Boer History1848 in South Africa: Smith, the Orange River Sovereignty, Boomplaats, and the Convict Order
The Assembly of the 7th of January, East London, Victoria East, and the Military Villages — January–March 1848
Sir Harry Smith was governor. He had taken the oaths on the 1st of December 1847 after Sir Henry Pottinger left for India. The war that opened with Kleintje’s axe on the 16th of March 1846 was closed on paper: Sandile had come in on the 19th of October 1847, Pato had laid down his guns on the 19th of December, and on the 17th Smith had proclaimed a new colonial boundary. The war had run 21 months. It had cost the imperial government about 1 million pounds, and the colonists more than half a million. What still had to be done was to make the chiefs hear the terms in public, and to hold the country between the Keiskama and the Kei with posts instead of treaties. [3] [4]
The arrangements of the 24th of December 1847 named 8 posts for the force left between the Keiskama and the Kei: King William’s Town on the left bank of the Buffalo as headquarters, Fort Murray by Mount Coke, Fort Glamorgan at the Buffalo mouth with an outpost Fort Grey on the road inland, Fort Hare on the Tyumie, Fort Cox on the upper Keiskama, Fort White at the source of the Debe, new Fort Wellington on the Tshalumna, and Fort Waterloo near the Gonubie. The first battalion of the rifle brigade, 569 officers and men; the reserve battalion of the 45th, 575; the 73rd, 570; 102 artillerymen and engineers; and 192 of the Cape mounted rifles were to hold those positions. A meeting of the chiefs was called for the 7th of January to hear the terms explained. The posts mattered because a governor who had torn up the old treaties still needed ground to stand on, and because 8 forts were cheaper to London than another year in the field. [3]
On that day Sandile and Anta, sons of Gaika; Kona, son of Maqoma; Fini and Oba, sons of Tyali, with Xoxo the regent; Umhala, son of Ndlambe; Tabayi; Siwani, Siyolo, and Umfundisi, sons of Dushane, with Nonibe the widow; Stokwe and Sonto of the Amambala; Toyise; Tola and Botumane of the Imidange; Pato, Kama, and Kobe of the Gqunukhwebe; Jan Tshatshu of the Tinde; Umtirara and Mapasa of the Thembu; and many of less note stood at King William’s Town. Kreli and Buku sent representatives. After a prayer by the reverend Mr Dugmore, the chiefs swore to obey the high commissioner as great chief and representative of the queen, to compel their people to do the same, to give up witchcraft, to prevent the violation of women, to put murderers to death, to keep their people honest, to hold their lands from the queen, to acknowledge no other chief, to abolish the buying of wives, to listen to the missionaries, and on every anniversary to bring a fat ox to King William’s Town. Smith then pointed to a wagon prepared for an explosion, gave the word Fire, and sent it skyward in a thousand pieces. “That is what I will do to you if you do not behave yourselves.” He tore a sheet of paper and threw the pieces to the wind: “There go the treaties! Do you hear? no more treaties!” The oaths mattered because several of them cut against Xhosa custom, and because a wagon in pieces was the only guarantee Smith offered that the new order would be kept. [3] [4]
The representatives of Kreli and Buku were told that peace would be made if those chiefs evacuated all ground west of the Indwe and Kei, acknowledged as the queen’s a mile of ground on each side of the great road from the Kei to Butterworth and thence to Clarkebury and through Morley to Buntingville, and if within 6 days Buku sent in the arms of the officers murdered near the Komgha. Buku sent the guns within the time. Kreli went to King William’s Town and on the 17th of January agreed with Colonel Mackinnon to the terms. He later collected cattle of his own will to compensate Mr W. M. Fynn and the reverend Mr Gladwin for the destruction at Butterworth. Kama, who had fought on the European side, received a tract north of the Winterberg still known as Kamastone. Hermanus received a slip on the Kat river near Fort Beaufort. Umtirara was promised protection against Kreli if he lived between the colonial boundary and the Indwe; beyond the Bashee he would have to protect himself. Mapasa became a British subject on the same terms as the Rarabe chiefs. On the 14th of January Smith proclaimed the village at the Buffalo mouth — named East London by notice of the 28th of December 1847 — with the ground enclosed by a radius of 2 miles, annexed to the Cape Colony, to prevent complications in the customs. A board of Captain Walpole, Lieutenant Forsyth of the royal navy, Mr Delabere Blaine, and Mr Charles Borradaile was named to report on the mouth; nothing resulted, for there were no funds even for the simplest harbour work. On the 9th of January the newly annexed territory north of the Stormberg was proclaimed a division named Albert. Mr John Centlivres Chase was directed to hold his court in Burghersdorp, then the only village in that large territory. The north-western parts of the colony were thereby enlarged so as to reach the banks of the Orange, whose frontier along that river had until then run only as far as Ramah. The annexations mattered because a customs port at the Buffalo mouth and a magistrate at Burghersdorp turned last year’s proclamations into ground that could be taxed and tried. [3] [4] [7]
Upon the conclusion of peace the military force in South Africa was reduced, though 4703 officers and men were still retained. The 6th regiment, 564, with 72 artillerymen and engineers, sat in Capetown; 2008 were stationed in the province between the Keiskama and the Kei; 58 Cape mounted riflemen were in Bloemfontein; and 690 were in Natal. In January the 27th regiment, 283 strong, the 90th, 394, the 62nd, 145, and 145 men of the first battalion of the 91st embarked for Great Britain. They were followed in March by 73 of the 91st, and in April by the 7th dragoons, 257, and 195 invalids. On the 1st of January, in general orders at King William’s Town, Smith announced the conditions of the military villages in the Tyumie valley for which he had called applications on the 24th of December. Each soldier was to have 12 acres with a free title after 7 years’ occupation, arms and ammunition, rations for 12 months for himself, wife, and children, a plough and a harrow, tools, seed, a donation of £5 for furniture, and a loan of oxen, wagons, and a tent. He could be called out at from 2 shillings and 6 pence to 3 shillings and 6 pence a day. Each superintendent was to have 100 acres and 5 shillings a day for 2 years. Under those conditions 70 men with 2 women and 2 children were located under Captain Moultrie at Juanasburg; 70 men under Lieutenant Godfrey Armytage at Woburn; 63 men with 12 women and 42 children under Sergeant Porter at Auckland; and 44 men with 3 women and 11 children under Corporal Jacob at Ely. Three of the villages lay in the Tyumie valley and the fourth on a tributary, all within a couple of hours’ ride from Alice and Fort Hare. During the first year, while free rations were served, there was no sign of failure. The villages mattered because discharged soldiers on 12 acres were meant to hold the Tyumie after the regulars went home, and because a settlement with almost no women was already a thin line. [3] [4]
