Boer History1811 at the Cape of Good Hope: Caledon Leaves, Cradock, Graham, Stockenstrom Killed
Read’s Second Letter — 11 January 1811
James Read dated a second letter to England from Bethelsdorp on the 11th of January. It created more stir than the one of the 30th of August 1808. Persons hurt by that earlier letter had, he wrote, shown the station much ill will. Jacob Glen Cuyler, appointed to investigate, had married one of the farmers’ daughters and, Read said, shut his ears to the Khoikhoi. Complaints had become so numerous that the missionaries could no longer pinch their consciences: several Khoikhoi were missing, and some of the farmers accused as their murderers had not been arrested. Some Boers were accused of 8 or 9 murders. More than 100 murders, Read wrote, had been brought to the missionaries’ knowledge in that small part of the colony. He asked that Wilberforce be given a fair statement, and that suitable persons be sent to examine the charges — persons Caledon had not sent. The letter mattered because it did not stay at Bethelsdorp. Wilberforce, through Spencer Perceval, put Read’s papers before Liverpool, who had succeeded Castlereagh as secretary of state for the colonies. [4]
Three days later, on the 14th of January, Johannes Theodorus Vanderkemp wrote to Caledon that the condition of the Khoikhoi was most deplorable, owing to the tyranny of the colonists and the atrocious conduct of the inferior magistrates, and that his expectation that the governor would have taken measures to remove the oppression had been disappointed: no redress was to be had by applying to the landdrost. Caledon sat in Capetown without a council, under the form used when Macartney governed. Cuyler was both landdrost of Uitenhage and commandant at Fort Frederick. A charge that he would not hear Khoikhoi, and that the governor would not send other examiners, was a charge against the only civil authority the eastern districts had. [4]
Caledon was not satisfied with Cuyler’s inquiry into the earlier charges. The greater number of cases had not been examined at all. In those that had been dealt with, evidence had not been taken from people still living who must have known something of the facts — among them some of the 68 men who had been with Muller on commando, and the Khoikhoi Klaas Meyer and his brother Paul. On the 27th of November 1810 he had laid the whole question before the fiscal for opinion and advice. The fiscal was the colony’s attorney-general. There was delay in that office. It was not until the 28th of February 1811 — about 4 months after Cuyler’s report of the 25th of October 1810 — that the fiscal answered. In view of the gravity of the accusations and the discredit such reports must bring upon the colony, Vanderkemp and Read should be examined before commissioners of the Court of Justice with as little delay as possible, required to state on oath all circumstances that had come to their knowledge, named or only alluded to, so that the accused, if guilty, might be brought to condign punishment, and the world convinced that laws for the protection of the most defenceless were not only enacted but enforced in the settlement. [4]
That opinion is why the two missionaries were later summoned to Capetown. Until then they might well have thought the matter had ended. Read’s January letter, Vanderkemp’s January complaint, and the fiscal’s February answer together made a public investigation unavoidable — not because a travelling court yet existed, but because London was about to read the same charges in print. [4]
Pipes and Caledon’s Tour — March–April 1811
At this time a great addition to the comfort of Capetown was made by Caledon’s order. Ever since the seventeenth century water for domestic use had come either from wells or from a fountain near the northern end of the parade. Well water — except where underground veins were tapped — was regarded as impure, though it was used for many purposes. Into a reservoir above the government garden some of the sources of the ancient fresh river were led, and from it the water was conducted partly in a course of masonry and partly in wooden shoots to the fountain on the parade, where the townspeople and the shipping obtained their supplies. Another fountain at the lower end of Caledon Square, fed from the same reservoir, was chiefly intended for the castle and the barracks; when private people were allowed as a favour to use it, they had to wait until the military parties had taken as much as they wanted. In most families of respectability a slave was kept for no other purpose than to carry water from the fountain on the parade, just as another slave was kept to collect and carry fuel from the mountain. The pipes mattered because they were meant to end that daily carrying. [3]
