THE KAT RIVER SETTLEMENT IN 1851: DESCRIBED IN A SERIES OE LETTERS PUBLISHED IN i “ THE SOUTH AFRICAN COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER BY THE Rev. JAMES READ, Junior. CAPE TOWN : A. S. ROBERTSON, ADDERLEY-STREET. 1852 . •> nAAAArtnAAA Saul Solomon &c Co., 50, St, George’s-strect, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. ERRATA. Page X. — 1st line. — For “ Civil Commissioners read “ Jiulicial Commissioners.” Page XIX. — 13th line. — Between “ this” and “ it is right to say” insert “ last act.” Page 48. — 3rd line. — The pronoun “I,” between “ Mancazana" and “ left Fort Armstrong,” to be omitted. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/katriversettleme00read_1 P R E ¥ A 0 E, The series of letters to which the present remarks are prefatory, was published in the South African Commercial Advertiser during the months of June, July, August, and September of last year. The appearance of these letters, as they supplied what was felt to be a great desideratum, was hailed with delight by those persons who sought a plain, unvarnished statement of the melancholy events ot which they treat. The evident candour and fearless honesty of the chronicler secured the confidence ol his readers, audit is believed did much towards removing from the minds of such of them as had been unhappily prejudiced against the coloured races and the missionaries labouring among them, misconception and bitter feeling. The re- quest for their republication, in a form more convenient than the columns of a newspaper, has been frequently made by friends whose character and judgment entitle their wishes, when expressed, to the greatest respect. An opportunity is also obtained, through Mr. Read’s temporary visit to Cape Town, for a slight abridgment and revision of the letters, which the circumstances in which they were first given to the public render neces- sary. It will readily be believed that their estimable author has been more anxious to observe and collect facts, such as will bear the most rigid scrutiny, than to regard the style in which they should be presented to the world of letters. It would, however, be as useless to deprecate criticism, as it would be unwise to be over-solicitous for its verdict. He w ho seeks utility rather than fame from the labours of his pen can rarely be disappointed. A succinct statement of the origin, progress, early diffi- culties, and more recent struggles of the Kat River Settle- ment, prior to the breaking out of the present lamentable Kafir war, will not, it is presumed, be unacceptable to the A IV reader. For this, which we have extracted from the “ Report of the Select Committee of the House of Com- mons on the Kafir Tribes,” recently published, we are indebted to the pen of J. Rose In lies, Escp, LL D., the Superintendent-General of Education in this colony, than whom no man has greater claims to be heard. A history of our frontier relations, written in the same philosophic- spirit, could he be induced to undertake it, would lay the present generation and those who may come after it under lasting obligations to this gentleman. The letter addressed by the Rev. James Read to the Agent for the London Missionary Society is now for the first time published. It is an appropriate introduction to the following series, and is too valuable to be omitted. Memorandum on the Kat River Settlement. 1. At the close of the Kafir war of 1819 a Parole Treaty was entered into by Lord Charles Somerset and the paramount chief of the Ama- kosa tribe, Gaika, the father and predecessor of Sandilli. 2. By this treaty, which left the eastern boundary of the colony the same as that proclaimed by Lord Macartney in 1798, it was pro- vided that the Kafirs should forthwith give up and retire from the tract of country lying between the Great Fish River and the Kies- kama. It was then occupied by remnants of the Gonaqua Hottentots, or Gonas, the Gaika, Tslambi, and Amagonaquabie, or Kongo Kafirs. 3. This tract was denominated the Neutral Territory, and, by the stipulations of the treat}', was in future to be occupied neither by colonist nor Kafir, or, in the language of the Amakosa chief, “ its waters were to flow undisturbed into the sea.” The basin of the Kat River forms the upper and, from its abundance of water, the most fertile part of this tract of country. Its area is about 200 square miles. 4. On the arrival of the British settlers in 1820, and previous to their being located in the Zuurveld (near Albany), the then Acting- Governor, Sir Rufane Donkin, obtained the consent of Gaika to occupy this tract of country, which from that time was designated the Ceded Territory. His Excellency’s plan then was to locate in the basin of the Kat River the body of emigrant Highlanders, under a Captain Grant, whom he daily expected. This was to form the left flank of a line of defence, which he intended to form by a chain of military posts along the ceded ten-itory, to terminate in another settlement on the Baka (called Frederiksberg), which was to form the right flank of the line. 5. Captain Grant and his body of Highlanders never arrived ; the occupation of this part of the line of frontier by a body of hardy and warlike mountaineers was abandoned ; and soon after (1822) parties of Kafirs were permitted to re-occupy portions of the ceded territory undisturbed, so long as they continued to live peaceably among them- selves, and desisted from plundering the frontier inhabitants. It was V then that Macomo and his followers were allowed to return to and settle down in the Kat River basin, whilst Tyali took possession of the valley of the Mancazana, a tributary of the Kat River. 6. In 1829, Macomo and his followers were removed from the Kat River, in consequence of his having attacked a kraal of peaceable Tambookies, plundered them of their cattle, and pursued with great slaughter the fugitives into the Tarka, a frontier district of the colony. On this occasion, the Commissioner-General of the Eastern Province, Sir Andries Stockenstrom, was dispatched from Cape Town, the seat of Government, to carry into effect the expulsion of Macomo from the sources of the Kat River. 7. In April, 1829, the Commissioner-General arrived at Algoa Bay, on his way to the frontier to expel Macomo, but with no instructions as to the future occupancy of the Kat River. From Uitenhage he first addressed the Government on the subject, — and, in due course, received its sanction to occupy the Kat River by a large body of Hot- tentots, upon the same principle as Sir Rufane Donkin had contem- plated in 1820, the location there of a body of Highlanders, under Captain Grant. 8. The location of the Kat River settlers was conducted under the personal superintendence and direction of the Commissioner-General. They consisted chiefly of Hottentots from the missionary institutions of Bethelsdorp and Theopolis, bastards from the districts of Bavian’s River and Zwagershoek, and some Gonahs who had been suffered to remain after the expulsion of Macomo. At first it was in contem- plation to mix up a certain amount of English and Dutch with the coloured classes in this settlement, but this was abandoned, on the ground that an English or Dutch settler would not consent to take a grant with which a Hottentot would be satisfied, and that if they accepted of a grant at all it would be in the hope, by persevering industry and superior energy, of adding others to it, thereby defeating the main object of the settlement, and leaving the Kat River as open to inroads as any other part of the eastern frontier. 9. With the exception of some seed distributed among the settlers on their arrival at the locations by the Commissioner-General, no aid was given to them in the shape of rations, implements of husbandry, or in any other form, whilst undergoing the trials and privations of a first settlement. Of this they were made fully aware before leaving their homes, — nor did they express any dissatisfaction with the deci- sion of the Government on this head. Those who brought the means of subsistence with them until the first crop was reaped experienced no inconvenience ; those who did not, lived on bulbs, roots, berries, and wild beans indigenous to the country, until their crops yielded them more substantial food. 10. For some time the best friends of the coloured people had their fears and apprehensions as to the ultimate success of this experiment of forming on a large scale n itive settlements on our immediate borders, — more especially in the immediate vicinity ot those tribes which had been but very recently expelled from the very lands which the Hot- tentots were called to cultivate and defend. These, however, were soon removed by the most favourable and glowing report of the late Mr. Justice Menzies, in 1832, and the no less encouraging statements of the Acting-Governor, Colonel Wade, when he visited the frontier in 1834, after the arrival of Sir Benjamin D'Urban to assume the administration of the government. V! 11. In 1S30, the first year of the settlement, the population con- sisted of 900 souls, of whom from 250 to 300 were available for the purposes of defence. At that time, however, they had hardly produced sufficient grain for food and seed. In 1833, the whole settlement had been subdivided into 640 allotments capable of irrigation, with grazing commons attached. The average size of the allotments was three morgen or six acres, which, in the aggregate, amounted to 3,840 acres. In that year, the population amounted to 2,114 of all ages and sexes; their stock consisted of 250 horses, 2,44-4 head of cattle, and 4,996 sheep ; they had reaped 2,300 muids of wheat and barley (6,900 imperial bushels) ; besides temporary cottages of wattle and daub, they had built twelve substantial stone houses, planted thirteen orchards, and completed fifty-live canals for irrigating their allotments, of which forty-four measured 41,750 feet in length, or in round numbers twenty-four miles. 12. In the following year, and in 1835, they had to bear the brunt of the most formidable Kafir war which had been experienced on our frontiers. They had now to defend twenty-six miles of frontier, exposed, from the circumstances already explained, to the most deter- mined attacks of the followers of Maeomo and Tyali. 13. The returns from the settlement previous to this outbreak, in December, 1834, were as follows: — Horses, 624 ; black cattle, 5,406; sheep and goats, 8,925 ; quantity of seed sown, 310 muids of wheat, barley, and oats, 70 muids of Indian corn, beans, and peas ; 645 ridges of pumpkins ; the quantity reaped amounted to 1,500 muids of wheat, barley, and oats, 60 muids of Indian corn, &c., and 33 loads of pumpkins. 14. With regard to their live stock, 557 horses, 3,992 black cattle, and 5,460 sheep and goats were swept away, and the greater part of their produce destroyed. Forty-four of their dwellings were burnt to the ground. On that occasion 2,673 of the Kat River inhabitants had to receive support from the Board of Relief, of whom 1,470 were also partially clothed. From 1835 to 1839 it is not in my power to furnish anything like a connected narrative of the progress of the settlement, based on official statements, which, for obvious reasons, I prefer. 15. In 1839, I visited the settlement for the first time. The impres- sion then formed as I passed from the Chumie station to Balfour, the residence of my esteemed and much respected friend Mr. Thomson, are thus expressed in my private journal : “ Aug 5, 1839. — I arrived at Balfour, from the Chumie, about three o’clock in the afternoon, passing through several of the Hottentot locations on my way. I was much struck with the simple, but neat, appearance of many of their cottages, surrounded with their gardens and cultivated fields. In no part of the colony have I seen cultivation carried on to the same extent; every patch of ground capable of irrigation has been encircled by their watercourses. At present their crops, which are more exten- sive this year than at any former period, afford a most luxuriant pros- pect. I am sorry to say, however, that the rust has attacked their crops in many places, and that in consequence, the grain crop will be, to a considerable extent, a failure. This is greatly to be lamented, as the poor people have suffered much from drought during the last two years; and the prospect they now have of surmounting their difficulties is in a great measure cut off. They are, however, by no means disheartened, as their crops of barley, oats, and Indian corn are rich bevond all former years. Really, at present, the Kat River VII is one of the most interesting sights in South Africa. Not an inch of ground is left unturned that can be brought within the reach of irri- gation ; whilst on the slope of many of the hills, fields have been pre- pared by the Fingoes, which are planted with Kafir corn.” 16. During my visit in 1839, I had an opportunity of forming an opinion of the state of education in the settlement. In connection with Mr. Thomson’s congregation, there were two elementary schools, partly supported by a small stipend from the Government, and partly by fees paid by the parents. In connection with the church at Philipton, there were schools established at twelve of the locations, partly supported by fixed allowances from the London Missionary Society and private individuals in England (after whom some of the localities were named), and partly by fees paid by the parents. These elementary schools were in charge of young Hottentot men, who were, at the same time, receiving instruction from Mr. Read, junior, whom they met twice a-week at Philipton. Of these I wrote at the time as follows : — “ I speak in perfect sincerity when I say that I have seldom met with a more interesting body of young men. It is neither from their attainments nor experience that I thus speak of them ; for high expectations cannot be formed of either ; but it is this, — that they possess, in an eminent degree, the spirit and the zeal of the teacher. Their unwearied activity, directed by the younger Mr. Read, is the soul of the system ; and I cannot but admire the efforts they have made for personal improvements under considerable difficulties. At this time Mr. Thomson had three day schools and twelve Sabbath schools, very efficiently conducted in those parts of the settlement occupied by the people of his congregation. The chief drawback to attendance throughout the settlement proved to be the exaction of fees.” 17. It was on the same occasion that I sat down with my friend Mr. Thomson, to calculate, on a rough estimate, the value of the labour which the settlers had expended in constructing dams and cutting watercourses for the purpose of irrigating their allotments. The result of this was, that up to that period labour had been expended to the amount, on a moderate estimate, of £3,500 for that object; this includes many cuttings which were abandoned when it was found that the water could be made to embrace a larger area. 18. From 1841 to 1844, both inclusive, I visited the settlement four times. I found it steadily progressing, but not in the rapid manner that characterised the first ten years after its formation. It had, perhaps, become somewhat overstocked and overpeopled. Its progress, however, will be best shown by the following statistical returns : — In 1844, the road-rate was first imposed on the fixed property of the colony ; this was exactly ten years after the commencement of the Kafir war alluded to in paragraph 12. The fixed pro- perty of the Hottentot settlers of the Kat River was then assessed at the aggregate value of £36,000, which, in reality, repre- sents fixed property to the amount at least of £40,000. Of the live stock at this time, or rather in the year following (1845), which con- sisted of 550 horses, 9,100 black cattle, and 9,500 sheep and goats, the aggregate value amounted to £20,180. The produce of their cultivated lands consisted of 7,560 muids (22,680 bushels) of grain, 50,000 lbs. of oat hay, with a proportionate quantity of pulse, pump- kins, potatoes, fruit, and vegetables. These, together with the value of transport service; wood cut down and sawn up into planks, beams, \ 111 &c., amounted, ill tlie aggregate, to £5,575. The value of the settle- ment, therefore, at this period amounted, in fixed property, live stock, and annual produce, to upwards of £65,850, being on an average of £330 to every square mile of area. 19. This area, as already stated, was divided into 610 allotments, and, at the time I refer to, sustained a population of 5,000 souls. Had it been granted to stock-farmers, it would, on the average area of such farms on the eastern frontier, have been sub-divided into twenty-five farms, on which there would have been a population of not more than 350, of all classes and colours. The whole of these lands realized to the Crown, in the shape of quit-rent on the several allotments, a sum not short of £1,200, exclusive of the forest of the settlement, which, in 1848, could not have produced less than £50 for licences to cut wood. During the years 1844 and 1845 the erf-holders or occupiers (not more than 600 in number) paid in road-rate nearly £300. From 1840 to 1846, both inclusive, that section of the settlement in connec- tion with the London Missionary Society contributed in money, exclusive of the repairs of buildings, £1,100 towards the support of their religious and educational institutions. Within the same period Mr. Thomson’s congregation erected a new and spacious church at Tambookie Valley, which must have cost them at least £1,000, giving a fair value to their labour. 20. At this time the infant, juvenile, evening, and Sabbath schools throughout the settlement were affording instruction to upwards of 1 ,200 persons, diffusing extensively a knowledge both of the Dutch and English languages. 21. I did not again visit the Kat River until 1848; it was then severely suffering (though rallying) from the effects of the war in 1 846 ; their losses in that war have been estimated at £30,000, — and, to complete their misery, the floods of 1848 carried away dams, water-courses, and all the apparatus they had constructed for the pur- poses of irrigation. In the words of my friend, Mr. Thomson, — “The Hottentots had now to encounter the severest trial that had fallen oil them since the formation of the settlement.” When allowed to return to their locations from the military encampments of the settlement, their houses had to be rebuilt, their families fed, and their lands culti- vated. For the purposes of cultivation, seed had been issued to them by the Government, which with hired oxen (chiefly) was put in the ground ; for subsistence and the purchase of stock they went to the forest ; and at the time I visited the settlement there were upwards of ninety saw-pits in active operation, — whilst boys of nine years of age and upwards were withdrawn from school to aid their parents in the work. At the time I visited the settlement a large quantity of draught oxen and other stock had been exchanged with the farmers for planks, beans, and other produce of the forest ; but their efforts had glutted the market, and so low had the prices become that one of the inhabit- ants of an interior district town declared to me, while several Hotten- tot buyers where standing in the market, laden with wood, that after deducting the expense of transport and the licence of 6s. payable on each load, there remained little or nothing for the labour of cutting, hewing, and sawing in the forest. 22. My opinion is, that the Kat River Settlement had not entirely recovered from the war of 1846-7 when that of 1850 commenced. (Signed) J. Rose Innes. Cape Town, 30th May, 1851. LETTER TO THE Ac ENT FOR THE LONDON MISSIONARY Society from tiie Rev. J as. Read, Jin. The R ev. Wm. Thompson, Agent for the London Missionary Society, Cape Town. Kat River Settlement, Elands’ Post, March 27, 1851. Rev. and dear Sir, — The rebellion of a number of the Kat Riser people, as well as Hottentots of other parts of the frontier, is a moral as well as political phenomenon in the history of this country. In 1800, when the Cape became an English colony, the natives were found in insurrection against the Dutch Government and their white aggressors on the frontier, whom they had driven back to nearly the centre of the colony. In 1802, General Dundas requested the Rev. Messrs. Van der Kemp and Read, then residing at Botha’s camp, to negotiate a peace with the revolters on behalf of the British Government, promising them every legal and political protection against their oppressors. Whilst the missionaries were negotiating, His Excellency availed himself of the interval to collect a commando against the Hottentots. From that time to the present unhappy period, though rebellions among the Boers and Kafirs have been rife, the Hottentots have been loyal and faithful sub- jects of the British Crown, attached to its laws and political institutions, and grateful to the Christian public of Britain for the blessings ol the Gospel. The political history of the Hottentots may be divided into three distinct periods. 1st. From the time General Dundas sent the mission- aries to rally the Hottentots under the British flag, to the time when, through the complaints of the missionaries of the lawless oppressions practised on the natives by the white colonists in the interior districts of the colony, judicial commissioners were appointed to visit the country districts periodically, in order to dipense justice, instead of confiding it, as heretofore, to the landdrosts and heem- raden, whose unjust administration of the law is notorious to all men. This period, notwithstanding the promises made to the Hottentots, as before stated, was one of civil disability, lawless oppression, territorial aggression, and murder, as papers on colonial matters, and documents in possession, abundantly show. X 2nd. From the time civil commissioners were appointed to i lie civil emancipation of the Hottentots, on the passing of the 50th Ordinance. In this period there was an abatement of graver oppressions ; hut the people still laboured under civil disabilities, and suffered unlawful treatment, such as being drafted as soldiers, and ordered to work at the towns and villages, and carrying passes. 3rd. From the passing of the 50th Ordinance to the pre- sent time. This period was one of legal protection. The 50th Ordinance, the charter of Hottentot liberty, having- been passed, placed the natives of the colony on an equal footing with the whites, in the sight of the law; the slaves were manumitted, and became free men, and British subjects, in all respects ; friendly treaties were entered into with contiguous native tribes on the eastern and northern frontiers of the colony. Within the time embracing the three political periods aforementioned, the Word of the Lord had free course, and was glorified in the success which attended its minis- tration ; knowledge, both spiritual and secular, in- creased ; and civilization spread among all classes of the community. After the passing of the 50th Ordinance, the scheme of giving lands to the Hottentots and other per- sons of colour in the colony was framed, and erfs were given out to about 750 persons in the Kat River Settle- ment. The progress of the settlement in agricultural pur- suits, cattle breeding, rearing of horses, the establishment of schools, the spread of civilization, sobriety, and the forma- tion of missionary, bible, temperance, and teetotal societies was rapid ; and the rights of citizens were conceded to the people by the Government. The first event which shocked the moral sense of the Kat River Settlement, and the native population generally in the colony, and which affected their confidence in the Colonial Government, was the framing of a Vagrant Act, under the acting-governor- ship of Colonel Wade, an act which contained the essence of despotism, which exhibited the strong prejudice enter- tained against the natives by the colonists, as well as indicated a want of proper regard to the rights of men and fellow-subjects. After violent discussions in Council, fierce speeches at public meetings, presentations of me- morials and protests by whites in favour of it, and by the coloured people against it, it was carried through Council by a majority, His Excellency Sir B. D’Crban, when he XI assumed the Government, the Attorney-General, and their official men, voting against it. Being submitted to the II ome Government, it was disallowed by Lord Aberdeen, the Colonial Secretary. But, though crushed in its birth, and the people saved from the evil at the time, a strong sentiment was implanted in the minds of the people that the white colonists were antagonistic to their interests and liberties, while they had reason to suppose that there was an under-current at work which one day would swamp their political freedom. In 1834, on the second Kafir out- break, Captain Armstrong, then justice of the peace in the settlement, ordered the entire population to take up arms in defence of the country. In other districts, a small contingent only was furnished for the public service. In the Kat River, the whole were ordered out. The inhabit- ants were told by Captain Armstrong not to allow an attempt to save their property to obstruct the public service. To defend the country, and render duty to Government, and to repel and subdue the Kafirs, the inhabitants abandoned their property of all kinds. While some went into Kafirland to fight the enemy, the rest remained to do garrison duty. After the war, the people returned to their farms, ruined in their circumstances; but, notwithstanding their extraordinary sacrifices and efforts on behalf of the Government, they got no assistance to recommence their farming pursuits. It is estimated that by that war the settlement lost property to the amount of between £30,000 and £40,000. * From 1836 to 1846 the people wrought hard, amid adverse circumstances, in order to make up what they had lost ; and it is a fact, that within this period fixed as w ell as moveable property was greatly accumulated in Kat River. In 1846, the third Kafir war broke out ; and Captain Sutton, being sent up by Colonel Hare, organised the people into a military community, and immediately sent 400 men to strengthen Block Drift, and subsequently to attack the Kafirs in the Amatolas. The heroism and gallantry which distinguished the Kat River people need no repeti- tion here, as it is well-known to the public in the colony. It has been well stated by one who has been thirty years in the colony, that the eagerness with which the Kat River people engaged in military service at the call of Govern- ment Iras hitherto acted as a charm on the Hottentots. While in the field, their families had to draw together to n xn places of concentration in a most precipitate manner ; and on the return of the men from the field they found that much of their property had been left, and consequently destroyed by the enemy, or was otherwise lost. After this, three places — Eland’s Post, Fort Armstrong, and Blink water Post, — werefixed upon bv Government as posts to which the people should repair. The field-comman- dants, field-cornets, and people were in favour of a greater number of places of rendezvous being appointed, as being- more favourable for saving property and for depasturing- cattle and live-stock of all kinds, as well as for preserving- health ; but the views of the Government prevailed, and the people had to submit to come to the three places before named : — the result of which was, that nearly all the cattle, sheep, and goats died for the want of grass, whilst the rest were taken by the enemy. Quarter-Master-General Cloete having written to Captain Sutton to propose to the people the plan of incorporating as a levy, they objected ; but sent in, through that gentleman, the propositions which are set forth in a letter dated 19th May, 1846, the substance of which was, that they were anxious to serve the Government cheerfully, and to the utmost of their power, as burghers, — in the same manner as the boers who served under Sir Andries Stockenstrom ; that they did not wish for pay, but trusted that the Government would be pleased to give food to all who were then, or would here- after become, destitute in consequence of a prolongation of the war ; and stating, that whatever his Excellency might think proper to give as a reward, would be thankfully received at the close of the war. This, then, was a bona fide, bargain, made and closed between rulers and ruled. The people placed them- selves substantially in the position of a levy corps: the only difference being that the levies were drilled and got all the immunities of soldiers, while the Kat River people were exempted from this exercise ; but they did all the garrison duties of sweeping the camps and escorting con- tractors’ supplies, wilhout pay ; themselves and families obtaining provisions from Government, and the latter clothing from the Board of Relief. The men got each a jacket, a pair of trowsers, a shirt, and hat at Govern- ment expense. For the field and garrison duties, the Kat River furnished about 1100 men, — of whom about 400 Hottentots and 200 Fingoes accompanied Sir A. Stocken- xm strom and Colonel Hare into the field. By a comparative estimate, it may be easily proved that the Kat River burgher force was the cheapest sustained force on the frontier at the time. Reference to a letter, dated Nov. 26, 1846, will show the amount of service performed by the people of Kat River. Botha performed the best service in the Amatola under Sir A. Stockenstrom, which was honourably mentioned in his despatch to Sir P. Maitland. The Kat River people continued to perform duties in garrison at Eland’s Post, Fort Armstrong, and Blinkwater Post, — such as escorting wagons, riding post, &c., even after the whites had left the field. Let it be borne in mind that, in the propositions to Sir P. Maitland of the 19th May, 1846, the people had stated that if his Excellency should give them any reward, it might be done at the end of the war. By this was meant that they should be assisted with seed, oxen, clothes, and food, after the war was over, — when they expected, as in the war of 1835, that they would have lost everything by the enemy. These propositions, it was staled by Colonel Sutton, had been accepted by the Govern- ment. On Sir Andries coming to Eland’s Post, and seeing the engagement entered into with the people, he directed several spans of oxen to be bought for the use of the inhabit- ants, and sent up from the depot at Cradock mealies and wheat for seed, and gave an order to the Rev. Messrs. Thomson and Read, commissioners of the Board of Relief, to procure clothes for the men at Govern- ment cost. Sir Andries soon after resigned, and a few months after Sir P. Maitland was superseded in the government by Sir H. Pottinger. In a letter addressed to Sir H. Pottinger, which was printed in the Commercial Advertiser at the time, the people set forth their claims on the Government. An unfavourable answer was received. After that, His Excellency wishing to make a move against Pato, General Berkeley sent a requisition, through Colonel Somerset, for a contingent of Kat River men for that service. Field-cornet Peffer, Botha, and Piet Bruintjes went in command of the Kat River contingent. The men returned very much dissatisfied with the treatment they bad received in the performance of this service, inasmuch as they were promised that all the cattle they should take from the Kafirs should be given them ; and on their complaining that they were naked and without blankets, they were promised that these also would XIV be provided for them. But the cattle which the people captured on this expedition were given to the boers. On the time expiring for which their services were engaged, they requested to be allowed to go home. Colonel Somerset, be- ing opposed to their leaving, ordered that the blankets they had received should be returned to Government. Peffer’s men gave up the blankets; but Botha’s men refused, and brought them home. Some time after, Sir H. Pottinger having resolved to attack Sandilli in the Amatola, he issued a proclamation, calling on volunteers to join the expedition, promising them all the cattle they might capture in pay- ment of their services. The volunteers entered Kafirland in four parties, — the first under Oerson Magermann and Andries Botha, junior ; the second under Field-cornet Andries Pretorius; the third under Rhenatus Paarl, of Shiloh; and the fourth, Madoor’s Bushmen, under Andries Hatta. On the party of Oerson Magermann joining General Berkeley, be somewhat altered the plan about the capture of cattle, and made another engagement, that all the cattle which should be taken by the combined force of volunteers, boers, and Hottentot levies, and regular soldiers, should be thrown into one common stock, and afterwards equally divided among all parties. On the cattle being divided, however, the seventy Kat River men, instead of sharing equally with the levies and regular soldiers, only got a hundred head of cattle, while many thousands had been captured. In order to get a few cattle, some of the men had to buy of the cattle which were sold, for which they paid the money into the bank, and obtained receipts at King William’s Town. The parties of Pretorius and Hatta took 1 ,‘200 head of cattle in one day ; but instead of being allowed to retain all these, they only got 250, — the combined forces under Pretorius, Paarl, Hatta, and Magermann, amounted to 76(5. It is not necessary to add that this greatly shook the confidence of the people in Government proclamations and promises. Mr. Biddulph was then appointed Civil Superintendent of the settlement. He came greatly prejudiced against the inhabitants, speaking of the scheme of giving land to Hottentots as a piece of philanthropic nonsense, which had proved a failure. He proceeded at once to disperse the people from the military posts, heaping upon them the most harsh language and insulting epithets, telling them that they were a set of lazv paupers, who had been living on Government rations for so long a lime ; that Gov- ernment would not have them a day longer at the posts; and that if they had nothing to live on, they might go and hire themselves to the boers and settlers. He proceeded further, and sold the oxen, seed, and clothes which had been brought into the settlement by order of Sir A. Stocken- strom, and in fulfilment of Sir P. Maitland’s arrangements, in May, 1841. This done, he wrote a most defamatory re- port to the Right Hon. Sir H. Pottinger, and which was published to the world as a Government notification. Sir A. Stockenstrom, Mr. Fairbairn, in the South African Commercial Advertiser, Mr. Patterson, in the Herald, and nearly all the colonial press, wrote in defence of the inhabitants, whilst the Grahams Town Journal defended the malicious report, and wounded still more the feelings of the people. This proceeding was looked upon by the Hottentots with the deepest disgust and indignation, and made each resolve in his own mind that he would, in the event of another war, sit still, and take care of his property, instead of, as in the former wars with the Kafirs, leaving his property and betaking himself to arms in de- fence of the colony. On Sir Harry Smith coming to the country, the inhabitants of the settlement complained to him of the treatment they had received from the Civil Superintendent. It is due to His Excellency to say, that after complimenting the military exploits of the inhabitants in the war of 1835, he expressed his unabated interest in them ; and on his visiting the settlement in the beginning of 1848, he expressed himself as perfectly satisfied with the con- duct of the Kat River people, and promised them every protection under his administration. He promised, more- over, to appoint a road board for the settlement, and to increase the grant for schools, and appointed Groepe Justice of the Peace, — the first act of the kind which had taken place in the country. But one of the first general measures of Sir H. Smith’s internal government which awakened the fears of the native population, was a contem- plated change in the Master and Servant’s law, which was discussed with the greatest asperity in and out of Council. An impulse, also, was given to this feeling by the threatened passing of vagrant acts, set off by speeches and memorials conceived in the worst spirit, and expressed in the most rancorous language. The next was the calling on the inhabitants of missionary XVI institutions to submit to an examination before Government officials, to test the progress they had made at missionary institutions, — a measure which, while it annoyed and irritated the people, seemed to present the darkest fore- bodings that the day was not far distant when their liberties would again be assailed by vagrant acts, as in 1834. The people at Kat River refused to submit to an examina- tion by the magistrate. Then came the exciting period of the introduction of convicts into the colony, the ex- citing meetings, and the eventful circumstances connected with it. The natives generally, and the Kat River people particularly, took a deep interest in the discussion, and thoroughly sympathised with the colonists on the subject. It may, however, be remarked, as an illustration of the loyalty of the Kat River people during these discussions, that on one occasion, when some of the newspapers and a few persons at public meetings had hinted about physical resistance, a resolution was immediately drawn up and pub- lished by the Kat River Anti-Convict Association deprecat- ing such a sentiment. On this followed the discussion on the new constitution, which immediately and prominently brought out the feeling of the frontier whites against the natives. While the respectable people in Kat River and in the colony rightly understood the great question of a South African Parliament, the less instructed looked on it as a measure fraught with much evil to the natives, and as a stepping-stone to wrest the power from the British Government. This feeling was strengthened by the nonsense published in some of the colonial papers; by the unguarded speeches at public meetings ; and by the threats held out to domestics, as fmay be gathered from the statements of rebels sent to General Somerset through Mr. Wienand. It may be remarked here, that from the time that His Excellency commanded the Kat River battalion as Col. Smith, his name, as a most impartial ruler and commander, was a household word among the Hottentots generally ; and on its being known that he was to follow Sir H. Pottinger in the government, it gave universal satisfac- tion. Sir Harry greatly sympathised with the Kat River people on hearing of their troubles, — dismissing Mr. Biddulph, and subsequently displacing Mr. Bowker, in consequence of mal-administration of the law ; yet it may be slated, on the other hand, that under His Excellency’s xvii administration, events have taken place which had never happened at any former time. 1st. It is granted that 1 i is Excellency displaced Mr. Biddulph ; but he appointed Mr. Bowker, who was known in the colony among the Hottentots as inimical to the interests of the natives, and had written a most unjust letter in support of Mr. Biddulph’s report, only a few weeks prior to his appointment, in the Graham's Town Journal. 2nd. Mr. Bowker disarmed such part of the population as had had guns given to them at the commencement of the settlement, or in the last war, to the number of upwards of 300 stand of arms, — which w as regarded as an undeserved insult. 3rd. The hiring out of the people’s grazing lands at Man- cazana to individual Fingoes, at £\ sterling per annum, by the late Civil Commissioner of the district of Fort Beaufort, without the consent of the people. On the case being represented to the Secretary to Government, he wrote back that the proprietors should have sent the cattle to the pound, but said nothing about the refunding of the money. 4th. The Lower Blinkwater people complained to Government by a memorial that Fuller’s Hoek was filled with squatting Kafirs, who had come into that part since the last war, and had taken up their abode without the consent of the people. Thereupon Mr. Borcherds sent for the Kafir Police, but instead of expelling the squatters, the Commissioner burnt the huls of the F'ingoe servants of proprietors at Tidmanton. On complaints being preferred, a severe rebuke was administered to the memorialists through the Secretary to Government. 5th. Mr. Cobb’s appointment as Civil Superintendent over Hermanus’ people tended greatly to keep up agitation, irritation, and strife in that locality. The first act done was to measure out a piece of the people’s grazing lands for the use of his cattle and horses. Blinkwater Post, where Mr. Cobb lived, had been erected on the grazing lands of Tidmanton, in the same way as the other posts in the Kat River Settlement, — Ekkard’s Poort, the two posts on the Elands’ River, the Chumie, and Fort Armstrong, — that is, within the grazing lands of the blocks in which they are situated. While Government occupied these posts, the troop-horses grazed on the people’s lands. When win Mr. Cobb came to Bliukwater, lie demanded that a certain extent of land should, be measured out to him, and which was done by Mr. Commissioner Borcherds, Mr. Bowker, and Valentyn Jacobs, the field-cornet of the Blink- water. From these lands, situated in the centre of the Tidmanton location, Mr. Cobb wasin the habit of constantly sending cattle to the pound, .to the great annoyance and expense of the inhabitants. Various complaints were made through the Rev. Mr. Freeman, as also through the late magistrate, Mr. Bowker, to the Government, but without receiving any redress. Mr. Cobb was fined, bv Mr. Bowker, in the court of Hertzog, for impound- ing cattle and horses from lands not his own. He afterwards appealed to the circuit court ; the case, how- ever, was again referred to the Hertzog court, when he had to bear his own expense and the defendant Hottentots theirs. The same gentleman had been fined by the magis- trate of Hertzog for a most wanton assault upon Cupido Klaas ; and on the case being reported to His Excel- lency, he was publicly rebuked. About a month before the war, this gentleman had, further, two criminal indict- ments framed against him for an assault on two Bliukwater inhabitants, which, but for the war, would have been prosecuted against him ; and yet this functionary was con- sidered a fit person to be placed among the Bliukwater people. 6th. A portion of the Bliukwater lands was advertised for sale in the Government Gazette , but on the remon- strance of Messrs. Thomson and Read, the advertisement was withdrawn for the time. 7th. Major Blakeway took in a portion of the Blink- water lands, and built a house upon it, though Sir A. Stockenstrom had, in his letter to Asst. -Surveyor-General Montagu, shown that the fountain and lands appertaining to it belonged to Bliukwater, and not to Major Blake- way. This case was also submitted to Government, but without any good issue. 8th. The case of the taxing of the place of the late H ermanus Matroos at <£1 per head (being- his own bona fide property), produced great irritation in the minds of his people, though it did not by any means justify him for taking the wicked and treacherous step he did. 9th. The appointment of gentlemen — Messrs. Godlon- ton, Gilbert, Blake way, and Bovey — as a commission to XIX inquire into certain statements and charges made to His Excellency by some English farmers against certain parties in the Blinkwater, when it was known that these gentlemen were themselves sheep and cattle farmers near Blinkwater, and that they were no friends to the coloured races. These gentlemen greatly irritated the feelings of the people ; and shook their confidence in them as a Com- mission, when, forgetting that they were judges in the case, they went into the houses of Hottentots in Fuller’s Hoek, inspecting everything they saw, scanning every piece of meat and parcel of meal, turning over their bedding, and putting their hands into the pots to see if they were greasy (this, it is right to say, was only done by one of the Com- mission), and asking them to account as to their mode of life within a given time, and their prospects of supporting themselves in time to come. All this was done without a special warrant from the magistrate, — who alone, if he thought these people were suspected persons, had a right to issue a search warrant for their apprehension, or for entering their houses. The impression on the minds of the people of Fuller’s Hoek, though they were assured by the magistrate and others to the contrary, was that the vagrant act was already in operation : to this day they entertain the idea, however fallacious. 10th. The apparent uncertainly on which the people held the lands, — the intimation of Government that the forests would be sold, — the heavy tax on wood, — were all calculated to excite the fears of the people, and to shake their confidence in the intentions of Government. 11th. The judicial mal-ad ministration of Mr. Bowker tended greatly to unsettle the minds of the people, and to destroy the confidence which good subjects should have in a just Government. The false imprisonment of Klaas Stuurman, of Malau Kurabanna, of Jan Esau, of Willem Brass, Michel Michels and brother, and of eighteen men, of whom Goezaar was one, — the fine of £15 on Kasper and Syas Snyman, for Sabbath breaking, — the fine of £30 on the Buxton Gonahs, — the case of Andreas Pretorius, in which he had to give up to claimants all the Kafir cattle he had got under the Poltinger proclamation, and an illegal fine imposed on him in a case brought before the magistrate, amounting to £44, and which made him leave this part of the country for the Orange River in disgust, — the firing of the huts in Kat River by Mr. Cobb, XX — had all tended unusually to excite the people. While it is granted that His Excellency appointed two Commis- sions to inquire into these cases, viz., the first conducted by Mr. Wienand, and the second by Messrs. Calderwood, Stringfellow, and Brownlee, — the fact still remains, that the annoyances came in such rapid succession, and were of such a character, as to make the people believe that Go- vernment took no interest in the well-being of the inhabit- ants of the settlement. There are many other cases which happened under the administration of Mr. Bowker, to which publicity has never been given before, viz., the threat of a police-officer to shoot Peffer’s son, and the impri- sonment of Scharnick for a petty debt, when the man was sick. Need I assure you, my dear Sir, that we knew nothing of any concert for rebellion in the Kat River when the people requested the Government to exempt them from active service in the field this time, and to be allowed to do duty within the Settlement ; it was only done to save their property. It has already been shown how greatly they suffered in former Kafir wars by abandoning their property to go into the field. G eneral Somerset has said that an ample share of the mu- nitions of war was sent into the Settlement at the beginning of the present hostilities. I have shown that Mr. Bowker disarmed the Settlement of upwards of three hundred guns, — while at the commencement of the war not more than from thirty to forty guns, or, on an average, not more than six guns to each field-cornet, were given out. It follows that the Settlement was not in a position to coerce the rebels or to attack the Kafirs when the war commenced, and that half the Settlement, at least, was unarmed. It is further remarked that before the war broke out, the field- cornet and the Rev. Mr. Van Rooyeu told the functionaries of Kat River and Fort Beaufort that Hermanus’ people were constantly increasing, and expressed their fears of his loyalty, and their danger of being caught up by him, should he prove unfaithful. It is affirmed, by a respectable witness, that Hermanus got powder at Fort Beaufort, not- withstanding. Further, when the Blink water people found that Hermanus had resolved on joining the Kafirs, and that he was going to compel the Blinkwater people, most of whom were unarmed, to join him, they sent a letter to Commandant Groepe for help ; but help was not given, XXI for reasons which he will, no doubt, be able to assign in justification of his conduct. A second letter was sent with the same object. At last the Rev. Mr. Van Rooyen and Oerson Magermann came to Fort Armstrong for help ; but this also was of no avail. At last the people, being mostly unarmed, were taken in by Hermanus. It is hoped that these facts will be seriously weighed by the Government before they throw all the blame on the shoulders of the people. It is true that many of the revolters have slighted the liberal and generous offers of the Government, — but it was only after the excesses which had been committed by the Fingoes at Fort Armstrong. I have no doubt, also, that but for the untoward events at Mancazana, in connection with Casper Oliver’s party ; the attack on Shiloh ; and the treatment experienced by the escort which accompanied Mr. 