SIXTY YEARS AGO; 
 
 OR, 
 REMINISCENCES 
 
 trugg(c for % ^ rccbam of % |)rcs$ 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA, 
 
 ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FIRST NEWSPAPER 
 IN THE EASTERN PROVINCE. 
 
 THE HON'BLE L. H. MEURANT, 
 
 MF.MBIR OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL. 
 
 CAPE TOWN: 
 SAUL SOLOMON & Co., PRINTERS, ST. GEORGE'S STREET. 
 
 1885. 
 
 TS ItlCKTID.J
 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 11 Newspaper Press Union of South Africa ' 
 
 The Reminiscences which the following pages contain are respectfully 
 
 Dedicated, by a Brother Pressman, the Senior in the Colony, 
 
 and the only person, he believes, now living, who has a 
 
 personal knowledge of many of the facts. 
 
 No fine writing has betn attempted, the aim of the author having been to 
 
 place upon record as succinct and consecutive a history of the great 
 
 and successful struggle for the LIBERTY or THE PRESS IN 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA, as is obtainable from published records 
 
 and other sources of information ; as well as of the 
 
 subsequent spread of Colonial Newspaper 
 
 Literature, especially in the Eastern 
 
 Province, 
 
 In the hope that what he has compiled and written may clear up several 
 
 controversial questions, and afford useful information, he now 
 
 submits the following pages to his Brother Pressmen 
 
 and the Public. 
 
 L. H. MEURANT. 
 Cape Town, May 30, 1885. 
 
 A 2 

 
 REMINISCENCES, &c. 
 
 "THE MASS OF EVERY PEOPLE MUST BE BARBAROUS WHERE THERE 
 
 is NO PRINTING." Johnson. 
 
 SUCH was the sentiment, or motto, with which the first number 
 of the South African Commercial Advertiser was ushered into 
 life just SIXTY YEARS AGO, on the yth January, 1824. 
 
 It has often been subject of thought, and matter of surprise, 
 to the writer of these u Reminiscences," and others, that so 
 long a period as between the first colonization of the Cape of 
 Good Hope and the year 1824 was allowed to elapse without any 
 attempt being made to establish a free public newspaper, or as 
 it is now called a " Free Press," in this Colony. 
 
 This is the more surprising when we consider that the first 
 Settlers came from what has been called " the most industrious 
 and liberty-loving of countries Holland," followed not very 
 long after by the exiled Huguenots, " some of the best blood 
 of La belle France." 
 
 To account for such supineness, or lack of energy, or what- 
 ever else it may be called, we must look to the state of Society 
 immediately before, and at the period to which these Remi- 
 niscences refer ; and we find a remarkable coincidence of 
 despotism, as will be seen hereafter, between the rule of the 
 two nationalities Dutch and English. For nearly a century 
 and a half the Cape of Good Hope was a mere mercantile 
 settlement of the Dutch East India Company, who held a 
 monopoly of trade, and checked nnd prevented the formation 
 of what is now understood as a Colony. The preed of self-
 
 aggrandizement was such that the Settlers were compelled to 
 sell their produce exclusively to the " Company," at its own 
 price, not being a tithe of its real value. It is a strange fact, 
 that at the very period the States of Holland were distinguished 
 for the maintenance of public liberty and the encouragement 
 of industry, their representatives at the new Colony of the 
 Cape of Good Hope carried out a policy directly the reverse. 
 The French refugees had also on oath promised compliance 
 with the local regulations of the Company, which stipulated 
 that no one in the Colony might sell the produce of their 
 labour on their own terms that neither could they buy nor 
 dispose of anything except at the Company's store, and at the 
 Company's price ! 
 
 Among those early settlers there were several who, having 
 some knowledge of personal right and freedom, were not likely 
 to submit to the arbitrary rule of the Company without 
 remonstrance ; thus we find that political and other troubles 
 arose. The Governor (Willem Adriaan van der Stell 1699) 
 and his father (Simon van der Stell) and his brother, were the 
 largest farmers in the Colony, and the clergyman of Cape Town 
 was the next greatest j having, it was alleged, the slaves and 
 property of the Company at command, and, being secure from 
 interference, doing just as they pleased. 
 
 A memorial, signed by sixty-one of the Burghers, was, 
 however, secretly forwarded to Holland, charging the Governor 
 with personal persecution and tyranny, and with monopolizing 
 every means of private profit. 
 
 When the Governor (W. A. van der Stell) discovered that 
 such a memorial had left the Colony, he at once like Lord 
 Charles Somerset afterwards, under English rule took pro- 
 ceedings against all who were known to have signed it. Among 
 them we find the names recorded of several "refugees," such 
 as Jacques de Savoye ; his son-in-law, named Meyer; Guilliam 
 and Francois du Toit ; Hercules du Pre; Cornelis van
 
 Niekerk ; Jacobus van Brakel ; Willem van Zyl ; Jan and 
 Carl Elbertz, and others names still well-known at the 
 present day. 
 
 Such is a slight outline of the history of the time, ending 
 in the recall of Governor Van derStell, but effecting no change 
 whatever in the policy of the Company, which, as before observed, 
 was self-aggrandizement. And this reference to it has been 
 here introduced to show how remarkably history repeated itself, 
 in many respects, in the subsequent despotic rule of the Anglo- 
 Colonial Government, upwards of a century afterwards. 
 
 The growth of the Cape of Good Hope, it may be truly 
 said, as a free Colony properly so called dates from the 
 arrival of the first British Immigration in 1820. This was 
 the largest influx in a body of really " free " people since the 
 first settlement of the Colony, and this fact must be borne in 
 mind, as having a direct influence upon the subsequent attempt 
 to establish a Free Press. Prior to that date, the only acces- 
 sions from the United Kingdom were a few merchants and 
 traders, and the civil and military officers appointed to the 
 Station. 
 
 The ' Zuurveldt" now the district of Albany had pre- 
 viously been occupied by the T'Slambie Kafirs, who were 
 intruders the Colonial boundaries being then the Fish River* 
 from its source to the sea j they were driven out by a mixed 
 Imperial and Colonial force, under command of the late Colonel 
 Graham, after whom Graham's Town has been named. This 
 fine vacated country had to be filled up. The time was oppor- 
 tune. The war with Napoleon the First had stagnated trade, 
 and emigration was looked to as an outlet for the relief of the 
 unemployed. The introduction of emigrants to fill up the 
 Zuurveldt was recommended to the Home authorities ; the 
 suggestion found favour, and 50,000 was voted by the British 
 Parliament for the purpose. No Jess than 90,000 applications 
 were sent in, although only about 4 ooo persons could be sent
 
 s 
 
 out for the money. Eventually 3.475 souls were landed in 
 Algoa Bay (Port Elizabeth) in April, 1820. 
 
 Amongst the Settlers thus introduced were many men of 
 good position and education, several of whom played con- 
 spicuous parts subsequently in Cape public affairs. There 
 were four practical printers, viz., the late Hon'bles R. Godlonton 
 and William Cock ; Thos. Strir.gfellow (subsequently Civil 
 Commissioner and Resident Magistrate of Fort Beaufort), and 
 Samuel Mollett (afterwards overseer in the printing office of 
 Mr. W. Bridekirk, proprietor of the South African Chronicle^ 
 Cape Town). Then there were the late Hon'ble J. C. Chase, 
 Capt. Duncan Campbell (late Civil Commissioner of Albany), 
 Lieut. T. C. White (murdered by Kafirs in the war of 
 1834-35), Lieut. Rubidge, R.N., Walter Currie (father of the 
 late Sir Walter, then one year old), Dr. John Ather- 
 stone (father of the Hon. W. G. Atherstone, then five years 
 old), George Dyason (afterwards Civil Commissioner of Graaff- 
 Reinet), Hougham Hudson (afterwards Civil Commissioner 
 and Resident Magistrate of Graham's Town, father of the 
 present Civil Commissioners of Graaff-Reinet and Oudtshoorn), 
 Revs. Shaw, Boardman and McCleland, Lieut. Bisset, R N. 
 (father qf Lieut.-General Sir J. J. Bisset), Miles Bowker, with 
 his nine sons (father of the Hon'ble R. M. Bowker), the 
 Thornhil's, Carlisles, Gilfillans, Lovemores, Scanlens (grand- 
 father and father of Sir Thomas), Capt. Damant, Alexander 
 Biggar (and his seven daughters) and son Robert, who was 
 killed in a fight at Blood River, Zululand, many years ago, 
 Dr. Roberts, Dr. Peter Campbell, Dr. John Younger, Thomas 
 Phillips, David and Carey Hobson, the Cawoods, Thomas 
 Mahoney (murdered by Kafirs in the Kafir invasion of 1834), 
 George Southey, with his sons William, Richard (th; 
 Honourable), George and Henry : and last, though not least, 
 Thomas Pringle, who subsequently fought the battle of the 
 Liberty of the South African Press. With an influx of such
 
 men it will not be surprising that there was a shaking among 
 the dry bones. 
 
 On the arrival of the British Settlers, the Colony was 
 governed by the Acting Governor, Sir Rufane Shawe Donkin, 
 u who earned for himself the gratitude of the whole Settle- 
 
 O 
 
 ment by the sympathy he showed for the misfortunes of the 
 Settlers, and by his efforts to ameliorate their condition." 
 Great were the hardships and privations of the Settlers. Two 
 successive years their crops failed, and the distress from this 
 and other misfortunes became so great that the English 
 Government had to spend no less a sum than 200,000 to 
 meet the demands for rations, agricultural implements, &c. 
 
 On the ist of December, 1821, Lord Charles Henry 
 Somerset, the Governor (who had been absent on leave), 
 returned to the Colony. He was a despot in every sense of 
 the word, and the British Settlers, coming so recently from a 
 free country, soon became sensible of the want of a Free Press, 
 and felt the paralyzing oppressiveness of absolute despotism. 
 The late Mr. John Fairbairn, in his preface to a " condensed 
 edition of the first eighteen numbers of the South African 
 Commercial Advertiser" published in 1826, thus describes the 
 rule of Lord Charles : " The slightest expression of discontent 
 was considered by those who knew the Colony as an act of 
 great imprudence, exposing the obnoxious individual to the 
 whole force of Government opposition in all his pursuits. 
 Formal complaints, however just and reasonable, were met 
 with neglect, or insult, or with punishments of a more sub- 
 stantial nature, the Colony being in so artificial a state that the 
 higher powers could ruin almost any man, merely by with- 
 drawing its favour from him, while it was bestowed upon his 
 rival; thus destroying the balance between them." "Neither 
 character nor talent was proof against the proud man's con- 
 tumely, or the insolence of office." 
 
 Previous to the arrival of the British Settlers in 1820,
 
 10 
 
 this tyrannical and vindictive system met with little or weak 
 resistance on the part of the public. The British Settlers were 
 the first to represent to Earl Bathurst (then Secretary of State 
 for the Colonies) by memorial, in 1823, their complaints 
 against the system of government and laws to which rhey 
 were subject. This petition was laid on the table of the House 
 of Commons, the result being that a Commission of Inquiry 
 was appointed to investigate the affairs of the Settlement on 
 the spot. 
 
 What precipitated this action on the part of the British 
 Settlers was the publication in the Government Gazette the 
 only paper then printed in the Colony, a paper entirely under 
 the control of the Government, not even an advertisement 
 being admitted without its sanction of the following 
 
 " PROCLAMATION 
 
 "Of His Excellency the Right Honourable Lord CHARLES 
 HENRY SOMERSET, &c , Sec. 
 
 " Whereas it has been represented to me that certain indi- 
 viduals (probably ignorant of the laws of the Colony) have pro- 
 posed to convene public meetings for the discussion of public 
 measures and political subjects, contrary to the law and usage of 
 this place, I deem it, therefore, necessary thus publicly to notify 
 that all meetings so convened are contrary to law, and that every 
 person who attempts to convene any meeting or assembly of such 
 nature, without my sanction and authority, or the authority of the 
 Chief Local Magistrate, in distant districts when the object of 
 such meeting may be of so urgent a nature, that my authority and 
 sanction cannot be obtained, or any person attending such 
 unsanctioned meetings, is guilty of a high misdemeanour, and is 
 severely punishable for such offence : And I, moreover, hereby 
 warn all persons who may, notwithstanding, be induced to convene* 
 or attend, any such public meeting, that the local authorities have 
 been authorized ani required to disperse the same ; and after the 
 promulgation of these presents, to arrest and bring to justice all
 
 1 1 
 
 and every individual who shall infringe the ancient Laws and Usages 
 of the Colony entrusted to ray care. 
 
 "And whereas certain ignorant, malevolent, or designing persons 
 have thought proper to assert and insinuate that the Governor of this 
 Colony is not duly made acquainted with the petitions or complaints 
 preferred by those who feel themselves aggrieved, or who have 
 occasion to address me, as His Majesty's Representative, on their 
 respective cases and interests, I do therefore deem it advisable to 
 acquaint all persons that in no instance is any petition, memorial 
 or letter addressed to this Government, which does not come under 
 my immediate cognizance, or in which the order is not given under 
 my own hand, and that in most instances the contrary supposition 
 is alone adduced to cover language and expressions which could not 
 be tolerated if addressed immediately to His Majesty's Repre- 
 sentative, without offence to the laws in this case provided. 
 
 " And 1 do hereby further make known that, participating most 
 anxiously and sincerely in the distress which has been unavoidably 
 felt, from the total failure of two successive harvests, and various 
 other causes, by such of my countrymen as. sought an asylum in 
 this Settlement in the ) ear 1820, I shall unceasingly court every 
 opportunity of reducing their real grievances, and of promoting 
 their general and individual welfare ; but that it is at the same 
 time my firm determination to put down, by all the means with 
 which the law has entrusted me, such attempts as have been recently 
 made to disturb the public peace, whether by inflammatory or 
 libellous writings, or by any other measures, of which I give those 
 concerned this public warning, that no one may have cause to plead 
 ignorance of the laws of the Colony, when called to account for 
 transactions so materially and injuriously affecting the public peace. 
 
 GOD SAVE THE KING ! 
 
 " Given under my hand and seal, at the Cape of Good Hope, this 
 24th day of May, 1822. 
 
 "(S'gned) C. H. SOMERSET. 
 
 " By His Excellency's Command, 
 
 "(Signed) C. BIRD, Secretary."
 