Caledon announced his intention to have iron pipes laid along the principal streets, with taps at convenient distances. The inhabitants — with a few exceptions — did not regard the scheme favourably. They feared the expense, which was to be provided for by additional taxation, and many of them expressed their apprehension that after a large expenditure the scheme would prove a failure. Some simple people even ridiculed the idea that water could be made to flow in pipes up the sides of the valley. In those days the governor’s fiat overruled all objections, even in municipal matters, and the pipes were brought from England and laid down in the streets. Then, to their gratification, the inhabitants realised that the new system was less expensive than the old, and had greatly the advantage in convenience and comfort. [3]
In March the remaining government slaves were moved from the old lodge to a smaller building at the upper end of the garden, in the grounds of what later became the South African college. The western wing of the lodge was then converted into offices. At the same time a roadway — named Bureau-street — was opened between the Heerengracht and Church-square, the church grounds having previously extended to the side wall of the lodge. The move was not a humanitarian gesture. Caledon wanted the lodge emptied so that the castle could keep room for the military staff and the judges could have chambers; selling the remaining slaves to respectable people, especially military officers, at 30 pounds each had reduced the number. What March 1811 did was finish the conversion of a slave building into government offices, and cut a street through the old church ground. [3]
In March and April the earl made a tour as far as Plettenberg’s Bay, for the purpose of becoming personally acquainted with the interior, that he might be better able to give the secretary of state accurate information. Previous to setting out he had requested permission to resign the government and return to England, as he was about to be married. The ride was not a pleasure trip. Caledon still sat without a council; London still expected him to avoid hostilities on the Fish; and the only way a civilian governor could brief a secretary of state who had never seen the Longkloof was to see it himself before he sailed. [3]
While Caledon rode the colonial coast, William J. Burchell, an English gentleman of varied accomplishments, travelled among the Griqua and the Batlapin and resided for several months at Klaarwater and Lithako in 1811 and 1812. The Griqua, then under the captains Adam Kok and Barend Barends, had their principal settlement at Klaarwater — later Griquatown — with outstations where Lichtenstein and Van de Graaff had found them in 1805. The missionaries Anderson, Kramer, and Janssen were residing with them. That journey did not change the Fish-river line. It did mean that, in the same year the governor went as far as Plettenberg’s Bay to brief London, an independent English traveller was writing down the Orange and Vaal people the colony still barely governed. [3]
George and the Circuit — April–May 1811
On the 23rd of April that portion of Swellendam east of the Gourits river was proclaimed a separate district and received the name of George, from the reigning king. The site selected for the drostdy was the old government post at Outeniqualand. Adriaan Gysbert van Kervel received the appointment of first landdrost of the new district. On the same date a portion of Stellenbosch was cut off and added to Swellendam, so as to extend it to the westward. The new division was the Steenbras river to its source, and thence an ideal line to the mountain range, leaving Houwhoek and Baviaans’ Kloof in Swellendam. A deputy landdrost was stationed at the Zwartberg baths, now the village of Caledon. Jan Hendrik Frouenfelder received the appointment. The cut mattered because the old Swellendam district had stretched too far east for one landdrost to hear complaints, call a commando, or watch the Longkloof. [3] [4]
In February a new congregation had been formed at those same Zwartberg baths. The estate of J. Rademan was purchased by government, and the reverend M. C. Vos was stationed there. A church was built, and opened for public service on the 1st of January 1813. It was at this place that the deputy landdrost of Swellendam was stationed a few weeks later. In February also the reverend J. Scholtz, who had studied in Europe and come back to his native country, was appointed clergyman of Zwartland. George itself still had no resident clergyman in 1811. [3]
Until 1811 the cognisance and punishment of all crimes and misdemeanours, and the adjudication of all civil suits in which considerable property was at stake, could take place only in Capetown. Delay in criminal cases weakened the impression that punishment should produce; in civil suits the expense and inconvenience that attached to those who resided in the interior frequently prevented the aggrieved from having recourse to the only legal means of redress. Such a measure as a travelling commission of the Court of Justice had been for some time in contemplation. It was left for Caledon to carry it into effect. By proclamation of the 6th of May it was ordained that a commission of the Court of Justice, consisting usually of 2 judges, should visit the distant districts once in each year or oftener, and thus give the inhabitants of those parts the same legal facilities as those enjoyed by people living in or near Capetown. The proclamation contained 71 articles or regulations to be observed in criminal and civil cases. [3] [4]
