The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-09-23 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

(From the Times.)
It is a remarkable fact, connected with the disaSters re-
cently. encountered by the British troops in South Africa,
that the late ministry were distinctly forewarned by Sir B.
D'Urban, then Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, of the
consequences that would follow the orders given for the
change of boundary. This fully appears from the official
despatches of the ex-governor, published among the papers
relating to the Caffre war, laid before Parliament in 1837.
But the whole question is so little understood by the British
public that it may be useful previously to give some account
of the events which have led to the expatriation of the Boers,
and converted them from peaceful subjects and colonists into
, the bitter enemies of the English. These they have them-
selves set forth in a manifesto issued so far back as the 21st
of February last, and addressed to Sir George Napier, the
present Governor of the Cape of Good Hope.
Their dissatisfaction arose in the first instance, from
the losses to which they were subjected from the eman-
cipation of their slaves. They have complained also of
the absence of laws for their protection, from the evils
of uncontrolled vagrancy, and from the depredations of
the swarm of vagabonds with which the colony is infested,
but, above all, of the insecure state of the eastern frontier,
and the inadequate protection afforded them by the
English Government against the Caffres, by whose
incursion their best farms had been laid waste and
hundreds of them reduced to .ruin. In their manifesto
they declare that the Government first gave them the
right of property in slaves, and afterwards deprived them of
it, promising them full compensation, but putting them off
with only one-third of the value to which they were entitled.
They charge the government with employing them without
remuneration in the defence of the frontier against the depre-
dations of the Caffres, and then denying them all compensa-
tion, on the ground that the boers, by their own encroach-
ments, had justly brought upon themselves the wrath of the
aborigines. The cause of all the evils, including that of in-
sufficient protection, they allege to be the absence of a repre-
sentative gevernment, which ought in justice to have been
accorded them. -Under all their sufferings, they say that they
have behaved most peacefully, that they have not taken up
arms, like the inhabitants of the Canadas, and that, having
sold off their farms at low prices, and even notified to the
government that they were going to leave its jurisdiction,
they were allowed to depart. After their departure they de-
clared their independence, made war and pesce on their own
account with the natives, negotiated for tracts of land and
took possession of them, and all this time the colonial go-
vernment neither notified to them that they could not re-
lease themselves from their obligation as subjects, nor afford
them any assistance when in danger from the native tribes.
The latter, on the contrary, were most befriended by the go-
vernment, as the export ofammunition which were requisite to
the defence of the Boers was prohibited. For these reasons
they declare that they cannot look upon themselves as rebels
against their lawful Government, and express a strong doubt
whether they would have been interfered with had they gone
into the heart of Africa. With respect to their designs upon
the Caffres, which were made the cause of military occupa-
tion by the Government forces, they state that their reasons
for removing them are founded on true philanthropy, since
ho,tility and bloodshed would be the inevitable consequence
if they allowed the Zoolahs and other nations to leave their
old residences, and take up their abode among them in large
numbers. Having become strong, they think the first act of
the natives would be to exterminate them, to keep possession
of their cattle. Hence their measures have been to ward off
such dangers in time. As to the government taking posses-
sion of the territory acquired, they declare that such territory
would then immediately become valueless to them, as they
would be in the same state of insecurity as before. They
say there is every reason to believe that the government only
sympathizes with the uncivilized native, and that they (the
Boers) might be butchered in their sleep, while the philan-
thropists of the day would invent accusations against the
Boers to excuse the aggressions of the natives.
The grievances of the farmers are thus pretty fully set
forth, and the communication of Sir Benjamin D'Urban to
the then Secretary of State shows that they were known to
the government. He predicted an extensive abandonment of
Albany and Somerset, on the ground that the farmers had
considered themselves left without protection for several
years previous to the Caffre war in 1834, and that
they were much excited by the emancipation Act, but
still he said they remained in the hope of some remedy
of their grievances, and the war had the temporary
effect of allaying their discontent. The proclamation
annexing the country between the Keiskamma and the
Kye, had removed all thoughts of emigration for the time,
and they waited in hopes of receiving additional compensa-
tion. But no sooner was it asserted that the change of
boundary would not be confirmed by the government, than
the disposition to emigrate revived ; and ;t was from observ-
ing the disposition that Sir Benjamin predicted that when
they had once ascertained that the new province was to be
renounced, they would again prepare to go away, and no
legal power would restrain them against their will.
These predictions have been accurately fulfilled, and the
troubles that have resulted are now at their height. When
such warnings had been given, and such results to have
taken place, it is no wonder that the colonists accuse the
Government of mismanagement to the most culpable degree.
Of course, by these remarks it is not intended to take the
part of the emigrants, whose justification for throwing off
their allegiance from the Government is still far from a com-
plete one.