Boer History1806 at the Cape of Good Hope: Blaauwberg, Papendorp, and Janssens’s Surrender
Landing — 4–7 January 1806
Lieutenant-General Jan Willem Janssens was still the Batavian governor when 1806 opened. He had been installed on the 1st of March 1803 by Jacob Abraham de Mist, commissioner-general of the Batavian Republic — the officer sent to take the Cape back after the treaty of Amiens. De Mist laid that commission down on the 25th of September 1804 and sailed in the Silenus in February 1805, so Janssens sat sole in the government. The Batavian flag was still on the castle. War with Britain had begun again on the 12th of May 1803; an English fleet was expected, and the watch was on Lion’s Rump. [3] [9]
On the 1st of January he confirmed the name Genadendal — Vale of Grace — which the Moravian missionaries at his request had just given to the station in Baviaans’ Kloof. Nearly 1100 people lived there, about 200 wattle-and-daub cottages, 5 missionaries. Wheat was being threshed and grapes beginning to colour: the worst season for farmers to leave their farms. In the last days of December the French privateer Napoleon had been run ashore south of Hout Bay; a vessel reported a great fleet steering south; on the 28th another arrived with news that English ships had sailed from Madeira on the 4th of October. That is why the castle was already on the alert before any sail was seen from the Rump. [3]
The fleet thus announced had been fitted to take the colony. In July 1805 Castlereagh ordered the 59th, the 20th light dragoons, 320 artillerymen and 546 recruits out of Falmouth under secret orders to wait at Madeira; the 24th, 38th, 71st, 72nd, 83rd and 93rd embarked at Cork ostensibly for the Mediterranean. Commodore Home Popham had the ships; Major-General David Baird the troops — 6654 rank and file. Baird knew the Cape: he had served here under Dundas for 11 months in 1798. 61 sail left Cork on the 31st of August. After a tedious voyage Madeira was reached; the true destination was then made known; the course bent to Brazil. On the Roccas the transport King George and the East India Company’s Britannia were wrecked; all were saved except General Yorke of the Royal Engineers, 1 bombardier and 1 seaman. At San Salvador food, water and about 70 horses were taken, many of which died on the further voyage. What hung on that voyage was not a raid but a second British occupation: Baird had the numbers to take the peninsula if he could land them. [3] [4]
In the morning of the 4th of January signals on Lion’s Rump made known that numerous sails were in sight. That evening the ships — 63 in number — came to anchor between Robben Island and the Blaauwberg shore. Baird meant to land next morning at a curve north of Melkbosch Point, about 16 miles from Capetown. A night gale put such surf on the 5th that landing was impossible. He then resolved on Saldanha, a long march with posts along the route. In the night of the 5th the Diomede, with transports conveying the 38th, the 20th light dragoons and artillery under Brigadier-General Beresford, sailed for that bay, the Espoir ahead to take the port and secure cattle. At daybreak the surf had gone down. The Diadem, Leda, Encounter and Protector were moored to cover the beach; a small transport was run aground as a breakwater. [3] [4] [7] [9]
On the 6th the Highland brigade — 71st, 72nd and 93rd under Brigadier-General Ferguson — was put ashore at Lospard’s Bay, 15 or 16 miles north of the town. The sea still broke with violence. One boat from the Charlotte could not push to windward of a sunken rock, turned bottom up, and 35 men of the 93rd were drowned. About 100 jagers threw themselves into the bushes and kept firing until the 71st light company landed and drove them from the first ridge of sandhills. The heights overlooking the surf were held by a small body of burgher sharp-shooters, whose well-directed shots forced the English boats to advance in a more extended line. The 24th, 59th and 83rd landed on the 7th, with artillery and stores enough for the army’s immediate wants. The landing cost 2 soldiers wounded by a company of burgher militia under Commandant Jacobus Linde. Eight hours after the fleet came in sight the fact was known in Swellendam by signal guns fired from hill to hill, and before the following morning the whole country within 150 miles of Capetown was warned. There was saddling and riding in haste, but journeys in that heat could only be performed by night without exhausting man and beast. What hung on those four January days was a British army on the sand, and a Batavian governor who now had to meet it before it reached the castle. [3] [4] [7] [9]
Blaauwberg — 8 January 1806
As soon as it was known that the English were landing on the Blaauwberg beach, Janssens marched to meet them, leaving in Capetown a considerable burgher force and a few soldiers under Lieutenant-Colonel Von Prophalow to guard the forts. He had rather over 2000 men, a mixed force: 224 mounted burghers under commandants Linde, Human and Wium; the fifth battalion of Waldeck, German mercenaries, 400; the 22nd of the line, 358; the 9th battalion of jagers, 202, raised from all the nations of Europe; 138 dragoons and 160 artillerymen, mostly Dutch by birth; the crews of the French ships Atalante and Napoleon, 240 men, under Colonel Gaudin Beauchêne, commandant of marines in the Atalante; 54 Javanese artillerymen; 181 Khoikhoi foot; 104 Mozambique slaves in the train. The field-guns were 16, of various sizes. Baird’s report later put the Dutch cannon at 23 and overestimated the force. Recent attacks of cholera had weakened many of them. Janssens knew that victory was almost hopeless. He had long placed on record his conviction that the colony was too great a burden for the exhausted mother country, and that as it could not be held without heavy expense its loss would really be an advantage. But it was his duty to defend it. [3] [7] [9]
At three in the morning of Wednesday the 8th of January this force was under arms, advancing toward Blaauwberg from the dunes beyond Rietvlei, where the night had been spent, when the scouts brought word that the English were approaching. At five the British were seen descending the shoulder of Blaauwberg, marching in the cool of the morning toward Capetown. Baird had formed two columns. That on the right — 24th, 59th and 83rd — was commanded by his brother, Lieutenant-Colonel Baird. The left was the Highland brigade under Ferguson. Altogether about 4000 rank and file, besides artillerymen and 500 or 600 sailors armed with pikes and drawing two howitzers and six field-guns. Janssens extended his line to cover the whole English front. He rode along the front saying a few encouraging words. He met hearty cheers from all except the battalion of Waldeck. Those mercenaries were as well aware as the general that there was hardly a chance against disciplined British troops, and they were not disposed to be shot down for the mere honour of fighting. All 400 met his appeals with shrugs and sneers. [3] [9]
By this time the armies were within cannon range, and the artillery on both sides was opening fire. A few balls fell on the ground occupied by the Waldeck battalion, and that regiment began to retreat. Janssens rode up and implored them to stand firm, in vain: the retreat changed into flight. One wing of the 22nd then began to follow. It rallied for a moment under the general’s command, then resumed its flight on observing that the Highland brigade, after firing a volley at too great a distance to have much effect, was advancing to charge with the bayonet. The burghers, the French corps, the remainder of the troops and the coloured auxiliaries were behaving well, receiving and answering a heavy fire with artillery and hunting rifles. The flight of the main body of regulars made it impossible for the mixed force left on the field to stand the Highland charge. By order of Janssens the remnant fell back. Adjutant-General Kancke and Colonel Henry were sent to Rietvlei to rally the fugitives. Last off the field was a company of mounted artillery under Lieutenant Pelegrini, who continued firing until the general in person commanded them to retire. On the spot he promoted the lieutenant to be a captain. [3] [7] [9]
The English loss was 1 officer and 14 rank and file killed, 9 officers and 180 rank and file wounded, and 8 rank and file missing. The Dutch loss cannot be stated with any pretension to accuracy: the roll-call when the fugitives were rallied shows killed, wounded and missing together. That afternoon 110 Frenchmen, 188 soldiers of the different battalions, 4 burghers, 17 Khoikhoi, 10 Malays and 8 slaves did not answer to their names. It is certain that more were killed and wounded on the Dutch than on the English side, though probably the excess was not great. Baird’s report to Castlereagh on the 12th of January put the enemy’s loss above 700; that number was in all probability greatly overestimated. Janssens himself was struck by a spent ball, but it rebounded from something in his side-pocket without injuring him. [3] [4] [9]
At Rietvlei the defeated army was collected. Janssens resolved to retire at once to the mountains of Hottentots-Holland, but he would not take the Waldeck regiment with him: unworthy, he said, to associate with men of valour. He ordered it immediately to Capetown, that it might be included in whatever terms Von Prophalow could obtain. One company of that regiment had been in another part of the field and had behaved well; the men asked to be treated differently, and when given the choice they unanimously went with him. The French sailors and marines had behaved with the utmost bravery and only retired in company with the general and Pelegrini’s artillery. Janssens was loth to part with them, but Beauchêne represented that they could be of no service in the country, so they too were directed to the town. An express went to Major Horn at Simonstown: set fire to the Bato, an old ship of war lying as a floating fort, destroy the powder, spike the guns, and proceed along False Bay to join him at the pass. The garrison there was about 50 artillerymen and two companies of the Khoikhoi regiment. Horn carried out the instructions, but so hastily that the Bato was only slightly damaged. [3]
An express also went to Capetown with a letter to the members of the council, requesting them, while it was still in their power to do so legally, to grant farms in freehold to certain burghers conspicuous for bravery. The names were commandants Jacobus Linde and Pieter Human; the burghers Pieter Pietersen, Nicolaas Swart Pz., Nicolaas Swart Kz., Jan Rabie, Dirk Lourens, Servaas de Kock, Nicolaas Linde and Marthinus Theunissen; also Hans Human and Pieter Mostert, whose brothers were killed. Upon receipt, the councillors De Salis and Wakker lost no time in making the grants and having them properly recorded. Van Oudtshoorn had long since resigned on account of bodily infirmity; Van Polanen, who had only arrived in March 1804, had gone to Batavia at the beginning of 1805; so only the two were left. That meeting in the evening of the 8th was the last but one under the Batavian administration. On the morning of the 9th the two held another session and furnished Von Prophalow with a small sum of money. While these arrangements were made the remnant of the army pushed on to Rooseboom, halted until eleven at night, then marched toward Hottentots-Holland. The British arrived at Rietvlei that evening and passed the night in the open air. What hung on the 8th was not only a lost field: the last Batavian council still sitting in the castle was writing freehold grants while Baird slept at Rietvlei. [3] [9]
Papendorp and the Town — 9–11 January 1806
In the morning of the 9th Baird resumed his march toward Capetown. At Salt River it was easy to communicate with the ships, and preparations were made to land a battering train and a supply of provisions. The battering train was not needed. Von Prophalow had no thought of attempting to defend the town. He sent a flag of truce to request a suspension of arms for 48 hours in order to arrange terms. Near Craig’s tower this flag met Baird, who would grant only 36 hours, and further required possession within 6 hours of the lines and Fort Knokke. The demand could not be refused. That evening the 59th took Fort Knokke. At four in the afternoon of the 10th the articles of capitulation were signed at Papendorp by Von Prophalow, Baird and Commodore Home Popham. What hung on those articles was the town itself: the castle and the forts passed that day, while Janssens was still in the mountains with the remnant of the field army. [3] [4] [9]
The articles provided that the castle and other fortifications should be immediately surrendered. The regulars forming the garrison, and the Frenchmen of the Atalante and the Napoleon, were to become prisoners of war and be sent to Great Britain as such, except officers of the army married into colonial families or possessing landed property, who might remain during good behaviour, and except such soldiers as might choose of their own free will to enlist in the king’s service. Colonists in arms were to return to their former occupations. Private property of all kinds was to be respected; property of every description belonging to the Batavian government was to be delivered up. The burghers and other inhabitants were to preserve all their rights and privileges, and public worship as then existing was to be maintained. The paper money in circulation was to continue current until his Majesty’s pleasure could be known, the public lands and buildings remaining as security for that portion not lent to individuals. The inhabitants of Capetown were to be exempted from having troops quartered on them. Two Dutch ships sunk the day before in Table Bay to prevent their seizure were to be raised by those who scuttled them and delivered over in a perfect state of repair. [3] [4] [7]
Upon taking possession Baird found only 2 days’ supply of flour and grain on hand. The wheat of the last crop was nearly ready for delivery, but the season had not been a good one, and the quantity was insufficient for the colonists and for the large military and naval force now added to the consumers. A frigate was therefore sent to St. Helena to procure all the flour and biscuit that could be spared, and as soon as possible three transports sailed for Madras to obtain rice and wheat. [3] [4]
