districts of the Cape Colony. TheEuropean population suffered terribly. For twomonths the Court of Justice did not meet, and thedead were buried without coffins, because all theavailable planks in Cape Town had been alreadyused for coffins. The subsequent political conse­quences of this te~rible scourge were most important.

The farmers became isolated, and began to take upfresh farms in the vast stretches of country left un­occupied after the destruction of the Hottentots fromsmall-pox. Further and further they planted theiroutposts into the then unknown interior. They werefar from the three places of worship then establishedin the colony. Their children grew up withoutgoing to school They were too far from the seat ofGovernment to be protected by the law if they wereassailed, and they were beyond the reach of the lawif they themselves offended. They gradually becamea law unto themselves, and led a wandering nomadiclife as the pioneers of the ever-extending fringe ofcivilization.

They began to care very little about the sayingsand doings of the Cape Town authorities. Thestory of the Cape Governors of the eighteenth centuryis not very interesting. The authorities were in avery awkward position. The Burghers kept spreadingfurther and further inland, and the Govemment hadno real power over them. Obnoxious ordinances and

40 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

regulations only served to make the rule of the DutchEast India Company more and more detested. In1743 Baron van Imhoff, the Governor-General ofNetherlands India, called at the Cape on his way toBatavia, and inspected the colony. He reported"that he had observed with amazement and sorrowhow little interest was taken in the public services ofreligion, and in what a depth of indifference andignorance in this respect a great part of the countrypeople were living." By his exertions two new centresof the Dutch Reformed faith were founded, roundwhich grew the present villages of Tulbagh andMalmesbury. At this time the European populationconsisted of about 4000 Burghers and 1500 servantsof the Company, which included the Civil servantsand the garrison. Van Imhoff gives the results of ahurried tour of inspection, and his judgment upon thecountry farmers is perhaps too severe. Some of themtaught their slaves and Hottentot labourers theChristian religion; and some of the coloured congre­gations, who are now under the charge of Germanand other missionary societies, owed their foundationto the efforts made by the farmers to gather theirdependents together and minister to their spiritualneeds. The Church registers between 1665 and 1731show that II21 slave children were baptized and 46adults. The number is not large, but when weremember the controversies and dIfficulties raised onthe subject it shows that the people were not absolutelyunmindful of their duty. In J737 George Schmitcame to South Africa as the first Moravian missionary.

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 41

The authorities gave him every facility until he beganto baptize his converts in 1742. The validity of hisordination was disallowed by the Dutch Reformedauthorities, and he had to retire to Europe, as theDutch East India Company would permit no deviationfrom the established religion. Schmit's little congre­gation of thirty-two Hottentots was left to disperseitself. A Hottentot woman, named Magdalena, usedto gather a few together and read to them out of theDutch New Testament which Schmit had givenher.

In 1792 the authorities relented, and gave per­mission to three Moravian missionaries, Marsveld,Schwinn, and Kuhnel, to settle at Genadendal, thescene of Schmit's labours fifty years before. Part ofa wall of Schmit's house was still standing, andMagdalena was the sole survivor of his converts. Sheshowed the missionaries her treasured New Testament,and pointed out the pear-tree planted by Schmit,under which she used to gather the Hottentots roundher to hear the Word of God. Genadendal has nowbecome a flourishing Moravian station, and visitorsare shown Magdalena's New Testament, which iscarefully preserved in a box made of the wood ofSchmit's pear-tree.

