“The proprietors of different estates in Hottentots Holland, about thirty miles from the Cape, were desirous of building a church to which their families might resort on the Sabbath, instead of having a journey of twelve miles to perform, in going to the church at Stellenbosch. A piece of ground was selected for the purpose, and purchased by subscription for 23,000 guilders; a portion of it was marked out for the church, another for the clergyman’s house and garden, and as there remained a considerable quantity beyond what was required for these purposes, it was sold by auction in small lots, for building houses near the church, and brought the extraordinary price of 161,000 guilders. A similar effect, although probably not so great in degree, will result whenever a Government establishment may take place. By building and endowing a church, Government would be enabled to sell the contiguous ground so advantageously, as to remunerate them for all the expences; and by sending inhabitants from England for these new settlements, the chief want of the colony would be supplied, that of population; whilst numbers now starving and destitute in the mother country would be provided for, and the poor rates relieved in proportion. But what is of still greater importance, the Christian religion would be promoted in every part of this extensive colony. An establishment of this kind would be particularly desirable in the vicinity of the Knysna, of Mossel Bay, and the Brede River. The Knysna and the Brede River are secure and valuable ports, only ascertained to be such within the last two years, and Mossel Bay, may at a very trifling expence become such in a very short time. They are all situated in fertile corn countries. The Knysna has the additional advantage of being in the immediate vicinity of an extensive and valuable forest, where timber for building the largest ships is to be had in abundance and with facility.
“Upon an attentive consideration of all these circumstances, I cannot resist the impulse I feel to entreat your Lordship’s notice of them, and that you would be pleased to recommend the measure of even one Clergyman of the Church of England being sent out, and established in either of the places above mentioned, with a very limited number of poor families from England, by way of an experiment, upon the success of which may depend the extension of the plan.
“The sum required for such a beginning as might settle twenty families in comfort, need not exceed one thousand pounds sterling, including their passage out to this country. The materials for building, if in the neighbourhood of the Knysna, are to be had, as well as fuel, without any other expence than that of labour; the soil is excellent, easily cultivated, and may provide for any number of inhabitants after the first year. Meat is at two pence half-penny sterling the pound, and would be considerably cheaper, were the families sufficiently numerous to share an ox among them. The whole of their labour will be necessarily required during the first year of their establishment to provide for their immediate wants; but in the second, many may begin to pay off the sums which have been advanced to them, by cutting timber for Government, or in any other way in which their industry may turn to account.
“I have the honour to be, &c.
“JAHLEEL BRENTON.”
“To the Bishop of London.”
But if these efforts for public improvement were unsuccessful, a mind like that of Sir Jahleel Brenton did not suffer the disappointment to cool his ardour, or to check similar endeavours. He had done what he could in that direction, and when he failed there, he did what he could in another. Some men offended at the indifference with which these representations were received, might have given up all attempt at doing good; and considered themselves as justified in their inactivity by the treatment they had met with. But the religion by which he lived, had taught him patience, and the spirit of the profession he belonged to had given him perseverance. His desire to do good remained unbroken, and the failure of one scheme, merely turned his attention to others, which seemed more within his reach, and less dependent on the support to be derived from distant friends; for while there was no object so great, which he would not have endeavoured to grasp for the sake of doing good to others, there was no evil so trifling which his sensibility was not ready to notice. It may easily be supposed then, that the black servants of such a family would not be neglected; but that they would be carefully taught the principles of that religion, the fruits of which they saw exhibited in their master’s daily practice. The observance of the sabbath naturally became more strict as the importance of its employments was more distinctly understood; and though the kindness of Sir Jahleel’s character, as well as the simplicity of his religious views, saved the sabbath from all appearance of rigour, and rendered it in the fullest sense of the word a delight to every one within his influence; he could not but see more clearly the necessity of a strict observance of the institution, as he felt the difficulty of inculcating the knowledge of religion on the uneducated and half civilized natives. Men of various countries and of different dispositions were here placed under his charge; either as domestic servants, or as labourers in the Dockyard. Each, according to the opportunity which their situation offered, were made the objects of his Christian kindness and care; and many it is hoped carried into other services, or into other lands, the seed which had been sown through his instruction, and the impression that had been made on their hearts by his example. Of all these, the most singular, and perhaps at one time the most hopeful, was a lad belonging to that strange and degraded tribe called the Bushmen, to whom the name of Hermes had been given, and who was well known among the friends of Sir Jahleel in England by this significant denomination. Dr. Barry, the talented young Physician who was mentioned above, as having attended Lady Brenton during her last illness, had rescued this boy, when a mere child, from the tyranny of a Dutch woman, his mistress, who abusing the power which the law gave her over a slave, was about to commit him to prison on account of some trifling theft, which he had been guilty of. Dr. Barry, touched with compassion at the boy’s appearance, ransomed him from slavery, and was then glad to consign his purchase to the care of his benevolent patron. The boy thus admitted into Sir Jahleel’s family, gave remarkable evidences of intelligence and quickness. Irritable and revengeful when wronged, he was in no ordinary degree attached and grateful when treated kindly; and his readiness of answer, and activity, made him a general favourite in the house; while his docility, and rapidity of comprehension encouraged hopes, that this child of the wilderness might be sent back as a messenger of peace, and a herald of mercy to his persecuted and benighted countrymen.
