Willem Adriaan Van Der Stel, and Other Historical Sketches

by George McCall Theal

On their part, the colonists claimed exactly the same rights as if they were still living in the fatherland. They held that any restrictions to which the early burghers had agreed were of a temporary nature, and affected only those who had consented to them. In their opinion they had forfeited nothing by removal to a dependency, and the violence displayed by the governor towards Adam Tas and his associates was as outrageous as if it had taken place in the city of Amsterdam. They asserted their undoubted right to personal liberty, to exemption from arrest unless under reasonable suspicion of crime, to admission to bail, to speedy trial before a proper court of justice, to freedom to sell to anyone, burgher or foreigner, whatever their land produced, after the tithes had been paid and the Company’s needs had been supplied, except under special circumstances when restriction was needed for the good of the community. And these claims, made in as explicit terms as they could be to-day by an Englishman living in a crown colony, were not challenged by the directors or the Indian authorities, but were accepted by every one as unquestioned. They were the ideals of the proper working and spirit of government held by the great bulk of the people of the Netherlands at the beginning of the eighteenth century, before democratic principles or socialistic views had gained ground among the labouring classes or were even dimly foreshadowed in the minds of men who toiled with their hands for their bread. Such a system answered admirably in the fatherland, and the Cape burghers desired to maintain it unimpaired in South Africa.

Mr. Van der Stel retired to Vergelegen, and began arranging matters so that he could leave the country with as little pecuniary loss as possible. His friends and connections in Amsterdam were numerous and influential, and he cherished the hope that through their agency the directors might be induced to leave him in possession of the estate. He does not seem to have realised how serious his offences had been and how impossible it was that he should be forgiven. But as he had now only his own servants and slaves to work with, it was necessary to contract his farming operations, and under any circumstances it would be wise to dispose of his great flocks and herds with the least possible delay. For this, so unlike the case of the men whom he had hurried out of the colony, he had ample time. There is very little information in the archives of occurrences at Vergelegen during those months, though several commissions visited the place, so nothing beyond what is here mentioned can be related.

Historical Sketches.

On the 25th of January 1708 Governor Louis van Assenburgh arrived. He had been eight months on the passage from Holland, and had been obliged to put into a port on the coast of Brazil. In the same ship with the governor was Henning Huising, one of the deported burghers, who had entered into a contract with the directors for the supply of half the meat required by the Company at the Cape during the next three years, the object of dividing the contract being to secure competition in purchasing cattle from the burghers. Pieter van der Byl and Ferdinandus Appel had reached the colony seven months before.

When the arrival of the governor was known at Vergelegen, Mr. Van der Stel sent a petition to the council of policy requesting that he might be allowed to retain the estate a few months longer, as he had hopes that by the next fleet from Europe intelligence would be received that the directors had mitigated their decision. As compliance with this request would have been directly opposed to the orders of the 30th of October 1706, a matter which he seemed to regard as of little importance, but which the new governor decidedly objected to, the council refused to entertain it, and the utmost that he could obtain was permission to press the grapes then ripening and dispose of half the wine on his own account, the other half to be for the Company. The quantity pressed was fifty-six leggers of five hundred and seventy-six litres each.

Dismissal of the Governor.

On the 23rd of February 1708 Henning Huising summoned Mr. Van der Stel before the court of justice for £3,056 in addition to the value of nine thousand sheep. This gave the late governor an opportunity to request the council of policy to allow him to remain in South Africa another year, in order to get evidence to defend himself in this case; but upon Huising stating that he preferred bringing the action in Holland to being the means of keeping Van der Stel longer in the colony, the council declined to accede to his request.

On the 23rd of April 1708 the return fleet of this year sailed from Table Bay for Europe, having on board the late governor, secunde, and clergyman of Capetown with their families. Upon their arrival at Amsterdam Van der Stel and Elsevier were dismissed from the Company’s service. They had left agents in the colony to wind up their affairs and to transmit the proceeds to them. Mr. Kalden was more fortunate, for, though his possession of a farm was not approved of, he did not come in the same category as members of the council and of the court of justice, and he was able to make a good defence as far as his motives were concerned. He was retained in the service, and several years afterwards was sent as a chaplain to India.

Vergelegen was divided into four farms, which were sold by auction in October 1709. The cultivated land was found on measurement to be six hundred and thirteen morgen in extent. The large dwelling-house was broken down, and the material was sold for Van der Stel’s benefit. The other buildings were taken over by the Company for £625, though the materials of which they were constructed were appraised at a much higher sum. The four farms brought £1,695 at public sale, the purchasers being Barend Gildenhuis, Jacobus van der Heiden, Jacob Malan, and the widow of Gerrit Cloete.

Frans van der Stel returned to Europe in the same fleet with his brother, and took up his residence in Amsterdam. His wife, Johanna Wessels, was a daughter of one of the leading burghers of the colony. She remained behind with her parents to dispose of the property to the best advantage, and did not leave to rejoin her husband until April 1717.