An attempt to form a Khoikhoi village on the Beka was made at the same time. Men who had served in the levies were to receive 6 to 12 acres, rations until they could raise crops, and seed, under a Moravian missionary, with 6000 acres granted to the Moravian society for an adjoining station. A number accepted and were conducted by the reverend Christian Ludwig Teutsch to the Beka; they soon grew discontented and abandoned the place, and the mission station was given up. On the 31st of March the ratification by the imperial authorities of the extension of the colony — Victoria East, constituted on the 23rd of December 1847 with the reverend Henry Calderwood as civil commissioner at Alice — was announced to the governor. Large tracts in the upper part of that division were set apart for the Mfengu who had assisted in the war. The farmers of Albany and Somerset were able to resume their ordinary occupations: many homesteads were rebuilt, and grazing lands restocked. The Beka failure and the Victoria East court mattered because a Khoikhoi village that emptied itself left the Tyumie to the soldier-settlers, and because Calderwood at Alice was how last December’s new division became a place where title could be issued. [3]
Kok of the 24th, Moshesh of the 27th, and the Sovereignty of the 3rd of February — January–March 1848
Smith came north of the Orange with a matured plan. He would take no land from black people that they needed for their maintenance, but there were no longer to be black states covering vast areas either unoccupied or in possession of white men. Such ground he would form into a new colony, and he would exercise a general control over the chiefs in the interests of peace. The Napier treaties were to give way; but the consent of Adam Kok and Moshesh had to be obtained, for those treaties had been confirmed by the queen. At Bloemfontein on the 24th of January Kok talked of his rights as an independent sovereign in alliance with the queen, and assumed a tone of such self-importance that Smith’s temper failed him and he threatened to have Kok tied up to a beam in the room unless he acted reasonably. The captain then consented that, in lieu of half the quitrents due under the treaty of the 5th of February 1846, he should be paid a fixed £200 a year; that his people should be paid £100 a year for lands they had let north of the Riet; that the Griqua reserve should be cleared of Europeans as their leases expired, upon payment of improvements at a valuation by the British resident, Kok’s secretary, and one emigrant; and that £300 a year should be paid in perpetuity for the farms leased in the alienable territory. On the 25th of January an agreement to that effect was signed, construed to mean that Kok, for those sums, ceded his claim to jurisdiction over all land outside the Griqua reserve. The British resident estimated that the reserve was large enough for 20 times the whole Griqua people. The agreement mattered because a captain who had been treated as an ally in 1846 was now being paid to step aside, and because Smith could not proclaim the queen over the farms between the Orange and the Vaal while Kok’s treaty still covered them. [3] [3] [4]
At Bloemfontein the governor received addresses of welcome from the farmers of Oberholster’s party along the Riet and Modder and from Snyman’s party along the lower Caledon. As many heads of families as could do so repaired to the village. Among them were some who had served under him in the war of 1834–5. At a public meeting he observed an aged grey-headed man standing in the crowd, rose, handed his chair to the old man, and pressed him to be seated — a kindly act long remembered, and later the subject of one of the transparencies when Capetown was illuminated on his return. From Bloemfontein, attended only by his nephew Major Garvock, Commandant Gideon Joubert, and Mr Richard Southey, he went on to Winburg, where on the 27th of January he had a conference with Moshesh. The chief, with his sons and the reverend Mr Casalis, who had reached the village the evening before, rode out to meet him. An hour after his arrival the formal conference took place: Smith, Southey, Moshesh with some of his sons, brothers, and counsellors, and Casalis interpreting. Smith explained that he intended to proclaim the queen’s sovereignty over all the country in which the emigrant farmers were residing, and to establish magistracies, churches, and schools wherever they were settled, without interfering with the internal government of the coloured tribes. Quitrents would be needed for government, so Maitland’s plan to pay half to the chief could not be carried out; the loss would be made good by annual presents. Moshesh admitted the advantage of a paramount power and approved of governmental machinery among the European immigrants. He asked that no portion of the country he claimed should be entirely cut off from his people. Smith, in haste, would not enter into details, nor discuss the disputed questions between Moshesh and the other chiefs. The conference mattered because Moshesh’s mark was the other consent Smith needed, and because a governor who would not discuss boundaries left the Basuto claim sitting under the proclamation he was about to issue. [3] [4]
In the afternoon of the same day the governor, holding the Basuto chief by the hand, introduced him to the farmers assembled at Winburg as the man to whom they were indebted for the peace they had hitherto enjoyed. Moshesh affixed his mark to a document in agreement with the proposals. Smith’s eccentricities were displayed throughout the morning: at one moment pretending to snore to indicate the peace that would follow; at another browbeating a man from the eastern frontier; again bathed in tears when laying the foundation stone of a church. While cantering into the village with the chief at his side he ordered presents of 2 new saddles, a marquee tent, and a gold watch. 27 heads of families and 22 others at Winburg presented an address requesting him to extend British jurisdiction. The great majority of the district had no opportunity of seeing him. He had been informed that the entire Dutch population of Natal was moving out, and he was anxious to reach them. He sent an express to Mr Andries Pretorius asking him to delay the emigration, and at dawn on the 28th of January he was in the saddle, hastening toward Natal. The Winburg morning mattered because 27 heads of families were not a majority, and because a governor riding for the Tugela was leaving Moshesh’s mark untested behind him. [3]
He was well received by the farmers moving toward the interior, and remained several days in their camp at the foot of the Drakensberg, as the Tugela was flooded and he could not proceed to Maritzburg. In a despatch written a few days later he stated that they were exposed to a misery he had never seen equalled except in Massena’s invasion of Portugal, when the whole population of that part of the seat of war abandoned their homes and fled. On one occasion, speaking with Pretorius, he took from his pocket a draft proclamation declaring the queen’s sovereignty over the whole country occupied by the emigrants, drawn up before he left Capetown. Pretorius remonstrated, and said if it was issued they would be obliged either to fight for freedom or to retire far into the interior. Smith believed the majority were in his favour; Pretorius said his Excellency was deceived. It was then arranged that Pretorius should proceed across the mountains, attend public meetings at every centre, and ascertain the views of the people. With this object he started without delay, leaving the governor in the camp. Pretorius later affirmed that Smith promised the proclamation would not be issued if a majority were found opposed to it. Smith’s despatches state that Pretorius was willing that the country south of the Vaal should be proclaimed, but that the territory north of that river was not to be so proclaimed unless a majority favoured the measure, and that the wording was altered accordingly. There must have been a misunderstanding, or a confusion of the Modder with the Vaal. The camp mattered because a draft written in Capetown was now being read to men who said they would fight or trek, and because the two accounts of the promise could not both be true. [3] [3] [4]
