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

been enforced under the Dutch Govern
ment. was annulled, and an enterprislng
Cape Town merchant, one ALEXANDER
TENANT, obtained permission to import
500 negroes from Mozambique. In 1926
the Dutch slaveownprs themselves pro-
posed that law should be made by which,
after a certain date, to be fixed by Govern
ment. all female slave children should re-
ceive their freedom. 1t was intended
that under the provisions OF this law,
when the children thus freed grew
up, and should in turn have children,
the latter should all be free, boys
rs well as girls even in those cases
where the father was u slave in accordance
with the old Dutch law then still in force.
As the British Government had, by that
time, stopped all further importation OF
slaves, the institution Of slavery, had the
proposal been accepted, would have grad
ually been extinguished without any direct
money loss being inflicted upon tho owners
The proposal was rejected
The slaves in the Cape Colony, as in all
other British colonies, were emancipated on
Dec. /, 1894. They had been valued by
government appraisers at over E3, 900, OOO
but one and quarter millions was allotted
in 1895 by way of compensation to South
African claimants This meant u cOniisca-
ton OF one and thrce-quartcr millions OF
pounds; but the statement does not exhibit
the full amount OF the owners loss. The
British Government decided that no
money should be forwarded to South
Africa, but that all claims should be
settled in London, and that the expenses
and government fees arising from the
method of settlement should be deducted
from the amounts To be paid. These
amounts, moreover, were to be handed over,
not in the coin OF the realm but in stock
and Bank OF England notes, which, not
being payable at tho Cape, had to be dis
posed of at considerable discount The
outcome Of these provisions was that very
few Afrikanders succeeded in getting a
quarter OF the value of their slaves.
TT would be difficult" says THEAL,
"to picture too dGrkly the misery
caused by this contlscation OF two
millions worth OF the properly OF n
small and not overHourishing community.
Aged men and women, who had not before
known want, went down penniess to the
grave, and in hundreds of the best house
holds of the country the pinch of poverty
was felt. Emancipation in itself was surely
a righteous act, hut a vast amount OF dis
trcss might have been averted by effacting
it in the manner that the coonists pro-
posed"
1t may be said, you have shown that tho
Dutch inhabitants OF the Cape Colony were
exasperated at the results OF the Emancipa-
ton Act. Why, then, may not these feelings
have figured largely among the motives
prompting the Great Trek ?" Let us see to
what extent 1t figured. THEAL and VOIGT,
the principal authorities on the subject,
have shown, from the official data, that
more than tlve-sixths of all the slaves in
South Africa lived in the western districts
OF the colony, less than onc-sixth belong
ing to the eastern frontier districts. II it
be true, then. that the emancipation OF the
slaves was one OF the chief grievances which
the emigrant farmers had against the Brit
ish Government, and that this measure was
one Of the principal causes of the Great
, Trek and OF the ultimate establishment
OF the Boer republics north Of the Orange
River, we should, naturally, expect to find
that the largest number of the emigrants
came from those western districts of the
| Colony which were the chief sufferers by
the Emancipation Act. The contrary was
| the case. The vnc-growing and corn-grow-
| ing districts Of the Cape and Stelenbosch Gn-
| Guiding Paarl and Malmesburyl had owned
| some 10000 out OF the $4,000 slaves,
! yet their inhabitants took no part what
ever in the northward emigration move
ment. From the other western districts,
WnraaStnr n nd w on d Ia
where there had been over 10, 900 slaves,
| only some 200 OF the inhabitants left for
the North between the years 1913 and $40,
| the period during which the emigration
| from the Colony lasted. That testiIics that
Of the total of 10000 Trekkers or emil
! grants, who crossed the Orange River dur
! ing those years less than two per cent.
came from al the western districts put to-
gether.
In other words, the colonists OF the West,
who suffered heavily by the Emancipation
Act, took no part. or next to none. in the
emigration. The eastern frontier coonists
We're, practically, the only people concerned
in it, and they had lost next To nothing by
the Emancipation Act, for the simple reason
that they had owned very few slaves. They
|
their kinsmcn of the western districts, but
cattle graZers and sheep farmers. Their
herdsmen and wagon drivers We're free Hot.
tentots and Kaf1irs. Even the very small
number OF slaves, less than one-sixth Of the
total number in the Colony which had
belonged to the eastern districts, and had
been emancipated with the others, did
not represent property OF the country resi-
dents who took part in the emigration
movement but had been owned by the ur-
ban inhabitants Of these districts, the resi-
dents in towns and villages. Only very
small number, ifany, of the slaves poss sset
in the eastern districts could have lie.
longed to the farmers who left the Colony
for the North. In their ordinary avoca
tions, they required no slaves, and had
never employed any. With regard to the
combined parties of the Trichards and Var
Rensburg, numbering in all one hundred
souls, which made the first Trek in 1898
If iS known that thaV did not tnka onI