the loss of the originals can never be too deeply regretted.
But the attentive reader of the lesolutions of the 28th of
November, 1689, which mentions the deputation and the
Commander's wrath, will at once observe that it requires
a link somewhere, which must be supplied in order to
explain the Commander's conduct.
It is said that the memorialists wished to have a church
and church officers of their own, but the Governor's reply
hardi}', if at all, affects that point ; he addresses them as
if they had expressly asked for some political concessions,
and therefore the real facts should be gleaned from other
poitions of the Archives, Thej' may be fairlj' guessed, I
think, from the despatch of the Seventeen, dated the 17th
of December, 1G90, in reply to the memorial mentioned,
and which had naturally been forwarded to them. It is
as follows : —
" At the request of the Eev. P. Simond we have con-
sented that a consistory should be elected from the French
congregation, composed of elders and deacons, who— if they
(•an be found — shall be versed in both the Dutch and
French languages, and whose names shall always annually
and beforehand be submitted to you for your approval,
the Colon y of the Cape of Good Hope. .j1
and which yon shall give, should there be uo reason to the
contrary. You shall likewise appoint one or two council
members to take session in that consistory as political
Commissioners, and to appear there whenever and as often
as they shall deem it necessary ; and should any matters of
importance or any discussions take place at any meeting
w^hich the Commissioners believe ought not to be venti-
lated, or much less, settled there, they shall be laid before
the consistory of the Fort or Castle, in which there shall
likewise appear and take session some deputies from the
said Church Council of the French congregation, in order
to form the gieat consistory by which these matters and
disputes shall be settled or ended, and which shall for that
purpose meet at &.uch times or on such days as may be the
most convenient. Further, the consistory of the French
congregation, or elders and deacons, shall be allowed in
their own parish to dispose of the alms given for the
benefit of the poor, and distribute them among the needy ;
but in case any sulisidies should come in from outside,
their distribution or use shall he settled by tlie grtat
consistory or KerJccraad, which shall also take care that
proper books are kept of receipts and expenditure, that
annually a clear statement may be drawn out, as is usual
in Batavia.
" Regarding the schools, also mentioned by tlie I\ev. P.
Simond, we shall endeavour to obtain and send out some
schoolmasters, speaking both the Dutch and French lan-
guages, who are to be stationed at Stellenbosch and
Drakenstein respectively, to instruct the children of both
French and Dutch parents. Their eilbrts sliall be to
bring about that the children of French parents are
taught to read and understand especially the Dutch lan-
guage, in order to be the more easily incorporated into
E 2
52 Bamhles through the Archives of
OTir nation. For that purpose you shall not locate the
Colonists, whether French or Dutch, each nationality
separately, but you shall mix them up together and let
them live among one another both at Draken stein and
Stellenbosch. By such means the public scliools men-
tioned will become more efficacious for both Dutch and
French children, and be maintained at much less cost."
It is therefore evident that they asked fur their own
consistory, and an autonomy for themselves in secular and
church affairs, which the system on which the Dutch East
India Company was founded could not allow, and which,
moreover, had never been granted to any fugitive congre-
gation anywhere in Europe, and that the memorial ended
with the request for a French school for the children.
But the Eev. P. Simond, who took a leading part in this
movement, appears to have been of a very restless and not
very conciliatory nature, for on the 29th of June, 1691,
the Governor and Council wrote to Holland as follows : —
" We only wish that the Eev. Pierre Simond and Jacques
de Savoye would bear themselves towards each other more
peaceably and amicably, and had settled their differences
Avithout, by means of their quarrelsomeness, resulting
from sheer obstinacy, causing so much annoyance to the
community {aan dese ingesetenen) and such great trouble
to Tis and the various husbandmen in the busiest season ( f
work, to the injury of the general public. We tried to
settle their differences, and reconcile them with each other.
For that purpose we called together the Great Churcli
Council (^Grooie Kerlceraad), in which the Eev. Leonard ns
Terwold presided. Moreover, three other ministers wcie
called in, who were on board two ships in the bay ; but all
in vain, for both being stubborn, neither would give way
to the other, as j^ou will see from the annexures.