On the 3rd of February Smith issued from the emigrant camp on the bank of the Tugela a proclamation in which the sovereignty of the queen was declared over the whole country between the Orange and the Vaal eastward to the Kathlamba mountains. The objects were stated to be the protection and preservation of the just and hereditary rights of the native chiefs and the rule and welfare of the European settlers. Disputes as to territory between the chiefs, and all matters affecting the peace of South Africa, were to be settled by the paramount authority; there was to be no interference with the internal government of the clans. Europeans and such blacks as chose to live with them were to be brought under magistrates, and they alone were to provide the means of carrying on the government. When Major Warden expressed an opinion that additional troops would be requisite, Smith replied, “My dear fellow, pray bear in mind that the boers are my children, and I will have none other here for my soldiers; your detachment will march for the colony immediately.” A garrison of only 50 or 60 Cape mounted riflemen was left to defend a territory more than 50000 square miles in extent. Pretorius proceeded to Winburg and thence to Ohrigstad, holding meetings, and ascertained that the majority were opposed to British rule. He then returned and found that the proclamation had been issued. As it extended sovereignty only to the Vaal, by crossing that river the farmers could escape its operation. Large numbers moved northward. Pretorius joined them and fixed his residence at Magalisberg. The governor appointed him a member of the Natal land commission; he declined the office. The proclamation mattered because a paper issued while Pretorius was still taking votes turned the farms between the Orange and the Vaal into a British possession, and because 50 riflemen were all Smith would leave to hold it. [3] [3] [4]
Biddulph at Winburg, Pretorius of July, and the Capitulation of Bloemfontein — March–July 1848
On the 8th of March Smith proclaimed a form of government for the Orange River Sovereignty, as the country between the Vaal and Orange rivers and the Drakensberg was henceforth termed. The British resident, in the absence of the high commissioner, was to be the chief authority and president of all boards. Bloemfontein was to be the seat of government. A civil commissioner and resident magistrate was to be stationed at Winburg, and one in the neighbourhood of the lower Caledon. Persons charged with crimes of magnitude were to be sent to Colesberg for trial before a judge of the Cape Colony. There was to be a land commission for each district, consisting of the civil commissioner, 2 surveyors, and 1 burgher elected by the people. The first duty of the commissions was to be the division of the Sovereignty into 3 districts — Bloemfontein, Caledon River, and Winburg. Commandants and fieldcornets were to be elected. Farms were to be inspected and registered, quitrents fixed from £2 to £8 a year, and certificates issued valid as titles. Farms were to be held under military tenure: every able-bodied man was to turn out in defence of the queen and her allies whenever called upon. The coloured people in the reserves were to be dealt with only through the chiefs. The governor estimated the revenue from quitrents and licenses at from £5000 to £10000 a year, and the cost of government at £4464, the balance to go to churches and schools. The imperial authorities reluctantly approved. The form of government mattered because Winburg had been part of an independent republic for 10 years, and because a budget that assumed the farmers would pay quitrent assumed they would also accept the queen. [3] [4]
On the 8th of March Mr Thomas Jervis Biddulph was appointed to Winburg, and on the 22nd Mr James O’Reilly received a similar appointment to Caledon River. Warden, in addition to his other duties, was to act for Bloemfontein. The annunciation of British authority over Winburg was immediately followed by such excitement that Smith issued a manifesto against agitators. On the 29th of March he published a long and strangely worded notice, partly historical, partly descriptive, remonstrating, advising, appealing, and threatening by turns, and ending by proposing a common prayer to God. One address with 369 signatures, and another with 189, expressed a desire to be independent. In a third, Commandant J. T. Snyman and 181 others assured his Excellency of their unfeigned allegiance. Subsequent events showed that these numbers correctly represented the proportion opposed to or in favour of British rule. On the 15th of May a meeting at Potchefstroom passed resolutions deprecating the threatening language of the manifesto, signed by Hendrik Potgieter, Pretorius, G. J. Kruger, J. H. L. Kock, L. R. Botha, J. P. Delport, A. F. Spies, H. Steyn, and 7 others of less note. The addresses mattered because 369 and 189 names for independence against 181 for the queen were the majority Pretorius had been sent to count, and because a manifesto that ended in a prayer did not quiet Winburg. [3] [4]
On the 22nd of May Biddulph arrived at Winburg with Warden and was installed. A few days later a meeting of the republican party resolved not to submit without a struggle. Landdrost Willem Jacobs, the heemraden, the fieldcornet, and Commandants Bester and Bezuidenhout notified in writing that they would not acknowledge Biddulph. The disaffected sent to Pretorius to come and assist them. He had been appointed commandant-general by the burghers along both banks of the Vaal. Jacobs, who went to Magalisberg on this mission, found Pretorius in trouble: his wife, of whom he was tenderly fond, was lying so ill that recovery was hopeless. Dying as she was, she advised her husband to do what she held to be his duty. “By staying here you cannot save my life; your countrymen need your services, go and help them.” He went, and never saw her again, for she died before his return. On the 21st of June Biddulph was informed that if he remained longer at Winburg he would be arrested; he retired to Bloemfontein, but was immediately sent back by Warden. 2 surveyors, Frederick Rex and Robert Moffat, had in the meantime been appointed to the Winburg land commission, but on the 11th of July Biddulph reported that the commission could not proceed. He had just received intimation that Pretorius with an armed party was encamped on the False river — written in pencil by a deserter from the 45th named Michael Quigley on the back of a free pardon, and brought to Winburg by one of his comrades. The pencil note mattered because a land commission that could not sit was a government that could not issue titles, and because Pretorius was coming south with a dying wife’s last instruction behind him. [3] [4]
