The Eastern Province Herald is a newspaper, founded in 1845 and based in Port Elizabeth , South Africa .
117-550: John Paterson was born in March 1822 in Aberdeen, Scotland, the son of a vintner/farmer/stone-mason, John Paterson Snr. and his wife Barbara. When John was six years old his father died as a result of an accident in a stone quarry. After John Snr's death, Barbara undertook to educate the boy but in 1832 she was persuaded to send him to Aberdeen Grammar School which he attended until 1836. While there he studied mathematics under Dr James Gordon of
234-573: A basis for the evolution of Afrikaner identity and consciousness. In the twentieth century, Afrikaner nationalism took the form of political parties and closed societies, such as the Broederbond . In 1914, the National Party was founded to promote Afrikaner interests. It gained power by winning South Africa's 1948 general elections . The party was noted for implementing a harsh policy of racial segregation ( apartheid ) and declaring South Africa
351-664: A census of his non-indigenous subjects. White vrijburgers - now outnumbered by slaves brought from West Africa , Mozambique , Madagascar and the Dutch East Indies - only totaled about 6,000. Following the defeat and collapse of the Dutch Republic during Joseph Souham 's Flanders Campaign , William V, Prince of Orange , escaped to the United Kingdom and appealed to the British to occupy his colonial possessions until he
468-553: A class of former VOC employees, vrijlieden , also known as vrijburgers (free citizens, who stayed in Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts. The vrijburgers were to be of Dutch birth (although exceptions were made for some Germans), married, "of good character", and had to undertake to spend at least twenty years in Southern Africa. In March 1657, when the first vrijburgers started receiving their farms,
585-619: A comparatively short time, we shall have to deal with a great body of Natives whose education has enabled them to appreciate the value of the political status denied them, and has stimulated their determination to obtain it, and they will be embittered by the grievances, economic and administrative which are bound to accumulate when one section of the people is deprived of those voting rights which its fellow citizens enjoy. Is it seriously contemplated, may I ask, to repress these aspirations, to hold this aggrieved and angry multitude down by force? Because – let us make no mistake - it will come to that in
702-575: A debate would make him a poor leader. But his skills and reputation as a lawyer had meanwhile grown immensely. He took silk in 1898. As a brilliant lawyer of great integrity, who had won the support of both Afrikaner and English, he was the natural choice for appointment to the bench in the former Boer colonies after the War. He was duly appointed Chief Justice of the Transvaal Colony in 1902 by Lord Milner soon after it came under British control. Innes
819-620: A gateway of free access to Asia from Western Europe around the Cape of Good Hope . This access necessitated the founding and safeguarding of trade stations along the African and Asian coasts. The Portuguese landed in Mossel Bay in 1498, explored Table Bay two years later, and by 1510 had started raiding inland. Shortly afterwards, the Dutch Republic sent merchant vessels to India and, in 1602, founded
936-579: A group; neither is particularly objectionable, but "Afrikaner" has been considered a more appropriate term. By the late nineteenth century, the term was in common usage in both the Boer republics and the Cape Colony . At one time, burghers denoted Cape Dutch : those settlers who were influential in the administration, able to participate in urban affairs, and did so regularly. Boers often refer to settled ethnic European farmers or nomadic cattleherders. During
1053-480: A language primarily descended from Dutch , is the mother tongue of Afrikaners and most Cape Coloureds . According to the South African National Census of 2022 , 10.6% of South Africans claimed to speak Afrikaans as a first language at home, making it the third most widely spoken home language in the country. The arrival of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama at Calicut , India, in 1498 opened
1170-723: A liberal, during this time Innes proposed a motion to segregate the Cape's prisons. He stressed the "degradation" suffered by a European incarcerated with "the lowest scum of prisoners". As a result of his motion, a Commission of Inquiry was set up and recommended "firstly and most emphatically. . . that there should be a complete segregation of Europeans from Natives, both in gaols and convict stations". Innes served as Attorney-General in Cecil Rhodes 's government from 1890, but resigned three years later (supported by Merriman and Sauer) in protest. Rhodes's right-hand man James Sivewright had given
1287-457: A lifelong friend and admirer of, especially, Merriman and Schreiner. Innes was involved in virtually every significant act in Cape political life during his years as a parliamentarian, and his alliance with Merriman and Sauer was a formidable one. Yet he was not particularly well suited to politics; he was too scrupulous and too measured in his views. He turned down the leadership of the opposition, he said, because his tendency to see both sides of
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#17330862270381404-547: A lucrative government railway contract to his friend and business associate James Logan without going to tender (or notifying his Cabinet, who found out only when the press scandal broke). Innes refused to work with Sivewright, with the effect that Rhodes had to dissolve his government. In 1894, Rhodes adopted an increasingly caustic attitude to the Boer colonies, becoming, in Innes's words, "the high priest of opportunism"; he had "decided on
1521-525: A major destination for French Huguenot refugees fleeing persecution at home. In April 1688, the VOC agreed to sponsor the resettlement of over 100 Huguenots at the Cape. Smaller numbers of Huguenots gradually arrived over the next decade, and by 1702 the community numbered close to 200. Between 1689 and 1707 they were augmented by additional numbers of Dutch settlers sponsored by the VOC with grants of land and free passage to Africa. Additionally, there were calls from
1638-534: A more forceful policy, which led him to exchange the constitutionalism of the statesman for the lawlessness of the revolutionary". The nadir was Rhodes's involvement in the Jameson Raid , an event which, Innes said, "no one ... concerned for the true interests of South Africa can recall without regret". The Raid inflamed racial tension between the English and Afrikaners, and President Kruger 's suspicions, and thus led to
