until the very severe one of the 19th of October, IG'JT, to which the
Seventeen took exception.
For the convenience of the reader who may bo desirous of perusing
62 BamhJes throiujh the Archives of
On tlic 27tli of Juno, 1099, the directors expressed their
opinion as follows : —
" Eegarding the placcaat issued Ly yon on the 19th of
October, 1697, again ordering that no freeman shall be
allowed to buy or barter any cattle from the Hottentots,
and inflicting heavy penalties on all convicted of having
done so, we have again read our despatch of the 14th of
July, 1695, in which we mentioned that agriculture and
cattle-farming were still in the hands of the Company, and
expressed our opinion that neither was a fit piTrsiiit for it,
as it should have nothing to do with such things, which
ought to be left entirely in the hands of the freemen, who
will in that w-ay be able to support themselves more easily.
On the other hand, the cattle obtained from the Hottentots
are so poor and unserviceable that if supplied to the ships
they cause complaints . . . whilst those obtained from the
them, I give the dates, viz., Oth of April, 1G52 ; 5th of January, lGn4 ;
22nil of August, lGo4 ; 12th of October, 1G54 ; 18th of September, 1G50 ;
25th of Ajjril, 1657.
On the 2n(l of Jul}-, Ki57, the freemen were permitted bj^ Commis-
sioner Kyckloif van Gociis Senior to barter cattle from tlie natives, on
condition that tliey paid no more for it than the Company. All their
â– wares they were to buy from the Company, and all the cattle bartered
they were bound to sell to tiie same and no other, not even to the ships
without consent.
On tlio 2Gtli of September, 1657, the freemen were warned not to buy
anj- sickly, old, and useless cattle from the Saldauhars wiio were daily
expected.
On the 4th of May, 1658, a placcaat was issued by order of the Lords
Seventeen revoking the placcaat of Van Goens, strictly forbidiling
cattle-barter between the freemen and tlie natives, and the former were
ordered to return to the Comjiany within forty-eight hours the wares
whicli tlicy had obtained for that ]uir]iiise.
This placcaat wns renewed on tlu; i:>th of September, 1658; 24th of
October, 1058; 24th of November, IGGl ; 2Utli of June, 1GG7; 2l8t of
October, 1G67; and 8th of April, 1G80.
It is, therefore, evident that by prohibiting free barter, Simon van
der Stil merely adhered to an old and often-renewed placcaat emanat-
ing from the directors themselves, and that he did so, for rea.sons which
to him seemed valid, in the interest of the natives and the public
peace.
tJie Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 63
freemen or colonists are in better condition, and if found
not to be so, can be refused. We therefore did not expect
that, contrary to our intentions, you would issue such a
rigorous placcaat and attach such hea\'y penalties to its
infringement, and accordingly wish it to be cancelled^
leaving the freemen or colonists the liberty of buying or
bartering cattle from the Hottentots, or of having them
bought or bartered for themselves, so that, having taken
good care of and fattened them, they may contract to
supply the ships and their crews. You shall therefore
draw up instructions for mutual guidance that on the
one hand the arrangement may not become too costly for
the Company, and, on the other, the freemen may find a
living by supplying good meat. Moreover, the servants
of the Company who have seats in the Political Council
and at the Board of Justice shall be excluded and not
allowed to supj)ly.
" But as one of your reasons for issuing the placcaat
was that the freemen personally, or by means of others,
often extort the cattle from the Hottentots by beating and
thumping them, and causing them much annoyance, it is
our order that you shall provide against this evil by means
of a rigorous placcaat, and punish offenders according to
their deserts.
" As regards the Company's cattle, already consisting of
a large number, you shall continue to supply the ships
with them until no more are left, and the Company has rid
itself of all. After that you are to get rid of all the
servants and slaves who have been employed in the care
of the stock, and the lands used as pastures being then no
longer required, shall be given to others, and either let or
sold for the benefit of the Company. . , ."