'Wienand to Fort Beaufort, the rebellion w’ould soon have been arrested, or have become very circumscribed in its character. As regards the rebel- lion of a portion of the Kat River people, we denounce it as a wicked, treacherous, and impolitic proceeding, which no rightly-constituted mind can look on otherwise than with contempt, detestation, and pity. I, however, submit, on the other hand, that continued irritation, mis- management, and ill-usage, kept up as above stated, were exciting causes to the alienation of feeling which exists in the minds of the unreflecting and misguided. Being sure of the veracity of the facts stated, I leave the world to make what deductions they please in the solution of what we call a phenomenon in the moral and political atmosphere of South Africa. — I am, &c., Jas. Read, Junr. Mr. Read is responsible for the accuracy of his statements, and whenever properly called upon will cheerfully bring forward the proofs in confirmation : the World, to which he appeals, will be responsible for the correctness of its de- ductions from them. The rebellion of a portion of the Hottentots in this colony who had for so long a period been loyal and brave, — and in the main, as sober, industrious, honest, and religious as the peasantry in any other country, — is a problem yet to be solved. Towards this end Mr. R.’s Letters are valuable contributions, and as such they will be regarded by the intelligent reader. All that we would care to ask from him is, that the whole be judged of in that spirit of xxii fairness and candour, which he would wish to be manifested by others, were he unhappily placed on his own defence. Surely there is nothing unreasonable in this ! “ Whatso- ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,” — is a precept which commends itself to our natural conscience, and, moreover, has the high sanction of Heaven’s King. It would be blind infatuation and a crime to attempt a defence of the rebellion of the Hottentots at the Kat River Settlement. They who allow themselves to speak or write — for so to think we believe to be impossible — as if the pa- triotic men, white or coloured, who were at the Settlement when the confusion, weakness, and mutual distrust ripened into rebellion, were at all privy thereto, but failed to com- municate their knowledge or even their suspicions to the proper local authorities, or, after the first indications of re- bellion, did not use their utmost influence to check its pro- gress, — sin, not only against God, but against human society. If, indeed, they believe their own assertions, let them “ bring forth their strong reasons,” and though they should criminate men hitherto of devoted loyalty, and of most unsullied moral character, — the desolated hearths, the broken family circles of the frontier colonists, and the wail of the widow and the fatherless — the fruit of this alleged perfidy, — demand the sacrifice of their lives to the laws of their injured country. “ Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.” If men are not prepared to go this length, let them refrain from reckless charges and insinuations. None but men who are cowardly, as well as wicked, stab in the dark. He is a “ madman who easteth firebrands, arrows, and death, and saitli, am not I in sport.” The philanthropist has yet to learn that it is a crime to attempt a separation of the innocent from the guilty, — to defend the helpless and unbefriended, and to rescue from worse than death men whose character, now indiscrim- inately and wickedly assailed, has hitherto been regarded as without fear and without reproach. It may be that there is much disparity of social position between the injured and those by wham the injury is inflicted ; but this should rather quicken our sense of justice and gene- rosity, and nerve us to greater effort on their behalf. This is now well-nigh universally admitted ; and he would be a re- creant to every high and noble principle who should hesitate to embody it in action. THE KAT RIVER SETTLEMENT IN 1851. LETTER I. “ Audi alteram partem.” To the Editor of the “ Commercial Advertiser." Alice, May 12, 1851. Sir, — My motto, which is as old as the Roman tongue, and which has been in use since the art of writing came into vogue, and has passed into a hackneyed phrase in newspaper controversy, came never more apropos than at the present conjuncture of state affairs and of public feeling. From the 25th December last to the 22d February, when they were relieved by the successful victory of General Somerset at Fort Armstrong, the Kat River ministers and the loyal inhabitants were comparatively shut out from all correspondence and intercommunion with the Colony, excepting what was carried on directly with the military and ci\il functionaries at Fort Hare, both publicly and privately. During this great interval, the Colonial, and especially the Frontier press, it is said, teemed with accounts, state- ments, and so called authenticated facts, relative to the Kafir and Hottentot rebellion, many of which it would be easy to disprove. On arriving here, my attention was called by several of my friends and correspondents to certain attacks, overt in- sinuations, and wicked aspersions by certain newspaper scribes, affecting the good fame and loyalty of the Kat River ministers and of all the people, — in the absence of direct proof, recourse being had to raising constructive treason by anonymous surmises, and unlawful and inquisi- torial methods. This was carried on 1o satiety, till friends and antagonists simultaneously exclaim, let us hear the other side. D 2 While, in charity, I am prepared to entertain the idea that a great deal which has been said and done is attribut- able to defective information, erroneous impressions, strong impulses, and excited feelings, — I believe on the other hand that much of it is the result of a bad animus, political partisanship, or other unworthy motives. Without in the least wishing to satisfy the inquisitorial interrogatives propounded by certain gentlemen, and sub- mitted to Mr. Renton for reply, as to certain missionaries having, prior to and after the revolt, had intercourse or communication with Kafir chiefs, I may state, for the in- formation of inquirers after truth and the well-disposed of the public, that since the revocation of the Stockenstrom alias Glenelg policy, the Kat River missionaries have taken no interest in Anglo- ICaffrarian politics further than being present at the first great meeting, when a kind of for- mula of the new system was proclaimed by the High Com- missioner : and for this reason, — that in common with several honourable men of what is called the philanthropic party, we had resolved to give the new system a fair trial, and not to intermeddle with it in any way. Secondly, from a persuasion that the Gaika chiefs had been too apathetic, and had not given that energetic support to the Stocken- strom policy which its justice and simple international principles were entitled to at their hands, and therefore they determined in this instance to leave the Kafirs entirely to themselves and the Government. I deem it right to say this, from having heard that a certain gentleman, late of the Kat River, and of whom I may have occasion again to speak, had stated at the celebrated meeting at Graham’s Town, apparently patronizingly, but reaily insidiously, that the Reads were not traitors, but misguided men, who, instead of attending to their professional duties, had intermeddled rather too much with politics, — or words to that effect. If then the Anglo-Kafir policy has miscar- ried, no one surely will have the hardihood to attribute its miscarrying to philanthropic and missionary influence. As to our intermeddling in what is called Kat River politics, — we shall be prepared to vindicate and explain, or qualify, our conduct in that matter when the proper time comes. Meantime, I would say to those Christians who have made such strange statements and insinuations against the Kat River and other missionaries, as to place them on their defence before the public, in the words of the heathen 3 moralist, that “ the more virtuous a man is, the more diffi- cult it is for him to harbour suspicion that others are wicked.” I propose in a few letters or memoranda to offer some dispassionate remarks on certain circumstances connected with the rebellion of a portion of the Kat River people, and would by way of programme say, that I shall show the first indication and development of the rebellion at Kat River: — 2nd. Its progress, and what gave impulse to it : — 3rd. The conduct and efforts of the Kat River ministers and the loyal part of the community to arrest the spread of disaffection, and to bring back the misguided to their alle- giance to the Crown, and to the blessings of law and order : — And, lastly, I shall close with deductions from the foregoing. I am, Sir, &c., James Read, Jr. LETTER II. Alice, May 28, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — The Hottentot rebellion is an event as unlooked for as it is foolish, wicked, and treach- erous. About fifty years ago, the missionaries Van der Kemp, Read, and their colleagues, on their arrival in this country, found them in arms against the frontier colonists under the Dutch Government. On the Cape becoming a British dependency, the missionaries were requested by His Ex- cellency General Dundas to see the Hottentots, who had taken up their main positions on the Sunday River and in the Addo Bush forests, and were infesting those parts, and to offer them peace in the name of the Government, with divers supplementary promises of good will and protection. From that time to the present, though seditions and rebel- lions among the boers in the colony, and wars and blood- shed among the border tribes, have been rife, the Hotten- tots, by the influence of the gospel and attachment to British rule, have been remarkable for their patience and forbearance, and distinguished for their loyalty to the British Government ; while they have within this long period of half a century been the most efficient auxiliaries to the 4 regular troops in the repulsion and subjugation of the Kafir clans. Not to go further back than 1846, I may quote the sentiments of His Excellency Sir P. Maitland, — on the occasion of his visitiug Elaud’s Post on 17th December, 1846, in reply to an address of the Hottentots, — to the field-cornets and inhabitants of the Kat River Settle- ment : — “ I thank the Kat River people for their expression of loyal alle- giance to Her Majesty the Queen, and for their welcome to myself. “ It is a pleasure to me to acknowledge their services in arms during the war, and to thank them in the name of the colony which they have assisted to defend. * * „ * * * * “ In conclusion, I thank the Kat River people for their good wishes for myself and the colony, and trust that, by the favour of Divine Pro- vidence, their hope of security for life and property will be fulfilled. (Signed) “ P. Maitland. “Elands’ River Post, 17th December, 1846.” This was the character of the people during the admin- istration of this excellent ruler. On the assumption of the Government by Sir H Smith, to a congratulatory address, accompanied by complaints against Superintendent Biddulph, for a defamatory report which he had drawn up for Sir H. Pottinger, and which was published as a Government notification, His Excellency returned the following replv, dated King William’s Town, 31st Decem- ber, 1847:—' “ I have received with great pleasure the address from Her Ma- jesty's subjects of the Kat River Settlement, in as far as it specifies such attachment and readiness again to serve under me. Well do I remember, and most fully do I appreciate, the gallant, long, and meritorious services of my Kat River comrades during the last war. Their interest, therefore, must ever be mine ; — and most readily will I watch over their welfare, now that I am the representative of our most gracious Queen, for whom they most truly profess every loyalty. I regret, however, the course which they have pursued in bringing before me their magistrate in any other light than that of their friend and protector. I ever judge by what I see, — and the loyal men of the Kat River shall learn, as I before said, that their interests are mine. “ Fully am I aware of the losses and misfortunes which they have sustained by war. A new order of things, however, 1 hope, breaks upon us for future protection. Happen, however, what may, I shall ever calculate upon the support of the men of the Kat River Settle- ment ; and I hope and expect that they will meet my views, as set forth in the Government Notice of the 17th instant, as to enrolling their names. “I intend ere long to pay the Kat River Settlement a visit ; and trust to see its inhabitants all well. (Signed) “ H. G. Smith.” 5 And in answer to a memorial of the women of the settlement, praying against the introduction of convicted felons into the colony, and of making the Cape a penal settlement. His Excellency was pleased to return the following reply, dated Government House, Cape Town, 19th June, 1849 “ Mesdames, — I have had the honour and gratification of receiving your address from the Kat River Settlement, and I assure you I give you every credit for the good and virtuous feelings therein expressed. I have been interested in the welfare of the Kat River Settlement for years, and have been much associated with its inhabitants, especially in the war of 1835, when many of its brave men, under their zealous and worthy commandants, served under me with great distinction., I have ever remarked in all countries, that where the women are good and virtuous, their children are imbued with loyal, dutiful, and gallant feelings. Thus it is I attribute the good behaviour of the men of Kat River to the virtuous conduct of the women. — I have the honour to be, Mesdames, your most obedient humble servant, (Signed) “ H. G. Smith, Governor.” This was the character of the inhabitants of the Kat River Settlement at the close of Sir P. Maitland’s admin- istrative career, and up to the middle of that of His Excel- lency Sir H. Smith’s, as the above documents show. The present alienation of feeling, not only of the Hottentots but of the natives in general, from the Colonial Government, becomes therefore of necessity a problem to be solved, — a moral and political phenomenon, which must be submitted to a severe and impartial scrutiny. But this inquiry must be originated at home : either a Royal or Parliamentary Commission must be sent out tor this end. The Colonial Government is a party concerned. It may either take the position of plaintiff or defendant ; but judge or umpire it cannot be. But for the late riots at Graham’s Town, men might have been found in this country competent for the task ; but the feeling which now obtains on the frontier, and which it is to be feared vibrates more or less through society, — and, indeed, the entire circumstances of the co- lony, — render it requisite that the commission be constituted as before observed. Besides, the question is of too mo- mentous and comprehensive a nature to be slightly treated. The great aim and object of a commission should be, the eliciting or evolving of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, — irrespective of parties or sects, blacks or whites, ruled or rulers. Meanwhile, if there are tangible reasons to believe that certain men, lay or clerical, have so far forgotten them- G selves as to have been the primum mobile actors in and abettors of this foolish, wicked, and treacherous rebellion of a portion of Her Majesty’s Hottentot and Kafir sub- jects, — let the due course and forms of law be had recourse to ; but let not men be subjected to mobocralic trials, or lyneh-law justice. If they are blameworthy, the prison is the place for them ; if they are not, and have clear con- sciences as before God and men, the prison will be no prison for them. There Anaxogaras squared the circle, — Bunyan meditated his inimitable Allegory, — and Baxter indited his Saints’ Rest. In attempting an account of the defection of a portion of the Kat River people, I shall adopt the narrative form founded on personal knowledge and observation, and on fads and data, extracted from a diary of one of the resi- dents. After the people had affirmed, and the officials had denied, the probability of a Kafir war, the Kat River inhabitants, in common with the rest of Her Majesty’s lieges, received instructions from the Government to embody in volunteer corps under their own elected leaders. A ineetiug of the people having been convened at Hertzog by the Resident Magistrate, J. H. B. Wienand, Esq., the official requisition was read and explained. The meeting was composed of English and natives, — the ex- magistrate, T. H. Bowker, Esq., being also present, and noting down what was said at the meeting. The prevailing sentiment seemed to be, — 1st. That wars had proved impoverishing and ruinous to the people of the Kat River settlement: — 2nd. That after having made great sacrifices for the Government and country in the preceding wars, they had not been well used : — 3rd. That another Kafir war would seal their doom, — that is, sink them in poverty below the rising point. And lastly, they expressed a wish that a letter might be addressed to His Excellency the Governor, praying exemption from active duties at this time, or from entering Kafirland, — and for permission to protect their own sub-district, to where it joins that of Fort Beaufort, by burgher service under their own commandants. The proceedings and speeches made at the meeting were duly taken down and reported to one of the frontier papers at the time. While correspondence and negotiations were going on with the Government on these matters, reports reached Hertzog on Christmas-day, — while the people of both con- ✓ gregations were, according to custom, celebrating the day byattending divine servicethere, — that Colonel Mackinnon’s patrol of demonstration had been attacked and repulsed by the Gaikas, and that the English military settlements on the Chumie had been burnt and the settlers massacred. Our interesting meeting was abruptly closed; and as if it had been proclaimed, “ To thy tents, O Israel,” — the worshippers dispersed to their various homesteads, with instructions from the authorities to assemble in rendezvous at Fort Armstrong, and at the other places that had been selected as points of concentration. A messenger was immediately sent to Philipton to announce the startling and painful intelligence to the people on the place, and to those of the adjacent hamlets. The Revd. Mr. Van Rooyen, being on a visit to Philipton, left instantly for his station at Tidmanton (at the junction of the Kat and Blinkwater rivers, and about 22 miles from Philipton); while myself and John Fourie saddled our horses and set off for Readsdale, to inform Field-cornet Fourie of the distressing occurrences. After having sent for the leading men of that place and informed them of what had transpired, and advised them, moreover, to pack up immediately and to repair to Philipton, the Field- cornet and myself rode off to Bruceton, Wilsonton, and Van der Kempton, locations situated on the Eland’s River, giving them the same information, and urging the same measures on them as on the people of Readsdale. The residents at and about Hertzog and Bell ville, im- mediately prepared to trek to Armstrong with the magis- trate and his establishment. On the 27th, the report of Captain Campbell and his party having been attacked by the Kafir Police which had revolted, came to hand, and that himself and friends were taken to Fort Armstrong by John Kleinhaus and other men belonging to Wilsonton. On the 28th, in company with six of the Philipton people, I rode to Menzies and Lushington to advise the people in Peffer’s cornetcy to expedite their movements, and to draw together at Elands’ Post. On approaching Lushington, we saw six or eight savage-looking Kafirs. On seeing us they cocked their guns, and viewing us askance were evidently preparing to fire. On seeing that we were unarmed, and one of them recognising me as a minister, they diverged from our course, and followed the bye-road leading to 8 the Cliumie Station. I urged on the Lushington people the necessity of going to Elands’ Post without delay. They said they were prepared and willing to go, but did not like to leave their fine crops. It is due to truth to state that this disinclination to leave their ripening crops and luxuriant gardens, pervaded the entire settlement, with scarcely any exception ; the people usually adding that they did not wish after this war to be again styled “ lazy paupers” by Government functionaries and newspapers writers. These visits to the outposts I continued, in company with Cornets Fourie and Petfer, without intermission for several weeks, at the average of two or three visits to each location. On the 29th, letters were brought by Oerson Magerman to the magistrate, the commandant, and ourselves, to the effect that Hermanus Matroos was manifesting a strange disposition, and was manoeuvring to entrap the people of Lower Blinkwater to defection. The same report was made to the civil and military authorities at Fort Beaufort; while again and again they were repeated by letter and word to those at Fort Armstrong. Mr. Thomson, Jr., gallantly offered to go with a party of young men who had volunteered to accompany him, in order to extricate their friends from being forced or enticed into rebellion; but the commandant thought he was not yet strong enough to spare men on such a service. — I am, &c. LETTER III. To the Editor : Sir, — My last closed with the perilous position of the Lower Blinkw r ater people, in being, by either compulsion or solicitation, tempted to join Hermanus’s stand- ardof revolt, and theefforts they used toextricate themselves from their unfortunate condition. I stated that they had not merely reported their circumstances to the functionaries of the Kat River, but also to the civil and military autho- rities at Fort Beaufort. The former, we have seen, could not render them any aid in men ; and it is asserted that from the latter they could only get CO lbs. of powder and ten guns. On the 30th of December, the Rev. Mr. Van Rooyen, Field-cornet Valentyn Jacobs, Cornelius Magerman, 0 native teacher at Hermanns’ location, and a few others of the Blinkwater people, arrived at Fort Armstrong', bringing the lamentable intelligence of the consummation of Hermauus’ defection, and his success in drawing off the greater number of the Hottentots and Gonas with him, by means of coercion, solicitation, and intrigue. The following is the account which they gave of the transaction : — On the return of Mr. Van Rooyen from Philipton, as stated in Letter II., the Field-cornet ordered all the people of the Blinkwater cornetcy to assemble at Tidmanton ; and that all complied with the order except- ing the Fuller’s Hoek residents, who, against all remon- strances, remained there. Ou the 26th December some return wagons belonging to Messrs. Edwards, ofWinterberg Post, were, on then- way back from Fort Beaufort, attacked, pillaged, and the driver, an Englishman, in charge was wounded by Kafirs, while they were outspanned at the second Blink- water Drift, not far from Hermanus’ place. The wounded man immediately made his escape to the station at Tidmanton, where his wounds were dressed and himself comfortably lodged and entertained for the night. In the course of the same evening, two other Englishmen belong- ing to the wagon, but who had loitered in Fort Beaufort to do homage at the temple of Bacchus, and therefore “ the worse for liquor,” came up to the ransacked wagons, but met with no annoyance. Shortly after, Messrs. Ed- wards and Nell, two respectable farmers from the Winter- berg, and the former, I believe, the proprietor of the wagons, also came up to them ; on seeing what was done, they rode back to Tidmanton, where they found the wounded man. They likewise took up their abode with Mr. Van Rooyen for the night. The following morning the wounded man was sent to Fort Beaufort in one of the wagons belonging to the station, accompanied by a guard of Hottentots. Messrs. Nell and Edwards then went to report to Hermanus the theft and assault which had been committed on the previous night. He immediately called his men together, and went out to trace, or to feign to trace, the spoor of the thieves and assailants. While so eugaged, however, with him, those gentlemen saw certain indications which led them to retrace their steps to Tid- manton ; and having made arrangements with Field-cornet Valentyn Jacobs, they placed the wagons, which were E 10 given back by Hermanns, under bis care, and pursued their way homewards, vid Buxton, going half the way with Mr. Wynn’s party, which was bound for Fort Armstrong, to fetch down to Fort Beaufort Miss Campbell aud her brother, Captain Campbell, of the Elands’ River police station, who had been wounded by the Kafir police at the time of the revolt. The two other Englishmen already spoken of persisted, in the face of all that had happened to their fellow travellers, — the robbery committed on the wagons, the unmistakable signs everywhere visible in the unusual excitementin Hermanus’ Hoek, the lightning glances, the secret, sly, undertone colloquies, winking and significant “ talking with eyes” of the Kafirs, and the mysterious bearing and ambiguous conduct of Hermanus, who may now be introduced as chief conspirator, — on going to Retief’s post. Here, by the main road leading through Hermanus’ place, and opposite his house, at about 500 yards’ distance, their corpses were found outraged and mutilated ; and from subsequent information, it seems that Hermanus had their heads taken off, and sent to the impostor Umlangeni, as ocular proof that he had joined his countrymen against the English. On learning what had taken place, Mr. Van Rooyen sent Oerson Magerman to Hermanus, to find out the truth, and to speak to him of the enormity of his conduct in so treacherously seceding from the Government, after having received the munitions of war ; and to remonstrate with him against the commission of brutal atrocities against defenceless travellers and fellow subjects. The messenger further asked him whether he really was going to join Sandilli against the Government — he firmly replied, “ I am;” and pointing towards the spot where the mutilated remains of the poor Englishmen lay, — “These are the proofs,” said he, “ of the part I intend acting. Tell Van Rooyen to be off, either to Philipton or Fort Armstrong, without a moment’s delay, and to take the old, and blind, and lame with him.” On his way back to Tidmanton, the messenger told Mr. Bell, — who, resided near Hermanus’ place, and who was preparing his wagon to escape to Fort Beaufort, — to make haste, as there was no time to lose, as mischief was resolved on by the Kafirs. He inspanned, and went off with the greatest ex- pedition. On hearing that Mr. Bell had fled, Hermanus 11 sent his men to intercept him, and to bring' him back to him dead or alive ; but Mr. B. had providentially advanced too far before the men started, and safely reached his des- tination. Hermanus forthwith issued an order, that all the roads from the Blinkwater to Fort Beaufort, Arm- strong, and Retief, were to be blockaded by his warriors, and all communication with those places cut off, unless by special order from himself. The same afternoon, as Mr. Wynn’s party were returning from Fort Armstrong, they were told by the Tidmanton people, that the pass to Beaufort was guarded, and they were dissuaded from taking the main road, and were advised to go by the bridle path. They were, moreover, provided with an escort and with guides for this object, who brought the party within sight of Beaufort and came back to their own camp at Tidman- ton. At this juncture there was not the least indication of defection, or a ripple of rebellion on the surface of Hot- tentot society at Blinkwater; all was as yet smooth and orderly. Nothing in word or deed had happened to lead to the most distant suspicion. The Hottentots, in the strongest language, had condemned the conduct of Her- manus in the brutal murder of the Englishmen ; they had also sent word to Armstrong and Beaufort to inform the authorities of their perilous situation, had asked help to get away from the Blinkwater, and had resolved among them- selves, as they had ever done, to stand by the Government. The same evening about dusk, Hermanus came to Tid- manton with a large body of men, and on coming before the church door, in which the people had taken up their abode, he hallooed, in a dictatorial tone, “ Where is the Field-cornet Valentyn Jacobs ? He must tell me to-night whether he is on my side or on the side of the government.” Mr. Van Rooyen quietly said to him, “What do you mean, Hermanus? what do you want?” He exclaimed, “ I want the men.” Mr. Van Rooyen rejoined, “ You must not force the people into rebellion, Hermanus.” He replied, “No, I shall first ask them; but, willing or not willing, they shall go.” It was calculated that at this time there were in Hermanns’ Hoek about nine hundred Kafirs, including the servants who had left their masters, and whose conduct had been the cause of so much excitement in the colony, and only ninety Hottentots at Blinkwater, more than half of whom were, as I have already said, unarmed. Hermanus then rode about the camp, ordering 12 uut the men. Mr. Van Rooyen all the while following and seeking to dissuade him from such doings. He at last turned round and rebuked Mr. Van Rooyen in Kafir, and one of the Kafirs then told him it was no longer safe for him to be there. On Monday morning, 30th December, Mr. Van Rooyen, seeing he could get no help from Armstrong to extricate the Hottentots out of their awkward predicament, that the people were not strong enough to resist or to fight their way thither, and that his own safety was in danger, — resolved on leaving for Fort Armstrong: on reaching which he again applied to the functionaries for help to get the people away from Hermanus, — but got none. The same afternoon Hermanus made an attack on the cattle of the Fingoes at the old school, near Fort Beaufort, taking a large number of them. On this day he had his horse shot under him, and narrowly escaped being slain. On the 31st he came with a still greater force, and took away all the men capable of bearing arms to Fuller’s Hoek, and only allowed the Field-cornet and his native teacher, Cornelius Magertnan, to accompany Mr. Van Rooyen’s family to Fort Armstrong. On the Gth January two messengers were sent off to Hermanus and the Hottentots whom he had taken in, with letters from my father and Commandant Groepe. The former reminded them of their duty to the Govern- ment that had done so much for them, the sinfulness of rebellion, — bringing to their recollection the admonition of the Apostle in the 15th of Romans, that whosoever re- sisteth the power (rightly constituted government), resisteth the appointment of God, — and concluded by urging them to look for a way of escape, and to come out from among the Kafirs. Groepe wrote Hermanus of the folly, impolicy, and hazard of joining the Kafirs against the Government, and prayed him not to embark in such an undertaking. On the return of the messengers they said that when they came to Hermanus he was busy making preparations for a descent on Fort Beaufort the following day, and that he had been out all day ordering out the men. In the course of the evening he told them that he had done very wrong in taking up arms against the Govern- ment, exclaiming, “What will my old father Somerset say to this ? Believe me, my friends, though I am thus embarked I am not happy, — my conscience is very heavy, 13 and is biting me very much ; but 1 have gone so far, anil cannot go back ; on all sides is danger.” The following- day he was slain in Fort Beaufort with many of his people and Blinkwater Hottentots, —an event which has already been graphically described by the writers from that place. Of the intention of Hermanus to attack Fort Beaufort due warning was given to the authorities at Fort Hare, as may be seen front the following note to an official gentleman : — “Fort Armstrong, 5th January, 1851. “ My dear Sir, — William Goezaar and John Corner were to-day at Philipton Chapel ; the last told me that he had heard at Blinkwater yesterday, that Hermanus intended to attack Fort Beaufort to-morrow evening. Perhaps it is mere talk, yet it is a pity that Colonel Sutton could not know that there was such a talk ; so that, should there be any truth in it, the people may be prepared. I thought it my duty just to mention it.” (Signed) “J. Read, Sen.” It may here be mentioned, that the day after Hermanus had killed the two Englishmen opposite his house, a farmer from the Koenap who had traced his oxen to his location, came to him and reported his loss. On leaving, Hermanus said, “ If you are a boer, you may have your oxen he then gave him nine, and promised to send the others. This, I have reason to believe to be a veritable story, and one that can be authenticated. — I am, &c. LETTER IV. Alice, May 30, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — It may be expedient, for the sake of perspicuity in the narrative, to introduce to the reader, in brief outline, the character of the old Govern- ment interpreter, and the late principal conspirator in the Blinkwater rebellion, — Hermanus Matroos. The subject of our obituary was the son of an absconded slave by a Kafir woman of Eno’s tribe. He early left Kafirland, and was brought up by a respectable farmer in the sub-district of Z wager’s Hoek, where he learnt to speak the Dutch language with the fluency and accent of a Hottentot, and became expert in wagon-driving, grooming, after-riding, and in all the branches of farmers’ service. 14 When he arrived at the years of maturity he returned to Kafirland, where, having undergone the rite which con- stituted him a man, he took up his abode at Gaika’s kraal, whose good- will he soon gained by his shrewdness and tact, and was by him ultimately used in the various em- ployments of Kafir state-craft, diplomacy, and interpreta- tion. Subsequently he became interpreter to the frontier authorities under the old patrol or commando system, for which he was well fitted. In this situation he served, 1 believe, for about ten or twelve years. Having rendered himself obnoxious to Gaika and his people, he, on the breaking up of the old frontier regime, threw himself upon the consideration of the colonial govern- ment, as an old public servant, as be was in the habit of styling himself, and as such had a place given him near to the missionary institution of Theopolis ; but it proving un- healthy for sheep and cattle, he made application for another, and got from Sir B. D’ Urban a large portion of the lower Blinkwater lands, which had been set apart and reserved for Her Majesty’s coloured subjects in the colony. On Sir Andreas Stockenstrom’s assumption of the Lieut. -Governorship of the frontier districts, he protested against this slicing of the lands of the Hottentots, and against the introduction of a barbarous element among a half-civilised people, foreboding that great moral as well as political evils would arise from having Kafirs and Hot- tentots mixed up in this manner. After long and acri- monious discussion, it was finally settled that, with the reservation of Fuller’s Hoek, the grant should be confirmed to Hermanus. In the government, and among the people of the colony, Hermanus had both friends and foes. Some said he was an arrant knave ; others that he was passably honest. There were, however, constant complaints preferred against him ; but few were put forth in a tangible shape : at least, Hermanus invariably had, perhaps for the want of evidence, or by his adroitness, or by his Kafir forensic talent, the best of the argument. In two wars, and in scores of patrols and commandoes, he and his people had faithfully served the Government against his own nation and chief- tains, for which they are often honourably mentioned in the accounts of the wars of 1836 and 1846. But though he spoke Dutch fluently, lived in the colony, and was faithful tothe Government, he was, notwithstanding, 15 a Kafir in bis habits, his customs, and his notions. Though in point of time a naturalized British subject, be kept up feudal allegiance to Gaika’s house, and was always ranked among the umpakati, or councillor class. Hermanus was, moreover, matrimonially related to Eno’s family, and to some other houses of Kafir notables. He pro- fessed to place himself under the tuition of the mission- aries of the London Missionary Society, and had a resident native teacher, and a school-room, with above 100 children receiving daily instruction. He also added his mite, and urged his people, to do the same, towards missionary and other charitable funds. He, however, always maintained that though a British subject, he was free to believe what he chose, and to adhere to the customs of his country, if they did not interfere with the rights of others, or with the laws of the colon). Moreover, he kept up a regular intercourse with the Kafir priesthood, or clique of rain- makers. I regret to say that he had often made himself guilty before God and man of practising the most revolting of Kafir usages, such as the sekoe ; all of which was made known by us to the representatives ot the Government in the district in which he dwelt, — but without anyprohibitive results. There was also uninterrupted intercourse between Kafir- land and Blinkwater ; and, though we often brought this to the notice of the Beaufort functionaries, no attempts were made to put a stop to it. From this circumstance there were constantly new faces on the place, and the ratio of the increase of the population seemed to exceed the natural laws : — all of which was known to the servants of Government. In 1848 the Government placed Hermanus’s location in the same category with Government lands hired to Fingoes, viz., subject to a family-tax of one pound per annum, which would make the rent of it — which was but the extent of a common boer’s place — above one hundred pounds. Against this act he repeatedly protested by memorials, but received no other reply than that if he and the Fuller’s Hoek peo- ple did not pay the rent, payment would be exacted by distraint. From that time, and the subsequent appointment of the late unfortunate Mr. Cobb as Civil Superintendent over his people, Hermanus was observed to look sometimes depressed, and at other times sullen and chagrined ; and he often, in his pensive moods, spoke of retiring to Moshesb’s country, or eastward into the interior. This was the state of things when His Excellency, — in compliance with a petition of certain complainants living at and adjacent to Fort Beaufort, of thefts committed on their flocks by Fuller’s Hoek inhabitants, and by the people of the chief Hermanus, — was pleased, on thelGth November, to appoint a Commission, consisting of the Hon. R. God- lonton, Esq., J.P., R. Bovey, Esq., J.P., W. Gilbert, Esq., Field-cornet, and John Blakeway, Esq., to proceed to those places, and minutely to investigate into the complaints and accusations in question, and to make a full report to him on the subject.* On the night of the 19th I received a note from Mr. Wienand, stating that by order of His Excellency he was to attend on the Commission at the lower Blinkwater Post, and that, as Mr. Godlonton had suggested that my father or myself should be present, he begged me to accompany him next morning. On arriving there I expressed my views in writing to Mr. Wienaud, as to the way in which the Commission was constituted, viz. : that two of the gen- tlemen, Messrs. Gilbert and Blakeway, were themselves cattle and sheep farmers in the vicinity of the suspected and accused localities, and therefore, if not themselves the complainants, yet the friends and parents of the parties sending in the complaints, and that as such they were locally and personally interested; and, moreover, that one of them, Mr. Blakeway, by his disputes with the Hotten- tots of Blinkwater about a portion of the commonage lands which he had taken away from them, was disqualified to adjudge impartially between the accusers and the accused. I further added that I had not the same objections to urge against Messrs. Godlonton and Bovey. This document Mr. Wienand gave in to the Commission. For several days Mr, Van Rooyenand myself attended the Commission, and gavein, through Mr. Wienand, the following Memoranda: — “ Tidmanton, November 25, 1850. “ Sir, — There are certain things which I wish, as an inhabitant of Blinkwater, to bring before your notice, which will account for many of the complaints which are made by the Blinkwater people, and of which they have themselves complained. * This Report has recently been published, vide “ Proceedings of, &c., on Ordinance to prevent squatting” &c., 1852. 17 “ I. — Oa the Kumie, in an adjoining stream of the Blinkwater, are a number of Kafirs, who, some time ago, came from various parts of the colony, — some, I think, from Mr. Blakeway’s, others from Bear’s, and others from the neighbourhood of Fort Beaufort. I think that there are two petty chiefs among them, — one Dundo, who had a pass from Mr. Brownlee, and another Hermanus.* “ The people of Upper Blinkwater have often complained about these people. They were, I think, twice removed and burnt out, but have as often returned. It is, I believe, among these people that the two young murderers were found, whose preliminary investigation is now pending before your court at Hertzog. The thieves of Sweet- man’s cattle were also among those people. “ II. — The inhabitants of Fuller’s Hoek have their suspicions, that although the kraal ofSpeelman could not be found guilty of the spoor of cattle lately traced to his kraal, that there are strong suspicions about them. They were sent to Kafirland by Mr. Stringfellow, but they have returned to Fuller’s Hoek. “ III. — I wish also to say that a great number of the thefts are con- nected with the pass system from Kafirland. Some time ago, I hired three Kafirs with passes from Mr. Brownlee. They lived near my house. I found out that they had stolen an ox from Mr. Stanford. They have been tried and sentenced by the judge. There are other cases of the same sort. “ IV. — The going to and fro between Hermanus’s people and Kafir- land should be stopped. The people of Blinkwater are not satisfied with this free intercourse. Through this state of things the Blink- water is constantly blamed. “ V. — Most of the Gonas at Upper and Lower Blinkwater, and the Kafirs who formerly lived with Mr. Caldenvood here, are respectable and honest people. “ VI. — If there are thieves in Fuller’s Hoek, Gonas and Hermanus’s people, it is not from want at those two places, as the granaries of Kafir corn and mealies, and as the shops here and those at Fort Beau- fort, could testify. “ VII. — The poorest Hottentots at Blinkwater live by wood-cutting, in which there is great division of labour, as Mr. Green’s shop and those at Fort Beaufort could prove. “VIII. — Had the people been asked, they would have stated these things. I could show you a letter to Government, signed by the erf-holders here, to have the squatting Kafirs removed ; but, instead of this, Mr. Borcherds came with the Police, and burnt out the con- tracted Fingoes and Kafir servants indiscriminately, which brought the people into contact with him. “ IX. — It should be remembered that the Blinkwater and the whole of the Kat River line is the thoroughfare of Kafir thieves into the colony, and that it is therefore strange that the whole country should now be called on to give in complaints against Fuller’s Hoek of cattle which were lost, and may have been reported as having been stolen by Kafirs, and perhaps returned ; but which, as Hermanus said the other day, were never reported to the people of Blinkwater.” (Signed) “ A. Van Rooyen.” “ To J. R. B. Wienand, Esq., Blinkwater Post.” This was not Hermanns Matrons. 18 1 also gave in to Mr. Wienaml the following memoran- dum, and requested him to lay it before the Commission . — “ MEMORANDUM. “ The original locating of Hermanns at the Blinkwater, by Sir B. D’Urban, was an infringement on the plan of the Kat River Settle- ment and the rights of the people of the Settlement, to whom the lands had been assigned, or for whose use set apart. “ Sir Andries Stockenstrom, the founder of the Settlement, opposed the measure formed by Sir B. D’Urban and Col. Somerset, on his return from England ; but being overruled by the parties aforesaid, he only took back part of the lands given to Hcrmanus, and conferred the present location on him as bond, fide property. “ That Hermanus’s position is an anomaly taken in connection with the original plan of the Settlement, cannot be gainsaid ; but the mis- take having been committed, and the place given to him, his rights should be respected. It would, perhaps, have been as well to have removed him to some other frontier locality, and to allow the lands to revert to their original claimants. “ I am not aware that Hermanus’s people are given to thieving, or that any spoors have ever been directly traced to him ; but the egress and ingress of Kafirs to his place have been too free to be unattended with evil, and should have been long ago checked by the authorities. “ He should also have been made to conform to European customs, and not to have been allowed to practise heathen customs, repugnant alike to morals, religion, and to the laws of the country. These mat- ters have repeatedly been submitted to the late functionary, Mr. Bor- clierds, with a view that they should be brought under the notice of Government ; but I believe it was never done. “ The inhabitants of Blinkwater have more than once requested Government to cause squatting Kafirs and Fingoes to be expelled from off the lands of the settlement, but there has generally been some bungling in the matter. The present state of the Blinkwater and other parts of the frontier is chargeable on Government, and not on the inhabitants.” (Signed) “ James Read, Jun.” Commandant Croepe, I believe, made a similar state- ment to the Commissioners while at the Blinkwater Post. Besides this, while at Fort Beaufort and Blinkwater, the Commissioners were putin possession of the following facts, viz. : — 1. That Hermanus and his people had obeyed the ge- neral order of the deceiver Umlangeni, and had slaughtered a great number of dun-coloured cattle, filling the shop at Tidmanton and others at Fort Beaufort with hides. 