Part 14

On the 1st of July the principal English officers, twenty-one in number,--among them the Arctic navigator William Baffin,--met in council, and resolved to proclaim the sovereignty of King James I over the whole country. They placed on record their reasons for this decision, which were, that they were of opinion a few men only would be needed to keep possession of Table Valley, that a plantation would be of great service for the refreshment of the fleets, that the soil was fruitful and the climate pleasant, that the Hottentots would become willing subjects in time and they hoped would also become servants of God, that the whale fishery would be a source of profit, but, above all, that they regarded it as more fitting for the Dutch when ashore there to be subjects of the king of England than for Englishmen to be subject to them or anyone else. “Rule Britannia” was a very strong sentiment, evidently, with that party of adventurous seamen.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

On the 3rd of July a proclamation of sovereignty was read in presence of as many men of the six ships as could go ashore for the purpose of taking part in the ceremony. Skipper Jan Cornelis Kunst, of the _Schiedam_, and some of his officers were also present, and raised no objection. On the Lion’s rump, or King James’s mount as Fitzherbert and Shillinge named it, the flag of St. George was hoisted, and was saluted, the spot being afterwards marked by a mound of stones. A small flag was then given to the Hottentots to preserve and exhibit to visitors, which it was believed they would do most carefully.

After going through this ceremony with the object of frustrating the designs of the Dutch, the English officers buried a packet of despatches beside a stone slab in the valley, on which were engraved the letters V O C, they being in perfect ignorance of the fact that those symbols denoted prior possession taken for the Dutch East India Company. On the 25th of July the Surat fleet sailed, and on the next day Fitzherbert’s two ships followed, leaving at anchor in the bay only the English ship _Bear_, which had arrived on the 10th.

The proceeding of Fitzherbert and Shillinge, which was entirely unauthorised, was not confirmed by the directors of the East India Company or by the government of England, and nothing whatever came of it. At that time the ocean commerce of England was small, and as she had just entered upon the work of colonising North America, she was not prepared to attempt to form a settlement in South Africa also. Her king and the directors of her India Company had no higher ambition than to enter into a close alliance with the Dutch Company, and to secure by this means a stated proportion of the trade of the East. In the Netherlands also a large and influential party was in favour of either forming a federated company, or of a binding union of some kind, so as to put it out of the power of the Spaniards and Portuguese to harm them. From 1613 onward this matter was frequently discussed on both sides of the Channel, and delegates went backward and forward, but it was almost impossible to arrange terms.

[Sidenote: Proposed Alliance of English and Dutch.]

The Dutch had many fortresses which they had either built or taken from the Portuguese in Java and the Spice islands, and the English had none, so that the conditions of the two parties were unequal. In 1617, however, the king of France sent ships to the eastern seas, and in the following year the king of Denmark embarked in the same enterprise, when a possibility arose that one or other of them might unite with Holland or England. Accordingly each party was more willing than before to make concessions, and on the 2nd of June 1619 a treaty of close alliance was entered into at London between the two Companies, which was ratified by their respective governments.[38]

It provided that all past differences should be forgotten, and all persons, ships, and goods detained by either side be immediately released. That the servants of each Company should act in the most friendly manner towards those of the other, and give them assistance when needed. That commerce in all parts of India should be free to both. That joint efforts should be made to reduce the price of products in India to a fixed and reasonable rate, and that a selling price in Europe should be agreed upon from time to time, below which it should not be lawful for either party to dispose of them. That pepper should only be purchased in Java by a commission representing both parties, and be equally divided afterwards between the two Companies. That the Dutch Company should have two-thirds of the trade at the Moluccas, Banda, and Amboina, and the English one-third. That twenty ships of war from six to eight hundred tons burden, armed with thirty heavy cannon, and carrying one hundred and fifty men each, should be maintained in the eastern seas for the protection of commerce, half by each Company. And that a council of defence should be established, consisting of four of the principal officers on each side, to appoint stations for the ships and to engage and pay land forces.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

There were thirty-one articles in all, of which the above were the principal, the others referring to matters of less importance, but dealing with them in the same spirit. The treaty was intended to bring the two East India Companies into as close a union as that existing between the different provinces of the Netherlands republic.

The rivalry, however,--bordering closely on animosity--between the servants of the two companies in distant lands prevented any agreement of this nature made in Europe being carried out, and though in 1623 another treaty of alliance was entered into, in the following year it was dissolved. Thereafter the great success of the Dutch in the East placed them beyond the desire of partnership with competitors.