Three of those articles were of special interest for the treatment of Khoikhoi and slaves, and were formulated before the legal pressure produced by Read’s letters had begun to operate. Article 63 made it particularly incumbent upon the commissioners that they, in their judicial capacity, take care that the proclamation of the 1st of November 1809 respecting the treatment of Khoikhoi be strictly followed up, and that regularity respecting the service of those people, as well as proper treatment of them, be punctually observed. Article 64 enjoined the commission scrupulously to examine the records of punishment inflicted on slaves by order of the landdrost, in order to ascertain that no unnecessary severity be practised. Article 65 required the commissioners, as far as lay in their power, to ascertain that no improper domestic correction had been used by masters towards their slaves without the same being brought forward for legal interference. According to the regulations of the 16th of May it was the duty of the landdrost to act, in his own district, as public prosecutor in those cases which had to be brought before a higher court. [4]
When the fiscal’s summons reached them, Vanderkemp and Read were already on the road to Capetown. A special commission of the Court of Justice was appointed to take their depositions. The examination lasted from the 1st of May until the 29th of June. The publicity of the missionaries’ reports, and the notice they had received from the highest government officials in England, made the fullest investigation by those most experienced in such matters imperative. The new circuit procedure would spare about 1000 witnesses the journey from the distant districts to Capetown; the first travelling court itself would not leave until October. Paper money, carefully fastened and sealed with the governor’s seal and that of the court of justice, was renewed 4 times in the twelve months — fewer than the 7 renewals of 1810, but still a regular burning of damaged notes in the castle courtyard. The rix-dollar, which from 1806 to 1810 had stood on the average at 3 shillings and 6 pence, was in the years 1811 to 1815 worth about 2 shillings and 6 pence. [4]
Shocks and the Zuurveld — June 1811
On the 4th of December 1809 several distinct shocks of an earthquake had been felt in Capetown and had caused considerable damage to many houses. In 1811, on the 2nd and again on the 19th of June, shocks were felt at the same place. On these occasions the walls of some houses were cracked from top to bottom, but no great injury resulted. The pipes still ran. The drostdy at George was still only weeks old. What the cracks showed was that even Capetown plaster was not as settled as the castle liked to pretend. [3]
The last grant on the old loan tenure was made on the 1st of June of this year. A loan place was not freehold. The occupier paid an annual rent, renewed the application on a stamp, and could lose the ground if he left it; the buildings — the opstal — were treated as his, and were valued if government took the land back. That last grant closed a form of tenure that had carried graziers from Stellenbosch to the Fish. What replaced it would be argued later. In June 1811 the point was simpler: the east was emptying faster than any new grant could fill it. [4]
The results of Xhosa visitations in Uitenhage during the quarter ending the 30th of June were 1077 cattle stolen, of which 451 were recovered; 22 horses stolen, of which 2 were recovered; 2 white men and 2 Khoikhoi murdered. In the Baviaan’s River district, 210 cattle and 11 horses were stolen; 1 white man and 2 Khoikhoi were killed. More than one-third of the male inhabitants were on outpost duty and doing all that was possible without further help. Captain Hawkes, writing to Cuyler from Bruintjes Hoogte on the 24th of June, said that the country was on every side overrun with Xhosa, and that there never was a period when such numerous parties of them were known to have advanced so far in every direction before; the depredations of late exceeded all precedent; and he believed it his indispensable duty to represent, for the information of the governor and commander of the forces, that unless some decisive and hostile measures were immediately adopted he solemnly declared he apprehended considerable and the most serious consequences. That letter is why June is not remembered in the east for cracked plaster in Capetown. [4]
