BOER AND UITLANDER

CHAPTER I

WHO ARE THE BOERS?

THE Cape of Good Hope was discovered by Bartholomew Diaz in 1486, during his command of one of the many expeditions sent out by the Kings of Portugal with a view of discovering an ocean route to India. Diaz only doubled the Cape and then returned home. In 1497, Vasco Da Gama likewise doubled the Cape, and landed in that portion of Southern Africa which is now the Colony of Natal. From that time onwards a few Portuguese adventurers were settled at Table Bay and Saldanha Bay, until the Dutch seized and colonised what was the original Cape Colony in the year 1500. During the Anglo-Dutch wars of 1770, curiously enough, this Dutch settlement was never captured by the British, and only came into our possession in 1795, in the early part of the French Revolutionary War. It was restored to the Dutch in 1802, according to the provisions of the Treaty of Amiens, but was re-taken by Great Britain in 1806 and retained. It was not, however, until some time after the peace of 1815, that any effective steps were taken to colonise this new British possession, and for

A

very many years the Cape was merely a military post and naval station,

The Boers of the South African Republic, better known, perhaps, as the Transvaal, are the descendants of the old Dutch colonists, who intermarried with a large number of Huguenot refugees expelled from France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and sought a home in Holland; from that country they were driven, very much against their will, to the Cape of Good Hope; on their arrival there they became more or less incorporated with the Dutch population, owing to their being forbidden to preach in French or educate their children in that language. Of the present Boer population in South Africa, it has been calculated that about one-third is directly descended from the old Huguenots, as is indeed indicated by the thoroughly French names which some of them bear to the present day.

The seizure of the Cape Colony by Great Britain was very distasteful to its then inhabitants. They had been for many years accustomed to lead a pastoral life, full of freedom and independence. They found themselves at once under the sway of a foreign Government, brought into contact with unsympathetic foreign officials, and, what was much more galling to these free men, they were obliged to pay taxes. Moreover, the good people of Great Britain, no doubt inspired by worthy motives, sent out missionaries to the Cape to "convert" these Boers, a matter which was productive of much ill-feeling.

The Boers have ever been religious men according to their lights; they have found in the Bible all their theology, all their history, all their science, in a word, all their literature. In their homes they had family worship morning and evening, and when marching through the veldt, it was their custom to sing psalms. They never went forth on a journey until after much prayerful deliberation. They usually travelled in company, twenty or thirty families joining together for mutual defence; their long, strongly-built waggons contained as much as was necessary of their household gear and served as a shelter at night, while on the approach of hostile natives, they could easily be made to serve the purposes of an entrenched camp. Now these people, as I have said, strongly resented British rule and the attempted interference with their manners and customs on the part of British officials and British missionaries. As time went on, the Boers found British rule more irksome, and, accordingly, sixty years ago, they determined to throw up their farms, give up everything, in fact, except their freedom, and trek for "fresh fields and pastures new." The Cape Government became alarmed and endeavoured to stop the exodus, but the Boers were not to be turned from their purpose, and their various parties made for the Orange River, where they hoped to be able to settle in peace and quietness. Their object was not achieved without dangers, difficulties and disasters. They were harassed by the Matabeles, who prowled around them, attracted by the large

droves of cattle which the Boers were taking with them. There was much fighting and there were many massacres, but still the Boers "trekked" on nobly assisted by their womenkind. At length, the Boers obtained a grant of territory from Dingen, a great Zulu chief, and they established a regular Government with a Volksraad, military commandant and various other officials necessary to administer the territory of which they had obtained possession. The Cape Government was not, however, prepared to see a miniature republic set up in South Africa, and a military force was accordingly sent to the Port of Natal with the object of preventing all trade with the Boers. After a while better counsels prevailed and the British force was withdrawn, the Boers being left to themselves with Pretorius, a man of great ability, at the head of the Republic. Pretorius attemped to obtain a recognition of the petty State on the part of Great Britain, but the only reply sent to him was the despatch of a British force with orders to take any steps necessary to prevent the setting up of a separate Government by the Boers, who were commanded, on pain of being treated as rebels, to return to British territory. The Boers resisted, and besieged the force sent against them, which was only saved from destruction by a relieving force being despatched from the Cape to its assistance. The Boers were overcome, but neither their courage nor their energy was exhausted, so once again they determined to "trek," and almost the entire body crossed the Vaal River.

While all these events were taking place, a large number of emigrant farmers had settled in that part of South Africa which lies between the Orange and the Vaal River, of which Bloemfontein had become the capital. Sir Harry Smith was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for South Africa in 1847, with power to annex the territories south of the Vaal River. Soon after his arrival in Cape Colony, the High Commissioner issued a proclamation, bringing under British rule the entire country between the Orange and the Vaal River. Pretorius very quickly decided to resist this arbitrary act, and at once commenced preparations with that end in view. Bloemfontein was captured, and a decisive battle was subsequently fought close to the Orange River. After a long struggle, which Sir Harry Smith, an old Indian soldier, described as one of the most severe engagements that had ever taken place, the Boers were defeated and hotly pursued by the British troops. The Cape Government confiscated the property of the "rebels" who had taken part in the contest, and a reward of £2000 was offered for Pretorius, dead or alive.

The Boers were not, however, prepared to give in, and a desultory warfare was kept up for some years. At length, the Government at home determined to put an end to this unsatisfactory condition of things, and Commissioners were sent out from England with full powers to negotiate with Pretorious, the offer of a reward for his arrest having