Transcribed from a printed report filed in CO48/67 at the National
Archives in Kew, London
Report of the Committee of the Society for the Relief of Distressed
Settlers in
with the
resolutions passed and speeches delivered at a general meeting
held at
to which is
subjoined an appendix of letters and other documents
illustrative
of the present conditions of the settlers
Ipse,
ignatus, egens, Lybiae deserta perogra
Europa
pulsus__________ VIRO
Printed and
published by C. GREIG
At the
Commercial Press,
1823
COMMITTEE
(Elected 17
Sept 1823)
His Honor
Sir John TRUTER L.L.D.
W.W. BIRD
Esq.
J.W. STOLL
Esq.
Major
HOLLOWAY
Rev. G.
HOUGH A.M.
Rev. John
PHILIP D.D.
Rev. W.
WRIGHT A.M.
Lieut.Col.
PITMAN
Sir Richard
OTTLEY
W.T. BLAIR
Esq.
H.W. MONEY
Esq.
W. BRADDON
Esq.
R.W. EATON
Esq.
R.J. JONES
Esq.
A.B. TOD
Esq.
J. TROTTER
Esq.
TREASURER
R. CROZIER
Esq.
SECRETARY
Mr.H.E.
RUTHERFOORD
REPORT
The
Committee entrusted with the management of the Settlers’ Fund, in presenting
the Subscribers the Account of the Annual Receipts and Expenditure, are not
aware that they can better redeem their pledge to the public, whose charity
they have dispensed, or afford stronger inducements for the continued and more
extensive exercise of that charity, than by laying before them a plain
statement of their proceedings.
The
Committee deem it essential, in the first place, to explain, as particularly
and satisfactorily as they can, the chief purpose of which the Funds of the
Society have been appropriated. They will then offer a few of the details of
the Cases relieved; and conclude their Report with one or two Extracts from the
Accounts and Letters they have received respecting the existing circumstances
of the Settlers. And they feel convinced, that the simple narrative of facts,
contained in these extracts, will justify their farther appeal to the
liberality of the Public, in behalf of sufferings which, though they cannot be
effectually relieved by human means, may be greatly alleviated.
On a
Reference to the Account of Expenditure, the first item that occurs is a sum of
500 Rix Dollars remitted, at various periods, to the Rev. Mr. SHAW at Salem, in
the District of Albany, with whom your Committee have regularly corresponded,
and to whom they are greatly indebted, both for the useful application of the
Funds of the Society, and for the very full and satisfactory accounts he has
furnished of the mode of their distribution. Mr. SHAW’s extensive acquaintance
with the Settlers, and his habit of frequently visiting the different locations
in his ministerial capacity, render him peculiarly qualified to judge of their
circumstances and characters, and to employ the grants of the Society, in
affording relief to the most deserving as well as to the most necessitous
applicants. The following are a few of the cases which he assisted, extracted
from his letters to the Society:
“Thomas
SLATER: A man with a large family and who has been long suffering under
affliction: The sum of 25 Rds was advanced to enable him to provide food for
his family, who were suffering in consequence of his affliction.
“KEEVEY: A
man afflicted with a rheumatic fever and who had, by an accident, received such
an injury in one of his hands, that for many months he was unable to work.
After having sold the greater part of his cattle to support himself and family,
during his illness, he became pennyless, and his wife and five children
suffered severely. I am happy in being able to report that he is now so far
recovered as to be able to do something for himself.
“Loss
accruing by the sale of wheat:-
This sum (says Mr. SHAW) I conceive to have been as
usefully applied as any of the money I have expended on account of the Society.
A particular kind of wheat called ‘Bengal wheat’, solid in the straw, has
succeeded in several parts of this district remarkably well, during those three
years which have proved so fatal to all other kinds of wheat, in consequence of
the blight. The distribution of this grain, as extensively as possible amongst
the Settlers, has therefore become an object of the greatest importance. The
few individuals who had raised it during the last season asked very high prices
– in some instances 50 Rds the muid; hence many of the poorer persons were in
danger of having none of this grain for seed, from their inability to pay such
a price for it. I thought I could not better fulfil the intentions of the
Society, than by assisting such persons; and therefore I obtained a few muids,
which I sold at a loss of the sum here charged. By requiring everyone to pay a
proportion of the expence, the total loss was not great, although a
considerable number received assistance in this way, as it was sold in small
portions, of from 20 to 30lbs each. I doubt not but that this item of your
expenditure, by the blessing of God, will, during the next year, give bread to
a number of families who otherwise could not have obtained it.
“Mrs.
FREEMANTLE: This poor woman’s husband was killed by the Caffers some time ago.
She is left with a family of four children, whom she endeavours to maintain by
needlework. The donation of the Society made the widow’s heart leap for joy.
“The
sum of 60 Rds was given to the relief of three families who were sufferers by
fire; in consequence of which, although capable of maintaining themselves, they
were at the time reduced to the greatest straits, having all lost considerably.
They appeared very grateful to the Society for its timely aid.”
The
next sum of 270 Rds was voted by the Committee in aid of three cases of extreme
distress, where the parties were highly respectable; and following is an
extract from a letter received from one of these individuals, acknowledging the
receipt of the money:-
“I will thank you to tell the Committee of the
Settlers’ Fund that I am exceedingly grateful for the assistance afforded me.
It was a most timely relief, as my poor children and all my family were nearly
naked. I shall endeavour to repay this sum as soon as I can; but what our fate
will be, God only knows.”