On the 12th of July Pretorius arrived at Winburg and published a notice that no person would be allowed to remain neutral, and that all who would not join in “the war of freedom” must cross the Orange before the 20th of the month. The small party at Winburg well affected toward the British government — among them Gerrit Hendrik Meyer, Johannes I. J. Fick, the Wessels family, and a few others — went into lager and defied him. Snyman on the lower Caledon and Michiel Oberholster on the Modder did the same. Biddulph made his escape just before the commando entered the village, rode toward Bloemfontein, and on the morning of the 13th met Warden about 6 miles from the residency giving out land certificates, with an escort of 12 mounted riflemen. It was resolved to proceed to Bloemfontein, send a report to the governor, and throw up earthworks. Warden and Biddulph, riding a few hundred yards ahead of the escort, encountered a burgher patrol of 25 men who endeavoured to make prisoners of them. Only the speed of their horses and the firm stand of the escort saved them. The burghers came within talking distance and said their object was to take Warden to Pretorius’s camp that he might see the strength of the emigrants. Warden promised to send Rex to see and report. The clerk Isaac Dyason, some relatives of Biddulph, and the 2 constables were in Winburg when the commando entered; most of their property was seized, but they were allowed to leave in safety and reached Bloemfontein early on the 16th. The notice of the 12th mattered because a commandant-general who forbade neutrality was no longer counting votes, and because Warden handing out certificates 6 miles from his own residency was already a government on the road. [3] [4]
On the 17th of July Pretorius formed a camp within 2 miles of Bloemfontein, and with 400 men rode to the outskirts of the village. He then sent a letter to Warden giving him 1 hour to consider whether he would surrender the country or have it taken from him by force. For 3 days the troops had been employed making their camp defensible, but the work was not half completed. Warden had 2 cannon and a force of 45 trained Khoikhoi soldiers of the Cape mounted rifles and 12 raw recruits. There were also in Bloemfontein 42 civilians capable of bearing arms and about 200 women and children. Rex, who had been 2 days with the emigrant commando, reported that it consisted of 1000 men. Under these circumstances Warden requested an interview half way between his camp and Bloemfontein. After a brief parley, conditions of capitulation were agreed to, under which the troops and inhabitants were permitted to retire to the Cape Colony with all their movable property, public and private, and wagons were furnished by Pretorius to take them to Colesberg. On the 20th the commando entered Bloemfontein. Next day a long manifesto was drawn up and signed by the commandants, fieldcornets, and about 900 others, addressed to Smith. Its burden was British partiality for the blacks, which made life and property insecure in a British colony. As the high commissioner had stated that if a majority were averse to the queen’s sovereignty he would not proclaim it, it was hoped that the events which had taken place would prove what the opinions of the people were. From Bloemfontein the commando marched to Middelvlei, on the north bank of the Orange, within easy communication from Colesberg. The capitulation mattered because 45 riflemen could not hold a residency against a reported 1000, and because a manifesto of 900 names was Pretorius’s answer to the promise he said Smith had made on the Tugela. [3]
The Crossing of the Orange and Boomplaats of the 29th of August — July–August 1848
On the 22nd of July Warden’s report of the 13th reached Capetown. That afternoon Smith published a proclamation offering £1000 for the apprehension of Pretorius or for such information as would lead to it, shortly followed by £500 for Willem Jacobs. He then left for Colesberg to take command in person. On the 10th of August Pretorius, G. J. Kruger, A. F. Spies, L. R. Botha, P. M. Bester, and 4 other commandants wrote from Middelvlei to Warden on the opposite bank that as it must now be evident the emigrants were united in opposition, Smith ought not to trouble them further. They inquired whether the governor was there, and if so whether they could see him. Smith had arrived at Colesberg on the 9th, and replied on the 14th, terming the emigrants rebels, but stating that Gerrit Kruger and Paul Bester could cross the following day to Warden’s camp, where he would speak to them. Pretorius answered the same evening that as the governor persisted in calling them rebels they would not cross. On the 16th he wrote again, “requesting for the last time that the governor would withdraw the proclamation of sovereignty,” but received no reply. Heavy rains had fallen in the mountains of the Lesotho, and the Orange was in flood. 5 years earlier an enterprising Scotchman named Norval had placed a pontoon on the river some distance higher up, but Smith had brought 2 india-rubber floats. The floats were put upon the river, and on the 22nd of August the troops began to cross. The farmers did not attempt to dispute the passage. 5 days were occupied in the transit, and on the afternoon of the 26th the soldiers, horses, guns, wagons, and stores were on the northern bank. 40 men of the 91st and 20 Cape mounted riflemen were left at the ford on the colonial side to keep the communication open. The crossing mattered because a flood that should have stopped a column did not, and because Pretorius’s last letter asking the proclamation to be withdrawn had already gone unanswered. [3] [4]
Smith then found himself at the head of an effective force of about 800 men: the late garrison of Bloemfontein and 4 fresh companies of the Cape mounted rifles minus the 20 left at the ford, 2 companies each of the rifle brigade and the 45th, 2 companies of the 91st minus 40 men, a few engineers, and some artillerymen with 3 six-pounders. He had a considerable commissariat train under Mr Henry Green. Within 2 days after crossing, the column was joined by a few farmers under Commandants Pieter Erasmus and J. T. Snyman, and by about 250 Griquas under Andries Waterboer and Adam Kok. The farmers were those whose lands had been confiscated for refusing to join Pretorius. Before the troops crossed, the emigrant commando fell back toward Bloemfontein. A rumour had reached the farmers that another army was coming up from Natal to place them between two fires. There was much discord in the camp: many professed they had joined merely as a demonstration; others were determined to hazard everything and had chosen a strong position on the road to Bloemfontein. Smith addressed letters of remonstrance to the different commandants and sent them by Mr Halse, who was received with respect. Pretorius put the question whether letters from the governor, not addressed to himself, ought to be received by any one in the camp. The burghers decided that they should not, and Halse was obliged to take them back unopened. He computed the commando’s strength at between 600 and 800 men. The unopened letters mattered because a camp that would not read the governor was no longer negotiating, and because 250 Griquas riding with Smith were the same people whose captain had signed away jurisdiction in January. [3]
