Cape Colony

“ Cape Colony is a huge territory more than twice as large as the United Kingdom. But very little of it is available for tillage, and much of it is too arid even for stock-keeping. The population, including natives, is only seven to the square mile. Nearly the whole of it is high country. All along its westerly coast and its southerly coast there is a strip of low ground bordering the ocean, which in some places is but a mile or two wide, and in others, where a broad valley opens spreads backward, giving thirty or forty square miles of tolerably level or undulating ground. ”

“ That the Cape Colony occupies the southern coast of the African continent, and that the colony of Natal is on the south-eastern coast, are facts of which few readers will need to be reminded. Will it, then, be sufficient to say, that the 'sovereignty' in question is situated in the interior, between these two colonies, having the Cape on the south, and Natal on the east? It will be necessary to refer briefly to the manner in which it acquired its rank as a colony, and its peculiar name. Just two hundred years ago, in the year 1652, the Cape Colony was founded by the Dutch ”

“ Cape Colony.—Bounded by the Orange River and Orange Colony on the north, by Natal on the north-east; and by the Atlantic and Indian Oceans on the west, south, and south-east. Area about 277,150 miles. Population in 1896 (exclusive of Pondoland and British Bechuanaland) about 1,822,000—one-fifth of whom are whites. The climate is highly esteemed and is said by some to have upon the constitution the effect of champagne. ”

“ Provided with laws of a most liberal scope, and institutions corresponding to the spirit of our times, which leave each261 colonist entirely at liberty to develope his powers and capabilities in whatever direction he pleases, Cape Colony must, ere long, stand forth as the pattern colony for all others in the different countries beyond sea,—a majestic monument of the reward so justly due to the English nation for its policy in promoting the moral and material progress of mankind in the most remote corners of the earth. ”

“ OF all portions of the globe, surely none has ever been so much grumbled at, abused, and despised, both justly and unjustly, as the poor Cape Colony. Hardly any one who has lived under its cloudless skies has a kind word to say for it ”

“ Inland the Cape is bounded E. and N.E. by Natal, Basutoland, Orange Free State and the Transvaal; N. by the Bechuanaland Protectorate and N.W. by Great Namaqualand (German S.W. Africa) . From N.W. to S.E. the colony has a breadth of 800 m., from S.W. to N.E. 750 m. Its area is 276,995 sq. m.—more than five times the size of England. Walfish Bay (q.v.) on the west coast north of the Orange river is a detached part of Cape Colony. ”

“ In the Colony things were more than lively. General George Brand had captured a column and frightened two or three others half to death. General Kritsinger by his dash had made the English believe that there must be no less than 50,000 Boers in Cape Colony. Commandants Fouche, Scheepers, Malan and others were daily fighting in the different districts and captured several convoys. In fact, Cape Colony was truly in a state of war, and the Boers were in possession of the country. ”

“ And the progress indicated in that single illustration is something too vast to be explained by the mere doings of the limited European population there; the native populations who are being awakened to the new and better life of industrial occupations, are undoubtedly largely contributory to it, and through their contributions, and through that alone, it is that Cape Colony has thus during the period named outrun in progress any other British Colony perhaps to be named. ”

“ It is more favoured by soil and by sky than most parts of Cape Colony. It has an immense resource in its extensive coal-fields. Its ocean trade and railway traffic are increasing. In proximity to these coal-fields it has deposits of iron which will one day support large industrial communities. And its inhabitants are of good, solid stuff, both English, Dutch, and German, for there are many German immigrants. No British Colony can show a population of better quality, and few perhaps one equally good. ”

“ The white people consist of officials, missionaries, and traders. None other are permitted to settle within its borders, for by the annexation of the territory Cape Colony became responsible for the welfare and good order of the land. ”

“ That gentleman's book, if read and credited, is of itself enough to stop emigration to the country whither Mrs Ward thus strongly advocates it. And we must bear in mind, moreover, that the colonial districts of the Cape include the least fertile and valuable portion of South Africa. The finest pastures and most healthy tracts are held by Hottentots, Kaffirs, and Fingos. Savages, experience teaches us, recede and dwindle on the advance of the white man. Increase the population of the Cape Colony, and in due time the colonists will push their way. ”

“ This perhaps will be the best place in which to say a few words on the question of keeping British troops in the Cape Colony. It is held to be good colonial doctrine that a Colony which governs itself, which levies and uses its own taxes, and which does in pretty nearly all things as seems good to itself in its own sight, should pay its own bills;—and among other bills any bill that may be necessary for its own defence. ”

“ There is no more right, there is no more reason, for us to be annexed to the Cape Colony to-day than there would be for Natal to be annexed to-morrow, which colony is simply nowhere in wealth and public enterprise as compared with this. ”

“ Meanwhile it must be borne in mind, that the outlying parts of the Cape colony have always been very largely peopled by Dutch Boers, who have to some extent stemmed the influx of free coloured settlers by their constant wars with the natives, and by their disinclination to admit them except as slaves. The Cape therefore shows us European influences at their strongest in Africa; and their strongest is for the most masterful of European races to be a decided, though at present a governing minority. ”

“ There are some fine pieces of wood and water scenery along the south coast of Cape Colony, and one of singular charm in the adjoining colony of Natal, where the suburbs of Durban, the principal port, though they lack the grandeur which its craggy [Pg 52] heights give to the neighbourhood of Cape Town have, with a warmer climate, a richer and more tropically luxuriant vegetation. In the great range of mountains which runs some seventeen hundred miles from Cape Town almost to the banks of the Zambesi, the scenery becomes striking in three districts only. ”