2. That he and his people had not cultivated their lands as usual. 3. That a great number of the Kafir servants, whose desertion from their masters in the colony had been the cause of so much excitement, had been received into Ilcr- manus’s district. 11 ) 4. That new Kafirs from Kafirlaud had been coining in to him, while Mr. Wienand, Mr. Van Rooyen, myself, and other of the Blinkwater people, took the Commission to the Kumie, in order that they themselves might see the spots and ravines where the squatters and “ servants” were living. They did see numbers of squatters and “ ser- vants,” but not all, as time did not allow of their visiting those in the fastnesses below the Upper Blinkwater, in Hermanus’s district. The Commissioners heard, while we were oil-saddled under the trees at the Kumie, Hermanus’s complaints about the rent imposed on his place, — of the conduct of Mr. Superintendent Cobb towards Hermanns, — and of his desire that Mr. Bovey, of Beaufort, should be appointed in thatgentleman’s stead, — and Hermanus’s very significant remarks to Mr. Godlonton, of what he consi- dered the ingratitude of the Government towards him. These expressions were, without doubt, understood by Mr. Godlonton, as he requested me to say to the animadverter, with spirit and firmness, that if the Kafirs and other natives should kill all the English on the frontier, the mother- country would soon send enough of troops to avenge their death, and others of their countrymen to re-inhabit the land ; while another of the Commissioners, as we were riding along, said to me, — Mr. Read, you must use your influence with Mr. Wienand, so as to induce him not to act too harshly by the squatters and “ servants,” but to remove them quietly, as we see it will not do to excite them unnecessarily at this time. If all this be true, and it is undeniably so, where is the pretended mystery of Her- manus’s defection ? What have the missionaries kept back that they should have made known ? Or why, it may further be asked, should missionaries, more than the paid and accredited servants of Government, be made respon- sible for the plots and intrigues, or conspiracies, or rebel- lions of Her Majesty’s subjects ? Here were the facts ; and he that would might have seen the foreshadowing of coming events, with their dire calamities to our state. But not only so. It is notorious that some time preced- ing the rebellion in Kafirland, and its development at the Blinkwater, the Field-cornet Valentyn Jacobs and the Rev. A. Van Rooyen went to Fort Beaufort, and told the authorities and other inhabitants of that place of their sus- picions of llermanus’s fidelity in case of a rupture with the Kafirs, — founded on the extraordinary proportion at which 20 his men had increased within a given time, — his not having sown his lands, as usual, — his obeying Umlangeni’s order, in killing all dun-coloured cattle, — and his harbour- ing such a number of eloped servants in his district. It was known, too, that the Blinkwater Hottentots had been greatly annoyed and harassed by Mr. Superintendent Cobb sending their cattle from their own grazing land to the pound at Fort Beaufort, and by other grievances, — that, through the Rev. Mr. Freeman, and other gentlemen, their case had been made known to Government, but without redress, — that they had tried a legal course, and prosecuted the Superintendent before the Hertzog court, in the time of Mr. Bowker’s administration, and that in appeal the case had been brought before the late Mr. Justice Menzies, at the last circuit, who had referred it back to the sub-district court at Hertzog : — all this was known to most men on the immediate frontier, but no one thought that their dissatisfaction would manifest itself by a foolish, wicked, and treacherous coalition with the Kafirs against the Queen’s Government, and a Government, too, bating lesser matters, that had done so much for the Hottentots as a people. Whether there may have been latent rebellion in the minds of the Blinkwater Gonas and Hottentots, or whether the act was premeditated, or merely had its origin from the compulsions and enticings of Hermanus, is probably only known to Him to whom thoughts and actions are the same, but it may be elicited by the forthcoming Commission of Inquiry. The missionaries knew as little of it as the public and the Government. I waive further remarks for the present. — I am, &c. LETTER V. Alice, May 25, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — I return to the narrative. Sti- mulated by the successful seizure of the cattle of the Fort Beaufort Fingoes, amounting to about 2,000 head, — the Fingoes and F'ort Beaufort people having been taken un- awares by those whom they believed to be on the side of the Government, — Hermanus and his insurgent band, about the 1st or 2nd of January, turned their attention to Mr. George Gilbert’s and to other contiguous farms, all valuable properties, and well stocked with sheep and cattle. The live-stock had, I apprehend, been removed during the period of suspense between peace and war ; but a great part of what was not readily moveable must have been left there, as the booty which I afterwards saw at the Upper Blinkwater after the evacuation of Fuller’s Hoek, and after the Lower Blinkwater people had joined those of the former, was immense and most valuable. Among the things which were taken were two pieces of small cannon which had been mounted on a tower at Mr. Gilbert’s. And now many who had at first been forced into revolt, feeling em- boldened by their success, committed themselves to rebellion. A lew still maintained their integrity ainid sin, temptations, and threats, and were only seeking for an opportunity of escaping. Such was afterwards afforded them, as will be seen hereafter. Elated by their good fortune at isolated farms, and the Kafirs in particular animated by the predictions of the false prophet, they marched on Fort Beaufort, half the Hotten- tots being only armed with clubs or bludgeons. They were, however, soon grievously undeceived by the slaying of Hermanus and many Hottentots and Kafirs, and by the subsequent taking and ransacking of their camp. They felt much chagrin at being beaten, as they said, by the Fort Beaufort shopkeepers and Fingoes. After the results at Fort Beaufort, other elements were introduced into the question. The chords of national pride and of sympathy were struck, and the ruling feeling seemed to be to retrieve their character as burgher soldiers, which had hitherto stood so high in the colony. I believe that a few days after this, a wagon coming from either Graaff- Reinet or Somerset to Fort Beaufort, in charge of English- men, — in which, bye the bye, were several kegs of powder, — was captured by the rebels, and having pillaged it, and w reaked their vengeance on the whites, they drove the oxen into Hermanus’s Hoek. Here it may be mentioned, that on the 29th and 30th December the Rev. Messrs. Thomson and Read, senior and junior, with Mr. Green, and their respective families, left Balfour and went to reside at Fort Armstrong ; but Philipton and Eland’s Post were continued as out- posts. About this time, the 30th December, we heard at Fort Armstrong that a misunderstanding had taken place between the English of the Winterbergcn and the Hottentots who had been living with them as their servants or small tenants, and who had been or were still trekking into the upper Blinkwater on the way to Kat River, to place them- selves, as had been the custom in all former wars, under the commandant, or the officer commanding for the time being. A collision was feared, and Mr. Wienand promptly wrote a letter to the people of the Winterbergen, but could not get any one to take it. In a few days afterwards we heard that skirmishes had ensued, and that some of the people of Botha’s field-cornetcy had taken part with those Hottentots against the English. Last war (1846) a similar misunderstanding had taken place between the same parties, but it had been timely settled by Colonel Sutton, then in command of the Kat River Settlement. On the 2nd January, I resolved on visiting the upper Blinkwater and Buxton, to see and hear for myself, and to redeem those who were going astray. One of my deacons, Hendrik Vincent, accompanied me. About half a mile from Fort Armstrong, we met Field-cornet Andreas Botha, who, as usual, was going to Fort Armstrong to receive orders, and to make his report to Mr. Wienand and Commandant Groepe. He asked where I was bound ? I replied to Buxton and Blinkwater. He said, — “ All is up ; my sons and all the young people have left me, and I, my wife, and the old people, are all that are left. The firing you hear is likely on the Winterberg English.” I felt startled at the vague reports we had heard being now confirmed by him. He tried to dissuade me from going, but I persisted, and went. He went on to Fort Armstrong, and reported all that had happened to the Commandant and Mr. Wienand. As we approached Buxton, we espied some Kafirs in some of the huts on this side of Buxton. They must, according to report, have belonged to Ilermanus’s clan. On seeing me, one of them snatched up his gun, and was going to level it at me ; but the other pulled it down, saying he is the “ umfundise,” the teacher. Then taking the Buxton interpreter, Ruiter Jacobs, with us, we rode to upper Blinkwater. Ascending the hill above Buxton, we saw a great assemblage of wagons and huts at the ham- let of Wilberforce, and in the valleys below numerous herds of cattle, sheep, and horses. Some, no doubt, were their own ; but numbers must have been stolen in the affray with the Winterberg people. M v heart sunk within 23 me when I saw the reality of a Hottentot insurrection. Scenes of rapine ami murder crossed my mind, and I was ready to sink. Who knows, thought I, but all the Winter- berg families may be killed, — their houses pillaged, burnt, — and all their property carried off. It seemed to be the breaking down of the work of fifty years, — the work of much treasure, of much physical and mental labour, and of many anxieties and prayers. The injury that our cha- racters would sustain also affected me. I thought also of what had been done for the people by Van der Kemp and his colleagues, by Dr. Philip, Stockenstrom, Fairbairn, and by the British public, and by the English and colonial Governments. On approaching the hill on this side the place, we came up to one of the advanced sentries, who was lying on his back, resting his head on an ant hill, and spying surlily and eagerly all the roads leading into the Blinkwater from Fort Armstrong and Fort Beaufort. I greeted him — but he remained unmoved, and would not return the compliment. We felt at once our visit was unwelcome, and that we had imprudently advanced too far without an escort. On we went, however, and alighted before one of the houses. Now w e saw' the fatherlander sheep browsing — one slaugh- tered (sometimes two) in each house, pots boiling, meat roasting, and bread, cakes, and pancakes baking in abun- dance, w hile the whole scene seemed frantic with mirth and good cheer; and vet there was a pensive but wrought up solemnity — so characteristic of the Hottentots — but which occasionally broke loose in unbounded laughter. We im- mediately asked who the heads were ; and were told that a man named Thielman Kievit, — and who, l regret to say, had been an office-bearer in our church, — had, the day before, at a meeting held under one of the stately yellow -w'ood trees on the banks of the Blinkwater streamlets, been chosen headman or chief. At this time Uithaalder had not yet openly declared himself a rebel. We asked them what all this was about, and what it all meant ! They replied that certain Englishmen, whom they named, with whom they had lived in the Winterbergen and the Koonap, had first begun to maltreat the Hottentots, and that they were only retaliating and defending themselves. I rejoined that they should have complained to the magis- trate and not have taken the law into their own hands. They said that they had complained to Mr. Wienand, but that nothing had come out of it. I told them Mr. YVienand had prepared a letter, but could not find any one willing to take it to the Winterbergen. They replied that they were not fighting against the Government, and that they were loyal subjects of the Queen. They were told that Her Majesty, or her Representative, could not allow her subjects to rob and kill one another, and that unless they desisted. Govern- ment would have to make severe examples of them. They seemed to feel what was said, and many now promised that they would lay down their weapons, and repair either to Philipton or to Fort Armstrong. They offered us food, hut we refused to touch it, as we looked on it as the price of blood and plunder, that would of a truth meet with retributive justice from on high. And I would here add in justice to the loyal Hottentots who from time to time accompanied me to the Blinkwater and other camps to make known his Excellency’s merciful offer of pardon, and to try to reclaim their friends from error, that they would never touch food set before them at rebel camps, always taking their own with them in their side hags or haversacks. In this way they at once took up a firm position. Before leaving the rebels, I proposed holding worship with them, and some readily, but the majority tardily and sullenly, consented. After singing and praying, I took for my text, Genesis, 47th chap., 5th verse: — “ Simeon and Levi are brethren ; their swords are weapons of violence. O my soul, come not into their secret ; unto their assembly, mine honour, he not thou united ; for in their anger they slew the men, and in their selfwill they cut off the princes. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel ; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.” This duty performed, during which I freely stated to them the enormity of their conduct, the advantages they had lost, and the evil they had inflicted on themselves and children, — I rode home with my fellow-travellers in much heaviness of heart. On the 3rd January, we sent two mes- sengers to the Mancazana with a letter, of which the fol- lowing is a translation : — “Fort Armstrong, ,3rd January, 1851. “My dear Friends, — I enclose a letter from Colonel Somerset, who is at present acting in the name of the Governor, offering free pardon 25 to all who may, either in one way or the other, have joined themselves with the rebel band of Hennanus Matroos. “ I am sorry that there are strange reports about the people of the Mancazana, and we, your ministers, the field-commandant, and field- cornet, have no means of contradicting them or vindicating you. “ The revolt of Hermanns Matroos is awful treachery against Her Majesty and her peaceable subjects, and it would be unmanly for any Hottentot to take any part in it. “ I advise you at once to come out of the Mancazana, as there are already strong suspicions that some of the people have shared in the plunder and murders of the said Hermanus Matroos. Separate your- selves at once from the rebels, be it Kafir, Hottentot, or Gonah. The respectable people of Kat River have resolved to have no participation in this unrighteousness. Let me counsel you to come out at once, — we are ready to assist you with wagons.” “Your sorrowful friend and minister, (Signed) “ J ames Read, Jun.” My father wrote a similar letter, of which, however, no copy has been kept. Both were shown to Mr. Wienand, his clerk, and to other English friends prior to their being sent off. On the same day, the Rev. Mr. Thomson, minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and myself, went to Men- zies to inter the venerable old Ekkert, a retired elder of the Dutch Reformed Church, as well as to encourage and advise our people to leave their places and to come to either Fort Armstrong, Eland’s Post, or Philipton. After much talking, the people of Menziesberg promised to go to Eland’s Post ; those of Lushington demurred, stating that they felt much averse to leave their crops, then ripe and ripening. On the 9th, a deputation, consisting of my father, Mr. A. Van Rooyen, Field-cornets Fourie and Botha, Andries Hatta, Hendrik Heyns, David Malgas, and myself, visited the rebel camp at the Upper Blink- water. By this time the Lower Blinkwater and Herma- nus’s people had left that part, and joined with Uithaalder and his adherents. We remonstrated with them about their wicked proceedings against their white fellow-colo- nists, and prayed them to desist from further breaking the law. Each of the deputation endeavoured to speak to as many individuals as he could singly ; after which they were invited to assemble together for worship. My father addressed them from Matt. 5, 9: — “ Blessed are the peace- makers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” Having briefly stated the benign character of the Gospel dispensation, G 26 the meek, holy, and peaceable behaviour of its Author, he enforced the doctrine and precepts embodied in the text on the professors of the Gospel. Before closing, he described their heathenish state fifty years ago, enumerated the religious privileges they had been blessed with, and prayed them by the love they bore him as their minister, by the debt of gratitude they owed to the English churches and nation, and by the greatness of the Redeemer’s cause, which would be tarnished by their revolting against the Government, to lay down their arms and accept the prof- fered pardon — to repent of their sins done, and return to God. He affectingly asked them whether they would sully the jubilee of his coming among them with blood ! The service ended, I proceeded to read General Somer- set’s liberal and conciliatory proclamation, — spoke of their ingratitude in taking part with the Kafirs against the Government and colonists, without any ostensible or tangi- ble cause, — and closed by urging them to return to peace and to their duty, as good subjects. The other members of the deputation spoke in the same strain. The people who came from the farms repeated what they had before said to me of certain Englishmen, whom they named, and complained bitterly that they had been goaded into their present position. The names of two of the principal complainants were Hans Petrus and Johannes Smith. They stated that an English farmer, re- siding on the Koonap, had treated them very harshly. That he had tied them to a wagon for several days, in cold and wet, and was going to shoot them on mere suspicion of entertaining latent rebellion in their hearts. They farther stated that several such cases had taken place. It should be mentioned that they added, that they owed their lives to a respectable English farmer, living not far from Maas- strom, who interceded on their behalf. That they had been stringently treated was very likely, as it may be easily conceived that, on hearing of what had happened at Lower Blinkwater, &c., masters would suspect their servants. We urged them to take their complaints to Mr. Wienand. Others there were who reiterated their complaints about the Winterberg farmers, adding, however, that certain parties, whom they also named, had told them in public and in their families, that when they got their own parlia- ment they would make vagrant laws, and ride about the country to break up the nests of vagabonds in the colony ; ‘27 and that the Queen’s reign would soon cease in this country. The Hottentots said that they were going to light for their liberties. But they disavowed all disaffection to Her Majesty’s Government. However it might have arisen, there was this idea fixed in the minds of these Boerlanders,* that the Queen’s government was about to cease in this country, and that they would be again sub- jected to their former oppressions. It was in vain to explain the whole question to them, to tell them that, by the low franchise which had been fixed, the coloured people would largely share in the boon of self-government. They plainly told us, that we were only hushing their fears. They sometimes seemed mad with rage. Some of the people of the lower Blinkwater, however, showed a willingness to come away as soon as they could, but they were too closely guarded by Hermanus’s Kafirs and upper Blinkwater Gonas to effect their escape. On arriving at Fort Armstrong in the evening, we related to Mr. Wienand what we had seen and done, and gave in a memorandum of the substance of our parley. On the 12th Field-cornet Cobus Fourie, with twenty-five men, was sent to Fort Hare to have a personal interview with General Somerset about the state of affairs in the Kat River. We sent also by him the document addressed to the public residing at the missionary institutions, assuring them that the respectable people of the Kat River were not involved in the rebellion. The inducement for doing this being a desire to counteract the design of the rebels, who had been sending emissaries through the country to call out all the natives; from information we had discovered that several new batches of Hottentots had joined the rebels ; and having our fears that it might become a war of races. We consulted several of the gentlemen at Fort Armstrong, prior to drawing up the document, as to their opinion of its propriety; and after it had been drawn up, we lodged a copy of it with the Magistrate to be sent to the papers. Notwithstanding its having been before printed, I shall re-insert it for the sake of order in the narrative : — “ To the Hottentots and other people of colour residing at the missionary institutions, and in the towns and villages in the colony. “Kat River Settlement, January 6, 1851. “Friends and fellow-subjects. — You will have heard with deep regret that our Government is again at war with the Kafir nation, and * People living with the Boers as servants. 28 still more, that several persons belonging to this settlement have, by compulsion and seduction, been induced to join a rebel band under a Kafir named Hermanus Matroos, residing at Lower Blinkwater. “It is not the time to enter into particulars ; — what we earnestly wish to communicate to you is, that the great body of the Ivat River people in no wise participate in this rebellious and treacherous pro- ceeding against the Queen’s supremacy in this country. “ We wish by these presents to make known to you that the respect- able people of Kat River are quiet and loyal, and lest the rebels en- deavour to work on the feelings of the unwary in the colony, by telling them that the whole of this settlement are in the rebellion, or that they are contending for a great and a just cause, and thereby either work on the sympathies of the coloured classes in the colony, or strike a panic into others, or cause others to feel a disinclination to come forward in defence of the Queen’s authority, — we therefore declare hereby, that the proceeding of Hermanus Matroos and his adherents is a rebellious and treacherous act, and advise all our fellow-subjects to come will- ingly forward to suppress it, and also to repel and subdue the Kafirs who are engaged in war against the colony. Let the Hottentots re- member the blessings they have enjoyed under the British Govern- ment and what is now in jeopardy, viz., the elements which constitute social and political happiness, — Christianity, civilisation, and British institutions. We have thought it right to give out this to counteract the efforts of the rebellious and misguided, as well as to inspire you with and confirm you in your loyalty to our Most Gracious Sovereign Lady the Queen of England ; and we beg all missionaries and persons of influence to read and translate, if necessary, this to all the people in the colony.” (Signed) “ J. Read, Sen. “ J. Read, Jun. “ A. VAN RoOYEN.” Field-cornets Fourie and Adam Wiemers were ap- pointed by General Somerset to go to the rebels, and to make known to them His Excellency’s proclamation. Copies of the foregoing documents and letters were sent to John Pringle, Esq., of Glenthorn, and to Mr. Paver, by John Morgan, who had brought letters to Rev. Mr. Thomson, Mr. Wienand, Groepe, and myself, from Casper Oliver and his party, assuring us of their adhesion and fidelity to the Government. — 1 am, &c. LETTER VI. Alice, May 28, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — On the 14th January, Field- cornet Cobus Fourie, in accordance with General Somerset’s 29 request, went to have a parley with the rebels to dissuade them from their wicked and mad career ot rebellion, and again to proffer them pardon in the name of the Govern- ment. The following is Field-cornet Fourie’s first report, sent in to Mr. Wienand, on his return to Armstrong: — “Fort Armstrong, January 15, 1S51. “ Pursuant to General Somerset’s instructions, I, in the absence of my colleague, Adam Wiemers, proceeded on my mission, to make known to the insurgents the gracious offer of pardon from His Excel- lency the Governor. “The Rev. Messrs. Read, jun., and Van Rooyen, Field-cornet Andries Botha, my son-in-law Andries Hatta, my two sons, and several others, accompanied me. On approaching the Blinkwater, we saw hundreds of men, between 6 and 700 on foot and mounted, coming over the ridges to the station of Wilberforce, where the main body of the Hottentots are encamped. “ Being rather taken aback by coming on them so suddenly, and being unarmed, we stopped for a little, and sent forward Field-cornet Botha, and my eldest son, to know if we might approach, and signs being made affirmatively, we rode up to the men who were marching in regular order to the spot they appointed as a place of meeting. The Hottentots moved in rank and file as they were ordered by their officers, while the Commander, William Uithaalder, rode about from point to point, swearing at the men, and imitating the bearing of a general officer on parade, in putting his men through their various evolutions. “The Kafirs were led on after their own way, humming their war songs, whistling, groaning, beating and clattering the assagais, as they went to the place of rendezvous. “ Mr. Read having assumed a central position — the vast concourse of people, including women and children who stood behind the ranks having surrounded him, — he beckoned to us to come and take our station by his side. He then said that those who considered themselves as the heads and responsible parties had better come forward. John Hermanus then came forward, and on Mr. R,ead’s asking him whether he was his father’s successor, his men replied — ‘Yes, he is Hermanus himself.’ Kupido Klaas appeared as the head of the Kafir servants. Addressing him, Mr. Read said to him, ‘ Well, Kupido, how is this? Why your appointment as Kafir interpreter to the Hertzog Court is lying in the Magistrate’s desk, and you are now one of the leaders of the revolt: you have brought me into a sad predicament, as I recommended you to the Magistrate. Where did you get so many Kafir servants? I thought you told the Commission that there were comparatively few among Hermanus’s Kafirs.’ He merely smiled and said, ‘Yes — so it is,’— and intimated that he was able to justify his conduct. The Hottentots said that they would not say who were their leaders, as it might expose such men to danger should the chances of war throw them into the hands of the Government ; but that each man who had taken up arms was personally responsible for what he did, and all were prepared to suffer the consequences of their present course. Mr. Read then asked Kupido whether he would be so good as to 30 Interpret for me, — which he at first declined to do, but afterwards consented. “ Having requested Mr. Read to explain the proclamation, he pro- ceeded to do so. He began by asking whether they were all British subjects? They l-eplied, ‘Yes, we have always been the faithful subjects of the Queen, and have for many years fought side by side with white soldiers and burghers against the Kafirs.’ Mr. Read then begged that they would first allow him to address a few words to them, and that they might afterwards make any statement they pleased to me. “ He again reminded them, as he did some days before, what the British Government and the religious public of England had done for the Hottentots, apprentices, and other natives of this country within the last fifty years, and the ungrateful and unenviable position they now appeared in, taking up arms against a government and a people that had done so much for them. That their state within the time named had been one of gradual improvement and amelioration, and that the top stone of their liberties was just about being laid on, by their becoming entitled to vote for members of the new South African Par- liament, and thereby getting a share in the legislation of the country, through their representatives ; that although he could not defend individual acts of the Government, or the conduct of some functiona- ries of Government, he thought, notwithstanding, that on the whole, since their civil emancipation, the colonial government had shown a disposition to protect the Hottentots, apprentices, and other natives of colour in the colony ; and that the present proceedings would shock the feelings and grieve all their religious friends in England, as well as in this country. He asked the interpreter if there was a word for traitor and treachery in the Kafir language ; and on being told that there was, he charged that on Hermanus and all who participated in his acts, as they were guilty of treachery to the Queen and country. On this sentiment being uttered, there was a good deal of feeling manifested. One Kafir, in a menacing tone exclaimed, as he forced his way past Mr. Read, brandishing his knobkerie and assegais, — ‘ The time for speaking is past, and the time for fighting is come.’ Others said they felt the treacherous nature of the case, and that was its weak point; while others said the Fingoes had been traitors to their king Hintza ; others again asked what Pato and the Slambie chiefs were, who were now in arms against their lawful Sovereign? “ Malau Karabana then stood forward and said, ‘ This land is our land; but what portion of it is in the possession of the Hottentots? Strangers inhabit it, while the real owners have only this ostrich nest, the Kat River ; and this is called giving a nation land.’ “ Then addressing the Kafirs, he said, ‘ Don’t think that because we are with you against the settlers, we will submit to you ; we are ready to fight you at any day if we see that you wish to domineer over us as you did before.’ “ Agie Michaels, a Gonah, spoke of the hatred which existed against the Hottentots and Kafirs, as also that the tronks* are full of Hottentots ; but that white men escaped punishment, though they may be guilty. Mr. Read said, ‘But you Gonahs must remember that by your own ad- mission you have shown that you have greater confidence in the justice of the Colonial Government than in that of the Kafirs.’ ‘ How * Prisons. 31 so ?’ said he. The speaker replied, 4 When Sir Andries Stockenstrom was forming the Settlement, the Gonahs — who were then among the Kafirs — came to him and made some doleful complaints as to their being ill used by the Kafirs, and then requested Sir Andries to receive them back into the colony, and to give them lands in the Settlement.’ Hendrik Noeka, a Gonah, said, — that for twenty years they had been faithful subjects to the Queen of England, and within that period had been engaged in several wars and commandoes against the Kafirs, on the behalf of Government, but that they had been most shamefully treated by the Governor (Sir H. Pottinger) who preceded Sir H. Smith, as also by the two functionaries, Messrs. Biddulph and Bowker. That they had received not even thanks from Government after the last war, although they had served for more than two years, only receiving rations for themselves and families, without any pay, — that they were sent away from the military posts, where they had been stationed, like dogs by Mr. Biddulph, who said you may now go to serve the settlers and boers, or go to the d 1. That the proclamations under which cattle were taken in war, as prize property, were said in times of peace to be superseded by the civil law ; and that by virtue of this, Mr. Bow- ker had taken many cattle the people acquired in war, and given to those who afterwards claimed them ; and that therefore, in the same way the civil law would again supersede martial law, and the lives now guaranteed would be forfeited. “Again, that the people of the Settlement were disarmed by Mr. Bowker, without any cause being assigned ; and that the two magis- trates, Messrs. Bowker and Cobb, had been doing nothing but annoy and oppress the people. That Mr. Blakeway had taken a portion of the grazing lands of Blinkwater, and built a house on it ; that although they had repeatedly complained of it, no redress had been given by Government. That a part of their lands in Fuller’s Hoek had likewise been advertised for sale by Government. That a Com- mission, consisting of those whom they had always looked on as not their friends, had been appointed to inquire into certain charges which they themselves had preferred against the people of Blinkwater ; and that they had proceeded in the most unwarrantable manner to search their houses and inquire into their mode of subsistence, and had enter- ed their houses in an arbitrary manner, and that they (the rebels) con- sequently firmly believed that a vagrant act had been passed, or that those things could not have been done. Mr. Read again defended the general character of the Colonial Government adding that they must bear in mind, that when Sir H. Smith came to the colony, and heard how they had been treated by his predecessor and one of the func- tionaries already named, he warmly sympathised with the people of the Kat River, and dismissed the magistrate ; and that on their being ill-used by his successor, he was also, after due inquiry, removed from among them, and Mr. Wienand was appointed, who had impartially administered the laws, — and that the Government had shown great readiness to listen to and redress their grievances, and that they should recollect the impartiality with which the two Commissions, of Mr. Wienand and Commissioners Calderwood and Brownlee, had acted in the cases which had been brought before them. Manel Noeka pointed to his nose, which had been partly shot off in the Amatola, in 1846, when several of the Kat River people fell, and said that no notice had been taken of the wounded and maimed, or of the widows and orphans of the men who had fallen in the war; but on the contrary, that every- thing had been done to annoy them by unjust functionaries, and by putting a heavy tax on the forests, when the people of Kat River were struggling against the deepest poverty. “ At this time of the business of the meeting, a messenger came up to Jan Hermanus and said that the English had murdered certain Hottentots near Waterkloof, who were on their way to the Kat River. In consequence of this, the assembly broke up in the greatest confusion —horsemen catching their horses and setting off in a most furious way in the direction where the affair was reported to have happened. Some of our party thought it amere ruse to escape the charge which Mr. Read was reiterating against them, of having acted the part of traitors against Government, and which seemed to affect them more than any thing else. Mr. R. said, moreover, that the judges and magistrates of the land might try the act f legally, but that the civilised world would judge of the moral delinquency of persons and communities, and that, if they persisted in their course, the truthfulness of the Hottentots, which was proverbial, would be greatly damaged by their treacherous proceedings. They all said that they confessed that this was the weak side of the case. Mr. R. further said, that in consideration of certain circumstances and features of the case, the Government had made so many concessions, that he could not, in conscience, take on himself to ask for any thing more ; — that longer time for repentance had been given, and the exceptions against Kupido Kiaas and Klaas Stuurman had been left out in His Excellency’s proclamation. “ During all this time the rain was falling in torrents and the wind blowing briskly. After great part of the men had left for the Water- kloof, a second meeting was held, and the proclamation was read word for word. The conversation was desultory ; and some of the speakers began to put queries about the powder which was in the tower at Fort Armstrong, and the English who were living there, and a kind of half-jesting, half-threatening intimation was thrown out, that they would attack the fort if the English were not sent away. Hereupon Andries Hattasaid, — ‘This is really too bad, friends ; you speak as if we were already prisoners of war in your camp, or that you have already conquered us ; ’ adding, — ‘ it is not for you to ask the secrets of our camp, and Mr. R. has told you, we did not want the secrets of your camp. Though you are rebels, you must still stick to honourable conduct and general rules which obtain among mankind, even in war. Remember, we are on the side of Government, which is the side of order and law ; and we have come in order to beg of you, and to advise you, to return to your duty and allegiance. Let us again be one ; we have heard your complaints ; we regret there should be occasion for them ; we agree with you as to some of the treatment you and we have received ; but we differ with you as to the manner and means of redressing them. You are having recourse to arms; we say, we must get our rights by the pen and argument. You should also remember that the govern- ment has, in several instances, shown a willingness to hear complaints, and to give redress, and we have now a magistrate who acts justly between man and man. The government cannot help it if some of the magistrates are not good. What will our friends Sir Andries and Mr. Fairbairn say, when they hear of this defection in England ? What f Rebellion. 33 will our venerable father and friend Dr. Philip say, who obtained our liberties for us ? You have ruined our ministers by your conduct ; and you will grieve the hearts of the Directors of the London Missionary Society, of Mr. Freeman and the British public, when they learn what has transpired. I must tell you plainly, that though I know that you have grievances to complain of, I see no cause for rebellion. I, at least, will take no part in proceedings which have treachery for their foun- dation, and must therefore needs end badly. Bear in mind, further, that Government cannot remove the prejudices against colour and class — on which you lay so much stress. Now, we must understand each other well. I wish then to say, that we who are still loyal to the Queen have undertaken to defend the posts, the tower, the powder magazine, the magistrate and his establishment, and all our white fellow-colonists, who have taken shelter under our wing ; and if your friends touch any of these, we shall at once come into collision and fight you.’ One of them rejoined, ‘ I am not afraid of another Hottentot, and if we who came from one mother (who are one nation) come into contact, we shall hang on each other’s necks like turkey-cocks, and fight till we die together, — and where we meet in an hostile manner, the grass will never grow again. Yea, and if my mother had born me ten brothers, I should swear them all in to fight in this cause.’ “ Here old Field-cornet Botha, who had listened very quietly, stood forward, and slowly lifting his shambock, said in a low, deliberate, but firm tone of voice, — ‘ Boys, you have done this thing without the old people, — the Commandant or Field-cornets, — you won’t hear what the ministers say, and you seem not inclined to accept the Governor’s gracious pardon, which the magistrates and ministers have asked of him for you. But take care,’ — he continued, as he brandished his shambock gently, — ‘ if you come near any Government posts, which we defend, or you injure a single poor Englishman, who has sought shelter among us, or do anything to the magistrate, his clerk, or the constables, we shall consider it as a declaration of war. I tell you,’ he proceeded to say, with emphasis, and as he gave a piercing glance to one of the leaders, ‘ take care, my child, and don’t burn your fingers, — you know me. I merely said, take care, children. I warn you; and if you want to fight, you may have it. We pity you. Don’t provoke us. Had an obnoxious law been passed there would be some excuse for your conduct; but I say there is neither cause nor excuse for your conduct. Come home, says the Governor, and go to your work, and get your bread honestly.’ ” (Signed) “Cobus Fourie.” I am, &c. LETTER VI I. Lovedale, June 4, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — Our efforts on this occasion were not altogether in vain. In fact they had not been in vain from the first day of our visitation among them, as H 34 several had before this left the rebel camp and come to Fort Armstrong, where they had the oath of allegiance administered to them by the Magistrate. While we were engaged as before stated, several families took advantage of it, and left for Fort Armstrong, while others requested us before leaving to ask their friends at Fort Armstrong and Philipton to come over to the rebel camp, and to assist them in getting away. The people whom we met in assembly were composed of Hermanus’s people, “ Kafir servants,” lower Blinkwater Hottentots and Gonas, Winterberg Hottentot servants, and petty tenants who had hired patches of land from the English and Dutch there, and some of the Buxton and Wilberforce, or upper Blinkwater, people.* Many of the latter, how- ever, we did not consider as rebels, for the Winterberg and Hermanus’s people had come to their location; and although it is admitted that several caught the infection of disaffec- tion at once, other well-disposed persons could not get away as they were closely watched by Hermanus’s Kafirs and the upper Blinkwater Gonas. Still I cannot wholly exempt them from blame, as I consider that they should, as we told them, have risked everything to get out of the whirlpool of revolt, as soon as an opportunity offered itself. These people all professed to have grievances to com- plain of. Here you had Hermanus’s people complaining of the heavy tax which had been placed on his place, — there the lower Blinkwater or Tidmanton Hottento's and Gonas, of the irritating proceedings of late Sup. Cobb, — and again the upper Blinkwater Gonas of the burning of their huts in a snow storm, by Messrs. Bowker and Davis with the Kafir police. The Hottentots complained of their arbitrary imprisonment by the former gentleman, while others said, that the widows and orphans of men who had fallen in the war of 1846-7, and whose bones were bleaching on and in the Amatola, and all over Kafir- land, had not been cared for. Sometimes they spoke de- liberately, and argued fairly ; at other times, in an extasy of rage. Some were moderate in their views, others outrageously unreasonable, and some could not understand “ why it was an Englishman got rich so soon, and rose so suddenly in society.” In vain w T ere they told that these * By the last war a great number of the Blinkwater and Buxton Hottentots, from comparative comfort, were reduced to getting their bread by wood-cutting. The Gonas had great flocks of cattle. 35 could be explained on other grounds than oppression and intrigue, to which they wished to trace them, — viz., to industry, economy, thriftiness, energy, and superior know- ledge; that the laws secured to them all that was secured to Englishmen, that is, a right to take their labour to the best market, and to live where they could best promote their own interests, and to worship God according to their conscience. One man said in a boisterous tone, “ Mr. and I were servants together at Mr. for about six years ; he is now a gentleman farmer and I am still a day labourer, living from hand to mouth.” The majority of them professed loyalty to Her Majesty the Queen, and attachment to her representative, His Excellency Sir H. Smith. But many of them talked very absurdly and traitorously. To all their ravings, the laconic old Fourie, and the taciturn, mild, and best reasoning man among the Hottentots, Andreas Hatta, and the rest of the loyalists, listened with composed indifference as to the result of distorted imagination and gross delusion, every now and then saying, dat is alles gekheid , — “that is all nonsense.” Those who came from the Winterbergen, the Koenap, and other parts of the frontier, had very wrong views of the design of the anti-convict monster meetings, which had been held in every part, of the country, as well as those which had been held for the electing of members to fill up the Legislative Council. All seemed to bear on their future destiny, and to be fraught with danger to their liberties. They vociferated that their masters had told them that the colonists were going to take the power out of the bauds of the Queen, and that then would they make all sorts of restrictive and oppressive laws. In vain were they told the contrary ; they replied, you are only hiding the truth from us. There was added a little of Umlangenism, and a vein of Scripture perversion. For instance, a man said to me on one occasion, it is w ritten, “ The horse shall walk knee-deep in blood — “ there shall be wars and rumours of wars on the right hand and on the left.” Some pointed to the Sacred Oracles where the punishment of the unbelieving Israelites was predicted, and the destruction of the Canaanites was authorised, and the fate of the human race was foretold. The substance of their remarks was said to have been this, — “ The English must leave the country, and go aw r ay in the ships.” 