On the 27th the troops marched from the Orange to Philippolis, and on the 28th from Philippolis to Visser’s Hoek. The country they passed through was completely abandoned. That evening some of the farmers with Smith were sent out as scouts; a little after midnight they returned and reported that they had examined the country as far as Boomplaats, some 15 miles ahead, without meeting any one. At dawn on the 29th of August the column moved forward. They halted at Touwfontein, Maitland’s old camping place, to rest and take their morning meal, then resumed the march: the Cape corps in front in dark green with carbines slung, then the rifle brigade, then the sappers and the artillerymen with their 3 guns, then the 45th, last the 91st, and behind a long train of wagons guarded by the farmers and the Griquas. Close to the right of the road ran a chain of hills scantily covered with vegetation but thickly strewn with boulders; beyond it the Kromme-Elleboog, a succession of deep pools with reedy banks; then another chain between that river and a feeder called Middel Water; in a valley in the fork, just below the road, the farmhouse of Boomplaats; on the far side a third and higher chain, through a neck in which the road opened upon a plain. A solitary coloured shepherd informed Smith that the burgher commando had passed the night at Boomplaats. Lieutenant Warren of the Cape corps was directed to take a couple of men and ride up the first hill; he came galloping back and reported the farmers in considerable force beyond the nearest range. Lieutenant Salis, with a troop of the Cape corps, was instructed to ride on in front. A minute or two later the governor put spurs to his horse and, followed by his staff, joined the advance guard. He had dressed that morning in blue jacket, white cord trousers, and drab felt hat — the same clothing he had worn when he met Pretorius on the Tugela 7 months before. Up to this moment he was confident that no European in South Africa would point a weapon against his person. By his order the soldiers had taken the caps from the nipples of their carbines, so that they could not be the first to fire. The dress mattered because Smith still thought the men on the hills were his children, and because uncapped carbines meant the first shot would have to come from the ridge. [3] [4]
It wanted an hour to noon when Salis’s troop, with Smith and his staff, came abreast of the second hill on their right, not farther than 60 yards from the road. Some one exclaimed “There they are!” and the crest appeared covered with men. While the Cape corps had been advancing along the road, the farmers on the extreme left of the emigrant line had crept up the back of the hill, leaving their horses saddled at the foot. For an instant there was a flash of fire, and then a shower of bullets fell among and around the little party. The smoke had not cleared away when another volley followed, but by this time the soldiers were galloping back and the governor was hastening to the head of the column. A rifle ball had grazed the face of his horse, and one of his stirrup leathers was half cut through by another. 3 Khoikhoi soldiers were lying motionless in the road. On the ground beside his dead horse sat Lieutenant Salis, with his left arm shattered and a wound in his body. 2 farmers came near, and he heard one say in Dutch, “Shoot him!” He called out, “You must not, for I have a wife and children.” The voice came again, “Are you wounded?” “Yes.” He was then allowed to crawl back, and was carried to a hospital tent in the rear. The guns were brought up, and under Lieutenant Dynely a heavy fire was opened. The rifle brigade and the 45th were ordered to charge. Captain Arthur Stormont Murray of the rifles was leading on his men when he received 3 severe wounds; he died that night. Under a storm of bullets the soldiers made their way to the top of the hill. Before the summit was gained the farmers retired toward the centre of their line and prepared to make another stand at the next hill. Meantime the right wing under Commandant Jan Kock emerged from behind a ridge on the left of the English front and dashed into the plain to get possession of the wagons. The Cape corps was sent against him; after some sharp fighting Kock was forced to retire, and in crossing the range of the artillery his men suffered some loss. Casper Kruger, one of Pretorius’s most trusted commandants, was in the field that day. The 91st, previously kept as a reserve with the guns, were now sent to assist. The emigrants had only 1 field-piece, a brass three-pounder, so placed as to throw its shot along the line of road, but it was badly served and did little or no execution. Each successive position was stormed. At the river the resistance was not very obstinate, but a stone cattle kraal belonging to the farmstead of Boomplaats was taken with difficulty. Driven from this, the farmers made a last stand on the slopes commanding the neck in the high ridge beyond. There they were attacked first by the Cape corps and the Griquas, who were beaten back with ease; the infantry was then brought up, and the whole force stormed the heights, when the farmers were dislodged and fled over the plain to the eastward. The first volley mattered because it ended Smith’s belief that no European would fire on him, and because a charge that killed Murray was how the ridge was taken. [3] [7]
It was 2 in the afternoon when the neck was gained. Toward evening the column followed the line of retreat some 7 or 8 miles and halted at Kalverfontein. Pretorius and the commandants afterwards asserted that their plans were frustrated by the party on their extreme left who fired upon the advance guard against positive orders. Their intention had been to wait until the whole column was under rifle range from the steep hills beside the road. There was no discipline observable anywhere except in Kock’s right wing. Pretorius, in letters written a few weeks before, claimed 1000 men; from the time they left the Orange their numbers were constantly dwindling. Halse computed 800 at the highest. There were probably over 500 emigrants in the engagement, and not 750. The loss on the English side was, in killed, 2 officers — Captain Murray of the rifle brigade and Ensign M. Babbington Steele of the Cape mounted rifles — 6 men of the rifle brigade, 5 of the Cape mounted rifles, 3 of the 45th, and 6 Griquas. Besides these, 5 officers and 33 rank and file were wounded so severely as to necessitate their remaining in hospital. Among the slightly wounded was Biddulph, one of whose arms was badly hurt as he was climbing a hill with the rifle brigade. Colonel Buller had been wounded. The governor reported that 49 bodies of burghers were counted, 12 having been killed by one cannon shot; this was afterwards known to be incorrect, and the farmers gave their casualties as 9 killed and 5 wounded. They were all sharpshooters, and were not exposed as the soldiers were. Smith, who had grown old fighting in the Spanish peninsula, on the eastern frontier, and in India, described Boomplaats in his next despatch as “one of the most severe skirmishes that had ever, he believed, been witnessed.” The numbers mattered because a field Smith called severe had killed 2 British officers and, on the farmers’ count, 9 burghers, and because an early shot from the left had broken the ambush Pretorius said he had set. [3]
Winburg of September, the Queen’s Fort, and the War Tribute — September–October 1848