Ndlambe and Cungwa were no longer observing the conditions of peace longer than suited their inclinations. Cungwa, head of the Gunukwebe clan, was next to Ndlambe the most powerful chief west of the Fish. In 1808 he had invaded the Longkloof and built a kraal west of the Gamtoos. Caledon was trying every possible means to conciliate the Xhosa, for not only was he personally inclined to treat them in the most liberal manner, but his instructions from the secretary of state were to avoid disputes and, above all, hostilities. In his dealings with them he was guided — as he afterwards wrote to his successor — by the advice of the fiscal Willem Stephanus van Ryneveld, who laid down the maxim that it was better to submit to a certain extent of injury than risk a great deal for a prospect of advantage by no means certain. If Cungwa were permitted to remain in the Longkloof, the coast lands as far west as Plettenberg’s Bay must be abandoned by white people; and the governor could not make up his mind to that. He therefore gave the clan the choice either to occupy a permanent location near Capetown, where they could be separated from the rest of the tribe, or to return to their own country beyond the Fish. In October 1809 Cungwa promised to retire at once; but instead of doing so he went into the mountains east of the Sundays and then sent his people to plunder far and wide. His sons Pato, Kobe, and Mama were each at the head of a small division of the clan. [3]
The Imidange were divided into fragments among the grandsons of Mahuta, whose rightful heir, Jalamba, had been killed in the war of 1781. The principal divisions, under Funa and Botumane, were allied with Gaika; the others, under the captains Koba, Kasa, Habana, and Gola, were in the Zuurveld. Kasa and his people had their kraal on the Zuurberg, and were regarded by the Europeans as the most expert robbers in the country. The Amambala clan was also in fragments under the sons of Langa: the principal section under Eno (Nqeno), and two small companies under Kaze and Galeba, were with Gaika; two other sections, under Kame and Tuli, were in the Zuurveld. The Amantinde under Tshatshu were in the Zuurveld; Tshatshu’s son of highest rank was living at Bethelsdorp with the missionaries. The Amagwali, in fragments under petty captains of no weight, were in the Zuurveld likewise. Some 25 or 30 petty captains, sometimes to be found on the Keiskama, at other times on the Bushman’s river, never rose to any importance. The constant effort of the British authorities was to induce the whole of the Xhosa west of the Kei to acknowledge Gaika as their head; the clans of the Imidange, Amambala, Amantinde, Amagwali, and Gunukwebe claimed the right of remaining separate or of uniting with either of Rarabe’s rival descendants at their pleasure. [3]
Caledon, having found conciliation useless, was about to take active measures to suppress the depredations in the Zuurveld when he received a despatch permitting him to return to England. In June, urged on by Stockenstrom and Cuyler, he conferred with Lieutenant-General Henry George Grey and so far favoured Cuyler’s proposals as to sanction a commando of neighbouring farmers assembling where the Xhosa were most numerous, to demand the murderers of Davel and the Slabberts and the restoration of stolen cattle, and to order the clans back beyond the Fish. No shot was to be fired unless the Xhosa actually commenced an attack. The movement was to be a display of force rather than its exercise. He did not wish to commence an undertaking which he could not accomplish and of which his successor might not approve. Instructions of a drastic kind to Cuyler were therefore withheld. A commando might be assembled for checking depredations and, if need be, the military might be called upon to assist, but the movement was to be considered as directed only against a set of wandering vagabonds and marauders in whose atrocities the Xhosa as a nation had no concern. Such procedure was useless. All the tribes within stealing distance were involved; though Gaika made a show of friendship, there was abundant evidence that his people were among the marauders and that cattle were driven into his country for safety. When the reports from Uitenhage were laid together, there was only 1 farm still occupied east of the drostdy, and the choice was the expulsion of the Xhosa by force or the abandonment of the district by the government. [3] [4] [7]
Caledon Leaves — 4 July 1811
Caledon’s resignation was accepted. On the 4th of July he embarked in the ship of war Curaçoa in Simon’s Bay and sailed that afternoon. Next morning Grey took the oaths of office as acting governor. He had acted once before, between Baird’s departure on the 17th of January 1807 and Caledon’s installation on the 22nd of May. He did not feel justified in commencing operations that might end in a war, so he allowed the matter to stand over until the arrival of the new governor, though he authorised Cuyler to assemble a commando and call for military aid from Fort Frederick to prevent the marauders from advancing farther. The east therefore waited on a ship that had not yet left Gibraltar. [3]