1755-489: A number of Boers took up arms against the British. British officials retaliated by hanging five Boers for insurrection. In 1828, the Cape governor declared that all native inhabitants but slaves were to have the rights of citizens, in respect of security and property ownership, on parity with whites. This had the effect of further alienating the Boers. Boer resentment of successive British administrators continued to grow throughout
1872-411: A population of 2,558,956 white Afrikaans speakers. The census noted that Afrikaners represented the eighth largest ethnic group in the country, or 6.3% of the total population. Even after the end of apartheid, the ethnic group only fell by 25,000 people. The South African National Census of 2001 was the second census conducted in post- apartheid South Africa. It was calculated on October 9 and reported
1989-607: A population of 2,576,184 white Afrikaans speakers. The census noted that Afrikaners represented the eighth largest ethnic group in the country, or 5.7% of the total population. Afrikaners make up approximately 58% of South Africa's white population, based on language used in the home. English speakers account for closer to 37%. As in Canada or the United States , most modern European immigrants elect to learn English and are likelier to identify with those descended from British colonials of
2106-462: A republic in 1961. Following decades of domestic unrest and international sanctions that resulted in bilateral and multi-party negotiations to end apartheid , South Africa held its first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994. As a result of this election the National Party was ousted from power, and was eventually dissolved in 2005. The term "Afrikaner"currently denotes
2223-556: A returning ship. During this period they established friendly relations with the locals, who sold them sheep, cattle, and vegetables. Both men presented a report advocating the Table valley as a fort and garden for the VOC fleets. We say, therefore, that the Honourable Company, by the formation of a fort or redoubt, and also of a garden of such size as may be practicable or necessary at the above-mentioned Cabo de Boa Esperanza , upon
2340-527: A seat in the Cape House of Assembly , partly thanks to support from the region's Xhosa voters, mobilised by his political ally, John Tengo Jabavu . Innes stood for election on an uncompromisingly liberal Native policy: "[T]he policy of repression has been tried, and it has failed. What the country requires is that the existing laws should be fairly and equitably administered, and that the Natives should cease to be
2457-448: A semi-nomadic lifestyle permanently and became known as trekboers . The Boers were deeply suspicious of the centralised government and increasing complexities of administration at the Cape; they constantly migrated further from the reaches of the colonial officialdom whenever it attempted to regulate their activities. By the mid-eighteenth century the Boers had penetrated almost a thousand kilometres into South Africa's interior beyond
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#17330862270382574-626: A senior-ranking Prussian military commander, and grandnephew of Generalfeldmarschall Helmuth Graf von Moltke , the famous Prussian military commander during the Franco-Prussian War ) and moved to Kreisau (then in German Silesia , now in Poland ). In Germany she active in the Christian Science movement. Innes frequently visited his daughter there, marvelling at the cold weather and
2691-454: A small inlet which he named Vleesch Bay ('Meat Bay'), after the cattle trade, and another Visch Bay ('Fish Bay') after the abundance of fish. Not long afterwards, Admiral Joris van Spilbergen reported catching penguins and sheep on Robben Island. In 1648, Dutch sailors Leendert Jansz and Nicholas Proot had been shipwrecked in Table Bay and marooned for five months until picked up by
2808-545: A small port colony (the future Durban) there but were unable to seize the whole area from the war-ready Zulus and only kept to the Port of Natal. The Boers found the land safe from the British and sent an unarmed Boer land treaty delegation under Piet Retief on February 6, 1838, to negotiate with the Zulu King. The negotiations went well, and a contract between Retief and Dingane was signed. However, Dingane's forces surprised and killed
2925-534: A suitable spot in Table Valley, stationing there according to your pleasure sixty to seventy as well soldiers as sailors, and a few persons acquainted with gardening and horticulture, could raise, as well for the ships and people bound to India as for those returning thence, many kinds of fruit, as will hereafter be more particularly demonstrated. Under recommendation from Jan van Riebeeck , the Heeren XVII authorised
3042-561: A survey to determine the best pastureland for the grazing of cattle. By 15 May, they had nearly completed construction on the Castle of Good Hope , which was to be an easily defensible victualing station serving Dutch ships plying the Indian Ocean . Dutch sailors appreciated the mild climate at the Cape, which allowed them to recuperate from their protracted periods of service in the tropical humidity of Southeast Asia. VOC fleets bearing cargo from
3159-638: A sword." Innes detested Rhodes, adamantly refused ever again to work for him, and deplored his co-opting and debasement of the Progressive Party. But he never became as estranged from the Progressives and pro- imperialists as many of his Cape liberal allies like W. P. Schreiner , Merriman , Sauer and James and Percy Molteno . Innes encouraged the Cape Colony to fund the British Royal Navy , and, unlike Merriman and Sauer, refused to support
3276-473: A young white man named Hendrik Biebouw retorted, " Ik wil niet loopen, ik ben een Afrikaander – al slaat de landdrost mij dood, of al zetten hij mij in de tronk, ik zal, nog wil niet zwijgen! " ("I will not leave, I am an African – even if the magistrate were to beat me to death or put me in jail, I shall not be, nor will I stay, silent!"). Biebouw was flogged for his insolence and later banished to Batavia (present-day Jakarta, Indonesia). The word Afrikaner