64 Rambles through the Archives of
From the aljove it is evident that the directors had come
to the conclusion that it would he a far more satisfactory
arrangement to got rid of its farming encumbrances and
ol)tain the quantity of meat annually required from one
or more contractors, and that a rigorous placcaat against
those who were in the hahit of oLtaining cattle from the
Hottentots by improper means would be quite sufBcient
to meet the case. Nor did they show the slightest inclina-
tion to modify their view when a few years later Willem
van der Stel pointed out to them the dimensions which
that criminal system had assumed, and how deejily a large
portion of the colonists were implicated. It was only in
1723, when the Kev. Petrus van Aken and the Consistory*
of Lrakenstein charged Jacobus van der Heiden with the
offence of annually sending out men deliberately to rob
the Hottentots of their cattle — the same Van der Heiden
who with Adam Tas professed in their Contradeductie to
represent the aggrieved public, and who, according to
Landdrost Starrenburg, should have been sent Siway as the
most mischievous of the party — that the}'' were constrained
to acknowledge that the course adopted by both father
and son to suppress the evil did not result from selfish
motives on their part, but was based on evidence that
admitted no longer of any doubt.
When, however, the Commissioner Wouter Yalckenier
arrived here as Commander of the return fleet, after the
retirement of Simon van der Stel, and not long after the
despatch of the Seventeen, already quoted, and ordered
the cancellation of the placcaat of the 19th of October, 1G97,
the Council u.nder his presidency drew up another, dated
the 28th of February, 1700, revoking that of 1697, and
warning all without exception that whoever was found
abusing the privileges of free barter, or obtaining cattle
from the Hottentots ])y threats, cruel treatment, or other
unfair means, would, if convicted, suffer the severest form
of capital punishment. Of course, Willem van der Stel
was obliged to sulimit to the ruling of a Commissioner who
was merely carrying out the positive instructions of the
Seventeen, and whose authority he did not dare to thwart
under any circumstances. The only course left open to
the Colomj of the Cape of Good Rope. 65
him was the one pursued by his father, viz. once more to
the best of his ability to point out to the masters the ruin
which would inevitably result to the natives, should free
barter be permitted. But we shall have to say a great
deal afterwards about him in connection with this subject.
From what has been adduced the reader will be aide to
conclude whether or not Simon van der Stel's persistent
endeavours to make cattle-barter with the natives a penal
offence, and to confine it to expeditions sent out l)y the
Company and commanded by experienced and trustworthy
officers, well known to and liked by the natives, emanated
from purely selfish motives ; or whether, if Willem van
der Stel had at all been worldly wise, and merely befjre
everything else studied his own interests ; or if he had nut
been a conscientious administrator, he would have thought
it worth his while — even after such abundant and conclu-
sive evidence regarding the cruelties perpetrated on the
natives by some so-called cattle-traders had been placed
in his possession, and after all the vain efforts made by his
father — tu suspend the publication of Valckenier's placcaat,
until ho had again laid the whole case before the directors,
whom he considered to have come to a decision on insuffi-
cient or incorrect information l^efore them.
However, we have adduced enough to show why Simon
van der Stel considered himself justified in confiscating
the cattle-running among the herds of Doreas.
00 Bninlles tJwouf/h the Arcliives of
CHAPTER VIII.
It is one of the misfortunes of life which cannot be avoided,
that however perfect a community may be in a religions,
moral, and industrious sense, there will always be found
in it a few black sheep, to its own great regret and the
inconvenience of its rulers. It is generally supposed that
all the Huguenots were persons of irreproachable character,
and that without exception all were deeply religious,
hard-working, and without any spot or blemish. But as
the Archives leave a different impression on the reader, I
am bound to take notice of it.
On the memorable day on which Commander Van der Stel
lost his temper (28th November, 1689), he communicated
to the meeting " the anxious thoughts and difficulties
which some ' would-be ' French fugitives had caused him :
for pretending that to avoid the religious perseciition of
their King they had fled from France to other countries,
especially to Holland ; and in order to lead a lazy and
indolent life, under the cloak of being zealous members
and supporters of the Protestant faith, obtained a passage
to the Cape in some of the Company's ships, nominally to
become agriculturists ; but (without casting the least
reflection on the good) they had taken no trouble to find
a living or attend to farming, and so did not fulfil the
expectation which the Companj' cherished regarding them,
&c." It was therefore natural that, as no careful selection
of sititable persons had always been made in Europe, the
Council begged the Seventeen in their despatch of the
24th of June, 1691, that, "although both the Cape and
]\Iauritius were much in want of agriculturists, not tfj
send any people of the wrong stamp, who would be en-
tirely out of their element liere, and thoroughly un-
acquainted with and unfit for the hard life which was the
farmer's portion." They wished that no " French cadets
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 67
or persons of quality might be sent, but industrious and
well-behaved farmers and tradesmen, among whom tiae
Dutch and Germans seemed to surpass all others here. "
Moved by the same reasons, no doubt the Commander
wrote in his instructions that " it would be beneficial if old
servants of the Company, having means of their own and
being men of good repute, were tempted by advantageous
conditions to settle here as agriculturists, for in that
manner nut only the respectable element among the
burghers would be strengthened, but the < 'olony relieved
from a class who had obtained their freedom under the
pretext of being desirous of applying themselves to agri-
culture, but who had hitherto only wandered from one
farmer to another and vagabondised without a home, the
willing tools of the evil-disposed (by whom they are em-
ployed in the forbidden cattle-trade with the natives),
frustrators of every good intention of the Company, inter-
ferers with its prerogatives, and its systematic rubbers."