 12 
 
 Another act of despotism against the Settlers was, that a 
 certain Colonel Jones, Chief Magistrate of Albany, who had 
 been appointed by Sir Rufane Donkin, and who had become 
 popular with the Settlers, was summarily dismissed from office, 
 from personal pique of the Governor, it was alleged, and 
 the seat of Magistracy, which up to that date had been at 
 Bathurst, was removed to Graham's Town, causing very 
 considerable loss to many of the inhabitants of the former 
 place ; in fact ruining it altogether. Capt. Duncan Campbell 
 and Mr. Miles Bowker (before referred to), who had been 
 associated with Colonel Jones as Heemraden, or Assessors, 
 resigned their appointments, refusing to serve any longer 
 under such a Government. 
 
 Mr. Thomas Pringle, the able writer and sweet poet, head 
 of the Scotch party of Settlers, located on the Baviaan's River 
 (now Glen Lynden), had in the meantime found his way to 
 Cape Town, where, through the influence of his countryman r 
 Sir Walter Scott, with the home Government, he obtained 
 the post of sub-librarian to the South African Public Library. 
 " For some time after my arrival in Cape Town," wrote Mr. 
 Pringle, "things appeared to wear a favourable aspect. The 
 Governor had declared himself a friend to the mitigation of 
 Slavery, and had just issued a Proclamation containing some 
 beneficial and many plausible enactments " . . . " While 
 matters exhibited this encouraging aspect, and while I saw 
 opening around me fields of public usefulness, far beyond my 
 own humble powers adequately to occupy, I wrote home to invite 
 Mr. Fairbairn, an early and intimate friend, to join me at Cape 
 Town, in order to share with me in the toils, and (as I then 
 hoped) the honours of the career I had too sanguinely sketched 
 out for our joint activity." 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn having in due course joined his friend Pringle, 
 the latter says : " Long before Mr. Fairbairn joined me, 
 however, I had acquired a more intimate acquaintance with
 
 '3 
 
 the character of the Colonial Administration, and formed a 
 truer estimate of their views. I scon saw that their professed 
 anxiety to encourage education and the diffusion of knowledge, 
 was but a piece of political hypocrisy, assumed to cloak the 
 real character of the Government from the prying eyes of His 
 Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry, whose arrival in the 
 Colony was then daily expected."* 
 
 A remarkable combination of circumstances appeared to 
 favour the advent of a Free Press. As already stated Mr. 
 Thomas Pringle had taken up his residence in CapeTown, where 
 he was soon joined by Mr. John Fairbairn. At this very time 
 Mr. George Greig, a gentleman who had held an appoint- 
 ment in the King's Printing Office in London a practical 
 printer arrived in the Colony, bringing with him the 
 necessary plant for a printing establishment. Almost at 
 the same time a vessel arrived in Table Bay on her way to 
 India, having on board a quantity of new printing type destined 
 for a periodical in India, but which had suddenly ceased to 
 exist, and instructions had been received in Cape Town to 
 sell the type if possible. The writer's father, having become 
 acquainted with Mr. Greig, and being equally anxious with 
 others to see a Free Press established in the Colony, purchased 
 the type for Mr. Greig, for the sum of ^300, on the under- 
 standing with the latter that his only son (the writer) should 
 be taught the art of printing, and when sufficiently old should 
 be admitted a partner in- the business. 
 
 One of the aims of Mr. Pringle was to establish an inde- 
 pendent periodical in Cape Town ; and he soon found a zealous 
 coadjutor in the late Rev. Dr. Abraham Faure, who also wished 
 to start a Dutch periodical. The former, in which Mr. Fairbairn 
 was to take part, was to be called the Swth African Journal^ 
 the latter De Zuid Afrikaansche Tydscbrijt, being the same 
 
 Appointed in consequence of the memorial of the British Settlers.
 
 signification in Dutch. On the 23rd February, 1823, Messrs. 
 Pringle and Faure sent a joint memorial to the Governor, 
 requesting permission for their works, and received a verbal 
 reply, through the lips of the Colonial Secretary " His 
 Excellency the Governor has not seen your application in 
 a favourable light." 
 
 Mr. Pringle suggested to write again, from which course 
 he was dissuaded by the Colonial Secretary (as a private 
 friend). " The Governor's jealousy of an independent Press," 
 said the Colonial Secretary, " was too deep-rooted to be 
 influenced by any force of argument, and to demand a written 
 reply would be regarded as a most offensive proceeding." So 
 the matter dropped for the present. 
 
 The Commission of Inquiry Mr. Bigge and Mr. Cole- 
 brooke arrived in July following. 
 
 " While matters were in this position," says Mr. Pringle, 
 ' I was surprised on the 2nd December, by a summons from 
 the Governor, to receive a communication on the subject of 
 the Press. His Excellency informed me that Earl Bathurst 
 had been pleased to permit the publication of our proposed 
 journal, provided care was taken that nothing appeared in it 
 'detrimental to the peace and safety of the Colony.' After 
 some admonitory remarks of his own, Lord Charles gave, with 
 obvious reluctance, and with a very ill grace, his sanction for 
 us to proceed with the publication." 
 
 Previous to this interview, in July,, 1823, Mr. Greig sent 
 the following memorial to the Governor, it being understood 
 that such a course was necessary : 
 
 " To His Excellency Lord CHARLES HENRY SOMERSET, Governor 
 of His Majesty's Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 " HUMBLY SHEWETH, 
 
 " That your memorialist is by profession a printer and stationer, 
 and a Freeman of the Stationers' Company.
 
 *' That your memorialist for several years held a situation in His 
 Majcstj's Printing Office in London^ which, owing to some new 
 arrangements in that department, and other causes, he thought fit 
 to relinquish, icceiving at the same time from the hands of that 
 department testimonials honourable to his conduct and professional 
 talents, which he has in his possession. 
 
 " That your memorialist embarked a considerable capital in the 
 purchase of materials used in the printing and stationery business, 
 with a view of following his profession in this Colony, and your 
 memorialist is therefore anxious to obtain your Excellency's appro- 
 bation in attempting to establish himself in a profession to wliich 
 he has devoted his early years, and the relinquishment of which 
 must subject him to a very serious pecuniary loss. In prosecution 
 of these views your memorialist is desirous of commencing a 
 publication, which will combine the ordinary topics of a magazine, 
 and more particularly such as are interesting to the commercial 
 and agricultural parts of the community, but rigidly excluding 
 personal controversy, and all discussion of matter relating to the 
 policy or administration of the Colonial Government. 
 
 " That your memorialist not only finds the commercial body of 
 the Colony generally favourable to the above project, but has the 
 satisfaction of being zealously supported in his views by many, who 
 consider it highly important to their welfare and interests, that an 
 established record of this nature should exist to circulate authentic 
 information in regard to current circumstances, and as a work of 
 after reference. In regard to the other objects of the work, your 
 memorialist deems it unnecessary to point out the advantages at all 
 times derived from a free diffusion of knowledge, it being indis- 
 putable that in proportion as just and liberal sentiments prevail in 
 any community, the public character becomes more elevated, and 
 the influence of Religion and Morality more deep and lasting. In 
 support of this assertion your memorialist begs to refer to the 
 colony of New South Wales where, since the establishment of a 
 newspaper and magazine, a new and higher tone has been given to 
 Society more liberality prevails between the different classes 
 men of literary acquirements devote their talent to the advance-
 
 i6 
 
 ment of the general good ideas have been suggested from which 
 the most important results are daily accruing the cause of virtue 
 and religion is advocated in an agreeable and instructive manner, 
 and vice and licentiousness is held up to detestation, in language 
 powerfully convincing, yet free from anything to which the most 
 scrupulous decorum could object ; in short, the whole Colony is 
 advanced in comfort, its commerce greatly improved, and its 
 Government less fettered. 
 
 " Your memorialist is well aware that in the event of your 
 Excellency granting your sanction to the establishment of a Printing 
 Press, and the publication of a " Literary and Commercial Maga- 
 zine," there are various individuals of literary talent in this Colony 
 who will be ready to afford their zealous support to this enterprise, 
 in the view of contributing to the general improvement of the 
 Colony, not only as respects its commerce and agriculture, but also 
 in the still more important departments of Education, Morality 
 and Religion. Your Excellency's anxious desire to promote these 
 important objects cannot be doubted. Your memorialist only prays, 
 therefore, that you may be pleased to view his design as calculated 
 to produce so desirable a result, while at the same time the restric- 
 tions he has suggested in the plan will obviate all danger of its 
 ever conflicting in any point with the political system of the Colony. 
 
 " In conclusion, your memorialist begs to express his readiness 
 (if required for your Excellency's satisfaction) to produce certifi- 
 cates of his capability in every respect of properly conducting the 
 projected work, which he now respectfully submits to your Excel- 
 lency's consideration, humbly, yet confidently, anticipating from 
 your candour and justice a favourable determination. 
 
 "And your memorialist, as in duty bound, will ever pray. 
 
 "(Signed) GEORGE GREIG. 
 "Cape Town, July, 1823." 
 
 If a thunderbolt had fallen at the feet of the despotic 
 Governor it could not have produced greater consternation at 
 Government House. Indeed, such a memorial, to such a man 
 appears the most refined sarcasm. His Excellency was in no
 
 '7 
 
 hurry to send a reply. About a month was allowed to elapse 
 in concocting some feasible excuse for a negative answer, when 
 on the 14-th August, 1823, the following official letter was 
 received by Mr. Greig, and from that day " The Battle of the 
 Freedom of the Press" commenced : 
 
 ' REPLY to the Memorial of Mr. GEORGE GREIG, by profession a 
 Printer and Stationer, praying His Excellency the Governor's 
 sanction to the establishment of a Printing Press, and the 
 publication of a ' Literary and Commercial Magazine.' 
 
 " Memorialist is informed that His Excellency the Governor 
 having had numerous applications to the same purport as that of 
 memorialist, His Excellency will feel himself bound to consider the 
 interests of prior applicants whenever a Printing Press shall be 
 established in the Colony. 
 
 " By command of His Excellency, 
 
 "(Signed) C. BIRD. 
 "Colonial Office, August 14, 1823." 
 
 The reason assigned for the refusal was a subterfuge. ' With 
 the exception of the subsequent application of Messrs. Pringle 
 and Faure, no similar application had ever been made especially 
 from a Printer (it being understood that the works of Messrs. 
 Pringle and Faure were to be printed at the Government 
 Printing Establishment), The only other instance on record 
 regarding a printing office being, that when one of the Settlers 
 ships, the Chapman^ put into Table Bay three years previously, 
 there were on board Messrs. Godlonton and Stringfellow, 
 who brought with them the whole plant of a 
 printing establishment, destined for Albany. But they were 
 not permitted to take it on, the Government, in the most 
 despotic manner, seizing, or as it would . now be termed, 
 "jumping "the whole, and paying the invoice price. This 
 press and those printing materials afterwards, strange to say, feil 
 into the hands of the writer, and subsequently came into the
 
 i8 
 
 possession of one of the original proprietors, Mr. Godlonton, 
 as will be seen in the sequel. 
 
 The " numerous applications " was a myth. It appears 
 almost incredible, at the present day, that a British Governor, 
 a scion of one of the noblest houses in Great Britain, would, 
 in order to carry out his despotic designs, descend to actual 
 untruth, or something very like it. 
 
 Messrs. Pringle and Fairbairn had opened an academy, 
 which found great favour with the inhabitants, and was in a 
 most flourishing condition. On the 5th March, 1824, they 
 printed the first number of their Magazine at the Government 
 printing establishment, which was warmly welcomed by a 
 respectable body of subscribers. " No objection," says Mr. 
 Pringle, "was openly made to any expression in the first 
 number of our magazine ; though I afterwards learnt that 
 several articles had given umbrage to the Governor and his 
 confidential advisers. The second number of Mr. Pringle's 
 magazine appeared on the yth May. On the I3th the Fiscal 
 sent Mr. Prinle a summons to attend at his office, where he 
 informed him (Pringle) that several articles and paragraphs in 
 the magazine had given high offence to the Government ; 
 that had the obnoxious passages been observed while the 
 work was in the press, he (the Fiscal) would have expunged 
 them, or suppressed the number ; that he must now have a 
 satisfactory pledge, that nothing c obnoxious ' or offensive to 
 Government should appear in future." The result, after a 
 long conversation, was, that on the following day Messrs. 
 Fairbairn and Pringle sent the Fiscal a written notice to the 
 effect that the magazine would be discontinued, rather than 
 submit to the " Censorship " of the Fiscal. 
 
 Shortly before these events for they took place in quick 
 succession Mr. Greig, being disappointed by the answer 
 of the Governor to his memorial, adopted an independent 
 course. Hating made inquiries, and finding there was no law
 
 '9 
 
 in existence hostile to the publication in this Colony of such a 
 work as he had projected, he resolved to start a newspaper instead 
 of a magazine. Accordingly, on the 301)1 December, 1823, 
 he published the following 
 
 "PROSPECTUS 
 
 " OF THE ' SOUTH AFRICAN COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.' 
 
 " The South African Commercial Advertiser is intended chiefly for 
 the use and accommodation of persons connected with trade and 
 merchandise. Its columns will be open for advertisements, at a 
 reasonable charge, in the English and Dutch languages, announcing 
 sales, arrivals of goods, and such other matters as the merchant or 
 retail dealer may wish to make known ; also rates of exchange, 
 arrivals and departures of vessels, state of the markets, and any 
 information that may tend to the advancement of trade and com- 
 merce, the improvement of agriculture, or the elucidation of 
 science. 
 
 " A small portion of the South African Commercial Advertiser will 
 be appropriated to original miscellaneous matter, in which will be dis- 
 cussed subjects at once interesting and amusing. Occasional extracts 
 will be made from English papers and ether literary productions ; an 
 offering to the muses ; or an inoffensive point of humour may find 
 room in its columns. And while we shall be happy to receive 
 communications from intelligent correspondents, the South African 
 Commercial Advertiser will ever most rigidly exclude all personal 
 controversy, however disguised, or the remotest discussion of 
 subjects relating to the policy or administration of the Colonial 
 Government. 
 
 "As we are desirous of obtaining the earliest information tending 
 to improvements in agriculture, we shall be happy to receive 
 .communications from persons acquainted with this branch of 
 science. 
 