The colonists had no particular reason to be sympathetically disposed toward their new ruler when he arrived in 1807. He was the representative of an unpopular government, placed in power as an autocrat. But when, in 1811, he left South Africa, he was himself by no means unpopular. Though strict, he was politically upright and honest. He was a very benevolent man. Moreover he understood the importance of the native question, and, though his rule was short, he had made an earnest attempt to bring about an alteration for the better in the relations existing between the white colonists and at least one of the native races — the Khoikhoi — by the proclamation of the 1st of November 1809, which placed those people under colonial law, required a pass of every Khoikhoi travelling from one place to another, and treated wandering people without passes as vagrants. The iron pipes in the principal streets, the district of George, the circuit proclamation of May, and the tour as far as Plettenberg’s Bay were the last marks of that short civilian government without a council. [3] [7]
Grey sat for 2 months in a castle that still had no council. East of the Sundays the Gunukwebe and Ndlambe’s people held the thickets. North of the Zuurberg the farmers of Graaff Reinet still occupied Bruintjes Hoogte only by remaining under arms. Landdrosts Andries Stockenstrom and Cuyler met at the Riet river in August to consider the situation, and on the 23rd of that month they sent a joint answer to Grey pointing out the impossibility of acting effectively under the restrictions imposed upon them, and again pressing for authority to call out a commando of 600 inhabitants. The plan was to form these into 3 divisions, each under the command of a military officer, and to march by different routes to a point of concentration; to seize Ndlambe and hold him as hostage until all Xhosa were out of the colony, and then to deliver him over to Gaika, who was to be acknowledged as the paramount chief. Any Xhosa afterwards found in the colony without some token of permission from him were to be shot. Grey would not start that war. The acting governor’s business was to keep the line from moving farther west until a man who would start one arrived to take the oaths. [3] [4]
Cradock Takes the Oaths — 6 September 1811
As successor to the earl of Caledon, Lieutenant-General Sir John Francis Cradock was appointed. He was a distinguished military officer, the first of a long series of veterans of the peninsular war who became governors of the Cape Colony. He had been commander-in-chief of the English army in Portugal from December 1808 to April 1809, when he was succeeded by Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterwards duke of Wellington. He then became governor and commander-in-chief of Gibraltar. He was a man of very high personal character, of an ancient Welsh family, though his father was archbishop of Dublin. At the time of his appointment he was 49 years of age. His wife was a daughter of the earl of Clanwilliam. On the 5th of September he arrived in Table Bay in the ship of war Bucephalus, and on the following morning took the oaths of office. [3]
He had entered the army at 15. At 23 he was major in the 12th Light Dragoons; three years later he was lieutenant-colonel and was given the command of his regiment when it was ordered to the West Indies in 1790. He received the thanks of Parliament and was raised to the rank of colonel; he was wounded at the capture of Martinique. Returning to Europe, he distinguished himself in military administrative offices in Ireland and took an active part in the suppression of the rebellion in that country in 1798, when he became major-general. In that same year he married Lady Theodosia Meade. He served in the Egyptian campaign of 1801 under Sir Ralph Abercromby and at its conclusion was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in Madras. Differences of opinion between himself and the governor of Madras as to the cause of the mutiny which broke out at Vellore led to the recall of both from India. His experience in quelling rebellion and riot in Ireland and India rendered him, in the view of those who sent him, the type of man required to settle the eastern question at the Cape. That is why London sent a soldier to replace a civilian who would not start a war. [4]
When the new governor reached South Africa, he found reports awaiting him from the landdrost of Uitenhage in which he was informed that there was only 1 farm still occupied east of the drostdy. Ever since the conquest of the colony in 1806 that district had been in a disturbed state, and matters there were constantly becoming more unsettled. The Xhosa in the Zuurveld observed the conditions of peace no longer than suited their inclinations, and as soon as the white people in their neighbourhood got a few cattle together, robberies were renewed. Some individuals of the missionary party in England expressed an opinion that Europeans must have provoked the Xhosa, but the closest investigation by officers of the government could not bring to light an instance in which colonists were the aggressors. As soon as Cradock commenced his term of office he found it necessary to begin war. Ever since the English occupation these marauders had been encroaching on the eastern frontier, advancing further and further into the colony, carrying off all the cattle they could capture, the farmers retiring before them until, in 1811, there was only 1 farm still occupied to the east of Uitenhage. [3] [7]
