164 UTILITY OF THE COLONIAL HOTTENTOTS. 25— 2 7 A p r il ;
necessary a race of men the Hottentots are considered by the colonists;
who feel, and by their conduct prove, that the business of the farms
cannot proceed without the labor of their hands. The difficulty which
I experienced, not at Graaffreynet only, but in every other part of
the colony, in obtaining men for the prosecution of my travels even
within the boundary, has, in conjunction with other evidence, convinced
me that the demand for them is much greater than the
supply: a circumstance which should obtain for this peaceable race
every reasonable encouragement, and which must convince the
colonists that their true interest consists in securing their fidelity by
kind treatment. I do not mean to stand forward on all occasions
indiscriminately, as the advocate for the Hottentots against the
Boors, nor shall I undertake to defend them against many just
complaints made by the latter; for I know that their conduct may
sometimes be exceedingly vexatious, and sufficiently provoking. to
exhaust the patience of their masters. I wish merely to point out
how greatly the comfort of both parties depends on a mutual good
understanding; and that fidelity on one side, and justice and kindness
on the other, are the only means of doing away that mutual
suspicion and recrimination, which has so long subsisted between
them, and which none hut the worst enemies to society and good
order, endeavour to cherish and perpetuate. Connected with this
question, there exist among the inhabitants of the Cape two opposite
parties; and, as I have had numerous opportunities of hearing the
opinions of both, and have formed my own upon the evidence of
facts only, and the experience of several years, I shall not make to
either, any apology for saying, that I believe much blame to be due
to both. For, where party spirit exists, there of course, will impartiality
not be found; and where there is no impartiality, there of
course can no justice dwell: for justice holds an even balance j but
partiality, or party spirit, throws a deceitful preponderance into its
own scale. A legislature has done but half its duty, when it has
made good laws; the other half, is to watch that they are duly obeyed,
or enforced.
<26th. I sent again for the five tronlc Hottentots whom I wished to
1812. SECRET INTIMIDATION.
hire, and offered them as wagès, considerably more than the landdrost
had fixed as the sum to be paid those whom he had first given me.
At this, they expressed themselves fully satisfied, and every thing was
now finally settled, excepting thé act of legally binding them to me
before the landdrost. I therefore went without delay, to apiprise him
that every arrangement excepting that one, was agreed on ; and that
nothing more was wanting but his consent. This he now granted ;
and, without referring the matter to the heemraaden, the following
morning was fixed as the time for meeting the people at his house,
and according to law, entering into engagements with them in
his presence.
'¿'1th. In consequence of this, he sent word the following
morning, that four of the men were then waiting at his house ; but
on coming there, I found to my great surprisè and mortification, that
they had all changed their minds and now refused to engage themselves,
and even declared to thé landdrost that they had never
promised to go on the journey with me ; an assertion so notoriously
false, that I should have believed that he had not been mistaken
in their character, had I not known enough of Hottentots to
feel aware that, on some occasions, their timidity and dread would
make them say any thing which they thought likely to get them out
of present trouble. I readily forgave these poor misguided creatures,
because I suspected that some one in thé village might have told
them that if they went with me, they would never return, or that other
arguments might have been used to excite their alarm and dissuade
them from their purpose. Besides the landdrost, there was present
a person named Corel Gerots, who, I was told, had thé superintendance
of the tronk Hottentots.
■luli was one of the five Hottentots whose names were on my
second list ; but he boldly persisted in his intention of accompanying
me, although the landdrost declared that, being a good waggon-driver,
he could not be spared from the drostdy work. Yet nothing could
shake this honest fellow’s resolution ; therefore, as he was not a slave,
but a free man, it would have been an illegal stretch of power, to
have restrained him from chusing his own master.