History of South Africa since September 1795/Volume 1

History of South Africa since September 1795
by George McCall Theal

Volume I: The Cape Colony from 1795 to 1828, the Zulu wars of devastation, and the formation of new Bantu communities

→

2427667History of South Africa since September 1795 — Volume I: The Cape Colony from 1795 to 1828, the Zulu wars of devastation, and the formation of new Bantu communitiesGeorge McCall Theal

History

of

South Africa

since September 1795

By

George M^cCall Theal, Litt.D., LL.D.

Foreign Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Amsterdam, Corresponding Member of the Royal Historical Society, London, etc., etc., etc., formerly Keeper of the Archives of the Cape Colony, and at present Colonial Historiographer

With sixteen maps and charts

In five volumes

Vol. I.

The Cape Colony from 1795 to 1828, the Zulu wars of devastation, and the formation of new Bantu communities

London

Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Lim.

25 High Street, Bloomsbury

1908

Printed by

Cowan & Co., Ltd.

Perth

History of South Africa.

The latest and most complete edition of this work consists of:—

History and Ethnography of Africa south of the Zambesi from the settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the conquest of the Cape Colony by the British in September 1795
In three volumes.

Volume I contains a description of the Bushmen, Hottentots, and Bantu, an account of the first voyages round the Cape of Good Hope of the Portuguese, the French, the English, and the Dutch, and a history of the Portuguese in South Africa in early times.

Volumes II and III contain a history of the administration of the Dutch East India Company in South Africa, &c., &c.

History of South Africa since September 1795.
In five volumes.

Volume I is the one in the reader's hands.

Volume II contains a history of the Cape Colony from 1828 to 1846, a history of Natal from 1824 to 1845, and an account of the proceedings of the emigrant farmers in the territory between the Orange and Limpopo rivers from 1836 to 1847.

Volume III contains a history of the Cape Colony from 1846 to 1860, of Natal from 1845 to 1857, of British Kaffraria from 1847 to 1860, and of the Orange River Sovereignty and the Transvaal Republic from 1847 to 1854.

Volume IV contains a history of the Orange Free State, the South African Republic, Zululand, Basutoland, Betshuanaland, and Matabeleland from 1854 to 1872.

Volume V contains a history of the Cape Colony and Natal to 1872, Griqualand West to 1880, Great Namaqualand, Damaraland, Transkei, Tembuland, and Griqualand East to 1885, Pondoland and the Portuguese Territory to 1894.

Each of these volumes is indexed and may be had separately from the others.

Preface.

The preparation of a history of South Africa has occupied my almost undivided attention during the last forty years. I kept it constantly in view while connected in different capacities with Bantu tribes, and while keeper of the archives of the Cape Colony and subsequently I have made the closest possible research among official documents of all kinds. Of printed books upon the country I have one of the best collections in existence, and though I have not made many extracts from them, they have often served me as guides. To the utmost of human ability I have striven to write without fear, favour, or prejudice, to do equal justice to all with whom I had to deal. I can therefore, without laying myself open to the accusation of vanity, place my work confidently before the public as not alone the only detailed history of South Africa yet prepared, but as a true and absolutely unbiassed narrative.

George M. Theal.

London, July 1908.

Contents.

Chapter I.

Admiral Sir George Keith Elphinstone and Generals Alured Clarke and James Henry Craig, conjointly, commanders of the British forces, 16th September to 15th November 1795.

Major-General James Henry Craig, commandant of the town and settlement of the Cape of Good Hope, 15th November 1795 to 5th May 1797.

Conciliatory measures adopted by the English commanders.—Submission of the burghers of the districts of Stellenbosch and Swellendam.—Appointment of Major-General Craig as "commandant of the town and settlement of the Cape of Good Hope."—Military and naval force left for the protection of the Cape.—Refusal of the burghers of the district of Graaff-Reinet to submit to the new government.—Employment of Hottentots as soldiers.—Capture of a Dutch fleet of war in Saldanha Bay.—Entrance of most of the prisoners into the British service.—Submission of the burghers of Graaff-Reinet.—Aspirations of the national party.—Efforts of Jan Pieter Woyer to obtain assistance for the republican party.—The luckless voyage of the Haasje.—Events at Delagoa Bay in 1796–7.—Character of General Craig's administration.—Construction of new fortifications.—Exportation of wheat and subsequent scarcity of food.—Creation of more paper money.—Military and naval force at the Cape in 1797.—Restriction of the whaling industry to British and colonial vessels.—Expedition for the purpose of taking possession of harbours on the western coast.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1

—— Contents.

vlii

CHAPTEE

II.

GEORGE, EARL MACARTNEY, GOVERNOR, INSTALLED 5TH MAY 1797 20th NOVEMBER 1798.

RETIRED

MAJOR-GENERAL ERANCIS DDNDAS, ACTING GOVERNOR, 21ST NOVEMBER 1798 TO 9th DECEMBER 1799. Appointment in South

of the Africa.

—

of

earl

Macartney as governor.

— Character

the

of

— His

administration

arrival

of

Lord

Macartney. Banishment of Commandant Petrus Jacobus Delport. Regulations concerning commerce. Alterations in the courts of justice. Improvement in the mode of payment of civil servants. Treatment of Bushmen and Xosas. Assumption of duty by Mr. Frans Reinhard Bresler as

—

landdrost

of

—

Graaff-Reinet.

Barrow among the Xosas Xosa chief Gaika. Visit

— — Establishment

—Tour

of

Messrs.

Bresler

—

and

Zuurveld. Account of the of Messrs. Bresler and Barrow to in the

of the first post-office in the colony. Proclamation defining the eastern and northern boundaries. Statistics of trade, revenue, and Prices of bread and meat. shipping. Establishment of a church at SweUendam. Mutiny

Gaika.

—

war on the Cape station, and its suppression. Reduction of the military and naval force at the Cape. Return to England of Lord Macartney on account of ill health. Great fire in Capetown. Insurrection of a party of in GraaflF-Reinet. suppression farmers Its by General Vandeleur. Invasion of the colony by a horde of Xosas under the chief Ndlambe. Attack nn British troops by the people of Cungwa.— Massacre of a party of soldiers. in the fleet of

—

Insurrection of Hottentots in the district of GraafF-Remet.

Progress of the war with the Xosas and Hottentots. Establishment of a kind of truce by Mr. H. Maynier. Appointment of Erection of Fort Frederick at Algoa Bay. Mr. Maynier as commissioner for the districts of SweUendam and Graaff-Reinet. Capture of the French frigate Prudente with volunteers to aid the insurgents of Graaff-Reinet. Defeat of the French frigate Preneuse in Algoa Bay. Account of the Namaqua captain Afrikaner. Dealings with Bushmen on the northern frontier. Establishment of missions ... by the London society. Shipwrecks in Table Bay.

—