He had been in the colony scarcely a month before he had completely grasped the situation and had taken steps to deal with it. The policy of so-called conciliation was, for a time at least, at an end. He approved of the proposals that had so long been advocated by Cuyler, but instead of making the burghers play the prominent part, his military instinct prompted him to place the conduct of affairs in the hands of the regular forces and to use the armed inhabitants as auxiliaries. The latter were not to be led to think that their own exertions could be dispensed with in maintaining tranquillity after order had been restored, or that a military force could always be at their beck and call. Shortly after his arrival he received a letter from Downing Street dated the 9th of August. Liverpool had had extracts from the letters and journals of Read transmitted to him. It was needless, Liverpool wrote, to recommend the subject to the governor’s most serious attention, or to point out that, should those statements upon inquiry prove correct, the interests of humanity and justice and the honour of the British name demanded the immediate adoption of the most effectual measures to secure the exemplary punishment of such atrocious crimes and to shield the injured natives from the barbarity of their oppressors in future. The letter enclosed a copy of Read’s paper to the directors of the London missionary society, published in England, in which the missionary complained that the Khoikhoi were subject to cruel and inhuman treatment from white people, and that Caledon and Landdrost Cuyler were alike deaf to their cry for justice. He asserted that upwards of 100 murders had been brought to the knowledge of Vanderkemp and himself in the district of Uitenhage alone. The secretary of state instructed the governor to have these charges thoroughly investigated, and to see that stringent punishment was inflicted upon perpetrators of outrages. Vanderkemp and Read were already in Capetown on the fiscal’s summons when that letter arrived. Cradock thus opened his government with two files on the same table: a war the east had been asking for since 1806, and a missionary indictment London wanted tried. [3] [4]
Graham Named — 8 October 1811
The entire charge of the operations was placed in the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel John Graham of the Cape regiment, who had arrived in the colony in 1806 and taken part in the recapture. By a commission given under Cradock’s hand and seal at the Castle of Good Hope on the 30th of September, Graham was constituted commissioner during pleasure on the part of His Majesty for all civil and military affairs within the drostdies of Graaff Reinet, Uitenhage, and George. The respective landdrosts, the boards of landdrost and heemraden, and the fieldcornets were required to pay implicit obedience to any orders he might judge proper to give them, in the same manner as if such orders had been issued by the governor himself; the internal arrangements of those drostdies were still to be carried on according to the existing regulations, excepting in such instances in which he might judge it expedient to order a deviation. On his arrival at Uitenhage, martial law was to be in force in those drostdies. That commission is why a lieutenant-colonel, not a landdrost, now spoke for the crown east of George. [4]
In issuing instructions to him on the 6th of October Cradock said it had fallen to his lot to give effect to the apparent intentions of his predecessors, to free the territories of His Majesty from the incursions of the Xhosa nation or of any other tribe that might molest His Majesty’s subjects in the peaceable possession of their habitations and property. As the measures of passive conciliation and forbearance had proved ineffectual, it was necessary to adopt another mode of proceeding, and their complete expulsion from the territory must be accomplished. He experienced much satisfaction, while entering upon a measure of this description, from the general information that His Majesty’s subjects had not in any of the late proceedings been the aggressors. Graham was to take the most effectual measures to clear the territories from the Xhosa nation, or marauders of any description, and that they be repelled permanently within their own boundaries. In the first operations the greatest mildness and temper were to be enjoined; as far as practicable, explanations and persuasions to the utmost extent were to be the means employed, and it was not till such a course be found hopeless after successive trials that measures of severity be resorted to. [4]
