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The Transvaal

The Transvaal image
Parent Issue
Day
17
Month
February
Year
1881
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The flr t Dutch colony at the Cape of Good Hope was founded about thirty years after the Dutch West India company obtained tía patent tor the iolony of the Xew Netherlands. The Dutch were then in possession of the Spiee Jslands and the Eastern trade, and their ships used to cali at the Cape for water, and to bury letters in the sand for their eonsorts to piek up. A shipwrecked merchant, Leenhart Jantz, and a surgeon, Jan Van Kiebeck, saw what a convenience a permanent stal i ui at this half-way house would be, and pointed out its advantages to the Dutch East India Company. One of their argumento was that it was expedient to prevent the Cape being occupied by the Portuiruese. Curiously, the Portuguese who discovered and named tlie Cape of Good Hope, never tried to occupy it. They oeoasionally had landed there, and the Vieeroy of Goa and seventy-üve men had been killed by the natives. Their comrades took a cruel and treaeherous revenge. They sent ashoie a brass cannon as a present to the native chief. It was loaded with grape-shot, and ropes to drag it were attaehed to the muzzle. The Hottentots crowded to the ropes to carry off their prize. The Port ugu ese fired it. Theslaughter was terrible; the frightened survivors fled, and the Portuguese got back to their ship as fast as they could. They never tried to land again. Jan Van Riebeck reached Table Bay in 1651, and purchased the riglit to mitle from the natives for the sum of íifty thonsand guilders - a bad bargain, considering that Manhattan Island liad been bought for "sixty guilders. The colony thus f ounded prospered, and was re-enforced not only by immigrants frora the mother country, but by numerous French Ilnguenots. Its his'tory was very uiieeráfíii'." 'ïhe Dutch" increased and multiplied, pressed the natives back, and had the usual border wars. ïhey lived, like our predecessors in the good days of Peter Stuyvesant, without muchpoetry in their lives, but with a good deal of comfort and respectability. The flrst disturbance in the even tenor of their way took place in 1795, that greatyear of changes. The United Provinces becametheBataviaReptiblir, under French protection, and the StadtImliler was driven out. At once England occupied the Dutch posseaions in the Eastern seas, and did not overlook the Cape of Good Hope. Troops were landed, nominally by the authority of the Prince of Orange. They met with slight resistance, and Sir James Craig became the lirst English Governor. The Cape was surrendered by the British at the peace of Amiens; but when that peace was broken, it was again seized, this time after a desperate resistance. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna gave England permission to turn her occupation into possession, and she has held it ever since. By this time the Boers had pushed their pasture farms np to the Kaffir territory. The border -war became fiercer and more cruel. Boers complained that the English government did not protect them. To pacify them, the latter removed the Kafflrs beyond the Great Fish River. In 1819, the Kaffirs attacked the colony, and were driven further back beyond the Keiskamma River; in 1833, they were again ordered to move on, and another war was lowed by another large annexaüon. Hitherto, when cattle had been stolen by the natives, an equivalent had been recovered from them by an expedition, called a commando, consisting of armed Boers. The English government, beingthen in a paroxysmof philanthropy, abolished this system, and made other arrangements, of which the Kaffirs approved highly, and the Boers as highly disapproved. The latter said it was no joke to pay taxes for English law when it neither protected them nor allowed them to protect themselves. They complained, also, tliat they could not get paid for the cattle supplied to the army during the war. They were disgusted at the miserably small sum offered for the emancipation of their slaves; many refused the money, and it is lying unclaimed till tc-day. The Boers in the pastoral regions liad never acquiesced in the rule of England, and these accumulated grievances determined many of them toquit the colony. Five thousand stout Dutchmen, heads of households, packed up their Bibles, took their oíd rifles, and set out for a land of freedom. The wagon is to the Boer a house on wheels;, he and his family sleep in it at night; the latter travel in it by day, whilè he provides the dinner by bringing down some of the countless antelopes. Thus they