3393-553: Is thought to have first been used to classify Cape Coloureds , or other groups of mixed-race ancestry. Biebouw had numerous "half-caste" (mixed race) siblings and may have identified with Coloureds socially. The growing use of the term appeared to express the rise of a new identity for white South Africans, suggesting for the first time a group identification with the Cape Colony rather than with an ancestral homeland in Europe. Afrikaner culture and people are also commonly referred to as
3510-475: The burgher senate. The new judiciary then established circuit courts, which brought colonial authority directly to the frontier. These circuit courts were permitted to try colonists for allegations of abuse of slaves or indentured servants. Most of those tried for these offences were frontier Boers; the charges were usually brought by British missionaries and the courts themselves staffed by unsympathetic and liberal Cape Dutch. The Boers, who perceived most of
3627-568: The vrijburger population became known as the Cape Dutch and remained concentrated in the southwestern Cape and especially the areas closer to Cape Town. They were likelier to be urban dwellers, more educated, and typically maintained greater cultural ties to the Netherlands than the Boers. The Cape Dutch formed the backbone of the colony's market economy and included the small entrepreneurial class. These colonists had vested economic interests in
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3744-576: The veld and of holiday trips by ox-wagon to East London and to Lynedoch, the Pringle family farm near Bedford. When Innes left school he began working to support himself and his tertiary studies. He worked briefly in a bank and, later, the Native Affairs Department in Cape Town in the government of the Cape's first Prime Minister , John Molteno . Innes passed his BA examinations in 1874,
3861-642: The Batavian Republic of 1795–1806, burgher ('citizen') was popularised among Dutch communities both at home and abroad as a popular revolutionary form of address. In South Africa, it remained in use as late as the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. The first recorded instance of a colonist identifying as an Afrikaner occurred in March 1707, during a disturbance in Stellenbosch . When the magistrate , Johannes Starrenburg, ordered an unruly crowd to desist,
3978-646: The Drakensberg ." Innes did not stay long in Grahamstown: in the year after his birth, his father was made a magistrate in Riversdale . And his father's job caused the family to relocate three more times over the next few years: first to Uitenhage , then to Bedford , and from there to Somerset East . Innes consequently attended a variety of schools, all heavily influenced by his grandfather's Presbyterian and Dutch Reformed educational policies. Much of his schooling
4095-475: The Dutch East India Company ( Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie ; VOC). As the volume of traffic rounding the Cape increased, the VOC recognised its natural harbour as an ideal watering point for the long voyage around Africa to East Asia and established a victualling station there in 1652. VOC officials did not favour the permanent settlement of Europeans in their trading empire, although during
4212-639: The Jameson Raid , that South Africa's best hope was Union within the Empire . When Sprigg was re-elected as Prime Minister in June 1900, succeeding Schreiner, Innes was happy to accept appointment again as Attorney-General , the only non-Progressive in Sprigg's Cabinet . Innes was gravely concerned about British conduct during the War , and, in determined correspondence with Lord Milner , urged more conciliatory tactics and criticised
4329-472: The National Portrait Gallery, London [REDACTED] Afrikaner Afrikaners ( Afrikaans: [afriˈkɑːnərs] ) are a Southern African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in 1652 . Until 1994, they dominated South Africa 's politics as well as the country's commercial agricultural sector. Afrikaans ,
4446-512: The Orient anchored in the Cape for a month, usually from March or April, when they were resupplied with water and provisions prior to completing their return voyage to the Netherlands. In extent the new refreshment post was to be kept as confined as possible to reduce administrative expense. Residents would associate amiably with the natives for the sake of livestock trade, but otherwise keep to themselves and their task of becoming self-sufficient. As
4563-590: The Second Boer War . Rhodes's attitude after the Raid had not helped. He had gravely betrayed his allies in the Afrikaner Bond ; yet, far from showing remorse, he switched allegiances to their enemies, the Progressive Party , emerging more ambitious and jingoistic than ever before. Summing up Rhodes's legacy, Innes said he had "infected Cape public life with a harmful virus, and to South Africa he brought not peace but
4680-435: The 140 years of Dutch rule many VOC servants retired or were discharged and remained as private citizens. Furthermore, the exigencies of supplying local garrisons and passing fleets compelled the administration to confer free status on employees and oblige them to become independent farmers. Encouraged by the success of this experiment, the company extended free passage from 1685 to 1707 for Dutch families wishing to settle at
4797-466: The 1898 vote of no-confidence in Sir Gordon Sprigg 's government – partly because he had wanted the government's redistribution bill to pass, but also because he felt some loyalty to Sprigg and his supporters, with whom he retained a measure of influence. And Innes never became fully pro- Boer ; he was critical of President Kruger 's illiberal Uitlander policy and firmly believed, even after
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4914-549: The Afrikaans or Afrikaans people . VOC initially had no intention of establishing a permanent European settlement at the Cape of Good Hope ; until 1657, it devoted as little attention as possible to the development or administration of the Dutch Cape Colony . From the VOC's perspective, there was little financial incentive to regard the region as anything more than the site of a strategic manufacturing centre. Furthermore,
5031-603: The Afrikaner "parent stock", as no significant effort was made to secure more colonist families after the dawn of the 18th century, and a majority of Afrikaners are descended from progenitors who arrived prior to 1700 in general and the late 1600s in particular. Although some two-thirds of this figure were Dutch-speaking Hollanders, there were at least 150 Huguenots and a nearly equal number of Low German speakers. Also represented in smaller numbers were Swedes , Danes , and Belgians . In 1754, Cape Governor Ryk Tulbagh conducted