3(j Poor fellows ! little did they think that if the English Government was to be withdrawn from this country, the natives would soon destroy one another ; and that if the British settlers were to quit the land, civilisation and pro- gress would recede rapidly, and universal anarchy would be the inevitable result. It is melancholy to think that many of those men (Hottentots and Kafirs) whom we met at Blinkwater had been for many years, so to speak, the train bands of the frontier, — had served with eclat under His Excellency when he was Colonel Smith, under Sir Andries Stockenstrom, Major Warden, and Col. Sutton. The Hottentots and Kafirs had, for above 100 years, been mortal enemies ; — but now, what a coalition between such parties ! All this was to one who had laboured for eighteen years among many of these people — and must have been still more so to another who had laboured a period of half a century among them — exceedingly painful and discouraging, and such as to lead us to say — “ we have laboured in vain, and spent our strength for naught.” We forget, however, how poor a thing human nature is, that the heart is “ des- perately wicked, and man, in his best estate, is altogether vanity.” While political delinquency and moral turpitude should in no wise be palliated or passed over, there is enough in the history of the world to prevent the conclusion that such wickedness as we have described, stands by itself or is pe- culiar to the Hottentots, and that therefore they must be swept from the face of the earth as “ wicked and ungrate- ful dogs.” Let it be borne in mind that the Eternal, under the stringent laws of a theocracy, brought up children, but they rebelled against him. Moses found that while he was with God in the mount, that the Lord’s congregation had turned to idolatory : and the Saviour found, after several years’ instruction of his disciples, that he was denied by one of them and betrayed by another. If the same proneness to error and to a departure from God by churches and congre- gations was found even by the Apostles in primitive times, we ought not, on account of the grave sin of rebellion, of which so many professing Christians have made themselves guilty, to be wholly discouraged, or to doubt that the gospel is to be preached to all men, or its efficacy as an ordi- nance of God. It will yet to many be the power of God unto salvation. While we have cause to be deeply humbled and abased, there is nothing to make us despair. Late in the evening we rode liome, and the next day gave in verbal and written statements to Mr. Wienand of the meetings held with the rebels at their camps. On the same day several of the men with their families, who had escaped while we were holding the meeting with the rebels, arrived at Fort Armstrong, and took the oath of allegiance. 16th. — We again visited the camp for the same object. More people were induced to accept the gracious offer of mercy offered by His Excellency, and either went to Fort Armstrong or to Philipton. 17th. — Spent in giving to Mr. Wienand an account of the parley with the rebels, and forwarding letters to General Somerset. On the same day we commenced a plank chapel for the accommodation of both congregations, English and coloured, — most of the English and several of the Hottentots subscribing towards it. 18th. — Having found in my journeys through the Settle- ment that several of the baser sort of people were speak- ing very ambiguously about their duty of protecting the English, I wrote to my father from Philipton, requesting him to consult with Mr. Wienand, Commandant Groepe, and Mr. Thomson, on the propriety of holding a general meeting, composed of the people of Armstrong, the Field-cornet Fourie and deputies from Philipton, and the Field-cornet Peffer and deputies from Eland’s Post. It being agreed to, several of the people from Philipton, Eland’s Post, Wilsonton, Bruceton, and Lushington rode over to Fort Armstrong. The object of the meeting was to test the sincerity of the Hottentots throughout the Settlement as to whether they would protect their English fellow subjects in the hour of danger. Their yea or nay was to be given in the presence of the Magistrate and the ministers of religion. If they said yes, and pledged their faith to its observance, the fears of the English, and especially of the females, would be set at rest ; if they wavered, or spake dubiously, why, then, the friends would have time quietly and deliberately to prepare for their departure ; while correspondence might meanwhile be entered into with General Somerset, or with Colonel Sutton at Fort Beaufort, to fetch them out. Before the meeting commenced, I received a note from Mr. 38 Wienand* tu say “that whatever was resolved on by the Hottentots, he would take his lot with the English.” Shortly after, I met Commandant Groepe, who said that he could not attend ; but if the ministers would speak to the people they might do so, — but he thought the question had better not be mooted. The English, who had been kept in great suspense, felt rather disappointed ; but as neither Mr. Wienand nor the Commandant attended the meeting, the subject was dropped, as the ministers did not like to encounter a question from which the officials shrunk. We met, sat and looked at each other, and many per- sons who had come from Elands post and Philipton, to give their vote to protect the English, were disappointed ; and all felt disconcerted. It was next proposed that Sir Andries Stockenstrom should be asked to take the com- mand of the burgher forces, and to take the Ivat River loyalists under his command. This was unanimously and enthusiastically approved of by the assembly, and by most of the English in camp : — the Rev. Mr. Thomson, Mr. Van Rooyen, my father, Martinus Appel, and myself, giving- addresses on the occasion, confirming the people in loyalty, condemning the defection of the two Blinkwaters, and pointing out to the meeting their duty as Christians and men to protect their white fellow-subjects. The meeting broke up in an amicable spirit, and the people dispersed to their homes; but all this while, and for several succeeding days, the ministers conjointly felt the deepest solicitude for the English, and especially for their wives, on whose counte- nances the most intense anxiety was depicted. Those now menaced and oppressed ones, Mrs. Thomson, Mrs. James Green, Mrs. Read, and my sisters, constantly attended to cheer and comfort. Yes, the same persons who, when Hottentots were the subjects of oppression, had pleaded for them, now openly took the side of the hated and denounced English. I shall never forget Mr. Thomson’s and my father’s solicitude about their countrymen during these times. I have read the most touching entries from the latter’s journal about the English, full of emotion for his kinsmen according to the flesh. But who could have thought that these very persons, or their friends, should, after their deliverance, have, held up these men, with their families, to the scorn of the world ! Well has it been • I regret tliis gentleman should have been so much maligned by persons who received great kindness at his hands. 39 written, that the debt of gratitude is the most easily for- gotten by mankind. 19th. — This day. Field cornet Pefier, David Rensberg, David Scheepers, Windvogel Trompetter, and Cornelis Pieters arrived at Eland’s Post, to report to the Comman- dant and Field-cornet Cobus Fourie that a messenger had come to Eland’s Post from Sandilli, to “ know whether the Kat River people would sit still, as he had heard that they would fight.” The word, I believe, sent back was that they had told the Governor they would sit still and keep clear their own district, and that hitherto they had done so. On my way to Lushington, I met the messengers at Elands Post. One of them said to me, “ 1 don’t know why the Hottentots will mix themselves up in this war ; we don’t want them, we only want them to sit still. We can manage the English without any foreign aid.” Hatta, Andries Philip, and the Fories, who were with me, were deeply stung at this remark, and said, “ This is what we have said to those good-for-nothing rebels, that the design- ing Kafirs will ever despise them. What do they want among them ? ” It being Lord’s day, my object in going to Lushington was not only for the purpose of holding divine service, but also to warn the people from fraternising with the Kafirs, and again to entreat them to move down to Eland’s Post, so as to be out of the way of all temptation. Shortly after our arrival, I received a note from Rev. W. Cumming, begging me to come down to the Chumie. After much hesitation I resolved on going down ; but two of the party which was with me were left to sound the loyalty of the men of Lushington, and try to persuade them to leave for Eland’s Post on the morrow. On arriving at the Chumie, myself and friends found all the missionaries and their families well. They told us that they, had intended going into the colony, via Fort Hare; but that having on Satur- day heard that Sandilli and his chiefs were going to make a combined attack on Fort Hare and Alice, they were shut up to the necessity of either remaining there or going to Glenthorn by the Kat River. Mr. Renton still thought of going by Fort Hare, and was much averse to going by Kat River. In the afternoon, Mr. Renton preached his farewell sermon, in English. At the conclusion of the sermon he addressed a faithful warning to the Kafir nation, if they continued their restless and 40 predatory habits, and set themselves against the power of England. Having been prevailed on by the missionaries to stay the night, in order to complete the arrangements about their leaving Chumie, I was advised by Mr. Niven to go down to the trader’s house, just below the station, to preach to some of the Mancazana Hottentots, who, on their way to Lushington, had encamped there. After service I ad- dressed them on the traitorous rebellion of Hermanus Matroos and the two Blinkwaters, and warned them against the prevailing infection to rebellion, urging upon them to go to Eland’s Post without any delay. As I was going away, some of them thanked me, and promised to comply with my suggestions on the following day. I heard afterwards, however, that Antonie Peterward had followed my sermon with a political discourse of his own, in which he told the people “ that Mr. Read had preached a good sermon; but, alter all, he was but a child, and knew uot what was for the Hottentot nation’s good ; ” and “ that he was, like all the other ministers, on the side of his father’s nation, — the settlers.” On our way to the mission-house we met with sever- al suspicious-looking Kafirs who were very inquisitive to know who I was. Messrs. Niven and Cumming, after the service, said that they felt anxious for me while preach- ing, and denouncing the rebellion in such unmeasured terms. In the middle of the night I was called up by one of my attendants. I thought at first that it was one of Sandilli’s men sent to call me to account for my sermon. But he said, he had merely come to say that several of the Lushing- ton youths had just come down to take part in the attack on Alice the following day. This filled me with deep grief and concern, as it was now evident that the circle of rebel- lion was fast extending itself. I awoke Mr. Cumming and informed him of it. Early next morning we rode up to Lushington, where I found our friends busy in admonishing the people against joining in the rebellion, and in endea- vouring to confirm them in loyalty to the Government. Here also I preached, and sought to follow up the advice of the preceding speakers. We then returned to Philipton, where we found that Mrs. Read, with the wives of my com- panions, had been up the whole night under deep concern for our safety. 41 1 may here mention that while at the Chumie on the Sunday, 1 heard a story about Sand illi’s speech, addressed to some Hottentots who were present at the great meeting- held at Soga’s place. It is interesting, as showing the in- fluences used on the feelings of the too credulous Hotten- tots. Addressing himself to them, the chief is reported to have said: — “ I am glad to see you, my friends. I am an oppressed mau, I fight for my head, my country, liberty, my grass and water. What fight you for ! At any rate if you will aid me, — I shall re-establish the kingdom of Chama.* Do you know of any of the heirs of the old Hot- tentot dynasty ? If so, I shall give my sanction to their again assuming the rank of their fathers. I see that not- withstanding all the assistance you have given the Govern- ment to fight against us in every war, and all your toil for the white man, you are still very poor. [Some of the men being rather tall, and hollow, sinewy-looking fellows, he, with the adroit argumentum ad horninem of a special pleader, said, pointing to the shrivelled calves of their legs, &c.] Look at that, you have been hardly dealt, by, starved and op- pressed. If you will join me, I shall first' have to feed you well before you do any active duty ; but you may trust my word, that you shall be completed with cattle and all that a man should have; and farther, the first cattle that shall be taken will be distributed to the children of Chama, who shall fight on my side.” It is to be feared that some of those men were gulled into rebellion by such frothy nonsense. The following day the missionaries left Chumie for Philip- ton, where they arrived safely. — I am, &c. LETTER VIII. Lovedale, June 12, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, —On Tuesday, 21st January, in company with Field-cornet Cobus Fourie and his son John, I went to meet the Rev. Messrs. Renton, Niven, and Cumming, on their way into the Kat River, as also again to visit Lushington, to see whether we could discover indications of any of the people sympathising and fraternis- ing with the Kafirs, or of any having gone to join in the * One of the old Hottentot chiefs. I 42 attack on Alice. We found most of the old men at home; hut I fear that several of the young men, as conjectured in my last communication, must have gone. While we were speaking to these people, we saw some- thing like a dense smoke issuing from behind the Chumie hills. Some thought Alice might have been abandoned by the inhabitants on the approach of the Kafirs for Fort Hare, and that the enemy had set fire to it. Our anxiety for our fellow-subjects and for the missionaries was very great. We galloped up the hills above Chumie, where we met with a number of young people watching the results of an attack which it was thought would decide the fate of the frontier. Just as we reached the highest point the firing ceased, and we had the pleasure of seeing Alice still stand- ing, although the Kafirs got away a great number of cattle. 1 believe the place was gallantly defended by General Somerset, though it is believed fewer Kafirs fell than were reported to have fallen. We saw them coming away with the booty, — some taking the direction of old Lovedale, where it was supposed the ex-king Sandilli and his conclave of chiefs were, and where the great monster meeting of the tribes had been held on the day before. Some were taken to Tebe’s district,* on the other side of the river, opposite Woburn, while others were driven towards the Chumie station, the remainder ascending the hills, as if they were either going to Lushington, or over to Auckland. Asa faithful narrator of facts and events, I feel bound to say, that there are reasons to fear that not only the people of the Chumie station, but also those of the Mancazana, whom I described in my last as having on their way to Lushington encamped below the Chumie station, as well as some of the Lushington people, must have shared in the spoil, and also aided in the attack on Alice. Had Fort Hare been over- whelmed by the hosts of Kafir warriors who encompassed it on that day, or had Alice been burnt, a fearful impetus would have been given to the Kafirs and their allies in the Blinkwater. One man said to me while I was standing by him on the hill, looking towards Alice, “ Where can an Englishman hide himself to-day ?” On hearing that General Somerset and Colonel Mackinnon were making a combined move towards Kat River, I said, in the hearing of this same person, “Where can a Hottentot hide himself to-day V' * Tyalic’f dowager. 46 W e never had any misgivings about the ultimate issue of the struggle ; for who that was acquainted with the facts of history, could for a moment think otherwise than that the colony would at last conquer the Kafirs. Though for a time the Kafirs and Hottentots might triumph, that, triumph would be ephemeral and short-lived, and soon would Eng- land reassert her supremacy as the mistress of Southern Africa. This was the feeling of every loyalist in the Kat R iver, — Hottentot or English, missionary or layman. In- sane must have been the man that could have thought otherwise. About this time, Kasper Oliver came to Fort Armstrong. As this man’s case has made a great stir in the colony, and is an important link in the Kat River story, I shall here briefly state it. Kasper Oliver is a respectable member of the Reformed Congregation at Kat River, and had been in good circum- stances before the war of 1846, when he lost all his pro- perty. At the close of the war, in the month of June, 1848, lie and his late brother, Petrus Fortuin, hired a farm from Mr. Lennox Rennet, of Mancazana, for £45 per annum. The first year they reaped 100 muids of barley and 80 muids of melies. The second year, 250 muids of wheat, 50 of barley, and 40 of melies. The third (1851), they cal- culated on getting 150 muids of barley and 240 of wheat. On hearing of the Kafir war, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Pringle, Mr. Sutton, Simon Redcliff, Adam Mentor, and himself, with their servants, attendants, and friends, agreed to join together tor mutual protection at the Rev. Mr. Hepburn’s old place at Green Point, about three miles below Mr. John Pringle’s place (Glenthorn), and about two miles above Mr. Macmaster’s. Mr. John Pringle remained on his place. Not long after the war had commenced fifteen Kafirs were seen in the neighbourhood. Commandant Kasper (for as such he had been elected), went in pursuit and killed some of them. A few days subsequent to this, Colonel Sutton seut up a general order from Fort Beaufort, to make known the attack of Hermanus Matroos on Fort Beaufort, his death, the consequent discomfiture and slay- ing of a number of his adherents, and the sacking of their camp in Fuller’s Hoek. Hereupon Commandant Oliver, after duly consulting with Mr. Bennet and others in the camp, about the 8th and Dth of January, sent otf John Morgan, Plaatje Africaner, and Jan Dirk, to Kat River, with letters for Mr. Wienand, Commandant Groepe, his 44 own minister — Rev. W. R. Thomson — and myself; the purport of which was to know the real state of things at Kat River, and to assure us that whatever betide, what- ever course others might take, he and his people, amounting to about 70 men, English and native, would faithfully adhere to Government. The messengers also brought letters from Mr. John Pringle for the Chumie missionaries. After resting a day the messengers were dispatched with letters from all who had been written to. Mr. Wienand also wrote to Kasper about supplying the Commissary with wheat, barley, and oats. Mr. Thomson and Groepe do not appear to have kept a copy of their communications ; but the following is a copy of the letter I sent to Oliver and his party : — [ Translation .] “ Fort Armstrong, January 10, 1851. “ To the Inhabitants of Kasper Oliver's camp : “ My dear Friends, — We are glad to hear of your welfare, and hope that the Lord will preserve you from all evil, and keep you steadfast in that which is good. “ You will regret to hear that the Kafir Hermanus Matroos has taken up arms against Government, and that some of the Hottentots have been compelled and others persuaded to join him. Some of the upper Blinkwater people have thus implicated themselves in this wicked and treacherous business against Government, — but the respec- table people of the Kat River are quiet, and still on the side of Government. “ Hermanus Matroos and his followers have spread reports abroad that all the Hottentots and coloured people in the neighbourhood have united with him against Government ; but we are rejoiced to hear that this is not the case. I hope you will stick to Government ; it already begins to fare very badly with the Kafirs, and they will in a very short time be attacked by thousands of colonists. All the friends here send their compliments. — Your friend. (Signed) “ James Read, Jun. “ P.S. — Don’t keep yourselves aloof from the European subjects of Her Majesty, because the Kafirs discriminate and do no injury to Hottentots, — but protect them to the utmost of your power. God and men will reward you for this; — we are all brethren and subjects of the same Queen. J. Read, Jun.” I also sent them a copy of the notification addressed to the people at the missionary institutions, and at the towns and villages of the colony. E further wrote to Mr. John Pringle, of Glenthorn, telling him the real state of things at Kat River, and, if I am not mistaken, sent him also a copy of the notification. A few days after, Commandant Oliver sent three other men with letters to Mr. Wienand, 45 to hear the price the Commissary would give for wheat, barley, and oats. Then, as yet, all was peace at Manca- zana. On receiving replies to his letter from the Magis- trate, Oliver himself paid a visit to Fort Armstrong, on or about the 20th or 21st of January, accompanied by Michael Pretorius, a respectable and thrifty farmer and proprietor of Fairbairn, at Kat River, who had escaped to Mr. Bennet’s, at the Mancazana, to save his cattle, horses, and sheep. On the 21st Oliver was at Philipton, and made arrangements with the Chumie friends to send a party to meet them on their way to Glenthorn on his return home. About the 8th or 9th, two men from Mr. Ainslie’s place, Jan Zwartbooy and Knecht Piet, came to Fort Armstrong to ask advice from the Magistrate, Commandant, and Minis- ters, as to “ what they were to do in the circumstances in which they were placed, as an attack of the Blinkwater Hottentots on Beaufort had roused the fears and suspicions of the whites in that part of the country, and consequently they felt uncomfortable in their present position.” They were advised by Mr. Wienand, my father, and myself, either to remain at Mr. Aiuslie’s, to join Kasper’s party at Mancazana, or to go to Maastrom, or to one of the con- tiguous farms. They preferred, however, to come to Kat River, and to place themselves under the command of Com- mandant Groepe, and therefore received letters of safe con- duct from Mr. Wienand to that effect. I sent by them also a copy of the notification and letters, and a copy of the notification for Mr. Pavor, of Maastrom. — lain, &c. LETTER IX. Lovedale, June 16, 1851. To the Editor: — Sir, — Having on the arrival of the Chumie Missionaries at Philipton,* on the 21st. of January, sent over to Fort Armstrong, to apprise Mr. Thomson and my father of it, they came on the morning of the 22nd. By my father I received a message from Mr. Wienand that he wished to see me. I left for Fort Armstrong about * I had corns to Philipton a few days before, with my family, to get change of air for one of rav children, who W3s very much indisposed; as also to g*t more of our things removed to Armstrong. 40 half an hour after their arrival. On riding into the square at the Fort, I saw Field-cornet Andries Botha, who, with the knowledge of the Magistrate and the Commandant, had been to Buxton, — and not, as had been invidiously said, to intrigue with rebels, — galloping furiously into the camp, and calling out, as he was hastily dismounting from his steed, “ They are coming, — this is what I have been saying- all along. Men, stand to your arms.” [It was Botha’s turn that week to assist Groepe at Armstrong, as second in command, which he and Field-cornet Fourie alternately did]. The men, English and native, immediately snatched their firelocks and marshalled before the tower. Without speaking to any one, or seeing my sisters, I turned my horse towards Philiptou, giving him the full run all the way, expecting every moment to meet another party of rebels on the road. I called out, as I entered Philipton, to the Field-cornets Valentyn Jacobs and Piet Bruintjes, “ Tell your men to fall in, and send a strong force to Fort Armstrong ; Uithaalder is there.” I then sent a man to ring the church bell and assemble the people while I went to speak to Field-cornet Fourie. In less than a quarter of an hour a reinforcement of about thirty men were on their way to Fort Armstrong, where they arrived when the Commandant was only thinking of sending to Philipton, and before the rebels were on the opposite side of the river over against Armstrong. Mr. Thomson, having left imme- diately on my reaching Philipton, was there nearly as soon as the men. I followed soon after. It would appear that as soon as the rebel chief came on the opposite side of the river, he sent to the Commandant Groepe to request a parley. The Commandant and Field- cornets Botha and Fourie resolved to go, and they requested the Rev. Mr. Thomson to accompany them. Mr. Hugh Thomson went with his father. The insurgents demanded that the English should quit the Fort within a given time; and that their goods should be confiscated to them. Oncoming to Fort Armstrong I joined the party. The men looked morose ; and an air of wild determination and insolence was visible in their faces. They were leaning on their guns and assegais ; and as 1 saluted them, they barely nodded. I tried to speak ; but one of the Kafirs abruptly interrupted me with — “Sir, this is not your day. It is our turn to act.” Uithaalder, like a naughty child that could not have its own way, threw himself on the ground. 47 and pretended to be much affected, while he held his head downwards, saying to Mr. Thomson — “Sir. you and Mr. Read were both young when you came among us, and you are now both old, and klein Mynheer (young Mr. Read) had no beard when he came to Kat River, and he is now getting advanced in years, and yet these oppressions won’t cease. The Missionaries have for years written, and their writings won’t help. We are now going to stand up for our own affairs. We shall show the settlers that we too are men. We are not against the Queen.” Mr. Thomson replied, deliberately taking up every point they had advanced, and endeavouring to dissuade them from the course they were pursuing. He showed them the impropriety of their conduct, and unreasonableness of their proceedings, and entreated them not to proceed any further in their course of guilt and folly, but to return to their allegiance, and to a peaceable mode of life, with their white fellow-colonists. All this was said in a gentle but firm and dignified tone and manner. Before we retired, I asked them whether they would allow all the women and children to go out of the fort towards Balfour? Isaac Marcus, a violent man, rejoined, “ Mr. Read wants to fight, — he is a man of war.” I said, “ I don’t wish to fight.” As we were riding back to the fort, to lav before the Magistrate and the people the propo- sitions set forth, Commandant Groepe said to me,— “ Mr. Read, what can you advise me to do to-day?” I replied, “ Fight; the propositions can’t be entertained.” On the Magistrate and the people hearing what was proposed they said, the proposition is madness, and cannot for a moment be entertained. All the men, including English and native, bore a heroic air of defiance, and were eager to fight. Some of the English rather too much so. But I must say this, that excepting one Englishman, who lav concealed under a feather bed, the rest acted worthily their nation and country. Old Cobus Fourie, a thorough old soldier, was seen to shed tears because the rebels were defying them and they could not fire. While deliberations were going on, the dastards took advantage of the interval and stole away Mr. McMaster’s horses. There was a subsequent parley, which I did not attend, when five days were given for the English either to leave the fort or to abide the result. Uithaalder afterwards drew off’his men, and returned to the Blinkwater. 48 On the same afternoon, Kasper Oliver having heard that some of the rebels had gone in the direction of the Mancazana, I left Fort Armstrong for that place. I may here mention that after having assisted to set the men right for an attack, I rode to Philipton, in company with Mr. James Green and John Fourie, and we saw, about the side of the river and on the way home, several persons who were evidently skulking away from encountering the foe, and thereby confirming certain reports which had reached the magistrate some days before, to the effect that certain parties had said that they would not fight for the English. I afterwards heard that it was the knowledge of this that made Commandant Groepe waive an engagement with the revolters. This circumstance shook the confidence of many, both of our own and of Mr. Thomson’s people, in some of the people of Fort Armstrong; and everybody seemed to distrust his neighbour. Uithaalder’s men were estimated at about 400, and there were about 300 at Fort Armstrong. Had a skirmish taken place, there is no doubt but that the rebels would have been routed, as they were badly furnished with munitions of war. On the 23rd the English, having consulted together, re- solved to leave Fort Armstrong. Till late that day, how- ever, they did not know whether they would go to Fort Hare, Beaufort, Retief, or Whittlesea. The majority were for going to Post Retief. The refugees were to have set off by dusk, accompanied by Mr. Thomson and myself. About 2 o’clock a report came into camp, that the Kafir commando was at Tambookie Vlev, Commandant Groepe’s place. Soon after, another report reached the camp, that the Pringles had attacked Kasper Oliver’s camp, and that most of the people had been slain. This spread like wild- fire in the camp. The English could not get a single man to accompany them, although a number of horses were fed at Government expense, and all the men on duty were rationed. There was, however, no noise about this un- toward event, but there was such an alteration in the feel- ings of the people as I could not have supposed a few hours before. There seemed to ooze out the premonitions of a war of races, and a threatening of the extermination of whites or blacks. The English saw their danger, and were now anxious to get away. The Missionaries assisted them in disposing of their shop goods, and in inducing 49 people to take over their property. Mr. Thomson took charge of some of their shop hooks, — Mr. Y T an Rooyen took over Mr. Webster’s wagon and oxen,- Henry Heyn had Mr. Webster’s shop given over to him. Isaac Vincent, John Eourie, William Goezaar, Michel Pretorius, Hans Jonkers, and several other well-affected people, took the shopkeepers’ goods under their charge ; 1 myself took over some of Messrs. Webster and McMasters’ things, and became a sort of agent to the latter, and guardian to his family. About 3 o’clock that afternoon, I went down to Mr. Web- ster’s shop, but did not like the appearance of many of the youngpeople within. There was the foreshadowing of evil. I scanned the excited faces of the people and went back, saying to my father, “ I don’t like the appearance of things.” Shortly after, Mr. Webster came to me and said, — “ Mr. Read, we can get no one to accompany us, — will you go with us as far as you can ? — you may use your influence with the fellows (rebels) should we meet them.” I readily complied, and we were on our saddles in a minute. It was a heart- rending scene, — men torn from their families, and children from their parents. It was enough to break a heart of steel. Many of the Hottentot females wept with the wives and daughters of the English. Some of the females were in circumstances demanding the most delicate attention. There were about 28 or 29, including two commissariat officers, Mr. Emmett, clerk to Mr. Wienand, and the constables. The same day, the families of Mr. Thomson, my father, and Messrs. Green, moved to Philipton. The English party dismounted at Philipton. Commissary Cooper, his clerk, and some others, came into my house for refreshments. The rest went to my father’s or to other friends. I asked eight of the young men of the place to accompany these men, who were riding, as it were, with their lives in their hands, to Whittlesea. The following were the men who volunteered to go, — P. Hendrick, Vincent, Hendrick, Prins, Karel Paardewagter, Jan Valentyn, Gert Nieveld, William Vincent, William Valentyn, and J. Smous. Just as the party was ready to start, Messrs. Bed and Webster requested me to allow them publicly to thank me for my efforts on their behalf, and my general usefulness in the furtherance of the public service. Mr. Bell pronounced a short harangue in the name of the English of Kat River. I made a brief reply, telling them that I had only done my k 50 duty by them as a minister of the gospel and a fellow subject : that my sympathies were entirely with the English ; and that were I even quite certain that the Hottentots and Kafirs would take the colony, I would throw in my lot with the Government and the English. I bowed to them, and they hip-hip-hurraed twice This done we mounted our horses, and in torrents of rain left Philipton for Whittle- sea, bv the Readsdale footpath. I accompanied them as far as Readsdale, and, after taking leave of each other with much emotion, we separated. It was past ten at night before I came home, which caused no little solicitude in my family. For anxiety about those poor travellers we never closed our eyes: there were dangers of every sort attending their departure from Kat River. There was a talk that the rebels intended intercepting them — as the footpath is the steepest of any leading towards that part, and it was a dark and cold night for old or young to be out. We were glad beyond measure to learn next day, by the return of the escort, that they had all safely reached their destination. That night the pillage at Armstrong commenced ; and, to use the language of one of our people who had been accus- tomed to work on the beach, “ all night it was like coolies unloading a vessel.” My father and Mr. Thomson re- mained at Fort Armstrong after the English had left, to try to keep order, and to protect such of the English females as were still there. Early the next morning, I went back to Armstrong, to get more of our own things and those of the English families with themselves away. Just as I was riding down to the drift at Fort Armstrong, I saw a number of Kaffirs with some Hottentots advancing towards the wagons which were taking some of the English females to Philipton The women cried out to me to come to their assistance. I spurred my horse and came towards them. Some hushes intervening between us, and not wishing the Kaffirs to see me, I beckoned to them to advance towards me. T told them not to mind and to make no noise — and I would take them home safely. There were among these interesting refugees, Mrs. Eva, jun., the two Misses Eva, Miss Barnes, and several young children. I told them the first they should do was, to take off their bonnets, and to tie their handkerchiefs round their heads like the native women. We went into the bed of the river, winding our way among the trees. There being a good deal of water in the river 51 wo had to wade through, holding by each other’s hands. I carried the children through, and afterwards took them one after the other on the horse, till I put them into Mr. Green’s wagon. They all safely reached Philipton. H aving lodged allthe families (Mrs. Webster excepted, who was living in my father’s house) in the church as comfortably as we could, under the supervision of my excellent friend and an elder of our church, Mr. James Green, and having requested Mrs. Read and the other ladies to attend to them, I went back to Armstrong, in company with Lodewyk Pelfer, David Reusberg, and others. On coming' to the fort, we saw the destruction that had been wrought, and that the people were carrying off things in every direction. Some of the people from Lushington, Eland’s Post, and Wilsonton, and some people of Philipton of whom we had had suspicions, and who have since met with their deserts in being convicted before the court martial here, shared more or less in the plunder of the shops. I met the Rev. Mr. Thomson and my father near the tower, looking depressed and disconsolate. The record of the pillage in the journal of the latter is affecting. The most of this day was spent in taking away to Philipton the property of the English which had been saved by their friends and servants and attendants. In the afternoon, my father and Field-cornet Botha and myself left the place in disgust. Seeing that society was fast dis- solving, it was proposed, on Saturday the 25th, that an association be formed to be styled “The Kat River Burgher Association,” around which all loyal men were to rally, — and the following manifesto was drawn up and signed : — “ Philipton, January 25, 1851. “ Manifesto to all whom it may concern. Whereas, in the present alarming defection from peace, law, and order, in the district of Stockenstrom, the civil authority has no means whatever of enforcing the ordinary laws for the protection of the persons and property of Her Majesty’s subjects in the Settlement, the undersigned do this day engage, for themselves, families, and lawful dependents, to associate together for mutual defence against all disloyalty and anarchy, and for arresting the spread of both these evils as well as for strengthening the hands of the friends of peace, order, and virtue in the community'. “ That for these purposes, it is proposed that a meeting be held this day, at this place, by the undersigned, whenever 30 names are obtained, to nominate a Committee of twelve, to be called ‘ The Council of the Kat River Loyal Burgher Association.’ “ That said Council do meet immediately thereafter, to name a President of the Association, and submit a statement of the duties of his office, and of the measures deemed proper to be adopted in the emergency. That the subscribers shall meet this evening to receive and dispose of the report of Council, and of all matters pertaining thereto, and to authorise their enforcement. “ Farther, that these, and such like provisional steps for the public safety, shall be held justifiable and expedient ; and continue in force until superseded by competent authority. (Signed,) “ Robert Niven, “ James Read, Senr., “ F. Cumming, “ James Read, Junr., “ A. Van Rooyen, “ The Field-cornets, and many others.” This instrument, it may be mentioned, was shown to onr excellent Magistrate, Mr. Wienand, prior to his leaving Fort Beaufort, and with the request that it might be laid before the General commanding at Fort Hare, and that it be eventually forwarded to His Excellency the Governor. 1 shall close this letter by remarking, that had Pbilip- ton been “ the focus of rebellion,” it would never have sent so readily a contingent of men to support Fort Arm- strong on the day of the demonstration ; — the Field-com- mandant Fourie and his sons, and other loyalists there, would never have used such unremitting efforts to reclaim the revolters ; — and the English refugees could never have been saved, their property protected, and their families eventually taken to them. General Somerset was misinformed. Had it been that the Missionaries and the Hottentot func- tionaries were all rebels, what a different tale would men now be telling ! What would have become of the English refugees on the night of the 23rd January, of their families at the time when General Somerset could only defend Fort Hare, and the gallant Colonel Sutton, Fort Beaufort; when neither the former, though often solicited, could render assistance to the loyalists, and the latter, from circumstances, could only convey secret messages to Fort Armstrong in French ? Mankind, sir, are not to be misled by the nonsense, animosity, sectarianism of a certain political cabal on the Frontier, who take advantage of times of excitement to write themselves into favour with the public, and to de- preciate and libel others. Had Botha, especially, consented to become the leader of rebellion, I think more would have joined than have. 53 Because neither Groepe, nor Peffer, nor Jacobs, nor Bruintjes, nor Botha would, the rebels were like a hive of bees without a queen. They knew not where to go or how to set about the thing. — I am, &c., LETTER X. Alice, June 20, 1851. To tiie Editor: Sir, — It may be expedient to the right understanding of some circumstances, to recur again to the Fort Armstrong case ; and it may be stated, — 1st. That the people who drew together there were nearly equally divided between the adherents of the Dutch Re- formed Church, under the pastoral care of the Rev. Mr. Thomson, and the Independents, in connexion with the London Missionary Society. In regard to property and respectability they were about on a par. Among both communities there were those whose lovalty and honesty were proof against temptations to the prevailing spirit of the times. These, I feel warranted in saying, in no way participated in the plunder of Fort Armstrong ; whilst it is to be regretted, on the other hand, that there were some of both denominations who largely shared in the plunder. 2nd. At the departure of the English refugees, several families of both parties left for Philipton with the Ministers’ families. These explanations are given to show that the odium of the Fort Armstrong transactions rests on the people of both churches ; and not, as some have invidiously said, upon those of the Reformed Church chiefly; and on the other hand, to combat the idea that Philipton and Eland’s Post were denominational camps. In reality they w r ere very much as one people. 3rd. Without in the least desiring to explain away or to palliate the cupidity and wickedness which led to the des- truction of the property of their fellow-subjects, the whites,* some of whom had been very accommodating to the people in the way of business, it may be affirmed that there were collateral circumstances which forcibly contributed to those lamentable occurrences. From the time of Mr. Biddulph’s coming to the Kat River, and of his denunciations of the * Messrs. Me Master, Webster, and James Green. 54 people, in his notorious report, in which he made some pro- voking comparisons between a certain English and a Hot- tentot family, — and argued from a single fact to a general conclusion — so that it might appear that the English and not the Hottentots ought to he the possessors of the fertile valleys of the Kat River, — there was a disruption between many of the English and the coloured inhabitants. The feeling did not manifest itself so openly as it afterwards did during Mr. Bowker’s tenure of office, when it gradually rose to its height. While the last, or the Calderwood and Brownlee, Com- mission sat at Hertzog, to inquire into certain charges of nial-ad ministration against Mr. Bowker, it was evident that the national sympathies of the two parties had been struck, and that the majority of the English sided with Mr. Bowker, as a good magistrate, and spoke of him as a greatly injured man, — in short, a “ martyr to philanthropic inter- ference and party trickeries.” Some of the English drew up, signed, and printed in the Graham' s Town Journal, a letter of condolence with Mr. Bowker, and represented the inhabitants of Stockenstrom as having lived by nefarious means prior to his coining. This letter was replied to by two of the people, who felt themselves aggrieved, in a wav it deserved. This, I believe, happened in June, 1850; and as the ex-magistrate remained in the Kat River after his resignation, a spirit of rancour and growing animosity was kept up to within a few weeks of the Kafir revolt, when Mr. Bowker went to reside at Whittlesea. It is due to such Englishmen as Messrs. James and William Green, Thomas West, Chandler, and others, to say that their high moral characters always secured them the respect and good will of the people. Mr. James Green had been for fifteen years a member of the Church ofPhilipton, and had for nearly the whole of that period served in the capacity of deacon and lay-preacher. Mr. Will iam Green and family, though Baptists, com- muned at Philipton. West is an elder in the Hutch Re- formed Church, and Chandler, a useful Sabbath school teacher. The moral character of such men is an honour to their country and race; and conduct such as theirs is cal- culated rightly to influence the natives. Messrs. Green, McM aster, Webster, and old Mr. Eva were popular as trades-people, and did a good deal to assist the native inhabitants, and got the benefit, of course, in the way of trade. Mr. Emmett, the magistrate’s clerk, was of the Church of England, but was a regular communicant at Hertzog, and occasionally at Philipton, — and was generally respected. Some of the English, it must be confessed, were much opposed to the two classes meeting in camp at Fort Armstrong ; every thing was done by Mr. Wienand and others to allay the pre-existent prejudices, and toincite both parties to union. Between Frans Peffer and Mr. Campbell, there had been, some months before, a serious altercation, which is said to have almost ended seriously ; and hence the strong feelings of the former against Mr. Campbell, when he was in circumstances which required commiseration, rather than the exhibition of vindictive feeling from Frans. These things are adverted to, not to open old sores, but to bring out some of the features of the case. It may further be stated, that Peffer had brought the case before Mr. Bowker, but got no redress. Let the reader further bear in mind, that the same after- noon on which the English retired from Fort Armstrong, reports reached that place that Kasper Oliver’s camp had been attacked, and that the Hottentots were annihilated by the English at Mancazana, and he will be helped to a solution of the Fort Armstrong out- break. A great many of Oliver’s relatives were living at Armstrong, and it w r as only a day, at least, after the ransacking of the shops, that it became known that all the people had not been slain. Without, therefore, in any way excusing the wickedness which was there perpetrated, let the reader steadily keep in view the circumstances stated, while considering what occurred. 