plunged into the interior, now fighting, now negotiating, till they caine to the Orange liiver. Then, beyond the limits of flie colony, they founded the Orange Free State. Another party, nine hundred wagons strong, passed over the Drakenberg and went down to Xatal, on the coast, where they intended to build a New Amsterdam. Here the Boers hoped to find peace. But in 1841 the English Governor of the Cape warned them not to attack his "allies," the Amaponda Kallirs. The Boers said that they had nothing to do with England, and woiild protect their property as they ches. Two hundred and ñfty British soldiers landed at Natal. The Boers told them to quit. They attacked the Boers, bilt were defeated and blockaded in theii camp. Atlength more English soldiers were landed, an'd Natal was made an English colony. This seizure of Natal, as impolitic as iniquitous, has been the cause of all England's subsequent troubles in A frica. The English settlers in Natal were chiefly land speculators, army contract ors, offlce-holdera, and the like, and war and annexation were highly popular among thern. Their inllaence led to ;he invasión of the Orange Free State, ind its transformatioii into the Orange Sovereignty. The General of the Boers, Pretorius, was driven across the Vaal. When the bill for these inglorious conquests was sent in, John Buil began to jrumble. The investment seenii'd a jad one, and ni lool (ireat Jintain left ;be Dutch in possession of the Tr.-msvaal and Orange River territory, stipaating liever to interfere betweeu tlie 3oers and the natives, and never undej any pretext to cross the Orange River. )f course she did both. She took the 3asuto tribe - whom the Boei's were joingto wipe out - under her protection md she crossed the Orange Rivet When she left the Orange territory in L852, it was poor. Farms sinee tlien ïave been laid out, towns built, roads made, regular government established, )ut stillthe country was not woith coveting. In 1869, however, the Orange ?ree State contained the most remarka)le diamond mine in the world, On an old map of 1850 there is written across his tract the words "Here be diamonds." Of course it was contrary to he eternal fitness of things for any country but England to have such a mine. Land-sharks and swindlers set o work. ïhey soon found that the mine was not is the Orange State or in the Transvaal, but in the territorios of a chief called Waterboer. The Cape governinent took the mine froni the Free State be:ause it hdonged to . erboer; why it took it iioni W":i1 . is not olearly explained. The OrangeFree State is administei edby its President, Mr. Braad. Froutle lescfibes liïm in the following word; 'ilc is a bluiit, stiiiightfoiWMrd Dutcllïnan, wlio saiil wliat he IHeáUt. He spoke with dignity aud eteameas. The Knglish, a great and powerful nation, had been pleased, ln said, to break faiith with a sinall, wcak republic. Thcv had robbed the Orange Free State, and had justifledthemselves by charging it with crimes which t ïad not coinnutted. He had asked lor ;he arbitration of a foreign power, and he had been told that England would not submit her actiohs tothejudgments of foreigners. He hadtried othermeaufl of redress, and failed. He had sent round a protest to. the great powers, but he could not pretend to resist by force." Mr. Froude expresse unfeigned astonJshment at a atatesman like Mi. Brand. "I found that he believed that there was a real Providence in the world, and that an unjust action ivoi. not be allowed to prevail. The friend and ully of England he was willing to be; its subject, never." Mr. Brand iinally carried his eoniplaints to London. Their justice was acknowledged. A sum of $450,000 was paid as acompensation. With these tcnn.s the Free State was satisfied; ard at present Mr. Brand is using all his inlluence to prevent the Orange Boers making coinmon cause with the Transvaal. Very different is the President of the Transvaal Republic. Mr. Burgers is much more polished, and mueli more crafty. An acconiplished, well-educatid gentleman, gracious and agreeable, )ie was credited, according to Fromlr, " witli the ambition of being a South A trican Washinrton." lie inatle a ïïiity. with tlit! Portuguesa for a railroad from his capital, Pretoria, vG Vlagoa Bay. lie correspended With Holland, and even approached Uismarck. He talked to Froude of a coníederation of the South Al'rican states. ■ Wlicn I asked him under what llag, I got no clear answer." His countrymen, according tothe same authority, ratbei laughed at him. But lie continued his course. When gold was discoverud in the Transvaal, he coined it Lato money with' his own image, and went with