On the morning of the 11th three proclamations were issued. In the first, the inhabitants of the country districts were ordered to remain quietly at their habitations and were assured of protection; any who should join the Batavian troops under Janssens, or afford them assistance, were threatened with consequences of the most serious nature; those of the neighbourhood of Capetown who had retired with the Dutch army were warned that if they did not return forthwith, orders would be given for the confiscation of their effects. In the second, the civil servants and the principal inhabitants were required to take an oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty at noon that day. In the third, Willem Stephanus van Ryneveld, a staunch friend of the British government, was appointed chief civil magistrate and councillor, it being Baird’s intention that all the immediate duties of the civil administration should be executed by him under his Excellency’s own superintendence and directions. The ordinary functions of the several official departments were continued. Van Ryneveld mattered because Baird needed a colonial officer who would keep the courts and the treasury running while the army still faced Janssens in the east of the peninsula. [3] [4]
Hottentots-Holland — 18 January 1806
Janssens had reached the mountains of Hottentots-Holland, where he might have been able to cut off communication with the eastern part of the country if the British force had not been so overwhelming. The farms which produced wheat and wine would soon be subject to the English, and the country beyond would also be open by way of the Roodezand kloof. Only one plan of prolonging the struggle remained: to retire to the distant interior and await a French expedition. That did not appear very feasible. The most that could be said of the position resolved itself at last into this: it was more favourable for obtaining terms than if he had fallen back upon Capetown after Blaauwberg. Within the next three days he learned that two English regiments had taken possession of Stellenbosch and the Roodezand kloof, and that another was about to proceed by sea to Mossel Bay, with a view of securing the Attaqua pass in his rear. He ascertained also that the English general had required all the saddle-horses in the town to be taken to the barracks, appraised and pressed, with a promise that if they were not returned they would be paid for. The greater number of the farmers with him being residents of Stellenbosch and Drakenstein, he advised them to return to their homes, lest remaining longer cause the confiscation of their property. So attached were they to him that it was with difficulty they were persuaded to retire. [3] [7] [9]
Baird made the first advances. From Capetown on the 11th of January he wrote that Janssens had discharged his duty to his country as became a brave man at the head of a gallant though feeble army; that the naval and military forces which had possessed themselves of the seat of government were of a magnitude to leave no question respecting the issue of further hostilities; that a temporary and disastrous resistance was all he could possibly oppose; that nothing could result but the devastation of the country he casually occupied. On the 13th this letter was forwarded by Brigadier-General Beresford, in command of the troops at Stellenbosch, who announced that he was empowered to enter into negotiations for an honourable capitulation. Janssens desired first to be correctly informed of occurrences at Capetown, and requested that Jan Andries Truter might be permitted to visit him. This was granted. Upon being made acquainted with everything that had transpired, he consented to the arrangement of terms. Some delay took place, owing to certain clauses proposed by one party being rejected by the other; at length a draft made by Janssens and modified by Baird was agreed to and signed at Hottentots-Holland on the 18th of January. What hung on the 18th was the rest of the colony: Papendorp had given Baird the town; this paper gave him the districts. [3] [4] [7]
It provided that the whole settlement should at once be surrendered. That the Batavian troops should retain all private property, and the officers their swords and horses; but their arms, treasure and public property of every description should be given up. That the troops should not be considered prisoners of war, but be embarked and sent to Holland at the expense of the British government, they engaging not to serve against his Britannic Majesty or his allies before they were landed in Holland. That the officers and men should be subsisted at British expense until embarkation, and when on board transports be treated in the same manner as British troops. That the Khoikhoi soldiers should be allowed to return to their homes, or to enter the British service, as they might think proper. And that the inhabitants of the colony were to enjoy the same rights and privileges as had been granted to those of Capetown according to the capitulation of the 10th, except that the privilege of quartering soldiers upon them was reserved, as the country had not the same resources as the town. [3] [7]