5148-603: The Afrikaner community along social and geographical lines, driving a wedge between the Voortrekkers and those who remained in the Cape Colony. Only about a fifth of the colony's Dutch-speaking white population at the time participated in the Great Trek. The Dutch Reformed Church , to which most of the Boers belonged, condemned the migration. Despite their hostility towards the British, there were also Boers who chose to remain in
5265-525: The Association failed in its mission. The government succeeded in stripping black South Africans of the vote, and adopted a policy of apartheid that led to violence, discrimination and repression worse, no doubt, than Innes had foreseen. In 1881 Innes married Jessie Dods Pringle , daughter of noted 1820 settler William Dods Pringle. They had known each other since childhood, when the Inneses had holidayed at
5382-538: The British annexed the Cape Colony, there were already large Dutch-speaking European settlements in the Cape Peninsula and beyond; by the time British rule became permanent in 1806, these had a population of over 26,000. There were, however, two distinct subgroups in the vrijburger population settled under the VOC. The first were itinerant farmers who began to progressively settle further and further inland, seeking better pastures for their livestock and freedom from
5499-514: The British occupation, and to such newer arrivals as are animated by the 'South African spirit'. I have neither Voortrekker nor Huguenot blood in my veins, and 'the South African spirit', as understood by those who extol it, implies a view on the native question which I cannot share. But I am proud to be a South African, and I claim to stand on the same national footing as if my forebears had landed with Van Riebeeck or followed Piet Retief over
5616-524: The Cape Colony to recruit teachers for the senior government schools planned by Sir George Napier and Sir John Herschel . The paper was founded by Scottish immigrant John Paterson (Cape politician - Jock Paterson) on May 7, 1845. In 1841 Paterson was contracted by the Cape Government to become a teacher at the free school in Port Elizabeth. His contract forbade him to hold two jobs so he registered
5733-510: The Cape after local officials noted that the cost of maintaining gardens to provision passing ships could be eliminated by outsourcing to a greater number of vrijburgers . Furthermore, the size of the Cape garrison could be reduced if there were many colonists capable of being called up for militia service as needed. Following the passage of the Edict of Fontainebleau , the Netherlands served as
5850-554: The Cape of Good Hope, at which point they encountered the Xhosa people , who were migrating southwards from the opposite direction. Competition between the two communities over resources on the frontier sparked the Xhosa Wars . Harsh Boer attitudes towards black Africans were permanently shaped by their contact with the Xhosa, which bred insecurity and fear on the frontier. The second subgroup of
5967-458: The Cape of Good Hope. They had to be married Dutch citizens who were regarded as being "of good character" by the VOC and committed to at least twenty years' residence in South Africa. Reflecting the multi-national nature of the workforce of the early modern trading companies, some foreigners, particularly Germans, were open to consideration as well. If their application for vrijburger status
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#17330862270386084-570: The Cape of their own accord. For its part, the distinct Cape Dutch community remained loyal to the British Crown and focused its efforts on building political organisations seeking representative government; its lobbying efforts were partly responsible for the establishment of the Cape Qualified Franchise in 1853. As important as the Trek was to the formation of Boer ethnic identity, so were
6201-460: The Cape peninsula and were not inclined to venture inland because of the great difficulties in maintaining contact with a viable market. This was in sharp contrast with the Boers on the frontier, who lived on the margins of the market economy. For this reason the Cape Dutch could not easily participate in migrations to escape the colonial system, and the Boer strategy of social and economic withdrawal
6318-414: The Cape was unpopular among VOC employees, who regarded it as a barren and insignificant outpost with little opportunity for advancement. A small number of longtime VOC employees who had been instrumental in the colony's founding and its first five years of existence, however, expressed interest in applying for grants of land with the objective of retiring at the Cape as farmers. In time, they came to form
6435-522: The Cape were overtaken by turmoil in the Netherlands, which was occupied by Napoleon during the Flanders Campaign . This opened the Cape to French naval fleets. To protect her own prosperous maritime shipping routes, Great Britain occupied the fledgling colony by force until 1803. From 1806 to 1814 the Cape was again governed as a British military dependency, whose sole importance to the Royal Navy
6552-471: The Cape. In 1688, it sponsored the settlement of 200 French Huguenot refugees forced into exile by the Edict of Fontainebleau . The terms under which the Huguenots agreed to immigrate were the same as those offered to other VOC subjects, including free passage and the requisite farm equipment on credit. Prior attempts at cultivating vineyards or exploiting olive groves for fruit had been unsuccessful, and it
6669-460: The Castle of Good Hope with new ones of stone. In 1672, there were 300 VOC officials, employees, soldiers and sailors at the Cape, compared to only about 64 vrijburgers , 39 of whom were married, with 65 children. By 1687, the number had increased to about 254 vrijburgers , of whom 77 were married, with 231 children. Simon van der Stel , who was appointed governor of the Cape in 1679, reversed
6786-409: The Dutch language. The use of other European languages was discouraged by a VOC edict declaring that Dutch should be the exclusive language of administrative record and education. In 1752, French astronomer Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille visited the Cape and observed that nearly all the third-generation descendants of the original Huguenot and German settlers spoke Dutch as a first language. Long before
6903-545: The Khoikhoi, who were known to the Dutch as Hottentots . There was also an unskilled labour shortage, which the VOC later resolved by bringing slaves from Angola, Madagascar, and the East Indies. In 1662, van Riebeeck was succeeded by Zacharias Wagenaer as governor of the Cape. Wagenaer was somewhat aloof towards the vrijburgers , whom he dismissed as "sodden, lazy, clumsy louts...since they do not pay proper attention to