4th. It is due to General Somerset to say that from the time that he heard of the Kat River defection, he assumed the most conciliatory tone towards the insurgents, and held out almost unconditional pardon to as many as would accept of the gracious offer of His Excellency the Governor. He further arranged that such of the loyal inhabitants as repaired to Fort Armstrong should be rationed, and their horses, if any, fed at the expense of the Government; w hile, at the same time, he established a Branch Board of Relief for the destitute, and appointed Mr. Thomson and myself commissioners for issuing rations. He, moreover, sent Lieut. Green, of the C. M. Rifles, and seventy men with led horses, and an additional supply of ammunition, to Fort Armstrong; and finally, he kept up most of the time, if not daily, yet almost every other or third day posts, by means of Fingoes; and Mr. Wienand, being a ready scribe, kept the good General so well informed, that the budget of despatches which the old Fingo carrier sometimes delivered, is said to have occasionally appalled him and his suite. But it is a comfort to think that it was hard working on the right side, and that the authorities were, in consequence, kept well informed on every subject connected with Kat River; and that they cannot blame him for not telling all he knew. Mr. Wienand, despite what has been said of him by certain parties, was a just magistrate. We knew nothing of him before he came to Kat River, but truth demands it to be stated that his legal decisions were marked by rectitude and impartiality. His public and magisterial character at Kat River is invulnerable ; and for this reason it is that some who enjoyed his hospitality have taken advantage of the freedom with which his private life was laid open to them, to endeavour to wound him in the heel. But he that is without sin among the complainants, let him first cast the stone at the magistrate. I do not say that Mr. Wienand is a martial character. He himself lays no claim to it; and I believe that had a military officer, or any intelligent burgher commandant of talent been appointed to Kat River events might have been controlled. By this I insinuate no blame against the native comman- dants and field cornets. But this I say, that energy, a power to organise, regulate, and control, are indispensable qualifications in times of war ; and the native functionaries, though brave men in the field, possessed not those quali- ties. Besides, it is known that Hottentots are prone to despise their own countrymen, and will show more obedi- ence to Europeans than to them. This arises from political and social causes. All ranks and the different grades of society were crushed when the Hottentots lost their nation- ality, and, all feeling that they are on the same level, some of them are often intractable to orders from any of them- selves. In ordinary circumstances they are very civil to one another; and, as among the Boers, the young call their male seniors uncles (ooms), and their female, aunts (tautas). But it is different in command ; on the least provocation you will hear a Hottentot exclaim, — “ I won’t allow another Hottentot to say anything to me, — I won’t allow myself to be drilled or governed by another Hottentot.” That an 57 Europeau commander, as in all former wars, was not set over them was a great mistake, — but it was not the fault of the Government ; it arose out of a concession to the feel- ings of the people by His Excellency, and was in unison with the Government notification on the election of com- mandants. The people had claimed the right of choosing their own officers, though many of them were, from the first, opposed to it. It may here be mentioned that Com- mandant Groepe was indisposed most of the time ; and it is a pity that, knowing this, those in power did not relieve him from such onerous duties. On the 27th Kasper Oliver, Michiel Pretorius, W. Thomson, an English labourer, and others who had escaped from the Mancazana affray, came to Philipton ; and Mr. Wienand, being still at Philipton, took down the state- ment of the parties, and forwarded them to the General commanding at Fort Hare. The ministers in this case merely sat as witnesses, and as such avouched the state- ments. But, lo and behold ! — the Magistrate is allowed to escape with a whole head, while Mr. Renton is closely besieged for several days in his hotel! Was this not a letting out of spleen against missionaries and the cause of missions, — against philanthropy and philanthropists ? Verily it was : what they dared not do to a public functionary, was visited on a defenceless clergyman! But again , — neither Mr. Wienand nor the missionaries gave imblicity to the transactions in question. The documents mere sent direct to Government ; — how fell they into the hands of journalists ? Who was the officious scribe '! Was not this act rather extra-official ? But even for this irregu- larity the ministers were made answerable ; and a prohibi- tion on the leaving of some of them for their fatherland was demanded of His Excellency; to which he is said, in his short and significant way, to have replied, — “ I will con- sider of it.” With all His Excellency’s peculiarities of manner, as a thorough Englishman he understands the genius and the spirit of the English Constitution, and the wise limitations of its laws. He knows, too, that while the Crown has prerogatives, the subject has inalienable rights; and whilst the former can enforce the laws and punish evil, the latter can exhaust all the privileges which the laws contain for the defence of life, fame, and of property. Thus, by the refusal of His Excellency to accede to this absurd request, he made known to all men L 58 in this colony that those rights, secured by the laws, no man can take from the least of the Queen’s subjects. Into Kasper’s case I shall not now enter. It has already been before the public. I have not made up my own mind on its merits. The parties implicated are among the most respectable men in this colony, and with some of whom 1 have lived on terms of intimacy and friendship. It is a good rule never to give up one’s friends on mere report or ex-parte statement. Misunderstandings may account for all that has happened ; we shall therefore bide the judgment of a legal court or a commission of inquiry. Only one thing might here be added, — that is, that after the breaking up of Kasper’s laager, and their flight into the Blinkwater, his brother, Petrus Fortuyn, who was wounded in the en- counter, was left at Mr. Bennet’s, with only his wife and a female friend to take care of him ; and he may be said to have died of hunger and want of proper attendance. Mr. Bennet had, I believe, retired to Cradock, and this re- spectable man was left, and died under the most trying circumstances. By Messrs. Thomson, Renton, and Niven’s endeavours and influence, Kasper Oliver was prevented from proceed- ing to Mancazana, to recover his property from the captors, and he left his men at Uithaalder’s camp, and came himself to reside at Fort Armstrong. His men, however, eventu- ally connected themselves with Uilhaalder, and, sometime about the 5th or 6th of February, went out professedly to recover their property from the Mancazana English, and to fetch away the wounded man P. Fortuin and his family from Mr. Bennet’s. The party, however, diverged from their route, and fell on Mr. Whiggle’s camp, on a branch of the Koonap, which they invested and bombarded with very little casualty on the side of the English, and two or three wounded on the side of the assailants. They, however, carried off' a good many sheep and cattle. Shortly after the place was abandoned, and fell into the hands of the insurgents, w ith all the brandy and w ine, a great deal of which was drunk ; and the rest w'as, by order of Comman- dant Speelman, thrown out, as he no doubt feared that the juice of the grape would conquer his men, as it had some others. On the 28th Cithaalder, with his full staff of about 60 men, came to Philipton. They off-saddled at some distance from the place, and then sent a messenger to have a parley with Commandant Fourie and other inhabitants of the place. He said that he had been to see Commandant Groepe, to ask what had become of the for- feited property of the English, which had been made over to him. He argued that as he was styled a rebel, he should have pillaged the shops, — instead of which, loyal men had done it. He, moreover, demanded that all who had partaken of the spoil of the shops should be given overtohim, as that was an open avowal of their disaffection. He sent for the Rev. Mr. Thomson, Isaac Vincent, Henry Heyn, Michiel Pretorius, Mr. Van Rooyen, and myself. He asked Mr. Thomson what had become of the property of the English, which had been made over to him ? Mr. Thomson replied that he was not aware that the property had been made over to him (Uithaalder), — at least, that he did not do it ; neither had any such act taken place in his presence. Uithaalder, however, strenuously maintained that it had been implied and understood in the negotiations, and that on that account he had drawn off his force without fighting, and given five days’ grace to the English to be off. Mr. Thomson made further explanations, aud, after again kindly admonishing Uithaalder and the rest, he retired. We w'ere then asked, one by one, how we dared to save the property of the English ? As there had been real and quasi sales between some of the parties and the refugees on the day of their leaving Fort Armstrong, the friends covered themselves under those transactions. At this time Philip- ton was as yet very weak, and people had no confidence in each other, so that the field-cornets did not consider them- selves in a state to take up a hostile position. A rebellion is quite different from foreign warfare. In the latter you know your enemy. Not so in the former, in which there are currents and counter currents — sympathies and counter sympathies. Distrust is the only general feeling, and that enervates every power and foils every attempt. I would rather be in twenty wars than in one rebellion. It is easy for parties who were away from the shifting sands, and out of the vortex of this awful state of things, to speak, criticise, judge, and to condemn the conduct, in whole or in part, of those who were in it. When asked why I had saved Mr. Me Master’s property, I said I had bought some, and that I had taken over such things as I thought might be wanted for the objects of the Board of Relief. They offered no violence, — though they GO made us feel that if they whistled they could bring the hordes of Kafirland on us. They knew that Mr. John Green, the most obnoxious of the English in Kat River, was at Philipton, besides some three or four other English- men, and all the English females ; but they said not a word about molesting them. Uithaalder merely said that the women should give their husbands’ old coats and jackets to his men. John Hermanus, the son of Hermanus 51a- troos, said he was tired of the war, and wished to speak to Mr. Wienand, to ask him to write to the Governor to ex- tend pardon to him also ; that the war had been entailed on him by his father, that he was forced into it, and was heartily tired of it. He went towards my father’s house, but I do not know whether he spoke to the Magistrate on the subject or not. 29th. — On the same day, the 23rd January, that the English left the Kat River settlement for Whittlesea, Mr. Wienand retired to Philipton with the missionaries. On arriving there he sent for Field-cornet Andries Botha, — who, with Field-cornet Cobus Fourie, had for several weeks alternately resided at Fort Armstrong, to assist Comman- dant Groepe and to protect the Magistrate, his establishment, and the Government property, — and asked him whether he would make up a party to take him either to Fort Beaufort or Fort Hare. Botha said that he was ready to do anything for Mr. Wienand, as a Government servant and a friend, to get him safely out from the Kat River. He remarked farther, that it w ould perhaps be attended with danger from the Kafirs. Mr. Wienaud said he would not move from Philipton unless Botha and myself accompanied him. On the 29th, Mr. Wienand left for Fort Beaufort, escorted by four of his field-cornets, Pelfer, Botha, Cobus Fourie, and Valentyn Jacobs, and 24 men, and accompanied by Mr. John Thomson and myself. On coming to the ford at Fort Beaufort, Mr. Wienand sent two messengers to Colonel Sutton to announce his coming, one of whom came back to say that we might come into the town. We were at first well received, but suddenly the feelings of the people became so much excited, that Colonel Sutton told Mr. Thomson and myself to get out as soon as we could. Field-cornet Peffer was threatened to be shot, and wmuld have been shot but for the timely interference of a minister of that place. As our party was starting, Mr. J. Thomson and myself stayed for a little to buy some articles for the GL men. Colonel Sutton and Mr. Bovey, with six of the Cape Corps, accompanied them, and were followed by a parly of the Fort Beaufort English Mounted Levy. Thinking that the English who followed had a design to injure them, some of the Kat River men, among whom was Botha, rode away at full speed, and were then chased by some of the English; and, as the people say, Botha was fired at by one of the pursuers. Another of the objects of our going to Fort Beaufort was to see Colonel Sutton, and to enter into some plan by which the loyalists at Kat River could co-operate with the people of Fort Beaufort, in order to break the “ back of rebellion ” in the Blinkwater. But before Mr. John Thomson, the four field-cornets, and myself, had had time to speak to Colonel Sutton on the subject, the feeling- had risen so high, that the gallant officer recom- mended the party to get out as soon as they could. Mr. Wienand remained. We left the manifesto of the loyalists with him, and desired that he would show it to Mr. Civil Commissioner Stringfellow and General Somerset. 1 need not say that the feeling which this repulse produced on the minds of all the Kat River people was very unfavoura- ble. The field-cornets were wounded to the quick, and for several days, society seemed to be drifting towards the quicksands of general anarchy, — men’s minds appeared to be alternating between resentment and forbearance. But by the zealous efforts of the ministers, and especially of Messrs. Renton and Niven, the feelings ofthe men subsided. After taking down the statements of the parties who had been to Fort Beaufort, the Committee of the Burgher Association sent the following document to the General commanding at Fort Hare. On the 30th we heard of the Shiloh and Whittlesea affair. “ To Major-General Somerset, C.B. “ Philipton, February 4, 1851. “ Sir, — We transmit to you various important documents respecting two occurrences which have deeply excited this Settlement, and multi- plied the difficulties and dangers with which we are surrounded. “ The first packet, No. 1, relates to an extraordinary outrage upon thirty residents of this district, who escorted Mr. Wienand, our Resident Magistrate, to Fort Beaufort, on Wednesday last. The second, No. 2, relates to the still more deplorable havoc of property and life at Shiloh since that date. The fulness and distinctness of the testimonies transmitted, and of the views entertained here, expressed in the resolutions which accompany them, render it unneccessary for us 02 to add a word beyond expressing the most earnest hope that not a moment will he lost in taking steps to prevent the growth of the mischief. “ We are instructed by the Kat River Loyal Burgher Association to state that there are a large number of people in the Settlement who have given no countenance to the insurrection, and who deplore and oppose it, and that before any military operations against the disloyal in Kat River were commenced, it would be well to proclaim certain places as exempted from them, that the well-affected may know where to repair to. The apprehension is great, after the cases to which the accompanying documents refer, and the no less astounding occurrences on the Mancazana and Baviaan’s River, that without positive instruc- tions from head-quarters, the loyal and peaceable may, from a com- mando of hoers or of English, be exposed to sudden assault and destruction. “ The members of the Association suggest Philipton, Eiland’s Post, and Fort Armstrong and Hertzog, as suitable places of ren- dezvous for the loyal. “We have the honour to be, Sir, “ Your most obedient servants, (Signed) “W. R. Thomson, “ James Read.” It may be here remarked that, on the Shiloh messengers coming to Philipton, they requested us to write their case to Mr. Calderwood, the Civil Commissioner of their dis- trict. We, however, advised them to go themselves, which they declined doing, from a fear that the Fingoes might fall upon them before they reached Alice. At their earnest request we took down their statement, and sent it off by two Fingoes. It was not, therefore, for the mere sake of meddling with what is called politics that the missionaries interested themselves in all these cases; but in order, first, to show those who considered themselves as aggrieved that redress could still be had,— and that representation of grievances to the authorities, and not physical resistance, was the proper method to adopt in order to obtain it ; and, secondly, from the idea that expectation of redress would soften their feelings, and delay any attack they might medi- tate on their opponents. The account of what took place at Shiloh is in substance what appeared in the Advertiser of the 31st May, 1851; and to that, though I know not the writer, I shall adhere, till convinced of my error by something better than has yet appeared on the other side. These men, moreover, while in Kat River, asked their friends and relatives to come with their wagons to fetch them away from Shiloh ; and several wagons were conse- quently sent, — and this accounts in a great measure for several of the lvat River people going- to Shiloh, where some of them also fought, as the place was attacked while they were there. The Whittlesea English sent to their countrymen at Craduck for help. The Shiloh people sent to Uithaalder in the Blinkwater. It is to be hoped that, for the interests of truth, this case will undergo a severe scrutiny before the coming Commissioners. We care not which side loses, if truth only triumphs. The Oxkraal Fin goes having, on the 30lh, stolen several horses from Philipton, Field-cornet Bruintjes and several men went there to remonstrate with them. Most of these people, who were from 300 to 400 in number, and were connected with the missionaries of Philipton, had taken umbrage at the conduct of the Lushington people, whose young men had molested their countrymen while trekking through the Kat River to Oxkraal. They showed a great tendency to quarrel with the party, but bethought themselves, and gave hack the horses. They, however, continued their incur- sions into the Kat River, and carried off what they could get. This further accounts for some of the Kat River people having fallen on them. — I am, &c. LETTER XI. Lovedale, July 1, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — It having been intimated to the Committee of the Kat River Loyal Burgher Associa- tion, that Colonel Sutton had requested “Adjunct” Com- mandant Peffer (for such had he been appointed in reward for certain information he had given to Gen. Somerset about some movements among the Kafirs,) and others who were at Fort Beaufort, to meet him on a given day at the old school, otherwise called Williamston, to converse together on some plan of co-operation ; it was resolved bv that body that Rev. M essrs. Thomson, Niven, and myself, should accompany the party. The Field-cornets Botha, Fourie, and Peffer, “ after sleeping many nights on the matter,” as they said, and calling to mind past events, were led to abandon the idea. They said they had every confidence in Lieut. -Col. Sutton, but that he was scarcely able on the day of their expulsion from Fort Beaufort to restrain those who served under him 64 from injuring them , and that the same things might be repeated. On Sunday, the 2nd of February, therefore, Mr. Thomson (Mr. Niven being prevented by Mrs. N.’s indis- disposition), the Tidmanton elder Cornelius Magerman, Kasper Oliver, William Goezaar, Christiaan Zeeland, and myself, rode to the Upper Blink water rebel camp, which we found had shifted their position from the hamlet of Wilberforce (though it had been partly entrenched by embankments, with Mr. Gilbert’s small howitzer mounted on them), lower down the Blinkwater streamlet, beginning from Davis’s house down to the jungles and craggy kloofs, leading into Hermanus’ district. On arriving at Davis’s place, where there was a large and irregular camp, we resolved on a division of labour. Mr. Thomson was to preach to the Hottentots at this camp, and I was to go lower down to the Gonas and Hermanus’s people. On arriving at Capt. Hendrik Noeka’s kraal, I found Klaas Noeka, late of Tidmanton, holding forth to the people, who were cleanly, orderly, and seemingly devout. Goe- zaar and myself sat ourselves down and uncovered, while the orator went on with his subject. None seemed discon- certed at our coming. Noeka spoke in Kafir. His elocution was deliberate, but very energetic. His voice was manly. This man had been one of “ Col. Smith’s corps of guides,” and one of the interpreters in the war of “thirty-five;” had also been Government interpreter under the diplo- matic agent, Mr. Stretch, and had, of course, had a great deal of intercourse with the elite of Kafirland and the colony, and was a very intelligent man His subject was taken out of Isaiah, but I did not ask the text. At a cer- tain point he broke forth in a torrent of eloquence, which deeply affected the meeting, as all wept. At the close of the service, a man named Bozak, a baptised Kafir, was requested by the preacher to engage in prayer. The first part was very good ; but we heard him earnestly praying for the great prophet Umlangeni, and the child of Gaika, Sandilli, on whose head a price had been set. After the people were dismissed, my attendants asked the rebels whether they would not ask me to preach, — which they all gladly responded to. My subject being Isaiah 52:7 — “ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who bringeth good tidings, who publisheth peace,” &c. &c. After service I asked “ Captain Noeka” and some of his (>5 friends, to accompauy me to Uithaalder’s camp, where I had left Mr. Thomson. We preceded them, and found that Mr. Thomson had finished his service, and was walking- before the schoolmaster, Andries Jager’s house, with Uithaalder and his “aide-de-camp,” Jan Andrews, of Theo- polis notoriety, talking and remonstrating with them. They both seemed to treat him with civility and respect. I do not know all that was said, but I could hear that it was dissuasive from their present course to peace, order, and loyalty to Her Majesty. Soon after the iNoekascame; but Jan Hermanus did not come, whom we had also sent for, he having been prevented by illness. I opened to the company of Hottentot and Gona chiefs the object of our visit, which was, first, to preach to the people, — and, second- ly, to ask the leaders to give us a safe conduct on the morrow to Fort Beaufort, to see Colonel Sutton, who was desirous to see and treat with them. Uithaalder said he would give us an escort : but he was afraid, as he had heard that the “ settlers of Fort Beaufort had chased Mr. Wie- uand’s escort like game out of that place ; and he feared that they were only going to lay a trap for them.” He further dissuaded us from going, and would not guarantee our safety with the Kafirs; and he ended by saying — “ You may go, gentlemen, if you like, but I would not advise you to attempt it.” One of the Noekas, with bit- ter sarcasm, said — “I thought, gentlemen, you came to preach. Are you again talking about that matter of making peace with the settlers ? We keep the Sabbath, and we don’t wish to be troubled about such matters to-day.” Other things he said, which I need not now mention ; and, having finished speaking, they all mounted their beautiful half bred colts, and pranced off in sty le. It being now too late to go home, and there being no pros- pect of our getting to Beaufort, we made up our minds to sleep there that night. It was a wet and cold night ; we slept under our great coats on a mat, — the hut leaking in several places. We of course ate the food we had brought with us, and they did not attempt to offer us any. Our rest was greatly disturbed by the groans and moans of a young man who had been wounded in the hip, at the attack on Wh iggle’s. He was rueing the day he went there, — and his old aunt was taunting him with — “ That is good as it is — you would not hear. I told you, you must not go — now, cry on.” The poor fellow only replied, — “ O dear! J did M not know that it would be so,” — and many fools have since said the same. Truly, “ the way of transgressors is hard.” 6th. — Uithaalder’s force passed to Shiloh. Same day. Rev. Mr. Renton, Mr. John Thomson, and myself rode to Lushington, intending, if time and circumstances should permit, to go down the Chumie to see Mrs. Chalmers, and to try to confirm the Kafir Christians there in loyalty. Finding there existed difficulties of descending into the Chumie, we gave up our intention of going thither, and again spoke to the people of Lushington, as we had done before. Mr. Renton addressed the people from 1 John iii. 10, — “ In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil,” &c. Mr. John Thomson and my- self thought him imprudently severe against the rebels, as there were a number of suspected characters present, and among others the well known Peterward. It may here be mentioned that on our way to Lushington, we met three ur four of the Cape Mounted Rifles, who had deserted from Line Drift. While I was talking to one man, and telling him that those who were soldiers and had sworn faithfully to serve her Majesty, had done one of the greatest sins in having gone over to the Kafirs, — a fierce-looking Bastard, also of the Cape Corps, was eyeing Mr. Renton from head to foot, with his finger on the trigger. I expected every moment he would shoot him. I heard one of them say, “ That man is not a minister; he is an officer in disguise, and is manoeuvring to catch us; but if I were quite certain of it, I would bring him down at once. These English are a crafty race.” 10th. — Mr. John Thomson and myself rode to Wells- dale, to the north-east of Philipton, to witness Macotno’s horse and foot going to Shiloh. The same day messen- gers returned with despatches for Shiloh and Kat River from General Somerset. The following is the memoran- dum for Capt. Tylden, a copy of which was sent to the missionaries at Philipton : — “ MEMORANDUM. “ Fort Hare, 7th Feb., 1851. “ I have heard with deep grief and sorrow all that is said to have befallen the Moravian mission station at Shiloh. “ In the absence of all report from the Commandant Tylden I cannot at present give an opinion. “ But I direct that no further hostile attack or movement be made by any force against Shiloh or the inhabitants of that station G7 so long as they themselves remain passive. Captain Tylden will take charge of all property that has been seized at Sniloh. “ I desire that Captain Tylden will make an immediate report of these unaccountable proceedings, and that he will afford every protection and assistance to the respected missionaries who have been thus forcibly driven from their homes. (Signed) “H. Somerset, Major-Gen., “ And Commandant in the North Victoria District." “ To Capt. Tylden, R.E.” This letter was taken to Shiloh by Commandant Cobus Fourie, Mr. John Thomson, Andries Hatta, Jan Fourie, and an escort. The second document was in reference to places of refuge, which the loyalists had requested might be ap- pointed. “ NOTICE. “ Fort Hare, 7th Feb., 1851. “ Having this day received information from the Rev. Messrs. Thomson and Read, sen., that there are several loyal persons in the Kat River Settlement who have given no countenance to the insurrection of the natives, and who deplore it, — “ I hereby direct that all such loyal persons are to assemble at Philipton, Hertzog, Eiland’s Post, and Balfour, for mutual protection. “ I expect, however, that those persons so assembled at the above stations will cease to hold any farther intercourse with the enemy, in any way whatever, and that they will by intermediate patrols from the above places prevent the enemy from moving about in that part of the Settlement. “ All commandoes of Burghers and all other forces are hereby forbidden to make any attack on the above posts, without my orders. “ And I hereby appoint Field-Commandant Cobus Fourie, a Special Commandant in the Kat River, for his good conduct, which he has ever evinced in a long course of service for the last forty years, — • and I command and direct that all loyal native subjects do forthwith repair to Philipton, and place themselves under Field-Commandant Fourie, or at Eland’s Post, under the Commandant at that post. “ And I hereby further give notice that all inhabitants occupying the Blinkwater, the Mancazana, and Lusliington, and other posts of the Kat River Settlement, who have been in daily and constant communication with the enemy, (who has been permitted to move unmolested through these localities,) who do not forthwith repair to the posts I have now pointed out, will be treated by me, and by the forces and burghers under my orders, as enemies. And I call upon all those who have been in rebellion against Her Majesty, to proceed to those posts, and lay down their arms, and submit themselves to the Commandants aforesaid, — abiding my further directions, until I take the Governor’s pleasure thereon. (Signed) u H. Somerset, “ Major-General, Commandant-General.” A third letter, addressed to the two senior ministers, was also received at the same time, and which shall he given hereafter. — I am, &c. LETTER XII. Lovedale, July 1, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — On the night of the 11th of February, Commandant Fourie’s party returned with des- patches from Captain Tylden to General Somerset, which were forwarded on the following day. On the 10th of February, Commandant Cobus Fourie, Mr. John Thomson, Andries Hatta, John Fourie, and others, proceeded to Whittlesea with special despatches from General Somerset to Commandant Tylden, in order to stop the mutual attacks of the Whittlesea and Shiloh people on each other, till the case should have been inquired into by Government. On coming there, Mr. John Thomson went to Whit- llesea, but Fourie and his companions met the Whittlesea friends, Messrs. Emmet, Webster, and W. Eva, half way between the belligerent posts. Mr. Webster said that he would like to return to Ivat River with Fourie and party, to see Mrs. Webster, then living in my father’s house, with the Rev. Mr. Thomson’s family. The Kat River men gladly acquiesced, and promised him protection. Mr. Webster then rode with Mr. John Thomson to Shiloh, where, having heartily shaken hands with his former opponents, and partaken, with the rest, of what was set before them, he accompanied Fourie’s party to Ivat River that night, where they arrived about daybreak. Not to disturb the families, Mr. Webster laid himself down in the wagon where the young Messrs Thomson slept till daylight; he then went into the house. At about six. o’clock that morning, my servant caine into the room to say that Fourie and the escort had returned, and Mr. Webster with them ; adding that some young people, then suspected of fraternizing with the rebels, were very riotous, and were holding out menacing language against him. I immediately dressed myself, and went to inform the Field-commandant Fourie, and Field-cornets Jacobs, Botha, and Bruintjes, G!) and other loyal men, of what was passing. On coming towards my father’s house, I saw four of those young men strutting down to the house, and demanding of him to give up Webster; they were extremely impudent and insulting. My father, of course, refused, and severely chid them. Soon after this, the Commandant Fourie and some others, and a lady belonging to the mission, came up; and while the men remonstrated and threatened the rioters, if they dared to hurt Webster, she endeavoured to shame them out of their unmanly and cowardly proceedings : they soon after dispersed. After breakfast I went into my father’s house, where I saw and shook hands with Webster as an old acquaintance, and congratulated him on his restoration to his family m safety. It was at this time that Mr. Renton and he met in the lobby of my father’s house, the result of which is already known. I asked Mr. Webster into my father’s room, when, after conversing with him for a little while, I left him with my sisters, begging him to excuse me, as I was going to see Commandant Fourie. Having consul ed with Commandant Fourie, Mr. John Thomson, Andries Hatta, John Fourie, and others, as to the best way of acting in the circumstances of the case, it was resolved that, all things considered, it would be best for Mr. Webster to return to Whittlesea without delay. I need not say that the Fouries, Mr. John Thomson, and Hatta felt highly in- dignant at the conduct of the young men, characterizing it as base and cowardly, and said they would protect Mr. Webster at all hazards. David Fourie volunteered to accompany him to Whittlesea, and the horses being saddled, word was sent to Mr. Webster that all was ready for astart. He deliberately w alked out at the back parlour door of the house, without the assistance of Mr. Thomson, as has been alleged, and joined David Fourie at the garden gate, and they walked down the avenue together in sight of several spectators. Mr. John Thomson, John Fourie, and Mr. Hugh Thom- son rode after them, and on overtaking them, Mr. H. Thomson, w ho had ridden as far as Mr. Webster’s house, returned; while his brother and John Fourie went with them as far as Readsdale, and then came back. David Fourie went with Mr. Webster to Whittlesea, and arrived at their destination on the evening of the day they left Philipton, and did not sleep in the bush. This can be attested by the Whittlesea as well as Philipton people. Uit- haalder was not at Philipton on that day, but came the day 70 after. The conduct of' Petrus Pommer, David Oerson, and their comrades, towards Webster, was certainly base and cowardly. Webster was a brave Englishman, and if they could not meet him on the field of battle, it was cowardly to wish to injure him when he could not defend hinself.* On the afternoon of the 12th we had a full meeting of all the men of the place, where the conduct of the young men towards Webster in the morning was spoken of, and denounced in unmeasured terms by the ministers; and the men were all made to promise, with uplifted bands, in the presence of God and men, that they would protect the English females, and the English generally, who were re- siding at Philipton; and be it here stated, to the everlast- ing honour of those men, that with the enthusiasm of honest hearts, they all replied, “ Yes;” and they kept their promise. Let even that poor man, Mr. John Green, say whether that pledge was not fully redeemed at that “ focus of re- bellion,” Philipton. The burgher association having resolved at their meeting the same day to send off the wives of the English refugees to Shiloh, seven wagons were next procured ; and on the evening of the 13th our friends took their departure to Whittlesea, with a strong escort of volunteers, under the supervision of the two young Fouries, — Mr. Thomson also accompanying them to inspire the women and children with confidence. Mr. Webster having requested John Fourie to take Mrs. Webster on horseback, he did so. They, the females, took all they had saved. Uithaalder knew they were going, and said he would not raise a stone to injure unprotected women. When the wagons left, nearly half the women and children of the place, the mission families, and some of the ministers and others, went with them a short distance to show their sympathy and goodwill. Provisions they got for the journey from the Board of Relief and from the mission families, as also from the natives. The Fouries cared and provided for the Misses Eva as if they had been their own relatives. The people of Van der Kemp used to send presents to Mrs. Barnes and others. In short, each of the females had her own or her husband’s friends among the people of Philipton, Armstrong, and Eland’s Post, who did all they could on their behalf. • It is said that thpse two young men are to be banished tor life. 71 It might have been mentioned, that before the wagons started, the Rev. Mr. Thomson, having craved the Divine blessing and protection on the travellers, pronounced the bendiction amidst many tears of the English and native females. The party safely reached Whittlesea on the night of the 14th February. On the 15th Mr. John Thomson returned, and brought us the following acknowledgment from the husbands of the English females and the friends at Whittlesea : — “ The Rev. Messrs. W. R. Thomson, J. Read, sen., “ J. Read, jun., and others. “ Whittlesea, 15th Feb., 1851. “ Gentlemen, — We, the undersigned, inhabitants of the Kat River as husbands and fathers of families, beg to tender to you our sincere and hearty thanks for the efforts you have used in sending our wives and families from Philipton to Whittlesea; and beg to assure you that your kind assistance and exertion in doing so will not be lost upon us. “ We cannot refrain from expressing our sense of the great obliga- tion we are under to you all, for the kindness and attention which our families assure us they have experienced at your hands, during their stay among you. “We wish you all to convey to all those who assisted, our grateful acknowledgement for their kindness and services. “ (Signed) Thomas Webster, James Barnes, Henry Birch, J. McMaster, Wm. Heavier, W. Ridgeway, W. D. Eva, R. Eva, J. Eva, sen., C. W. Whiting. I would just, in passing, here give a short explanation about a trivial matter which has been made so much of ; and it is this, — that when the wagons took out the refugee females, the missionaries, having heard that there was still meal belonging to the missionaries at Shiloh, resolved to send for some to Rhenatus Paarl, the commandant of the place, under whom, it was understood, the mission property had been left. It so happened that two of the ministers, and one to a considerable amount, had to get meal from the Shiloh brethren. Arrangements were therefore made to accommodate all the mission families, and the Rev. James Read, senior, was requested by the rest to write to Field-cornet Rhenatus Paarl, under whom it was under- stood the mission depot had been left, to send several sacks of meal by the return wagons. This, be it remembered, was after truce had been pro- claimed between Shiloh and Whittlesea, and intercourse re-opened. This note, it would seem, was afterwards picked up at Shiloh, and printed in the Graham's Tovm Journal, to hold forth the Rev. James Read, senior, as 72 sympathising- with the rebels, and thereby it was attempted to raise constructive disaffection. But why is the Rev. James Read, senior, more blamed for sending for meal to Shiloh, and writing a note to the person who was said to have the mission property in charge, than Mr. Webster? The respected missionaries of Shiloh, surely, were not suspected of treasonable purposes. The mission stores were, I guess, not forfeited ; but more than that, Mr. Webster had shaken hands and eaten with his former antagonists on his way to Philipton with Fourie and friends; yet I have not seen a single remark condemnatory of his conduct, — and why ? Because one is what is called a “frontier colonist,” and the other a missionary ; there- fore the one is persecuted, and the other extravagantly extolled. It is these caprices that do the “ frontier colo- nists” harm. As to the sentiments of the rebel Hottentots against the English settlers, they are as vile as they are detestable. But the following from a sub-leader of the Graham's Town Journal against the natives is surely not much better, — (October, 19, 1850, No. 984, headed “ Departure of His Excellency the Governor):” — “ The colony is growing in wealth, gaining power and importance, the black man (generic term) is melting away before the white man ; as Kreili’s councillors said, — ‘ Were not our fathers the undis- puted owners of the territory as far as Algoa Bay, the white man drove us back to the Fish River, then to Kies- kamina, and ultimately we shall be east of the Kei.’ The force of arms is not necessary to do this ; a law of nature appears to be sufficient, — civilization is enough to accomplish the task.” Now, we would ask, whose is the more rabid sentiment, — the Hottentots’ or that of the editor of the Journal ? What shall we say to a professed patriot and legislator, and Christian teacher withal, expressing felt complacency at the melting away of the black man, and at his possessions falling into the hands of the white man ? The entire paragraph is wrong in philosophy as well as in morals. Civilization, Christian civilization, is not a destructive power. It is a vivify- ing and strengthening power, — a power developing the highest excellence of individual and of social character. It has saved the people of the South seas, and it will not destroy the Hottentots. It is not necessarily connected with aggression on the civil and political rights of the 73 people to whom it is offered, and the depriving them of their lands. But such writers will get over “ melt away," in the same wav as they try to get over the word “ exterminate ,” as used in Sir Harry Smith’s proclamations. The same journal makes His Excellency the Governor to say to xMessrs. Hartman and Bisset, about the 16th November, 1850, — “ One thing I must say, all of you commit a great error in keeping so many black [generic term] and so few white servants ; a black costs you £23 9s. a-year, not reckon- ing his thieving, — a w hite will cost you £38 15s., but steal nothing (query ?). The least sensible among you must see the difference of £15 between a faithful white servant and a black thief, is more than twice eaten up every year, by robberies committed upon you under the present system of employing native labour ; and further, the one would betrav you, while the other would defend you. These are things worth thinking of.” We would fain hope that this is a perversion of His Excellency’s words; and if so, he may very feelingly say “save me from my friends.” Should it be otherwise, we have the head of the Government shutting the market against native labour, and characterising the natives indis- criminately as thieves — or something worse. These things, and many others like them, have issued from the Graham’s Town Journal ; and yet the editor of that paper, and those he represents, cannot comprehend either what all this distrust is about, or whence the strong feelings of the natives against the whites: “ He eateth, and wipeth his mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness.” As to the people, the commonalty, “ the servile classes,” they may not be able to see — they may be ignorant, — but they can feel; and the sense of feeling is very strong and fine in blind people. — I am, &c. “ Note. — The following is a copy of the letter which had been intercepted by Macomo, but was afterwards recovered by one of the Lushington people, and sent to Philipton a day or two before General Somerset’s arrival : — “ Camp, Fort Hare, 1st February, 1851. “ Gentlemen, — The Magistrate of the Kat River Settlement having joined me here on the 30th ultimo, he has acquainted me that the Field-cornet Fourie, and a select party from Philipton, N 74 accompanied by the Rev. James Read, jun., escorted him to Fort Beaufort on the 29th ult. “ I greatly regret that Mr. Wienand should not have come direct to me here, instead of proceeding to Fort Beaufort, where the public is labouring under the excitement of the late attack, and which, I fear, caused the parties who have escorted the Magistrate to suffer some inconvenience. The defection in the Kat River has shown itself in such an extraordinary aspect, and such overt acts of violence have been committed at Fort Armstrong, by the professedly loyal, under the immediate eye of the Field Commandant Groepe, J.P., whose conduct has been most unsatisfactory, that the Magistrate felt himself hound to retire from the Settlement. Under these circum- stances I shall feel it my duty to ascertain what number of persons there are in the Kat River upon whose loyalty the Government may reckon. “ I am prepared to use every exertion to encourage and support those parties the moment I can ascertain that point ; and either to bring them out to join me, or to send a force to sustain them so soon as I ascertained their numbers and wishes. But I must decidedly know on whom the Government can rely before I move any force into a country which has apparently been common both to the enemy and the rebels, without restraint or hindrance. “ Mr. Wienand has acquainted me that a loyal party in the Settlement have very prudently withdrawn themselves to Philipton, where they have resisted the attempts of the disaffected to possess themselves of public property, as well as much private property belonging to tbe English, who have gone to Shiloh. “ I greatly applaud the staunch and loyal conduct of Field-cornet Fourie, and his sons, and many others whom I cannot now name ; and I shall not fail to bring these facts under the favourable notice of his Excellency the Governor. In the mean time, I beg to acquaint you, that should any of those parties desire to see me here, they will be kindly received, and it will afford me satisfaction personally to express to them my approbation of their loyal conduct. “ I have &c., “ H. Somerset, Major-General.” It is said, that Commandant Groepe sent a reply to the above, in explanation of the charges preferred against him prior to the General’s move into Kat River. LETTER XIII. Lovedale, July 14, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — About tbe 15th February I beard that a woman named Anna Smit, and her companion, who were coming with letters from Gen- eral Somerset for tbe Kat River, bad been intercepted by tbe Chief Macomo, and tbe letters taken from her. About the same clay, information reached us through the Cbumie people that a large force, under Gen. Somerset and Col. Mackinnon, were advancing' towards Lushington. In the evening, Mr. Thomson rode over towards Eland’s Post, so as to be there when the heads of the expedition should reach that place. We heard next day, however, that the commando had turned back from Lushington, and that Uithaalder and the Kafirs had con- centrated their entire force at David Scheeper’s second drift, which is guarded by basalt and iron stone rocks, and where the passage to the ford is very narrow. Had the force advanced, there is no doubt the enemy would have done great damage. A few days before this, the rebels, under Speelman Kivit, had made attacks on the Winter- berg Post and Store Hoek ; at the latter place they caught three Englishmen and one Fingo ; and while they were going to negotiate for an exchange of prisoners at the post, — that is, to give the English and Fingoes for Hottentots, — Mr. Pringle’s commando came on them. It is said they had already given up the English, but had not yet got the Hottentots. Were it not for the wickedness and awful consequences of this rebellion, the descriptions of the way in which the Hottentots worked the small cannon would be amusing. Not having a lance, they had to wet the powder to prevent its igniting before the bombadiers could run away. They put the howitzer on a cart, and when they went into action, mounted it on an ant-hill. One day, it was so fully charged that it flew off from the ant-hill, and ran back towards the post, and almost fell into the hands of the people there. Mr. Ainslie’s farm was pillaged, but the rebels are said to have given him back a span of oxen, some horses, a wagon, and as much he could convey away in it. The Ainslies were extremely kind to the Hottentots generally. It should have been mentioned that after Mr. Pringle’s re- inforcement came to the post, that is about the 13th, and after a skirmish with them, the rebels left the Blinkwater, and encamped about a stone’s throw from Fort Armstrong, in the neighbourhood of Hertzog, Balfour, Maasdorp, and up to the forest three miles above Philipton. On the 14th all the ministers went to Fort Armstrong to try to persuade the rebels to surrender, but they flatly refused. On the !20th, Sogo came to Philipton, and stated that Sandilli had sent him to say, that he wanted the Fingoes 76 and all their cattle.* He also complained of the Mission- aries constantly writing’ to General Somerset respecting all that was taking place at Kat River, and in Kafirland. The place was full of rebels. I don’t think there could have been less than from 4 to 500 Kafirs and rebels on the place ; and that night which was an anxious one, the male Fingoes had all lied, and the females were stowed away in our lofts. The loyalists were under arms the whole night ; and as the whole place was surrounded by the enemy, it will readily be imagined that we slept little. Next, morning, Sandilli, on a fine swift horse, came to Philipton. He immediately sent for the Field-cornets and for Mr. Thomson. My father accompanied them to him. He spoke to Mr. T. about the property of the English who had left Fort Armstrong, and to my father of his in- tention of killing the Fingoes and taking their cattle. My father interceded for them, as being inoffensive Christian people. It is quite true, as stated by Mr. Renton, that some of the loyalists had designs of shooting Sandilli. It was with the greatest trouble I could prevent Henry Heyn, now Lieut. Heyn, from doing so. He said, it would end the war at once, though we should all be massacred. In the afternoon Sandilli left, after taking and dividing among the rebels and Kafirs all the cattle of the Fingoes he could find. Had we known of General Somerset’s coming, he might have been secured. 