The force with Janssens had been reduced by desertion within the last few days to 180 officers and men of the 22nd, 104 of the 9th jagers, 52 of Waldeck, 146 dragoons and 177 artillerymen — 659, exclusive of a few staff officers, who were to be sent to Holland. There were also 343 men of the Khoikhoi regiment and 55 of the artillery train, who were to remain in the country. Baird directed Major Graham of the 73rd to take as many of the Khoikhoi into the British service as could be induced to enlist. Most of them were willing to remain as soldiers, and they were formed into a corps which was soon afterwards enlarged and became known as the Cape regiment. Baird highly approved of the corps; one of his first acts after the capture was to take steps for encouraging and increasing it. In a despatch dated the 15th of April the secretary of state approved increasing the strength to 800 rank and file. [3] [4]
Cuyler at Uitenhage — 14 February 1806
Baird allowed most of the officials to retain their posts upon taking an oath of allegiance to the king of England; a few preferred to return to Europe. A few offices in Capetown were filled temporarily by military men. As soon as the turmoil in the west permitted attention to the east, measures were adopted for extending the new regime. All the Batavian officials in the west had been replaced by either Englishmen or colonial Dutch who had served under the former British rule. The last of the Dutch officials to be replaced was Captain Alberti, commandant at Fort Frederick and acting landdrost of Uitenhage. To succeed him, on the 14th of February Baird appointed Captain Jacob Glen Cuyler of the 59th, an officer on whose judgment and conciliatory temper reliance could be placed, and who had the additional qualification of a knowledge of the Dutch language. He was sent to Algoa Bay to replace Alberti as commandant of the fort and acting landdrost. Though acting only in a semi-military capacity, he was promoted to the rank of major at the end of the year. What hung on the appointment was the eastern frontier: the man at Uitenhage would be the British government’s first face to the farmers, the Khoikhoi at Bethelsdorp, and the Xhosa on the Zuurveld. [3] [4]
When, for the second time, the Cape came under British rule, little advance had been made in the districts of Graaff Reinet and Uitenhage. Port Elizabeth was represented by the solitary outpost Fort Frederick. Uitenhage consisted of the unfinished drostdy house and the homestead of the widow Scheepers; Graaff Reinet was only beginning to emerge from the wattle-and-daub stage. In 1806 37 houses were built in that village. With the exception of the inhabitants of these places, the meagre white population was dispersed over a very wide area, the primitive farm-houses for the most part in pathless solitudes. The total population of both districts, including Khoikhoi and slaves, according to the returns issued at the end of the year, was 16254: in Graaff Reinet 4497 Europeans, 4730 Khoikhoi and 1382 slaves; in Uitenhage 2454 Europeans, 2668 Khoikhoi and 523 slaves. The nearest market was Capetown, more than a month’s waggon journey from some parts. The colony as a whole was still the six districts De Mist had formed: the Cape, Stellenbosch, Tulbagh, Swellendam, Graaff Reinet and Uitenhage. [4] [7]
On the 8th of May Cuyler wrote from Algoa Bay of the widow Scheepers, from whom the farm had been purchased where the drostdy was now building: she said she had been promised a lot of a hundred yards square by his predecessor, and part of an unfinished house was to be seen, which she said the late landdrost had stopped her from finishing at the time the English came. She asked the lot in perpetuity. The situation would not interfere with the intended village lots. She lived in a house belonging to the drostdy — formerly her own — very near the new house now building for the landdrost; that house would be useful as a store if she had another place to move to. He recommended the grant. Loan-place tenure remained the ordinary paper of the east: a form of questions, inspection by the nearest fieldcornet or heemraad, a five-rixdollar stamp, annual renewal, the opstal the builder’s. On the 19th of June Jurie Johannes Kemp applied for the Red Krantz on the Gamtoos — mountainous, not for cultivation, 10 head of cattle and 200 sheep, water when the river was full after heavy rains, 16 hours’ walking from the drostdy, 200 hours from Capetown. [4]