Not very long after his son deemed it his duty to draw
attention to the old and infirm fugitives sent out to the Cape,
and to point out that as the object of the Company was to
strengthen the agricultural element as much as possible,
no good object could possibly be ^erved by introducing
people here who were too aged to work any longer, and
that it would be far better to send out some Zealand
farmers who knew their business and could work a farm
satisfactorily.
But, as 1 have said before, the Commander knew how to
appreciate a good and industrious man, although he might
not exactly alwaj^s admire his temper. For although he
was often astonished at the mercurial dispusition of some
of the exiles, which made him write about them (m the
24th of June, 1G91, as follows: "We find that their
crotchety (icispelturige) nature still adheres to them, and
that they resemble the children of Israel, who, fed by
God's hand in the wilderness, still longed for the onion *
* The expression should naturally be the flesh-pots of Egypt
(Tk^^n ~l''p), Exodus xvi. 3 ; and were it not an anaciirouisia, we might
suppose that when tlie Commander was writing, there might at tiie
moment have been running through his head the couplet said to have
F 2
68 Bumbles through the Arcliives of
pots of Egypt " — there is more of sorrow and sympathy
in the seBtence than harshness or indifl'erence.
He certainly disapproved of the unseemly wrangles
between the L'ev. P. Simond and Jacques de Savoye ; but
he iully appreciated the good qualities of the latter, some
information regarding whom and the church to which he
originally belonged I give in the following chapter.
beeu quoted by Louis XT., in a conversation with the roue' Richelieu,
Field Marshal, Governor of Guyenne, and great grandnephew of the
Cardinal : —
" Mutton with onion sauce, and, Lord, with musk perfume.
For your supper I propose :
When Eiclielieu the gay appeareth in a room,
Defend then well your heart and well protect your nose.''
BCNGENER, The Priest and the Huguenot.
I
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. (j9
CHAPTER IX.
Among the refugees despatched by the Zealand Chamber in
the Oosterland (see Despatch from Middelburg, dated 8th of
Jan'iary, 1688 j, were Jacques do Savoye of Ath,* his wife
Maria Magdalena le Clercq of Tournuy, aud his muther-
in-law Antoinette Carnoy.
But a few weeks before the Rotterdam Chamber, one of
whi )se members was Mr. A. Paets,t chief promoter of the
Ecole lllustre or Athenajum at Rottei'dam, established
purposely to find chairs for Jacques Basnage and Pierre
Bayle, had written to the Council as follows : —
" By this opportunity there will proceed to the Cape tu
settle there as a Colonist one Jacques Savoye and his wife.
He has been ' under the cross ' (onder 't Jcruys geweest synde),\
and for many years an eminent merchant at Ghent, in
Flanders ; where ho has been persecuted by the Jesuits
to such an extent, and where even his life was being
threatened, that in order to escape from their snares, and
peacefully end his days beyond their reach, he has resolved
to cross the ocean as a Colonist, and to take with him
various Flemish farmers uf the Reformed religion, wlio have
* Called Aeih by the Netheilnmlera and Ath by tlie Fremli. A strong
little town in the nortiiern portion of the province of H.iiimiilt, not far
from the bounilaries of Flandirs nt tlie Dendi-r or Dcnre, nearly
midway Ixtwccu iSfrcjm and Omhitiunle. It wua laixen in 1G90. with
JIous and other cities, by tlie Dnke of Lnxornbourg.
t His signature is among tiie Aroliives. !?eo ( .;/. letter recc-iveil fruin
Rottordi.ni. Utli of Dei-embtr, 17U3, in vol. 170l", p. G'J.