 " In submitting to the public a prospectus of the South African 
 Commercial Advertiser we arc aware of the difficulties that must in 
 its outset attend an enterprise of this nature. Our promises, 
 
 therefore, respecting literature must be, for the present, limited. 
 B2
 
 20 
 
 To those whose talents have Hitherto lain dormant for want of tn 
 opportunity of exerting them, a facility is now offered, which we 
 hope will develop genius, and raise the literary reputation of the 
 Colony ; and as a free diffusion of knowledge is the grand means 
 of giving a tone to Society, by elevating its morals, and promoting 
 a taste for literature, we look to the more enlightened part of the 
 community, in the confident hope that they will not allow this, the 
 first, attempt to establish a medium of general communication in a 
 British Colony to fall for want of that support which the well- 
 informed, the intelligent, and the patriotic arc alone able to afford." 
 [Here follows a list of the terms, days of publication, &c.J 
 
 A copy of this prospectus, accompanied with the following 
 note, was sent to the Governor : 
 
 " MY LORD, I have the honour to enclose for your Lordfhip's 
 perusal a prospectus of the South African Commercial Advertiser. 
 I am induced to calculate on your Lordship's PATRONAGE from a 
 conviction that the utility of such a medium of general communi- 
 cation cannot fail to be obvious to your Excellency ; while at the 
 same time its mild and harmless plan will obviate all doubts as to 
 its tendency. Independent of these grounds, I feel assured it 
 cannot be your Excellency's object to raise any barrier against my 
 following a profession which (from having studied it) I have full 
 right to look up to for support. 
 
 " I have the honour, 8cc., 
 
 " (Signedj GEORGE GREIG. 
 "December 20, 1823." 
 
 This clever " feeler," and introduction of the thin edge of 
 the wedge, did not evoke any reply, and accordingly on 
 Wednesday, the jth January, 1824, the first number of the 
 South Ajrican Commercial Advertiser the first free newspaper 
 printed since the formation of the Colony in 1652 -made its 
 appearance at what was then No. I, Longmarket-street, 
 opposite Caledon-square, on the premises then occupied by 
 Mr. George Luck (ominous name) as a wine store. And
 
 21 
 
 here, for such an auspicious event, it may be permitted con- 
 sidering the times and the difficulties attendant on the work, 
 mechanical as well as literar) to record the names of those 
 engaged upon it : George Greig, editor and proprietor ; 
 compositors, &c , Michael Kearns, John Eckley, Louis Henri 
 Meurant the latter the only one now left to tell the tale. 
 
 Great was the sensation in Cape Town on the morning of 
 publication. For hours previously the street was thronged 
 with people, and so great was the demand that a large extra 
 number of copies had to be printed. 
 
 It is not surprising that after what had already taken place 
 every subsequent number of the South African Commercial 
 Advertiser was closely scrutinized. Mr. Pringle states : " It 
 was the newspaper which they (the Government) regarded 
 with the deepest dislike, and which they watched with unsleep- 
 ing vigilance for an opportunity to pounce upon and crush it. 
 We had introduced the practice of reporting law cases, and on 
 this point the Governor and some of his advisers happened to 
 be peculiarly sensitive, insomuch that although they had 
 nothing to allege against the paper as icspects the impartiality 
 and discretion with which such reports had been given, they 
 could not tolerate the continuance of such a privilege." 
 
 Return we now to the South African "Journal. " The Cape 
 Reign of Terror," says Pringle, " had now commenced ; and 
 events succeeded each other with a rapidity and violence which 
 the actors mistook for energy and decision." The second 
 number of the Magazine had been published on the yth May. 
 After the interview between the Fiscal and Mr. Pringle, on 
 the 1 3th, and after the written notice of Messrs. Fairbaim 
 and Pringle to the Fiscal on the I5th, Pringle was sent for by 
 the Governor, to appear immediately before him at his audience 
 room in the Colonial Office. u I found him," says Mr. 
 Pringle, " with the Chief Justice, Sir John Truter, seated on 
 his right hand, and the second number of our South African
 
 22 
 
 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 my govern- 
 ment,' and then he launched forth in 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 most arrogant 
 man with a look under which his haughty eye instantly sunk, 
 and replied to him with a calmness of which I had not, a 
 few minutes before, thought myself capable. I told him 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 had assumed by any man, whatever even his 
 station or rank. I repelled his charges of having acted 
 unworthily of my character as a Government servant and a 
 'oyal subject ; I defended my conduct in regard to the Press, 
 and the character of our Magazine^ which he said was full of 
 ' calumny and falsehood '; I asserted my right to petition the 
 King for the extension of the Freedom of the Press in the 
 Colony; and I denied altogether the l 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 assigned to me, in compliance with the recommendations
 
 of the Home Government. This situation, however, I now 
 begged to resign, since I would not compromise my free agency 
 for that or any appointment his Lordship could bestow." 
 
 This bold front of Mr. Pringle appeared to have staggered 
 the despot and bully, who " immediately lowered his tone, and 
 had the singular meanness, after the insulting terms he had 
 used," to attempt a coaxing tone, and repeatedly invited Mr. 
 Pringle to recommence the Magazine , which the latter 
 declined unless legal protection were granted to the Press. 
 
 It will be necessary here to make a slight digression, to give 
 a few pictures of the state of Cape Town at the period 
 referred to in these Reminiscences. The Commissioners of 
 inquiry, before referred to, had arrived in the Colony in July, 
 1823. A " Free Press " was the most inopportune event that 
 could possibly happen. A great trial in which Lord Charles 
 Somerset was deeply and personally interested was to come 
 off almost immediately after ihe establishment of Mr. Greig's 
 Free newspaper, and the proceedings would be reported. To 
 crush the paper, which had been started in spite of the Governor, 
 and thus stifle the expression of public opinion, now became 
 the paramount object. The Supreme Court of Justice (Raad 
 van Justicie) was then differently constituted to what it is now, 
 and the mode of proceeding would hardly be recognized now- 
 a-days. When the Chief Justice submitted to be rated, and 
 bullied, and intimidated by the Governor as will be seen 
 hereafter it could hardly be expected that there would be 
 much impartiality amongst its members The Court consisted 
 of eight Judges, or members (Leden), with a Chief Justice 
 at its head. Cases were generally tried by two " Commis- 
 sioners " (members) of the Court, excepting in cases of appeal, 
 when the full Court, with the Chief .Justice, sat; there 
 being also a final appeal to the Governor himself. The officers 
 of the Court consisted of a Fiscal tantamount to the present 
 Attorney-General or Public Prosecutor and some minor
 
 officials, such as the Rode (Sheriff), &c. The office of Fiscal 
 was held by Mr. Daniel Denyssen (father of the late esteemed 
 Judge), a profound Dutch lawyer. This gentleman bore a 
 foremost part in the subsequent proceedings with reference to 
 the South African Commercial Advtrtiser^ and also in what may 
 be termed the State Trials, nominally instituted by the Fiscal, 
 but virtually by the Governor, Lord Charles Somerset. 
 
 The reign of this Governor, at that period, as correctly 
 stated by Mr. Thomas Pringle, was the " Reign of Terror." 
 No public meeting, as has been shown, could be held without 
 the Governor's consent. " The Governor's power was absolute, 
 and his resentment ruin." It was difficult, indeed, to con- 
 jecture to what lengths the violence of arbitrary power would 
 at that dismal period proceed. " A frightful system of espionage 
 pervaded every circle of Society, and rendered perilous even 
 the confidence of the domestic hearth." The fear of exposure 
 appeared to infuriate th* Governor, " who seemed determined 
 to strike down every man who should dare even to look or think 
 disapprobation of his deeds." Oliver, the well-known Govern- 
 ment spy of the period (under an assumed name, and whom 
 the writer well remembers), " who had been sent out from 
 England to be provided for at the Cape with a lucrative situation 
 under Lord Charles, was most actively engaged during this 
 crisis, as was universally believed, in his former vocation. 
 Informers and false witnesses (of whom the writer could 
 mention many names) abounded; and rumours of < plots ' and 
 * disloyal combinations against the Governor ' were assiduously 
 kept afloat for purposes as obvious as they were mischievous.''* 
 
 A " black-book " was kept at Government-house, in which appeared 
 the names assiduously reported by Oliver and his emissaries (many of 
 whom the writer could name on indisputable authority, but tor 
 obvious reasons is suppressed) in which was entered the names of all who 
 were alleged to be " Liberals," Radicals, Sec., and those destined for 
 immediate destruction were designated by a X.
 
 " The Government Gazette had been systematically employed for 
 purposes of public deception, and sometimes of personal 
 calumny. It had denounced the most respectable heads of the 
 Albany Settlers as seditious Radicals, merely becaure they 
 proposed to meet to petition the Government respecting their 
 grievances." " The state of Society in Cape Town, and 
 indeed throughout the Colony, at this period was truly 
 deplorable. Mutual confidence was shaken ; distrust, appre- 
 hension and gloom everywhere prevailed ; and men, according 
 to their several characters and circumstances, were perturbed 
 by angry excitement or prostrated by slavish fear,"* 
 
 These may appear overdrawn pictures, at this distance of 
 time, Sixty years ago ; but they are not so. The writer, 
 although then still very young, but gifted with an excellent 
 memory, can well remember the " Cape Reign of Terror," 
 and vouch for the general accuracy of what has been here 
 recorded. 
 
 But, revenon a nos moutons. What is now Adderley- 
 street was then called Heerengracht (gentleman's avenue, or 
 walk). In the Heerengracht resided many of the Dutch 
 aristocracy of the time (there was an " upper ten " then, or 
 at all events they were regarded as such, which comes to the 
 same thing) ; in or about the centre of the street was a wide 
 and deep canal, fringed with fir-trees- affording cover to spies* 
 &c. and supplied with sluice-gates, which were shut down 
 or opened, as occasion required, during dry weather or heavy 
 rains. This canal is now covered over and the trees have 
 been cut down. At one corner of Longmarket-street and 
 Heerengracht stood a large house, the residence at one time 
 of a Mr. Dreyer ; it had a huge rounded corner and very 
 high " stoep," and was known as " Dreyer's Corner." At 
 the opposite corner, opening into the Heerengracht, was the 
 
 Pringle's Narrative of a Residence in South Africa.
 
 late Mr. James Howell's Circulating Library and Stationer's 
 shop; and a few doors further down towards the Bay, was 
 the African Society House, a sort of club, where the officers 
 of the Garrison and the elite of Cape Town used to assemble, 
 discussing the topics of the day, &c. Howell's and Dreyer's 
 corners wer also places of public resort, especially the 
 latter.* 
 
 The conductors of the South African Commerical Advertiser 
 having studiously, and very properly, refrained from making 
 the paper the medium of personal attacks, especially on the 
 Government, " Dreyer's corner " during the excitement which 
 prevailed in consequence of the " State Trials," was placarded 
 almost every morning with squibs, and although the 
 " Dienders" (policemen) were ever on the watch, or pretended 
 to be, the authors of the placards could not be discovered. 
 1 he writer of these Reminiscences, although a mere lad at 
 the time, frequently copied some of the squibs, many of them 
 being still fresh in his memory. 
 
 An innocent piece of original Poetry, which appeared in 
 the first number of the Commerical Advertiser, gave great 
 umbrage to the " powers that be," probably in consequence 
 of the evident allusion, or supposed allusion, in the yth verse, 
 
 To further show the state of feeling at the time, especially against 
 the Fiscal, who was supposed to be the principal adviser of the unpopular 
 Governor, it appears that one of the officers of the garrison had taken 
 mortal oftence at something the Fiscal had said or done. The conse. 
 quence was a challenge to fight a duel. The Fiscal, of course, could not 
 accept ; when one morning there appeared a placard .posted against 
 the round stoep of Dreyer's corner, quite a daily occurrence for political 
 squibs : " Lost, stolen, or strayed, a white-livered Dog, answering to 
 the name or ' Dan.' Whoever will bring the said dog to the African 
 Jsbciety House, with a rope round his neck, will be well rewarded. 
 N.B. This dog is of no use to any Sportsman, as he does not stand 
 fire." Thus was public feeling excited against a public officer, for 
 doing what he considered his duty.
 
 to the " duel," and generally the publicity which The Paper 
 was to give. Here are the verses : 
 
 THE PAPER. 
 
 In gown and slippers loosely drest, 
 And breakfast brought, a welcome guest, 
 What is it gives the meal a zest ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 When new-laid eggs the table grace, 
 And smoking rolls are in their place, 
 Say what enlivens ev'ry face ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 In vain the urn is hissing hot, 
 In vain rich Hyson stores the pot, 
 If the vile newsman has forgot 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is't attracts the optic pow'rs 
 Of Ensign gay, when fortune show'rs 
 Down prospects of a " step " in ours ? . 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is't can make the man of law 
 Neglect the deed or plead to draw 
 Ca. Sa. Fi. Fa. Indictment, Flaw ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is't can soothe his client's woe, 
 And make him quite forget John Doe, 
 Nor think on Mister Richard Roe ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is't informs the country round 
 What's stol'n or stray'd, what's lost or found, 
 Who's horn, and who's put under ground ? 
 
 The Paper.
 
 28 
 
 What tells you all that's done and said, 
 The fall of beer and rise of bread, 
 And what fair lady's brought to bed ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is't narrates full many a story 
 Ot Mr. Speaker, Whig and Tory, 
 And heroes all agog for glory ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 What is it gives the price of stocks, 
 Of Poyais Loans, and patent locks, 
 And Cape wine at the London Docks ? 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 Abroad, at home, infirm or stout, 
 In health, or raving with the gout, 
 Who possibly can do without 
 
 The Paper ? 
 
 Its worth and merits then revere, 
 And since-it now begins the year. 
 Forget not 'midst your Christmas cheer, 
 Nor think you e'er can buy too dear 
 
 The Paper. 
 
 That in such a state of Society as has been described 
 partizanship was soon engendered, and that great efforts were 
 made by Government spies and others intent upon Govern- 
 ment " loaves and fishes," to bring odium on the brave men 
 who were fighting the battle of " Liberty " and the " Freedom 
 of the Press," will not surprise any one. There existed in 
 those days what were termed " Sasaatje and Rice " houses, 
 places where a favourite Dutch dish, called " sasaatjes," were 
 served in the evenings to customers. One of these places 
 
 especially, kept by a Mr. D v. d. B , was noted as a 
 
 rendezvous for supposed Government employes. A soup- 
 plate of " kerrie " (mullagatawny), two 4t sasaatjes " 
 (diamond-shaped inch-sized pieces of mutton, curried,
 
 2 9 
 
 and about half-a-dozen stuck upon a bamboo skewer, 
 and then roasted upon a grid-iron), a few spoonfuls of dry- 
 boiled Patna rice, and the half of a pint-bottle of Cape wine, 
 were served for a kwartje (4^. or a quarter of a Rixdollar, 
 which was is. 6d.), a piece of stout blue-back paper money. 
 Clean table-cloths, and everything in good style, and several 
 tidy slave women as waitresses, and punctually at a fixed 
 hour in the evening, was the rule of the house. The customers, 
 often to the number of twenty and more, all "Afrikanders" 
 several of the upper ten sat down. The host then, with great 
 solemnity, stood up, and recited, as a sort of counter-blast to 
 Dreyer's corner : 
 
 " O Heere der heere ! 
 