Cuyler had been in office scarcely a month before he was initiated into the peculiar and harassing duties of a landdrost of Uitenhage. Losses in Bruintjes Hoogte for the first three months of 1806 were 12 horses and 89 oxen. At the beginning of April the farm of Christoffel Botha, about five hours from Algoa Bay, was attacked by Xhosa and the whole of the cattle driven off. Contrary to the regulations, Botha, without informing the fieldcornet, set off immediately, recaptured every head and shot four of the thieves. About a week afterwards, on the 8th of April, Xhosa in larger numbers returned and attacked another farm not far from Botha’s, murdered Nicolaas Grobbelaar and got away with 48 oxen. His wife wrote that her husband’s left arm had been broken with kerries, and that she had no boards nor nails to make a coffin. Cuyler instructed the nearest fieldcornets to assemble as many farmers and Khoikhoi as possible and go in pursuit. Application was also made to Bethelsdorp. The assistance asked for was at first refused, on the ground that it was inconsistent with the religious character of the Institution; in the end some joined the commando. The expedition was a failure: the delay of the prescribed regulations gave the marauders the best opportunity for escape. Appeal was then made to Ndlambe and Cungwa, who professed themselves willing to assist. [4]
In November the Khoikhoi postman making the first stage of the route to Capetown was assailed by a shower of poisoned arrows and killed. San were congregating in the Bamboes and Stormberg mountains; cattle and sheep were now and again found killed or maimed without any apparent intention of using the carcases as food. The east still sat a month from the castle, a drostdy whose walls were unfinished, a widow in a house that would do as a store, and a landdrost who learned that Bethelsdorp would not always send men when a farm was on fire. [4]
Volontaire and Janssens Sails — March 1806
A good deal of trouble was caused to Janssens after the capitulation by an act of De Salis and Wakker on the 6th of January, when the army was marching to meet the British at Blaauwberg. On that occasion the two councillors apportioned to certain individuals nearly 20000 pounds from the military chest as compensation for prospective loss of office, with the understanding that the money was to be returned if the British were defeated. The transaction was intended to be secret; no entry was made in the record of proceedings. Baird contended that the money ought to be surrendered, and Janssens entirely disapproved of what the councillors had done; but it was no easy matter to induce the recipients to restore the amounts. Ultimately all except about 1300 pounds was given up. Further trouble was caused by the inability of Von Prophalow to compel the persons who had sunk the two ships in Table Bay to raise them again that they might be delivered as prizes. [3]
On the 4th of March a French frigate named the Volontaire came into Table Bay and dropped her anchor without a suspicion that the English had become masters of the colony. When too late, her captain discovered his error, and as he could neither resist nor escape he surrendered without firing a shot. He had left Brest on the 15th of December in company with eleven ships of the line and four frigates. Shortly after sailing, some English transports were captured, and the troops on board — detachments of the 2nd and 54th — were transferred to the Volontaire, to be landed as prisoners of war at Teneriffe. Off that island two large ships, supposed to be English cruisers, were seen; so the frigate continued her course to Table Bay, where her captain expected to find the remainder of the fleet. The Dutch flag was for some time after this shown on Lion’s Rump, so that French ships might enter the bay without suspicion; and such preparations were made that if they anchored they would be obliged to surrender. They never made an appearance. One day a man named Cornelis Maas spread a report that he had seen three ships come to anchor in Saldanha Bay. The story was soon found to be false. As a warning, Baird caused the offender to be flogged round the town at a cart’s tail by the public executioner and then banished him from the colony. After this no more false reports were spread. [3]
