Boer History1788 at the Cape of Good Hope: First Mossel Bay Wheat, Plettenberg Timber, April Treaties, and Three Wrecks
Fourth Year of a Soldier-Governor: Inherited Chairs — 1788
Calendar 1788 opened with Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff already in the first chair, a lieutenant-colonel whose first article had been to restore the burghers to calmness and whose second had been to arm the bay. Johan Isaac Rhenius still sat the second chair from August 1786, after Pieter Hacker had retired at his own request. The fiscal’s office still sat a vacancy from May 1785, a council member acting provisionally after Jan Jacob Serrurier had gone to a grave, with Willem Cornelis Boers already off that chair from April 1783. The high court of justice, remodelled in March 1786, still sat six servants of the Company and six burghers, with the secunde named to preside, and with Christiaan George Maasdorp, Gerrit Hendrik Meyer, Jan Coenraad Gie, and Hendrik Justinus de Wet still written onto the burgher six. The price-and-works board of three and three still sat a failure from the first: the officials and burghers could not work amicably together, and the harvest of 1785 had given it no price to fix. January therefore opened on a soldier already in the Castle, on an India-service secunde, on a fiscal still vacant, on six and six already sitting, and on a board that had never priced a muid. [3] [7] [9]
In the country the inherited chairs still sat when January opened. Hendrik Lodewyk Bletterman still sat Stellenbosch and Drakenstein. Constantyn van Nuld Onkruydt still sat Swellendam. Maurits Herman Otto Woeke still sat a court on the Sunday river from October 1786, with six heemraden from July, with bounds defined on the west by the Gamka to the Zwartberg, that range to the Gamtoos, and the Gamtoos to the sea, on the east by the Great Fish, and on the north only the beacon Van Plettenberg had placed on the Zeekoe, and with Adriaan van Jaarsveld on that board as well as on the eastern command. Christoffel Brand still sat the winter port. Justinus van Gennep still sat the naval establishment. Colonel Robert Jacob Gordon still sat the garrison he had taken in February 1780, now with colonel’s rank over the national battalion of about six hundred. Captain Carel Matthys Willem de Lille still sat next after Gordon. Major Philip Herman Gilquin still sat the works he had directed since June 1779. The outposts at Saldanha Bay, Groenkloof, Klapmuts, Zonder End, Buffeljagts River, and the woodcutters’ post at Zwart River in Outeniqualand were still maintained when the year opened, the last of them about to sit a removal. January therefore opened on three drostdies sitting, on a Swiss regiment already named for Colombo, and on a soldier who still took the burghers as soldiers who had to obey. [3] [9]
The pulpits of the opening year sat the names the third year had closed on. The Rev. Johannes Petrus Serrurier of Hanau and the Rev. Christiaan Fleck still sat the Cape church, with the Rev. Helperus Ritzema van Lier still third from September 1786. Stellenbosch still sat the Rev. Meent Borcherds from that same September, the Rev. Philip Kuys already dead from February 1785, the Rev. Robert Nicholas Aling still on Drakenstein alone. Waveren still sat the Rev. Johannes Abraham Kuys. Zwartland still sat the Rev. Petrus van der Spuy, junior from April 1786, the Rev. Daniel Goldbach already dead from March 1783. The Lutheran pulpit that Andreas Kolver had opened on the 10th of December 1780 still sat in Martin Melk’s Strand Street church, paid by the congregation, without a stiver from the Company’s chest. Graaff Reinet, like Swellendam, still had as yet only a sick-comforter, who was also schoolmaster, and did not yet sit a clergyman. January therefore opened on three Reformed pulpits in the town, on four country churches filled, and on a named third drostdy without a consistory. [3]
Outward, the land regime still opened on the 14 November 1780 names. The Fish river along the whole of its lower course remained the colonial boundary, with the Zuurveld added on paper to the Company’s possessions. Notes, not specie, still met the Castle’s bills after the 30th of April 1782. Little Paris still sat the Parade and Dorpstraat after Pondicherry’s embarkation of April 1784. The harvest of 1785 had entirely failed; the long drought had broken up in 1786; flour from Europe and rice from Java had still been imported that year to ward off actual famine; and a surplus of grain now sat the magazines of the opening year, as it had sat them in 1787. The Amsterdam battery sat completed, guns mounted in February 1787, and a burst trial on the 23rd of that month: two dead, five badly wounded, the governor slightly hurt. Rogge Bay sat a new battery. Chavonnes sat additions. The