The
next article of expence charged in the account is the sum of 579 Rds charged
for clothing, purchased in
The
sum expended and placed next in succession, is the most considerable sum in the
account, and was applied to one of the principal objects for which the Society
was originally instituted, viz. the relief of the widows and families of
deceased settlers. Nearly the whole of this sum has been distributed in Cape
Town; the widows having, by the loss of their chief stay, been necessarily
compelled to abandon their locations, and to seek a scanty livelihood for
themselves and children, by those efforts of female industry which are
generally but too inadequately required.
The
charge of 189 Rds 6 Sks next claims attentions, and was incurred by sending to
the Merchant Seamen’s Hospital four settlers, who were suffering under illness,
without any means of obtaining advice or assistance. It is, however, with
pleasure that the Committee state that in consequence of an Institution having
been lately established, for affording medical aid under similar circumstances,
this charge is not likely to recur.
The
following sum of 102 Rds was expended in forwarding to their respective owners
several packages, which had been saved from vessels wrecked in
The
sum of 93 Rd was paid for the interment of three individuals who, not having
paid taxes, were not, it appears, entitled to burial at the expence of the
Town.
The
next three charges require no elucidation.
The
last article of expence is for general disbursements, made towards the relief
of various cases of distress amongst Settlers in this Town; a part of which has
been returned by the individuals who received it, as appears on the other side
of the account.
Much
has been said about the impolicy of relieving by pecuniary aid, the necessity
of those settlers who, being free from the engagements under which they came
out, leave their locations, and seek employment or assistance in
Your
Committee readily admit that, as a general system, such a measure would not
only encourage idleness, but bring upon the Society claims which it would be
equally impolitic and impossible to satisfy; yet circumstances may occur of
such a kind as to render immediate assistance requisite.
Your
Committee will not pretend to affirm that they may not, in their endeavours to
relieve abject poverty, sometimes have extended aid to unworthy objects. When
the application was made (as it frequently has been) by individuals evidently
suffering under the pangs of hunger, and utterly
destitute, the urgent claims of nature have been satisfied, previous to a
particular enquiry – which, when made at a subsequent period, only tended to
confirm the truth of the observation, that the extremes of misery and vice are
commonly but too closely allied. Imposition has, however, been guarded against
by persons being visited in their abodes. Of the sum expended in grants of this
kind, since the last Annual Meeting, amounting altogether to little more than
400 Rds (deducting the amount repaid) a great proportion was applied to the
relief of four persons reduced to the utmost wretchedness by illness or
accident. Of these persons one died, a second recovered – and of the two
remaining (which were cases of fractured limbs) one is now doing well, and it
is to be hoped will repay to the Society a part of the money advanced.
The
Committee now beg leave to lay before the Meeting a few details extracted from
letters addressed to the Secretary, or obtained from other authentic sources.
[For the extracts here alluded to, and others subsequently received, see
Appendix]
Account of the Receipts and Expenditure of the
Settlers’ Fund Society since the Last General Meeting
To Balance of last Account 1,167 Rds
Unpaid Subscriptions 170 Rds
Subscriptions received since last General Meeting 1,958 Rds
Money returned to the Society 118 Rds
3,913
Rds
|
|
Rds |
Sks |
|
By cash remitted to the Rev.W.SHAW for distribution
in cases of urgent distress amongst settlers residing on their locations |
500 |
0 |
|
By Ditto paid for Clothing, distributed by the
Rev.W.SHAW |
579 |
0 |
|
By Ditto remitted by the Secretary to Settlers in |
270 |
0 |
|
By Ditto expended in monthly allowances to Widows
with large families |
677 |
0 |
|
By Ditto expended for Medical Assistance |
189 |
6 |
|
By Ditto expended for forwarding to their respective
owners Goods saved from wrecked vessels |
102 |
1 |
|
By Expence attending the Burial of Settlers dying in
|
93 |
0 |
|
By Cash expended on the purchase of Tools furnished
to Mechanics out of Employ |
54 |
0 |
|
By Support afforded in lying-in Cases in this Town |
40 |
0 |
|
By Cash expended for printing Reports, Postage
&c |
58 |
0 |
|
By Ditto disbursed for various Cases of Distress in |
527 |
1 |
|
By Balance at the Bank |
723 |
0 |
|
By unpaid Subscriptions |
100 |
0 |
|
Rds |
3,913 |
0 |
At the
ANNIVERSARY MEETING of the Subscribers to the Settlers’ Fund Society, held 17
Sept 1823
(His Honor
Sir John TRUTER in the Chair)
The following RESOLUTIONS were unanimously agreed to:-
It was moved by the Rev.Dr.PHILIP and seconded by
H.W.MONEY Esq.
I.
That the Report which has now been
read be received and printed
It was moved by John TRUTER Esq and seconded by T.
PRINGLE Esq
II.
That the Thanks of the Society be
given to those Gentlemen who have acted as Members of the Committee during the
past year; that a new Committee be elected for the ensuing year; that the
following Gentlemen be appointed, with the power of filling up vacancies, and
adding to their number; and that any three of the Committee form a Quorum: His
Honor Sir John TRUTER, W.W.BIRD Esq, J.W.STOLL Esq, Major HOLLOWAY, Rev.G.HOUGH
A.M., Rev.John PHILIP D.D., Rev.W.WRIGHT A.M., Lt.Col.PITMAN, Sir Richard
OTTLEY, W.T.BLAIR Esq, H.W.MONEY Esq, W.BRADDON Esq, R.W.EATON Esq, R.J.JONES
Esq. and A.B.TOD Esq.
It was moved by Lieut.Col.
PITMAN and seconded by W.T. BLAIR Esq
III.
That the Thanks of the Meeting be
given to the Treasurer and Secretary of the Society; and that they be requested
to continue to fill their respective Offices.