Seven cartel ships being prepared, the troops — 94 officers and 573 rank and file — were embarked in them. One of the best of the transports, named the Bellona, was placed at the disposal of Janssens, who had liberty to select such persons as he wished to accompany him. 31 of the civil servants under the Batavian administration desired to return to Europe, and were allowed passages. 53 women and the same number of children also embarked. Just before going on board the Bellona, as his last act in South Africa, Janssens addressed a letter, marked private and confidential, to Baird: allow him to recommend to his protection the inhabitants of this colony, whose happiness and welfare ever since he had been here were the chief objects of his care, and who had conducted themselves during that period to his highest satisfaction; give no credit in this respect to Mr. Barrow nor to the enemies of the inhabitants; they had their faults, but these were more than compensated by good qualities; through lenity, through marks of affection and benevolence, they might be conducted to any good. A third letter, of thanks and farewell, went to Sebastiaan van Reenen, who in the general’s opinion had done much to make him familiar with the interests of the Dutch South Africans, as he called the colonists: he should not forget the good South Africans; his hope was that he did not leave unfavourable memories in the minds of these good people; that would be the only consolation in his great sorrow. [3] [7] [9]
All being ready, on the 6th of March 1806 the squadron, bearing the last representative of the dominion of the Netherlands over the Cape Colony, set sail for Holland. The rule of Holland in South Africa was at an end. To many of those who remained, that day was one of sorrow. On his arrival in the Netherlands in July he was reinstated as secretary-general of the defence department; the same year saw him intendant-general of the army at the Rhine. In June, in Europe, Napoleon made an end of the Batavian Republic by placing his brother Louis on a newly created throne of the Netherlands. The flag that had sat the castle from the restoration of 1803 was already down. [3] [7] [9]
Baird’s Acting Government — 1806
During the great war the unusual number of seamen and soldiers employed could only be kept up by the allurement of booty. When the colony for the second time fell under British arms, there was not much that could be regarded as fair spoil, and diligent search was made for everything liable to confiscation. The greater part of the money distributed from the Dutch military chest was recovered. The government slaves were taken into possession and purchased for his Majesty’s service from the agents for the captors. The agricultural establishment at Groote Post was next claimed. The property of greatest value there consisted of horned cattle and sheep imported for breeding. The commission for the improvement of agriculture and stock-breeding contested the claim, on the ground that the establishment had been created with paper money still unredeemed. Baird compromised by purchasing the stock and implements for 5000 pounds, to be paid out of the first available revenue, and keeping the establishment in existence for the benefit of the colony. [3]
Then came a seizure about which many complaints were made in France and the Netherlands. In 1789 Fehrsen & Co. of Capetown had privately commenced a whale fishery; in 1798 their affairs were wound up and John Murray, an English merchant of Capetown, purchased the whole whaling plant. In 1803 a ship arrived from Holland with three agents of the South African chartered fishing company, which had obtained from the Batavian government the exclusive right of killing whales in the bays of the colony. Murray was forced to cease and sell his plant, taking 23 shares in part payment. Upon the conquest in January 1806 the company’s property was claimed as fair spoil. Investigation showed that Murray was the only colonial shareholder, and he expressed himself delighted with the prospect of conducting the business again on his own account. On the ground that the company was composed of persons who were subjects of countries at war with Great Britain, their property was confiscated for the benefit of the captors, and the whale fishery was again thrown open. [3]
All the judges of the high court of justice, except Strubberg and Hiddingh, resigned, so on the 5th of April new members were appointed to fill the vacant places: Clement Matthiessen, Abraham Fleck, Pieter Jan Truter and Pieter Diemel. The office of president was kept open for Olof Godlieb de Wet, then in England. The former attorney-general, Beelaerts van Blokland, accepted the post of secretary. The court was reduced to the condition in which it had been before 1803: judges could hold other civil situations, it was not considered necessary that they should be trained lawyers, and they could be removed at the pleasure of the head of the government. Van Ryneveld was appointed fiscal, and also vice-president of the court when cases were being tried in which he did not appear as public prosecutor. Baird did not consider himself authorised to do more than what was barely necessary to maintain an efficient government until the secretary of state should issue instructions. In February he issued a proclamation that all