 Wk- zal hitr in Afrika meer rcgeere j 
 
 Alle die uit Engeland zijn gebannen, 
 
 Worden hier groote imnnen ; 
 
 En ons arme Hollandsche gezellen, 
 
 Kan men de ribben op het lijf al tellen. 
 
 Met cen schelliig per ilag moct men zich mee genceren, 
 
 En als je daar niet genoeg mee hebt, dan moct je naar 
 
 Wagenmakers Vallei passeeren, 
 Naar oude Van Rietf de Sequester ; 
 O heere, wilt ons toch verlossen, 
 Van al dieJEngelsche ossen, 
 E leidt ons toch naar wenschen, 
 Ons arme Hollandsche Cliristemenschen, Amen." 
 
 This was also one of the squibs which had appeared on 
 " Dreyer's corner," and copied by the writer, and retained in 
 his memory ever since. 
 
 The second number of the Commercial Advertiser appeared 
 in due course on Wednesday, the I4th January, 1824, but 
 there was nothing in particular in it, excepting the following, 
 which was not calculated to remove the uneasiness regarding 
 
 Referring to the new arrivals, and the "Settlaars," a term of reproach, 
 f Mr. Van dcr Riet was " Sequester," or Administrator of Insolvency.
 
 30 
 
 the probable success of the paper : "Our Printing Office, on 
 Wednesday last, exhibited a scene which our warmest hopes 
 would scarcely have allowed us to expect. The crowd of 
 applicants for our paper continued to throng until an advanced 
 hour in the afternoon. We were gratefully surprised to see so 
 many of the Native (Dutch) inhabitants of this colony amongst 
 our supporters ; and the numerous inquiries which were made 
 as to our intention in future of translating into the Dutch 
 language the most interesting parts of our miscellaneous 
 intelligence, convinces us of the expediency of making arrange- 
 ments for that purpose ; but as this plan will require some time 
 for completion, and will be attended with considerable expense, 
 we trust that allowance will be made for the difficulties of our 
 situation ; and that, in the meanwhile, our friends the Native 
 inhabitants (Dutch) will continue their patronage and support." 
 
 Up to this period, neither Mr. Fairbairn nor Mr. Pringle 
 had anything to do with the editorial part of the paper. With 
 No. 3, on the 2ist January, these gentlemen assumed the 
 charge of the editorial department, writing in turns every 
 alternate week. 
 
 A few days after the publication of the second number of 
 the paper, Mr. Greig received the following letter : - 
 
 "Colonial Office, Jan. 28, 1824. 
 
 " Sir, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to inform 
 you, that he has been pleased to fix the rate of postage to be paid 
 for the paper you have established, at one skilling (2^d.) for each 
 number sent to the country. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 (Signed) "P. G. BRINK." 
 
 Here, then, was an official recognition of the right to establish 
 and continue the issue of the South African Commercial Adver- 
 tiser, a permission which the Governor had only a few weeks 
 previously positively refused to grant. But there can be no
 
 3' 
 
 doubt that the very able leading articles of the paper, after 
 Messrs. Fairbairn and Pringle undertook the editorial manage- 
 ment, without attacking the policy of the Government, but 
 always keeping before the public the great boon of the Liberty of 
 the Press, and extracts from celebrated authors on the same 
 subject, tended to alarm the Government, and that a pretext 
 was only wanting to extinguish the light which was gradually 
 dawning upon the people, especially the "Native inhabitants" 
 (Afrikanders). 
 
 Thus Mr. Pringle wrote : " For a few months everything 
 went on most prosperously. The newspaper, which we 
 published both in English and Dutch, was popular beyond 
 our most sanguine expectations ; and our Magazine, of which 
 the first number was issued on the 5th March, was also 
 welcomed by a respectable body of subscribers. Our Academy 
 was also in a very flourishing state, and the number of pupils 
 constantly increasing." " In order to lessen, if possible, the 
 morbid jealousy of the Governor, we printed our Magazine 
 at the Government press, although the printing thus cost us 
 more, and was far worse executed, than if we had consented to 
 have had it done by Mr. Greig ; and we ventured to flatter 
 ourselves that the Colonial Authorities, in spite of their former 
 habits, would, for their own credit, under the eyes of His 
 Majesty's Commissioners, not venture really to interfere with 
 us. But we were soon roughly awakened from our dream of 
 security." " We had introduced the practice of reporting Law 
 Cases, and on this point the Governor and some of his advisers 
 happened to be peculiarly sensitive." 
 
 The immediate cause for the Governor's interference for the 
 suppression of the paper, was this "sensitiveness" regarding 
 the publication of Law Reports, especially of one in which he 
 was personally and deeply concerned. There was a case then 
 pending before the Supreme Court, at the instance of the 
 Governor. A gentleman, named Launcelot Cook, had reported
 
 3 2 
 
 a high official, Mr. Charles Blair, Collector of Customs an 
 intimate friend of Lord Charles Somerset to the Lords 
 Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, bringing very 
 serious charges of malversation against the said Mr. Blair, and 
 requesting inquiry. The memorial of Mr. Cook was dated 
 the 22nd January, 1824, and had been drawn up by a Mr. 
 William Edwards, a very able but reckless man, styling himself 
 an English lawyer. The memorial had been sent to the 
 Governor, but instead of being forwarded to England, or an 
 investigation ordered, it was detained by the Governor, and a 
 criminal action for libel instituted against Messrs. Cook and 
 Edwards, and a celebrated Dutch lawyer, Mr. Johan Bernhardt 
 Hoffman (better known by the sobriquet of "Scheele Hoffman"). 
 The case came on for trial before two Commissioners of the 
 Court on the i6th Feb., 1824. Two days before this trial was 
 first heard in Cape Town, the Commissioners of Inquiry before 
 referred to arrived in Graham's Town. As the publication of the 
 trial in question appeared to be one of the principal reasons for 
 the arbitrary and high-handed proceeding of the Governor, in 
 order to suppress publicity, by stopping the paper, it is here 
 given very nearly in extenso. Reading the proceedings at this 
 distance of time, there can be very little doubt that not only the 
 Fiscal (Prosecutor) but the Court also, were inspired by the 
 Governor, who was virtually Prosecutor, Judge and Jury ; and 
 who would have had eventually to decide the case if finally heard 
 before himself in Appeal. Cape Town was in a state of great 
 excitement. The Court-room (the same now used in Cape 
 Town) was thronged with listeners. " Dreyer's Corner" was 
 plastered all over with placards The Fiscal had the best legal 
 talent in the Colony pitted against him, Advocate (afterwards 
 Judge) Cloete, Advocate (afterwards Sir Christopher) Brand, 
 Mr. Edwards (a host in himseif, whatever his character or 
 antecedents), and the wily and slim and most able Dutch 
 lawyer, Johan Bernhardt Hoffman, who will still be remem-
 
 33 
 
 bered by many of the old hands in Cape Town. It was THE 
 cause celebre of the period : 
 
 (From the " S. A. Commercial Advertiser" February 18, 1824.^ 
 
 MONDAY, FEBRUARY l6rH, 1824. 
 
 Before W. BENTI.VCK and P. J. TRUTER, Esqrs., as Commissioners of 
 
 the Court. 
 
 HIS MAJESTY'S FISCAL vs. LAUNCELOT COOK, WM. EDWARDS AND 
 
 J. B. HOFFMAN. 
 
 This was an ex-officio prosecution brought by His Majesty's 
 Fiscal against the defendants, charging the first with having written 
 and signed, the second with having drawn up and forwarded to His 
 Excellency the Governor, and the third with having copied, a 
 certain libellous statement, in the shape of a Memorial to the Lords 
 of the Treasury, accusing Mr. C. Blair, Collector of His Majesty's 
 Customs, of having committed divers malpractices in the distribu- 
 tion of Prize Negroes, and of having in many instances made 
 donations of these people to satisfy the claims of several of his 
 creditors. A list of about sixty witnesses (among whom the name 
 of His Excellency the Governor appeared) was exhibited by His 
 Majesty's Fiscal, as containing the names of witnesses required 
 by the second defendant ; but to this mode of preceding the Fiscal 
 objected, as being contrary to the Roman Dutch Law, which leaves 
 it to the discretion of the Judges to inquire into the nature of the 
 evidence, and authorizes them to select those only who appear relevant 
 to the matter at issue ; and, therefore, prayed that the Court should 
 require from the defendants to state the facts to which they required 
 every witness to speak, with liberty to the Judge to curtail such as 
 might not be relevant. 
 
 The Court decreed the inquiry to be proceeded in regularly 
 reserving to themselves to decide upon this question after the 
 intfrrogatoriet were answered by the defendants. 
 
 Upon proceeding to the interrogatories, the second defendant, 
 W. Edwards, proposed four exceptions, as a plea in abatement.
 
 34 
 
 ist. That His Majesty's Fiscal had committed a gross neglect of 
 duty in not attending to the 23rd Article of the Crown Trials, 
 which directs that all trials should be proceeded in within eight 
 days from the decree of the summons in person ; whereas the decree 
 was granted by the Court on the 5th instant, and the trial com- 
 menced only this day, the i6th ; which by no rule of arithmetic 
 could be made to come within the time prescribed by the statute. 
 2nd. That His Majesty's Fiscal had been guilty of a dereliction 
 of duty, by not summoning all the witnesses to appear this day; 
 none in fact had been summoned and this also was contrary to the 
 38th Article of the Crown Trials. 
 
 3rd. That His Majesty's Fiscal had been guilty of a gross and 
 detestable falsehood, in not religiously adhering to the truth, and 
 the evidence before him, as prescribed in the 36th Article of the 
 Crown Trials ; he stating that a Prize Negro, William Cousins, 
 had been compelled by threats of Mr. C. Blair, to return into his 
 service after the expiration of his 14 years apprenticeship ; whereas 
 the memorial to the Lords of the Treasury, deemed libellous, did 
 not warrant that assertion; as nothing could have compelled that 
 negro to return into his service. 
 
 The defendant (Mr. Edwards) was proceeding to charge His 
 Majesty's Fiscal with similar untruths \vhich, in his opinion, would 
 render him liable to corporal punishment when the Fiscal arose and 
 in great warmth claimed the protection of the Court against the 
 scurrilous language used by the defendant. The Court, after having 
 twice warned the defendant against using such indecorous language, 
 condemned him to imprisonment for one month, and postponed the 
 trial until a future day. 
 
 The imprisonment was most rigorously carried out. Mr. Edwards was 
 confined in a cell in the old "Tronic" (Prison), then in " Rogge Bay," 
 at the extreme end of the Heerengracht, near the beach. No person was 
 permitted to see him except his servant, Thomas Mahony, to bring his 
 meals, who was searched before entering and after leaving the prison, so 
 that no written communications should pass. Several of the inhabitants 
 sent Mr. Edwards his meals daily so great was the sympathy, and so 
 intense the feeling against Lord Charles Somerset amongst others the
 
 35 
 
 (Fro'.t the " S. A. Commercial Adveither" February 25, 1824.) 
 
 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1 8, 1824. 
 
 Before W. BENTINCK and P. J. TRUTER, Esqrs., as Commissioners 
 of the Court. 
 
 HIS MAJESTY'S FISCAL vs. LAUNCELOT COOKE, WM. EDWARDS AND 
 
 J. B. HOFFMAN. 
 
 This case, the hearing of which was putoffon Monday, the 1 6th, 
 came on to be further heard this day, and seemed to excite very 
 considerable interest. The avenues leading to the Court were 
 crowded at an early hour. On the assembling of the Court the 
 defendants were not, as before, called in together, but separately. 
 
 The proceedings were commenced by the Court calling the first 
 defendant, Mr. L. Cooke, who was asked whether he was willing 
 to answer such interrogatories as had been exhibited by the Fiscal. 
 
 Mr. Cooke said that previously to answering any questions he had 
 an exception to take to the competency of the Court, which he 
 begged leave to read as follows : 
 
 " I cannot allow this inquiry to be proceeded in without laying 
 before your Worships a true statement of this case, the result of 
 which I doubt not will prove that His Majesty's Fiscal has been 
 premature in bringing this action forward ; that there can exisc no 
 grounds for the present action in the present state of this case, and 
 
 writer's father The writer frequently accompanied Thomas Mahony when 
 communication was desired, which was done by means of a small dog 
 belonging to Edwards, which wore a broad leather collar. After Mahony 
 and the writer were searched, they were admitted, a^nd the door closed, 
 the collar was then taken off the dog's neck, and a letter extracted, 
 another put in by Edwards, the collar replaced, and the servant and the 
 writer departed, after being again searched. Thus was communication 
 carried on from the outer world ; but everything was considered fair, in 
 order to give " fair play" to a man who was considered whether rightly 
 or wrongly a victim to oppression and persecution, for no other reason 
 than because he was fearlessly exercising his profession, and could neither 
 be bought nor intimidated. 
 C 2
 
 36 
 
 that, therefore, this action, in 'imine, ought to be withdrawn from 
 the cognizance of your Worships. I commence by acknowledging 
 what I conceive would be a disgrace to my character to deny, and 
 an insult to the persons whose grievances I thought it necessary to 
 lay before the competent authorities, that I directed to be drawn 
 up, examined, proved and signed the memorial addressed to the 
 Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's 
 Treasury, treated, as libellous by His Majesty's Fiscal, and the 
 subject of the present prosecution. In how far this document may 
 be deemed libellous does not belong to me now to consider, although 
 I trust I shall be able to fully exculpate myself on that head should 
 the principal merits of this case still remain to be discussed here- 
 after ; but here I beg leave, with the utmost submission, but still 
 with the greatest confidence, to maintain that this document, 
 whether libellous or not, cannot legally, in the present stage of the 
 proceedings, form the subject of a criminal prosecution. Impelled 
 by a sense cf duty towards the public, and to several unfortunate 
 subjects, whom I saw the victims of arbitrary power ; become 
 myself the object of violence and insult, because I presumed in 
 the mildest manner, to advocate the cause of one of those who 
 had faithfully served me for several years, to whom I felt a 
 reciprocal attachment ; and hearing at the same time, from various 
 channels, of similar and worse practices, in the disposal of 
 Negroes, I thought it a duty to them, as well as to Society 
 in general, to represent such cases of which I had proofs in 
 support of my assertion, through the proper official channel, to 
 the constituents of my present accuser, Mr. Blair. 
 