In 1745 there were five Consistories of the DutchReformed Communion in South Africa, namely, thoseof Cape Town, Stellenbosch, Drakenstein, Tulbagh,and Malmesbury. Once a year they met in Synodand held a joint Consistory. But the authorities inHolland disliked any manifestations of local self-

42 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

government in religious matters, and in 1759 theCape Government suppressed the annual synodbecause the Amsterdam classis considered that itsmeetings constituted an unwarrantable assumption ofauthority. It is wonderful that so much religiouslife survived amongst the Dutch Reformed ministersand congregations. They were in temporal subjectionto the Civil government of the Cape, and they wereill spiritual subjection to the authority of the Am­sterdam class;'s. They had no power of initiative.They were powerless to form fresh centres of worship,and could not follow up the ever-advancing outpostsof civilization. No wonder that the Boer pioneersgot beyond the reach of schools and places ofworship. In 1751 Governor Ryk Tulbagh wasappointed, and his memory is still revered as that ofa kindly and firm ruler, and a determined foe tocorruption of every kind. He held office for twentyyears, and did his best to redress grievances anddevelop the colony. But he had to administer anevil system, and the Netherlands were weakened bythe factions of the Orange party (who, in 1747, hadsucceeded in making the Prince of Orange, as Stadt­holder, an hereditary chief magistrate), and the Repub­licans pure and simple who objected to the change.The Cape Town officials were strong adherents of theStadtholder, and the Burghers of the outlying districtswere strongly Republican. Governor Van Plettenbergtook office in 1774, and found circumstances toomuch {or him. He was weak and incompetent. HisFiscal, or Attorney-General, Advocate Boers, earned

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 43

the detestation of the Burghers by his bribery andcorruption. His other subordinate officials were justas bad. No transaction could be carried on withGovernment without bribery. The American revo­lution set the Burghers thinking. In distant frontierfarms the tidings of colonists resisting oppression fromthe mother land were eagerly canvassed. In 1779four delegates from the colonists went to Holland tolay their grievances before the authorities. VanPlettenberg and Boers replied to the charges laidagainst them, but the Dutch East India Companysaw that their conduct had alienated the colonists somuch that Boers was removed.

In 1781 the First Kafir war took place.1 The

1 The three native races of South Africa are essentially andethnologically distinct. The Hottentots and Bushmen are fromthe same stock, although as distinct from each other in racedescents as Celts and Teutons. The Bantu tribes are ofdifferent origin, and come from the north and north-east coastof Africa. They possess a strong infusion of Semitic blood,and are racially quite distinct from the negroes of the WestCoast.

The modern distinction of the Bantu tribes may be arrangedas follows. The northern Bantu tribes are the Basuto, Bechuana,and several minor clans who use a variation of the commonBantu language that is free from the "clicks" which theSouthem Bantu nations have derived from contact with theHottentot language, which, as a spoken tongue, was full ofthese sounds so strange to European ears. The Southern Bantumay be roughly subdivided into the Zulus, Fingoes (a Zulusubdivision), and the Kafin. The Matabeletkingdom wasformed by a Zulu army, under Moselikatse, who were unsuc..cessful in a distant expedition during Chaka's reign, and whopreferred to face the unknown interior rather than return to

44 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

expansion of the colony eastward had at lengthbrought the pioneers in contact with the Bantu race,

brave the wrath of the Zulu tyrant. They swept out the Bantutribes of the Transvaal, and enslaved the Ma&honas, who werealso of Bantu race. Gazaland is also now inhabited by tribesof Zulu origin. The characteristics of the Bantu race may betraced in all the dominant tribes from the Soudan to Kaffraria.The Soudanese who hurled themselves at the British square atAbu Klea were men of the same race as the Zulus who con­quered at Isandlwhana. Their round huts, their weapons, andtheir general mode of life show their kindred orIgin.

In the middle of the seventeenth century South Africa wasroughly divided between the Hottentots of the south-west, theBantu of the south-east, who were gradually pressing theHottentots westward, and the nomadlc tribes of Bushmen, whoare akm to the pigmy tribes of the central Afncan forest-lands.The Hottentot race was immea.'iurably inferior to the BantuKafirs, who were pressing upon them westwards from the Keiriver. The Bushmen, notwithstanding their capacity for rudedrawings on their rocks and caves, were as inferior to theHottentots as the Hottentots were to the Kafirs. Kafir andHottentot waged relentless war with the Bushmen, who weremurderers, marauders, and cattle thieves. The Hottentotswere a pastoral people. Their knowledge of handicrafts waslimited, and their tribal organization was weak. They weretherefore bound to lose their national existence, wedged in asthey were between the European colonists of the Cape andthe Kafir colonists on their eastern border. At the present daythey have lost their language, and speak a patois of Cape Dutch.The Hottentot remnant have become the farm-labourers of thewestern districts of the Cape Colony. Most of them are nominalChristians at all events, and many are adherents of the Moravians,or the Independents, who form the London Missionary Society.The Bushmen survive in the Kalahari district, and along thebanks of the Orange River where there is little civllization. Theremnant of thls race is as untamable now as it was two centuriesago. The Bantu races exhibit many elements of national