The day following the engagement the governor and the troops pushed on to Bethany, a station on the Riet founded for the Korana in December 1835 by agents of the Berlin missionary society. During the march the Griqua scouts captured 2 stragglers who had taken part at Boomplaats on the emigrant side: Quigley, and a young man named Thomas Dreyer, a member of an emigrant family. On the 2nd of September the column reached Bloemfontein. There Dreyer and Quigley were brought before a court-martial and sentenced to death, which sentence was carried out on the morning of the 4th. The execution of young Dreyer was probably regretted by the governor himself in calmer moments, though he stated that he believed it struck such terror into the republicans as to prevent them making another stand at Winburg. By the emigrants it has always been regarded as more unjustifiable than the execution of Tambusa in January 1840. Pretorius was blamed by many for not having kept Warden and some of the inhabitants of Bloemfontein as hostages; he affirmed that he made no provision for such an event because he had not believed it possible. Just after reaching Bloemfontein on the 2nd, Smith issued a proclamation confiscating the property of those who had been in arms. A reward of £2000 was offered for Pretorius, and £500 each for Andries Spies, Jan Krynauw, and Louw Pretorius. The farms of Jan Krynauw, Louw Pretorius, Frederik Otto, Jan Jacobs, Philip van Coller, Jan Viljoen, and Adriaan Stander were declared forfeited. Fines were announced: Ocker Jacobus van Schalkwyk £200, Pieter Louw and Jan Botes each £150, Christoffel Snyman £100, and Roelof Grobbelaar £50. The executions mattered because a deserter and a young burgher shot on the 4th were how Smith meant to keep Winburg from forming another line, and because £2000 on Pretorius’s head was the price of a commandant-general who had taken the residency in July. [3] [4]
From Bloemfontein the high commissioner and the troops moved on to Winburg and reached that village on the 7th of September. It was anticipated that the republican party would have made another stand, but no opposition whatever was encountered. The first act was to reproclaim the queen’s sovereignty over the whole country between the Orange and the Vaal, accompanied by a salute of 21 guns. This was followed by another proclamation dividing the Sovereignty into the 4 districts of Bloemfontein, Caledon River, Winburg, and Vaal River — the new district to comprise the country between the Sand and Vaal rivers and the Drakensberg, previously part of Winburg. The governor announced that a strong fort would be built at Bloemfontein and a large garrison stationed there. Commandant Paul Bester, who had taken part with Pretorius, surrendered and expressed contrition; he was merely required to pay £22 10s. toward the war expenses, and was then received into favour. It was announced that all who had taken up arms against the British government were banished from the district of Winburg, except Bester and Gerrit Kruger. A reward of £1000 each was offered for Willem Jacobs and Andries Spies, and £500 each for Adriaan Stander and Frederik Bezuidenhout. Thomas Whalley Vowe was appointed to Caledon River, O’Reilly being restored at his own request to clerk of the peace at Somerset East. Commandant Hendrik Potgieter, who had taken no part in the armed opposition and who was highly applauded by Smith, was appointed landdrost of Vaal River. Until he could arrive from Potchefstroom, Pieter Venter and Paul Bester were appointed a commission to act. Biddulph having been wounded, Rex was appointed to act for him at Winburg until his recovery. Southey was directed to remain in the Sovereignty on confidential duty and to act as president of the commissions for fining those who had been in arms. The 21 guns mattered because a sovereignty proclaimed from a flooded Tugela in February was now being fired over a village that had not stood, and because Potgieter on the Vaal was Smith’s way of splitting the emigrant command from the men who had fought at Boomplaats. [3] [4]
At the governor’s invitation Moshesh and most of the petty chiefs in the Sovereignty went to Winburg to meet him. The Basuto chief was accompanied by some hundreds of his people, all mounted on horses — animals unknown in the country only 20 years before. Reviews of the English troops and war dances followed. The intercourse of the chiefs with his Excellency during several days was of the most friendly nature, but no further arrangements were made regarding the position of the coloured tribes toward each other or toward the Europeans. Smith left Winburg on the 16th of September and arrived on the 18th at the farm Waterfall, the property of Mr C. S. Halse, then called Smithfield in his honour, where the seat of magistracy of Caledon River was first intended to be. He was welcomed by a large number of the inhabitants; a loyal address was presented, and satisfaction was expressed with the turn that affairs had taken. On the morning of the 19th he left to return to Capetown. He crossed the Orange at Buffelsvlei, where he was met by a number of farmers, at whose request he promised to have a town laid out at the place of meeting and to give it the name Aliwal. The war tribute commissions proceeded by inquiring into the conduct of nearly all the farmers in the Sovereignty. They levied fines, varying according to the ability of the individual to pay, upon all found to have been implicated in resistance. The total sum realised by the sale of confiscated property and by the fines was rather over £10000. The tribute mattered because £10000 taken from the farms was how a sovereignty that was supposed to pay for itself began, and because Aliwal promised at a drift was a colonial town named on the way home. [3]
A fort was built at Bloemfontein, and 4 iron nine-pounders were mounted upon it. A garrison was stationed there, consisting of 2 companies of the 45th, 1 company of the Cape mounted rifles, and 25 artillerymen with 3 six-pounders. Major Blenkinsopp of the 45th was placed in command. The structure was named the Queen’s fort; it was built in October. After Boomplaats the most violent opponents of British authority moved over the Vaal. The places which they vacated were filled by fresh emigrants from the Cape Colony, many of them mere land speculators, but all well disposed toward the British government, so that no difficulty was thereafter experienced in preserving order among the Europeans of the Sovereignty in the remaining months of this year. Between the Orange and the Vaal the great plains, 4000 and 5000 feet above the sea, stretched to the Drakensberg; the climate was dry and healthy, the soil fertile if it were better supplied with water, the rivers not numerous, the rainfall scanty, the plains covered with coarse long grass, and there were no natural forests. The fort mattered because 50 or 60 riflemen in February had not been enough, and because 4 nine-pounders on a hill at Bloemfontein were the garrison Smith had refused Warden before the residency fell. [3] [3] [7]
Porter’s Draft of the 29th of July, the Order in Council of the 4th of September, and the Magistrates of March — March–November 1848
A great increase in the number of courts of justice in the older parts of the Cape Colony was made at this time. Under the ordinance of the 26th of June 1847 empowering the governor to create courts of resident magistrates where he might deem them necessary, Smith on the 8th of March proclaimed the new districts of Tulbagh, Piketberg, Simonstown, Riversdale, Mossel Bay, Richmond, Bathurst, Fort Beaufort, Stockenstrom, and Fort Peddie. To these, in that order, were appointed Major Piers, Captain J. M. Hill, Mr F. B. Pinney, Major J. Barnes, Major George Longmore, Captain F. Hope, Mr George Dyason, Mr J. H. Borcherds, Mr T. H. Bowker, and Mr W. M. Edye. The districts of Paarl, Caledon, and Port Elizabeth were made divisions also, and their resident magistrates — Mr K. N. van Breda, Mr W. M. Mackay, and Captain W. Lloyd — were required to perform the duties of civil commissioners as well. 2 new divisions were created: Malmesbury, which was made to include the districts of Malmesbury and Piketberg, of which Mr W. F. Bergh was appointed civil commissioner, and Fort Beaufort, which was made to include Fort Beaufort and Stockenstrom, of which Borcherds became civil commissioner. The new courts mattered because a colony that had just added Albert and Victoria East still tried its heavier crimes from too few benches, and because 10 new magistracies on the 8th of March were the same day’s work as the Sovereignty’s form of government. [3]
The colonists had for many years been desirous of having a voice in their government. In the west, generally speaking, the people desired that the colony should remain one and indivisible, with a single representative chamber. In the east, the British settlers, or at least a majority of them, desired a separate government framed after the English model, or, if that could not be obtained, removal of the seat of administration from Capetown to Grahamstown. After the ministry of Lord John Russell came into power in July 1846, Earl Grey announced that in his opinion some difficulties might be wisely encountered in reliance on the resources of a civilised society of British birth or origin. Pottinger had been instructed to make a full report and had been unable to do so; his successor was entrusted with the task. The attorney-general, Mr William Porter, was directed by Smith to prepare “such a general plan as would appear to secure the greatest number of the advantages, and shun the greatest number of the inconveniences, incidental to the contemplated change of system.” When this was done, on the 21st of March Porter’s draft and the earlier documents were submitted to the members of the executive council and the 3 judges, with a request that each should draw up a report. The instruction mattered because Grey’s sentence of 1846 was now being turned into a Cape draft, and because an Irish attorney-general at Capetown was being asked to design a parliament while Smith was still north of the Orange. [3] [4]
In these reports the opinion was unanimously expressed that an immediate change in the form of government was desirable, inasmuch as the colonists had lost all confidence in the existing legislative council, and it was with difficulty that competent men could be induced to accept the position of unofficial members of it. They were unanimous also that no danger was to be apprehended from any rivalry between the Dutch and English sections of the population, whose interests were identical, and that there was not the slightest cause to fear that any attempt would be made by an elected body to oppress the coloured people. They were all opposed to the division of the colony into two, as such a measure would tend to weakness, and as the estimated wealth of the whole eastern province was less than that of the Cape peninsula alone, a separate administration would be beyond its means to bear. They concurred that Capetown should remain the seat of government, as containing one-fifth of the inhabitants of the country. With the exception of the chief justice, all favoured a legislative council composed of officials and unofficial members appointed by the crown and a house of assembly elected by the people. Sir John Wylde alone was of opinion that the legislative council should contain some elected members, in order that it might command the confidence of the people. Porter was then requested to frame a constitution based upon these documents. On the 29th of July Smith, who was himself strongly in favour of the measure, forwarded the whole of the previous papers and Porter’s draft constitution to Earl Grey to be dealt with. The draft mattered because a nominated council that men would no longer join was being replaced on paper by an elected house, and because the packet of the 29th of July left Capetown the week after Pretorius took Bloemfontein. [3] [4]
When on the 8th of November Smith announced to the legislative council that he had received a despatch from Earl Grey, dated the 7th of August, informing him of a project for making a penal settlement of the Cape, and an Order in Council of the 4th of September was read, in which this colony was included among those to which convicts might be sent, a general agitation throughout the country arose. Never was greater unanimity displayed than on this occasion. From village and farmstead, from vineclad valleys of the west and sheep walks of the east, alike from Dutchmen and Englishmen went forth the declaration to do everything in their power to keep untainted the land which was to be their children’s home. No white man known to be a felon had been permitted at any period to set foot on South African soil. A scheme of 1841 for Indian convicts on Robben Island, and Stanley’s scheme of March 1842 for 50 convict boys to be apprenticed, had both been abandoned after remonstrance. In April of this year Grey issued directions that no more agricultural families or artisans were to be sent out that year, as the remaining money voted by the legislative council to defray the cost of their passages was needed for the establishment of the military villages. Though no one had any objection to the villages, it was held that unmarried discharged soldiers, mostly men who had passed the prime of life, could not be of the same value as industrious young married people for whose introduction the money was voted; and it was regarded as objectionable that money provided by the legislative council for a particular purpose should be diverted by the secretary of state. Rumours of an approaching convict ship, having their source in some English newspapers, spread with rapidity. The Order in Council provided that after the ensuing 25th of November New South Wales should cease, and the Cape be named in its place. That was the year’s signal: the ship itself was not yet on the roadstead. The Order mattered because a colony that had just asked for a parliament was being named in the room of New South Wales, and because Dutch and English who disagreed on Grahamstown as a capital agreed at once that no convict ship should land. [3] [4]
In this year the branch of the Anglican church in South Africa was greatly strengthened by the arrival of its first bishop, Dr Robert Grey, son of a former bishop of Bristol, and previously vicar of Stockton-on-Tees. Letters patent of the 25th of September 1847 had constituted the Cape Colony, Natal, and the island of St Helena a bishopric, with funds for the endowment of the see provided by the baroness Burdett-Coutts. When the bishop arrived he found only 13 Anglican congregations in the colony, no schools in connection with them, and no missions among the heathen. He was accompanied and followed by a large staff of active clergymen, who were stationed in the country villages, where they usually founded schools and mission chapels beside their churches. He made a commencement of high schools of the English church by the establishment of the diocesan college for Europeans at Rondebosch, and the Zonnebloem institution for blacks at Woodstock, close to Capetown, intended as a high school in which the sons of chiefs and men of influence could be educated. On the 7th of October there was a conference at King William’s Town between Smith and the chiefs and leading people of the province between the Keiskama and the Kei, when none but the most loyal expressions were heard. Bishop Grey, who accompanied the governor, laid the foundation stone of Trinity church, and Smith laid the foundation of the Wesleyan church in Berkeley-street. Kreli, who arrived from beyond the Kei on the following day, just after his Excellency left to return to Capetown, galloped 5 miles till he overtook the governor, with whom he had a very friendly interview. The Roman Catholic see of the Cape Colony had been divided into two by a papal bull nominating the reverend Aidan Devereux bishop of Paneas and vicar apostolic of the eastern province; consecrated in Capetown on the 27th of December 1847, he took up his residence in Grahamstown a few days later and began establishing churches in the eastern villages. The bishopric mattered because 13 congregations were being turned into a diocese with schools, and because a foundation stone at King William’s Town in October was how a settlement sworn in January was being given churches. [3]