strangers found travelling in the interior without passes were to be arrested and sent to Capetown — a proclamation seldom enforced, though for many years afterwards it remained the law. In April he annulled the marriage ordinance of De Mist, and substituted another by which the landdrost and heemraden of each district were to act as a matrimonial court for the purpose of ascertaining that there were no legal impediments and issuing certificates to that effect, but marriages were to be solemnised only by ordained ministers of the Gospel. In May he made an improvement in the postal arrangements to the distant drostdies by engaging a number of Khoikhoi runners, stationed at farmhouses along the lines of road; the farmers were required to provide them with food and quarters, and were paid 20 shillings a month each for doing so. [3]
An attempt to raise the value of the paper money was made by a proclamation issued on the 23rd of January, in which the rate of exchange was laid down at 4 English shillings for the paper rixdollar, and the exportation of metallic coin was prohibited under severe penalties. The attempt was soon found to be fruitless. The same proclamation determined the value of each of the foreign coins then in circulation — guinea, doubloon, johanna, ducat, Venetian sequin, gold mohur, pagoda, Spanish dollar, rupee, English shilling — the roadstead being the rendezvous for ships of different countries, and the uncertain relative exchange a source of perplexity. In taking over the Cape treasury Baird found Spanish dollars to the value of 11510 pounds, silver florins to the value of 600, and 2500 pounds in copper. During the Batavian occupation Janssens had imported a silver coinage of low value from Holland in order to obviate the want of a circulating medium of that nature; circumstances had prevented him from issuing it. By a proclamation dated the 12th of June Baird announced his intention of putting this into circulation. Paper-money renewals took place twice in the year: damaged notes examined and burnt in the courtyard of the castle, new pieces signed by three high officials for each denomination. [3] [4]
The scarcity of grain for some time caused great anxiety. In March the government offered 35 shillings a muid for wheat delivered at the magazines in Capetown. Bakers were forbidden to sell to families more than 1 pound of bread a day for each adult male and half a pound for each woman and child. The import duty was taken off, with a view of inducing merchants to bring supplies. After a few months the vessels sent to India returned with wheat and rice, and stores arrived from England with biscuit and flour, so that famine was averted. The next season was a very good one, and as the wheat was ripening Baird adopted the old East India Company practice and established a grain magazine with a view of keeping 20000 muids in reserve. Paper money to the necessary amount was created for this purpose, the price being 16 shillings a muid. So little notice was taken of small issues that a sum of 3000 rixdollars, stamped to replace worn-out notes, was put into circulation without any notice being taken of it at the time. [3]
The regulation of 1803 that slaves were not to be landed except by special leave of the government was not formally annulled, but practically it ceased to operate as under the Batavian authorities: in November the acting governor gave permission to Alexander Tennant, a merchant of Capetown, to import 500 negroes from Mozambique. The prohibition of the traffic which had been in force under the Dutch government was thus in practice set aside. The penalty to be imposed upon a farmer who should refuse to furnish his waggon, oxen or horses for public service, upon the requisition of a fieldcornet, was raised to 10 pounds. Upon tidings of the conquest reaching England, the ministers decided that the colony should be ruled until the conclusion of peace in exactly the same manner as when Lord Macartney was governor. The heads of departments were to be sent out from England at the salaries of 1797. Du Pre Alexander, second earl of Caledon, one of the representative peers of Ireland, then 29, was selected as governor. Henry George Grey was appointed lieutenant-governor and commander of the forces; Andrew Barnard was restored to his old office of colonial secretary; Captain Christopher Bird received the post of deputy secretary. Despatches containing Baird’s recall left London on the 26th of July. Besides the preference for a civilian of high rank, he had given dissatisfaction in detaching, without permission, a large proportion of the military force at Capetown — in addition to diverting troops on their way to India — for the purpose of attacking the Spanish possessions on the River La Plata. He still sat the castle when the year closed. [3] [4] [7]