7020-650: The Mathematical Public School of Aberdeen. In November 1836, he went to Marischal College, applied for a bursary and won one which saw him through the next four years of his University training. In his first year there he came third in Greek. The following year he studied Natural Philosophy, Higher Greek and Latin. During his third year he came second in Mathematics. On October 6, 1840, he was awarded his M.A. When Professor James Rose-Innes returned home to Aberdeen from
7137-572: The Pringle family farm, Lynedoch, which the pair chose as the site for their wedding. The marriage lasted until Innes's death sixty years later, and was unusually close. Pringle, a nurse by training, became very active in women's politics in both Pretoria and Cape Town; she was a member of the Women's Enfranchisement League and in 1914 was elected chair of the National Council for Women. The couple's only child, Dorothy (25 February 1884 - 11 June 1935), married Helmuth Graf ( Count ) von Moltke (nephew of Generaloberst Helmuth Graf von Moltke ,
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#17330862270387254-451: The Slachter's Nek Rebellion had demonstrated the futility of an armed uprising against the new order the British had entrenched at the Cape; one result was that the Boers who might have otherwise been inclined to take up arms began preparing for a mass emigration from the colony instead. Between 1834 and 1840 about 15 000 Afrikaners left the Cape Colony permanently. They called themselves 'emigrants' and their mass-trek an 'emigration', but in
7371-401: The VOC administration to sponsor the immigration of more German settlers to the Cape, as long as they were Protestant. VOC pamphlets began circulating in German cities exhorting the urban poor to seek their fortune in southern Africa. Despite the increasing diversity of the colonial population, there was a degree of cultural assimilation due to intermarriage, and the almost universal adoption of
7488-405: The VOC underwent a period of commercial decline beginning in the late eighteenth century which ultimately resulted in its bankruptcy. The company had suffered immense losses to its trade profits as a result of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War and was heavily in debt with European creditors. In 1794, the Dutch government intervened and assumed formal administration of the Cape Colony. However, events at
7605-424: The VOC's earlier policy of keeping the colony limited to the confines of the Cape peninsula itself and encouraged Dutch settlement further abroad, resulting in the founding of Stellenbosch . Van der Stel persuaded 30 vrijburgers to settle in Stellenbosch and a few years afterwards the town received its own municipal administration and school. The VOC was persuaded to seek more prospective European immigrants for
7722-401: The VOC's primary goal was merchant enterprise, particularly its shipping network traversing the Atlantic and Indian Oceans between the Netherlands and various ports in Asia, most of its territories consisted of coastal forts, factories, and isolated trading posts dependent entirely on indigenous host states. The exercise of Dutch sovereignty, as well the large scale settlement of Dutch colonists,
7839-505: The VOC's registration and identification system were denoted either as employees or vrijburgers . The legal classifications imposed upon every individual in the Company possessions determined their position in society and conferred restraints upon their actions. VOC ordinances made a clear distinction between the "bonded" period of service, and the period of "freedom" that began once an employment contract ended. In order to ensure former employees could be distinguished from workers still in
7956-419: The VOC's regulations. This community of settlers collectively identified themselves as Boers to describe their agricultural way of life. Their farms were enormous by European standards, as the land was free and relatively underpopulated; they merely had to register them with the VOC, a process that was little more than a formality and became more irrelevant the further the Boers moved inland. A few Boers adopted
8073-404: The [slaves] lent to them, or to their work in the fields, nor to their animals, for that reason seem wedded to the low level and cannot rid themselves of their debts". When Wagenaer arrived, he observed that many of the unmarried vrijburgers were beginning to cohabit with their slaves, with the result that 75% of children born to Cape slaves at the time had a Dutch father. Wagenaer's response
8190-457: The bench in 1927. His stated reasons were his fear that his faculties might be slowly declining – though some said he was retiring "at the height of his ability and influence" – and the need, for the sake of his wife's health, to relocate to the coast. But it was suspected he really wanted to give his great lifelong friend and colleague of seventeen years, Sir William Henry Solomon , the opportunity to be Chief Justice. After his retirement from
8307-435: The bench, Innes was free once again to express his political views, and especially his staunch Cape liberal commitments. In 1929, when Prime Minister J. B. M. Hertzog was intensifying plans to strip black Africans of their rights, Innes founded the Non-Racial Franchise Association to protect the beleaguered Cape Qualified Franchise and extend it to the rest of the country. At the Association's opening function he said: "In
8424-446: The charges levelled against them to be flimsy or exaggerated, often refused to answer their court summons. In 1815, a Cape police unit was dispatched to arrest a Boer for failure to appear in court on charges of cruelty towards indentured Khoisan servants; the colonist fired on the troopers when they entered his property and was killed. The controversy which surrounded the incident led to the abortive Slachter's Nek Rebellion , in which
8541-480: The colonial government. Around March 1657, Rijcklof van Goens , a senior VOC officer appointed as commissioner to the fledgling Dutch Cape Colony , ordered Jan van Riebeeck to help more employees succeed as vrijburgers so the company could save on their wages. Although an overwhelming majority of the vrijburgers were farmers, some also stated their intention to seek employment as farm managers, fishermen, wagon-makers, tailors, or hunters. A ship's carpenter