With Sir Jahleel this boy came to England, where the peculiarity of his appearance (for of all the sections of the human race, the Bushman most nearly resembles the monkey) attracted general observation; and in his family he remained discharging with correctness the several duties of a domestic servant; subject to no other interruption than that which his vivacity and quickness of temper contrived to draw from the common occurrences of the day. One of these may be mentioned, as exhibiting the character of the boy’s mind, and the strength of feeling which may exist even in the most uncouth representation of our nature. A Lady of rank who had heard of Hermes, expressed so strong a wish to see him, that he was sent to her house; and under the directions that had been left, was turned into the drawing room, where the lady intended to meet him. Poor Hermes who had never been in such a place before, looked round with wonder on articles of luxury, of which he hardly knew the use; and at last, when his mind was bewildered by the splendour of the scene, turning suddenly round he beheld an object still more astonishing than sofas, and tables, and porcelain vases, a Bushboy of his own height and colour, looking at him with features of surprise. To dart towards his brother, and to rush into his embraces, was the act of a moment. A loud crash was heard, the servants hurried into the room; a large pier glass was found shivered, and Hermes lying stunned with the blow, and senseless on the floor. It is hardly necessary to say, that the bushboy was the figure of Hermes reflected in a glass which reached to the ground, and that the illusion arose from the fact, that he had never before seen his own figure exhibited in such a manner.
It is satisfactory to know that the hopes entertained concerning this lad have not been entirely frustrated. After having remained some time in England, after having acquired and adopted all the usages of civilized life, and apparently overcome his earlier propensities; the irritability of his temper and restlessness rendered it inconvenient to retain him in the family; and as his health was suffering from the climate of England, it was thought expedient to send him back to the Cape, and to place him in such a situation there, as might maintain the influence of his new habits, and prepare him for future usefulness in the country. It was reported that the original nature of the boy had resumed its sway, when he was placed in his original situation. It was said that he had disappeared from the Colony, plunged again into the bush, and become the wild timid wanderer that he had been; but the Editor is happy to add, that recent information received from the Cape, describes Hermes as settled in a respectable situation there, and as retaining a lively and grateful recollection of the kindness he experienced from his former master.
In these benevolent employments Sir Jahleel formed the acquaintance of the Rev. Dr. Philip, who has long filled the important situation of Missionary to the Cape, in connexion with the London Missionary Society, and whose name is well known to every one acquainted with the progress of missions in Africa, and as generally and deservedly respected. His acquaintance with Dr. Philip does not appear to have taken place before Lady Brenton’s death; but the common interest they took in all measures for the improvement of mankind, soon after that time produced an intimacy, which led to much and confidential correspondence; and this correspondence was probably very beneficial to Sir Jahleel at this period in his life. His religious convictions had been gradually gaining strength, and his religious views acquiring maturity. He had seen the insufficiency of that formal religion, which, at first, had been contemplated as the end and object to be aimed at; and the regular study of the Scriptures, combined with other books, and particularly that of Mr. Wilberforce’s Essay on Practical Christianity, had enabled him to take a wider and a juster view of the privileges and requirements of the gospel, than he at first possessed. Trials, repeated trials, had been the blessed means by which these clearer views of truth were made matters of experience. He knew in whom he had believed. He had felt that there was a power in the gospel, by which he had been enabled to overcome the world, and to realize in himself a change, which, at an earlier period of his life, he might have thought visionary, or improbable. He had resigned to the God who gave it, the blessing which up to that moment had seemed to be the substance of happiness, the object on which the warmest feelings of his heart had been centered; and in which he had experienced as much of earthly comfort as usually falls to the lot of man; and he had found that he could resign it, and still have such comfort within his reach, as enabled him cheerfully to fulfil the duties of his office, and to go on rejoicing in the hope of a more perfect rest, a more abiding happiness hereafter. To a mind thus constituted, and thus prepared, led by a gradual process to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and having had that knowledge proved by trial, and confirmed by experience, the intercourse of one like Dr. Philip, a man advanced in spiritual things, and familiarized with the difficulties which beset the believer’s path, must have been welcome, if not necessary; and it was natural, therefore, that under the circumstances in which Sir Jahleel was placed, the society and counsel of Dr. Philip should be sought with that peculiar eagerness with which an awakened mind, and a wounded spirit are apt to seek the only consolations that meet their wants. On the other hand it was equally natural that Dr. Philip should be struck by the characteristic openness and integrity of the Commissioner, and that he should be drawn towards him by that irresistible charm, which the sweetness of his temper threw over his conversation and address. He must likewise have felt, that in the position which he himself occupied at the Cape, where he was viewed with coldness by the Government, and with jealousy and hatred by the Boors, who suspected the effect that his missionary efforts would have on the Hottentot population, and imagined that every attempt to raise that degraded race was a wrong to themselves, and an injury to their interests; the friendship and patronage of a man of high professional character, and holding a distinguished government office, was a help of no ordinary magnitude, and might have been regarded, at the time, as a support vouchsafed by providence. But it is certain that he must soon have found, in the state of Sir Jahleel’s mind, in the anxiety of his enquiries, and in the sincerity of his pursuit of truth, the grounds for a deeper and more abiding feeling; and he must have rejoiced, that in a country where there was much to sadden a Christian’s heart, there was one case before him, where the grace of God was so manifestly working, and where the fruits of the Spirit were so largely brought forth. Acquaintance under such circumstances soon ripened into friendship. They found themselves, in many cases, united in one common work; and still more frequently, the only two who felt alike on the subjects that came before them; and each had reason to rejoice in the associate thus unexpectedly discovered. A long correspondence on religious questions is still preserved; but as the letters are chiefly occupied in the discussion of books, which had then recently appeared, but are now generally known, it does not seem necessary to repeat remarks or arguments, which must be familiar to most, and which do not tend directly to illustrate the character of the writers.