French lines of 1781 sat a strengthening. The Company’s debt sat nearly seven million pounds sterling. A treaty of close alliance with France sat from November 1785. In the Netherlands the stadtholder Prince William V, removed in 1786, had been restored in June 1787 by a Prussian army after the arrest of the princess of Orange at the Hague. The first chair still sat an official residence in the castle, a house in the gardens, a country seat at Newlands, carriages and horses, the produce of Visser’s Hok, and table allowances, with salary and perquisites of about £3,650 plus a special £1,500 a year. Hester Cornelia Reynet, Sebastiaan, Anna Geertruida, Agneta Clara, and Nicolaas still sat the houses. Horses still sat the Stalplein stables — some sources put one hundred and thirty, others three hundred. January therefore opened on a Castle that had trialled a battery and still sat a surplus, on a frontier district sitting a court and not yet a consistory, and on a soldier who mastered guns and horses better than a price. [3] [7] [9]
The three Cape names still heard in Amsterdam — Jacobus van Reenen, Barend Jacob Artois, and Nicholas Godfried Heyns — still sat in Holland, with Tieleman Roos already dead. A last memorial had been laid before the States General on the 10th of May 1785. The Assembly of Seventeen had announced changes on the 28th of July 1785. A new deputation had left in March 1785, and had started to quarrel among themselves — Hillegard Mulder and Marthinus Adriaan Bergh among them — writing in the Dutch press, with their principals in Cape Town stopping the transfer of funds, and with the States General giving them the cold shoulder. All the governing bodies in the Netherlands were still agreed that the system thus introduced should have a fair trial. No further redress sat a States General table. A Swede named Andries Stockenstrom still sat a clerk’s desk in Cape Town from 1786. January therefore opened on two burgher deputations still in the Netherlands after a last memorial had already been laid and a Seventeen’s paper had already been tried, and on a Castle that had sat six and six into chairs without sitting a price. [3] [9]
Würtemburg Sits the Bay; April Treaties — 1788
Towards the end of 1787, in the summer of 1787–88, the regiment of Würtemburg — a body of mercenary troops two thousand strong — had arrived at the Cape to relieve the Swiss regiment of Meuron, which was to proceed to Colombo. The garrison included also the national battalion under Colonel Gordon, about six hundred strong, and four hundred engineers and artillerymen. January therefore opened on two thousand German mercenaries already named onto a bay that had sat Meuron since February 1783, on Gordon’s six hundred beside them, and on four hundred engineers and artillerymen onto Gilquin’s works. The two thousand the directors had named as a standing garrison now sat, at last, as Würtemburg plus Gordon plus the guns. Meuron sat a relief. Colombo sat as that regiment’s next road. The fourth year opened on that heavier wall. [3] [9]
When Würtemburg sat the town, the military position of the Cape of Good Hope was in a better condition than it had been for a very long time. Van de Graaff had achieved this notwithstanding the incessant criticism of his more ambitious schemes by a council unable to share his military vision. The Amsterdam battery sat mounted, burst, and still there. Rogge Bay sat a new work. Chavonnes sat additions. The French lines sat strengthened. Red-hot shot sat the drills. Two thousand Würtemburgers sat the town. Gordon’s six hundred sat with them. Four hundred engineers and artillerymen sat the works. The weak colony sat, on paper and in earth, a garrison that could resist a European enemy. The first chair’s second article — to arm the bay — sat closer to done than it had sat when he stepped ashore. [3] [9]
A large garrison of foreign mercenary troops was kept up by the Company’s officers at Cape Town. These soldiers were mostly German and Swiss adventurers. Würtemburg sat German. Meuron still sat Swiss until the relief was complete. Gordon’s national battalion sat Dutch. The Company’s chest sat the pay. The annual expenditure still exceeded the incoming revenue by some £90,000. Public expenditure, or the money paid out of the Company’s chest for all purposes at the Cape, now reached a sum of rather over £120,000 a year. Profits on the sale of goods out of the Company’s stores were still on an average about £6,200. There was thus a deficiency to be made good of nearly £92,000 a year, and the Company was at this time almost hopelessly insolvent. Its debt in 1785 had been nearly seven million pounds sterling. The fortifications sat the first chair’s true mastery; the mercenary pay sat the deficiency. Little Paris still sat the