"We would very much have liked to see that the
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 5o
French minister did not so much interfere with private
affairs and those of the public in general, and that he
had not troubled his congregation by making them give
declarations, or called them together at one time for one,
at another for another reason, as you will see from the
annexed copy of the memorial signed by the French
congregation and delivered by him to the Governor and
Council."
It is therefore evident that Simon van der Stel could
not consider the request of the deputation for church
officers to be selected exclusively from the refugees, in the
light of an ordinary one, and merely made to secure f(jr
themselves a few unim})ortant additional conveniences ;
although the right of complying with it did not rest with
the Commander and Council here, but exclusively with
the Board of Seventeen, which when applied to readily
granted it. lie connected it with their desire to be
located together ; and from that, rightly or wrongly, he
concluded that they were taking the first steps to give
effect to what some of them had tuld him, on theii' tirst
landing.*
Until the peace of Eyswyk had been concluded in 1697,
he would therefore have spent a most anxious time, fear-
ing that each moment a hostile fleet from France might
ari'ive, and that he would not only be obliged to meet an
enemy from the sea, perhaps vastly supericn- in number to
the garrison at his dis})()sal, but likewise fruitlessly hxik
to the Huguenot settlers ibr assistance, even if they refu-ed
to render any to the enem3^
No ship arrived from Holland which did not bring dis-
quieting information regarding heavy French armaments
being in preparation at lirest and elsewhere for the inva-
* At the present day it is difficult to understand the close connec-
tion between Church and State at the time of which I am writing. A
desire expressed to secede from tlie Established Church was ciiuivideiit
to a wisli to form a conventicle, a form of congreLration;disni heartily
abhorred by all Calvinists, and esi)ccialiy referred to and condemned in
the Communion Service as a sin whicii unfitted a member for partaking
of the Visible Emblems of lledemittinn at tiie T;ible of the Lurd.
54 BamUes through the Archives of
sion of India, crip]>liiip; the Dntcli and En<:;liHh trade and
influence there, and if possildc expelling ))oth (Jumpanies
from the Eastern seas ; and what was even worse, if pos-
sihle, always under the command of Admiral dn Quesne.
Therefore, although the directors had distinctly refused
permission to the Huguenots to be located together as
above mentioned, the Governor deemed it best to grant
their request as far as he conveniently could, remove them
as far as possible from the Cape, give them fruitful j)lots
of ground near each other along the banks of the I3erg
Kiver, and so extend them in an unbroken line from
the French Hoek {Coin Fram;ais) to the AVagon-makers'
\ alley {Val du Charron).*
But even supposing that his anger was unreasonable,
and there was no political object intended by the memo-
rial, it is not according to fact, as lately stated,t that
when the deputation called upon him, on the 28th of
November, 1689, "it was left in an outer room, and by
and by a message teas sent, reminding them of their oath of
allegiance which they had taken, ordering them to return
to their homes, and informing them that they must be
satisfied to remain as they were, a branch congregation of
the church of Stellenbosch."
These words plainly imply that the deputation icere not
even permitted to enter the Council Chamber and prefer their
request, but had been ignominiously dismissed ; a want of
courtesy foreign to the nature of a man whose affability
* Wlien he wrote his despatch of 26th of Slay, 1GS8. they lia.l
already been sttth d on their lauds; and to avoid the iiiistukc which
had been made in the estabhshmeiit of Stellenbosch, Tigerberg, and
other places, where tiie settlers had been loc;ited at a distance fruin
one another, they liad been ordered to build near each other and in a
line, that they might, in cases of emergency, be able to assist each
other the more easily. Another rea.son for maidng tlicin settle in that
manner was, that the Commander intended to connect the new
Colony along the Berg Kiver by a line of communication and a series
of homesteads through tlie Groenekloof— now the Malmesbury district
— with Saldanha Bay.
About the same time (see the same despatch) he was fortunate
enough to discover the fine harbour to which he gave his own name,
Simon's Bay.
t Chronicles of Cape Commanders.
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 55
and gentlemanly instincts — to say nothing of the respect
with which men of his convictions and character regarded
a minister, and would regard Pierre fSimond — would
simply render it impossible for him to act in that manner.