8658-404: The colonists. Furthermore, they insisted that the Cape Colony finance its own affairs by taxes levied on the white population, an unpopular measure which bred resentment. By 1812, new attorneys-general and judges had been imported from England and many of the preexisting VOC-era institutions abolished, namely the Dutch magistrate system and the only vestige of representative government at the Cape,
8775-505: The colony's population. The South African census of 1936 gave the following breakdown of language speakers of European origin. The South African census of 1960 was the final census undertaken in the Union of South Africa . The ethno-linguistic status of some 15,994,181 South African citizens was projected by various sources through sampling language, religion, and race. At least 1.6 million South Africans were white Afrikaans speakers, or 10% of
8892-565: The company's expatriate officialdom—did not find widespread expression until the late eighteenth century. It is to the ambitions of Prince Henry the Navigator that historians attribute the discovery of the Cape as a settling ground for Europeans. In 1424, Henry and Fernando de Castro besieged the Canary Islands , under the impression that they might be of use to further Portuguese expeditions around Africa's coast. Although this attempt
9009-492: The competing Port Elizabeth Mercury newspaper shortly after the split with Paterson. In the mid-1870s the Cape Colony underwent a massive economic and social growth, and the paper finally became a daily paper in 1878, as well as a full printing company. This South African newspaper-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . James Rose-Innes Sir James Rose Innes KCMG PC KC (8 January 1855 – 16 January 1942)
9126-446: The distinction between appeal and review , directors ' fiduciary duties , waiver , the grounds for judicial review , determining insolvency , the fair comment defence in defamation law, contractual interpretation , contractual terms contrary to public policy , accession of property, and the appealability of court orders . He is also known for his strong liberal convictions and progressivism. Innes retired from
9243-410: The end. This is not a mere denial of liberty; it is a case of taking away liberty which has been long enjoyed. That process, however disguised, is an act of spoliation dependent on force but force is not solvent of human problems. One would think that in South Africa there would be no need to press home that truth. And yet we are apt to forget, in dealing with this problem, that you cannot kill the soul of
9360-445: The establishment of a fort at the Cape, and this the more hurriedly to preempt any further imperial maneuvers by Britain, France or Portugal. Van Riebeeck, his family and seventy to eighty VOC personnel arrived there on 6 April 1652 after a journey of three and a half months. Their immediate task was the establishment of some gardens, "taking for this purpose all the best and richest ground"; following this they were instructed to conduct
9477-433: The farmers and the restrictions imposed upon them by British colonial authorities. Land prices had also increased considerably during the 1820s and 1830s, which meant that the younger generation could not afford their own pieces of land, a problem that would only grow. Another reason was concerns about labour loss and financial retribution with the passing of Ordinance 50 in 1828, which outlawed slavery. The Great Trek split
9594-438: The founder of Somerset East , who had landed at the Cape as a member of the British expeditionary force in 1795. Though always sanguine about maintaining imperial ties, Innes was proud of his deep roots at the Cape and considered himself as much a South African as its Dutch -speaking residents: "I should call myself an Afrikaner , were it not for the tendency to confine that term to those whose ancestors landed here before
9711-667: The friendly locals. Dorothy's son was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke , a prominent opponent of the Third Reich and leader of the Kreisau Circle . In 1945 he was convicted in Roland Freisler 's People's Court of hostility to Nazism . Innes had died in 1942 at the age of 87. He was therefore spared his grandson's execution. But he had never really recovered from the shock of Dorothy's own untimely death in 1935, which did much to hasten his own. Portraits of James Rose Innes at
9828-573: The late 1820s and early 1830s, especially with the official imposition of the English language. This replaced Dutch with English as the language used in the Cape's judicial system, putting the Boers at a disadvantage, as most spoke little or no English at all. Bridling at what they considered an unwarranted intrusion into their way of life, some in the Boer community began to consider selling their farms and venturing deep into South Africa's unmapped interior to preempt further disputes and live completely independent from British rule. From their perspective,
9945-475: The late 19th century this mass-movement became known as the Great Trek and the emigrants Voortrekkers . The Voortrekkers departed the colony in a series of parties, taking with them all their livestock and portable property, as well as slaves, and their dependents. They had the skills to maintain their own wagons and firearms, but remained dependent on equally mobile traders for vital commodities such as gunpowder and sugar. Nevertheless, one of their goals
10062-489: The members of the delegation; a large-scale massacre of the Boers followed: see Weenen massacre . Zulu izibutho ('regiments') attacked Boer encampments in the Drakensberg foothills at what was later called Blaauwkrans and Weenen , killing women and children along with men. (By contrast, in earlier conflicts the trekkers had experienced along the eastern Cape frontier, the Xhosa had refrained from harming women and children.) A commando of 470 men arrived to help
10179-565: The newspaper in the name of his business partner, John Ross Phillip, son of missionary John Philip . After an argument with his business partner regarding the printing of the newspaper, Paterson temporarily ceased publication of the Eastern Province Herald but after a few months, he resumed publication. In 1857 he sold the Eastern Province Herald to his friend Robert Godlonton , owner of the Grahamstown Journal . Philip opened
10296-481: The nineteenth century. Aside from coastal pockets in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal they remain heavily outnumbered by those of Afrikaans origin. The South African National Census of 2011 counted 2,710,461 white South Africans who speak Afrikaans as a first language, or approximately 5.23% of the total South African population. The census also showed an increase of 5.21% in Afrikaner population compared to