THE MAKING 011' SOUTH A1l'RICA. 45

and this first conflict between the colonists and theKafirs was the prelude of a struggle that continuedfor a century, even if we may hope it found its finalclose in the Basuto war of 1881, and the Tenth Kafirwar which closed in the same year. At this timethe Great Fish River was the boundary between theKosa Kafirs and the colony. There were no Dutchtroops on the frontier, and the farmers had to defendthemselves, their homesteads, and their cattle. TheKafir Chief, Rarabe, sent civil messages to thefarmers regretting the cattle thefts, but he carefullyprotected the thieves. Adrian van Jaarsfeld, afrontier farmer of some leadership and ability, wasappointed commandant of the eastern frontier, andattacked the Kafirs, who had crossed the Fish River,with a Burgher force and some Hottentot auxiliaries,and totally defeated them. He took over 5000 cattle

stability. They have possessed for centuries an elaborate codeof natlve law. They are brave soldiers, and possess goodintellectual powers. They show a tendency to increase innumbers under European government, and they readJ1y asslmilatethe arts of civihzabon. The great South African problem ofto-day is to dlScover a modus vivendi between these people andthe rapully developing European civihzation of South Afrlca.It can only be done by Chlistlan missions wlsely directed. TheZulu, the Basuto, and the Kafir have never been enslaved.They are men, and must be dealt with as such. They are assuperior to the Chinese, and the lower class of Hindoos, as theGoths and Teutons of the fifth century were to the effeteRomans whose empire they overthrew. The main obstacle tomissiOns among them is polygamy. If this barrier were removedthese tribes would rapidly become ChriStians, and play a greatpart in the future development of South Africa.

D

46 l.'HE CHURCH or SOUTH AFRICA.

from the Kafirs, a goodly portion of which had beenstolen from the farmers, and he divided the spoilamongst the Burghers who had taken part in theexpedition.

The year 1781 saw the outbreak of war betweenEngland and Holland in alliance with France. TheCape authorities were naturally alarmed, as the Englishwho called at the Cape very often spoke openly ofthe desire of England to take possession of the CapeColony. The Netherlands were distracted by partyspirit, and the commercial and maritime supremacyof the United Provinces was a thing of the past.

In March 1781 a powerful English fleet sailed fromSpithead to capture the Cape, under CommodoreJohnstone, with 3000 troops on board under GeneralMeadows. But the British expedition was surprised,while at anchor in Porto Praya roads, by a strongFrench fleet under Admiral Sutrren. The Britishfleet beat off their assailants, but were too muchshattered to proceed to the Cape without refitting.Suffren sailed at once for the Cape and landed troopsto defend the colony. But Johnstone soon followedhim, and took possession of Saldanha Bay. Aftercapturing five Dutch lndiamen, the British commandersaw that the Cape was too strong to be attacked, andset sail for England with part of the fleet, sending thetroops on to India. But although this first attemptwas unsuccessful, the British Government made upits mind to possess the Cape Colony. The colonists,though disaffected towards the Cape Town authorities,rallied to the defence of their country against outside