By referring to the minutes, however, we find that it was
decided " that in order to check the impei tinences of the
French, and prevent all plots in good time, to hring before
their eyes their errors with a considerate rej)rimaud, aiid
earnestly to advise them to do their duty. Lpon that thci/
were called in, when the Eev. P. Simond spoke in the name
of all, and requested a separate ChuTch Council elected
only from the refugees. Upon that His Eeverence was
requested to I'cad the oath taken b}* all the freemen at
the Cape, and they were dismissed (^(jedimiitecrd) with the
earnest warning to conduct themselves strictly in accord-
ance with the contents of that oath, and in future not to
trouble the Commander and Council with such impertinent
requests, but to remain satisfied with the Church Council
at Stellenbosch."
It was not so much the deputation, however, which the
Commander desired to censure. Knowing the inconvenient
habit of the Eev. Pierre Siuiond to interfere in everything,
whether secular or spiritual, it stands to reason that it
was the Council's object 1o remind the minister especiall}',
in coxirteous but unmistakable teiins, of his own duty to
remain faithful to the oath which he had taken, and not
exceed the bounds of his own particular province, or
tempt others to do so.*
* It nuist al.so bo borne in mind that at tliat time the Hugueiiot.s
of the SttUciibosch uml Drakentitein districts were Iiardlj' ?^uflicicnt
in nunsbtr to form one small congregutiun. Tlit y numbered al>out
150 altogether when (he Council wrote their despatch of the 12th of
June, Ki'JO; whilst tlie whole Eurojican popidatinn of tiie Colony, not
including the sirvants of the Company, consi.-ted of oidy 71)1 men.
women, and cliildren, an enormous porti<in of whom, at the Cape
especially, belonged to the Lutheran and llonian Catholic Churehis.
as may be gathered not only fiom Valentvn and Perc Tachard, but
also from tiie Archives themselves, especially from the I.e Bnucij
episode, which will bo mentioned furthrr on. A year later the Diitfh
portion of the congregntion of 8telleid)oscli and Drakcnsteiu nnni-
bercd above 200 families, a much larger number than that of the
Cape.
56 Ramhies through the Archives of
The petitioners coiiLl liardly have heen mindful of the
results of the Edict of Pofsdam, published by the Great
Elector of Brandenburg in reply to the Edict of the
Kecall, and dated on the 29th of October, 1685: for
although the fugitives who took advantage of it by
thousands were allowed to appoint their own magis-
trates, and the authorities were bound in all lawsuits
between French and Germans to add to the ordinary
courts of justice a certain additional number of persons
selected for the purpose by the fugitives themselves, thus
creating a peculiar form of judicial administration in
Prussia, which lasted as late as the year 1812; and
although each settlement received a church and minister
supported by the State, the Elector had likewise provided
a High Consistory, equivalent to a Committee of Council,
to control their spiiitual affairs. Hence Charles Ancillon,*
himself a fugitive, apologising for this rigid supervision,
says in his Ilistory of the Establishment of the Fugitives
in Brandenburg (1690), "That a despotism was required
for those who received support from the State ; that they
did not know the ways of the country, and therefore
were obliged a avoir une grande sotimissirm, et a se laisser
conduire" adding, rather hyperbolical ly, " that it was
impossible to alloAV them une vie cydopique."
In the Netherlands the fugitives certainly had every
conceivable privilege ; they enjoyed all the rights of
burghers, without bearing any of the burdens of the
State, and only in 1715, after they had risen to prosperity
and aftluence, did the States deem it necessary to naturalise
them all completely, and make them bear their share of
the weight of the commonwealth. And yet, even in
that country, there was an under-current of unfriendly
feeling against them, which must in many cases have
caused them great annoyance and pain. Nor was it less
felt in England, where evidently without the personal
influence of the King (William III.) they would not have
enjoyed so many advantages. Already in the time of
Charles II. men had looked askance at them, and suspected
their true character: and although after AVilliam had
* li. A. Poule, The Iluijucnots of the Vixpersion.