X It was customary at tlie time to nicution tiie congregations snfft r-
ing ptrsecutinn as roiiffretjittiims hmriutj, or under, thf crui<», (g'-iiuijuien
amhr het cruijn). The French expression was /cs Eiih'»t'$ (hi (le»i rt, a
name <lerived from the wild an<l siditary places in tlic Soutli nf Fiiwxce
where the Huguenots secretly met for worsliip.
70 Baitihles tlirowjU tht Arcluvts of
also snifered persecution, and for the same reason as that of
buvoye leave their Fathfrlaud. And because wo know
Savoye as wo have described him, we most willingly re-
commend him to your notice, and request you to lend him
a helping hand, iind consider him in the light in which we
have introduced him. hoping that for the furtherance of
the intentions of the Loids Seventeen he will be an able
and desirable instrument."
It is to be regretted that hitherto I have been unable fo
lay my hands on the papers referring to the disputes
between him and the R<-v. P. Simond, but among the
despatches of the year 1G02 I find three certificates re-
garding his perscm and conduct, which evidently were
given to (left-ud himself from charges brought against him
l)v the minister. All are in the P'rench language, but
accomi)anied by a Dutch translation. The first is from
the Rev. Fianq-ois Simon, minister of the IIol}' Gospel and
preacher of the Reformed (Jongregation under the cross
in Flanders, and is dated the 13th of March, 1G92. He
testifies —
" That he had oftpn been, by order of the States-General,
during the last twenty-five or thirty years in Flanders,
and especially in Ghent, to preach the Gospel. That he
had often met Savoye there, and had an intimate inter-
course with him ; that ho had often communed with him
on the m\>terics of the Chi-istian religion ; that Savoye
did not only appear well taught in the hidden things of
BJilvation, but also able to defend their truths against the
errors of the Roman Church. That this had often hap-
pened. That accordingly he had drawn u})on himself the
hatred and vengeance of the adversaries of our faith, who,
considering him a person capable of extending the King-
dom of Christ and destroying that of Sa'an with all the
puwer at his command, had employed every artifice to
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 71
destroy hira if possible. That they had brought many
lawsuits against hira, and attempted to have him murdered
that he might be prevented from further exposing the
E'»man idolatrj'^. That in order to secure his own safety
he had been obliged to leave Ghent about five years ago,
and proceed to the Northern Netherlands. That some
timg later ho had proceeded to the Cape, where he Ktill
was. That all the time in which deponent had known
him at Ghent he had always considered him to be an
honest man, and only heard him fiivourably mentioned, so
that deponent was convinced of the respect in which
every one held him, the good reputation which his con-
duct had secured, and the approbation of those with whom
he had associated. That many pious and honest people
whom deponent knew had described him as one whose
life and halnts in relation to civil affairs were irreproach-
able ; that he was even loved by the mf)derate Catholics,
who were not led away by passion but were reasonable.
That as a merchant he had always passed as an honest
man. That what deponent m<istly Chteemed in him above
all, was not only his great knowledge of the mysteries c)f
the kingdom of heaven, but especially his great godlin< ss,
piety, and zeal for the glory of his Kedeemer ; in one
word, all the virtues found in a true Christian. That he
had always received (le])onent in his own house without
fearing, as others did, and often lent it to him in a pleasant
way for preaching the Gospel, showing that he feared
God more than man. That his life seemed a worthj-
example of purity and holiness as uuich as it could bo in
the place in which he was, where idolatry- reigned supreme.
That deponent had, therefore, always admitted him lo
the pious exercises which he had regularly attended, and
also to the Holy Communiun. That deponent commended
72 Ramlles through the Archives of
him and his family to the grace of God, and prayed that
He might continue to pour over him abundantly His most
precitms and costly blessings from the heavens above and
from the earth buucath, and that deponent acknowledged
him to be a true incuiber of the Holy Body of Christ, con-
sisting of those who had made profession of the true
religion."
The above was attested by the Notary Public at Rotter-
dam, J. van Lodenstein, in i)resence of the witnesses Isaac
Poortugaelsz and Philippe Pousee.
