The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1839-10-12
MISCELL A N E O U S i.
From the London Monthly Review.
The POetical Works OfThOmas PrIhsie'
WITH SKETCH OF HIS LIFE.
London Moxon. 1887.
(Conclnded)

" III lllS SldlC VI ulldllS; IL may w No''NN''N
that the whites cast an anxious eye sometimes ia
beyond the ideal boundary At the Cape, tw
dispossessed tribes of northeastern Catlres van
quished in their own savage wars appeared 70
a moment within thirty or forty miles of the Eng
lish frontier but turning away, established them
selves Oh the solitary banks of the Umtata River
two hundred and fifty miles distant, where they
built their huts and located their families 10 lhiS
secluded spot, surrounded by deserts, they the
wandering Caffres, who had probably never seen
European face-were followed by BRITISH TROOPS
and eutirpoted-buchered in cold blood, without
resistance. il is said, and to the number OF twenty
thousand souls But this, the reader will say, Is
a story Of the olden time; of that iron age in
which ignorance and barbarlty prevailed to such
an extent that scarcely even chronicle was pro-
duced to record the acted horrors of the period.
He is mistaken. The white infant who was born
on that day, has scarcely yet learned to read his
Bible and say his prayers at his mothers knee be-
fore going to bed. The massacre took place in
the year of our Lord Jesus Christ one thousand
eight hundred and twenty-eght."
1t was Mr.. Pringe, perhaps, beyond every
other person, who brought to light these horrors
and it was to him in great degree that they
were ordered by legislative enactmcnts and govern
ment interference to be mitigated and avoided in
future But to the narrative. At the time
when our emigrants landed at the Cape, Lord
Charles Somerset was Governor, man whose
conduct as such has been loudly and frequently
condemned and whom Mr. Richie incIineS not
to spare 1t happened, however, that when the
emigrants arrived, this functonary had already
sailed for England. Pringe had recommendations
to him, obtained chiefly through the influence Of
Sir Walter Scott but being marked private they
could not be opened by the Secretary,
The little party, after having remained a few
days at Cape Town, sailed for AIgoa Bay, where
the settlers were to disembark TO proceed to the
interior This second landing took place IN the
month of June. The route of the emigrants was
long and exceedingly novel to such adventures
Their vehicles were seven Dutch African wagons,
furnished by government order, and IN general
driven by their owners with a llotentot boy run
ming before, to conduct the leaders Of the team Of
ten or twelve oxen. For eight days they contin-
ued to wander through the desert, guarded by
large fires at night against wild beasts, whose
cries they heard in the distance. After spending
two agreeable days at military post on the Great
Fish River they resumed their journey through
"howling Wilderness" haunted by banditti as
well as wild beasts Their rout lay through the
valley of the River Of Balloons; and in the upper
part of this valley they to find their location,
consisting Of lands forfeited by certain Dutch Doors
who had risen in instruction against the English
Government OF the latter portion OF their pro-
gress, Prngle writes thus
" 1t were tedious to relate the difficulties, perils
and adventures which we encountered in our toll
some march of five days up this African glen
to tell of our pioneering abors with the Ratchet.
the pickaxe, the crow-bar and the sedgc-hammer
and the Iashing of the poor oxen, to force them
on sometimes twenty or thirty in one team
through such a track as no English reader can
form any adequate conception of. In the upper
part of the valley, we were occupied two ealfc
days in thus hewing our way through rugged
defe, now called Eidcn cIeugh, scarcely three
miles in extent At length, 'afer extraordinary en-
ertions and hair-breadth esc0pes-the breaking
down of two wagons and the partial damage o.
ohers-we got through the last port Of the glen
and found ourselves on the summit Of an elevated
ridge commanding view of the extremity o.
the valley. And now mynheer,' said the Dutch
African feld-cornet who commanded our escort
there lies your coHntry.'"
This secluded and distant spot received the name
of Gen-Lynden, which is now its official desig-
nation, the paternity of which title will be east
" traced Here the Scottish settlers commenced
he usual operations for such adventures III such
A situation-poof PringIe being physician, sur
geon, religious instructor aud officiating minister
Is well as civil and-mitary, chief He soon be-
zane sufficiently, acquainted with Dutch to rem
Ter himself useful to his DutchAfrican neighbors
-neighbors of thirty or forty miles-and the
which he also obtained in the Ian
yuage spoken by the Hottentots, enabled him to
become familiar with many things concerning
hem, and to interest himself successfully in their
,ehalf But we must refer our readers to the
Narrative" which he himself published, fora full
account of his residence in Africa, and to the Me-
nor before US the former of which works have
pened the eyes of Engishmen to the enormities
which have been practiced by the colonial govern
nent and the latter not less strikngIy showing
low poor Pringle engaged in the service of HUI
nanity. d
On the return of Lord Charles Somerset to tn r
olony, towards the close of 1921, Pringle obtain q
ID the librarianshp Of the Government Library Il
1t Cape Town. He seems also to have conen.- n
plated certain literary undertakings, which might d
erve the interest of civilization, humanity, and $
ntelligence and the expected arrival of COM e
mission of inquiry which was to take cognizance of
he moral and educational condition ofthe colony, ii
$ well as of its political and judicial features, 0
ould not fail to arouse his hopes and his benevo- "a
ent purposes. Butthe publications which he orig y