1 need scarcely say that it is not true, that Sandilli was hospitably entertained at a tea-party at Philipton, as has been stated in the newspapers. February 22. — Early in the morning heard firing in the direction of Maasdorp and Balfour, and towards Retief’s Post. As General Somerset had sent no advices regard- ing the time and plan of his intended movement on the Kat River, some of the people conjectured one thing and some another. In great anxiety several people ran to the tops of the hills, to endeavour to ascertain what it was. The loyalists scarcely knew what to make of it, their feelings for a time alternated between hope and fear. They were not quite sure that the burgher commandoes had been apprised about the places of safety that had been appointed by General Somerset tor the loyalists; others, knowing the strength of the rebel Hottentots, Kafirs, and Sandilli’s people conjoined, thought the burgher commando might be * Viil« stateimntB of the Rev. H. Renton, nt the Missionary Soiree, Cape Town. overwhelmed or driven back, and that then the enemy would proceed to attack them. As the General had not asked them to co-operate with him, they felt quite discon- certed. Groepe had written to the General for explana- tions, and had not heard from him. It would appear that the burgher force came down from Retief’s Post to the Kat River by Maasdorp, and by a footpath leading down to Balfour, from the Winterbergen. They came on Hermanus’s Kafirs, who had spent the night in dancing and feasting, and were now at daybreak over- powered by sleep ; and did great execution before the enemy knew where they were, or what had befallen them. Here we may describe the position of things at Kat River at this particular time. It will be remembered that by a notification already quoted, Balfour, Philipton, Hert- zog, and Eland’s Post had been appointed by the General as places of concentration for the loyal, and for the penitent rebels, and that during the interval of receiving the Gene- ral’s letters and his coming into Kat River, circumstances had taken place which had not been known when the ar- rangements were made. Uithaalder’s people had evacuated Blinkwater, and come within a stone’s throw of Fort Arm- strong, occupying Hertzog up to the deep ravine above Commandant Groepe s place, and spreading themselves all over Balfour and Maasdorp, up to above the Philipton forests. In this new position of the enemy, Commandant Fourie wrote to General Somerset that the enemy seemed short of powder, besides giving him other valuable infor- mation. Commandant Groepe also wrote to say that he had heard that Fort Armstrong was condemned, and that he wished to know what was to be done with the Government stores. To these communications, neither Groepe nor Fourie received replies. The loyalists, therefore, felt quite bewil- dered when they heal'd the firing; and so, indeed, must the burghers have felt when they found the enemy at Balfour, where they expected a loyal camp. They saw people pouring down the hill leading from the forests above Philipton into the Balfour River. They were bound for Fort Armstrong, — but in Fort Armstrong was stiil a strong- loyal party, who had been waiting an answer from the General to Commandant Groepe’s communications. Uit- haalder’s own camp was between the hamlet of Upsher and the Fort Armstrong drift leading to Fort Beaufort. The thing was evidently mismanaged. The burghers were 78 surprised to find enemies at Balfour, and loyalists at the con- dimined post of Fort Armstrong. It lias been alleged that the people of Fort Armstrong were also at Balfour, fight- ing against the burghers, — but I am not aware that an} did so; but if they did it must have happened by misunder- standing and mismanagement, — for Groepe expected that his letter had reached the General, and that his explanations would have proved satisfactory. With these mistakes, it is a wonder that a general engagement had not ensued. We soon after heard that General Somerset was seen coming from the direction of Lushingtou. Mr. Thomson and some others rode to Eland’s Post, expecting he would come that way ; but, finding he was on his way to Fort Armstrong, they came back to Philipton ; and receiving a message that the General was approaching Fort Armstrong,* Mr. Thomson, my father, Commandants Peft’er and Fourie, with others, rode to meet and to welcome him, and to otfer their services in any way they could assist him. There was general joy among the loyalists on hearing of his approach. The party took a circuitous route, as the common road was said to be full of rebels, who had threatened the people of Philipton. When about half way they heard the report of a cannon, and much firing of small arms; and on coming to the top of the ridge, they saw great numbers of people on the other side of the fort, apparently firing upon persons below. The Cape Corps had gone through the drift, and the General had halted on the east side of the river and some of his forces were still coining on behind. Messrs. Thomson, Read, and the Field-cornets were kindly received by the General, who said to the ministers that he would have come earlier to the assistance of the Kat River loyalists, but that his cannon, had not arrived from Graham’s Town, till very recently. It must be borne in mind, that the General had been fully made acquainted with the state of Kat River by the magistrate, the clergy- man of the Dutch Reformed Church, and hy the mission- aries, who had entreated help to put down the rebellion. No sooner had Groepe’s people got through the river than some of the rebels fled into the fort and tower, out of which one man fired several shots. A shot was fired against the door of the tower, by which the man who had * On Gen. Somerset’s approaching Fort Armstrong, Martinus. Appel went out to meet him with a flag of truce, which, through Major Somerset's intervention, was received. Groepe’s people had no time to save any of their property. 79 been firing was killed, and some others also. The fight now became desperate ; several of the rebels, seemingly Her- manus’s people and Hottentots, made a stand in the fort. Major Somerset, with a number of the Cape Corps, was ordered to storm the position in which the rebels were entrenched. The English farmers and the Fingo levies poured in from every direction, and fired volley after volley upon those below the fort and on each side the river, where the enemy had fled or had sliden down the slopes of the hill on which the fort is situated, — some of them almost throwing themselves down the precipices. The bodies of several women were found, who were shot, it is hoped, by mistake or fell by the chances of war, — among others an old leper woman, named Leentje Jagers, was shot through the body and killed on the spot, and another old man, also a leper, Hendrik Prins, was shot through his shirt. Jan Van Beulen reports, that a young woman, named K. Erasmus, was shot a little distance from the fort, while hiding herself under some mimosa trees, and the remains of another were found on the Hertzog road. I have also heard of one or two children who were killed after the door of the tower had been forced, and the women who had taken shelter there had come out. The burning of the shops and the huts of the Hottentots now commenced. General Somer- set was heard to say, — “ Those fellows are doing all that contrary to my orders.” Had the affair been rightly managed, the houses of the ruined shopkeepers might still have been spared, and a great deal of the pillaged property secured to the owners. As it was, the loss of property was very great. Groepe’s people lost all they possessed, — one man £100 in cash, and another £25. It was painful to witness the effusion of human blood and the maddened feelings of the people on that disastrous day. I stay not to describe the bombarding of the tower, or the general attack on Fort Armstrong, or the pillage of the shops : these things are left to other pens. Those of us who met away from the scene rejoiced that the arms of our beloved Queen had been successful; that law and order had been reasserted, and the loyal party delivered. The mind went forth in contemplation of other times, when “men shall beat their swords into plough-shares and their spears into pruning-hooks,” and the gospel shall achieve its final triumphs — “ Glory to God in the highest, peace on 80 earth, and good will towards men.” In the afternoon, Mr. Thomson, my father, and the Field-cornet, returned to Philipton, and related all that had happened at Fort Arm- strong. They disabused the minds of the people of the rumours which had reached us that all Groepe’s people had been cut. oft’. But the report went forth that Gen. Somerset was going to smash the whole Settlement, and, “ like a stone (lung into the water, it raised a circling swell,” whose ex- panding successive rings were felt at the farthest circum- ference of the Settlement; and many who had till then been loyal, or passive, betook themselves to the mountains, — some on foot, leaving everything, and others in wagons. Some of the most loyal and respectable famlies at Philipton and Eland’s Post were ready to betake themselves to flight, as they considered that many of Groepe’s people were loyalists, and that if they had suffered, others would not be spared. Among those who now took to the bush, but who had hitherto sat still to take care of their ripening crops of mealies and their stacks of corn, were some of the people of Wilsonton, Bruceton, and of Lush- ington. On the 23rd, as the General was staying over at Fort Arm- strong, in order to patrol the country, and to rest the sick and wounded, Messrs. Thomson, Read, sen., Field-com- mandant Cobus Fourie, again left for Fort Armstrong, with a strong escort. The General w as still encamped on the east side of the river; a commodious house belonging to Kupido Davids was used for a hospital. On the party approaching the camp, the whole of the Fingoes, and many of the English, set up a loud roar, hissing and hooting in derision. These poor people were evidently instigated by others of better position in society. Everything was done to insult, provoke, and deride. General Somerset, how- ever, seeing the party, immediately sent oft’ the Cape Corps to protect them, and to conduct them to his tent. He administered with firmness severe reproof to some of the ringleaders, as he had done on the previous day, and he treated the ministers and native functionaries with great kindness and attention. The same may be said of the officers and of some other English and Dutch gentlemen ; but others were very violent, and sought every opportunity to load them with every vile epithet. The General had a difficult task to keep anything like order and pro tect loyal persons. It was at this time that the late 81 Superintendent Cobb, of Blinkwater, was shot by his own gun joins' off. In camp, were several of the rebels who had either sur- rendered or had been taken prisoners. Commandant Groepe and the Fort Armstrong people were also considered as prisoners of war, and their property had been seized ; but alter Mr. Thomson had explained, the General relented, and they obtained their liberty, but not their arms. Vast numbers of the wives and children of the rebels came into the camp, and an appalling scene of misery presented itself to the eye and the mind. Kat River families, who had been not only in respectable but in comfortable circum- stances, were at once reduced topenury, nakedness, and want. Of the prisoners, the great number were not Kat River people, but those who had joined Uithaalder from the Winterbergen, and other parts of the colony. Groepe’s people amounted to about 100. From the excited state of the commando, and the diffi- culty General Somerset seemed to have of enforcing order, a wish was expressed to the General that when he should visit Philipton, he should not bring the whole commando with him, but only the Cape Corps ; with which request he was understood to acquiesce. The next day, 24th, we heard that General Somerset had moved his camp to Lushington, and that, going up Groepe’s TIoogte, the rear of his train of wagons was at- tacked by the Kafirs, and one or two of the wagon-drivers and one Hottentot woman were shot. At the time General Somerset visited Kat River, the following persons had, in accordance with his public notice already quoted, drawn together at Philipton. Be it borne in mind that the order was not that only loyalists were to be at Philipton, but rebels too ; the General’s words are, — “ and I command and direct that all loyal native subjects do forthwith repair to Philipton, and place themselves under the Field-commandant Fourie, or at Eland’s Post, under the Field-commandant at that post — “ and I call upon all those who have been in rebellion against Her Majesty to proceed to those posts (Philip- ton and Eland’s Post), and lay down their arms, and submit themselves to the commands aforesaid, (Fourie and Peflfer), abiding any further directions, until I take the Governor’s pleasure thereon.” These posts were therefore constituted reservoirs for all sorts, lovalists, o 82 neutrals, ami repentant rebels, and of course, when the General went to those places, he could not have expected to have found only loyalists there.* — 1 am, &c. * In controversy of this kind there is nothing like statistics. I must therefore crave the indulgence of my respected readers in quoting the names of the people then at Philipton. List of persons at Philipton , Commandant Cobus Fourie, Field-cornet. I Cobus Fourie, Commandant; 2 Piet Bruintjes, ditto; 8 Valentyn Jacobs, ditto; 4 Andries Botha, ditto; 5 Willem Valentyn, 0 Andries Botha, 7 Cobus Lu her , 8 Cobus Fourie, jun, 9 Jan Fourie, 10 David Fourie, 11 Philip Speelman, 12 Hendrik Vincent, 13 Pieter Plaatjes, 14 Nicolas Klaas, 15 Willem Goezaar, 10 Hendrik Hein, 17 David Malgas, 18 Petrus Readen, 19 Jan Valentyn, 20 Cobus Valentyn, 21 Tys Jurie, 22 Hans Buis, 23 Klaas Klaas, 24 Koenraad Klaas, 24 Isaac Vincent, 25 Willem Vincent, 26 Frans Vincent, junior, 27 Pitt Camphor, 28 Goliah Pardewagter, 29 Hans Jonkers, 3d David Julie, 31 Windvogel Julie, 32 G- rt Nfeuwv- Id, 33 Baad Windvogel, 34 Kivit Liebser, 35 Dirk Baard, 30 Matys Koopman ,37 James Thomson, 38 Jan Pieters, 39 Smous Smous, 40 Ruiter Prins, 41 Gert Scheepers, 42 Jan Pretorius, 43 Willem Preto- rius, 44 Isaac Pretorius, 45 Isaac Camphor, 40 Cornelius Schoenmaker, 47 W T entzel Magerman, jun , 48 Jacob Cupido, sen., 48 Scheoper Malgas, 49 Jacob Aranse, 50 Jan Warstroom, 51 Christiaan Janze, 52 Cobus Links, 53 Plaaije Links, 54 Willem Andries, 55 Jan Rui.ers, 50 Boezack Pretorius, 57 Stuurman Zwaard, 58Coenraad Jagers, 59 Cobus Jagers, 00 Ruiter Jacobs, 61 Paul Opperman, 62Frederik Opperman, 63 Joris Andries, 64 Mart’nus Windvogel, 65 Booy Windvogel, 66 Booy 'Windvogel, 67 Alie Arends, 68 Jacob Arends, 69 Marthinus Windvogel, 70 Marthinus Windvogel, 71 Booy Windvogel, 72 Alie Alie Arends, 73 Christiaan Zeeland, 75 Reclief Reclief, 76 Pieter Rectief, 77 Jacob de Klerk, 78 Willem Koopman, 79 Jan Meyers, 80 Andries Meyers, 81 Charles Chandler, 82 Eli :s Sau's, 83 Saul Sauls, 84 Jan Jacobs, 85 Andries Philps, 86 David Philip, 87 Jan Galant. 88 Hendriek Plaatjes, 89 Tys Snyman, 90 Syas Snyrnan, 91 Kasper Snyman, 92 Dirk Pieters. 93 Hendrik Constable 94 Jan Van Beulen, 95 Frans Vincent, 96 Isaac Vincent, 97 Michiel Pretorius, 100 Marthinus Van Beuling, 101 Philip Van Beuling, 102Wentzel Magerman. sen, 103 Liebeek Zws»rd, 104 Jacob Becker, 105 Jacob Ja'-om 106 Richard Mclntire, 107 Willem Uithaalder, sen., 108 Isaac Isaac, 109 Orson Magerman, 110 Hans Jagers, 111 Piet Hollander, 112 Michal Andries, 113 Syzer Syzer, 114 Jan Brandcr, 115 Jan Corner, 116 Cornelius Magerman, 1 17 Jipie Jipie, 118 Jan Zevlemo, 119 Cornelius Magerman, 120 Samu I Kleinkooy, 121 Willem Andries, 122 Cobus Pommer, 123 Marthinus Matthews, 124 James Green, 125 John Green, 126 David Rensberg, 127 Jospph Vrolyk, 128 Cobus Samson, 129 Oerson Dirk, 130 Cobus Van Berling, 131 Davi Baartman, 132 Wille i Opperman, 133 Hendrik Vande vint, 134 Hendrik Vandervint, jun., 135 David Hoofman. (People who had teen on the plac , but left on hearing of the General’s approach to Philipton,) 136 Hans Gezwint, 137 Andries Piet, 138 Adam Plaatjes, 139 Windvogel Malgas, 140 Andries Plaatjes, 141 Goba Pije, 142 Petrus Pommer, 143 Jacob Kupido, 144 K. Nimrod, 145 J. Nimrod, 146 J. Jantjes, 147 J. Oerson, 1 43 D. Malgas, 149 P. Zwartberg, Ministers and Missionaries, 150 H. Renton, 151 W. R. Tl omson, 152 J. Read, sen., 153 J. Read, jun., 154 J. Cumming, 155 R. Niven, 156 A Van Rooyen, 157 J. Thomson, 158 Hugh Thomson, — besides 72 Fingoes and Chumie men — total, 230 : there were also about 61 wagons. Wagons at Philipton when General Somerset came there [on the 22nd February ], with the names of the owners. Cobus Fourie, sen., Cobus Fourie, jun., Davie Fourie, Jan Fourie, Andries Hatta, Cobus Luther, Pet r Readen, Jan Valentyn, Cobus Valentyn, Kieviet Deboer, Isaac Vincent, Ilenlrik Vincent, Hen 'rik Heyn, David Malgas, W’illem Goezaar, Cobus van Beuling, Hans Zeeland, Jan Eksteen, Valentyn Jacobs, Valentyn Jacobs, Jacbs Kupido, sen., Jacob Kupido, jun , Oerson Magerman, Michael Pretorius, Jan Pie- torius, Willem Pretorius, Willem Vincent, Baart Windvogel, Paul Opperman, Joseph Botha, Tys Snyman, Katryn Keleldas, Alie Arends, Jan Bartman, Dela Jagers, Cobus Jagers, Ruiter Jacob, David Rensburg, Charles Chandler, Zeister Zeitser, Petrus Mobeti, Jacob de Klerk, Chr;stian Zwanepoel, Mina Van Beuling, Ernistina Lodewyk, ditto ditto, Michael Andries, Widow Hartnick, August Plaatjes, David Paay, James Green, Christian Zeeland, Piet Mentor, James Read, sen., James Read, jun., Henry Renton, F. Cumming R. Niven, A. van Rooyen, W. R. Thomson. 83 LETTER XIV. Luvedale, July 21, 1851. To the Edi tor : Sir, — Hearing on the 24th that Ge- neral Somerset, instead of coming to Philipton, had gone out the way to Lushington, and apprehending that he was going to leave the Settlement without making any decisive arrangements for their safety or removal, the loyalists at Philipton held a meeting on the afternoon of that day, and drew up the following resolution, which they desired the Rev. J. Read, sen., as chairman to the meeting, to for- ward to General Somerset : — “ Agreed, that a copy of the following resolution be signed by the chairman and members of Council, and be forwarded that night to General Somerset. “ The Council of the Kat River Loyal Burgher Association hereby most respectfully represent to Major-General Somerset, C.B.,K.H., and the Commandant-General of the forces on the Frontier, that they and the other loyal inhabitants of Philipton consider themselves in circum- stances of augmented danger, and pray that the Major-General will either leave a sufficient force in the district to protect them ; or if this cannot be done, and that they are to be driven to the necessity of leaving the Settlement, that he will give them and other loyal inhabit- ants in the Settlement as desire it, due notice and opportunity of going out to a place of safety. “ Adjourned till to-morrow, 9 a.m., same place ; closed with prayer by the Rev. J. Read, sen.” This resolution was accompanied by the following note to the General : — “Philipton, February 24, 1851. Sir, — I transmit two communications from the Loyal Association* One is the original manifesto, which I had hoped the magistrate, Mr. Wienand, would report to you, or a copy would have been forwarded with him ; the other, a representation resolved upon this day. The information that you had gone on to Lushington has excited in many here the fear that you were about to leave the Settlement, which I hope will prove to be misapprehension. Two other communications are also enclosed, which were sent to my son, and which I send as evidences of the views taken by some of the English refugees of the treatment they experienced here. Just as I write, the report has come in that a com- mando of Boers and Fingoes are approaching by Readsdale direction. If further information is received before the messenger leaves, I shall subjoin it; and with every desire that God may guide and prosper your measures to subdue rebellion and restore peace, I have the honour to be, sir, most respectfully, yours, (Signed) “ J. Read, Sen. “To Major-General Somerset,” &c. These communications were sent by a Fingo carrier to General Somerset’s camp at Lushington. 84 Next day, February 25, a message was sent by “ Ad- junct” Commandant Peffer from Eland’s Post, to say that the General was on his way to that Post and requesting Mr. Thomson to come over to be present at the interview. Mr. Thomson, Isaac Vincent, and others immediately ac- companied the messenger to Eland’s Post. After a short interview with the Commandant, David Scheepers, and several of the people, and having made ar- rangements to leave a party of the Cape Town English levy at the post, the General went onwards to Philipton. The commando divided below “ Groen Rug,” where the roads diverge, — the one directly to Philipton, and the other by the place of Cobus Fourie, jun. The right wing, I think, under Commandant Heugh, came over the conical hill east of the stations, firing stray shots at men and beasts as they ^descended to the station. Matthias Koopman, and Windvogel Malgas, were both fired at, while driving the cattle. The division halted at a cattle kraal about a stone’s throw from my house, apparently ready for action. A friend of mine who was in the commando said at my table, in presence of the other missionaries, “ It was just touch and go.” We ourselves did not know what to make of it ; it seemed rather strange that a place of refuge appointed by Government should, without previous explanation, have been treated in this manner. At this crisis, Andries Hatta and David Rensburg went up to speak to the Commandant. Meanwhile, the main body remained with General Somer- set on the top of the hill, but shortly made a descent, and all simultaneously removed to the plain below the new church, and there formed their encampment. Soon after, the ministers and native functionaries waited on the General. The commando people were much excited. They went about the place with their guns, going into every house, scanning every face, and searching everything. The officers and Cape Corps showed more self-possession. They behaved like conservators of peace and public order. There were also, both among the Dutch and the English, gentlemen of high character and courteous bearing. Some of them called on the missionaries, and shared the hospi- talities of their homesteads. Among them were some of my class-fellows at the Cape college, 18 years ago, and the sons of missionaries : others there were whose rancour and ill-will could not be hidden. Every now and then one would hear the epithet, “ these bloody missionaries,” ut- 65 tered with clenched teeth and suppressed lips. Several of our people said to me, more than once, “ Take care, sir, the feelings of some of these people are very strong against the missionaries, and particularly against your father ; we have heard some of these men say, — ‘ We will shoot the old fellow, aud put it down to the chapter of accidents, like the death of Superintendent Cobb.’” A man, whom we had in our own house protected, Mr. John Green, busied himself as a sort of informant ; and I have reason to believe did not a little to awaken such prejudices against Philipton. Without even thanking the missionaries and the people, who had preserved his life, family, and some of his property, he, on his return from the camp, turned against them, and exclaimed, — “ This place is the centre of the whole rebellion.” Then there were those active but independent factotums and “ footpads,” the Fingoes, who did all the dirty work of their instigators, — who uttered all they were told to say, aud laid their hands on evei’y thing, animate and inanimate, which came in their way. These people have been the saviours of the country this time, it is true, but their posi- tion has given them a fearful influence. AYith tact and prudence, however, the prejudices now excited between them and the Hottentots and Kafirs may, in the absence of better principles, be used as between the various castes in India, as political safety valves, — rather low and in- secure ones I admit. The farmers who had lost their property by the rebels strode through the kraals, to see if they could see any of their cattle or horses. The unfriend- liness and acerbity of the commando men gradually wore off and they became less offensive. Having heard that Gen- eral Somerset had resolved on not leaving any force at Philip- ton, and that he merely wished to strengthen Eland’s Post, the mission families began to pack up. In the afternoon they, in succession, called on the General to allow their families being sent with his convoy to Fort Hare. He said — “ By all means I shall take every care of the ladies ; and in case of an attack, the mission families will, of course, be the special objects of my care,” — or words to that effect. Nothing harsh had as yet been said about Philipton, or of its being broken up as a nest of thieves. While at the General’s camp, the Winterberg boers recognized Cobus van Beuling as one of those who had been at the attack on the Winterberg Post. He was instantly seized, and put 86 under arrest. On my father being questioned about him, he said he could not say much in his favour ; that he had been constantly going backwards and forwards in the Settle- ment, although he was not aware of his having been actively mixed up with the rebels. His old father, Mar- thinus van Beuling, who was at this moment returning from his lands, was caught by the Fingoes, knocked down, and afterwards brought to the General. My father said the same of him as of his son. That morning, Hendrik Vincent, a deacon of the church, Piet Bruintjes, Klaas Ivlaas, Hans Jogen, and several others, had been sent out to see if they could pick up any wounded, white or black, and to bring them to Philipton. As three of them were coming past the camp, they were taken hold of by the Fingoes, beaten, and afterwards taken to the General, who, after receiving an explanation from my father, set them free. Field cornet Bruintjes was also met by the Fingoes at some distance from the place, — was chased, and he then took to the bush, where he remained till the commando had left the Settlement, and some days after came to Eland’s Post and reported himself to Captain Fisher, who sent him down to Fort Hare. Bruintjes was one of the most loyal men at Philipton. I remember that one day seeing some suspected characters in one of the people’s houses at Philipton, he said to him, “ If you don’t send these men away, I’ll set the house on fire this instant.” He was only a single day off the place from the 15th De- cember to the 21st February, and that was when he went in pursuit of cattle to Oxkraal. It was undoubtedly fear that drove him to the mountains. He was for a few days kept in confinement at Fort Hare, and then set at large, and is now a sergeant in the Kat River Levy. — I am, &c. LETTER XV. Lovedale, July 21, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — Here let me add, that on see- ing General Somerset’s force coming towards Philipton on the 25th, Fieldcornet Botha went out of the way, after sending word to Commandant Fourie, to say to the General when he arrived that he would do so, as he was afraid of 87 liis life from the feeling that existed against him ; but that had the General come to Philipton with the Cape Corps, or the levies only, he would have stayed at home and awaited his arrival. The same day several loyal men, as well as some suspect- ed characters who had participated in the robbery of the Fingo cattle, left the place. As to Botha, I have reason to believe that while away from the place, he never mixed him- self up with the rebels, who now tried everything to get him to join them as their general, but he flatly refused. He never was far away from Eland’s Post, — and daily saw his wife, who at last persuaded him to come home, which he did, and presented himself to Captain Fisher at Eland’s Post. There was general joy among the loyalists at Eland’s Post, when it was known that Botha had not joined the rebels; but had come home and presented himself before Capt. Fisher and Mr. Wienand. He was not put under arrest, but allowed to remain with his family. In a few days, however, he was sent to Fort Hare, with several others, where he was kept in prison for six weeks, or nearly two months, and was then set at large. He is at present at Eland’s Post, in a very infirm state of health, from a cold he caught when in custody. Botha and others may have done things that the ministers know nothing about ; but as far as we know the only foolish act he did, was to go out of the way when he should have remained, like Peffer, against whom also the strongest prejudices had existed, but who resolved rather to run the risk of being tried by Lynch law, than escape. It was a foolish act in Botha doing so, and it has given his enemies some grounds of suspicion against him. I am no apologist for Botha, or for any other functionary, but state the things I know about their public acts. Should it be discovered afterwards that he or any of his brother cornets were concerted rebels or accessories, I would only say I am sorry for it ; but I know it not, and believe it not. Next morning, Commandaut Fourie received an order to parade all the men on the place. General Somerset and the Burgher Commandants soon made their appearance. Mr. T1 lomson and my father, being both early risers, were the only ministers who were present. The General’s speech was a severe rebuke on the loyalists. In fact, all that should have been said to Uithaalder and his men, had they been marshalled before him, was said to those men. 88 The men felt this oration intensely. The younger ones said that replies quivered on their lips, but out of respect tor the General and the circumstances of the country, they checked themselves and suppressed their feelings. The older men said the old General was only speaking like a father, and that our nation had done so much evil, that we must hear all these things with submission. The General having closed his address, my father went to him, and said that it was hard he should blame the men in so indiscri- minate a manner. He murmured disapprovingly, and went away. The English attendants chuckled at this, and said, “ This is just what the rascals deserve.” We were all astounded when we heard of Gen. Somer- set’s speech. We certainly had expected that, as he had stated in his letter, already published, that he would be glad to see any of the loyalists at Fort Hare, where he would thank them in person for their services, — that he would on this occasion have done it, and thereby have allayed the strong feeling of resentment against them ; while at the same time he might probably have pointed out to them wherein they were blameworthy. Undoubtedly, the loyalists at Philipton were entitled to thanks for the presenation of the English, with their families, and the saving of some of their property, and for subsequent removal of the females their husbands at Whittlesea. But there was not even the slightest acknowledgment The General, after breakfast, sent ten or twelve of the Cape Corps to keep watch at the mission premises, to preserve the mission families from intrusion. The ladies, anticipating that the friends had run short of bread, and tea and sugar, and other good things, supplied them to our deliverers. Many of the Dutch and English gentlemen enjoyed the hospitalities of the mission tables while at Philipton. That day, patrols went out to scour the country in the direction of Readsdale. I regret, however, to say that the place of the loyal Commandant Fourie, and the whole of Readsdale, including a school-house, was burnt down by the commando; and the following day the houses at Bruce- ton and Wilsonton, whether belonging to loyalists or rebels, were burnt down, school-rooms inclusive. So were the places of Peffer, Lushington, Buxton, &c., burnt down. Altogether, twelve school rooms, two large mission-houses, a chapel, and printing-office, with press, type, paper, and books, have been consumed. Some, it is said, by Kafirs, sy but llie greater number by the General’s commando. The school and schoolmaster’s house at Mancazana were burnt by the Fingoes in my presence. lathe afternoon orders were given to have about sixteen wagons taken up the hill to be searched. At the same time I would refer the reader to mv father’s first protest, in which he notices this affair, and in whose sentiments I fully concur. As some were going on with the search, one of the Dutch friends entered into the following conversation with Maria P — , one of the young women of Philipton : — “ But tell me, little woman, how is this that you could take on yourselves to do such things ? Where were your ministers, that they could not keep you back? How teach they you ?” The young woman, who, as the Hottentots say, had not fallen on her mouth, replied, — “ You are too hard upon us. The ministers teach us right, and this has nothing to do with the case. But you must also know, although it is had what the rebel Hottentots have done in these times, that it is the first time. But your people have often done so : think of Graalf-Reinet, and Rooywaal, and Port Na- tal, when you made Captain Smith eat horse-flesh; and there is my brother-in-law, Jan van Beuling, with the one leg and crutch, whose leg was shot off by the boers there, when he was with Mr. Smith: and see what Preto- rius does year after year; and Government is obliged to send troops constantly to keep the land quiet. The pot cannot complain of the kettle. Your ministers were not blamed on account of what your people did, and [ do not see why our ministers should be blamed and persecuted.” The other farmers were delighted with the pertuess of the reply, and said, — “ The girl has given you a pair of specta- cles,” — has got the better of you. The whole day was spent bv the ministers in preparing for leaving on the fol- lowing day. Of all the valuable mission and private pro- perty, my father and myself only got each one and a half load away, and had to lea\e most of our furniture and crockery, and a great portion of my father’s library behind. The same with Messrs. Thomson and Cumming. The station was subsequently pillaged by the second force that went into Kat River under General Somerset, and some of the things were found in the possession of burghers belonging to his commando. Several of the shops at Alice contained bibles, testaments, printing paper, and the cottage hymn-book, which had been stolen from Philipton, P and sold by the commando men who had been to the Kat River. I found some of the types among the levies ; while a good many of my father’s hooks were restored to him, through the efforts of the Clerk of the Peace for the district of Victoria, — and which had been found in the possession of a levy officer. Some of my furniture I saw in the possession of a Government contractor, whose name I shall for the present suppress, — but who, on being- applied to, refused to give it up. In the evening a farewell prayer meeting was held in the chapel, which was crowded. My father addressed the peo- ple from 2nd Samuel, xv. : 25, — “ If I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation.” With such a scene the scoffer and the infidel have no sympathy ; but the Christian and the minister of Christ can fully enter into it. — I ain.&c. LETTER XVI. Lovedale, July 21, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, —The following is an account of the sixteen, or, according to official account, seventeen wagons that were searched, alluded toby General Somerset in his despatch, and about which so much noise has been made. No. 1. — Ruiter Jacob. — This man was an inhabitant of Buxton, and one of the few of Botha’s field-cornetcy who, with him, removed to Philipton, after the majority of the people had removed to the disaffected camp of the Blink- water ; and from which he was never known to be absent. On the day of the General’s attack on Armstrong, he was at Philipton ; but as Botha had gone out of the way, the other cornets could not give so good an account about him; his wagon was drawn on the hill and searched, but was afterwards returned to him. He is said to have left Philipton for Fort Hare with 100 head of cattle and 5 horses, most of which were on the way plundered from him by Fingoes and others, and he is now a ruined man. This man had lived with the Messrs. Bowker for several years, and bore an excellent character for his faithfulness 01 and uprightness. On coining to the Kat River, he pur- chased an erf at Buxton, and went to reside there, and was doing well as a cattle farmer and agriculturist at the breaking out of the war. He is now in the Kat River Levy. 2. — Michael Andries was an old soldier, well-known to General Somerset and Major Somerset, whose servant he had been the greater part of the time that he had been in the service. He was discharged with an excellent cha- racter and pension ; resided at Tidmanton, where he was doing well as a carrier of loads between Graham’s Town and Fort Beaufort, He was one of those who were forci- bly pressed by Hermanus, together with the other dis- charged non-commissioned officers who were also residing at Tidmanton, — viz., Jan Brander, Hans Zeeland, Zeister Zeister, and Isaac Isaac. On the day that Mr. Van Rooyen’s family left for Fort Armstrong, the wagons were inspanned to accompany them ; but Hermanus turned them into Fuller’s Hoek. They were subsequently ordered out by him on the expedition against Fort Beaufort ; but on the road they stole away and returned to Fuller’s Hoek. As soon as Hermanus fell, and they heard of General Somerset’s offer of pardon, they availed themselves of it, and came to Fort Armstrong, where they took the oath of allegiance, and received certificates from Mr. Wienand to that effect. Michael Andries remained at Philipton till the General came there. His wagon was seized as a rebel wagon, but has likewise since been returned to him. 3. — Jan Brauder’s case is analogous to that of Michael Andries. Hiswag^onwas one of the seventeen, but was also returned to him on the mistake being discovei’ed. 4. —Widow Hartnich. — She had been left by her late husband, who was an old discharged non-commissioned officer, under the care of Zeister. She was also detained by Hermanus, but came out with the beforenamed men. From that time she left Hermanus’s camp, and came to reside at Philipton. She had constantly lived there, and had never left the place. Her wagon was also rated as a rebel wagon, and searched, hut afterwards returned to her. 5. — Jan Baartman, an aged apprentice, had, prior to the rebellion, resided at Fairbairn, with Michael Preto- rius, scarcely a mile and a half from Philipton. When the war broke out, he came to reside at Philipton, where he remained till the General arrived, and was never in any way mixed up with the rebels. His wagon and oxen were seized as rebel property, as also bis and bis son’s guns. The wagon and oxen have since been returned to him, but not the guns. 6 and 7. — Two long wagons belonging to Mr. Edwards, of the Winterbergen, and recovered from Hermanus, by him and Mr. Viljoen, and left as described in my second letter, with the Field-cornet of Blinkwater, Valentyn Jacobs, who, on removing to Fort Armstrong, took the wagons with him, and reported them to Mr. Wienand. These wagons, it appears, were also counted among rebel wagons. Mr. Edwards felt much obliged to the Field- cornet for taking such good care of his property, and allowed him to bring them as far as Fort Hare, anil from thence took them home. 8. — Kobus Jagers states that he was pressed by the late Hermanus, at Tidmanton. On the death of that chief, he made his escape to upper Blinkwater, where 1 found him. On hearing the terms of the proclamation, he at once accepted of the gracious pardon proffered, and came out to Fort Armstrong, and took the oath of allegi- ance. Thence, after the pillage of that place, he removed to Philipton, where he remained till the General’s arrival. This wagon was also seized, but was returned to him like the rest. 9. — Paul Opperman, a respectable Upper Blinkwater man, had for several years lived among the farmers in the district of Graaff-Reinet, where he got a good many sheep, goats, cattle, and horses He returned to the Kat River about a year before the war, and built a substantial house on his erf. On finding out the unfaithfulness of the Buxton and upper Blinkwater people, he removed to Fort Armstrong, and thence to Philipton, where he was when the General came ; and had never mixed himself up with the proceedings of the rebels. His wagon and pro- perly were also seized as those of a rebel, but after explanation had been given, they were afterwards restored to him. He has since, however, lost nearly all his pro- perty. 10. — Cobus Van Beuling resided at Philipton from the commencement of the war, and, although not bearing the best character, was not known by any one to have taken an active part in the rebellion, till pointed out by some of the Winterberg people, as having been at the attack on m Retiefs Posl. His was a rebel wagon ; therefore lie was tried at Fort Hare, and is to be transported for life. 11. — Dela J agers’s wagon. — Up to the time of the re- volt, the husband of this woman (Klaas Jagers), had been a most respectable blacksmith at Williamston, near Fort Beaufort. He was forced by Hermanus to join him; but after be bad embarked in the sinful enterprise of rebellion, he became very determined, and would not even stand to be spoken to bv any of the loyalists or ministers. His wife Dela, who is a sound loyalist, and a great friend to the English, finding that her husband was not to be turned from his purpose, as good as separated from him, and look her wagon and her share of property, and came to Philipton, where she remained till General Somerset came there. Klaas was shot at the attack on Fort Armstrong. When she heard of it, she said she would not even wear mourning for him, as he had died in a bad cause. Her wagon has been kept as a rebel wagon. 12. — Aaron Reintjes. — This man belongs to Shiloh, and seems to have come to Philipton to be out of the w ay of the disturbance. He w as not known to Commandant Fourie at Philipton as a rebel, nor has that been proved against him. His wagon was also seized as that of a Philipton rebel, but it is again in his possession. 13. — David Taay belongs to Shiloh. He also sent his family and property to Philipton, and was to have fol- lowed, but he delayed ; and the Government was justified in seizing his wagon and property as a rebel, as he after- wards joined the rebels. 14. — Piet Mentor. — A man who had lived at one of the Berlin Missionary Stations in Kafirland, and had shortly before General Somerset’s arrival fled to Philipton, evidently to be out of the war in Kafirland. His wagon was also seized, but afterwards released; he lost some of his live stock. This man, after seeing the harshness with which loyalists were treated, sold off his things at Fort H are, and has disappeared, and gone no one knows where, — perhaps joined the Kafirs and Hottentot rebels. 