The next was made by the merchant Martin de la Court
(^f Ghent, who stated on the 7th of March, 1G92, that
" Savoye, in consequence of the persecutions of the Jesuits,
had left Ghent, when Andre du Punt, his son-in-law,
became bankrupt there, and tliat he was not aware that
he had taken anything away with him except what his
friends had given him when he started for the Cape." —
(Signed on the 7th of March, 1G92, in the presence of the
same Notary and witnesses.)
The last is one signed by Christiaan Crayenest and .lac.
des Obry within Ghent, on the 1st of March, 1692, and is
as follows : —
" That they knew Savoye very well and found him very
zealous for the Reformed religion, and that his zeal went
so far that it brought on him the hatred of the Roman
priesthood, who, by means of manifjld lawsuits, did
everything to ruin liim. That through his zeal he had
l)een in danger of losing his life by the hands of mur-
derers. That he had accordingly been obliged to take
refuge in Holland, and that deponents had found no
other doctrine in him than what agreed with the true
religion, and that his manners had been irreproachable."
(Also signed in presence of the same Notary.)
I have already said that these certificates were evidently
given to defend Savoye from charges brought against him
the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 73
by Simond. If not, why should they be given at all, for
they are not ordinary letters of introduction to strangers,
but rather evidence of a judicial nature to clear the
character of a man grossly aspersed ? Should this view l)e
correct, it would follow that Savoj'o had been charged with
usurping certain functions which only pertained to the
minister; whilst the fact was, according to the deponents,
that he had at Ghent been a staunch propagator and
defender of the Keformed religion, an able apologist of
the same and at all times ready to prove the truth of
what he believed, as a lay-preacher doing his best to
inculcate his views among people who had hitherto kept
aloof from the Reformation, in a country and town almost
entirely Catholic ; and finally that the representatives of
the dominant Church had looked upon him with no favour
and done him much mischief, and that merely to secure
his own safety he had been obliged to leave Ghent.
He had further been charged witli dishonesty, but the
Rev. r. Simon declared that ho had ahvaj's been lumest,
always favourably spoken of, always respected by all who
knew him, and that his life and habits in secular matters
had been irreproachable. That as a merchant he hatl
always been considered honest, but that his great strength
lay in his powerfully religious life, and his voluntary
labours as a missionary in favour of Protestantism.
The last charge seems to have been that he had left
Ghent under a cloud, and carried away more with him
than he had a right to ; but the merchant, Martin de la
Court, declared that Savoye had only left Client in conse-
quence of the persecution of the Jesuits, ami that he was
not aware that he had taken anytliing awav with him
except what his friends gave him when he left fur the
Cape.
The whole is certainly very favourable evidence fn)m
the standpoint of the givers, but it nevertlieless leaves
the impression that there was more of the militant than
the meek and tolerant element in the ex-merchant of
Ghent, and that, without in the least detracting from his
virtues, a person with sucli decidedly pronounced prin-
ciples conscientiously held would hardly feel himself at
74 Ramhles tliroiujli the Archives of
homo in the compauy of those who dilfured even slightly
from him in theological opinion ; and not only look with
horror on the Church of Eome, but likewise on the
Lutherans, and even such sections of the Eefornied Church
as might at all be inclined to take a more moderate view
of the different doctrines considered by him characteristic
of the true religion and indispensable for salvation.
He had, however, powerful and w\arm friends in the
Rotterdam Chamber, which had forwarded the certiftcates
referred to in a despatch with the following remarks: —
" lOtli of June, 1G92.
" We enclose certain documents connected with Jacques
de Savoj'e, at present living at the Cape, and concerning
whom you have before this favourably testified. The
pajiers will show you what testimonies he has received in
his favour ; and as we consider him to be an honest man,
and are not persuaded of the contrary, it is not less praise-
tcorthy tlian fair that persons Wee liim should be supported in
their Just cause in a proper manner. This we recommend
you with all discretion to do."
About a year later the same Chamber again referred to
the documents above mentioned (14th of October, 1693),
and said : —
" You seem to have been satisfied as regards the con-
duct of Jacques de Savoye, judging from the contents of
the papers sent to us."
But evidently Van der Stel must have likewise referred
to the crotchety temper of the old Walloon, for the letter
continued : —
" It Avas not unpleasant news to us to receive good
testimony concerning him through you, but his nature