 "This memorial is drawn out without the slightest wish to 
 be offensive to His Majesty's Government. It contains an official 
 charge and information solely against Mr. Blair, not affecting his 
 private character, but his public situation as Collector of His 
 Majesty's Customs. The memorial was not published, no 
 publicity whatever was given to it here, and it was only forwarded 
 to His Exullency the Governor (with the knowledge of the Collector 
 of Customs) -for the sole purpose of being laid by His Lordship 
 before the proper authorities, as an official impeachment against
 
 37 
 
 the Collector of Customs. This memorial was diverted from 
 that channel. The Right Honourable the Lords of the Treasury 
 have not as yet pronounced upon its contents. And I, therefore, 
 beg leave to submit, that it would be prejudging this case, that 
 it would be doing an injury to me and to justice in general an 
 injury which never could be remedied were this prosecution 
 allowed to be gone on with, in the face of a charge which has 
 been made officially, from a sense of duty to myself and the public, 
 through the proper channel, and to the proper authorities ; a 
 charge which has not as yet been inquired into for which the 
 time has not yet come to inquire. Upon these grounds, therefore, ' 
 1 beg leave to propose an exception against the legality of this 
 summons, and to pray for an absolution, ab instantia, with costs." 
 
 The Fiscal replied at some length, contending that it was a 
 Libel, and that the Treasury was not the competent authority to 
 which to appeal. 
 
 Advocate Cloete, for the first defendant, asked leave of the Court to 
 argue in support of the exception. 
 
 The Fiscal objected to it, as being contrary to the 42nd Article 
 of the Crown Trials. 
 
 The Court rejected the application of Advocate Cloete, and 
 overruled the exception. 
 
 Advocate Cloete, for Mr Cooke, gave notice of appeal against 
 this decision to the full Court. 
 
 The first defendant was then interrogated, whether he had 
 wilfully, and with a malicious intention, composed, published and 
 signed a certain libellous writing, which was exhibited. 
 
 Mr. Cookc admitted that he had signed the memorial, but not 
 with a malicious intention. 
 
 He was then interrogated zs to what he could advance in excuse. 
 
 Mr. Cooke requested to be heard by his Advocate, Mr. Cloete, 
 who proposed to conduct his defence by calling some of the 
 witnesses named by the second defendant. 
 
 Mr. Edwardo, the second defendant, was then called, and 
 informed by the Court that he was at liberty to proceed with his 
 exceptions. He then replied, that on a previous day, in urging hii
 
 thud exception, he asserted "That the Fiscal had stated a detes- 
 table falsehood," for which he was committed to prison ; that he 
 had been three days in prison, considering the matter, and had not 
 altered his opinion one jot ; but for fear of being again incarce- 
 rated, he would not further pursue his exception. In support of 
 his fourth exception " as to incompetency of the Court," Mr. Edwards 
 had intended to have urged, that the step which he had taken was 
 the only mode of bringing Mr. Blair to justice; His Excellency the 
 Governor having declared officially, that the Colonial Government 
 had no authority over Mr. Blair in regard to Prize Negroes. He 
 further cited Blackstone, Vol. I., p. 143, showing that in case of 
 uncommon injury, His Majesty's subjects might seek redress by 
 Petition to the King or Parliament. And by Statute I. W. and 
 M. all prosecutions for so petitioning are illegal. He went on to 
 state that Mr. Cooke, himself and Mr. Blair were all natural-born 
 subjects of His Majesty ; and cited Blackstone, Vol. I., p. 370, which 
 states "the Prince is always under a constant tie to protect his 
 natural-born subjects, at all times, and in all countries." He cited 
 also "Justinian's Institutes," to prove that any subject, detecting 
 and exposing the malversation of public officers, so far from prose- 
 cution, was entitled to certain honours ; and that the Fiscal (instead 
 of prosecuting him) had he faithfully discharged his duty, on reading 
 the memorial, should have brought Mr. Blair to trial. He (the 
 Fiscal) boasted in this Court that he had courage to attack any 
 person, however exalted his office, who offended against his duty. 
 Vain boast ! Why did he not, when he read the serious charge 
 contained in a memorial from so respectable a gentleman as Mr. 
 Cooke, cause an investigation into the conduct of Mr. Blair, as was 
 done in the case of the Landdrost of Tulbagh ? Why did he not 
 prosecute the culprit who intercepted that memorial, if he had so 
 much courage ? " I," said Mr. Edwards, "boast no great courage ; 
 yet, if you will show me the man who presumed to intercept that 
 complaint to the Lords of the Treasury, be it Mr. Fiscal, Mr. 
 Blair, or any other Mr. ; whatever may be his rank or title, I will 
 pray the Court to place me in the situation of Fiscal pro tempore; 
 we will change places ; he will stand where I now do, a prisoner,
 
 39 
 
 and 1 pledge myself, in defiance of every obstacle, to bring the 
 delinquent to justice. Then you shall see, Mr. Fiscal, who has the 
 courage to attack malversation." 
 
 The Fiscal replied, in answer to the first exception, that although 
 the summons for personal appearance was granted on the 5th 
 February, yet, as he did not take it from the office until the pth, he 
 was entitled to calculate the eight days required by the 33rd Art., 
 Crown Trials, from that day. In replying to the second exception, 
 he said that he had submitted to the Court his reasons for not 
 bummoning the witnesses for the accused, agreeably to the 8th 
 Art. Many of them were public officers, and their attendance 
 would be Inconvenient. An entire silence he thought the most 
 becoming course with regard to the third exception. As to the 
 fourth, he contended that as Mr. Edwards had in a former case 
 submitted to the jurisdiction of one Commissioner, he could not now 
 object to that of two. He admitted the parties were British sub- 
 jects, but he did not see that they were consequently entitled to 
 be tried by English law in every part of the globe. 
 
 The Court was cleared, and on re-admission, we found that all 
 the exceptions taken by the second defendant were overruled. 
 
 Mr. Edwards was then inten ogated, whether he had wilfully and 
 mala fide published, by sending to His Excellency the Governor, the 
 said memorial 
 
 Mr. Edwards answered : " I did nothing wilfully nor mala fde. 
 I wrote the part of the memorial signed by Mr. Cookc, and sent 
 it to the Lords of the Treasury bona fde. I never published it, nor 
 do I know how it was intercepted or came here." 
 
 On being asked what he could urge in excuse for it, he 
 answered : " I justify it, I glory in it. It is the duty of every 
 good subject to inform His Majesty of the malpractices of his 
 servants. I have ever done it, and ever will." 
 
 Mr. Hoffman, the third defendant, was then called, and in 
 answer to interrogatories, denied all knowledge of the transaction. 
 
 A letter from Mr. W. Bird was here produced by the Fiscal, 
 stating that Mr. Blair was seriously indisposed, and could not attend. 
 The Court, therefore, adjourned the further hearing until Friday.
 
 (Further Proceeding^ Friday, Feb. 2O/.) 
 
 The same degree of interest was excited as on Wednesday. 
 The Court was nearly filled from the commencement ; and the 
 further hearing of this case was resumed. The three defendants 
 were all in Court this day. 
 
 The Fiscal moved the Court to extend the whole charge to the 
 
 second defendant (Edwards). He said he grounded his application 
 
 on the defendant's answer to the interrogatories on a former day, 
 
 and cited the 24th Art. of an English translation of th'e laws of 
 
 Demarara, as his authority. He then handed the book over to the 
 
 defendant, Mr. Edwards. On reading the article, the defendant 
 
 declared that the Fiscal must be wholly ignorant of the English 
 
 language, or have wilfully perverted its meaning, the article in 
 
 question not in the least justifying the conclusion the Fiscal had 
 
 drawn. He conceived this was a continuation of that system of 
 
 persecution which had been adopted against him, for doing that 
 
 which the Fiscal should have done, but which he had not courage 
 
 to attempt, after Mr. Cooke's complaint had lain dormant in his 
 
 office for seven or eight weeks. He would take this opportunity 
 
 of saying, that as it had been alleged that he 1 ad treated the 
 
 Court disrespectfully, he felt it necessary for him to repel so 
 
 foul an insinuation. He had been bred to the law ; he had been 
 
 for many years a witness to the impartial administration of justice 
 
 in his own country, during which time Jie had learned to honour 
 
 and revere every honest Magistrate, meet him where he would ; 
 
 and he would tell the Fiscal, that even in this place he could not 
 
 shake ofFhis early impressions. In that Court the Fiscal was entitled 
 
 to no more protection than any other advocate. In his office 
 
 the Fiscal had offered him a private insult, and the present was the 
 
 only opportunity of retaliating. " Yes," added Mr. Edwards, "when 
 
 I was in his office, arguing dispassionately and respectfully against 
 
 the illegality of his conduct, in intercepting a complaint by one of 
 
 His Majesty's subjects against one of His Mijesty's servants, and 
 
 that all prosecutions for writing petitions were declared by Stat. i , 
 
 W. & M. to be illegal, he burst into an impertinent and intemperate
 
 declaration (worse than that for which I was sent to prison because 
 it was unprovoked, unjust, unlawful and unbecoming) that he 
 would hold no further conversation with me until he met me in 
 Court: 'There,' he said, 'you shall hear me.' Now, had the 
 Fiscal known to whom he addressed that impotent taunt, he would 
 have felt it was dangerous to rouse a lion that will destroy him ; he 
 would have known that I cared as little for his menace as for his 
 persecution or himself; and that in Court out of Court at all 
 times and in any place, I am, at the very, very least, his equal 
 taking his gown, his influence, his office and his authority into the 
 bargain ; he would have known there was something in the free, 
 honest, unbending spirit of an English lawyer, not to be insulted 
 with impunity ; he would have known it would take more grates, 
 bars and oppression than he can possess, to tame a soul reared in 
 the lap of liberty ; he would have known that he may manacle my 
 hands, he may shackle my feet, and he may cast my person into a 
 cell ; but I can tell him my soul bids defiance to every Fiscal ; it 
 will soar above him, it will hover over him, it will pounce upon him 
 when and where he least dreams." 
 
 The writer was in the Court, and perfectly remembers this peroration, 
 and the effect it had upon the listeners. Mr. Edwards was a tall handsome 
 man (an Irishman the writer heard), much resembling the late Mr. 
 Attorney-General Porter in his younger days. There was an irrepressible 
 burst of applause (not, however, reported), and the words have ever since 
 been deeply impressed on the writer's memory. Often and oftt n has he 
 thought of them. On the morning when this sc. ne took place in the 
 Court, " Dreyer's corner " had a number of placards, one of which copied 
 by the writer) was in doggerel rhyme, as follows : 
 
 " The bird in yonder cage confined, 
 
 Thrills thro' me notes of horror : 
 A bribe I'll try to bend his mind, 
 And change his tone to-morrow. 
 
 " No, great Fixall, thy fate is known, 
 
 Thine heait is filled with sorrow ; 
 Thou hadst better have left that bird alone, 
 
 For he will sing thy doom to-morrow."
 
 The Fiscal here interrupted the defendant, and claimed the pro- 
 tection of the Court against expressions so personally directed. 
 Unless he were protected he would not continue to sit there. 
 
 The Court was then cleared to deliberate, and OP its re -opening 
 Mr. Edwards was informed that the Fiscal's application was refused. 
 
 The Fiscal then gave in a list of witnesses, consisting of Mr. C. 
 Blair, Mr. Wilberforce Bird, Mr. Ponterdent, Mr. Tyrholm, Mr. 
 Lind and Mr. Bendall. The two latter were to prove the memorial 
 was copied by Mr. Hoffman ; Mr. Tyrholm to prove that Jean 
 Elle (the Prize Negro referred to in the memorial) had been his 
 servant on his first landing, and, after some years, was restored to 
 the Collector of Customs for ill-conduct ; the three first were to 
 prove \^t falsehood of the memorial. 
 
 Mr. Edwards here objected to evidence being called to prove 
 anything not charged in the indictment ; it not being therein once 
 alleged that any part of the memorial was untrue. On the contrary, 
 the indictment says " that the memorial war written seemingly 
 with the intention to bring to the cognizance of the Lords of the 
 Treasury Mr. Cooke's complaint against the Collector of Customs, 
 requesting them to cause an investigation thereof, and afford him 
 redress ; and that he did also, with the intention to expose the 
 officers of Customs to the hatred and contempt of their superiors, 
 and to bring them in danger of being ignominiously discharged 
 from their situations, make remarks and allege facts by which they 
 are represented in a contemptible and criminal aspect." He then 
 argued that inasmuch as the assertions in the memorial were 
 admitted to be " facts," and as facts are truths, he could hardly 
 conceive how any man, pretending to be a lawyer, would attempt 
 to call witnesses to prove that his own assertions were false. He 
 had no objection that Mr. Blair, Mr. Bird and Mr. Ponterdent 
 should be called to prove the truth of the memorial, as out of their 
 own mouths he would convict them. He admitted that Jean Elle 
 had served Mr. Tyrholm faithfully while a prisoner of war, but on 
 the war terminating he became a free man, and was no longer 
 willing to serve as a slave. He thought it a novel thing to bring a 
 writing master to prove Mr. Hoffman's handwriting, and upon that
 
 43 
 
 proof prosecute him ; the paper-maker, or the goose whence the pen 
 with which it was written was plucked, might as well be prosecuted. 
 
 The Court called on Mr. Edwards to say what was the purport 
 of the proofs he wished to produce. He answered, he was 
 prepared to prove the truth of everything contained in the memorial, 
 and much more. 
 
 The defendant then asked the Fiscal whether he had not com- 
 municated a list of his (defendant's) witnesses to Mr. Blair. The 
 Fiscal refused to answer. 
 
 Mr. Edwards stated that this refusal, in his opinion, proved the 
 fact ; and as the Fiscal would not answer he could tell the Court 
 that this list had been exhibited to Mr. Blair, who had taken 
 advantage of it by tampering with some of his (the defendant's) 
 witnesses. He would put this question to Mr. Blair on his oath ; 
 if he denied it, by the evidence of two witnesses he was prepared 
 to prove it to the Court. 
 
 The Court intimated to the defendant that if he could prove 
 what he asserted, he might proceed against the Fiscal and Mr. 
 Blair. 
 
 The defendant replied he was aware when and how to seek for 
 justice. But he knew better than to assail a snake in its own 
 hiding place. It was nothing encouraging to him to be told by the 
 same breath which sent him to prison for exposing the Fiscal's 
 falsehood that he might prosecute him for it. He then declared 
 that he had already petitioned the House of Commons against the 
 unjust and unlawful proceedings the Fiscal had adopted. "Here" 
 said he, " the Fiscal sits dressed in all possible power there he 
 will appear a culprit : and I not only received as a man of well- 
 known character, but as an undaunted patriot. My character will 
 place me as far above him there as he is here above the lowest 
 menial of this Court." 
 
