The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-22

! Tho British Government on the other hand
not only reintroduccd the detested official inter
diets against FREQ trade, but Itself inauguratod
| q now system OF spoliation. Not only were the
| farmers and frontersmen taxed for the benefit
| Of the London and Capo Town oficeseekers, but
they had TO pay large sums In quit rents for their
| holdings OF land while, under the Dutch Govern
! mont tho East India Company as we'll tho
Batavihn Republic, had been practically exempt
| from imposta
| II.
Tho exodus OF the white inhabitants Of the
eastern frontier districts Of Capo Colony TO the
high inland plains lying beyond the Orange
| River began In 1898. In the two following years,
the movement was interrupted, first by repeated
Kaflr raids into tho colony, and then by the sixth
| Kafir War In 1885, when the contents OF the
famous Gleneig despatch, in which the Cape
Colonists were accused by tho Secretary OF the
Colonies OF systematic injustice toward the Kaf1rs
and the disastrous terms of the peace made by the
! Capo Government with the kaiirs had become
| known the Great Treck was resumed. and con-
| tnued much larger scale.
| What were the causes which led TO this extern
sivo emigration, to this departure Of thousands Of
men, women and children from home and country,
| in order to encounter all the unknown dangers
/ Of the desolato and mysterious wilderness of the
! north? The abolition OF slavery by the British
Government has been put forward by British
| writer's the chief OF these causes The author
Of the book before examines this assert ion, and
demonstrates that there is scarcely any basis of
historical truth fort OF the total number of SO 900
slaves liberated in the Cape Colony, about 80, 240.
representing a money value Of over S12, 800, 900,
| had been owned in the western agricultural
districts OF The Cape, Stellenbosch Worcester
George and Swelendam Only about 200, in
number equal in money value 10 less than So, 800
900 had belonged to the district Of Beaufort and to
the eastern frontier districts Of GraaG Teinet,
Somerset. Albany and Uitenhage. Practically.
| therefore, more than fve-sxths Of all the slaves
| Of South Africa lived in the western districts OF
the colony, and less than sixth in the eastern
frontier districts. II il were true, then, that the
| emancipation OF the slaves was OF the chief
| grievances which the emgrant farmers had
| against the British Government and that this
measure was one Of the chief causes Of the Great
Treck, and Of the establishment Of the republics
north Of the Orange River, we should naturallyex-
! pect TO find that the largest number Of the emil
grants came from those western districts of the
colony which the chief sufferers by the Eman-
cpation act. Was this SOP On the contrary,
although the wine and corn growing
| Including Paarl and Malnesbury had
owned 2o16O out of the Sc, 900
slaves. yet their inhabitants took. practically.
no part whatever In the northward emigration
movement Even from the other western districts
Of Worcester. George and Sellendam, where there
had been over 10, 600 slaves, only some 200 of the
inhabitants left for the north between the years
1888 and 1910, the period during which the emil
| grafton from the colony lasted. OF the total Of
| 10000 treckcrs emigrants who crossed the
| Orange River during those years. less than two
fra, tAo, I,ol.
tricts put together. From the eastern frontier
districts Of Graaf Renet, Albany, Somerset and
| Uitenhage, and from tho district Of Beaufort
over $500 out of the total 10, 900 left the colony
| during the Same period.
| In other words. the colonists Of the west who
suffered heavily by tho Emancipation act took
no part, or next to none in the exodus. The move
ment originated in the east The eastern from
tier coonists were practically the only people CON
cerned in it, and they had lost next to nothing
through the Emancipation act for the simple rea
son that they owned very few slaves. They were
not agricultursts and planters like their kinsmen
! the wine farmers and corn growers Of the Western
districts. They were all cattle grazers and sheep
| farmers. Their herdsmen and wagon drivers
their farmhands and servants were free Hottentots
! and kaflrs Even tho very small number of
slaves less than 5000, which had belonged to
the eastern districts and which were cmancipated
with the others, did not represent property OF the
| country residents who took part in the cmigra-
| ton movement but had been owned by other
inhabitants Of the districts. namely the residents
| in towns and villages Only a very minute IL
lumber, II any at all, OF these slaves could have
been owned by the farmers who left the colony
for the North. In their ordinary avocations they
| required slaves, and had never employed
| them.
! DR. Voigt submits that the impartial historian
must look for other causes than the emancipat ton
Of the slaves to explain the origin OF the present
Boer republics in South Africa. The chief of
| these causes not far 10 seek. In the eastern
frontier districts where the emigration movement
originated, repeated Kafir wars had brought
| ruin TO the inhabitants. The British Government
had been unable to afford adequate protection
1t had even aggravated the suferngs of the colon
lists by repeating the vagrant laws which its own
officers and administrators had pronounced nee
essary. Its military commanders were inexpe-
| renced or incapable It's native policy was then
| what II has been ever since and still is one OF
see-saw TO suit the exigences Of party government
and 70 forward the ambitious schemes of successive
| Colonial Secretaries, who attempted then as they
are still attempting, to rule South Africa from
Downing street The want Of continuity and
consistency in the native policy meant a certainty
Of more wars with tho Kafirs Incompetent
ter upon some Of tho forces In the field. Then the
burghers would be called out and compelled TO
, leave their usual occupations and serve without
remuneration commando. as It was called
Lastly. the British Administration in order to
please tho vacillating Colonial Secretaries, would
agree to so-called terms of peace which would
| bring war at future date.
| This at all events, was the conviction
which experience had planted In the eastern from
tiersman. Why should he remain in q colony
where all his nation subjects instead OF cit-
zens, whore his language had been suppressed
in the law court and in the public service, and
| where his peope had no representation in the
| Government AS a hunter and pioneer he lad
explored the northern regions beyond tho Orange
River and cast Of the Drakensberg Range Why
should he not settle there and found country
and government OF his own? The spirit OF ma
tionality and independence strong in him;
and his passionate love for the soil Of Africa it's
boundless plains. its flattopped mountains and