the Colonij of the Cape of Good Hope. 57
ascended tlie throne, the report of the Parliamentary
Committee of Inquiry into their affairs was highly favour-
able, and they had proved their fidelity to the Government
by submitting that their youngest and strongest had
lately been formed into three regiments, ready to die for
the Protestant religion and the liljerties of England, — that
20,000 more were peacefully exercising their trades in
divers parts of the kingdom ; and although there were
about 2000 more, old, infants, sick and im})Otent, unable
to provide for themselves, — also divines, ])hysicians,
merchants, gentlemen and common people, many of them
heretofore rich and flourishing in their own country, but
now reduced to the utmost misery, and exposed to starva-
tion unless assisted by Parliament ; and although £17,200
were voted as an annual grant in consequence, it is a
remarkable fact that not only was every attempt made
to naturalise them unsuccessful until 1709 — a statute
actually repealed within three years — but everywhere in
England they were dis(j^ualified from holding land.*
It is therefore evident that the fugitives hero were,
generally speaking, in no worse condition than their
brethren in Europe ; for as their homesteads prove it at
the ji resent day, those who settled down and diligently
pursued their calling soon carved their wa}' to comfort
and to affluence.
* See R. A. Poole.
58 Bambles through the Archives of
CHAI'TER VII.
Some, however, unfortunately preferred a "wandering and
unsettled life, and, to the regret of the Governor and
Council, carried on the strictly-forhidden cattle-trade
with the natiA'cs, and accordingly had come into the un-
lawful possession of even more cattle than the Comj)any
owned. For instance, in January 1G96, the Hottentot
Captain Doreas, alias Claas, informed the Council that tlie
French or Waldensians had bartered nine oxen from the
natives beyond the mountains, and that the animals were
among his troop. The matter was at once investigated ;
and to reward him for his information, Claas was pre-
sented with the nine oxen, a bag of meal, some rice,
arrack, and tobacco.
But in order clearly to understand the reason of the
summary proceeding of the Governor in this matter, it
will be necessary to know the following facts.
Already in 1695 the directors had considered it advis-
able to retire from all fiirmiiig pursuits at the Cape and
leave the whole exclusively in the hands of the burghers,
who were supposed by these means to be able to support
themselves more conveniently. But the elder Van der
Stel had found, that in order to be able to sell cattle to
the Compan}", the freemen were — as the Company had
always been doing — obliged to barter from the natives,
but that this course had been verj" injurious to the latter,
who had often suffered the greatest injustice at the hands
of the barterers. Tie had therefore deemed it advisable
to forltid free traffic with the Hottentots, and to attach
heavy penalties to the infringement of the placcaat.
And in order to sliow that he believed that he had
forcible reasons for his aj^parently severe measures, the
weight of which the directors would readily acknowledge,
we have merely to refer to the minutes of the Council of
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 59
the 2nd of February, 1696, in which he draws attention
to the fact that various lawless persons and others con-
demned to death — all whose names he mentions — ^and
likewise the murderers of Corporal Jacob Cloeten, who
had been so cruelly massacred, were still at large, not-
withstanding the best eifurts made for their capture ;
that they were roaming about in tlie interior, or hiding
in the mountains, and, notwithstanding their wicked
conduct, were protected and screened by certain evil-
disposed settlers who provided them with arms, ammuni-
tion, and tobacco in spite of the placcaat, so that they had
even the hardihood to visit the Hottentots beyond the
mountains, and barter from them for mere trifles oxen
and sheep which on their return tliey again sold for little
or nothing to the freemen, who were ver}' careful not to
betray them ; that V^esides these there were many other
deserters, convicts, and fugitive slaves, armed and un-
armed — amongst them the soldier known as the Polish
Nobleman, or Baron, and a certain Jean du Seine from Ori-
sons, both notorious rascals ; that the peace and safety of the
settlement urgently recjuired that it should be delivered
from such miscreants, and that therefore the latter should
be declared outlaws — a proposal unanimously agreed to
by tlie Council — and that IMs.lOO should be paid to any
one bringing any of them alive to the Castle, and IMs.oO
for every one brought in dead ; that the public should
likewise be urged to do their best to capture tlie Polish
Nobleman, Jean du Seine, and the other deserters and
fugitive slaves, and even if necessary to shoot them in
the legs for that purpose, and that those harbouring or
assisting any of them after the publication of this notice
should be treated like those convicted of harbouring and
hiding murderers.