 The Court was cleared for deliberation, and on re- admission it 
 was adjudged that no witnesses should be examined as to the truth tr 
 untruth of the memorial. Mr. Advocate Cloete, for Mr. Cookc, 
 appealed against this decision, as did Mr. Edwards. 
 
 Mr. Edwards then stated that at the best of times he was unable
 
 44 
 
 to bear the expenses of this prosecution, he was the less able to do 
 $o in prison, having little but the honest earnings of his business to 
 support him. He, therefore, prayed the Court to grant him an 
 advocate to plead pro Deu, and also to have copies of papers, &c., 
 free from Court fees. 
 
 The Court required a certificate of his inability to defray the 
 expense, which being made, we understand Mr. Advocate Brand 
 was nominated. 
 
 [Messrs. Lind and Bendall being called, the case against Mr. 
 Hoffman broke down, and the Court, after a short deliberation, 
 pronounced him acquitted^ 
 
 {From the "S.jf. Commercial ddverther" March 3, 1824.) 
 
 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1824. 
 HIS MAJESTY'S FISCAL vs. LAUNCELOT COOKE AND WM. EDWARDS. 
 
 On appeal to the Full Court (with the exception of Sir JOH-N 
 TRUTER, Chief Justice, who was out of town). 
 
 Long prior to the opening of the Court, every avenue was 
 crowded, and an expression of the deepest interest pervaded every 
 countenance. On the Court being opened, the rush was tremen- 
 dous ; in a few moments every place affording the least chance of 
 hearing was occupied. 
 
 * The Full Court was composed of eight members under the Dutch 
 Constitution, as it existed until the year 1828, with a Chief Justice as 
 its head. There was also a final Court of Appeal, over which the 
 Governor presided. There were some amusing anecdotes told of some 
 of the members of the Court, one of which was as follows : A member, 
 it was said, was very fond of Fish, boiled ; his lady, on the contrary, 
 liked it fried. On the occasion of a trial in a rather serious case, the 
 member referred to, whe*i the Court was cleared for deliberation, had 
 fallen into a doze, and awaking up suddenly as from a dream, called 
 out aloud "Let the half be boiled and the half fried.'' Whether this 
 referred to theytrA, or the prisoner, was not said.
 
 45 
 
 The proceedings were commenced by Mr. Advocate Brand, who 
 rose to argue in favour of the exceptions taken by the defendant 
 Mr. Edwards on a former day, and which having been overruled 
 by the Court below, were appealed from to the Full Court. 
 
 [The arguments of Counsel, and the replies of the Fiscal, will 
 appear in our next.] * 
 
 Mr. Advocate Cloete, who appeared for Mr. Cooke, in thecourse 
 of his argument read the memorial which gave rise to the prose- 
 cution. 
 
 The South African Commercial Advertiser of the loth March, 
 1824, contains the arguments of Advocates Brand and Cloete, 
 occupying a very large space, and too long to be here inserted. 
 
 The Court, after some deliberation, confirmed the sentence or 
 the Commissioners. 
 
 The defendant (Mr. Edwards) then entered a further appeal 
 against this decision ; so that it must now be finally heard before 
 His Excellency the Governor, in the Court of Appeals. 
 
 The Court then proceeded to hear the appeal entered by the 
 defendant Cooke, from the decrees of the Court on the nth and 
 2Oth instant, in rejecting his exception of incompetency ; and in 
 refusing to admit any witnesses either for or against the defendants. 
 
 The argument of Advocate Cloete and reply of the Fiscal having 
 been heard, the Court, after deliberating for a short time, confirmed 
 the sentences appealed from, and condemned the first defendant, 
 Mr. Cooke, in all prior expenses ; and fixed the costs in this appeal 
 at Fifteen Rix-dollars (i 25. 6d.). 
 
 The Fiscal and the defendants severally appealed against the 
 determination of the Court in refusing to go into the examination 
 of any witnesses whatever. 
 
 The argument of Mr. Advocate Brand (the late Speaker of the 
 House of Assembly, Sir Christopher) is given in full in the following 
 number of the S. A. Commerical Advertiser, and is a masterpiece of 
 i ircnsic eloquence. It, as well as the subsequent able argument of 
 Advocate Cloete, are omitted here, in consequence of their groat length.
 
 Immediately under the report, as concluded in the above 
 paragraph, appears the following, apparently Editorial : 
 
 REMARKABLE OCCURRENCE. Several LIES were lost on the 
 Heerengracht last week. 
 
 The S. /f. Commercial /fdvertiser of the 3ist March, 
 1824, contains the report of the Conclusion of the Trial, as 
 follows : 
 
 FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 1824. 
 
 Before W. BENTINCK and P. J. TRUTER, Esqrs., as Commissioners 
 of the Court. 
 
 HIS MAJESTY'S FISCAL vs. L. COOKE AND w. EDWARDS. 
 
 The Full Court having, on the 26th February, refused to hear 
 witnesses either in support of or against the allegations contained in 
 the memorial which was the subject of the suit : the Fiscal and 
 the defendant! severally appealed to the Court of Appeals, which, 
 after some lapse of time, rejected the case, and referred it back to 
 the Court below to try the merits of the alleged Libel. 
 
 The decision of the Court of Appeals was read, and the parties 
 were informed that the case was to proceed. 
 
 The Fiscal submitted to the Court that he wished to call two 
 witnesses (Mr, J. H. Whitton and Mr. G. Thompson) whose 
 names did not appear in the list already exhibited, he having only 
 learnt of the publication of the memorial to them on the 26th 
 February. 
 
 By their evidence he intended to prove that the memorial had 
 been published previously to its transmission to the Governor by 
 Mr. Edwards. The defendants having already admitted sending 
 the duplicate of the memorial to His Excellency was sufficient 
 proof for him of its publication ; but the evidence of the two 
 witnesses he had named, although he did not deem it ot much 
 consequence to establish the fact, would serve more fully to 
 substantiate it.
 
 47 
 
 
 
 Mr. Edwards exclaimed : '* Another misrepresentation ! I am 
 surprised," said he, " to see the Fiscal recur to his former system of 
 misstating facts. I deny having ever admitted that I sent the 
 memorial to Lord Charles Somerset. When I was interrogated by 
 the Court I acknowledged no more than having sent it to the 
 Lords of the Treasury ; therefore this pretended admission by the 
 Fiscal is false , and I beg the Secretary may enter on the record 
 that this is my opinion. Let the Fiscal, however, bring forward 
 these witnesses I do not object to their examination." 
 
 Advocate Cloete, for Mr. Cooke, called the attention of the 
 Court to the train of informal and illegal proceedings which the 
 Fiscal had been guilty of during the whole course of this trial, and 
 said that the present application was another striking instance of 
 that disregard to rules and orders which substantially 
 secure the ends of justice. The Fiscal is aware that by the jSth 
 and .fist Articles of the Crown Trials, the names of the whole of 
 the witnesses required during the prosecution must be delivered in 
 at the first opening of the trial, and that none others may 
 afterwards be allowed, except for the most urgent reasons. 
 The Fiscal is aware that both parties appealed from the decree 
 of the Court rejecting the production of any witnesses, even 
 of those whom the Fiscal had thought necessary, in the first 
 instance, in support of the action. That decree stands confirmed 
 by the Full Court, and by that of the Court of Appeals ; and, in the 
 face of the standing rules of the Courts of Law, and of the express 
 decree in this particular case, the present application is made. The 
 Fiscal moreover admits that he only heard of these witnesses on the 
 26th of February ; they could not therefore be of so much conse- 
 quence as to tend to support an action which had been brought on 
 the 1 6th of that month, although it appears rather late now to think 
 of the proceedings when final judgment is already expected by the 
 parties. But the acknowledgment in the prayer of the Fiscal 
 betrays the impossibility of his request being attended to, for he 
 admits that these witnesses arc not strictly wanted by him, while 
 the 2 1st Article of the Crown Trials forbids any being heard in an 
 after stage of the proceedings, except on the most weighty con-
 
 sidcrations ; and should those now named by the Fiscal still be 
 necessary to prove any publicity, the defendant would be under 
 the necessity of producing others to prove the contrary. Upon 
 these grounds he (Mr. Cloete) submitted that the prayer of the 
 Fiscal should be dismissed. 
 
 The Court was then cleared for deliberation, in which it was for 
 a considerable time engaged. On our re-admission, we found the 
 sentence of the Court to be that the application of the Fiscal 
 was rejected, on the ground that during the course of this prosecu- 
 tion no new or unforeseen facts had been brought forward which 
 could in any way warrant the introduction of new witnesses ; and 
 decreed all further investigation of this case to be at an end. Released 
 the defendants from further personal appearance, and wholly acquitted 
 them of the charges contained in the indictment. 
 
 Mr. Edwards said : " In one stage of this investigation, when I 
 was objecting to the conduct of the Fiscal, your Worships told me 
 that if he had done wrong in prosecuting me, or in intercepting 
 the memorial, I was as much at liberty to prosecute him as he f> 
 prosecute me. You have now declared that this action is ground- 
 less. I would, therefore, ask Where is my remedy for all the 
 persecution that has been heaped upon me ? For having been sent 
 to prison ? For having been held up as a criminal by the Fiscal ; 
 And for having been insulted by a threat in the indictment of 
 suffering corporal punishment ?" when he was interrupted by the 
 Court, who said they had. now discharged their duties, and if Mr. 
 Edwards felt aggrieved he could apply to any authority he thought 
 fit for redress." 
 
 It will be seen that this "sentence of the Court," as it is 
 called in the report, was given on Friday, the 26th March, 
 1824, and the report appeared in the thirteenth number of the 
 Commercial Advertiser, printed on the following Wednesday, 
 the 3ist March. In the next number, No. 14, printed on the 
 7th April, 1824, appeared a " leading article" which, although 
 not directly referring to the recent trial, was so heavy a blow at 
 the prevailing despotism, that it sealed the fate, as will be seen
 
 49 
 
 in the sequel, of the Commercial Advertiser. The article, which 
 was written by Mr. Pringle, is here transcribed : 
 
 " Whoever in this empire is tied by no other rules than bis own 
 will and lust, must either be a Saint or else a very Devil incarnate ; 
 or if he be neither of these, bot'i his life and his reign arc like to be 
 very short. For whoever takes upon him so execrable an employ- 
 ment as to rule men against the laws of nature and reason, must 
 turn all topsy turvy, and never stick at anything ; for, if he once 
 halt, he will fall never to rise again ; and so I bid you heartily 
 farewell." Macbiavefs Vindication of Himielf and His Writings, &c. 
 Harleian Miscellany, Vol. I., page 66. 
 
 " With this passage Machiavel concludes his very able defence 
 against the charge of having instructed tyrants to rule with 
 despotic sway. He admits that, if writing a true history of the 
 arts by which political eminence has generally been attained 
 amongst an enslaved people can be considered a proof of his guilt, 
 he has deserved punishment ; but pleads his having, at the same 
 time, taught the people how to prevent the growth of arbitrary 
 power, as an alleviation of his crime, which, we think, amongst a 
 free and intelligent people, should entitle him to a pardon. 
 
 " Divide and Govern is the maxim of the Machiavelian School, by 
 which despotism has been fostered in Independent States. But, in 
 Provinces, as the estab'ished power is always dependent on external 
 support, their rulers have seldom had occasion to sow among the 
 people the seeds of division. It is by the observance of the opposite 
 rule the UNITE and Govern yourselves that liberty has been 
 preserved or re established in every country where it now exists ; 
 and it is a remedy of such efficacy, that no Government has yet 
 been found capable of resisting, for any protracted period, the united 
 voice of Public Opinion. But how are discordant opinions to be 
 assimilated ? How arc weak prejudices to be overcome ? And 
 how arc a body of people, who have exactly the same interests, to 
 be brought to feel in the same way ? It can only be done by an 
 open discussion of the differences that exist. We repeat, /'/ h only 
 to be effected by means of a Free Press. 
 
 " That some shades of difference in the feelings of the inha-
 
 bitants of this Colony are to be discovered we have no reason to 
 doubt. That there is a great difference of opinion as to the best 
 means of attaining every desirable end, every one knows to be the 
 case; and so it ought to be. But we maintain that, on every 
 important point connected with the public interest, there is only one 
 wish entertained by the Honest and Independent, from one end of 
 the Colony to the other. For instance : Every one wishes to sec an 
 individual of liberal principles, of exalted family and independent 
 fortune, and if possible, without much family influence at home and 
 a civilian placed at the head of the Government. Every one wishes 
 that the power of the Governor to infringe on Private Liberty, as 
 well as the influence of the Government, may be reduced as far as 
 is consistent with the public safety. Every one desires to know, at 
 least, the laws by which we are to be governed in future, and to 
 see them administered by an independent as well as an enlightened 
 and impartial Bench of Judges. Every one wishes to see the 
 Revenue derived from the least objectionable sources, and the 
 expenditure reduced to what is necessary, on an economical scale, 
 for the support of a respectable establishment ; and especially of a 
 strict Police. For we have no partiality, at the Cape, for the 
 Roudies, Dirkers and Gougers of the Backwoods of America. But, 
 above all, in order to secure these advantages when we have got 
 them, and to guard against abuse of every description, every honest 
 man desires that public measures may be open to discussion, and 
 that it may be lawful for him to speak or write what he pleases, so 
 long as he does no injury to his neighbour ; or in other words, that 
 the Liberty (not the Licentiousness) of the Press may be protected 
 by Law. 
 
 " By factious motives we never are, nor ever can be, actuated in 
 this Colony, under the present system of Government. A FACTION 
 is a combination of a number of persons to promote exclusively 
 their ambitious or interested views, opposed to PARTY, where 
 public principle is the bond of union. But who ever heard of a 
 faction consisting of the majority of the inhabitants of a country ? 
 What could any one gain here by entering into such a conspiracy 
 against the interest of his fellow subjects ? He could not expect,
 
 in this Colony, to get inro power by pushing others out of their 
 places, and, perhaps, he could not take a more certain means of 
 depriving himself of the countenance of even a good Government, 
 than by adventuring to expose the errors of a bad one. Such are 
 the usual and pernicious effects of undefined power on the human 
 understanding and feelings. 
 
 *'Ff, however, any faction docs exist at this moment in this 
 Colony, we may, without fear of contradiction, assure the public 
 that it does not consist of the enemies of the established system. 
 