Parade, and Meuron had not been Pondicherry’s match as a public entertainer. Two thousand Würtemburgers now sat that entertainment’s chairs. It was said of the subjects of the Duke of Württemberg that half were stage-players, fiddlers and soldiers, half beggars. The ones serving at the Cape sat somewhere in between, and they cost the governor — and thus the Company — a great deal of money. Where Van Plettenberg’s guests had been French officers, Van de Graaff opened his houses for their German successors. The Württembergers were less exciting dancers than the Pondicherry men, and much better drinkers. Almost all their officers carried well-sounding noble names. The commander of the regiment, Colonel von Hügel, became a great friend of the governor. The first chair still sat horses as a hobby while the batteries sat. Sebastiaan still put the fastest of them to a light two-wheeled fly, rushing past burghers who chatted in the shade of the oaks on Gentleman’s Walk. [3] [7] [9]
In April 1788 a treaty of mutual defence was entered into between the Government of England and the States General, and in the same year a triple alliance was concluded between Great Britain, Prussia, and the Netherlands. The inhabitants of the Netherlands were divided into two parties, one of which was in favour of democratic government and alliance with France, the other in favour of the government of the stadtholder and alliance with England. The first of these had been supreme in 1785, and in November of that year a treaty of close alliance with France had been concluded. June 1787 had written an arrest onto a princess at the Hague, a Prussian army onto that arrest, and a restored stadtholder onto a Company whose governor-general’s power was greater than it had ever been before. April therefore wrote England onto the restored stadtholder’s alliance, and wrote Prussia and the Netherlands onto the same paper. The Cape still sat a French treaty of November 1785 on the books while it sat an English treaty of April 1788 over the first chair’s patron. French ships still put into Table Bay and Simon’s Bay. English ships still put in. The roadstead still sold to both. The fourth year therefore sat two alliances on one refreshment station, and sat a soldier who was the stadtholder’s favourite under the alliance that now pointed toward England. [3] [9]
The directors were desirous of dismissing the governor, but the stadtholder, with whom he was a favourite, would not consent. April’s English treaty therefore sat a thicker shield over the first chair. The soldier who had come with the stadtholder’s confidence still sat that confidence after a Prussian army had put his patron back and after England had sat a treaty of mutual defence with the States General. The council still sat criticism of ambitious schemes. The burghers’ deputies still sat unpaid and cold-shouldered. The first chair still sat. The restored stadtholder would not take him off. The fourth year therefore opened on Würtemburg’s two thousand, on Gordon’s six hundred, on four hundred engineers and artillerymen, on a bay armed better than it had been for a very long time, and on an April paper that pointed the stadtholder toward England while French flags still took water in the bay. [3] [9]
Avenhoorn Lost — 16–17 May 1788
During the five years 1785–9, the average number of ships that put into Table Bay was 189, and that put into Simon’s Bay 25. Of the whole number, 334 were Dutch, 212 French, 84 English, 70 Danish, 62 American, 29 Portuguese, 10 Austrian, 8 Spanish, 7 Swedish, 4 Prussian, and 1 was Italian. The fourth year therefore sat inside that five-year average: a roadstead still selling to many flags after the war, with French still the heaviest foreign count, with English still putting in after the Botany Bay fleet of November 1787, and with Dutch still not the majority of the whole. Brand still sat the winter port. Van Gennep still sat the naval establishment. The Castle still sold what it could. A western surplus of grain now sat a possible cargo. May was to write a Company’s ship onto that surplus’s next road — and to write her off it before she sailed. [3]
In the night between the 16th and 17th of May 1788 the Company’s ship Avenhoorn was driven from her anchors in Table Bay by a gale from the north-west, and was lost. She was about to proceed to Mossel Bay to take in wheat for Batavia, and had no cargo on board. All hands were saved. May therefore wrote a north-west gale onto Table Bay, wrote a Company’s ship off her anchors, and wrote her lost before she had taken a muid. The magazine at Mossel Bay now sat ready to save Swellendam farmers the long overland haul. The Avenhoorn had sat as the ship that was to take that wheat. The gale sat her on the beach instead. The hands sat saved. The cargo sat unladen because there had been no cargo. The fourth year therefore wrote a wreck onto a wheat voyage that had not yet begun. [3]