It was moved by Sir Richard
OTTLEY and seconded by R.W. EATON Esq
IV. That
the distress of many of the Settlers is extreme, and calls for the renewed and
increased exertions of the inhabitants of this Colony, and of other parts of
the British Empire; and, for the purpose of encouraging Subscriptions, that the
proceedings of this day be printed and circulated; and that the Resolutions of
this Meeting, with a List of the Subscribers, be inserted in the Cape Gazette,
and in the English and Indian papers.
It was moved by the Rev.Dr.
PHILIP and seconded by the Rev. W. WRIGHT
V.
That the Thanks of this Meeting be
presented to the following Gentlemen, who have left the Colony, for the eminent
services rendered by them to the Society during their residence here: Sir
Jahleel BRENTON Bart, Gilbert MASTERS Esq, J. DONNITHORNE Esq. and W.O. SALMON
Esq.
It was moved by R.J. JONES
Esq and seconded by G. CADOGAN Esq
VI. That
the Denomination of this Society be changed from “Settlers’ Fund Society” to
“The Society for the Relief of Distressed Settlers in
It was moved by H.W. MONEY
Esq and seconded by W. BRADDON Esq
VII. That
John TROTTER Esq be elected a Member of the Committee for the ensuing year
It was moved by Sir Richard
OTTLEY and seconded by Samuel BAILEY Esq
VIII. That
the respectful Thanks of this Meeting be presented to His Honor Sir John TRUTER
for his obliging readiness in taking the Chair
The Rev.Dr. PHILIP, in moving that the Report be
received and printed, addressed the meeting as follows:
Whilst
I congratulate this Meeting on the talent and respectability with which I see
myself surrounded – on the importance of the object for which we are assembled
– and the character of the Report which has just been read, I cannot help
inquiring how it happens that we are so thinly attended at our General
Meetings; that we have so few Subscribers; and that, on such extensive field
held out to our cultivation, our operation should have been so limited? I hope
I shall be excused if I take up a small portion of your time, on the present
occasion, on this question.
Does
this arise from what has been said of late years respecting the abuse of this
sort of charity?
I am
ready to give this objection all the weight it can claim. I allow that by
injudicious charity we may perpetuate the evils we wish to cure, and hold out a
premium to vice and idleness. I am willing to go all the length that Malthus
himself goes on this question; but I hope I shall be excused if I stop where
this great champion of rigid economy stops. While Malthus shows all the bad
effects of the general mode of relieving the Poor by assessment, this
philosophical writer does not condemn Societies formed upon the principles of
this Society. When commending active and voluntary benevolence, he enumerates
several classes, as – the Aged – the Infirm – the Widow – the Fatherless &c
whom he considers as having a legal claim upon us for support. He goes further.
He allows even the vicious and profligate to have a title to a certain kind of
relief. Even to this class he allows Bread and Water, articles extremely scarce
among the most virtuous of that people for whom I am now pleading.
“In
the great course of human events” says Mr. Malthus “the best-found expectations
will sometimes be disappointed; and industry, prudence and virtue not only fail
of their just reward, but be involved in unmerited calamities. Those who are
thus suffering, in spite of the best directed efforts to avoid it, and from
causes which they could not be expected to foresee, are the genuine objects of
charity. In relieving these, we exercise the appropriate office of benevolence,
that of mitigating the partial evils arising from general laws; and in this
direction of our charity, therefore, we need not apprehend any ill
consequences. Such objects ought to be relieved, according to our means,
liberally and adequately, even though the worthless are starving.” Again, “I
have already observed, however, and here I repeat it, that the general
principles on these subjects ought not to be pushed too far, though they should
always be kept in view; and that many cases may occur, in which the good
resulting from the relief of present distress, may more than overbalance the
evil to be apprehended from the remote consequences. All relief, in instances
not arising from indolent and improvident habits, clearly comes under this
description: and in general it may be observed that it is only that kind of systematic and certain relief, on which the poor can confidently depend, whatever
may be their conduct, that violates general principles in such a manner as to
make it clear that the general consequence is worse than the partial evil. When
this first claim on our benevolence was satisfied, we might then turn our
attention to the idle and improvident. But the interests of human happiness
must clearly require that the relief which we afford them should be scanty. We
may, perhaps, take upon ourselves, with great caution, to mitigate the
punishments which they are suffering from the laws of nature, but on no account
to remove them entirely. They are deservedly at the bottom in the scale of
Society, and if we raise them from this situation we not only palpably defeat
the ends of benevolence but commit a most glaring injustice on those who are
above them. They should, on no account, be enabled to command so much of the
necessities of life as can be obtained by the worst paid common labourer. The
brownest bread, with the coarsest and scantiest apparel, are the utmost which
they should have the means of purchasing.”
Shall
I be told that there is no surplus of misery among our countrymen unprovided
for? I do not stand here on this occasion as the accuser of the Colonial
Government, nor of the Local Authorities of the Colony; but we may certainly
allow the possibility of distress, without any reflection upon any man, or any
class of men. Reasoning a priori, I
maintain it is impossible to remove five thousand men from their native
country, and plant them in any other country under heaven, without involving a
vast portion of suffering.
For
an illustration on this subject, we have only to look to the different
emigrations to
From
1550 to 1570, including the first twenty years of the history of this Colony,
although the number of the first Settlers was not one third of the number
landed in Albany, it cost the Dutch East India Company twenty millions of
Guilders. Though it is not my intention at present to attempt to account for
the facts, yet it may be remarked, that there seems to be something in a virgin
soil unfavourable to the support of human life; and it seems to be with men as
with vegetables – they must suffer, after being transplanted, before they can
take root.
One
circumstance may be mentioned, in passing, which has added to the distress of
the Settlers. In the emigrations constantly taking place to America, the
emigrants having landed at New York, Boston, Quebec or some large town, find
employment, assistance or the means of subsistence in the countries through
which they pass, and from the Colonists settled in the immediate neighbourhood
of their locations; but in the late emigration to this colony we have between
four and five thousand people conducted at once to a country possessed by a few
Dutch Boors, who, in case of any failure of the Emigrants’ hopes, could give
them no assistance.
Among
other means employed to give an unfavourable impression of the Settlers, a
charge of Radicalism was attempted to be fixed upon them. In such a body of
people there are, no doubt, many worthless and discontented individuals; but I
can aver, from my own personal knowledge, - and I have visited their different
locations – that I never met with an instance where there was less reason for
this charge applied to the people as a body, than in the present case. What
they are at this moment I will not presume to say; but in the latter end of
1821, I was surprised to find so few persons of this description among them.
Shall
we be told, to set aside their claims on our benevolence, that they want
industry? If, after the failure of so many crops, they neglect to cultivate the
soil, to the full extent of the credit they may have given them for physical
energies, is it a matter of surprise? They cannot command the clouds of Heaven
to rain upon their fields: they cannot raise the water, from the deep ravines
to which it is confined, to irrigate their gardens: they cannot arrest
Omnipotence, and stop the progress of that blight, which, through successive
years, has destroyed the promise of the harvest. And, if under the repeated
strokes of the Almighty, the mind loses its tone, when nothing but the powerful
aids of Religion can prevent depression, and stimulate to perseverance, the
unhappy sufferers are more entitled to our sympathy than deserving of censure.
The
claims of our unhappy countrymen upon our sympathy are of more than an ordinary
character. The writers of elegant fiction have been accused of injuring the
cause of benevolence, by dressing it out in all the bewitching enchantments of
eloquence. “All is beauty to the eye, and harmony to the ear. Nothing is seen
but pictures of felicity, and nothing is heard but the pleasing whispers of
gratitude and affection. The reader is carried along by soft and delightful
representations of virtue. He accompanies his hero through all the fancied
varieties of his history. He goes along with him to the cottage of poverty and
disease, surrounded, as he may suppose, with all the charms of rural seclusion,
where the murmurs of an adjoining rivulet accord with the finer sensibilities
of his mind. He enters the enchanting retirement, and meets with a picture of
distress, adorned with all the fascinations of romance. Perhaps a meritorious
officer, who has fought the battles of his country, is languishing on the bed
of affliction, without the means of subsistence, and without an attendant, save
a son of tender years, to sympathise with him in his distress; and whose
helpless years, and destitute condition, add poignancy to his grief. Perhaps,
in the midst of a barren wilderness, and surrounded with wild beasts, he
unexpectedly meets a female, whose tender form, whose elegant motion, whose
sudden confusion, and whose instant attempt to escape, excite the most powerful
curiosity. She flies to elude his further enquiries; he follows, and, entering
a miserable hut, discovers himself an unwelcome intruder: he apologises, - he
is shocked – he finds the inmate of this humble shed invested with every female
grace: he felicitates himself on his good fortune: his tears flow, his heart
dilates with all the luxury of tenderness: ‘the visions of Paradise play before
his fancy’: his whole soul is absorbed in plans that embrace the future
felicity of this interesting family: he gives his last shilling, and imparts it
with so much delicacy that he makes them feel as if he is receiving and not
conferring a favour!”
The
lovers of romance – the epicures of feeling – can have no pretext for treating
the objects now calling for their sympathy with indifference, for want of these
romantic accompaniments. The admirers of this sort of fictitious history, our
modern sentimentalists, who revel in all the soft delusions of an ideal
philanthropy, may see all the high-wrought fiction of the ‘romantic tale, all
the imagery of the poet’s song’ reduced to sober reality; if we exclude from
the picture the benevolence which wipes the tear from the eye of distress,
which affords relief to the necessitous, and restores to society and happiness
the destitute sufferers. Here we have distress attended by all the attractions
that ever fancy conferred upon fiction. And what is the sympathy this distress
calls forth? We are told that the sufferers are Radicals; that they are
worthless people; or that the alleged distress does not exist. To this
unsupported assertion I oppose incontrovertible facts: I oppose a number of
letters from the most respectable individuals in Albany, which I now hold in my
hand: I oppose the most respectable witnesses, who have lately visited the locations:
and to the evidence of these witnesses I add my own testimony, being able, from
what I observed among the Settlers, to corroborate many of the statements
contained in the Report. In that country, which was described in all the
glowing tints of eastern imagery, which was held out to the poor Settlers as a
second Land of Promise, as a “Land literally overflowing with milk and honey”,
you may see the fingers, which seldom moved but to paint for the eye, or to
charm the ear, tying up cattle, or stopping up the gaps of their enclosure:
females, on whom, in England, the wind was scarcely allowed to blow, exposed to
all the rage of the pitiless storm: mothers with large families, who used to
have a servant to each child, without an individual to assist them in the
drudgery of the house, the labour of the dairy, or the care of their children:
families who used to sleep upon down, with scarcely a sufficient number of
boards, or a sufficient quantity of straw, to keep them from an earthen floor:
young females, possessed of every accomplishment, reduced to feed a few cows,
almost the sole dependence of the family: men, who have held the ranks of
Captain and Paymaster in the army, driving waggons, without shoes or stockings.
In a tour I
made through the locations of the Settlers I found a gentleman, whose
connexions at home I knew to be respectable, with two lovely daughters, without
a single servant, male or female, upon the place. I asked him how he came to be
in this situation. In reply he said, with much mildness and apparent
resignation, “I have sunk my all, I have spent my last shilling, and I have
never reaped one handful of produce from my farm!” On another location, I
entered a house in which I was ushered into the presence of a female, whose
dress and circumstances exhibited such a contrast to her manners and former
connexions in life that, when she began to talk of Sir John ___, Sir Wm ___,
General ___, Lady ___ as her relations, and to ask me if I knew such persons,
it required a considerable effort to persuade myself that I was not listening
to a person under a mental derangement. To describe all the heads of the
parties I met under similar circumstances, would be to enumerate the greater
part of them*. I am fully satisfied that if, in some instances, clamorous
individuals may have exaggerated the miseries of their own condition, one fifth
of the real distress of the Settlers, as a body, has neither met the public eye
nor been made known by their own report.
If
there be any thing interesting in the condition of an Emigrant, to him that
knows the heart of a stranger in a strange land; any thing to excite pity for
men smarting under the rod of the Almighty, like Job, when he exclaimed Have pity upon me Oh! my friends, have pity
upon me, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me; any thing to excite
sympathy in Old Age, bending over the grave of a partner in life who has died
of a broken heart; any thing touching in the name of a Widow; any thing tender
in the condition of Fatherless Children; any thing affecting in the sight of
young accomplished Females, reduced, not to the spindle and the distaff, but to
the drudgery that falls to the lot of the slave in the service of the African
Boor; if there be any thing in hunger and nakedness to excite pity – we have all
these claims embodied in this Institution. The Ancients had a temple dedicated
to Pity –the human heart is the proper seat of pity; and what objects can have
a greater claim to pity than those in whose cause we are assembled here today?
I may be told there are greater objects of pity than these Settlers. I admit
the fact; and if asked who they are, I reply – they are those persons who wish
to destroy our sympathy towards our unfortunate countrymen! I would rather be
the greatest sufferer in
*See Letters of Captain B and others in the Appendix,
which powerfully affected the Meeting on here being quoted.
Mr. BLAIR, on seconding the Third Resolution,
expressed himself as follows:
I
have much pleasure, Sir, in seconding the Resolution which has now been moved.
If thanks are due to any one, it will, I think, be acknowledged that they are
in a particular manner due to the Secretary, both for the interesting Report we
have just heard, and for his unwearied attention to the interests of the
Society. To his personal visits and minute examination into the circumstances
of the different cases of distress, the Society, as it appears to me, is mainly
indebted for the prevention of abuses, and the most judicious application of its
funds; and I have no doubt that he will willingly continue to render the same
assistance in future, and with the same beneficial effects.
But,
Sir, a more powerful appeal to the best feelings of every benevolent mind,
cannot be well imagined, than is to be found in the extreme distress of the
unfortunate Settlers in
The SECRETARY
In
returning thanks for the honour conferred upon himself and colleague, by the
resolution just passed, attributed the kind expressions used by the gentleman
who had seconded the resolution to the politeness which distinguished that
gentleman’s character, and which led him to speak favourably of the meanest
efforts and most humble individuals. He had accepted the office of Secretary
under the impression that some person better qualified for it would soon have
relieved him. He was at the time perfectly unacquainted with the duties that
would devolve upon him, and he felt conscious that, from the want of
experience, those duties had been but ill performed; he begged, however, to
assure the Meeting that whilst he should most readily relinquish his charge to
any gentleman who would have the kindness to take it upon himself, he would, on
the other hand, as cheerfully continue his services so long as they were
considered in the smallest degree useful in promoting the views of the Society.
Sir Richard OTTLEY, on moving the Fourth Resolution,
addressed the meeting to the following effect:
I am
aware that this is a novel motion – that nothing similar has been proposed at
former meetings. I therefore feel myself called upon to state those grounds
which have induced me to bring it forward, and to suggest such arguments as I
trust will warrant its adoption by the Society.
I
shall abstain from all topics which might appear to be introduced for the
purposes of declamation, and all exaggerations of the sufferings of the
Colonists. That their distress is serious – that their wants are urgent, and
call for our immediate assistance, cannot be doubted by anyone who has
attentively considered the documents presented to the Society, and the
statements received from those who have had the best opportunities of
ascertaining the situation to which the Settlers are reduced. We might enlarge
much upon the state of destitution and nakedness in which many of the
inhabitants are placed, and the scenes of calamity and woe which are presented
to the eyes of those who have visited the locations. But I prefer to confine
myself to those facts which are contained in the Report, and which have been
stated in the course of today’s proceedings, because we have had an opportunity
of examining the truth of these facts. All those statements have been made by
eye-witnesses; by gentlemen who have resided amongst the Settlers, or have
travelled through the districts where the Colonists have been fixed. The
existence of those calamitous circumstances having been sufficiently proved, it
becomes our duty to search out and to apply the best remedy in our power. I
therefore propose, in the first part of my motion, that we should renew and
increase our exertions in behalf of the objects in whose welfare we are
interested. This is absolutely necessary on our part because, upon looking at
the state of our finances, I perceive that we possess only the balance of 723
Rds applicable to their relief – a sum wholly inadequate to afford the
assistance which is now so imperiously demanded. But I do not rest here. The
ulterior object of my motion is to call upon others to co-operate with us in
the same benevolent work; and we cannot expect that other persons residing in
distant countries should come forward with their money, if they see that we are
idle and unconcerned. But if our felloe countrymen in
The
Settlers may properly be divided into four classes. 1. The Heads of Parties. 2.
Those who have joined together and have been working upon a joint stock. 3. The
Agricultural Servants and 4. The Mechanics. Of these classes of persons the two
latter descriptions are alone exempted from the sufferings which have afflicted
the others; and it is therefore for the purpose of assisting the two former
classes that I call upon this Meeting to adopt the present motion. The heads of
parties are those who have been most severely afflicted, and they are the
persons who are least likely to make their afflictions public. They have lost
nearly the whole of their capital, and have received no return for the grain
which has been sown. Three successive failures have reduced to penury all who
depended upon the produce of the earth. Those who have traded upon a joint
stock are nearly in similar embarrassments, It is in favour of these persons
that we are peculiarly called upon for assistance. But numerous are the
sufferers of all denominations. Women who have lost their husbands – children
deprived of their parents – what resources have these?
The
Report has brought to our notice more than one instance of persons almost in a
state of destitution, and who are literally deprived of all means of support,
except those which are afforded by our subscriptions. We must, then, renew our
efforts; and having done so, we may request others to come forward also; and
whenever such an appeal has been made to the hearts of the English people, that
appeal has seldom been made in vain. Unworthy objects have too frequently found
means to impose on the generosity of the people of England, and have obtained
those alms which might have been better appropriated; but when a case of real
distress has been brought home to the knowledge of our countrymen, few
instances are recorded in which they have refused to afford relief.
I
wish, farther, to let the distress of the Settlers to be made known in
The Rev. Dr. PHILIP, on proposing Thanks to the friends
of the Society who had left the Colony, said:-
That
whatever hesitation he had felt on a former occasion, in moving Thanks to the
India Gentlemen, for their kind support to the Society, from a fear of wounding
the delicacy of such as were present, he could feel none at this time, when the
thanks were restricted to those who had left us. It had been beautifully
remarked by a celebrated author “that death sets a stamp upon the character,
and places it out of the reach of Fortune.” Such a stamp might be said to be
affixed to the character of the gentlemen whose names he was about to read.
They had, during their residence amongst us, been ever foremost in every
charitable institution; and had, in a particular manner, assisted and supported
the objects of this Society. Indeed, it might almost be said to owe its present
existence to their fostering hand.*
*The Society originated in 1820 from the benevolent
exertions of Captain MORESBY, Commander, and Mr. SHAWL, Purser, of His
Majesty’s Ship Menai; and H. ELLIS
Esq, Deputy Colonial Secretary.
The Rev, W. WRIGHT said:-
That
it was with feelings of peculiar satisfaction that he rose to second the motion
of his worthy friend Dr. PHILIP. Participating, as he did, in the sentiments
which had animated the Meeting, he felt that it would be impossible for him to
add any thing to what had already been delivered in defence of the objects of
the Society. He could not, however, forbear taking that opportunity of stating
to the Meeting the advantages which he had at all times witnessed to have been
derived from the zealous co-operation of the respectable servants of the
British Government in India; who had been most steady friends to the Society,
recruiting its slender funds by their liberal donations, and giving it the
advantage of their countenance and protection, by which its character was
maintained, and its almost dying embers were rekindled. Mr.WRIGHT passed an
encomium on the benevolent nature of the charity, and felt that if the
respectable gentlemen, to whom he was endeavouring to pay this humble tribute,
could derive any additional pleasure to that which they must enjoy from having
been the happy instruments of so much good to their fellow creatures in
distress, it would arise from the knowledge that their services were not
forgotten.
Mr. H.W. MONEY
While
he acknowledged the claims of his Indian friends, who had left the Colony, to
the Thanks of the Meeting for the services they had rendered to the Society,
disclaimed the degree of merit, ascribed in the observations just made, to the
Gentlemen from
APPENDIX
The two following letters were written by Gentlemen
who are both Heads of respectable Parties, and who had lived in genteel and
comfortable circumstances in their native Country.
Graham’s
Town 23rd Dec 1822
“I
received your letter, and am glad that some one thinks it worth while to
enquire after so wretched a being as myself. I am sorry to tell you, our dear
little Matilda is no more. She was with me while reaping some Barley, when I
told her to go to the house to bring me some water to drink; she ran off, and
fell on one of those vile reptiles that abound in this part of the Globe, and
was stung. I attended my sweet babe for seven days and nights, during which she
was in the greatest agony, until mortification took place. She then recovered
her senses – prayed for her poor mamma and papa, and expired quite easy, on
Tuesday, at four o’ clock. She was a lovely child, only four years old: all my
misfortunes are nothing compared to this; she was our last and only child.
“You
ask me for an account of our situation; which I will give you, and I believe it
is applicable to all the Settlers, as regards our crops and prospects of food
for the ensuing year. My wheat, two months ago the most promising I ever saw in
any country, is now cut down and in heaps for burning, before we plough the
ground again. The rust has utterly destroyed it; not a grain have we saved. My
barley, from the drought, and a grub which attacks the blade just under the
surface, produced little more than I sowed. My Indian corn, very much injured
by the caterpillar; cabbages destroyed by the lice; the beans all scorched with
the hot winds; and carrots run to seed: the potatoes are good, but I have but a
small quantity. Our cows are all dry for want of grass: not the least
appearance of verdure as far as the eye can reach. Nothing but one great
wilderness of faded grass, something resembling a couchy fallow in
* The Wild Hound, or Wild Dog, of the
Graham’s
Town, 28th Jan 1823
“We
are all here struggling in the same way in which you left us, or rather worse;
our prospects being still more gloomy, as the crops have again very generally
failed in this part of the country. We have also this season been troubled with
a new enemy: the caterpillars and locusts have been so numerous, that our
gardens are totally destroyed. I took the greatest care of mine, and the
prospect of its producing something cheered us a little; but this unexpected
visitation has thrown a complete damp on our exertions. The season has been so
dry, that many farmers in the Graaff Reynet district have been obliged to leave
their places for want of water. Several whom I know are forced to send 3 miles
for what water they use for domestic purposes. Bread is now quite out of the
question; the scanty allowance of half a pound of rice is all we get. We feel
much the want of vegetables, sometimes being under the necessity of living
several days on meat alone. The Caffers are very troublesome; they lately stole
24 head of oxen from me; but Misfortune has so long been my companion that we
begin to be reconciled to each other.”
The next two extracts are selected from letters now
before the Committee, and are written by a Gentleman who formerly held a
Captain’s commission in His Majesty’s Service. They are addressed to a private
Friend, who had collected a small Subscription for him in
Feb 17 1823
“To
my friends, and the friends of humanity, I am indebted, I may say, for the
existence of myself and family; for really, but for their kind interference, we
must have perished.
“If I
could only see any kind of bread of my own growing, I should be happy. ‘Tis now
nearly three months since we had any bread to eat, and indeed very little rice.
If I could any way get a bag of meal, it would be a great relief.
“I am
very sorry to be so troublesome: however, necessity compels me to do what my
nature somewhat recoils at. We are very badly off for breakfast, which now
usually consists of a bit of fried cabbage, or pumpkin stewed. If we once again
get bread we will enjoy it sweetly.”
May 23rd
1823
“Every
necessary is so extravagant in Graham’s Town, that it is impossible to come at
clothing. My sons and myself are very naked, and the weather is now excessively
cold. If I could but get the price of a pair of new wheels for my waggon, I
would put my son J___ on the road, and he would earn a little by drawing loads
for the shop-keepers in Graham’s Town. The calico will be a great relief when
it arrives. A whole shirt will now be a great luxury.
“We
are at present as badly off as ever. The four cows that gave us milk, which was
a great part of our support, are dry,
owing to a disease now prevailing among the cattle throughout the country.”
The following interesting passages are extracted from
the M.S.Journal of Mr.F____ (a Gentleman well known to several Members of the
Committee), who travelled through the English locations in March and April
last, and personally witnessed many of the facts which he relates:-
March 31
“Visited
SCANLAN’s Party. There are only three families remaining here, out of seven of
which it originally consisted. They were all, but one, shoemakers, and might
have obtained plenty of employment among the Settlers, were it not that there
is not one in twenty who has now money sufficient to purchase a pair of shoes;
and in fact, the Settlers are generally found without them. These people have
still a few cattle, but have lost many by the Caffers. Indian corn and pumpkins
are their only produce.”
April 1
“Mr.
MANDY informed me that many in his neighbourhood were in the greatest distress,
and that some had killed their last cow for food.”
“BAILIE’s
Party – Mr. ADAMS, who is head of one division of this party, informed me that
there were only thirteen or fourteen families now remaining on the location,
out of the whole of this large settlement. He added that there was much
distress among those who remained: and instanced one person of the name of
H____, who had formerly been in good circumstances, but who, from the failure
of every other resource, had that day been forced to go to Graham’s Town, to
sell some of the small remaining part of his clothes, to keep himself and his
family from starving, for absolute want.”
April 3
“Visited
SMITH and COCK’s Parties – Three persons belonging to these two parties had
some wheat grown this year; and at one of their houses, I eat the first and
last bread that I met with in
“It
is most distressing to see the husband and wife, with scarcely any thing to
cover them, and their children in the same condition, lying on the ground on
the outside of their miserable huts, roasting a few heads of India corn,
probably the only food they have. Many have nothing but pumpkins. One family of
the name of H____ had not tasted butcher’s meat, nor I believe bread, for about
three months, and their children were running about without clothes. As for
shoes or stockings, they are seldom to be seen on either old or young.
“I am
sorry to be obliged to remark that all the honest boldness of character, so
conspicuous in the yeomen and labourers of England, seems to have left these
wretched Emigrants; and they now appear to meet their disappointments and
misfortunes with an indifference bordering on despair.”
“HYMAN
and FORD’s party are in a truly miserable plight, with scarcely any thing to
eat but a few vegetables. I here saw an aged couple in almost a starving
condition. On going into their hut, I found the poor woman boiling a little
pumpkin soup, which was mixed with some milk. She said this was the only food
they had; and their wretched dwelling was neither wind nor watertight.
“At a
little distance I met what had once been, as I was told, a fine hearty-looking
young woman, but now miserably emaciated – apparently about twenty four or
twenty five years of age. She was leading one child, another was following, and
a third was on her arm. They were all without shoes or stockings. The woman’s
dress (if such it could be called) consisted of the remains of an old tent tied
about her; the children were clad in the same manner; and the canvas appeared
so rotten, that it would scarcely hang on them.”
April 4
“On
reaching
April 6
“Captain
______ and his two sons were without shoes or stockings; and, actually, without
sufficient clothing of any kind to cover their naked limbs. Their corn had
totally failed from blight, and their garden had scarcely produced any thing,
in consequence of drought and caterpillars.”
“Mrs.
CURRIE (who has a shop at Bathurst) told me that although almost every settler
was in the greatest distress for want of the common necessaries of life; and
though the articles she sells are chiefly of this description, yet there was
almost no demand; because not one in fifty had a single Rix Dollar to expend.
Such, however, she added, was the distress of some, that she could not help
giving credit, though with little or no prospect of ever being repaid.”
The remaining selections have been furnished to the
Secretary from different most respectable quarters. The first is extracted from
a Letter addressed to Mr. T. PRINGLE by a Medical Officer on the Caffer
Frontier, and dated August 29 1823.
“During
my recent stay at _____ I had opportunities of seeing a good deal of the actual
state of the Settlers in
*The Scotch Party are located far up in the interior,
on one of the sources Great Fish River, parallel with the Sneuwberg; and have
suffered less from the blight than any other Settlers.
The next is also taken from a private letter addressed
to a gentleman now in
Sept 1 1823
“My family
are this day without bread, and I can procure none in Graham’s Town, at any
price. Rice is also very dear and scarce. Now, in our fourth year, our
privations are greater than ever. The spring-bucks are increasing so much, that
all my own corn and my nearest neighbour’s on the plain has been entirely eaten
down. My people are obliged to take their turns in watching them all night.
BARKER and BIGGAR have severally lost 30 and 40 head of cattle last week, by
the Caffers; STANLY, all his yesterday.”
The same gentleman, on the 8th Sept, says:-
“Before
our present crop is ripe, much distress will be felt for want of food. It is
really lamentable to hear of and witness the distress that now prevails from
this cause. A poor Irishman told me today that many families, besides his own,
were living “like the soldier’s horse – on green forage” for he had eaten
nothing during the last two days but lettuces and leeks! Times are so hard that
we cannot employ labourers.”
In a communication dated Sept 27th we have
the following statement from the same correspondent:-
“I
was yesterday asked to join in a petition to Government to send down Indian
corn for seed to the Settlers, as it cannot be procured here. I have been this
week at the Kowie with my waggon to get flour and rice from the little vessel
(the Good Intent) which came in a day
or two before. I was fortunate in getting one bag of brown rice for my share,
for which I paid 20 Rds. The whole of her cargo was flour and rice, and was
disposed of in the boat as it was landed: and numbers went away without a
morsel, declaring that their families at home were without grain of any kind.
It was, indeed, most pitiable to witness the disappointment of those who had
hoarded up a few dollars for this arrival ,
and returned empty. I saw some of THORNHILL’s, SMITH’s, COCK’s, the Nottingham,
“The
rust or blight is very prevalent both in the rye and solid-straw wheat, but I
sincerely hope they will not be materially hurt. All the other forward wheats
have suffered as usual – nothing remains of them.”
Another gentleman, whose high respectability and
moderate sentiments are also well known to the Committee, writes to a friend on
Sept 29 as follows:-
“I am
not one who wish to encourage the reports of general distress for food; but to
say that the Settlers have plenty is
too barefaced. I believe very few have sufficient Indian corn for seed.
Applications are made to me from all quarters for it, as I happen to have a
little to spare. With respect to our crops – the Cape wheat has entirely
failed; the solid-straw, or
Mr. COLLIS, proprietor of the only mill hitherto
established in the new settlements, in a note dated 20th Sept:-
“That
no wheat grown by any Settler had
ever yet been brought to be ground at his mill; but that it had been partly
occupied up to the end of July last in grinding barley, Indian corn, and a
little rye, reaped by Settlers last season. Since that period, not six muids of
grain of any sort had been received into the mill; and out of that (he adds)
several persons have taken back maize for seed, so it is evident there is none
in hand to grind.”
The correspondent referred to at page 27
[Transcriber’s note: ie immediately prior to Mr. COLLIS] continues on the 30th
September:-
“The
report that the Settlers have had abundant crops of Indian corn, or that they
have now any tolerable supply remaining, is utterly untrue. It is now selling
at one shilling (English) per quart,
for seed. Since I came from home, I am sorry to find that the prospects for
harvest are worse: rust and drought are destroying every thing. The Caffers
continue uncommonly active. PIGOT, COOPER, BESTER, DELPORT, ERASMUS and VANDYKE
have all lost cattle. If we have not effectual relief in a very short time, we
must quit our locations. It is become really distressing and alarming. Oh, for
Van Diemen’s Land! I am heartily sick of it, and dread being a moment from home
on account of the Caffers.”
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Not
previously advertised
His Excellency Lord C.H. SOMERSET 200 Rds
Sir Richard OTTLEY 150
John Thomas BIGGE Esq 100
W.G.M. COLEBROOKE Esq 100
J. GREGORY Esq (Secretary to the Commission) 100
W.W. BIRD Esq
50
Commodore Jos. NOURSE C.B. 100
Captain R. HAY R.N. 100
Rev. Geo. HOUGH A.M.
Rev. John PHILIP D.D.
50
Lieut.Col. PITMAN H.C.M.S. 100
W.T. BLAIR Esq H.C.C.S. 50
Edw. Sheffield MONTAGUE Esq H.C.C.S. 100
H.M. PIGON Esq H.C.C.S. 75
A.B. TOD Esq H.C.C.S. 300
H. WALTERS Esq H.C.C.S. 100
P. CHERRY Esq H.C.C.S. 100
John TROTTER Esq H.C.C.S. 100
H.W. MONEY Esq H.C.C.S. 100
Colin LINDSAY Esq H.C.C.S. 100
W. BRADDON Esq H.C.C.S. 100
Rev. W. WRIGHT A.M.
20
Mrs. Colonel MUNN
20
Mrs. S.E. TOOMER
20
A.
G. CADOGAN Esq
50
S. BAILEY Esq
50
Mr. F. DICKINSON
20
Mr. H.E. RUTHERFOORD
50
Mr. T. PRINGLE
20
A Friend
25
R.W. EATON Esq 50
R.J. JONES Esq
50
Edward FLAHERTY Esq
30
Mr. G. GREIG
70