 "When we consider the notoriety of a great part of what we 
 have now stated, we cannot help indulging a smile at the weakness 
 of those who attempt to impose upon strangers, by telling them dis- 
 mal stories of extensive combinations against the quiet and decent 
 order of things established here ; and who tell every one, in a whin- 
 ing tone, that there is an end to harmony at the Cape which we 
 all recollect ; when it might have been said without any 
 very extravagant hyperbole not a bird durst perch upon a bush 
 and sing, without the leave of the Colonial Government." 
 
 In the same number of the Commercial Advertiser appeared 
 extracts from a work, printed the previous year in England, 
 entitled " State of the Cape of Good Hope in 1822. By z Civil 
 Servant." Especially did these extracts dwell on the " Liberty 
 of the Preu" as a corrective of Despotism, and the vices 
 and absurdities of mankind, and expressing surprise that, in 
 Cape Town, individuals have not established a press as a private 
 concern. In the next numbers, 16 and 17, April 21 and 28, 
 1824, similar extracts appeared from De Lolme's excellent work 
 on. the Constitution of England, on the advantages of a " Free 
 Press," and from an old work on the Cape by J. S. Stavorinus, 
 Rear-Admiral in the service of the States-General. 
 
 The utter collapse of the trial of Messrs Cooke, Edwards 
 and Hoffman, the scathing addresses of Advocates Brand and 
 Cloete in defending two of the defendants, the leading article 
 of the South Ajrican C'.mmertial Advertiser of the yth April, 
 
 D 2
 
 1824, the unflinching front shown by the able ^though indis- 
 creet) Mr. Edwards, and the dignified and independent tone 
 of Messrs. John Fairbairn and Thomas Pringle the Editors of 
 the Advertiser were as gall and wormwood to the despot who 
 had during eleven years ruled the Cape Colony with a rod of 
 iron. The doom of the paper was sealed, only Phoenix-like 
 to rise from its ashes with greater splendour. But this last 
 act of tyranny also proved the downfall of the Governor. 
 
 No, 1 8 of the South African Commercial Advertiser appeared 
 on the 5th May, 1824, with the following 
 
 POSTSCRIPT." 
 " WEDNESDAY MORNING, ONE O'CLOCK. 
 
 " His Majesty's Fiscal having assumed the CENSORSHIP of the 
 South African Commercial Advertiser by an Official Order, sent to 
 the printing office by a messenger late in the evening before 
 publication, demanding proof sheets of the paper for next day [this 
 day] and prohibiting its being struck off ' till we had received his 
 further instructions thereon/ we find it our duty, as BRITISH 
 SUBJECTS, under these circumstances, to discontinue the publication 
 of the said paper, for the present, in tliis Colony, until we have 
 applied for redress and direction to His Excellency the Governor 
 and the British Government. 
 
 " Our numerous subscribers will, we trust, require no further 
 explanation at present of this distressing interruption. They, and 
 the rest of the world, shall be speedily put in possession of a full 
 statement of all the FACTS: one of which is a demand from the 
 Fiscal of Two Securities, on or before Friday next, to become 
 bound, under a penalty of TEN THOUSAND RIXDOLLARS [750] that 
 nothing offensive shall appear in any future number such as extracts 
 from the experienced woik of the Civil Servant, a work PUBLISHED 
 in this Colony, this year, by W. W. Bird, Esq., Comptroller of 
 Customs, and Assessor of the Court of Appeals. 
 
 "We will only mention further, at present, that not a word of 
 this our last number has been written, or altered, in consequence of 
 the abovementioncd transactions, excepting this notice."
 
 53 
 
 The following extract from Mr. Pringle's account of this 
 tyrannical proceeding is taken from his book : " The crisis 
 having thus arrived, - Mr. Fairbairn and I explained to Mr. 
 Greig the course we had determined to pursue, namely, never 
 to compromise our birthright as British subjects by editing any 
 publication under a censorship. But we advised him to weigh 
 maturely all the consequences, and either act upon our 
 principles, or continue the newspaper without us, as he 
 might judge best. Mr. Greig, however, declared himself 
 resolved to follow the same course, and announced next 
 morning, in our last paper, that in consequence of the Fiscal's 
 assumption of the censorship, the publication would be discon- 
 tinued until the decision of His Majesty's Government on the 
 subject should be ascertained." 
 
 The leading article of this the eighteenth and last number 
 of the Commercial Advertiser, being a review of the work of 
 Barrow on the Cape of Good Hope, concludes with the 
 following passages sentiments which, though written Sixty 
 rears Ago, are equally applicable to the present time (Novem- 
 ber, 1884), and woithy to be recorded : 
 
 " To the Dutch colonists, now our countrymen and fellow- 
 subjects, we particularly address the following remarks. However 
 much they may occasionally be galled or exasperated by the unfair 
 or unfeeling sarcasms of English travellers or journalists, they may 
 rest assured that the regards of the Government and generous 
 people of England are ever directed towards them with indulgent 
 liberality and affection. Let authors be judged of by their words ; 
 but nations and governments only by their actions England, of 
 all nations that ever existed, pursues the most liberal system of 
 policy towards the countries she has won or nurtured. Her Ministers, 
 no doubt, arc fallible, like other men ; and they have sometimes erred 
 in regard to the administration of the Colonies, and may pc,ssibly
 
 54 
 
 err again but it must be from ignorance of the truth, if the British 
 Government ever does, or permits deliberate injustice to be done 
 towards any part or appendage of the Empire. This Colony, if 
 abandoned by England, would fall an easy prey to the frst rapacious 
 tyrant that chose to seize it. Under her free and fostering guardian- 
 ship alone may we rationally hope to attain permanent prosperity, 
 liberty and happiness. 
 
 "Let, therefore, no temporary vexations, nor any possible 
 accumulation of private annoyances, ever for a moment disturb 
 the perfect reliance, or weaken the firm loyalty of our fellow- 
 subjects (whether Dutch or English) towards the wise, just and 
 beneficent Government of England. Is she not doing for us all we 
 have ever asked of her and more ? Has she not sent out able and 
 honourable men to inquire into our local grievances, disadvantages 
 and restrictions; and who are at this moment traversing the 
 remotest districts cf our country, to hear and see and report upon 
 whatever requires to be amended ? Whoever now sits sulkily 
 down and broods fretfully over his wrongs or disadvantages, instead 
 of availing himself of the regular and legitimate channel which has 
 been consistently opened for their redress, deserves to bear them, 
 for ever, unpitied and can never hereafter ascribe the fault to the 
 neglect of the British Government. 
 
 " Above all, let all good and patriotic citizens beware of any 
 intemperance, in word or deed, towards any individual to whom 
 the legal authority of Government has been delegated. We are 
 FREEMEN ; and, if any of our Rulers do oppression or wrong, they 
 can be called to answtr for it at the bar of their country, as well as 
 the meanest of their fellow-subjects : but their office and persons 
 ought to be duly respected so long as they continue to occupy 
 the stations to which our gracious Sovereign has been pleased to 
 promote them. If there be any persons in the Colony (we trust 
 there are none) who would teach men disrespect to even the shadow 
 of LEGAL AUTHORITY, let good citizens beware of them. Fools and 
 desperadoes may talk or act intempcrately : wise and patriotic men 
 ought to be distinguished by candour, calmness and self-possession." 
 What a noble closing to the 5. A. Commercial Advertiser !
 
 55 
 
 Two days before the publication of the i8th number of the 
 S. A. Commercial Advertiser, viz, on the 3rd May, 1824, the 
 Fiscal sent for Mr. Greig. " This officer (the Fiscal)," writes 
 Mr. Greiir, "speaks the English language with something of a 
 :n accent, and perhaps with something of a foreign idiom ; 
 sh ears, therefore, are not always sudden'y possessed of his 
 meaning. And the person who owns these ears,* and entertains 
 a prudent respect for them, should, when suddenly called before 
 so important a magistrate, who, to use the phrase of the 
 ' Civil Servant,' is invested with some very odious privileges 
 an Englishman, we say, should, in such cases, implore the Fiscal 
 to express his will in writing, to prevent after mistakes or 
 misstatements " Accordingly, Mr. Greig, on his return from 
 his interview, addressed the subjoined note to His Majesty's 
 
 Fiscal : 
 
 "Commercial Printing Office, May 3, 1824. 
 " D. DENVSSEN, Esq. 
 
 " SIR, On my return home this afternoon, after the conversation 
 I held with you at your house, in Strand-street, I found it impossible 
 to charge my memory with the main circumstances which trans- 
 pired. 1 have, therefore, to request you will favour me with a 
 wr.ttfn statement of any instructions or documents which you have 
 had communicated to you with reference to the subject you urged- 
 It must be unnecessary for me to point out the impracticability 
 of acting upon verbal communications from any public functionary 
 whatever. Your early answer to this is requested." 
 
 " I have, &c., 
 
 "(Signed) GEO. GREIG." 
 
 To which His Majesty's Fiscal sent the following reply : 
 
 "Cape Town, 3rd May, 1824. 
 " To Mr. GEO. GREIG. 
 
 " SIR, In reply to your letter just received, I cannot but refer 
 you to the communication I have been instructed to make to you 
 
 The above was written at the time by Mr. Greig in " Facts connected 
 *itL the stopping of the S. A. Commercial Advertiser '."
 
 on the subject of your having deviated from the terms of your 
 prospectus of the South African Commercial Advertiser. If any 
 further explanation is required application may be made for the 
 same to His Excellency, through the usual medium of the Colonial 
 
 Secretary. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 "(Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal." 
 
 In this stage of the business, Tuesda), the 4th May, arrived, 
 and about eight o'clock in the evening, while all was bustle and 
 preparation in the Commercial Printing Office, a messenger from 
 the Fiscal entered, and delivered to Mr. Greig the following 
 
 note : 
 
 "No. II, Strand-street, May 4. 1824. 
 
 "To Mr. GEORGE GREIG, Commercial Printing Office. 
 
 " Sir, I hope that you will have no objection to send me a Proof 
 Sheet of your i8th Number of the South African Commercial Adver- 
 tiser, previous to its being struck off. Your immediate reply will 
 much oblige me. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 "(Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal." 
 
 To this Mr. Greig sent the following reply : 
 
 "Sir, J have the honour to acknowledge your note of to-night, as 
 follows : 'I hope that you will have no objection to send me a 
 Pioof Sheet of your 1 8th Number of the South African Commercial 
 Advertiser, previous to its being struck off. Your immediate reply 
 will much oblige me.' 
 
 "To this note, I have the honour to state in answer, that I am 
 ready to comply, with promptitude, to every 'Official Order.' 
 
 " (Signed) GEORGE GREIG." 
 
 The messenger quickly returned, and served and duly 
 delivered a copy of the following Official Order, the ?ame 
 being required: 
 
 '* MESSENGER. You are to require Mr. G. Greig forthwith to 
 deliver to you a Proof Sheet of his 1 8th Number of the Weekly
 
 57 
 
 Paper, entitled Tbf South African Commercial ddvfrl'utr, and not to 
 allow the same to be struck off until he shall have received my 
 further directions thereon. Serve and duly deliver a Copy of this 
 Official Order, if required ; and relate the answer of Mr. Grcig in 
 writing. 
 
 " (Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal. 
 
 W. MILLS, Es. Messenger. 
 " Cape Town, 4th May, 1824.'' 
 
 All the proof sheets then ready were immediately sent in 
 obedience to the Official Order of the Fiscal. In about an 
 hour the Fiscal sent an IMPRIMATUR, as follows : 
 
 "Cape Town, 4th May, 1824. 
 
 "Mr. G. GREIG, Sir, I have no objection to your going on in 
 printing the pages of your 1 8th Number now in my possession, viz. : 
 the first page, and the pages 146, 147, 148 and 149, which, how- 
 ever, I hope, will not be construed as an approval of that part 
 thereof which bears upon the administration of this Colony, such 
 as the 1st column of page 146,* nor as an approval of Mr. 
 
 Fairplay's letter. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 " (Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal." 
 
 The remaining proof sheets being now ready, were sent to 
 the Fiscal with the following note : 
 
 " May 4, 1824. 
 
 "Sir, Merely to save time, I send these proofs of No. 1 8 of my 
 Paper, by my own servant, in consequence of your previous Official 
 Order ; your messenger not having waited, as desired by me, till 
 they were ready. I accompany them with this note in order to have 
 an opportunity of stating that my sending you proofs previous to 
 publication is not a voluntary act on my part, but an act of obedi- 
 ence to authority. 
 
 " I have the honour, &c., 
 
 " (Signed) GEORGE GREIG." 
 1 he excellent leading article, from which extracts will be found.
 
 On the following morning came the second IMPRIMATUR, 
 as follows : 
 
 " The Fiscal having perused the remaining pages of the 
 eighteenth number of the South African Commercial Advertiser, 
 although he does not think himself justified to approve the whole 
 of its contents, will allow its being printed." Strand-street, 5th 
 May, 1824. 
 
 " MR. GEORGE GREIG." 
 
 The eighteenth number was printed on the morning of the 
 5th May, 1824, precisely as it was intended, before the 
 interference of the Fiscal, not a single alteration or omission 
 having taken place, with the exception of the " Postscript," 
 signifying its being suspended for the present. 
 
 The Fiscal having denied that he had demanded security 
 for Ten Thousand Rixdollars of Mr. Greig, the latter gave 
 his version of the conversation which took place at the Fiscal's 
 house on the 3rd May : 
 
 " On Monday evening, the Fiscal sent a messenger to me, 
 requesting I would call at his house in Strand-street. I did so. 
 He then opened a conversation upon the subject of my paper the 
 S'jutb African Commercial Advertiser, and said he was instructed to 
 inform me that I had departed from the Prospectus ; that it had 
 become obnoxious to the Government, and referred more parti- 
 cularly to the last three or four numbers. I a?kcd him to point out 
 such parts as were immediately objectionable. He then mentioned 
 some leading remarks, which he said bore upon the Administration 
 of the Colony. He further pointed out, as obnoxious, all quotations 
 which had been made from ' De Lolme,' Blackstone, the ' Civil 
 Servant's' works, ' Lacon/ and generally all extracts relative 
 to the ' Liberty of the Press' observing ' nobody can doubt 
 the obvious tendency of these ; and as we are not men in this 
 Colony, but merely infants,' it was, in his opinion, dangerous to 
 insert such matter. He added, also, that it was expected I should, 
 in future, publish no farts of Trials, but wait until the whole were
 
 59 
 
 finished ; and, even then, all scurrilous parts (such as the memorial 
 of Mr. L. Cookc to the Treasury) were to be omitted. That I was 
 further to be bound down with Two Sureties, in the Penalty of 
 Ten Thousand Rixdollars, that nothing of the offensive nature 
 pointed out should appear in any future number ; and lastly, that I 
 was to take particular care that the next number (18) contained no 
 matter of the description alluded to, nor any notice of Mr. Edwards' 
 trial. To all this I replied that 1 would give no promise as to what 
 would appear in the next or any future number. That I required 
 time to consider what was fitting to be done with regard to the 
 security demanded. The Fiscal then named Friday morning. I 
 requested a copy of the instructions upon which he professed to act. 
 He then dictated as from a paper which lay Before him, but refused 
 a perfect copy. The Fiscal said he had my memorial before him, 
 which he read to me, and on my directing his attention to the 
 answer which had been given to me, he professed himself totally 
 ignorant of the existence of any answer. On my arrival home I 
 thought it improper to trust to, or act upon, any verbal communica- 
 tion from a Public Servant, and therefore addressed .1 note to the 
 Fiscal, requesting a copy of any document or instructions he had 
 upon the subject. This the Fiscal refused, but referred me to the 
 Governor, through the usual medium of the Colonial Secretary. 
 That the substance of this is true, I am ready to make affidavit. 
 