The public was made aware of the governor’s intentions by a proclamation issued on the 8th of October, two days after Graham had received those instructions. Orders went to the landdrosts of Swellendam, George, Uitenhage, and Graaff Reinet to call out the burghers of their districts for the purpose of driving the marauders over the Fish river. Graham was appointed commandant-general of the force. He was instructed to use every exertion to persuade the Xhosa to retire peacefully from the colony; but if they would not leave of their own accord he was to take the most effectual measures to repel them within their own boundaries. For this purpose he was to employ the burgher forces and the Cape regiment, using such other troops as would be placed under his command to occupy posts in the rear and prevent their return. Landdrosts Stockenstrom and Cuyler were authorised to collect a commando to act in conjunction with the military. The troops for this service were despatched from Capetown on the same 8th of October on board the transport Upton Castle. They consisted of the remainder of the Cape Regiment and detachments of the 21st Light Dragoons, Royal Artillery and drivers, and the 83rd Foot — a total, including the officers, of 460 men with 96 horses. The total regular force on the frontier was then 1033 men of all ranks with 194 horses. Contingents from George, Swellendam, and Tulbagh were added to the burghers already authorised. This movement was the largest which, up to that date, had ever operated against the Xhosa. [3] [4]
A necessary procedure in the preparations which occupied the remaining 3 months of the year was a mission to Gaika, in order to assure him that no hostility against himself was contemplated. Stockenstrom visited that chief and obtained his sanction to allow those who were to be driven from the Zuurveld to reside in his country. Gaika promised to abstain from molesting Ndlambe and his followers if they behaved themselves peaceably. How far the promise was of any value was doubtful: Ndlambe was by far the more powerful chief and would probably dispense with the formality of seeking Gaika’s permission. In October the reverend Robert Jones became minister of the English church congregation in Capetown, on the same standing as the ministers of the Dutch reformed church, his salary being paid from the colonial treasury. Services were held by him in the building belonging to the Dutch congregation, there being as yet only 3 church edifices in Capetown: the Dutch reformed, the Lutheran, and the chapel in Long-street belonging to the South African missionary society. After Halloran’s banishment the English residents again had a civilian clergyman; they still had no church of their own. [3] [4]
The first circuit court, consisting of Willem Stephanus van Ryneveld, Pieter Diemel, and Francis Willem Fagel, left Capetown on the 14th of October. Van Ryneveld, on the retirement of De Wet in March 1809, had been appointed president of the high court — chief justice, as that officer now began to be termed. Daniel Johannes van Ryneveld was secretary. They toured the whole colony, including the distant districts of Graaff Reinet and Uitenhage, dealing with such cases as might, under ordinary circumstances, be expected to come before judges on circuit. They saw something of the state the east was then in, owing to Xhosa inroads, and experienced considerable difficulty in collecting the necessary witnesses, as a large proportion of the male inhabitants were out on commando; even the landdrost of Graaff Reinet himself was absent from his drostdy, having to be in command of a body of burghers. Besides acting in their judicial capacity, they were commissioned to examine the state of the country generally with reference to its educational, religious, and social matters. They proceeded to the various drostdies and tried in all 21 criminal cases, of which 8 were charges brought by coloured people against colonists. The proceedings were conducted with open doors, and no distinction was made between persons of different races or colour either as accusers, accused, or witnesses. Throughout the country there was nothing but satisfaction expressed with the establishment of a circuit court after this manner, and everywhere the judges were received with the utmost respect. Cuyler considered his honour at stake on the missionary charges, and was most anxious that even petty assaults should be looked into. He belonged to one of the best families of Dutch descent in the state of New York; in the revolutionary war his father had taken part with the king, and in course of time he had become an officer in the British army. The missionary charges themselves waited for a later court. Vanderkemp, still in Capetown after the May–June depositions, died of apoplexy on the 15th of December. [3] [4]
In England the coming hostilities were regarded with scant approval. In December Liverpool, writing to Cradock, remarked that the general interests of the settlement would be better promoted by taking measures of precaution against the marauders and repelling their intrusions when made than by resorting to general and offensive hostilities; and, evidently in ignorance of the real circumstances of the relations which existed between black and white, he further suggested that it should be distinctly ascertained that the colonists had not provoked the inroads. The letter arrived after the burghers had been called out and after Graham had been named to clear the Zuurveld. The east was no longer waiting on Downing Street. [4]
Stockenstrom Killed — 29 December 1811