15. — Ernastina Lodewyk. — A widow belonging to Shi- loh, fled to Philipton on account of the disturbance at the former place. Had two good wagons loaded with meal and other provisions. Both were seized as rebel property found at Philipton. I can only make out sixteen wagons. To the best of my knowledge, these were the wagons seized, and such the circumstances under which the owners came to Philip- ton, and such the characters. That some suspicious articles may have been found in some of these wagons, I shall not attempt to controvert. Some of the people, as stated, had come to Philipton from scenes of confusion, but had been received at Philipton in compliance with the government notice already printed. What deception then was practised, and by whom? If Philipton was appointed as a reservoir for the reception of loyalists, neutrals, tacit sympathisers, latent and repentant rebels, why turn round and lay the blame on Philipton, its official functionaries and missionaries? And why, pray, could it not have been publicly stated, after the mistake was found out, and many of the wagons returned to the owners, that they had been seized under wrong impres- sions? If they are rebel wagons, what do they now in pos- session of the owners ? Let it however be stated, injustice to Major-General Somerset, and after he got away from the atmosphere of the excited commando, and the incubus of the wrong judgment of some of the burgher commandants, and was restored to his own free agency and the co-operation of his own officers, he calmly considered the cases brought before him, and in very many instances restored property which had been wrongfully seized. Hence, most of the wagons belonging to the Fort Armstrong loyalists under Groepe, which had, as may be gathered from preceding statements, been seized and declared as rebel property, have been re- stored. In like manner, wagons and property of many men now in the levies, and which had been seized at Eland’s Post as rebel property, have also been restored. There has been a constant giving back of what has been un- justly taken. Mr. Hoole, Kafir interpreter to the General, has likewise in the case of several of the men of Lushing- ton interested himself; and, knowing them to be loyal and innocent men, has by his exertions got them back their wagons. I mention these things to show that some of the General’s acts were committed from receiving wrong - information from his subordinates, and through perverted mediums; and that he acted from the strong impulses of the moment; but that he has since, in almost every case which has been brought before him in a tangible shape, proving the innocence of the parties, tried to make amends; and yet, after all, unless acts of indemnity be passed, great will be the claims preferred. Many a man would, under the circumstances of the Kat River, have made a worse botch of it. The General’s kindness of heart is a strong counteractive to his judgment. Undoubt- edly he is a man of feeling, and his regard for an old soldier who has faithfully worn the Queen’s arms, is very remarkable. His efforts also to reclaim the soldiers who deserted from King William’s Town has been, and still is, unremitting. In a speech delivered to the Cape Corps at Fort Hare, on hearing what their comrades at King William’s Town had done, he is said to have felt so strongly that Colonel Sutton had to finish what he still intended to say. Some of the men who had long served under him also wept when they saw what were the feelings of their old General. H is Excellency’s conduct, when he was at Fort Hare in March, was most characteristic in addressing the Kat River loyalists, and the repentant rebels. Those whom General Somerset had formed into a levy, were marched up and presented to His Excellency, who, after reminding them through the interpreter, and then in his own broken Dutch, of what they had formerly done for the colony, under himself and other commanders, said, — the devil had surely got into them, and made them believe the lies of the scoundrel Umlangeni “ You wished,” he said, “ to go and eat meat with the Kafirs ; well go, I won’t have you.” One fellow in surly mood muttered, “ I have eaten no meat with Kafirs.” — “ Go, go,” said His Excellency, “ and look for work ; I don’t want the lands of loyal men, but w ill punish the naughty,” — or words to that effect. Shortly after, Commandant Fourie and the representa- tives of the loyal party from Eiland’s Post called. These he treated with great kindness and civility, — his first words being, — “Are you, my children, the loyal men I have heard of? I thank you ; I am sorry for what your friends have done, — the devil must have come into the children. I regret the losses you have sustained ; I cannot promise anything, but I hope that I shall be able to do something for you.” Then he began to scrutinise their features, and to call out, “ You, and you, and you fought under me in the war of 1835.” The men said afterwards, we are satisfied that the Government will discriminate between t lie evil and Hie good, — we are glad that we came down and saw the Governor. This is what we ex- pected the General would have done at Philipton. I am, &c. Note. — The following memorandum of Gen. Somerset is appended, to show, first, the mistakes that have been committed in the seizure of property ; and, secondly, to show Gen. Somerset’s readiness to make restitution where cases have been demonstrably proved : — ■ “Fort Hare, 18th June, 1851. “The Commissariat will remunerate Sophia Smith for twenty muids of corn and one muid of meal, which were issued to the troops in the field in the month of February, 1851. This corn and meal having by some error been placed in the commissariat stores at Eiland’s Post, as confiscated, and supposed to have been a portion of that which be- longed to the rebels, — this woman is entitled to the same at fair marketable price. (Signed) “H. Somerset, Major-General.” LETTER XVII. Alice, August 4, 1851. To THE Editor : Sir, — Early on Thursday morning one of the commandants rode down to the mission-house to say that the force would soon move, and requested the mission families might he ready for starting in about two hours from that time. By ten o’clock the wagons were all inspanned, and the convoy moved up the Philipton ascent. I shall not stop to describe the feeling which pervaded the minds of the Kafirland and Kat River missionaries, who within 15 years had seen three Kafir wars, — thrice had had to leave their scenes of labour, — had seen their w ork interrupted, and in a great measure destroyed, — and who thrice had seen their people ruined and reduced to penury, whilst they themselves lost nearly all their personal effects, as well as the property belonging to their several societies. Nor was this all, — their hearts mourned over the spiritual desolation and ruin which the rebellion had occassioned ; and in deep humility before God they sighed out, — “Show us wherefore thou contendest with us.” Mr. Thomson and my father were the last of the minis- ters to leave the station. While yet in the mission house, a white man came down with two pistols in his hands, and 97 said be was going to set lire to the bouse. My father immediately went up to one of the officers, who, on bearing of it, sent eight of the Cape Corps as a guard to protect the house, and the man was ordered away. It is also reported that a parly of horsemen diverged from the main body to give three cheers in token of joy at the breaking up of Philipton. Some of the mounted burghers preceded the Cape Corps, and in passing the wagons some of the men, in riding by the Rev. Mr. Niven’s wagons, sang out “ African Scotsman,” with other epithets, applied to the obnoxious missionaries. We were soon at Eiland’s Post. On arriving on the west bank of the Wellsdale rivulet, opposite the post, orders were sent that those loyalists who wished to stay at Eiland’s Post were to take up their wagons to the post, and those who wished to accompany General Somerset to Fort Hare were to encamp before the drift leading to David Scheepers’ place. The majority resolved on remaining ; the rest de- cided to accompany the General to Fort Hare. I assure you, sir, that the free agency of the Philipton loyalists was not at all restrained, as people have been led to believe. The forenoon was spent by the General and his attendants in making arrangements at Eiland’s Post. A party of com- mando-men having rode from Philipton along the base of the mountain, came down to Bruceton, the farthest location on the Eiland’s River, where they burnt all the houses and the school-room. The same they did at Wilsonton, where they also burnt a school-house and schoolmaster’s cottage. With few exceptions, the great bulk of the Bruceton people had not mixed themselves up with the rebels, although they had tenaciously stuck to their gardens after orders had been given them to repair to the appointed places of con- centration. Among them resided two Englishmen, Thomas Heron and William James, who on the day of the attack on Armstrong fled to the mountains with these people. The most wanton act which was committed on that day was the burning of Lower Wilsonton, a sub-block of which Sergeant Jonathan, a discharged pensioned Cape Corps non-commissioned officer, was the head man, and at which other loyal men, such as Sergeant Hans Tromp (also dis- charged), Jan Abel, and other loyal men had come to reside. At this place, which is about a quarter of a mile from Eiland’s Post, and on the east side of the Eiland’s River, the party already described had stored their plentiful Q 98 harvests, as there were no houses at the post for the storing of their grain. This place was burnt to the ground with all in it. The wagons of the men were seized and declared rebel property. After hearing the rights of the case, the wagons were given back to the owners, but I do not think that they were expunged from the great roll of rebel wagons published in the papers. The number of rebel wagons, however, has been much diminished. The people of Van der Kemp living at or about the post, and who were considered as loyal men, had their gardens destroyed and their houses rilled by the English levy which was left at the post. It may be here remarked that General Somerset gave stringent orders, on coming to Eiland’s Post, that the people’s gardens should not be de- stroyed, and that their property should be respected ; but this was of no avail. Such was the conduct of the majority of those men, although there were among them some honourable exceptions, that they received the opprobrious nick-name of convicts from the Eiland’s River old women. At this post lived David Scheepers, one of the most indus- trious farmers of Kat River, an elder of our church, and staunch loyalist. He had been long a non-commissioned officer in the Cape Corps, and was greatly respected by General Somerset. He took great trouble to save his property, but it was to no purpose. You may fancy the disorderly state of the hurgher force, when I mention that at Eiland’s Post I got a note from General Somerset, countersigned by the officer commanding at the post, to have a certain man liberated, who had also been drafted among the prisoners, but who was perfectly innocent. I took the note to the officer of the guard, who coolly pock- eted it, and said, — “ We’ll see about it.” The man came to this place a prisoner, and, after being in confinement for some weeks, was then set at large, and is now a sergeant in the Kat River Levy. Towards evening the Commandants Fourie and Peffer received orders to parade all their men at the tree near the General’s camp, below the school-room at Van der Kemp. The object was a second winnowing , and separating the tares from the wheat — or rebels from loyalists. The men consisted of the people of Philipton and those of Peffer or Eiland’s Post, and of Fort Armstrong, who said they had escaped from theattack on Fort Armstrong, and had come, on learning that the General’s force had left for Lushington after the taking of that l'ort, to report themselves to Commandant Fourie, who, however, refused to receive them, — but gave them a letter to the General. These men had presented themselves to the General at Eiland’s Post on the 25th, on his way to Philipton. The commandants were interrogated about every individual. “Do you know this man?” “Was he at Philipton on the day of attack on Fort Armstrong?” If they said no, or that they were not certain, the men were drafted out as rebels or suspected characters. Those of whom they said yes, were placed on one side as loyal men. In the hurry the Commandants said “no” to several individuals of whom their fellow- burg hers and their minis- ters could have borne ample testimony as being of unex- ceptionable character. After this sifting was over I counted Fourie’s men, who were considered as loyal, and there were seventy-two, who stood ivith their arms, and were never disarmed ; and l think after the General left for Fort Hare, there were still left at Eiland’s Post, between the Commandants Fourie and Peffer, from 140 to 150 armed men, exclusive of the loyalists who accompanied the General. General Somerset then again addressed the men in the style he had done at Philipton. He told those who had surrendered, as before described, that they were par- doned; but that if they now ran away they would all be shot, — or if even one w’ere missing, the rest w r ould be all punished for the absentee. They thanked him unani- mously. Just as they were about to leave the parade ground, Mr. Wienand stepped forward and charged Her- manus Lots, Hans Groep, Cornelius Ruiter, and several more, with having been concerned in the robbery of the post at Fort Armstrong, on the 24th of January, and of having subsequently assisted Uithaalder in the attack on Retief’s Post. They and others w'ere therefore put under arrest, and were subsequently tried and found guilty by the court martial, and have been sentenced to trans- portation for life. — I am, &c. LETTER XVIII. Alice, 15th August, 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — According to my original in- tention, T am now to consider — “ The progress of the rebel- 100 lion, and what gave impulse to it.” The second part of our subject may be said to have been brought, out by some of the statements and incidents in the narrative, but may again, for the sake of connection and perspicuity, be distinctly recapitulated. In order to this, we may state the following preliminaries. 1st. That it has already been shown that the first development of disaffection was at the Lower Blinkwater, and that, in the first instance, Hermanus Matroos either seduced, or coerced, the people of that locality into it. 2nd. That as the greater part of the people were unarmed, they could not resist Hermanus. 3rd. That although the authorities had been apprised of the suspicions which were entertained of Hermanus’s loyalty, they used no means to prove it, nor to put it down. 4th. That although the Hottentots of Low'er Blinkwater and Tidmanton sent to Fort Armstrong for assistance, they could not procure it, and eventually fell a prey to the en- ticement, wiles, and coercion of ( the principal conspirator. I may here add that I have it on undoubted testimony, — that of persons who were eye-witnesses, — that on the day that Hermanus Matroos first came to the camp at Tidmanton to draw away and force the Hottentots into revolt, John Andries, and others, who afterwards became so conspicuous in the insurrection, were on the eve of shooting the prime insurgent, but were prevented by Dela Jagers and other women from doing so, as they feared the perpetration of such an act would have endangered the lives of all indis- criminately. I may further add, that so great was the dread entertained by the people of Blinkwater of being led captive into disaffection, that when Mr. Van Rooyen and Oerson Magerman found that thev could not get assistance at Fort Armstrong, to extricate the Blinkwater people from their dangerous position with regard to Hermanus, they both gave vent to their feelings in a flood of tears. The last words the latter said to me, as he was turning his horse to go back to Blinkwater, were, — “ Mr. Read, can nothing be done to save the people of Blinkwater from the clutches of Hermanus, and from being forced by him to fight against their own Government? I have done my duty as a man, a loyal subject, and a Christian.” When he came to Tidmanton, the people had already been ordered to Fuller’s Hoek, he therefore hastened back to Philipton. It may further be remarked that the people felt much disconcerted that the government should have embarked in another war 101 with the Kafirs, without previously putting; the country hi a state of defence, and supplying the people properly with the munitions of war. The course and progress of the rebellion was from the lower to the upper parts of the Settlement. It was slow and gradual, and its extension seemed more the effect of fear, sympathy,* and mismanagement, than of previous concert, either among the Hottentots themselves, or with Kafirs. I am aware that there has been a great deal of loose and vague talk of collusion between the Kafirs and Hottentots, but nothing in a substantive or tangible form has, I believe, as yet come to light. With all our inquiries, and with what took placeat the court-martial, nothing to our knowledge, at least, has led to any discovery of conspiracy. The anticipated Commission may bring to light hidden things of darkness on this point. As to what gave impulse to the revolt, it may be stated that, like all men who have committed themselves to the commission of grave offences, the insurgents believed that there was no mercy for them, notwithstanding all the assurances by proclamations and oral statements to the contrary. Many of them had seen or heard that, about thirty years ago, five rebel boers had been executed at llooywaal, and guilt foreshadowed their bodies on the gallows ; and they therefore said that either they must die fighting or suffer a similar fate. Another thing which strongly impelled the revolters in their career of guilt was, that they calculated on the sym- pathetic character of the Hottentot nation; and reviewing- past events, they believed that no sooner would their countrymen hear of their enterprise, than would they flock to and rally around Uithaalder’s standard. But the axiom not only holds good that “ men try times,” but that “ times try men.” Results have shown that the great body of the native people in the colouy are in favour of law, order, civilization, and the British Government. So great was the expectation of the anarchists of the sympathy of all the coloured classes, that they declared to the very last that the native levies would not fire on them. If they were told that levies were coming from every part of the country to subdue the Kafirs and suppress rebellion, they would only reply, — “ Let them come. They will soon understand the rights of our case. The Genadendalers * No one acquainted with the readiness of Hottento.'s to enter into each other’s feelings will probably controvert my conjecture. 102 were fined at Fort Beaufort at the close of the late war, and they will resent it.” Another circumstance which added enthusiasm to the revolters was the position which some of the whites are said to have taken up against the coloured, after the occurrences at lower Blinkwater. They spoke of bonds, imprisonments, flagellations, and even murders. This, to their ideas, changed the character of their proceedings from a rebellion to a war of races, in which the Hottentots and the Kafirs were against the whites. These things may have been imaginary, but the effects were the same as if they had been real. The general expectation among Kafirs and Hottentot rebels that the Cape Corps would desert, was also a strong incitement to their purposes. Nor should it be left unrecorded, that the statements of the sagacious, crafty, and politic Kafirs had no little effect in lighting up and in extending the flame. They are said to have told the Hottentots all sorts of falsehoods as to our Government having, some time before the war, been in communication with the chiefs to bring the Hottentots and other persons of colour under the influence of oppressive laws ; and they even pointed to the annual presents which were so munifi- cently distributed by His Excellency as the bribe to enlist their services against the children of Chama,f the Hot- tentots. The rebel Hottentots were foolish enough to believe this palpable untruth. The idea which had made an indelible and unvarying impression on their minds was, that the Queen’s govern- ment was about to cease in this country, and that they would again be placed under oppressive laws. But after all, that which added the greatest force to the rebellion, and defied every attempt of the ministers and friends of order to check its progress, was the appeal made to the national feelings of men who had till then been loyal to the back-bone, by the occurrence at Mancazana with Kasper Oliver and his party, and in scarcely a less degree by the expulsion and chasing of Mr. Wienand’s escort out of, and from the limits of. Fort Beaufort, and by the tragical events which followed the differences of the Shiloh and Whittlesea people. It was painfully evident that the religious principles of the people generally were not sufficiently deep-rooted to operate as a safeguard in t Since the war I have often heard the llo:tentots designated Machama, or the children of Chama. 103 this time of trial ; and, in addition to what they felt in common with their loyal fellow-citizens and the friends of order, the ministers of religion mourned over the back- sliding of some members of their flocks, and their blighted hopes of others. — I am, &c. LETTER XIX. Alice, August 15, 1851. To THE Editor : Sir, — The plan of my narrative re- quires that I now attend to the third division of my subject, which is to consider *•' the conduct and efforts of the Kat River ministers and the loyal part of the community to arrest the spread of disaffection, and to bring back the misguided to their allegiance to the Crown, and to the blessings of law and order.” It has, I think, been made abundantly apparent that the ministers and loyalists not only did their duty, but also did that of the paid servants of Government. The ministers might have been satisfied to have merely preached loyalty, and to have enforced moral duties, denouncing rebellion and all who engaged in it. They, too, might have said, as some of their order in Graham’s Town have said in regard to the riots there, that they did not like to intermeddle with the contending factions. But they did no such thing : they rode about without intermission, at the peril of their lives, endeavouring to reclaim the erring and to confirm the loyal. For this they received the thanks of the Magistrate of the Settlement, and the approval and acknowledgment of the General commanding the district in the following com- munication: — “Fort Hare, January 17, 1851. “ Reverend Sirs, — I have been made aware by the Resident Magis- trate of the Kat River Settlement, Mr. Wienand, of your exertions in explaining to the misguided Hottentots the Governor’s most gracious Proclamation in reference to their revolt and their illegal proceedings in the colony. “ I most fully appreciate the loyalty and zeal you have evinced, and the truly Christian feeling that has guided you in endeavouring to induce those misguided men to return to their allegiance, which has had the effect of inducing eleven of these men, hitherto loyal and valued subjects of Her Majesty, to return to their allegiance, and which, as 104 some days will yet elapse before His Excellency’s most gracious par- don held out to those misguided men will cease to operate, I trust may still be the means of inducing others to see the enormity of their rebel- lion and of bringing them to a sense of their duty. “ I remain, gentlemen, “ Your obedient servant, H. Somerset. To the Rev. Messrs. Read and Van Rooyen.” Although only Mr. V an Rooyen and myself were ad- dressed in the above note, our brethren the Rev. Messrs. Thomson, Renton, Niven, Gumming, and Read, sen., as also Mr. John Thomson, son of the Rev. W. R. Thomson, rendered important services to the cause of law and order. The loyal “ special Commandant” Cobus Fourie, of Philip- ton camp, received a similar communication in which his services, and those of his sons and other Philipton loyalists, were acknowledged by the Major-General. Further, the ministers and loyalists not only used their most assiduous endeavours to arrest the spread of dis- affection, and to bring back the deluded to their allegiance to the Crown and the blessings of law and order, but they thoroughly identified themselves with the then suffering and oppressed English; they sent volunteers to take the refugee men to Whittlesea on the awful night of the 23rd January; saved a great part of their property from pillage on the 24th, and subsequently protected it at Philipton. The ministers and loyalists took care of the refugee families for several weeks, trying in every possible way to render them comfortable, sooth their minds, assuage their grief, hush their fears, and to raise their hopes ; and eventually, by a volunteer escort of loyalists, they sent the English females to their husbands at Whittlesea. And, in conjunction with Mr. Wienand, both by private and by official communications, they kept General Somer- set fully informed of the real state of the Kat River Settlement. On the 12th January Commandant Cobus Fourie, Mr. John Thomson, and Adam Wiemers, with an escort of 30 men, went to Fort Hare to take back Commissary Sale, as well as to have an interview with the General on the state of the Settlement. At that time there were no signs of re- bellion in the upper parts of the Kat River, viz., Arm- strong, Philipton, and the Eiland’s River. Why were not plans then devised to save the Settlement by something else 105 besides proclamations of pardon ! Why should the mis- sionaries and the Kat River loyalists be made the scape- goats of the want of energy, resource, and plan of the com- manders of divisions, and be made to bear the burden of the country’s misfortunes t I trust that that portion of the South African public which has given way to this ebullition of feeling, may yet return to the exercise of reason. Finally, the tenor of the sermons preached will show where the hearts of the ministers were, and what were the subjects they dwelt upon in these distracted times. To bring out these, I shall give the texts and subjects within a given period, — say from the29th December, 1850, when the war may be said to have commenced, to the 30th of March, 1851. On Sunday, the 29th of December, my father preached at Philipton from Isaiah xlii. 16, — “ And I will bring the blind by a way they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known ; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do, and not forsake them.” The drift of this sermon was the gracious and providential dealing of God with his people. On Sunday, 5th of January, 1851, Mr. Van Rooyen conducted the public services at Fort Armstrong in Dutch, and preached in the morning from 1st Peter, ii. 17, — “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King.” Mr. Van Rooyen first explained what we are to understand by the fear of God, then an- nounced the great truth that civil governments were of divine appointment ; and then proceeded to show the con- nection between fearing God and obeying the civil magis- trate, affirming that the man who feared God would obey all his commandments, and that obeying the civil power was obeying one of the commandments of God. He then pointed out the blessings connected with a regularly-con- stituted government, — such a government, for instance, as the one they lived uuder ; and, on the other hand, the evils which are connected with anarchy and barbarous governments; and lastly, the sinfulness of those who were conspiring to upset the government of the country. In the afternoon he took for his text, 1st Chronicles, xxviii. 9, — “And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father,” &c. &c. The bearing of the address was to com- mend religion to the young, as the best means of making R IOG them lmppy here and hereafter, and as the surest means to keep them from sinful courses, and especially from the then prevailing and contaminating sin of disaffection to Govern- ment. All the English and natives highly lauded Mr. Van Rooyen’s discourses, and Mr. Wienand, after service, thanked him heartily for them.* The same day my father preached at Philipton, from Psalm i. 1 and 2, — “ Blessed is the man that walketh not in the council of the ungodly,” &c. The distinguishing characteristics of the righteous, and their aversion to the society of the ungodly, were pointed out. In such strong terms did he denounce the rebellion and the rebels, that one of the elders requested me to suggest to him the exercise of more discretion, as some sympathisers had grumbled very much after the service. On the same day Mr. Thomson preached an excellent sermon at Fort Armstrong in English ; but the text I have not been able to recover. It was a good deal spoken of at the time. I also preached at Eland’s Post, from Exodus xxiii. 2, — “ Thou shall not follow a multitude to do evil.” I have already stated that on visiting the upper Blinkwater, on the 2nd of January, I preached to the poor deluded people from Genesis xlix. 5. On Sunday, 12th, Mr. Thomson preached at Eland’s Post, Mr. Van Rooyen at Fort Armstrong, and my father at Philipton. 19th, — Mr. Thomson conducted public worship at Fort Armstrong, at 10 a.m., and preached from Mai. iii. 6, — “ For I am the Lord, I change not ; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” The unchangeableness, the truthfulness, and the promises of God were the leading ideas of the discourse. In the afternoon my father preached from Genesis xlii. 18, — “ I fear God.” The leading sentiment was the fear of God as a preservative against sin, — that it kept Joseph from a spirit of resentment. The preacher warned the people against a revengeful disposition. Mr. Thomson, on the same day, in English, from 2 Cor. i, 9, — “ But we had the senteuce of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead ” On the same day I preached at Lushington, from Isaiah xxi. 8, — * An old lady, one of the English females, wa9 so much pleased with the 9ermon, that she came to Mrs. Read, and after passing a warm panegyric on it, said she felt quite ashamed at having suspected Mr. Van Rooyen’s loyalty, and from that day became a warm friend of his. 107 “ And lie cried, A lion : My lord, I stand continually upon the watch tower in the day time, and l am set in my ward whole nights — sentiment, that times of danger should be times of extraordinary pastoral vigilance. The same evening at Chumie station, at the trader’s house, Romans x. 1, — “ Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved — leading idea, that the spiritual and temporal good of his people should he the great aim of the minister of the Gospel. Same day, heard Mr. Renton’s farewell sermon, already spoken of. 2Cth. Mr. Thomson preached at Fort Armstrong ; record of sermon not preserved. Mr. Niven, at Philipton, from Ex- odus xiv. 14, — “ And Moses said to the people, Fear ye not; stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show you to-day.” Mr. Renton also preached at Philipton in the afternoon, from Rev. xxi.25, — “ For there shall be no night there.” The preacher remarked that night and darkness, in the language of prophecy, signified trouble and affliction ; light, on the other hand, expressed prosperity and joy ; that heaven was a happy and holy place, where no trouble should be mixed with its ineffable felicity and * never-ending joys. It was evidently intended to comfort and encourage the English community, after the painful separation with their husbands on the 23rd, and the loss of their property on the same night, and the 24th. Mr. Van Rooyen supplied at Eland’s Post. I gave a short exhor- tation at Philipton in the evening ; the object of it was to confirm the orderly and loyal, and rebuke the unfaithful. 2d Feb. — Mr. Niven preached at Philipton, Mr. Thomson at Armstrong. In the afternoon 1 rode with Mr. Thomson to the rebel camp, upper Blinkwater, and addressed the Noekas from Isaiah lii. 7. Mr. Renton preached his famous sermon from Acts xvii.26, — “And hath made of one blood all nations of men,” &c.,&c. Tts ob- ject being to remove the mutual prejudices and jealousies of white and blacks, and to hold up the olive branch of peace between them. In order to this, the preacher estab- blished, both by philosophy and revelation, the identity of the species. 2ndly, He remarked on the mutual destructions which mark the history of the human race. 3rdly, He as- serted the will of God, that they should live in peace and promote each other’s well-being. And he concluded by showing that the Gospel is the great instrument to bring about the fulfilment of this blissful period. Only men in a 108 morbid state of mind and of a cynical temperament could, judging- from wbat 1 heard of the sermon from (lie other ministers and their families, have found fault with it. My father preached from Prov. viii. 11—13. Mr. Thomson preached in the evening, in Dutch ; Messrs. Niven and Van Rooyen at Fort Armstrong; and myself at Eiland’s Post and Lushington. On the 6th of February Mr. Renton preached at Lushington from 1 John iii. 10, — “ In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil ; whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.” A sermon containing much plain- spoken truth appropriate to our circumstances, and delivered with much power. On the 16th I conducted the morning service at Phi- lipton, and preached from Titus iii. 1 — 5, — “Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates,” & c., supporting the views brought forward by Rom. xiii. 1 — 7. Prayer meeting in the afternoon. 22nd. — Mr. Niven preached the day after Fort Arm- strong had been pillaged. I cannot recal the sermon; but it bore on the occurrences of the previous day. Such were our subjects of ministration, and such the tone of that most powerful of instruments, the pulpit, during the time the seven ministers were together at Philipton. On the 30th of March, having been requested by one of the officers to preach to the General’s force, then encamped at Wellsdale, in the Kat River, — at the time the Cape Corps was con- sidered not in a sound state of loyalty, and the Kat River levy greatly distrusted, — I addressed them all, boers and English inclusive, from Prov. xxiv. 21, — “ My son, fear thou the Lord and the King: and meddle not with them that are given to change.” Several, both English and Dutch gentlemen, including some of the officers, were among the hearers. — I am, &c. Note. — The following letter, which I have received through one of the parties to whom it was addressed by my father, I beg here to append, — as also one from Andries Hatta, as showing the efforts of the min- isters and loyalists to reclaim the misguided. There are several more documents of this kind. “Philipton, 4th January, 1851. “ Good friends, members and hearers of the Blink water congregation, • — It is with extreme grief that we have heard that you have been pre- vailed upon to go into mischief, which will sooner or later bring down the displeasure of God, of the Queen, and of the whole English 109 nation upon you. Evil will sooner or later be taken vengeance upon. You know that we are enemies to all oppression or ill usage, and that we have never neglected to exert all our efforts to oppose all such oppression; butithasbeen in alegal and becoming way. Bloodshed, robbery, and destruction cannot meet with the favour, but on the con- tary, the displeasure of God. I cannot think that such can be your intention ; I do hope otherwise. But that you should be joined to, or be in the neighbourhood of such people, is a blot on yourselves, on us as Ministers, on our congregation, on the whole Settlement, and on the whole Hottentot nation, which has always been distinguished (those in Kat River particularly so) for good conduct and faithfulness, and our congregation for piety and peacefulness also. You all know that I love you, and it pierces my heart that any of our congregation should go so far astray. If you have not yet involved yourselves in this evil, I do most earnestly entreat you to keep yourselves out of it; and to those who may be guilty in any way, there is pardon with God, and, as you may see from the Proclamation, with men too. Think on the loss and shame. Our churches are abandoned, the progress of God’s word is arrested, our property is destroyed, and the whole Settlement will be plunged into the greatest poverty, — our wives and children are kept in constant terror by night and by day, and exposed to the changes of the weather. Let all these considerations move you to stop in your evil career. “ If you wish to see me, I shall go and speak to you. (Signed) “James Read, Sen.” Mr. Hnttas letter to the Tidmanton people. “ Philipton, 3rd January, 1851. “ Respected fellow-subjects of Her Majesty the Queen Victoria, who I hear have been led into rebellion : — I wish only to write a few lines to you, hoping it will be found there is no inclination on your part to join in the rebellion; but that, on the other hand, every effort will be set at work by you to escape, will be the expectation of every faithful subject. On this expectation, have your ministers and all the ministers employed their efforts, together with us all, to procure you safety [pardon.] Thus far it will depend upon your own conduct, and then will you be safe. Therefore would I advise you not to go a stej) fur- ther in the evil [rebellion], and thereby increase your punishment. Stop, and think on your country, church, and families, and the dis- grace which will be brought on your nation by rebellion. No; shake yourselves loose, and come away in your full understandings, your help is to be obtained. Your humble friend, (Signed) “ Andries Hatta.” L UTTER XX. Alice, 23rd August, 1851. To the Editor : Sir, — In now making deductions from the foregoing narrative, we are led to inquire into no the causes which may have operated to produce the lamen- table state of things which have been described. But be- fore we advance any further, it may be advisable to state the various opinions and surmises which obtain regarding the Hottentot insurrection. 1. His Excellency Sir H. Smith imputes the rebellion of so many natives who had pious clergymen placed among them to two delinquents who are as old as the world, one even older, viz : — the devil, the father of lies, who was a murderer from the beginning, and our fallen human nature. Whether this is as philosophic and states- manlikea solution as it is soundly theological, must be judged of by others ; it is at least a charitable one. It is better to charge the devil and fallen human nature, than to blame in- nocent people. But it may be doubted whether this very general solution of the difficulty will satisfy enquiring minds. His Excellency is free from vulgar criminations and recri- minations. Persuaded in his own mind that his policy is right, and yet not able to bring his mind to the conviction that any of those hitherto loyal subjects of our Queen could be guilty of such grave offences as instigating people to re- bellion, he imputes the moral and political chaos to which the country is reduced, to demoniacal influences, and the natural aversion of men to restraint. 2. The Mercury and others say it is as likely that the editorial persecutions of the Graham's Town Jour- nal have goaded the Kat River section of malcontents into insurgency, as the politics of the missionaries, or the proceedings of the four members, or the example of the western democrats. 3. The Monitor, it is said, exculpates the mission- aries, or “the Seven,” and saddles the Baronet and the father of the South African Free Press with the whole. 4. The Godlontonians* put the entire blame on the London Society’s missionaries, from the venerable Van der Kemp to the youngest missionary alive, among whom are of course reckoned as the principal, the Philips and the Reads. The two “ Delegates”- are also identified by them with the London Missionary Society’s missions. 5. The editors of the Mail, Observer, and Advertiser, appear to assign another reason, viz., the opposition to the * It is not right to impute to the whole of the Frontierists the views and feelings of the Graham's Town Journal. There is a minority of moderates and liberals who disavow all participation in the v* e ws of the editor of the journal, but they are too veak to make head against the faction. Ill £25 franchise by the resolutions, speeches, and votes of the Frontierists. 6. Mr. Franklin, as the respectable representative of the Graham’s Town moderates, has too much self-respect openly to blame, as his contemporary does, the mission- lies, but his language implies that he blames them. 7. The Kat River and Blinkwater section of the rebels make the rebellion the effect of magisterial mal-adminis- tration, despotism, and intolerance. 8. The Shiloh people blame the Whittlesea people, and vice versa. 9. The Mancazana friends criminate Kasper Oliver and party, and these recriminate. 10. The Theopolis people say that they were passive, and Jan Andries and Blander were the active agents who took them captive into the rebellion; — some, it is to be feared willingly, but others unwillingly. 11. The missionaries who were at the Kat River at the time of the rebellion think that it is not to be attributed to any single cause, but rather to a number combined. Some of which may be found in what occurred before the Kafir w'ar broke out, and some in the circumstances in which the people were placed after that event ; some in the conduct of the Government functionaries and a section of the colo- nists towards the inhabitants of the Kat River Settlement; but more in the people themselves, — in their over-sensitive- ness and pride, — and above all in their declining from the ways of God. Whatever was the cause, proximate or re- mote, the missionaries deem the rebellion altogether unjus- tifiable, and a deep, dark crime, whose issue has been most disastrous. 12. Uithaalder’s party, or the Boerlanders,j- say that they were told by their masters at the time of the election of the five members throughout the frontier districts, lhat the Queen’s government was going to cease in the country, and that then would the colonists enact vagrant acts and oppressive laws for the coloured population. Now, it is very strange that TJithaalder’s party and Mr. Montagu should arrive at the same conclusion from the same source ; the only difference being that he and his rebel bands appre- hended danger to the natives, by the new constitution from “ the English settlers,” and Mr. Montagu from the Dutch. I IVople who lived among the Boers. In a letter from Ilis Excellency to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and dated King William’s Town, 13th January, 1851, No. 13, the following passages appear : — 16. “ The recent agitation on the Convict and Constitution ques- tions has evoked a strong anti-English feeling, not before known to exist to such an extent, and that an upper house nominated by the Crown is required for the liberty and protection of persons of colour.” 18. “ With reference to the second reason assigned by Mr. Monta- gu, I enclose copies of two blue books referred to him, and which also formed inclosures to my Despatch No. 133, of the 12th Sept. last. I also request your Lordship’s attention to the enclosed petition of the Genadendal missionaries on this subject ; and I cannot refrain from expressing my opinion, that when the proposals of the inhabitants, especially of the farmers, are considered, it becomes likely that un- der a Legislature purely elective, the coloured classes being in all three- -fifths of the population of the colony will, by means of compulsory contracts for lengthened periods and vagrant laws, with severe punish- ments and penalties, be reduced to virtual slavery.” 19. “ The representation of the Genadendal missionaries on the subject is very cogent. Many of the natives of those institutions were reclaimed from slavery by the Crown ; many of the farmers still remember the abolition with feelings of bitterness and discontent, and would gladly reduce the natives to another species of slavery by op- pressive laws on the subject of labour. From such laws they have hitherto been protected by the Crown, or officers appointed by the Crown ; and should that protection be now withdrawn, they may, not unnaturally, complain that the very power which rescued them from slavery has returned them to a condition little preferable.” Mr. Montagu’s letter to Lord Grey, 14th January, states, — 31 “ The Philipton petitioners express their satisfaction at the pro- posed £25 franchise, as it will operate as a protection to the coloured classes ; and the Genadendal missionaries pray the same provision may be made for the effectual protection of the natives from op- pressive laws.” 32. “ The apprehensions indicated in these petitions are not un- reasonable. In 1848, an inquiry was instituted by the Legislative Council into the working of the Order in Council of the 14th Decem- ber, 1842, on the law of Master and Servant; and the opinions of Resident Magistrates, Justices of the Peace, Field-cornets, ministers of religion, and of a great number of private individuals, were taken on various questions arising out of that law, and several petitions and letters were received from farmers on the same subject. The following are among the proposals submitted to the Committee by country far- mers, principally Dutch, viz., to extend the term of imprisonment for breaches of contract by servants ; to add to punishment of the stocks, flogging, solitary confinement, and hard labour on the roads for the same offence ; to extend the jurisdiction of the Magistrates in such cases, and to give the same power to Justices of the Peace and Field- cornets ; to enact a vagrant law by which any coloured person, having no fixed abode, and not provided with a pass, may be apprehended bv 1 1 :} Constables or Ficld-cornets, and punished on the spot ; to extend the period for which contracts for labour may be made ; to allow no per- sons of colour to live by themselves, or to congregate in large numbers apart from the Europeans ; to register all natives, with their places of abode, &c. ; to establish a rural police for the suppression of vagrancy, the officers of which should possess magisterial powers.” It is this which has been so strongly expressed by the Se- cretary to Government, and which is said by the rebels to have oozed out from their masters ; not, however, as Mr. Montagu says, “ principally Dutch.” The rebels have an indelible impression (wrong, of course, it is) that the Queen’s authority was about to cease in this country, and consequently that the coming South African Parliament would be detrimental to their liberties and ci\il rights as a people. Strange, however, that they have greater dread of the English than of the Dutch community ! This feeling may, however, be ex- plained without making the English worse than their neighbours. It is certain that the colonial natives look on the Graham's Town Journal as the exponent of the views of what they term “ English settlers ; ” and remembering the principles of this paper, — its asperity against the natives, — the measures it has for the last fifteen years advocated, — it is no wonder that they have identi- fied the English with class laws and oppressive legislation. Again, the coloured people have the idea that the English community incite the Government to wars. When the war broke out, I often heard them say, — “ What is all this about? Our cattle at the Kat River run night and day, and why should there be war?” This it was which made Field-cornet Peffer say, at the meeting held at Hertzog in November last, as stated, I believe, by Mr. John Green, “ That the English only wanted war with the Kafirs for the sake of getting another two millions of money.” Let me not be misunderstood. I do not say these are my views. I know there are hundreds of colonists, and especially the farmers, who dread wars, and who are not only losers in property, but in the sacrifice of their time, as they generally have to turn out to fight the enemy. Some unprincipled men among the mercantile and carrier classes may be shortsighted enough to feel elated at war, as it increases their prospect of gain ; but the community, as a w hole, are great sufferers by it. Mr. Montagu is quite right in saying that the na- tives looked on the coming Legislative Assembly with s 114 apprehension; as also that they looked on the British Govern- ment as their natural protectors. There can he little doubt that they would prefer an upper house, composed of nominees by the Crown, of such men, as the members of the Execu- tive, as Sir Andries Stockenstrom, Mr. Fairbairn, Mr. Brand, Mr. Reitz, Mr. J. O. Smith, Mr. Black, Mr. Meintjes, and other gentlemen in the colony, — to an elected assembly of honourable gentlemen, such as the mem- ber for the opening up of the Kowie Mouth, and the editor of the Gr aham’s Town Journal. It may be well here to add, in regard to the £25 fran- chise, that when it had passed the Council, Sir Andries Stockenstrom, in his usual generous way, in writing to Kat River, said the inhabitants were under great obliga- tion to Messrs. Porter and Montagu for it. He and Mr. Fairbairn, and even Mr. Freeman, thought it would not be fixed lower than £50. This is due to the Executive. As it has been well remarked that a rebellion in any country usually supposes real or imaginary evils to which subjects are exposed, affecting their person or property, it may not be amiss, in a candid and respectful manner, to state the personal and administrative acts of His Excellency our present Governor. 1. As Colonel Smith, His Excellency was so greatly admired and beloved by the Hottentots, that their joy was unbounded when they heard of his being appointed Gover- nor of the colony. No sooner did they hear of his arrival at King William’s Town than they rode to welcome him as their Sovereign’s representative, at the same time com- plaining of their treatment by the then Civil Superinten- dent, Mr. Biddulph. The same day that he arrived at Balfour, he created Commandant Groepe a Justice of the Peace, — the first instance of a native receiving such a title in the history of the colony. 2. The second liberal act of the Governor’s, in regard to the coloured population, is said to be the recommending Sergeant-Major McKenzie to an ensigncy in the Cape Mounted Rifles. This is also the first instance of a co- loured native in this colony being promoted to the rank of a commissioned officer. 3. Another good thing the Governor did was removing Mr. Biddulph, after his disingenuous report about the Kat River people to Sir II. Potlinger, his Excellency’s imme- diate predecessor. 115 4. We owe to him also the appointing - two special com- missioners to investigate the complaints of the Kat River people against Mr. Bowker, which were found correct, and ended in Mr. ii. resigning his situation. 