specimens of his coinage to Europe. He visited Holland and Portugal, and hoped to put himself under the protection of the European powers. On his return to África, he set about his railroad, and bullied the native chiefs. lic tried to reduce Secocoeni, whom he claimed as a subject, he quarreled with Cetewayo, and was threatened by the Matabeïes. The treasury of Pretoria was empty. The Boers ref used to pa v taxes. The state was -bankrupt. Á native war was imminent. The people of Xatal, jealous of the projected railroad to Delagoa Bay, began to intrigue, and by unscrupulous means got up in the Transvaal signatures to a petition asking for annexation. They told the British government that "human ity " required it to save the Boers from the Zulus, and that this could only be done by annexing the territory. England listened to these representations. A commissioner was sent to Pretoria. The Transvaal ilag - green, with the Dutch horizontal tricolor in the fly - was haiiled down, and the country formally annexed. England has paid dear for her folly. Secocoeni has twice revolted. Cetc required an army to crush him. The Boers are full of hatred. A petition bearing 6951 signatures of adult Boers, praying for restoration of the coun( ry's independence, was ,forwarded to En;land. But in vain. They have now taken up arms. Their most inlluenlial leader is Jonbert, an old Boer of Iluguenot extraction, who is held in universal esteem. British troops have been defeated; British garrisons are besieged. Tlie sympathy of Europe is with the Boers. Their countrymen of Rotterdam, Leyden. all the famous cities of the Low Countries, have published remonstrances to the British government. All Americana must feel an interest in this struggle for Bepublican institutions. New Yorkers, citizens of a State founded by Dutch colonists, must ieel doublé sympathy for this Dutch war of independence. Mr. (ladstone can not be deaf to such appeals. He is over" flowing with synipathv for picturesque Montenegrins and romantic Greeks. Let him do justice to the honest and homely Boer. Fot the Boers are essentially honest and homely. All travellen) describe thein as decent, comfortable, frank.hospitable, and courteous people. There is nothing slovenly, harsh, and unbecoming about them; thcir houses are scrupulously clean, theii beds are good, and silver spoons abimnd. They are energetic,phlegmatic, moral, and industrious. A Frenclmian describes them as a race tetue. The men are tall, and of Herculean strength ; tlie womenhave a kind of majestic beauty. The families are always large. "The Transvaal Hoer," to quote Froude once more, "has an estáte of 6,000 to 20,000 acres. II is woaltli is in sheep and cattle. He comes on the ground in his wagon. He buildg sheds or pens for his stock. He incloses three or four acres for a garden. He plante peaches, apricots, oranges, lemoms, figs, apples, pears, olives, and almonds. He builds a modest house. He has generally but one book - a large clasped Bible, with the births, deatlis, nul niarriages of the faniily for half a dozen generations. When a son or daughter marries, a house is built for ;he new family. Thus the Transvaal is filled up by a people who care ing for the world, who never raad a newspuper, and whose one idea, beyond their own concerns, is hatred of the English. They are a proud, stubborn race, free, and resolute to remain free. They are strict Calvinista, Ignorant, obstinate, and bigoted, not unlike what Scotch farmers were alxjut two lmndrcd years ago." All travelers speak of the strong religious feelings of the Boers. "Mr. Cronje," writes a travelier, two years ago, "is a Boer of inteU'gence and good appearance. He is a very religious man, and after supper offered up au extempore prayer, in which he made pecial reference to the guests under lis roof. Ilis house was orderly; his children, of which twelve were present, out of a toUil of eighteen, showed him peeat respect and reverence." "Mr. irasmus," the same travelier writes, 'is a ta.ll, powerful, handsome man, )etveen eighty and ninety years of age. le has the history of his country by icart, hoving been actively engaged in ïearly every war that has been waged with both Europeans and natives since iie cession to England in 1814." - 'iaiyers' Weekly. The tea plants grown by Count 'Amigo on bis estáte near Mes roduce leaves which are said to i jood as those of the plants rai m in 3hina. There is to be a systcmalii atempt now made to grow the tea on a ommercial scale. It is worse than nothing when the mercury gets below zero.

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Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat