PRINGLE'S SOUTH AFRICA.
IN pursuance of a plan by the Home Government of 1819, to colonize the Offer frontier of the Hottentot territory, a free pas- sage was offered to emigrants upon certain conditions, mid some contingent advantages were promised on their arrival. Among the intended settlers was the family of the Pitt NG LES. The father and the brothers, our author excepted, Nvere agriculturists. THOM A c, the poet and litt (.rateur, went out with the final intention of procuring a situation under Government, or assisting in 1hr- 'warding the march of intellect among the Cope colonists. His first object, however, was to see his Ii hoots and family safely located. It argues a good deal in iltvour of his sagacity and prac- tical shrewdness, to find that a body of cautious Setichmen se- lected him as their representative—in Cu.loaial language, the "head of a party "—to arrange their et !lrtrhati al and passage with the Home Government, agree with the total an it •cities as to their errant of land, marshal them on their route, awl settle them in their new country; all of which he sticeesfully accomplished.
After remaining about two years hi the wilderness, acting all the parts that men have to act trho separate themselves from civi- lized society anal trust to flair tavoi le-mimes, with the task of ruler and diplomatist superadded, Timm as PRINGLE and his help- mate departed for Cape Town, travelling seven hundred miles in the wagon of the country. On his arrival, he was, through the exertions Iii England of Sir W' • LTER SCOTT, appointed Government librarian; established an academy ; started a magazine, having procured permission from Lord BATH ultsT after the Colonial Governtnent had refused it ; became the editor or a weekly 1 anVS- paper; and flattered himself that he was engaged in a sphere of usefulness towards the public and of prolit to himself. But the far-famed scion of the house of BE.V Fear thcli ruled the Cape. Except in appealing from his decision to DJ% nine. Street, it does not appear that Mr. Pal NG LE hail given Min any cause of tame,:; bat the establishment of a press. was a crime of the deepest dye in the eyes of Lord CuaneEs Som:aser; to entertain a liberal opinion upon any subject—to attempt t,t enlighten the public mind even upon matters of science—was the unpardonable sin of Toryism. With mingled feelings of rage and fear, the African VERRES and his creatures set to work to effect Mr. PRINGLE'S ruin ; and accomplished it, so far as a Government could accom- plish it. His spirit had induced him to resign his librarianship; his paper and magazine were virtually suppressed; the frown of the petty court, and the publicly expressed wishes of its head, in- duced the majority of his friends to shun hint, and many parents to withdraw their children from his school ; till, in short, he was left overwhelmed with pecuniary engagements, at the mercy of his creditors, and found it prurient if not o digatory to return for a while to the bosom of that society he had founded in the desert ; though even here the enmity of the Governor may be said to have pursued him.
Such is a meagre outline of the leading events which befel our author in South Africa. A description of a newly-settled country, an account of the shifts and dilliculties attendant upon founding a new community, a book of travels, and an autobiographical sketch of a man of talent, is not all that this little volume contains. We have, in addition, sonic views of ( 'olonial manners, excellent bits of landscape-painting, some interesting anecdotes of natural history, an historical sketch of the aborigines, and above a hundred pages of pleasing and characteristic poetry. The whole is done with spirit and elegance,—only dashed by an occasional air of parti- sanship.
In founding this colony, the Government plan, though not ma- turely considered, and not very well managed in its details, was perhaps one of the best colonial schemes ever undertaken by a modern government. It is true, the settlement was at first very unfortunate; but the country, after all that has been said of it, was not the best that might have been selected ; the colony itself was afflicted for the first years with blights, and other unforeseen natural evils; the measure was injured in its working by the mischievous interference of the Governor; and many of the emi- grants themselves were ill adapted for the task they had under- taken. The following exhibits them on their first arrival.