In December the burghers took the field. The farmers of Swellendam were under Commandant Jacobus Linde, those of George under Commandant Jacobus Botha, and those of Uitenhage under Commandant Gabriel Stolz. They assembled near the mouth of the Sundays. The farmers of Graaff Reinet, under Landdrost Stockenstrom and Fieldcornet Pieter Pretorius, occupied Bruintjes Hoogte, so as to cover the country north of the Zuurberg range. The centre division was under Captain Fraser, the right under Cuyler, and the left — about 200 men of the Cape regiment and about 100 burghers of Graaff Reinet — under Stockenstrom, posted a little to the north of the Zuurberg. Between the mountain range called the Zuurberg and the sea were chains of hills and irregular elevations, known as the Rietbergen. In thickets spread over a tract of this broken land, some 40 miles in length by 10 or 12 in breadth, the followers of Ndlambe and Cungwa took shelter. [3] [4]
On the 27th of December a division of Graham’s force, under Cuyler, crossed the Sundays and formed a camp within easy reach of Habana’s kraal on the southern side of the Rietbergen. When passing through a thicket within 500 yards of the river a few assagais were thrown at the burghers, and 1 man was wounded. Cuyler with an escort then rode to Cungwa’s kraal, which was close to a dense thicket, with the object of trying to induce that chief to retire peaceably. Cungwa did not appear, but he sent a message that he was disposed to do as desired, and asked to be allowed until next day to give a final answer. This was acceded to. The men at the kraal were seen to be in readiness for war, and the veterans were all ornamented with blue crane feathers. Graham had formed a temporary camp near Coerney. The Addo bush east of the Sundays was more full of men and cattle than Cuyler’s right division could clear alone, which is why an order then went north for Stockenstrom to march to Coerney. [3] [4]
On the following day Cuyler with 25 farmers and a Khoikhoi interpreter returned to Cungwa’s kraal. Observing a party of Xhosa close to the thicket, they rode up, when Ndlambe advanced a few paces from the others and cried out: “Here is no honey; I will eat honey, and to procure it will cross the rivers Sunday, Koega, and Zwartkops.” Stamping his foot on the ground, he shouted again: “This country is mine; I won it in war, and shall maintain it.” Then shaking an assagai with one hand, with the other he raised a horn to his mouth. Upon blowing it, 200 or 300 warriors rushed towards Cuyler’s party, who owed their escape solely to the fleetness of their horses. The speech mattered because it ended the pretence that Ndlambe was a guest who might still be talked over the Fish. He claimed the Zuurveld as a prize of war. [3] [7]
On the 27th Graham had sent an express to Landdrost Stockenstrom, directing him to proceed from Bruintjes Hoogte across the Zuurberg and Rietbergen with the farmers and 2 companies of the Khoikhoi soldiers, and join Cuyler. But the landdrost, who believed that if he carried out these instructions the Xhosa would almost to a certainty make a raid into the country north of the mountains, determined to see Graham before moving his men. At daybreak on the 29th with only 24 men he left the camp, stating that he intended to report himself to Graham. When about half way to his destination, a party of Xhosa was seen approaching on open ground, and against the advice of the farmers Stockenstrom stopped to talk with them. He wished to induce them to return to their own country without bloodshed, and perhaps he relied for safety upon his reputation as a friend and benefactor of the coloured races. They were of the Imidange clan under the chief Kasa. Stockenstrom talked with them about half an hour, the Xhosa appearing to be friendly, while all the time they were gradually surrounding the white men. Then there was a rush in from all sides, and the landdrost, 8 farmers — Jan Christiaan Greyling, Jacobus Potgieter, Philip Botha, Isaak van Heerden, Jacobus du Plessis, Willem Pretorius, Pieter Botha, and Michiel Hatting — together with the half-breed interpreter Philip Buys, were stabbed to death. 4 more farmers were wounded, but they and the others made their escape, killing 5 or 6 of their assailants as they did so. [3] [4] [7]
As soon as tidings of the massacre reached the camp at Bruintjes Hoogte, the landdrost’s son, Ensign Andries Stockenstrom of the Cape regiment, set off with 18 mounted men, and coming suddenly upon a party of the murderers, killed 16 of them and retook 8 horses. Graham then sent Captain Fraser to the camp at Bruintjes Hoogte to carry out the instructions which the landdrost had disregarded. When returning with 2 companies of the Cape regiment and 50 farmers under Fieldcornet Pretorius, Fraser was attacked 3 times in a narrow defile, but on each occasion beat off his assailants. About 20 Xhosa were killed, without the loss of any Europeans. Meantime Cuyler’s division had several skirmishes, in which a few Xhosa were shot and 400 head of horned cattle were captured. Young Stockenstrom had been born and educated in Capetown. From the camp at Bruintjes Hoogte he led the small avenging party. Ndlambe and the Gunukwebe still held the thickets south of the Zuurberg. [3] [7]