The Africanders

by Le Roy Hooker

Toward the end of June, 1795, it became evident that the British commanders, having failed to obtain peaceable possession of the Cape colony, meant to use all the force necessary to carry out their purpose.

On the 24th of June, three Dutch merchant ships lying in Simon’s Bay received instruction from Commissioner Sluysken to proceed to Table Bay, but Admiral Elphinstone forbade them to sail. On the 28th of June, two small vessels sailing under American colors anchored in Simon’s Bay. One of these—the Columbia—carried Dutch dispatches from Amsterdam to the Cape and Batavia. The English admiral promptly placed the Columbia under guard and seized her mails. Such letters and dispatches as related to public affairs were either suppressed [[47]]or mutilated, and measures were taken to prevent newspapers from reaching the shore. A single paper, however, was smuggled into the hands of a Burgher, and was the means of conveying astonishing news to the colonists. The most startling of its contents was an official notice by the States-General of Holland, under date of the 4th of March, 1795, absolving from their oaths of allegiance to the Prince of Orange all his former subjects, both in the Netherlands and in the Dutch colonies.

From this notice and from hints left in mutilated letters to private individuals it was learned that so far from being a conquered country under the heel of a rigorous French military administration, Holland was a free and independent republic; that the Stadtholderate had been abolished by the free-will action of the nation, and that France was in friendly diplomatic relations with the Dutch Republic.

Thereupon, the Commissioner and his council determined that it was their duty to hold out against the English. They reasoned that, should the colonial forces be overpowered in the end, the Netherlands would have a better claim to the restoration of the country when peace should be made than would exist if the protection of [[48]]Great Britain had been accepted without a struggle. They saw a bare possibility that the British force might be starved into departure by refusing to furnish them with provisions. Moreover, aid from Europe might then be on the way and might reach them in time to save the colony to Holland. In any case, they judged, there was nothing to lose in opposing the British but the control of the colony, whereas, they might lose their heads as traitors should a combined Dutch and French fleet arrive and they be found to have surrendered to the British without a show of resistance. They decided that both duty and personal interest required them to make what preparation they could for defense.

PRESIDENT KRUGER.

By order of the council, on the night of the 29th of June, Simonstown was abandoned as untenable. All the provisions there were destroyed, the guns were spiked, such ammunition as could not be carried away was thrown into the sea and the troops joined the force at Muizenburg. Not being able to evade the ships blockading Table Bay, the council chartered a cutter then lying at anchor in Saldanha Bay and sent her with dispatches to Batavia informing the Dutch colonists there of the state of things both at the Cape and in Holland. [[49]]

When the call to assemble at the Cape was signaled to the country Burghers, only seventy men from the Swellendam district responded. The nationals, who had been in revolt against the Dutch East India Company’s government, declined to obey. Further appeals by letter failed to bring any more of them in. At last, on the 7th of July, in a written communication, it was proposed by the nationals that they would rally to the defense of the country if the government would grant them amnesty for the past and pledge a reasonable redress of their grievances as soon as possible. Among the principal stipulations were these: The nationalists were to be exempted from direct taxation and to have free trade; the cartoon money—a depreciated currency—was to be withdrawn from circulation, and they were to be granted permission to hold in perpetual slavery all Bushmen captured by commandos or individuals.

The nationals had no sooner dispatched the letter containing their overture than it occurred to some of them that their claims would surely be ignored if the British obtained control of the colony. Therefore, without waiting for a response from the government, they resolved to aid in the defense of the country, and at the [[50]]same time continue to assert their right to self-government. In accordance therewith a company of one hundred and sixty-eight mounted men was organized under Commandant Delpont and at once set out for Cape Town.

The rally from the country districts of Swellendam, Stellenbosch and Drakenstein brought together a force of eleven hundred and forty horsemen. Two hundred of these were added to the post at Muizenburg. The rest were stationed at Cape Town and along the road to the camp as pickets.