10413-574: The notion, especially following a skirmish with the Khoikhoi in 1497, when one of his admirals was wounded. After the British East India Company was founded in 1599, London merchants began to take advantage of the route to India by the Cape. James Lancaster , who had visited Robben Island some years earlier, anchored in Table Bay in 1601. By 1614, the British had planted a penal colony on
10530-402: The people; and that the spirit of man will not tamely submit to the loss of rights which materially and spiritually he values. ... South Africa stands at the parting of the ways. She may take the path of repression, easy at first with its downward grade, but it leads to the abyss – not in our time, but in the time of our descendants, whose interests it is our sacred duty to guard." Ultimately,
10647-515: The politically, culturally, and socially dominant and majority group among white South Africans , or the Afrikaans -speaking population of Dutch origin. Their original progenitors, especially in paternal lines, also included smaller numbers of Flemish , French Huguenot , German , Danish , Norwegian , Swiss , and Swedish immigrants. Historically, the terms " burgher " and " Boer " have both been used to describe white Afrikaans-speakers as
10764-494: The previous, 2001 census. The earliest Afrikaner communities in South Africa were formed at the Cape of Good Hope, mainly through the introduction of Dutch colonists, French Huguenot refugees, and erstwhile servants of the VOC. During the early colonial period, Afrikaners were generally known as "Christians", "colonists", "emigrants", or ingezeetenen ("inhabitants"). Their concept of being rooted in Africa—;as opposed to
10881-515: The running conflicts with various indigenous groups along the way. One conflict central to the construction of Boer identity occurred with the Zulu in the area of present-day KwaZulu-Natal . The Boers who entered Natal discovered that the land they wanted came under the authority of the Zulu King Dingane kaSenzangakhona , who ruled that part of what subsequently became KwaZulu-Natal. The British had
10998-512: The service of the company, it was decided to provide them a "letter of freedom", a licence known as a vrijbrief . European employees were repatriated to the Netherlands upon the termination of their contract, unless they successfully applied for a vrijbrief , in which they were charged a small fee and registered as a vrijburger in a VOC record known collectively as the vrijboeken ('free(dom) books'). Fairly strict conditions were levied on those who aspired to become vrijburgers at
11115-622: The settlers. On 16 December 1838, the Voortrekkers under the command of Andries Pretorius confronted about 10,000 Zulus at the prepared positions. The Boers had three injuries without any fatalities. Due to the blood of 3,000 slain Zulus that stained the Ncome River , the conflict afterwards became known as the Battle of Blood River . In present-day South Africa, 16 December remains a celebrated public holiday, initially called "Dingane's Day". After 1952,
11232-583: The site, and in 1621 two Englishmen claimed Table Bay on behalf of King James I , but this action was not ratified. They eventually settled on Saint Helena as an alternative port of refuge. Due to the value of the spice trade between Europe and their outposts in the East Indies , Dutch ships began to call sporadically at the Cape in search of provisions after 1598. In 1601, a Captain Paul van Corniden came ashore at St. Sebastion's Bay near Overberg . He discovered
11349-570: The subjects of rash experiments in the art of 'vigorous' government." Innes spent his early years in Parliament resisting the forced removals of Xhosas across the Kei River . Together with John X. Merriman and J. W. Sauer he formed part of a trio of powerful liberal MPs who were prominent actors for the rest of the Cape Parliament's history, usually in opposition. Though generally remembered as
11466-427: The timing of his tenures – immediately before and after union – he was able to lay the foundations of the South African common law . He has been praised for defending Roman-Dutch principles against the too-ready invocation of English precedents and ideas. His lucid expositions of legal concepts continue to be regularly cited, a century later, on topics as diverse and fundamental as: the significance of pleadings ,
11583-422: The total population. They also constituted 9.3% of the population in neighbouring South West Africa . According to the 1985 South African census, there were 2,581,080 white Afrikaans speakers then residing in the country, or about 9.4% of the total population. The South African National Census of 1996 was the first census conducted in post- apartheid South Africa. It was calculated on Census Day and reported
11700-512: The unnecessary imposition of martial law (writing to Milner: "I hate the thing. It is abhorrent to me."). But Innes always empathised with both sides, and forever regarded Milner – in the view of many, the period's jingoistic arch-villain – with respect and even admiration. Innes's movement away from the mainstream of Cape liberalism and into the Progressive government created some distance between him and his former allies. But he remained
11817-500: The white population of the Cape was only about 134. Although the soil and climate in Cape Town were suitable for farming, willing immigrants remained in short supply, including a number of orphans, refugees, and foreigners. From 1688 onward, the Cape attracted some French Huguenots , most of them refugees from the protracted conflict between Protestants and Catholics in France. South Africa's white population in 1691 has been described as
11934-487: The year after the University of the Cape of Good Hope was founded, and obtained his LLB in 1877. In 1878, Innes was admitted to the Cape bar and began legal practice. His practice and reputation grew steadily. He fondly recalled his time riding circuit , which allowed him to return by ox-wagon to the countryside of his childhood. In 1884, Innes stood for election for Victoria East, a frontier district around Alice . He won
12051-529: Was James Rose Innes, CMG , the Cape Colony 's Under-Secretary for Native Affairs, whose own father (also James Rose Innes) had emigrated to the Cape from Scotland in 1822 to establish a school in Uitenhage that eventually became Muir College , the oldest boys' school in South Africa, later becoming the Cape's first Superintendent-General of Education. His mother was Mary Anne Fleischer, sister-in-law to Gordon Sprigg and granddaughter to Robert Hart of Glen Avon,