Natal Grants of February, Montagu Pass, and the Census of the Keiskama–Kei — 1848
In the beginning of February Smith crossed the Drakensberg and on the left bank of the Tugela, near the foot of the mountains, found the farmers with their families and all their possessions waiting for him. He asked the cause of their leaving Natal and received for answer “the allowing such an influx of blacks that there was neither protection nor safety for the farmers.” He said if they would return he would place things on a better footing; they answered that it was not possible to live among so many thousand blacks. He remained several days in the camp, and at length succeeded in arranging matters so that many of them agreed to remain in the district and a considerable number of those who had left it in previous years were induced to return. All who were entitled to farms of 6000 acres were to receive them in full property without any delay. Those who were only entitled to farms of 2000 acres were to receive 6000 on conditions: that the grantees should attend at the inspection; that they should personally occupy within 6 months from the date of the grant by the lieutenant-governor, and continue so to occupy until actual measurement; that such farms should not be alienated, mortgaged, or let for 7 years from the issue of the title-deed without the consent of the lieutenant-governor; and that they should not be executable by legal process within the same period without the like consent. These conditions were embodied in a proclamation issued on the 10th of February, and a land commission consisting of Lieutenant-Colonel Boys as president, and Messrs Donald Moodie, Jacobus Nicolaas Boshof, and Andries W. J. Pretorius, with Captain Kyle of the 45th as secretary, was appointed to carry them into effect. An explanatory minute of the 24th of May directed the commission to act in the most liberal manner. As Pretorius left Natal, on the 7th of July Mr Jan Philip Zietsman was appointed in his place. Along the head waters of the Tugela and its tributaries the Klip and the Sunday there were fewer blacks than in any other part of Natal, and it was arranged that as many as possible of the new grants — the land commission farms — should be laid out there. Upon these and the registered farms in the same locality several hundred Dutch families settled permanently, and gave such stability to that part of the district that the lieutenant-governor described them afterwards as a most efficient border guard. The grants mattered because 6000 acres with a seven-year lock were how Smith bought a border guard on the Klip, and because Pretorius’s seat on the commission was empty before Boomplaats was fought. [3] [4]
In this year 35 families of agricultural labourers from the neighbourhood of Bremen in Northern Germany were brought out by Mr J. Bergtheil, a merchant of Durban, with a view to their employment in the cultivation of cotton. This design was abandoned after their landing, and they were located at New Germany, a few miles inland from Durban, where they established themselves as market gardeners, and through their industry and frugality soon placed themselves in comfortable circumstances. They were in all only 183 souls. Under the ordinance of the 30th of March 1847 for the creation of municipal boards in the towns and villages of Natal, on the 15th, 17th, and 18th of January the resident householders of Maritzburg assembled in public meeting and adopted a code of municipal regulations, somewhat altered by Lieutenant-Governor West and the executive council. On the 6th of March the amended regulations were unanimously adopted by the householders, and on the 10th the municipality was established by proclamation. 5 commissioners were elected to form a council. The town lands had been greatly reduced in extent by order of Lord Stanley on the 29th of June 1844, and the municipality covered an area of only 3 miles radius from the centre of the town. New Germany and the municipality mattered because 183 Bremen souls who never grew cotton still stayed, and because a town of 3 miles radius was Natal’s first elected board. [3]
On the 18th of January the road through the mountain range close to the village of George — where Cradock’s pass had been a succession of crags and precipices, thickly strewn with broken vehicles and the skeletons of oxen that perished in the attempt to get over it — was opened for traffic and received the name Montagu Pass. A smooth road winding through ravines and along mountain sides had been made there; the most delicate carriage could then be driven along it at a gallop. The construction of these roads, with the hard road over the Cape flats already open in sections, was regarded as of immense importance in opening up the country. In December a road that could be traversed by the most delicate vehicle was opened through McNeil’s pass into the Karoo. Along the main road from Capetown to Grahamstown, Montagu’s convict stations still worked the mountain passes in gangs of 80 or 100, distant from any township. Sir Thomas Maclear, astronomer royal at the Cape, closed in this year, with an able staff of assistants, the verification and extension of Lacaille’s measurement that had occupied him since 1840. The pass mattered because Cradock’s wrecked oxen were replaced by a road a carriage could take at a gallop, and because the same convict gangs of 80 or 100 that cut it were not the felons Grey now named in the Order of the 4th of September. [3] [3] [3] [4]
At the close of the year a census of the Bantu in the province between the Keiskama and the Kei was taken, when the strength of each clan was found to be: under Sandile 14915 souls; Umhala 10018; Pato and Kobe 8527; Toyise 7481; Tebe 4867; Stokwe 3342; Siwani 2773; Siyolo 2161; Maqoma 2066; Jan Tshatshu 1717; Tola 1487; Botumane 1455; Tabayi 877; Sonto 672 — a total of 62358. It was supposed that there were then from 20000 to 25000 Ngqika seeking food in Gcalekaland, Thembuland, and the colony. The revenue derived from trading licenses during the year was £2470. Each trader was to pay £50 yearly for a license, and could only carry on business within the reserved areas round forts and mission stations. The sale of munitions of war and spirituous liquors was prohibited under very heavy penalties. Around each fort and each mission station a circular tract with a radius of 2 miles was reserved. During 1848, as far as could be seen, everything worked smoothly in the province, but all the time the Ngqika regarded the apparent settlement as a thing that might yet be thrown off. The census mattered because 62358 counted west of the Kei, and 20000 to 25000 Ngqika still seeking food beyond it, were the people who had sworn on the 7th of January, and because a license of £50 and a two-mile ring around a fort were how Mackinnon meant to keep powder out of those kraals. [3]