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 47

attacks. But directly the pressure of invasion wasremoved the elements of discontent became moreactive than ever. In 178S Colonel van der Graaffbecame Governor. In 1786 the new magistracy anddistrict of Graaff Reinet was founded to embrace thewhole frontier district. The town was called after theGovernor and his wife, and the excellent site waschosen for the township in the bend of the Sunday'sRiver, which now renders GraaffReinet one of the mostbeautiful towns in South Africa. The frontier farmerswho were under the jurisdiction of the new magistracyof Graaff Reinet were bold and brave pioneers. Theyhad lost touch with civilization, and had been usedto a constant warfare of self-defence. The newlyappointed Landdrost Woeke was an ill-tempereddrunkard. His secretary, Maynier, lived to becomethe best hated man on the frontier. The incompetenceof the Graaff Reinet authorities produced anarchy anda spirit of independence among the frontier farmers.We shall be able to trace. to these joint causes thefoundation of the short-lived Graaff Reinet Republic,which produced more vigorous offspring in the Trans­vaal and Free State Republics of the emigrant farmerssome fifty years afterwards. It is a significant fact thatPaul Kruger, the famous President of the Transvaal(after the War of Independence in 1881), was bornin the Graaff Reinet district, and, as a child, wentforth with his father in the stormy pilgrimage of theemigrant Boers in search of freedom in the unknownwilderness.

In March 1789 the Chiefs Langa and Cungwa

48 THE CHURCH OF SOUTH AFRICA.

crossed the Fish River and began the Second KafirWar. The farmers retired before the invaders, andthe incompetent Landdrost of Graaff Reinet calledout a Burgher force. The Cape authorities tried tobuy off the Kafirs and patch up a peace, but it wasuseless. The Kafirs retained the spoils of war, andthe Burghers were dismissed without striking a blowat the enemy. In 1793 Landdrost Woeke was suc­ceeded by Maynier, whose memory is still held indetestation by the descendants of the frontier farmers.He was a supple and time-serving official, anxiousonly to please the authorities of the Dutch East IndiaCompany at Cape Town, and he was not shrewdenough to perceive that the government of thecountry was slowly but surely slipping from theirgrasp. The colonists of Graaff Reinet were no matchfor the subtlety and meanness of his false and slander­ous misrepresentation of their doings. They tookthe law into their own hands, and a small party ofanned Burghers captured 800 cattle. Again theKafirs crossed the Fish River, and laid waste 116farms out of the total of 120 which had beenoccupied between the rivers Kowie and Zwartkops,the territory afterwards colonized by the Englishsettlers of 1820. The authorities of the Capeordered the Landdrosts of Swellendam and GraaffReinet to take the field. But divided counselsprevailed, and after capturing some cattle, the SecondKafir war ended with a peace on pape,. which Maynierdevised to please the Government. The Kafirsretained the fruits of victory. The colonists went

THE MAKING OF SOUTH AFRICA. 49

back to their ruined homesteads with their heartsfilled with rebellion and despair.

Colonel van der Graaff had retired from theGovernment in 1791. Cape Town in those days wasa centre of luxury and extravagance. The Governor'sstables contained 120 horses. He rode in a statecoach, and wasted the revenues of the Company withhis reckless personal expenditure. He was quarrel­some as well as incompetent. At the Council Board,on one occasion, he drew his sword on an official hedisliked, who es~ped injury by defending himselfwith his cane. The days of the Dutch East IndiaCompany were numbered. The lavish expenditure ofthe Cape Town citizens and officials had no basis ofcommercial prosperity. The coffers of the Companywere being rapidly emptied, and it was within ameasurable distance of insolvency. Van der Graaff'sFiscal, or Attorney-General, Mr. Van Lynden, fledby night on board ship and sailed for Holland. Hehad used torture on a white citizen, and forced himto confess a crime of which he was afterwards provedinnocent. After a short interlude, under Mr. VanRhenius, the government of the colony devolvedupon Messrs. Nederburgh and Frykenius, who hadbeen appointed Special Commissioners to re-organizethe colony. In June 1792 the Burgher Councillorsdesired to interview the Commissioners in the nameof the people, in order that grievances might beredressed. The Commissioners at first declined toreceive them as representatives of the people, andpublic meetings were held protesting against the taxes