The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-01
HISTORIC OUTLINE.
The Beers Progress an
Interesting Study.
Early Settlers In Atrics-Ssrsecu
ton OF Home Government
The Great Trek

/ As everyone knows. IL was the PoT-
/ tuguese that discovered the Cape OF
permanent settlement there. although
| they often touched at IL on the voyage
to India. The early years OF the seven
teenth century brought the Dutch ira
ders into keen and deadly rivalry with
the Lusitanians for the commerce OF
the Eastern seas. and the Hollanders
were quick To see the value of the Cape
as an intermediate station where they
might take in water and provisions.
But it was not till 1852 that the Dutch
East India Company established Jan
Van Ribbeck with a small party OF col
onists there. II Is to- De observed that
| this party. although settled under
| Dutch authority. was by no means
composed of Dutchmen exclusively: as
a matter of fact IL was largely made
up of Germans. Flemings. Poles and
Portuguese. About 1856 this colony
was augmented by the arrival OF a
number of French refugees whom the
| Revocation OF the Edict OF Nantes in
| the previous year had driven from the
| country. The settlement soon became
a slave-holding community. the indigo
nous Hottentots being reduced to-
thraldom. while a number of Malays
and negroes were either bought or
stolen and imported. This Is CirCum-
stance OF some moment. inasmuCh as IL
will shortly appear IL had a good deal
to do with the Great Trek OF 1886
which led to- the establishment OF the
| 4
cumstance OF almost equal moment was
the establishment of n narrow and ty-
| rannical administration which pre-
scribed to- the farmers the nature of the
crops they were TO grow. demanded
from them large share OF their pro-
duce and harassed them with other
eXactions tending to discourage indus
try and enterprise. To this mainly
must be ascribed the origin of those
unsettled habits. that dislike to- order
ly government and that desire To es-
cape from its control. which character
ize a considerable part of the so-Called
Dutch Boer OF the present day-quali-
ties utterly ut variance with the char
acter of the Dutch in their native
country-which were strongly NANTES
ted at the Cape long before they came
under British rule and under those in
iiuences to- which some exclusively at
tribute the characterization of these
men" AS Mr.. Johnston says. tine at
tempts of the Beers To- escape from the
Dutch power, and so form an indepeud.
ent government beyond the borders oi
the colony. especially in the district
since called Graaf-RCInet. are striking.
~ similar to- their proceedings at u Ia
ter date under the British Govern.
ment." However. all things Consid
cred. the development OF II spirit al
INSTRUMENTATION in these men" Is
nothing to be wondered at: their praC,
teal grievances were infinitely greater
than those which drove the English
North American colonies To- Re volt
And a slave-holding community Is. q.
Il rule. not one to- reconcile itself over
readily to- anything that looks like aE
gression on the part OF its rulers. IL
1895 il seemed the colonists' oppoTtu
nifty had come, for Holland then lay
helplessly before the French Republic
7 However. when the Beers rose. tn,
Prince OF Orange found an ally IN tn,
British. who sent a fleet and took pos
session OF the country in his name. ~
it was plain that Holland alone woul,
not be able to hold II the colony Wa!
ruled by British Governors till 1902
when at the Peace of Amiens IL was re
stored to the Dutch. War soon brok
out again, however. and in 1906 tn
British again occupied the Cape. whiCl
was finally coded to- them by tn
Dutch in 1915. Five years later SOM
5000 British emigrants arrived at Al
goa Bay and laid the foundations q
Graham's Town. Port Elizabeth an,
other flourishing settlements. Then II
1884 the authorities MORALLY offende
the Beers by sweeping measure u
Ill. ss.4N
the Beers that a large number of then
, determined to put themselves beyon
the pale of the British Government
They sold their farms mostly at a grea
sacrifice. and crossed the Orange rive
into the territories inhabited chief
by tribes of the Kaffrv race. This Wa
the famous Great Trek OF 1886. i
;. their new country the Beers had to- q
a great deal OF hard fighting. In lS3
they were successful in driving the RET
lugee Zulu chief MoselekatZe beyond th
Limpopo. where his dusky HighneS
founded the Matabeie State. But q
the east side they had a far more foI
midable foe to deal with. In 1885 Dir
gaan and his Impis almost annihtlate
the right division ct the refr1Ctor
a emigrants in three great pitched ia
ties. But Andrew PIetorius OF GTaa
- Reinet came to the rescue in the ME
of time. and Dingaan met with his fir
check at the end of 1888. In 1870 Pr
torius administered a really Crushir
defeat to the dreaded Zulu, who w
soon after murdered. wheTeupun q
Beers made the friendly Panda chief
Natal. Dingaan's country. the Boo
themselves then setting in large nun
bers in the district. But in 1Si3 Nat
was annexed by the British. upC
which the Beers evacuated IL In ~
great divisions, the southern one So
l. Ting in what is now the Orange Riv
e, Free State and the northern one aga
n occupying the present Transvaal. II
lg Orange Free StateTs soon came in
a [ .nllisinr, ,,-f.h The rnnra,-n E--.nr.-.