5. When His Excellency came to Kat River in 1848, he was extremely kind and condescending to the missiona- ries, and said to my father, as we stood beside him on the top of the Kat Berg, where the main road leads over to Shiloh, — “ Mr. Read, you and your people may rest assured of every protection under my government ; but, pray don’t write your grievances to the newspapers ; and if you requre money for schools, write to me direct, — but don’t write long letters, as 1 hand over all such to my Secretary, Mr. Southey.” And as he was looking down on the fertile and well-cultivated valley of Bruceton, on the Eiland’s River, he feelingly exclaimed, — “ Well, this is the best thing Sir A. Stoekenstrom has ever done. It does him infinite credit, — and you, Mr. Read, and Mr. Thomson also, who assisted him in carrying out his view's and his plans. People say the Kat River is a failure ; but if the Kat River is a failure, the whole world is a failure.” Honour to whom honour is due ! 6’. It is plain that the functionaries so often mentioned w r ere too much prejudiced against the natives to have done much good among the people of Kat River. A systematic irritation w'as for more than two years kept up ; and so much was His Excellency convinced of the evil that had been done in souring the minds of the Hottentots, that on the occasion of Mr. Renton and other gentlemen calling on him at Fort Cox, at the last meeting, be used, in speaking of one of the late functionaries, a most depre- ciating epithet. 7. Some of the most exciting questions have been mooted during the present administration, viz., the Master and Servant’s Ordinance, which is said to have so thoroughly brought out the colonial animus against the aborigines, that their sentiments in the Blue Book may be said to be like the thunderbolts of heaven, suspended in a dark cloud on the mountain top, or like a heavy two- edged sword hung over one’s head by a woman’s hair, and endangering life and limb every moment. 8. The question respecting missionary institutions and the examination of their inmates by Magistrates and Justices of the Peace, greatly chagrined the people at Kat Ri ver. Both Presbyterians and Independents begged to be excused from being examined by the Magistrate. It seemed to portend something dubious. 9. The off-hand manner in which His Excellency has sometimes spoken about the natives, as has already been shown, when those who best knew him felt that he could not mean to the full extent of his language, was calculated to make an unfavourable impression on the minds of the people. Nor is it necessary that such things should be told them by missionaries, since the people of Kat River and missionary institutions are reading commu- nities, at which nearly all the newspapers are read. 10. There can be no doubt that, as a man and ruler. Sir H. Smith is friendly to the natives, and wished the Kat River people well ; but it is true, also, on the other hand, that the Government was not happy in its choice of some of the Magistrates for Kat River, and consequently that greater annoyances have been suffered under his ad- ministration than under any former Government. I am, &e. Note. — But for Hermanus and Uithaalder forcing and exciting the people to rebellion, all their grievances would have been redressed by Mr. Wienand in a very short time. LETTER XXI. Alice, 9th Sept., 1851. To the Editor: Sir, — It having been boldly asserted in certain quarters that the missionaries of the Kat River Settlement were instrumental in convening the meeting for the election of members to fill up the Legislative Council, and that the ratepayers voted for Sir A. Stockenstrom and Mr. Fairbairn by order of these missionaries, I would in one word say that the entire statement is untrue. The following are the circumstances connected with these events. At the time that Ilis Excellency the Governor conceded to the colony the right of electing five unofficial members of the Legislative Council, the functionaries of the Kat River received instructions from Government re- questing them to get the suffrages of the ratepayers of 117 Slockenstrom, and t lie following letter was addressed to us jointly : — “ Hertzog, 2-ttli May, 1850. “ Rev. Sirs, — Having received a notice to call a public meeting of’ t he inhabitants in the district who are ratepayers for the purpose of having five persons chosen by them to fill up the existing vacancies in the Legislative Council, I have the honour to request you will kindly make the same known to your congregations on Sunday, as the best and readiest way of circulating the notice. I am requested to send a report of the proceedings to Beaufort by Wednesday. The meeting will take place on Tuesday morning next at Hertzog. “ I have the honour to be, Rev. Sirs, “ Your most obedient servant, (Signed) “ C. J. Groepe, J.P. “Rev. James Read, Philipton.” On the day appointed, numbers of the ratepayers re- paired to the Residency at Hertzog, and the fine octagonal Reformed Church building having been kindly lent, the meeting was held therein. The late magistrate, Mr. Bowker, Mr. Emmett, the ministers, and several English residents were also present. The object of the meeting, and the high political privilege which had been conferred on them, having been briefly explained, the ratepayers came individually forward and gave their votes to Mr. Emett, who was kind enough to act as teller on the occa- sion. There was no political quibbling ; not a single un- kind expression was heard. The proceedings had more the appearance of a religious than a political meeting. The four men named by the English and Dutch were Sir Andries Stockenstrom, Mr. Fairbairn, Mr. Fleming, and Mr. Stretch. The two former had the majority of votes. The electors, having finished their task, retired home in perfect quiet. The convener of the meeting, Commandant Groepe, com- municated to the two elected representatives the choice which had been made. Nothing more happened about this matter till the Council had met, when Sir Andries Stockenstrom wrote to say that he and bis friends had proposed a somewhat high franchise, but that Messrs. Porter and Montagu had brought it down to £25, and that the four members had gladly supported the Govern- ment measure. I may here again say that Sir Andries did ample justice to Messrs. Porter and Montagu, and told his constituents that they were under great obligation to those gentlemen and to the Executive for this boon. 118 The Kut River people soon sent a resolution of grateful expression in acknowledgment of this liberal act of the Government. After the Council was broken up the Kat River electors, as was meet, received the account of the proceedings of the four members. The statement of the Executive, as well as the exceptions of the two frontier members, was sent to us, apparently from the Colonial OlKce. I mention these things to show that it is not through missionaries alone that such transactions have taken place. I do not think, with the Advertiser, the Mail, and the Observer, that the Kat River section of the rebellion is the result of the withholding of the franchise. The rational politicians, — the men who read the newspapers, — w ho in- terested themselves in attending and speaking at the public meetings, and in sending petitions, &c., — the men who now compose the nucleus of the loyalist party — knew that the Executive had proposed and carried the d£25 fran- chise ; and they were aware also that, though the popular members had been in favour of a higher qualification than the Government, they had gladly fallen in with the views of the Executive ; they knew, too, that the people of the West, “ principally Dutch,” and many liberal-minded English on the frontier, had conceded with good grace what had been so liberally proposed by the Executive ; and finally, they were sure that, with the help of their friends in England, and the word of their gracious Sovereign, it would be passed into a law. It cannot, be denied more- over, on the other hand, that Mr. Godlonton’s party on the frontier opposed the views of the Government, of the liberal members, of the Westerns, and of the natives in this matter ; and that their objections were not always made in the best spirit and with the least rancour possible. It is known that at some of these meetings the worst feelings were given utterance to, — with a good deal of lampooning about black electors and black-faced representatives.* Though this may have annoyed some, no one could have dreamt of disaffection on this account. In closing these letters I may venture the following remarks in recapitulation : — * The Kat River people, I believe, never gave an expression of opinion about the upper house. Their feelings alternated on this point between the Government plan and the popular one. It is quite true that the people had more confidence in the Government than in the democratic element about to be introduced, excepting that seeing their friends on the latter side, pacified their fears and reconciled their feelings. J li) I. That the establishment of the Kut River Settlement by the colonial government was an experimental measure, and as such had generally, with a few exceptions, met with that kind consideration which showed that it took a deep interest in its prosperity. II. The complaints of the Kat River people were expli- citly against their local functionaries. III. In order to redress some of the grievances, impartial commissions were appointed, and two of the functionaries were successively removed ; but how far these remedial measures were calculated to satisfy the aggrieved parties may be judged of by others. iV. Although it be affirmed that there existed certain grievances at the Kat River which were calculated greatly to keep up irritation among the people, still nothing had occurred of a character to justify rebellion against the Go- vernment, and the robbing and murdering of their fellow- subjects. If I am notgreatly mistaken, the Executive had, in most cases bearing on the interests of the coloured classes, watched over their interests. V. — In endeavouring to arrive at a solution of the pre- sent unhappy state of things, we should not only look to what the Government has done, but also to what the inhabitants generally have done, — as also to the various great constitutional, legislative, and defensive measures which were agitated in the country within a given time : — 1. The militia act, and the spirit in which it was received throughout the colony should be kept in view. Now, people are very fond of saying that missionaries excite people by political speeches ; but they forget that anything which excites the colonists, will excite the natives living among them, with this difference — that the natives invariably feel jealous, justly or not, at any strange excite- ment against the Government. Till now they had ever identified the stability of the Government with their civil and political freedom ; and it must be confessed, that on that question there was great excitement manifested, and sometimes strong expressions used. At the Kat River the ministers were in favour of the measure, though they could not persuade their people to fall in with their views: on this question they always maintained, with His Excel- lency the Governor, that to save the country the inhabi- tants of the colony, by adopting a modified militia measure, would achieve that end. 120 2 . The withholding compensation from the inhabitants of the frontier, both whites and blacks, for losses sustained by two Kafir eruptions, and the manner in which this was spoken and written about, and the hard epithets which were often applied to Government by speeches at public meetings and in social intercourse, must also be borne in mind. 3. The dissatisfaction which has prevailed among our Dutch fellow-colonists beyond the colonial line, — the exam- ple of rebellion at Natal and in the Sovereignty, and the lenity of the Government in punishing such defection, ought not to be left out of our inquiries. How often have Hottentots said, — “How cheap is rebellion now-a-days!” Nor must the sympathy which the resistance of our fellow- subjects to Government met with in the colony at the time of the Boomplaats affair be forgotten. An Englishman once said to a Kat River native functionary — “ What a pity that so many whites should have fallen — there is already such a vast disproportion between the white and black races; it should have been blacks.” “ So!” — said the native functionary to the Englishman — “ I now understand.” 4. The discussion of the Master and Servant’s Ordi- nance should also be thought of. Everv one who is ac- quainted with native society, knows that serfs under the “ feudal system ” could not have detested feudal constraint more, in proportion as light broke in on their minds, than the coloured classes do a vagrant act. This I say without here expressing my opinion on the subject. 5. The constant inquiries and threats by the colonists about the missionary institutions, to which the people are naturally attached, also deserve consideration when the present state of the country is under review. Here again I am bound to say that Mr. Montagu, and other members of the Executive, threw the shield of their influence over these asylums, and pointed out other means of remedying their alleged evils than forcibly breaking them U P- .... 6. Without diverging into the theoretical and political parts of the Anglo-Kafir system, I would with deference submit that the declaration of the Home Government that, in case of another Kafir war, the colonists would have to defend themselves, and that it would only defend Cape Castle and the sea-ports of the colony, or sentiments to that effect, should also be taken into consideration when 121 we tliink that there are hundreds of natives in this country who read the newspapers ; and sucli statements, though proper and cpiite legitimate, are communicated orally as well as through the press, l’roiu family to family and from person to person, throughout the entire community. 7. The forming of a police force from the still smoking embers of the last Kafir war, and immediately at its term- ination, was always, in my humble opinion, a very ques- tionable measure ; and 1 have hundreds of times heard English, Dutch, Hottentots, and Fingoes speak of it as a likely cause of mischief. As all Government guns were taken from the Kat River people, the Kafir police was organized and armed. ilow were the people to under- stand such a procedure. 8. Nor should it be left unnoticed that while the Anglo- Kafir policy was repressive of the power of the chiefs, as well as of many obnoxious customs in the country, (to which the people were, notwithstanding, attached), we humbly conceive that, under such circumstances, it was not politic, to say the least of it, to send so many troops home ; and it was wrong in the colonists not to have as- sisted the local Government in setting up another defen- sive power in lieu thereof. How long would Lord Dal- housie keep our Indian empire together were he to send home the British army of India, and leave the internal and foreign defences of the country to the gallant Sepoys and a native Indian police force ! And, pray, how long would the farsighted Lord Palmerston be able to get our Continental and American allies to keep treaties, compacts, and concordats, without our naval and military force to support him ? I speak the language of the world. One cause of the failure of the Glenelg system was the want of a competent force on the frontier to enforce the keeping of treaties. Mind, I say one cause. There are other collateral ones. The same may be said of the present system. I am not for governing any country by martial law, but I think it will be found that in the present imper- fect state of the affairs of the world it will be difficult to dispense with the military profession. The military are ever required in the principal towns of peaceful, well- governed, and intelligent England, and how much more at the extremes of our extended empire, composed of various races, having as varied interests ? VI. As far as the Kat River is concerned, it must he T said, — considering the drawbacks it had experienced in consequence of Kafir wars, &c., — that the expectations of its founders, of the Government and of those of the reason- able and unprejudiced portion of the community, were to a great extent realised. VII. That as a defensive and political measure it had, up to this unfortunate war and rebellion, answered one of the objects of its formation. That whilst it was a strong barrier against Kafir thefts in times of peace, it was in times of war a great defence, and always furnished as great if not greater contingents for our border wars than any other district in the colony. VIII. That the frequent wars with the Kafirs have not only been exhausting and impoverishing, but demoralizing in their influence on many of the inhabitants, and thus proportionately lessened the influence of their religious teachers. IX. The last Kafir war had left the Settlement in a state of great poverty, and from other attendant circum- stances, threw the minds of the people into a state of great irritation. Those parts of the community who depended more on pastoral than agricultural employment were almost irremediably ruined. X. That in a moral poiut of view the Kat River, up to the war of 1840, would have borne comparison with any other district or sub-district in the colony. Canteens, those nurseries of vice, had been completely excluded by a funda- mental rule at its first establishment, and temperance and teetotal societies were formed. It is by this not in- tended to assert that drunkenness was quite unheard of, but that it was seldom heard of. It is from the quantities of imports and exports, and consumption of such things, that statesmen would judge, and this is quite a fair aud legitimate way of judging in such matters. XI. As it regards religious privileges, it is known that there were two sections of the Church of Christ, viz., the Dutch Reformed and the Independent, or those in connec- tion with the London Missionary Society. There were three principal or central places of worship, to wit, — Hertzog (Rev. W. R. Thomson), Tidmanton (Rev. A. van Rooyen), and Philipton ; with from fifteen to twenty minor places scat- tered over the Settlement, and used for preaching in and teaching on Sundays and during the week. The Govern- ment spent, say about <£150 for schools at Kat River ; the 123 rest of the expenses were borne by the London Missionary Society and by the people themselves. Before the war of 1846, the maximum income of the Auxiliary to the London Missionary Society was £300, besides contributing towards the support of three native teachers at the stations formed in Tambookieland. Before the war of 1846, there was a regular circulating library formed to diffuse knowledge among the rising population ; a press also was established, worked by an excellent and intelligent English printer; and among the first tracts published was “ Poor Richard,” under a new name of “ Ou oom Spogter.” XII. Several of the newspapers were taken by the English and natives in the settlement, viz., the Advertiser, Mail, Observer, Frontier Times, Grensblad, Port Eliza- beth Herald , Eastern Province News, Mercury, Tele- graph, Graham's Town Journal, Kerk liode, Christian Watchman, and Kafir and English Paper, printed at King William’s Town, and taken by several Fingoes and some of the Gonahs. There also was a reading society, of which the late ma- gistrate, Mr. Bowker, Mr. Emett, Rev. W. R. Thomson, (he Messrs. Read, and other English in the Settlement, were members. But one of the most promising and, I think, useful in- stitutions was the Kat River Agricultural Society, which mainly owed its formation to Mr. Bowker, the late magis- trate. In this respect, Mr. Bowker promised to be a real benefactor to the Settlement. I wish to embrace this op- portunity of saying, that whilst I have unfortunately and painfully had to differ with Mr. Bowker about his magis- terial decisions at the Kat River, I duly appreciate his kindly and amiable disposition, and his personal kindness to me and my friends. I never did more violence to my feelings than when I was forced by circumstances into antagonism with that gentleman ; but I feel that I was right, and that, under the circumstances, I could not have acted otherwise. XIII. Although the people of Kat River had been great sufferers by previous Kafir wars, &c., and had not been treated as they should have been after these were concluded, — they, as well as the colonists at. large, should have shown greater alacrity in aiding the Govern- ment when the present war broke out. Nothing should keep men from doing their duty to Government. Although 124 there existed local grievances, some of them had been re- dressed, and others would, 1 dare say, in time have been redressed ; so that there was no cause to justify rebellion. XIV. It must also be confessed that some of the evils complained of were entailed on the present Government by former ones. XV . I do not wish to speak too confidently, but I be- lieve that the origin of the rebellion of the Hottentots has not as yet been traced further than the conspiracy of Her- manns Matroos. 1 am not aware that anything in a tangi- ble shape has as yet been discovered leading to the conclu- sion that there was before the war collusion between the Kafirs and Hottentots, or collusion among the Hottentots themselves, to enter on this treacherous revolt. XVI. From the day that the Government heard of the revolt, they used means to reclaim the people, and to induce them to lay down their weapons of destruction; and it is now to be hoped that the leaders will yet be caught, and that an example will be made of them. The mur- ders and thefts committed latterly will bring on the guilty perpetrators the execration of their fellow-men, the highest penalties of the law, and the judgment of a retributive Providence. XVII. I plead for the loyalists and other innocent natives within the colony ; and I trust that the justice of England will 'separate between the good and the vile, between loyal men and rebels ; and that innocent men, against whom no rebellion can be proved, shall yet inhabit their erfs at Hertzog , Eiland's Post, Philipton, and Tidmanton ; and the expectations of the Graham's Town Journal and the party it represents not be fulfilled. XVIII. It will have yet to be ascertained whether premonitions to disaffection first showed themselves at lower Blinkwater, or among the Cape Corps. XIX. As regards ourselves, I think we may with humility say, as in the presence of the Omniscient, that notwith- standing much that was imperfect and fallible, we have tried to do our duty by the people of the Kat River Settlement, in promoting industry, education, and godliness among them. When they have been wronged, we have fearlessly, but in a constitutional wav, sought redress for them In memorials and letters ; and I am not aware that in tins we have been singular; and were I placed in the same circumstances, lor aught that on the contrary now appears to me, i would with little variation pursue the same line of conduct. XX. I am not aware that we have acted the politician more than other men and other missionaries. In the four principal discussions which have been brought on the lapis within the last sixteen years, viz., — The abrogation of the old frontier or patrol system ; 2. The introduction of the Glenelg policy; 3. The discussions of Colonel Wade’s vagrant act; 4 The convict question; and lastly, The late question of the constitution, — we took a part. But show me the men — the ministers — who have not in some of these taken an active share. What we have done at Kat River is, I think, what any ministers might have done in similar circumstances. 1 have often been requested by writers of newspapers to correspond with them on frontier and other measures, but I have generally refused. All we have ever contended for is equal protection of the law for all Her Majesty’s subjects, and equal political rights to such as are qualified to possess them, whether white or black; and then justice and forbearance in our foreign relations with the tribes in our contiguity. My views in this matter tally with the following from a states- man of farmer times : — “ Think not it was merely by force of arms that our forefathers raised this republic from a low condition to its present greatness. No! but by things of a very different nature, — industry and discipline at home, moderation and justice abroad, disinterested spirit in coun- cil, unblinded by passion and unbiassed by pleasure. This may be said to be the spirit of British institutions. To it we are born heirs. Let us all labour to apply and prac- tise it.” XXI. As regards church matters, we are something between Independents and Presbyterians, but we sympa- thise with the Quakers and high Tories in the doctrine of non-resistance to the powers that be. It is our belief that under no circumstances would a New Testament Christian he justified in using force for the redress of grievances. This may be in our ignorance. XXII. As to the future, I wish to anticipate nothing. W e are in the hands of God ; and where He appoints we shall go. Mv own feelings are in favour of retirement from the scene of conflict. Three Kafir wars, with their attendant evils and industrial exhaustion, and the ruin of the colonists and natives, are quite enough for a single life to undergo and to witness. The rebel Hottentots have broken our spirits, and health is fast waning under grief, disappointment, and persecution, — for the impolicy of rulers, the errors they have fallen into, and the mistakes of the colonists, seem all forgotten in the unrelenting persecu- tion of missions. This is always a bad feature in the state of society. Finally, — amid all this gloom, light is arising in darkness. The people of the West are fast liberalising; and bat for the influence of a party, a strong party, on the frontier, the in- terests of whites and blacks would be easily reconciled. But so long as this party predominates, I have no hope for the frontier. XXIII. Some writers are very fond of blaming the Cape liberals as having thrown the native population into con- vulsions by the excitement which attended the discussions on the convict and constitution questions. But it should be remembered that the whole country was in a state of excitement ; and if it be true, as some of the rebels who came from the farmers have said, that the constant meet- ings on the frontier, and what was uttered in conversations and speeches, alarmed their fears, then it is probable that people who principally get their information orally, and not by means of the press, were more likely to have been af- fected by what they saw and heard than what was contained in newspapers of what took place at a distance. The speeches of the frontier colonists at Graham’s Town, Fort Beaufort, and Somerset, were as decided and strong in their tone as those of the Cape, baiting that the former did not enforce the “ pledge;” and while the Cape people threw a good deal of blame on the Colonial Executive as well as on Downing-street, the people on the frontier hurled their weapons at Lord Grey and the Colonial Office. If I am not mistaken, it was Mr. Godlonton who first incited the Kat River people to follow their white fellow- colonists in protests against making the Cape a penal settlement, and requested that when they held their meet- ing the results might be sent to the Journal , — which was done. But it becomes criminal to hold meetings on the franchise question. The Kat River case, both of ministers and people, is now before the world; let impartial men judge of its merits ; we have nothing to fear from righteous judg- ment. We would entreat the sympathy and prayers of all 127 Christians on behalf of those innocent men who have suf- fered so much in property, and most unjustly in reputation, too, through this wicked rebellion. We would also keep in mind that the rebels are our fellow-men, and as such have claims upon us. — I am. Sir, &c., Jaimes Read, Jun. Whilst these sheets are passing through the press, the following- “ Government Notice” has been published in the Government Gazette of the 18th instant : — Colonial Office, Cape of Good Hope, March 17, 1852. It having come to the knowledge of the Governor, that steps are in progress to buy up from the Hottentots the forfeited Erven in the Kat River, His Excellency desires it to be notified that, as under the conditions upon which Titles to these Lands were issued it is required that the grantee should, previous to the sale of any Erven, first obtain the consent of the Government thereto, that it is not the intention of the Government to allow any of these Lands to he sold for the present, and His Excellency desires to warn people, that until it is further notified, he will not confirm the grant of any of the Lands so purchased within this Settlement. By Command of His Excellency the Governor, (Signed) John Montagu, Sec. to Gov. It is a great misfortune when the meaning of a public document is not obvious on a first careful perusal, as it leaves room for doubt and suspicion in the mind of the reader, regarding the intention of those by whom it is published. Ambiguity of language is frequently found allied with the desire to mystify and mislead. In the present case, the Government of this colony may wish to come forward to the protection of the natives against the designs of unprincipled white men, who seek to take advantage of the present state of excitement and disorder, “to buy up from Hottentots the forfeited erven in the Kat River,” and in this view, we can conceive of few acts more considerate and more deserving of applause. It is ad- mitted, that this implies, on the part of Government, very strong reflections* on the moral character of the men * But are not these home out by the following statement in the Graham's Town Journal * 25 th Jan , 1851, in an elaborate leading article in reply to the Cape Town Observe i — “ It is argued, “ says the Editor,” lhat a force will not be raised on these conditions; that all w ill shrink from the dishonourable duty. But how much will the Editor of the Observer through whom these “steps are in progress;” but the* opinion which the Government may have formed of them, and the measures it may adopt in consequence, do not make them what they are, any more than the framing of police regulations creates thieves and burglars. Could we persuade ourselves that we are not in error respecting the object of Government in the above notification, our gra- titude, and that of the poor people more immediately interested therein, should be commensurate with the great- ness of the benefit intended to be promoted by the publi- cation of the document in question, and future generations would bless the hand that saved them from spoliation and wrong. The question, however, arises — “ May we safely take it for granted that we have arrived at a correct interpretation of this Government notice ?” We fear not. It refers to the “forfeited erven in the Kat River;” and may we not be permitted to ask — “forfeited!” by whom? By the re- bels? Then what has the intending purchaser to do with “ the conditions upon which titles to these lands were issued ?” These conditions — if there ever were any — it may be presumed, have been cancelled by the rebellion of the people to whom the lands were originally granted. The Government, in this notice, declares them “forfeited.” What rebel will be bold enough to come forward in order to effect the sale of his land ? — and what sane man will be indiscreet enough to make the purchase without “ first obtaining the consent of Government thereto ?” On the supposition that the lands of the rebels only are intended, the “ Notice” appears to be simply unnecessary. We are led, however, to suspect that more is intended by this “ Government Notice” than at first meets the eye. Can it be that by the “ forfeited erven in the Kat River” be surprised at hearing, that those very terms which the Governor now offers, were prayed for by the Burghers themselves four months ago. [That is three months before the war broke out, and at a time when the Editor of the G. T Jout nal in his weekly issues was declaring, with what has since proved to be only affected confidence — that the appre- hension of war was entirely groundless]. Communications were made to the Civil Commis- sioner of Albany, to the Commandant of the Eastern Frontier, and finally memorials were sent to the Governor himself, from numerous bodies of Burghers, saying that they were ready to assist in conquering the Kafirs, if they might choose their own commanders, — have a right to all cattle they might capture ! — and — stepping still furiher beyond the Observer's restrictive bounds of the mode of dealing with Kafirs— those Burghers asked also for a clear title and undisputed ownership of the lands belonging to such tribes as they might by their prowess expel ! I Does this look like recoiling from the ‘ evil office V We do not admit the assumption of our assertions being disputed. We have named our authorities, and the documents are this day filed in tin* respective departments ’’ — [The ifalics and the notes of exclamalion are the Editor’s of the Journal] is meant the Kat River Settlement which has been for- feited ? This is evidently the construction put upon the words by the “ Cape Monitor,"* which, if common report be correct, ought to know the meaning of Govern- ment notices; and it is quite in harmony with the oft- expressed sentiments of the Graham's Town Journal, whose perspicacity on such points is no less remarkable than that of its privileged contemporary. Whether the Colonial Government has power to confiscate the property even of rebels may be left to the lawyers to decide. The affirmative is said to be open to grave doubts. But the present question is one of more easy solutiou ; and one that will be entertained in the court of every enlighteued conscience in the British empire, and in her colonies throughout the world. Ought the innocent to suffer for the guilty — the many for the few — the forfeiture of their lands? We may confidently anticipate the answer, and the British Parliament, in terms of no mincing official meaninglessness, will give forth its voice, — “ Not a rood of land, nor an article of moveable property shall be confiscated belonging to the men who have so nobly sought to check the torrent of disaffection and rebellion among their countrymen, and whose own loyalty re- mains unimpeached, save by the tongue of calumny and detraction.” We shall calmly await the issue. Already the losses sustained by men as loyal as any in Her Majesty’s dominions, and their sufferings, have been very great, as the foregoing letters clearly show. Will a professedly paternal Government endorse the rabid senti- ments of a section of the frontier colonists, and by rob- bing the brave and the good of all that is left them, — their well-earned character, — add insult and wrong to misfortune ? War and rebellion are dire calamities to the majority of the people among whom they prevail. Countless evils, and those not merely physical, admitting of speedy mitigation, follow in their train. The destruction of property belong- ing to the frontier colonists has been immense; the break- ing up of hitherto happy households of painful frequency ; and the loss of life, valuable in the domestic, social, and municipal relations, mostfearful. Nor is this the sole ground of our lamentation : familiarity with scenes of rapine and * Cape Monitor , 20th March, 1852. 130 of blood lias produced in llie minds of no small portion ot our community an awful indifference to the perils of their condition ; and has greatly impaired the moral tone of gen- eral society. Hard is the heart that refuses its sympathy to the sufferers, and remains unaffected by their calamities! Our social and political horizon becomes increasingly dark with the thick clouds of mutual suspicion and enmity ; and at times there have been amongst us the premonitions of a war of races, — from which may the God of mercy deliver us ! The philanthropist mourns over the cessation of labours among the coloured classes, — which alone, under God, have a humanizing, christianizing influence; whilst the most devoted missionaries have been the objects of virulent attack, as if they were the active cause of evils which they have not been able to prevent. Every true friend of his species, whether white or coloured, will rather seek to cast oil on the troubled waters of South African society than to keep up the causes of agitation and bitterness. However vaunting may be his religious profession, that man is to be denounced as an enemy to the best interests of his country who, by the cir- culation of calumnious reports of his fellow-colonists, seeks to bring them into disreputation and contempt H is Honour Lieutenant-Governor Darling has just ar- rived, and His Excellency Governor Cathcart is hourly expected ; may we not hope that God is about to visit us with “ showers of blessings,” and that a new era dawns upon us? — Our hope is in Him. William Thompson. M ission House, Cape Town, 27th March, 1852. Saul Solomon &c Co., 50 St. Goorpe’s-street, Cape Town. APPENDIX. One of those important official documents, the “ Blue Books,’’ containing “ Correspondence with the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, &c.,” which was “ presented *- to both Houses of Parliament, by command of Her Ma- jesty, February 3, 1852,” has just come to hand. Among the documents thus published we find — “Copy of a Despatch from the Right Hon’ble Earl Grey to Lieuten- ant-General Sir Harry Smith, Bart.,” in which is the following very remarkable announcement : — “ This last object” — viz., ‘that the interests of our allies should be attended to’ — “ will be facilitated by the large extent of fertile land which w ill be at your disposal, in consequence of the rebellion of the Kafir tribes and of the Kat River settlers, which will probably enable you to provide amply within easier reach of British protection for those inhabitants of the Sovereignty who have been faithful to their allegiance, and who might not be able to remain there in safety with- out support.” We can have little reason to complain of 1 the want of perspicuity in this part of the despatch above referred to ; but the transparency of His Lordship’s mean- ing is probably its only merit. The fertile land of the Kat River settlers is already, in the intention of the Secretary for the Colonies, appropriated “ to those inhabitants of the Sovereignty,” — whoever they may be, white or coloured, it may be presumed, the native tribes or the descendants of Europeans, — who may not be able to remain there after British protection is withdrawn. It will not be disputed that those persons who, relying on the sanction of the Imperial Government to the “ measure by which this territory was added to Her Majesty’s domin- ions,” were led to invest their property, and to seek for themselves and children a home in the Sovereignty, have a * claim upon the Government on the abandonment of its rule over them — if indeed such be really contemplated — for a high degree of indulgent consideration in providing for themselves other homes as compensatory for disappointed hopes and actual losses. The question is, ought this indulgence to be shown to a few at the expeuse of other subjects, as honest, industrious, and loyal as themselves ? We are unwilling to believe that the “ fertile lands of the Kat River settlers” are to be confiscated, in order to provide farms for the ejected boers of the Sovereignty : as w'ell might the Colonial Minister confiscate the lands of Albany, in order to provide farms 2 for the Kat River sufferers, as, in the present case, to ignore existing rights, and to trample on the principles of humanity and justice. The two cases, we submit, are strictly analagous. That “ the interests of our allies should be attended to ” is not a sufficient reason for those of the Kat River settlers to be disregarded, if not plunged into irretrievable ruin. But all this may be repudiated. “ The large extent of fertile land which,” as Earl Grey writes to Sir H. Smith, “ will be at your disposal,” is evidently intended to be con- fiscated in consequence of the rebellion. Whether we shall do well for ourselves by depriving the Kafirs of another portion of their lands, may be left for those to decide who know the increasing difficulties of our position in this country from every accession to our territory. With re- ference to the Kat River settlers who are erf-holders, — and they only are to be taken into consideration in the question of a confiscation of the land, — less than one- fourth of them, it is confidently believed, have been at all implicated in the rebellion. The following return has been made up from a list of persons belonging to the Settlement, which was furnished, in June last, by the Rev. James Read, sen., to Sir Harry Smith, His late Excellency the Governor. Great pains was taken to secure accuracy ; but after all it can be regarded only as an approximation towards a correct result. Have the remaining three- fourths, who, in the most trying circumstances, have main- tained their loyalty, and many of whom* have done good service against the common foe, no rights? We would respectfully but earnestly beseech the Government to pause ere it commit an act which would be without a parallel in the administration of Great Britain. * 1. The Kat River Settlement not only furnished contingents for the former wars, but also during the present there have been from 350 to 400 men, Burghers and Levies, doing duty at Eiland’s Post and on patroles. These belong to the London Missionary Society’s Mission and Mr. Thom on’s congregation. 2. Under Field-commandant Joseph Read there are about 120 Hottentots, Fingoes. and Bushmen, belonging to Freemanton, in Bushman’s country, an outstation of Philipton. 3. The Fingoes at Alice, numbering about 150 men, under ihe useful Chiefs Maousa and Gebani were connected with the mission at Philipton, before the war. 4. About 70 Fingoes who came with their Missionaries from Philipton, are now in the service of the Government at Fort Hare and Alice. 5. There are at present, at Fort Beaufort, about 50 Fingoes doing duty who were a short time before the war connected with the Kat River Mission. 6. The Fingoes who resided on the Ox Kraal River, under the Chiefs Sobekwa and Semeraa, to the number of from 250 to 300, are also now serving at Whittlesea and other places on that line. 7. So that it may be safely affirmed that upwards of 950 men, who consider themselves connected with the Kat River and its outstations, and who have been under the instruc- tion of the Missionaries there, or of Mr Thomson, have been engaged in the defence of the country during the present war. (Signed) James Read, Junr. 3 RETURN. 1. Field-cometcy of Andries Botha, which includes Buxton and upper Blinkwater. Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - 62 Of these the number joining the rebels is - 14 A Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 67 Of whom there joined the rebellion - - 60 (Of whom 52 were Gonahs.) 2. Field-cornetcy of David Jantjes, which includes Balfour, Upsher, Ebenezer, and Mankazana. Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - - 8,5 Number of erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 17 Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 43 Number of non-erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 15 3. Field-cornetcy of Lodowyk Peffer, which includes Lushington, Menzies, Van der Kemp, and Hertzog. Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - - 81 Number of erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 18 Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 72 Number of non-erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 21 4. Field-cornetcy of Cobus Fourie, which includes part of Readsdale, Wellsvale, Bruceton, and Wilsonton. _ Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - - 72 Number of erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 22 Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 37 Number of non-erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 13 5 . Field-cornetcy of Piet Bruintjes, which includes the greater part of Readsdale, Philipton, Fairbairn, and Maasdorp. Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - - 93 Number of erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 3 Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 91 Number of non-erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 22 6. Field-cornetcy of Valentyn Jacob, which includes the Old School, Tidmanton, and Fuller’s Hoek. Total number of erf-holders in the cornetcy - - 67 Number of erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 28 Total number of non-erf-holders in the cornetcy - 47 Number of non-erf-holders who joined the rebellion - 33 818 266 Total number of erf-holders in the Set- tlement, of which a nominal list has been made - 461 Of whom the number joining the rebel- lion is - 102 or 22’13 per cent. Total number of non-erf-holders - 357 Of whom the number joining in rebel- lion is - - - - 161 or 45’1 per cent. The number per cent, who remained loyal was - 67'85 Who became rebels - 32 - 15 This Return is entirely confined to the Hottentot portion of the population of the Settlement. 4 Can his Lordship the Colonial Minister be aware of the tenure on which the people of the Kat River Settlement hold their lands ? Not, we beg most respectfully to remind his Lordship, as a clan or a community having equal and common rights, but as individuals, who received Transfers for their respective allotments, or the promise of them, in the usual way, and became in consequence the bona fide proprietors. The broad acres of Alnwick are not held more securely. The confiscation of lands belonging to the men who have remained loyal would be without law or precedent. Earl Grey appears to have written his Des- patch under great misapprehension of the true state of things; which, whilst greatly to be regretted, may to some extent be excused in one whose mind, at the present junc- ture, must be continually harassed by the multitudinous affairs of the Colonial Office, and perplexed by the con- flicting statements which reach him. Hence his Lord- ship appears to take it for granted that the whole of the inhabitants of the Kat River Settlement have joined in rebellion against the Government. The above Return, and it is believed to be substantially correct, shows a far different, though a still very painful, result. Should, how- ever, a Commission of Inquiry prove the above Return inaccurate (which, indeed, is only put forth as the closest approximation to correctness an honest mind, with the assistance of the native functionaries, could arrive at) the assumed position remains untouched ; — the Kat River Settlement, as such, and apart from the allotments ol which it is composed, cannot be confiscated. It is humbly sub- mitted to His Lordship that the case of each erf must be judged of by its own merits ; and that the individual erf- holder may maintain the right to his land intact until he shall have been convicted of rebellion before a proper legal tribunal. The claims of humanity are not less strong than those of justice: we cannot doubt that they will find a willing- response in his Lordship’s breast. W. T. M ission House, Cape Town, 1st April, 1852. Saul Solomon ic Co., 50, St. Goorgu’s-street, Cape Town.