Table Bay still sat the summer port. Simon’s Bay still sat the winter port under Brand. A north-west gale in May still sat the old danger onto the open roadstead, as it had sat the Jonge Thomas onto the beach beyond Salt River in June 1773, and as it had sat other north-westers onto that same sand. The Avenhoorn sat no Woltemaade and no hundred and thirty-eight dead. She sat all hands saved, and she sat empty. The Company still sat a large profit to be made on wheat, and still sat a hand out for as much of that article as possible for the European market and for Batavia. The long drought had broken in 1786. The surplus of 1787 still sat. Mossel Bay sat a magazine. May’s wreck sat a ship that had been about to go there, and sat that magazine still waiting for a cargo to be shipped. [3]
Gordon still sat the garrison as colonel, now with Würtemburg’s two thousand beside his six hundred. De Lille still sat next after him. Gilquin still sat the works, now with four hundred engineers and artillerymen named beside the batteries. The Amsterdam battery still sat its guns after the burst of the 23rd of February 1787. Rogge Bay still sat. Chavonnes still sat additions. The French lines still sat strengthened. None of those works sat a cable that would have held the Avenhoorn in a north-wester. The first chair still sat horses and red-hot shot. The council still sat criticism. May therefore sat a wreck onto a bay the soldier had come to arm against a European enemy, and sat that wreck as weather, not as war. The hands walked ashore. The wheat still sat in Swellendam. July would sit another hull onto that magazine. [3] [9]
First Mossel Bay Cargo — July 1788
There being a large profit to be made on wheat, the Company endeavoured to procure as much of that article as possible for the European market. In 1786 it had been necessary to import large quantities of flour from Europe and rice from Java to ward off actual famine; but in that year the long drought broke up, and in 1787 and later there was a considerable surplus of grain in the colony. The fourth year therefore opened on magazines that famine had emptied and that a broken drought was filling. The Negotie had gone to Batavia in ballast in 1786 because not a muid of grain was to be had. A muid now sat the western farms again. The Company still sat a profit on wheat, and still sat a hand out for as much as it could take. To encourage its growth in the district of Swellendam, a magazine was built at Mossel Bay, where the grain was received, so that the long overland journey to the Cape was saved to the farmers. May’s Avenhoorn had sat as the ship that was to take that wheat for Batavia. July sat another hull onto the same magazine. [3]
The first cargo shipped at that port was in July 1788, when the Company’s yacht Johanna Jacoba was laden with wheat for Batavia. It was purchased by the officer stationed there at 9s. 7½d. a muid clear to the producer, after the tithe was deducted, which was the price given at the Cape. July therefore wrote the first lading onto a magazine that had been built to spare Swellendam the waggon road, wrote the Company’s yacht onto that lading, and wrote Batavia onto the wheat that May’s wreck had not taken. The officer at the bay sat the Cape price onto the muid. The tithe sat deducted. The producer sat 9s. 7½d. clear. The long overland journey sat saved. The fourth year therefore wrote a first cargo onto Mossel Bay in the same calendar that had written a wreck onto the ship that was to have gone there in May. [3]
The board that was to fix prices still sat a failure. The officials and burghers could not work amicably together, and everything proposed by one party was objected to by the other. As for fixing prices of produce, it had had no opportunity of making trial of its ability when the harvest of 1785 entirely failed. The directors had been disappointed by the Negotie sent on in ballast, and the plan was never again brought forward. A surplus now sat the colony, and still no three-and-three sat a yearly price. The Company therefore sat its own old hand on the wheat it wanted, without a board that could name a figure the burghers would take. At Mossel Bay the officer sat the Cape price of 9s. 7½d. after tithe. July’s first cargo therefore sat a Company’s figure onto a new magazine, not a board’s figure onto a failed three-and-three. [3] [9]
In the long-settled parts of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein the people were still living in comfort and ease. All kinds of European wares were still introduced in Danish ships, and were sold at enormous profits. Little Paris still sat the Parade. Cartoon money still sat the distant districts. The slaves were still almost naked, because a weaver in Stellenbosch had not been allowed to spin. The uneducated farmers of the interior were still taking forged notes. Along the northern border, warfare with San was still constant, and the colonists there were in the same condition as those of Graaff Reinet, whose court now sat. In the new district, cattle breeding was almost the only pursuit of the Europeans. Once in a twelvemonth each family who could do so sent a waggon laden with butter and soap to Cape Town to procure household requisites. A western surplus of grain therefore sat beside an eastern year of butter and soap. The Company sat its profit on the western muid, and now sat a magazine at Mossel Bay so that Swellendam’s grain need not take the overland road. The third drostdy sat almost no grain at all. [3]
Onkruydt still sat Swellendam, the district whose farmers the magazine had been built to serve. Bletterman still sat Stellenbosch, where the western surplus sat the old farms. Woeke still sat a court on the Sunday river, with six heemraden, with Coetsee’s buildings bought for about £530, and with Van Jaarsveld on that board as well as on the eastern command. San still disturbed the northern farms and the new district. A commando of all available burghers had sat the Sneeuwbergen in 1787, the government providing ammunition. The government still provided ammunition, but nothing else. No European dared venture an hour’s ride from his homestead without arms in his hand. From four farms adjoining the drostdy the cattle had been swept off within a few weeks after the arrival of the landdrost. The Khoikhoi suffered even more severely than the Europeans. July’s wheat at Mossel Bay therefore sat a western magazine filling while the east still sat powder and a tax, and still sat no soldiers on the Fish. [3] [4]
Meermin Timber and the Maria — August 1788
In the same year a magazine for storage of timber was opened at Plettenberg’s Bay, the post at Zwart River having been broken up and the men removed to the forest nearest the bay. Jan Frederik Meding was placed in charge of the magazine. The woodcutters’ post that had sat at Zwart River in Outeniqualand since July 1777 — a few soldiers sent there not so much to establish a military station as to assist a party of woodcutters employed in felling and preparing timber for the Company’s use — now sat broken up. The men sat moved to the forest nearest the bay that Van Plettenberg’s name had marked. Meding sat the magazine. The fourth year therefore wrote a timber store onto a bay that had sat a name, and wrote the Zwart River post off the books. [3]
The first cargo of timber was shipped in August 1788, when the Cape packet Meermin, of which François Duminy was master, was laden with waggon wood and material for gun carriages. August therefore wrote the first timber lading onto Meding’s magazine, wrote Duminy’s packet onto that lading, and wrote waggon wood and gun-carriage timber onto a bay that had sat a forest. The Amsterdam battery, Rogge Bay, and Chavonnes still sat guns that needed carriages. Gilquin still sat the works. Four hundred engineers and artillerymen still sat those works. The Meermin sat the wood that would make more carriages. The fourth year therefore wrote timber onto Plettenberg’s Bay in the same month that it would write a scorbutic Indiaman onto the same water. [3]
In August 1788 the Company’s ship Maria, homeward-bound from Ceylon, was met off Plettenberg’s Bay by the Cape packet Meermin, and found to be in a condition of distress. Her crew had been attacked by scurvy, and only the skipper and four men were able to walk. By the help of the Meermin’s crew, the Maria was taken into Plettenberg’s Bay, where she was brought to anchor; but a few days later, in a gale from the south-east, she was driven ashore and became a total wreck. No lives were lost. August therefore wrote a meeting onto Duminy’s packet off the bay whose timber she had come to load, wrote scurvy onto a Ceylon homeward ship, wrote only five men able to walk onto that scurvy, wrote the Meermin’s crew onto the towing, wrote an anchor onto Plettenberg’s Bay, and then wrote a south-easter onto that anchor. The wreck sat total. The lives sat saved. The timber sat laden. The fourth year therefore wrote a first cargo and a total wreck onto the same bay in the same month. [3]
Plettenberg’s Bay therefore sat open to the Company’s own packet in 1788: open for timber, open for a distressed Indiaman, open for a wreck. Meding sat the magazine. Duminy sat the Meermin. The men from Zwart River sat the forest nearest the bay. Plettenberg’s Bay was opened to trade in 1788. August wrote that opening onto waggon wood and gun-carriage timber, and wrote it onto a skipper and four men who could still walk when the Meermin found them. The south-easter wrote the rest. No lives were lost on the Maria, as no lives had been lost on the Avenhoorn in May. The fourth year sat two Company’s wrecks before October, and sat both of them empty of a death-roll. [3]
The first chair still sat batteries that needed gun carriages, and still sat a magazine that could now send the wood. Würtemburg still sat the town. Gordon still sat six hundred. Gilquin still sat four hundred engineers and artillerymen. The Meermin still sat Duminy’s command after she had towed a scorbutic ship to anchor and seen her go ashore. Brand still sat the winter port. Van Gennep still sat the naval establishment. August therefore sat a timber cargo, a rescue, and a wreck onto one packet’s month, and sat that month onto a bay that had not sat a Company’s magazine when the year opened. The Zwart River post sat broken up. The forest nearest the bay sat the men. Meding sat the store. The south-easter sat the Maria on the beach. [3]
Penelope on Muizenburg Beach — 16–17 October 1788
In the night between the 16th and 17th of October 1788 the French frigate Penelope, when trying to enter Simon’s Bay, ran ashore on Muizenburg beach and went to pieces. There were 430 men on board, most of whom got safely to land. October therefore wrote a French frigate onto the winter port’s entrance, wrote Muizenburg beach onto that attempt, and wrote her to pieces. Four hundred and thirty sat the roll. Most sat saved. Brand still sat Simon’s Town. The winter port still sat the road the frigate had tried to take. The night sat her on the sand instead. The fourth year therefore wrote a third wreck onto the calendar, and wrote a French flag onto that wreck after April had written an English treaty onto the stadtholder’s alliance. [3]
French ships still sat heavy on the five-year count: 212 of the whole number that put into the two bays in 1785–9, against 84 English and 334 Dutch. A treaty of close alliance with France still sat from November 1785. A treaty of mutual defence with England sat from April 1788. The Penelope sat a French frigate trying to enter Simon’s Bay in October, and sat to pieces on Muizenburg beach. Most of 430 got safely to land. The roadstead still sold to both alliances. The first chair still sat as the stadtholder’s favourite, and the stadtholder now sat an English alliance. October’s wreck therefore sat a French hull onto a Cape that still watered French ships while it sat a new English paper over the Castle. [3]
No lives had been lost on the Avenhoorn in May. No lives had been lost on the Maria in August. Most of the Penelope’s 430 reached land in October. The fourth year’s wrecks therefore sat three hulls onto the coast and sat no great death-roll onto those hulls. The Avenhoorn had sat empty, about to take wheat. The Maria had sat scorbutic, homeward from Ceylon. The Penelope had sat a frigate, trying to enter. Table Bay, Plettenberg’s Bay, and Muizenburg beach sat the three names. North-west, south-east, and a night entrance sat the three weathers. The Company sat two of the wrecks. France sat the third. [3]
Brand still sat the winter port the Penelope had failed to enter. Van Gennep still sat the naval establishment. Gordon still sat the garrison. Würtemburg still sat the town. The Amsterdam battery still sat its guns. Rogge Bay still sat. Chavonnes still sat additions. The French lines of 1781 still sat strengthened — earth thrown up by French troops, now sitting under a Castle whose patron sat an English treaty. October’s French frigate went to pieces on Muizenburg beach without those lines having a shot to fire. The wreck sat weather and a missed entrance, not a European enemy. The soldier who had come to arm the bay still sat that bay armed against a war that October did not bring. [3] [9]
Fourth Year Closes: Magazines, Wrecks, and an English Alliance — 1788
In the Castle the fourth year closed on a soldier still in the first chair, with Hester, Sebastiaan, Anna Geertruida, Agneta Clara, and Nicolaas still in the houses, and with horses still in the Stalplein stables. Rhenius still sat the second chair from August 1786. The fiscal’s office still sat a vacancy from May 1785, a council member still acting provisionally. The high court still sat six Company servants and six burghers, with Maasdorp, Meyer, Gie, and De Wet still written onto the burgher six, and with the secunde still named to preside. The price-and-works board still sat a failure. A considerable surplus of grain still sat the western magazines. The Company still sat a hand out for wheat. The Amsterdam battery still sat completed, guns mounted in February 1787, and a burst trial on the 23rd. Rogge Bay still sat a new battery. Chavonnes still sat additions. The French lines still sat strengthened. Würtemburg’s two thousand still sat the town, with Gordon’s six hundred and four hundred engineers and artillerymen. In April a treaty of mutual defence had sat England and the States General onto one paper, and a triple alliance of Great Britain, Prussia, and the Netherlands had sat the same year. [3] [9]
Bletterman still sat Stellenbosch. Onkruydt still sat Swellendam. Woeke still sat a court on the Sunday river, with six heemraden, with Coetsee’s buildings bought for about £530, and with Van Jaarsveld on that board as well as on the eastern command. San still disturbed the northern farms and the new district. A commando of all available burghers had sat the Sneeuwbergen in 1787, the government providing ammunition; the government still provided ammunition, but nothing else. Ndlambe’s friendship still sat a report that rupture could easily take place. Fifty or sixty soldiers on the Fish had been asked and had not sat. Brand still sat the winter port. Van Gennep still sat the naval establishment. Gordon still sat the garrison as colonel, now with Würtemburg beside him. De Lille still sat next after him. Gilquin still sat the works. Meding now sat a timber magazine at Plettenberg’s Bay. The Zwart River post sat broken up. [3] [4]
Serrurier of Hanau and Fleck still sat the Reformed Cape, with Van Lier still third from September 1786. Kolver still sat Melk’s nave. Stellenbosch still sat Borcherds. Drakenstein still sat Aling. Waveren still sat Johannes Abraham Kuys. Zwartland still sat Van der Spuy junior. Graaff Reinet still sat a sick-comforter who was also schoolmaster, and still did not sit a clergyman. Stockenstrom still sat a clerk’s desk in Cape Town. The Lutheran test still barred Kolver’s communion from the council of policy and the high court, while Lutherans could be appointed to any other offices. The third drostdy’s court sat. Its consistory did not sit. [3]
Cape Town at this period was still a very different place from what it had been in earlier times. With the arrival of the French troops in 1781 an expensive fashion of living had set in, and every one was still striving to become possessed of a handsome house filled with costly furniture and a retinue of useless slaves. Little Paris still sat the Parade. Würtemburg now sat that Parade’s mercenary chairs, and the governor opened his houses for German officers who drank better than Pondicherry had danced. Cartoon money still sat the distant districts. In the long-settled parts of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein the people were still living in comfort and ease, now with a surplus of grain, and now with a first Mossel Bay cargo shipped in July at 9s. 7½d. a muid. Along the northern border and in Graaff Reinet the colonists still sat mud walls and a patrol. Hendrik Justinus de Wet still sat the Danish agency, and still sat a high-court burgher chair. The Company’s debt still sat near seven million. Expenditure still exceeded revenue by some £90,000, and public expenditure sat rather over £120,000 a year. Notes, not specie, still met the Castle’s bills. [3] [7] [9]
Van Reenen, Artois, and Heyns still sat in Amsterdam, with Roos dead, with a last memorial already laid on the 10th of May 1785, with a Seventeen’s paper of the 28th of July 1785 that March 1786 had sat into a high court and a failed board, and with a new deputation that had left in March 1785 still quarrelling, unpaid, and cold-shouldered. All the governing bodies in the Netherlands had been agreed that the system should have a fair trial. In June 1787 the princess of Orange had been arrested at the Hague, a Prussian army had come in, and the stadtholder had been restored. In April 1788 a treaty of mutual defence had sat England onto that restoration, and a triple alliance had sat Great Britain, Prussia, and the Netherlands onto the same year. The directors were desirous of dismissing the governor; the restored stadtholder would not consent. In May the Avenhoorn had been driven from her anchors in Table Bay, about to take Mossel Bay wheat, all hands saved. In July the Johanna Jacoba had taken the first cargo from that magazine at 9s. 7½d. a muid. In August the Meermin had shipped the first timber from Plettenberg’s Bay, had met the scorbutic Maria, and had seen her driven ashore. In October the Penelope had gone to pieces on Muizenburg beach, most of 430 men reaching land. The fourth year of Cornelis Jacob van de Graaff ended on those facts: on Würtemburg still sitting the bay, on an April English treaty over a French paper still on the books, on two new magazines that had shipped their first cargoes, and on three wrecks that had sat no great death-roll. The fifth year would sit those magazines, those batteries, and that heavier garrison — and would sit them still under the same soldier. [3] [4] [7] [9]