I then strolled along the beach to survey more closely the camp of the settlers, which had looked so picturesque from the sea. On my way, I passed two or three pavilion- tents, pitched apart :inuing the evergreen bushes which were scattered between the sand hilly and the heights behind. These were the en- campments of some of the higher class of settlers, and evinced the taste of the occupants by the pleasant situations in which they were placed, and by the neatness and order of every thing about them. Ladies and gentlemen, elegantly dressed, were seated in some of them with books in their hands; others were rambling among the shrubbery and over the little eminences, looking down upon 'the bustling beach and bay. One or two handsome carriages were standing in the open air, exhibiting some tokens of aristocratic rank or pretension in the pr„p).;etorm. ft obvious that several of these families had been accustomed to enjoy the luxurious- accommodations of refined society in England. How far they had ailed wise7y in embarking their property and the happiness of their families in on enterprise like the present, and in leading their respective bands of adventoret4 to eolooize the wilds of Southern Mica, were questions yet to be determined. Foreseeing, as I did in some degree (although certainly by no 11101114 to the foil extent), the difficulties and privations inevitable in such circumstances, I could not view this class of entio'ratits, with their elegant ar- rangements and appliances, without some inelancillily misgivings its to their fu- tore fate; fur they appeared utterly unfitted by former habits, especially the fe- males, for roughing it (to arc the expressive phraseology of the ramp) through the first flying period of the settlement. A little way beyond, I entered the Settlers' Camp. It consisted of several hundred tents, pitched in regular rows or streets, and occupied by the middling and lower classes of emigrants. These consisted of %%MOUS descrip. thins of people : and the air, aspect, and array of their persons and tetsporary residences, were equally various. There were respectable tradesmen awl jolly larinei 5, with every appearance of substance and snug English comfort Aleut Om Im. There were watermen, fishermen, and sailors, from the Thames and English sea •ports, with the reckless and weather-beaten look usual in posons of their perilous and precarious professions. There were numerous groups of pale visaged artisans and operative manufacturers, front London aml other lzwet towns; of whom doubtless a certain proportion were persons of highly reputable character and steady habits; but a far larger portion were squalid in their as- pect, slovenly. in their attire and II !stic arran4ements, and discontented and uneourteous in their demeanour. Lastly, there were parties of pauper agi icul- tural labourers, sent out by the aid of their respective parishes, los:Maier per- baps than the class just mentioned, but not apparently happier in mind, nor less generally demoralized by the untoward influence of their foemer social condition. On the whole, they formed a motley and unprepossessing- collection of people. Guessing vaguely from my observations on this occasion and on subsequent rambles through their !orations, I should say that probably Aunt a third part were persons of real respertability of character, and possessed el some worldly substanre ; but that the remaining two-thirds were for the most part composed of individuals of it very unpromising desetiptiom—persons who had hung loose upon society, low in -ids or desperate in eirimunstanees. Euterprize many of these doubtlessly possessed in an eminent dr-glee; butt too notny appeared to be idle, insolent, and du oaken, and mutinously disposed towards their masters and superiors. And with such qualities, it was not possible to augor very favour- ably of their future conduct and destiny, or of the welfare of those who had coffer-hal them in England, and whose success its occupying the country de- pended entiitly on their steady industry.
Irons is a colony gaol— The condition of this gaol a-as dreadful. On the door being opened, the clergyman requested me to wait a few minutes until a freer ventilation had somewhat purified the noisome atinosphere within,—for the alluvia, 011 the first opening of the door, was too horrible to be encountered. This I can well believe; foe when, after this precaution, we did enter, the odour was still more than I could well endure; and it WM only by coming frequently to the mon door to inhale a renovating draught of whelesome air the I could arromplish such an examination of this dismal den as the aspect and condition of its inmates urgently chimed from humanity. Whetlise there was at this time an merwal number of prisoners, or with whom lay the fault of not more effectually pro- viding fur their accommodation and cleanliness, I carioca say ; but if it was owing to the negligenee of the local functionaries, it was the chute of the Cir- cuit Court to call them to account for it, and to see that adequate funds were appropriated to erect a decent gaol for the district. But this was not a sinlailar case ; at that time, the gaols for the coloured classes throughout the Colony, with the exception of that of Graali Reiak. and perhaps one or two mimes, were a disgrace to humanity. How far they have been improved since I cannot pretend to say. The !trimmers being desired to range themselves around the walls, exhibited a strange array of wild and swarthy vis.iges, squalid with neglect and misery, and sickly with confinement. There were runaway slaves, standiwt' with shackled limbs and lowering looks, sullenly awaiting their aWarded punishment, and the arrival of their owners to (bag them back to the house of bondage. There were Hottentots, clothed in a costume half native, half.European,—the sheep-skin caross of their forefathers, and the leathern trousers of the boor. Soma of these were complainants at the deostrly against the fraud or oppression of the colonists to whom (agreeably to colonial low) they 'cure bound in servitude; and they were inammts1 (agreeably to colonial practice) in this vile trunk, until their masters found it convenient to answer their accusations, and probably to get them well flogged for daring to complain—such, at least, was then the usual result. Others were nieiely Hottentots out of service, who had been appre- hended by the field•cornets, and sent here until some white man should apply to have them given out to him on contract. There were wild Bushmen, too, with aspect, dress, and demeanour, yet more barbarous and bizarre than the rudest of the colonial Hottentots. The whole raiment of the females, besides the caross, or sheep-skin mantle, consisted of a piece of leather cut into narrow thongs, and bound like an apron or small pet- ticoat round the loins. The dress of the males was still more scanty. Their woolly hair, growing in separate tufts, fell naturally into spiral curls, and hung, matted with grease and iron ore, dangling like a hunch of tobacco-twist, over their narrow, black, and piercing eyes • while their cheeks (at least those of the voonger females) were ornamented with alternate streaks of red and white ochre. The offenee for which they were in general confined was absconding front the service of the farmers, after having, under the pressure of famine, sold them- selves and their children to thraldom for a mess of pottage. Some, hotvever, of these Bushmen, as well as of the slaves and Hottentot prisoners, were accused of more Ireitious crimes, and were awaiting the arrival of the annual Circuit Court to stand their trial. But all castes and grades, the innocent and the guilty, and the injured complainant equally with the convicted and hardened malefactor, were crowded together without distinction into this narrow and noisome dungeon. There was yet another group, more interesting, perhaps, than any of the others. It was a family of CalTers consisting of two men, a woman, arid child, and a youth of about sixteen. The men were seated, naked, on the clay floor, heavily ironed, and having their ankles fixed to a huge iron ring, which confined them like stocks in a recumbent posture. One of thent displayed a frame of herculean size and strength; but his :ountenance, though free from ferocity, was unanionated by intelligence. The calm and thoughtful features of his com- rade, a man of middle age, expressed nothing of mere animal or savage passion, but were marked by a certain air of mental dignity and reflection. The female was said to be the wife of the latter ; and she had an infant encircled in the warm folds of her mantle. Her dress consisted of time ordinary caross of ox or antelope hide, dressed with the hair upon it, together with a short petticoat of similar materials, and a kerchief of finer leather (from the skin, I believe, of the weasel or wild. eat) drawn like a veil, over the bosom,—indicating„ altogether, feelings of womanly modesty mid decormn, pleasing to meet with amidst so much wretchedness and barbarism, and forming a favourable contrast to the disgusting nudity of most of the other females around her. Her deportment was quiet and subdued, and her features, if not handsome to European eyes, were yet expressive of gentleness and simplicity of character. But the Caffer
youth who *toad I eside this female, and who looked like her younger brother, was truly a model of juvenile beauty. His figure, which was almost entirely naked, displayed graceful ease and great symmetry of proportion. His high broad forehead and handsome nose and mouth approached the European standard ; and the mild, yet manly expression of his full black eyes and ingenu- ous open brow, bespoke confidence and good will at the first sight.
Two important points which Mr. PRINGLE dwells upon at some length, ate the doings of my Lord and the conduct of the colonists and the Colonial Government and settlers towards the C'affres. The first, though a very limited and a very subdued statement, is withal a rich picture of an incompetent and arbitrary aristocrat wielding what he thinks an irresponsible power, inflated with ideas of his own importance, treating difference or even freedom of opinion as a personal offence, and confidently relying on family interest and home favour as a shield against the consequence of his oppressions, or of insolence more galling than oppression. Ampler details of his misdeeds and incapacity may perhaps be found elsewhere, but here we are presented with a character of the man. We see faintly, but distinctly, his violence of temper, his despotic disposition, and, when offended, his insolent and over- bearing manners. Ile was a Tory of the true-breed—a family- jobber in grain, and possessing the convenient " pride that licks the dust.' When the complaints at home had succeeded in rous- ing attention and forcing a commission of inquiry to be sent out, he adopted the soothing system: finding this unsuccessful with the more high-minded of the new settlers, he formed an under- handed league with the frontier boors, the semi-savage Dutch Africans ; winking at murder, permitting predatory excursions to harass the natives and plunder their property, finally, expelling a tribe from their possessions, and bestowing the lands (the Tory mode of rewarding people) upon his friends. Thoroughly to ap- preciate his character, requires a careful perusal of Mr. PRINGLE'S Narrative; but take a piece of him.