While these negotiations were in progress, a proposal was made from Holland that a refreshment station should be established in South Africa for the joint use of the fleets of the two nations, and the English directors received it favourably. They undertook to cause a search for a proper place to be made by the next ship sent to the Cape with relief for the returning fleet, and left the Dutch at liberty to make a similar search in any convenient way. Accordingly on the 30th of November 1619 the assembly of seventeen issued instructions to the commander of the fleet then about to sail to examine the coast carefully from Saldanha Bay to a hundred or a hundred and fifty nautical miles east of the Cape of Good Hope, in order that the best harbour for the purpose might be selected. This was done, and an opinion was pronounced in favour of Table Bay. In 1622 a portion of the coast was inspected for the same purpose by Captain Johnson, in the English ship _Rose_, but his opinion of Table Bay and the other places which he visited was such that he would not recommend any of them. The tenor of his report mattered little, however, for with the failure of the close alliance between the two companies, the design of establishing a refreshment station in South Africa was abandoned by both.

[Sidenote: Disasters in Table Valley.]

Perhaps the ill opinion of Table Bay formed by Captain Johnson may have arisen from an occurrence that took place on its shore during the previous voyage of the _Rose_. That ship arrived in the bay on the 28th of January 1620, and on the following day eight of her crew went ashore with a seine to catch fish near the mouth of Salt River. They never returned, but the bodies of four were afterwards found and buried, and it was believed that the Hottentots had either carried the other four away as prisoners or had murdered them and concealed their corpses.

This was not the only occurrence of the kind, for in March 1632 twenty-three men belonging to a Dutch ship that put into Table Bay lost their lives in conflict with the inhabitants. The cause of these quarrels is not known with certainty, but at the time it was believed they were brought on by the Europeans attempting to rob the Hottentots of cattle.

An experiment was once made with a view of trying to secure a firm friend among the Hottentots, and impressing those people with respect for the wonders of civilisation. In 1613 two Hottentots were taken from Table Valley on board a ship returning from India, one of whom died of grief soon after leaving his home.[39] The other, who was named Cory, reached England, where he resided six months and learned to understand and speak a little English. He was made a great deal of, and received many rich and valuable presents from benevolent people. Sir Thomas Smythe, the governor of the East India Company, was particularly kind to him, and gave him among other things a complete suit of brass armour. He returned to South Africa with Captain Nicholas Downton in the ship _New Year’s Gift_, and in June 1614 landed in Table Valley with all his treasures. But Captain Downton, who thought that he was overflowing with gratitude, saw him no more. Cory returned to his former habits of living, and instead of acting as was anticipated, taught his countrymen to despise bits of copper in exchange for their cattle, so that for a long time afterwards it was impossible for ships that called to obtain a supply of fresh meat.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Mr. John Jourdain, when returning from India to England, put into Table Bay on the 25th of February 1617. A few lean calves were obtained on the day the ships anchored, but nothing whatever afterwards, though at one time about ten thousand head of cattle were in sight. Mr. Jourdain and a party of sixty armed men went a short distance into the country, and he was of opinion that through the roguery of “that dogge Cory” they would have been drawn into a conflict with some five thousand Hottentots if they had not prudently retired. Thereafter he believed no cattle would be obtained except at dear rates, for the Hottentots no longer esteemed iron hoops, copper, or even shining brass. A fort, he considered, would be the only means of bringing them to “civility.” On this occasion Mr. Jourdain remained in Table Bay eighteen days, of which only four were calm and fine.

According to a statement made by a Welshman who was in Table Bay in August 1627, and who kept a journal, part of which has been preserved,[40] Cory came to an evil end. The entry reads: “They” (the Hottentots) “hate the duchmen since they hanged one of the blackes called Cary who was in England & upon refusall of fresh victuals they put him to death.”

[Sidenote: English Convicts sent to Table Valley.]

It has been seen what use the Portuguese made of convicts when they were exploring unknown countries, or when there were duties of a particularly hazardous or unpleasant nature to be performed. The English employed criminals in the same manner. In January 1615 the governor of the East India Company obtained permission from the king to transport some men under sentence of death to countries occupied by savages, where, it was supposed, they would be the means of procuring provisions, making discoveries, and creating trade. The records in existence--unless there are documents in some unknown place--furnish too scanty material for a complete account of the manner in which this design was carried out. Only the following can be ascertained with certainty. A few days after the consent of the king was given, the sheriffs of London sent seventeen men from Newgate on board ships bound to the Indies, and these were voluntarily accompanied by three others, who appear to have been convicted criminals, but not under sentence of death. The proceeding was regarded as “a very charitable deed and a means to bring them to God by giving them time for repentance, to crave pardon for their sins, and reconcile themselves unto His favour.” On the 5th of June, after a passage from the Thames of one hundred and thirty-two days, the four ships comprising the fleet arrived in Table Bay, and on the 16th nine of the condemned men were set ashore with their own free will. A boat was left for their use, and to each a gun with some ammunition and a quantity of provisions was given.