It would naturally bo the Commander's duty, as it is
that of every civilised administration in the world, U)
strain every nerve to capture dangerous criminals, and so
secure the safety of the community which he had been
called upon to rule ; but it is likely that he would not
have so persistently interfered with the decisions of the
directors regarding the free trade of the burghers with
60 Ramhhs through the Archives of
the Hottentots, after all his pressing remonstrances and
proofs adduced had been found to be of no avail, and
were only likely to cause hiui personal trouble without
benefiting the natives, if the fugitives referred to above,
and others who co-operated with them, and had so often
ill-treated the natives and robbed them of their cattle,
had not made use of an expedient which could not but
bring his name into disrepute among the natives, and
greatly prejudice him in the eyes of the directors, should
the rumour reach their ears, how^ever false it was and
woidd be found if iairly investigated. These illicit
cattle-traders professed to be servants of the Company,
sent out by the Governor himself. They therefore abused
the latter's name, and hence those who knew no better
would credit him with being the cause of the evil system
and its fatal results ; and though innocent, he would be
obliged to bear all the blame, and before being disgraced,
as in the case of his son, would find no opjiortunity,
except when too late, to disiirove the charges brought
against him. Some evil-disposed people at Stellenbosch,
and especially at Drakenstein, were in the habit of em-
ploying this subterfuge, greatly to his annoyance ; and
hence on the 9th of February, a week after he had with
the Council adopted measures for the capture of the
criminals at large, ho particularly referred to the illicit
traders, and desired that efl'ective steps might be taken
for their discovery and conviction. The matter having
been carefully considered, it was decided, in addition to
the ordinary reward of Eds. GO, to offer the informer one-
third of the number of the cattle bartered, should a con-
viction be secured, and to promise him that his name
would not be divulged.
This notice, however, did not produce the desired
result, for on the li'th of October, 1G97, another severe
placcait was promulgated which mentioned the utter dis-
regard of all former orders issued against the illicit cattle-
trade as shown by certain wasteful and selfish persons,
who did not hesitate either in person, or by means of
idlers, vagrants, and convicts, to conduct it with the
natives, and, in order to gain their object more easily, pro-
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Gl
fessed that they wore servants of the Company sent
expressly hv the Governor himself, or, when the Hotten-
tots showed any disinclination to barter, compelled them
to part with their cattle, by threatening, thumping, and
beating them. It further drew attention to the grave
results wh'ch could n(jt but follow such shameful conduct.
Not only AvoTild the Company be left without cattle, and
become tlie object of the natives' hatred and abhorrence,
but unexpectedly it might be forced into a war with the
blacks, and so placed in a position not at all creditable to
itself. Hence to prevent all these possible evils, the
punishments laid down in previous placcaten were re-
voked, and it was enacted that whoever should after the
publication of this new placcaat be convicted of the crime
of illicit cattle-barter, would, as an example and terror to
others, be made to stand publicly under the gallows with
the rope round his neck, and after that be severely
whipped, bi-anded, and banished from the country, all his
property being likewise confiscated : and should he ever
dare to return, he would make himself liable to a much
severer punishment. Moreover, every one without dis-
tinction wouhi be allowed to ca})ture, bind, and cf)nvey
to the Castle any such illicit traders, and the Landdrost
was crdered to muster the inhabitants of Stellenljosch
and Drakenstein regularly, write down the names of
the absent ones, and compel them to show where they
were when the last muster took place. And that the
Governor's meaning might be thoroughly understood, the
placcaat was ordered to be published in both the Dutch
and French languages.*
* Barter with tlie Hottentots wns prnliihited from the very earliest
jxriod : partly hc^anse it i^rcatly interfered with the Company's elibrts
to nhtain a sullieient nuiidjor of cattle fer slaughter and other purposes,
and partly hecaii.sc a great deal of niisfhief aTid ill-feelinf? was con-
tinually beinj^ cau>cil by the action of .s( llish individuals, wlio. caring
very little about oll'endinj; or injuring the natives, iniperidcd the
general safety by their heartless comluct. The object of tiie (iovern-
racnt was, therefore, to do nothing, or allow nothiuu' to 1x5 done, by
which the Hottentots nnght be otVeiided or injured. In that ligiit we
must read tiic placcaten which were issued from the Otii of April, lti,52,