Lord Charles summoned me to appear immediately before him at his audience- room in the Colonial Office. I found him with the Chief Justice, Sir John Truter, seated on his right hand, and the second number of our South African Journal lying open before him. There was a storm on his brow, and it burst forth at once upon me like a long-gathered south-easter from Table Mountain. "So, Sir ! " he began, "you are one of those who dare to insult me, and oppose any government !" And then he launched forth into a long tirade of abuse ; scolding, upbraiding, and taunting me, with all the domineering arrogance of
mien and sneering insolence of expression of which he was so great a master, reproaching me above all for my ingratitude for his personal favours. While he thus addressed me, in the most insulting style, I felt my frame tremble with indignation ; but I saw that the Chief Justice was placed there for a witness of my demeanour, and that my destruction was sealed if I gave way to my feelings, and was not wary in my words. I stood up, however, and confronted this must arrogant man with a look under which his haughty eye instantly sunk, and re • plied to him with a calmness of which I had not, a few minutes before, thought myself capable. I told him that I was quite sensible of the position in which I stood,—a very humble individual before the representative of my Sovereign ; but I also knew what was due to myself as a British subject and a gentleman, and that I would not submit to be rated, in the style he bad assumed, by any man, whatever were his station or his rank. I repelled his charges of having acted unworthily of my character as a Government servant and a loyal subject ; I de- fended my conduct in regard to the press, and the character of our magazine, which lie said was full of " calumny and falsehood ;" I asserted my right to pe- tition the King for the extension of the freedom of the press to the colon •; and I denied altogether the "personal obligations " with which he upbraided me, having never asked nor received from him the slightest personal favour, unless the lands allotted to my party, and my own appointment to the Government Library, were considered such, though the latter was, in fact, a public duty as- signed to me, in compliance with the recommendations of the Home Government. This situation, however, I now begged to resign, since I would not compromise ray free agency for that or for any appointment his Lordship could bestow. Lord Charles then saw he had gnue a step too far. Ile had, in fact, misap- prehended my character, and had made a not uncommon mistake in taking a certain bashfulness of manner (maucaise Amite) for timidity of spirit. And as his object then was not absolutely to quarrel with, but merely to intimidate me, and thus render me subservient to his views, he immediately, lowered his tone, and had the singular meanness, after the insulting terms he had used, to attempt to coax me by a little flattery, and by throwing out hints of his disposition to promote my personal views, if I would conduct myself "discreetly." He wished the magazine, he said, still to go on; and even alleged that the Fiscal had in some points exceeded his instructions in regard to us. But this attempt to cajole, when he found he could not bully me, disgusted Inc even more than his inso- lence. I saw the motive, and despised it: I saw the peril too, and feared it- "timeo Danaos !" I resolutely declined, therefore, his repeated invitations (to which he called the Chief Justice formally to bear witness) to recommence the magazine, unless legal protection were grunted to the press.
The narrative relating to the treatment of the Caffer tribes is one of painful interest, and cannot be read without feelings of disgust and indignation. By the stroke of a Governor's pen, they are deprived of large tracts of land, with their growing crops, and driven forth to destitution or starvation. For any real or any fancied injury (such as the loss of cattle), it is in the power of the pettiest magistrate to send forth a commando, surprise and plunder the villages, burn the hovels, massacre the men, and carry the women and children into captivity, frequently shooting them on the road out of wantonness, or impatience at their foot-sore pace. Their chieftains are grossly insulted, their envoys have been mur- dered, and the lives of Carer travellers are by no means safe; yet even all these things are now submitted to, for the tribes ore too well aware of the British power to attempt reprisals; and unless some change of system should be enforced by the Government at home, the nation will gradually perish by murders, by massacres, and by want. The treatment of the aborigines by colonists is one of the darkest and bloodiest stains upon the page of history ; and scarcely any are equal in atrocity to the conduct of the Dutch boors,—ably seconded of late, according to Mr. PRINGLE, by some of the more degraded of the English settlers. If the volume con- tained nothing more than the account of this worse than slave- trade and the suggestions for its remedy, it would be worthy of national perusal.
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