Of some of these convicts the afterlife is known. Two were taken on to India by Sir Thomas Roe, one of whom, Duffield by name, returned with him to England, where he requited the kindness shown to him by stealing some plate and running away. Of those set ashore in Table Valley, one, named Cross, committed some offence against the Hottentots shortly after the ships sailed, and was killed by them. The other _seven_[41] escaped to Robben Island, where their boat was wrecked. They lived five or six months on the island, when an English ship put into the bay, and four of them made a raft and tried to get to her, but were drowned on the way. The next day the ship sent a boat to the island, and took off the other three. They behaved badly on board, commenced to steal again as soon as they reached England, and were apprehended and executed in accordance with their old sentences.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

In one of the ships that brought these convicts in 1615 Sir Thomas Roe, English envoy to the great Mogul, was a passenger. A pillar bearing an inscription of his embassy was set up in Table Valley, and fifteen or twenty kilogrammes weight of stone which he believed to contain quicksilver and vermilion was taken away to be assayed in England, but of particulars that would be much more interesting now no information whatever is to be had from the records of his journey.

Again, in June 1616, three condemned men were set ashore in Table Valley from a fleet under Commodore Joseph on its way to the East. A letter signed by them is extant, in which they acknowledge the clemency of King James in granting them their forfeited lives, and promise to do his Majesty good and acceptable service. Terry, who was an eye witness, says that before they were set ashore they begged the commodore rather to hang them than to abandon them, but he left them behind. The _Swan_, one of the vessels of the fleet, however, was detained in Table Bay a day or two longer than her consorts, and she took them on to Bantam in Java.

[Sidenote: Scanty Information supplied by Englishmen.]

There may have been other instances of the kind, of which no record is in existence now, but this seems unlikely. It is certain that no information upon the country, its inhabitants, or its resources was ever obtained from criminals set ashore here.

No further effort was made by the English at this time to form a connection with the inhabitants of South Africa, though their ships continued to call at Table Bay for the purpose of taking in water and getting such other refreshment as was obtainable. They did not attempt to explore the country or to correct the charts of its coasts, nor did they frequent any of its ports except Table Bay, and very rarely Mossel Bay, until a much later date. A few remarks in ships’ journals, and a few pages of observations and opinions in a book of travels such as that of Sir Thomas Herbert, from none of which can any reliable information be obtained that is not also to be drawn from earlier Portuguese writers, are all the contributions to a knowledge of South Africa made by Englishmen during the early years of the seventeenth century. Though our countrymen were behind no others in energy and daring, as Drake, Raleigh, Gilbert, Davis, Hawkins, and a host of others had proved so well, not forgetting either the memorable story of the Revenge, which Jan Huyghen van Linschoten handed down for a modern historian to write in more thrilling words, England had not yet entered fully upon her destined career either of discovery or of commerce, the time when “the ocean wave should be her home” was still in the days to come.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

The Danes were the next to make their appearance in the Indian seas. Their first fleet, fitted out by King Christian IV, consisted of six ships, under Ove Giedde as admiral. On the 8th of July 1619 this fleet put into Table Bay, where eight English ships were found at anchor, whose officers treated the Danes with hospitality. Admiral Giedde remained here until the 5th of August, when his people were sufficiently refreshed to proceed on their voyage. On the 30th of August 1621 he reached Table Bay again in the ship _Elephant_ on his return passage from Ceylon and India, and remained until the 12th of September. Before leaving he had an inscription cut on a stone, in which the dates of both his visits were recorded.

III.

_Governor Willem Adriaan van der Stel. A History of the Successful Struggle of a few Hollanders and Huguenots against Tyranny and Corruption._

SKETCH III.

I.

GOVERNOR WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER STEL.

The days of John the son of Peter and Peter the son of John were passing away, though not quite entirely gone, and surnames such as are now in use were becoming generally adopted by working people, when one Adriaan van der Stel, otherwise Adriaan the son of Simon, is found among the citizens of the town of Dordrecht in the province of South Holland. He was by occupation a cooper, and like many of his energetic countrymen at that time he tried to improve his position by entering the service of the East India Company and going abroad. Accordingly he engaged as cooper and junior assistant or clerk, a combination of duties by no means uncommon in the Company’s service in the early days, and in 1623 went to India in the yacht _Star_. He was engaged at a salary of ten guldens or 16_s._ 8_d._ a month, besides his maintenance, but there were little privileges allowed to men in his position, which often were of greater value than the wage received.