12168-450: Was granted a tract of forest, from which he was permitted to sell timber, and one miller from Holland opened his own water-operated corn mill, the first of its kind in Southern Africa. The colony initially did not do well, and many of the discouraged vrijburgers returned to VOC service or sought passage back to the Netherlands to pursue other opportunities. Vegetable gardens were frequently destroyed by storms, and cattle lost in raids by
12285-452: Was hoped that Huguenot colonists accustomed to Mediterranean agriculture could succeed where the Dutch had failed. They were augmented by VOC soldiers returning from Asia, predominantly Germans channeled into Amsterdam by the company's extensive recruitment network and thence overseas. Despite their diverse nationalities, the colonists used a common language and adopted similar attitudes towards politics. The attributes they shared served as
12402-451: Was its strategic relation to Indian maritime traffic. The British formally assumed permanent administrative control around 1815, as a result of the Treaty of Paris . Relations between some of the colonists and the new British administration quickly soured. The British brought more liberal attitudes towards slavery and treatment of the indigenous peoples to the Cape, which were utterly alien to
12519-545: Was not viable for them. Their response to grievances with the Cape government was to demand political reform and greater representation, a practice that became commonplace under Dutch and subsequently British rule. In 1779, for example, hundreds of Cape burghers smuggled a petition to Amsterdam demanding an end to VOC corruption and contradictory laws. Unlike the Boers, the contact most Cape Dutch had with black Africans were predominantly peaceful, and their racial attitudes were more paternal than outright hostile. Meanwhile,
12636-634: Was received at Bedford under the Reverend Robert Templeton, who drew to his small village school a remarkable cohort: Innes's contemporaries included his lifelong friend and successor as Chief Justice , Sir William Henry Solomon ; his brother, Sir Richard ; J. W. Leonard , who likewise became Attorney-General ; W. P. Schreiner , the future Prime Minister ; and William Danckwerts , noted English lawyer and father of Lord Justice of Appeal Sir Harold . In Somerset East Innes attended Gill College . His fondest childhood memories were of his days on
12753-465: Was restored. Holland's administration was never effectively reestablished; upon a new outbreak of hostilities with France, expeditionary forces led by Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet , finally permanently imposed British rule when they defeated Cape governor Jan Willem Janssens in 1806. At the onset of Cape Town 's annexation to the British Empire , the original Afrikaners numbered 26,720 – or 36% of
12870-582: Was sad to leave politics, but never regretted his decision, and described his years on the Transvaal bench as the most rewarding of his professional life. After the Union of South Africa was created in 1910, Innes became a judge of the Appellate Division , and in 1914 was appointed Chief Justice of the Union. Innes's judgments have had a lasting and prodigious impact. Because of his intellectual brilliance and
12987-498: Was successful, the Company granted them plots of farmland of thirteen and a half morgen (equal to 2,000 to 10,100 square metres or 1 ⁄ 2 to 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 acres), which were tax exempt for twelve years. They were also loaned tools and seeds. The extent of their farming activities, however, remained heavily regulated: for example, the vrijburgers were ordered to focus on the cultivation of grain. Each year their harvest
13104-579: Was the Chief Justice of South Africa from 1914 to 1927 and, in the view of many, its greatest ever judge. Before becoming a judge he was a member of the Cape Parliament , the Cape Colony 's Attorney-General , and a prominent critic of Cecil John Rhodes . His grandson was Helmuth James Graf von Moltke , a prominent opponent of the Third Reich . Innes was born in Grahamstown in 1855. His father
13221-409: Was therefore extremely limited at these sites. During the VOC's history only two primary exceptions to the rule emerged: the Dutch East Indies and the Cape of Good Hope, through the formation of the vrijburgers . The VOC operated under a strict corporate hierarchy which allowed it to formally assign classifications to those whom it determined fell within its legal purview. Most Europeans within
13338-522: Was to be sold exclusively to the VOC at fixed prices. They were forbidden from growing tobacco, producing vegetables for any purpose other than personal consumption, or purchasing cattle from the native Khoikhoi at rates which differed from those set by the VOC. With time, these restrictions and other attempts by the VOC to control the settlers resulted in successive generations of vrijburgers and their descendants becoming increasingly localised in their loyalties and national identity, and hostile towards
13455-481: Was to sever their ties with the Cape's commercial network by gaining access to foreign traders and ports in east Africa, well beyond the British sphere of influence. The various motives for the Great Trek are laid out in the Voortrekker leader, Piet Retief's 1837 manifesto. On the one hand, there was an ongoing conflict between the Boers and the Xhosa inhabitants on the frontier, as well as growing resentment between
13572-515: Was to sponsor the immigration of Dutch women to the colony as potential wives for the settlers. Upon the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War , Wagenaer was perturbed by the British capture of New Amsterdam and attacks on other Dutch outposts in the Americas and on the west African coast. He increased the Cape garrison by about 300 troops and replaced the original earthen fortifications of
13689-531: Was unsuccessful, Portugal's continued interest in the continent made possible the later voyages of Bartholomew Dias in 1487 and Vasco da Gama ten years later. Dias made known to the world a "Cape of Storms", rechristened "Good Hope" by John II . As it was desirable to take formal possession of this territory, the Portuguese erected a stone cross in Algoa Bay . Gama and his successors, however, did not take kindly to
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