“ Between 1817 and 1831 the country was devastated by the chief Mosilikatze and his Zulus, and large areas were depopulated. Up to this time the few white men who had crossed the Orange had been chiefly hunters or missionaries. In 1824 Dutch farmers from Cape Colony seeking pasture for their flocks settled in the country. They were followed in 1836 by the first parties of the Great Trek. These emigrants left Cape Colony from various motives, but all were animated by the desire to escape from British sovereignty. (See South Africa, History; and Cape Colony, History.) ”

“ In spite of many drawbacks and deficiencies of physical requisites, which oppose the rapid development of its natural resources, Cape Colony possesses in its healthy climate its valuable indigenous products, and its free political institutions, a guarantee for its perhaps gradual, but on that account more substantial, progress. ”

“ Cape Town, the capital of Cape Colony, has a pleasant situation on the south side of Table Bay. It is a flourishing city of forty-five thousand inhabitants. It has many fine buildings and pretty villas, lighted by gas.
Tramways and railways pour into it the rich agricultural products of the adjacent countries. There is little, indeed, to remind the visitor that he is in a colonial capital founded, and for a long time inhabited, solely by Dutch settlers.
Cape Town is, in many respects, very unlike any city seen in Europe. No two houses can be found of the same size or architecture. ”

“ The Colonists could not have done more than they had done, but a general rising was, for various reasons, impossible. If, therefore, a reason for continuing the struggle in the Republics themselves did not exist any longer, it would be idle to go and seek it in the Cape Colony. ”

“ The Dutch Reformed Church, as might be anticipated from the early history of the country, is by far the most numerous community. Next in number of adherents among the white community come the Anglicans—Cape Colony forming part of the Province of South Africa. In 1847 a bishop of Cape Town was appointed to preside over this church, whose diocese extended not only over Cape Colony and Natal, but also over the island of St Helena. ”

“ In Cape Colony, as I have already said, every man, woman, and child—white and black—takes from you ten pounds’ worth of goods, and gives all the employment to your people implied thereby. In the United States all that each man, woman, and child requires there of your goods is only one pound’s worth per head—a very different thing. The Colonies are your strength. ”

“ War having again broken out, a British force was once more sent to the Cape. After an engagement (Jan. 1806) on the shores of Table Bay the Dutch garrison of Cape Castle surrendered to the British under Sir David Baird, and in 1814 the colony was ceded outright by Holland to the British crown. At that time the colony extended to the line of mountains guarding the vast central plateau, then called Bushmansland, and had an area of about 120,000 sq. m. and a population of some 60,000, of whom 27,000 were whites, 17,000 free Hottentots and the rest slaves. ”

“ The very prosperity of the country has drawn into it a larger population than the arable and pastoral land may prove able to support. The Free State people are not friendly to it, and many politicians in Cape Colony would like to recover it for the Colony, while many white adventurers would like to prospect for mines, or to oust the natives from the best lands. The natives themselves are armed, and being liable, like all natives, to sudden fits of unreason, may conceivably be led into disorders which would involve a war and the regular conquest of the country. ”

“ The geographical position of the Cape of Good Hope points out the importance of this colony in a commercial and military point of view; situate half-way between England and India, in a wholesome climate, and producing refreshments of every description, it is capable of becoming a particularly valuable post. In the event of a war, the power which holds the Cape may be said to possess the key of India. It is capable of becoming a valuable station for naval and military establishments to give effectual security to the Indian trade and settlements. ”

“ When the English obtained possession of the Cape Colony by convention, the Fish River formed the eastern boundary. The Kaffirs raided the Colony from time to time, but especially in 1834, when they murdered, plundered, and outraged the helpless Colonists in an awful and almost indescribable manner. The Governor was ultimately prevailed upon to free the strip of territory beyond the Fish River from the raids of the Kaffirs, and this was done by the aid of the Boers. But Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, reversed this policy and restored the whole territory to the natives. ”

“ Cape Colony has now a population of three hundred and sixty-six thousand Europeans and seven hundred and fifty-five thousand colored people. This does not include the people occupying the various annexed territories. The colored population includes several native tribes, more than half of which are Bantu, and various mixed races of Asiatics, descendants of freed slaves and Hottentots.
The missionaries have been laboring for many years among the Bantu. Taken as a whole, the results of their labors are discouraging, though a portion of the people have made a considerable advance in civilization. ”

“ To have established any kind of administration over so wide a territory would have been in any case difficult for so small a body of people, probably about four thousand adult males; but the characteristics which had enabled them to carry out their exodus from Cape Colony and their campaigns of conquest against the natives with so much success made the task of organization still more difficult. They had in an eminent degree "the defects of their qualities." They were self-reliant and individualistic to excess; they loved not only independence, but isolation ”

“ His Majesty's Government will at once grant an amnesty in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony for all bonâ fide acts of war committed during the recent hostilities. British subjects belonging to Natal and Cape Colony, while they will not be compelled to return to those Colonies, will, if they do so, be liable to be dealt with by the laws of those Colonies specially passed to meet the circumstances arising out of the present war. As you are doubtless aware, the special law in the Cape Colony has greatly mitigated the ordinary penalties for high treason in the present case. ”

“ Elsewhere, however, the colony was making progress. The change from slave to free labour proved to be advantageous to the farmers in the western provinces; an efficient educational system, which owed its initiation to Sir John Herschel, the astronomer (who lived in Cape Colony from 1834 to 1838) , was adopted; Road Boards were established and did much good work; to the staple industries—the growing of wheat, the rearing of cattle and the making of wine—was added sheep-raising; and by 1846 wool became the most valuable export from the country. ”