This Adriaan van der Stel was a man of ability, and as early as the 28th of March 1624 was promoted in the service and had his pay increased to eighteen guldens or £1 10_s._ a month. Time went on, and by 1638, under the governor-generalship of Anthonie van Diemen, he had advanced so far that he was chosen to succeed Pieter de Goyer as commander of the island of Mauritius. This island, which was uninhabited, had recently been taken possession of by the East India Company, and De Goyer had been sent to occupy it with a small party of men. The position was not indeed a very dignified one, corresponding as it did to that of ensign in charge of a little military outpost, but his selection to fill it was proof that the high Indian authorities placed confidence in him.

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

He had followed a custom prevalent in India ever since 1607, when the Dutch commander-in-chief Cornelis Matelief gave his soldiers and sailors permission to form alliances with native women, with a view of raising a class of mixed breeds who would form a link between the European and Asiatic races. The Portuguese had set the example in this, and the advantage of it to them was evident, as they could not have continued to hold a single station in the East without the assistance of the large Eurasian element in the population of their settlements. If not actually encouraged by the Dutch, this practice was by no means looked upon with disfavour in the seventeenth century, and a half-breed, if at all worthy, was as certain of employment and promotion as a white man. And as the form of marriage could not be gone through when the woman was not a professed Christian, looser alliances were regarded as throwing little or no discredit upon either father or child.

Adriaan van der Stel formed a connection of this kind with an Indian woman named Monica of the Coast, who accompanied him to Mauritius, and there on the 14th of November 1639 bore him a son, whom he named Simon. After serving for a time satisfactorily at Mauritius, where no one wished to remain long, he was removed to Batavia, and shortly afterwards was transferred to Ceylon in a military capacity as commander of a body of troops. Such changes of occupation are constantly met with in following the careers of men in the East India Company’s service, and some of the ablest officials were alike skilful as diplomatists, as traders, and as commanders in war on sea or on land.

At this time, which was shortly after Cornelis van der Lyn became governor-general, the Portuguese were making a desperate effort to retain their last strongholds on the western coast of Ceylon. Their most important possession on the island was Colombo, which they retained until May 1656, and when it surrendered the Dutch had the seaboard entirely to themselves. There was indeed peace in Europe between the Netherlands and Portugal, now independent of Spain once more, but that did not prevent the continuance of the struggle in the East. The chief Dutch stronghold was Galle, in the south of the island. The king of Kandy, Raja Singha Rajoc, was styled emperor of Ceylon, but had really lost all authority over the coast-lands, which were subject either to the Dutch or the Portuguese. His policy was to keep them pitted against each other, and occasionally to assist whichever appeared weakest, for he bore neither of them any love. And in point of fact he was able whenever he chose to fall upon one or the other with impunity, as that one was unable to retort by falling upon him. A few years later, after the Portuguese had been expelled, the condition of things was of course very different.

[Sidenote: Death of Adriaan van der Stel.]

Commander Adriaan van der Stel was directed with a considerable body of troops to occupy a certain position in territory claimed by the Dutch. On the march he was surrounded by a Cingalese army, and his whole force, only four men excepted, was destroyed, 19th of May 1646. His head was fixed on a stake and exhibited in triumph, and was then rolled in silk and sent to Joan Maatzuiker, the Dutch governor of Galle.[42]

[Sidenote: Historical Sketches.]

Simon van der Stel was not seven years old at the time of his father’s death. Kolbe says that he was in Ceylon and saw the head of his parent after the disaster, but nothing is more unlikely. The strong probability is that upon the arrival of Adriaan van der Stel at Batavia from Mauritius, or shortly afterwards, he sent his son to Holland to be educated, as was then the custom, though there is no actual proof of this. At any rate, at a very early age he was at school in Amsterdam, and was baptized either there or in Batavia when he was about five years old. His mother, Monica of the Coast, can no longer be traced, and whether she had died or remained in Batavia is quite uncertain. The property accumulated by his father was invested by the orphanmasters for his benefit, but it was inconsiderable, and he might have been destitute had not the directors of the East India Company regarded him as their protégé on account of his parent’s losing his life in their service. The Indian blood in his veins was no detriment whatever to him.

[Sidenote: Early Life of Simon van der Stel.]