 " (Signed) GEORGE GREIG." 
 
 The . A. Commercial Advertiser having ceased to exist 
 with the eighteenth number, on Wednesday, the 5th May, 
 1824, on account of the proprietor refusing to submit to the 
 attempted CENSORSHIP of the Fiscal or rather of Lord Charles 
 Somerset Mr Greig forwarded to the Government Gazette the 
 following two advertisements, for publication, on the usual terms 
 of payment, but were refused insertion : 
 
 "TRIAL OF MR. EDWARDS. 
 
 " The Trial of Mr. Edwards, now pending before the 
 Commissioners of the Worshipful Court of Justice, together
 
 6o 
 
 with all Official Proceedings connected with that subject, will be 
 fully reported for publication, after the close of the proceedings. 
 To be printed and published in London. Orders for this interest- 
 ing publication may now be sent to Mr. Geo. Greig, 30, Long- 
 market-street, Cape Town, in order to prevent after disappointment 
 and to regulate him in regard to the number required for the supply 
 of the Cape Market. 
 
 " Commercial Printing Office, 
 
 " No. 30, Longmarket-street, Cape Town." 
 
 The following is Mr. Greig's version of the trial of Wm, 
 Edwards, in a memorial addressed to Earl Bathurst, H.M. 
 Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs : 
 
 " The immediate reason which led to the paper's suppression may 
 be traced without hazarding much conjecture. The Governor 
 might entertain apprehensions that the trial of Mr. Edwards would 
 be published. The gross exposures which were made in the course 
 of that trial seriously involved his (the Governor's) character and that 
 of others, and these circumstances might render the Governor par- 
 ticularly anxious that the proceedings should be suppressed ; but if 
 it be intended to be held or asserted that this furnished a sufficient 
 ground for annihilating my trade, ruining my prospects, and stamp- 
 ing my character with the charge of 'seditious,' I rest satisfied that 
 that position will not meet with your Lordship's sanction. As the 
 case of Mr. Edwards is, I understand, to be brought before the 
 House of Commons, all that I will state to your Lordship respecting 
 his trial is, that although Mr. Edwards upon oath denied all know- 
 ledge of the letter charged as libellous, the Court of Justice, with- 
 out calling or permitting him to call a single witness, found him 
 guilty, and sentenced him to seven years' transportation, a course of 
 proceeding to prevent the promulgation of which the anxiety of the 
 Governor is not to be wondered at. Two hours after the adjourn- 
 ment of the Court, at eight o'clock on the evening previous to pub- 
 lication, came the letter of the Fiscal requiring proof sheets of my
 
 6i 
 
 next paper ; and the subsequent acts of which I complain continued 
 till the Sunday following, the day on which my presses were scaled 
 up, myself charged with sedition, and ordered to be banished from 
 the Colony." 
 
 "NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 " On Wednesday next a Paper, containing advertisements only, 
 will be published at the above Office and forwarded for the 
 accommodation of our Commercial Friends, to the Subscribers to 
 the South African Commercial Advertiser, at present suspended on 
 account of the Fiscal's attempt to assume the Censorship of it. 
 
 ''Here we stand at present. When the matter is closed, we will 
 not forget our pledge of letting the world know all the facts con- 
 nected with our distressing interruption. 
 
 "Commercial Printing Office, 30, Longmarket-st., Cape Town." 
 
 These two advertisements having been refused insertion in the 
 Government Gazette by the " Censor " of that interesting pub- 
 lication, the second of them was printed at the Commercial 
 Printing Office as a hand-bill, and posted in the usual way by 
 order of Mr. Greig, together with another, of which the follow- 
 ing is a copy: 
 
 "AUDI ALTER AM PARTEM." 
 
 "On Monday morning, at eight o'clock, will be published 
 " FACTS, 
 
 "Connected with the Stopping of the Press, and the Censorship 
 of the Fiscal. 
 
 " South African Commercial Advertiser Office, 
 
 30, Longmarket-strcct, Cape Town." 
 
 In about an hour after these were posted, a person came to 
 Mr. Grei^'s premises, and commenced tearing down these 
 placards. He was, however, prevented, and retired. Mr.
 
 62 
 
 Greig immediately waited on the Fiscal, to inquire whether he 
 had issued orders for this attack on his premises and property. 
 The Deputy-Fiscal, who was on duty, replied in the affirmative, 
 but refused to give any written document ; upon which Mr. 
 Greig returned to his office, and gave orders to his people to 
 discontinue the publication of the hand-bills. He continued, 
 however, to arrange the " Statement of Facts," connected 
 with the stopping of his paper, and the Censorship of the 
 Fiscal, which he was thus prohibited from advertising. It was 
 all got into type, and prepared to be thrown off and published 
 on the Monday morning following. But on the intervening 
 Sabbath^ about 3 o'clock p.m., His Majesty's Fiscal, with the 
 Sheriffs, and a Commission from the Worshipful Court of 
 Justice, entered Mr. Greig's premises, and read the following 
 warrant : 
 
 "By His Excellency the Right Honourable General Lord CHARLES 
 HENRY SOMERSET, one of His Majesty's Most Honourable 
 Privy Council, Colonel of His Majesty's 1st West India 
 Regiment, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of His 
 Majesty's Castle, Town and Settlement of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, in South Africa, and the Territories and 
 Dependencies thereof, and Ordinary and Vice-Admiral 
 of the same, Commander of the Forces, &c., Sec., &c. 
 
 "Whereas GEORGE GREIG, by special permission of His Majesty's 
 Government, Printer of the South African Commercial Advertiser, in 
 this Colony, has not only openly transgressed the conditions under 
 which such permission has been granted to him, but has moreover 
 wantonly and ieditiouslj persisted in doing so, after having been 
 warned by His Majesty's Fiscal, and in the name of the Colonial 
 Government been required to give security for the due observance 
 of the said conditions ; Wherefore, and in order to prevent the 
 evil consequences which, from any further forbearance, might accrue 
 to the peace and tranquility of the Colony, you arc hereby autho- 
 rized and directed, with the assistance of a Commission from the
 
 Worshipful the Court of Justice, t o repair to the Printing Othcc of 
 the said George Grcig, No. 30, Lcngmarket-strect, and there, in 
 the name of His Majesty's Government, to prohibit the said George 
 Grcig continuing to act as publisher of the South African Commercial 
 Advertiser ; and further, in the presence of the Commission to seal 
 up all and every press, or presses t of him the said George Grcig, in 
 order to remain so scaled up until His Majesty's pleasure shall be 
 known. 
 
 " And whereas the personal conduct of the said George Grcig 
 has proved subversive of tha: due submission to the lawful com- 
 mands of the Constituted Authorities in this Colony, without 
 which peace and tranquillity cannot remain undisturbed, you are 
 further authorized and directed to notify to him, the said George 
 Greig, thai he is to leave the Colony within one month from the 
 date hereof, and that in default of so doing he shall be arrested and 
 sent out of it by the first suitable opportunity. 
 
 " Given under my hand and Seal, at the Cape of Good Hope, this 
 Eighth Day of May, One Thousand Eight Hundred and 
 Twenty-four. 
 
 "L.S. (Signed) CHARLES HENRY SOMERSET. 
 " By His Excellency's Command, 
 
 " (Signed) P. G. BRINK, Assistant Sec. to 
 
 Government. 
 
 " To D. DENYSSEN, Esq., H.M. Fiscal. 
 "A true Copy. D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal. 
 
 "Endorsed (in Dutch) by the Chief Justice, Sir JOHN TRUTER, 
 authorizing the Commission to see the Warrant executed." 
 
 It will be seen that the preamble to this warrant is a mass of 
 misstatements. Mr. Greig never had the " permission of His 
 Majesty's Government "j on the contrary, he was refused 
 permission ; he never entered into any u conditions," his 
 prospectus was a voluntary act ; he never committed, nor 
 was ever charged with, any act of " sedition"; he never
 
 " persisted " in disobeying any official order of the Fiscal, but 
 on the contrar) studiously "obeyed "; and the Fiscal himself 
 denied^ by letter in the Government Gazette, that he had called 
 upon Mr. Greig to enter into security for ten thousand 
 rixdollars. So that the whole of the preamble was wilfully 
 untrue, and these misstatements were signed by the Governor 
 of the Colony ! And all this took place during the first 
 quarter of the nineteenth century ! How much do editors 
 and the public of the present day owe to the brave men who 
 so manfully and so uncompromisingly battled for, and even- 
 tually pained, the incalculable victory of the " Free Press " of 
 South Africa ! It was even said that the Governor was seen in 
 the vicinity of Mr. Greig's premises when the press was being 
 sealed up.* 
 
 The writer was present, and an eye-witness of what followed 
 after the warrant was read. Mr. Greig showed the Fiscal into 
 the press-room and pointed out the best way of preventing the 
 press being used (by fastening the c< bar-handle " to the " cheek," 
 with red tape and a seal). "Thank you," said the Fiscal, 
 " we are not in the habit of sealing-up presses." One member 
 of the Commission placed his hand on the inking frame, and 
 
 The following arc Mr. Greig's remarks on the " Warrant " in his 
 Memorial to Earl Bathurst: " I now, my Lord, proceed to the examina- 
 tion of the Warrant itself ; and as it is the principal measure of which I 
 complain, the act hurled ruin and defamation upon me, I beg to append 
 a copy of it. The Warrant commences with a wholly untrue assertion. 
 It says : ' Whereas George Greig, by special permission of His Majesty's 
 Government, printer of the South African Commercial Advertiser,' &c. So 
 far, my Lord, from any ' special permission ' having been granted, I have 
 already stated that no application was ever made to the Colonial Govern- 
 ment on the subject, nor could they have been uware of my intention 
 uutil the paper was publicly announced ; thus the very reason which the 
 Governor assigns, in the preamble to this Warrant, for resorting to such 
 a step, is wholly unfounded ; the remainder of the sentence is equally 
 untrue."
 
 got it blackened with printing ink, and exclaimed, " it is dirty 
 very dirty work!" The Fiscal very nearly got his hand 
 smashed by putting it on the "ribs :> when the Irish pressman, 
 named Donovan, was rolling in the " coffin" ( iron plate on which 
 the type is placed), and screamed out just in time to save his 
 hand, when Pat exclaimed, 4C Oh ! the darlint, she thinks your 
 Honour is going to pp'nt the Facts!" The Fiscal, now vexed, 
 said, u Have you no more presses ?" " No more printing 
 presses," replied Mr. Greig. " I think we should seal up the 
 tjpes" continued the Fiscal. " Is it so stated in the warrant ?" 
 asked Mr. Greig. The Fiscal, pulling out the warrant, looked 
 at it, and said, "It is not so expressed." The Fiscal and his 
 followers were preparing to depart, when Mr. Greig requested 
 a copy of the warrant. " I am no copyist," said the Fiscal, 
 <l and my clerks do not -work en Sundays. To-morrow, perhaps, 
 you may have a copy." Mr. Greig remonstrated, stating that 
 his time was short to arrange his affairs. He wished to know 
 exactly what the Governor required of him, that he might 
 obey it to the letter, and requested to be allowed to copy it 
 himself. The Fiscal consented. Mr. Greig copied the 
 warrant (he was a very fast writer), and the Fiscal and his 
 followers departed, delighted that he had prevented the 
 publication of the Pacts the following morning, as advertised 
 jii the handbills. Vain thought ! The greater portion of 
 the Facts had already been put into type the " warrant '* 
 and the circumstances of that day were soon added ; 
 the operatives were at work (the writer amongst others) 
 during the whole of that Sunday night, and the following 
 morning, to the amazement of the Governor and the 
 Fiscal, hundreds of copies of the " Facts connected with the 
 stoppage of the South African Commercial Advertiser" were 
 distributed gratis to the public. The street in front of the 
 office was filled with hundreds of people, the " Facts " were 
 thrown out of the upper-story windows, and there was quite a
 
 scramble below to obtain copies. There had been no prohibition 
 to publish the " Facts " simply an order to seal up the Press 
 or Presses. There was but one Printing Press, and that had 
 been securely sealed by the Fiscal. How then were the 
 '* Facts " printed ? Printers will understand how. The type 
 having been " made up," and "locked up" in the "chases'* 
 on the u imposing stones "; the paper having been already 
 " wetted," and ready for printing, was laid, sheet after sheer, 
 upon the type, after being inked j a printers' press-'* blanket" 
 was then laid upon the paper, and with " mallet and planer" 
 the impression was produced as fast as three printers could do 
 the work all night long. The following morning the Fiscal 
 appeared again, with an order to seal up the " Types," and the 
 doors of the composing rooms were sealed up. Too late ! The 
 public were in possession of the " Facts," and the greatest 
 excitement and consternation prevailed in Cape Town. No 
 one knew what would come next. In Mr. Greig's Memorial 
 to Earl Bathurst he states as follows : 
 
 "Among numerous placards which followed the extinction of the 
 press in South Africa, one of an atrocious character was laid to 
 have been posted in the Heerengracht (Dreyer's corner) charging 
 the Governor and Dr. Barry* with an abominable crime. The 
 large subscription raised, exceeding 25,000 rixdollars, to discover 
 the author, tempted a servant of Mr. Edwards to accuse him and 
 a Mr. Wilmot. In the course of the examination he introduced 
 my name also : and a warrant was obtained for searching my 
 premises for 'illegal documents.' My Lord, in adverting to this 
 circumstance, I do it, not so much with a view to complain of the 
 indignity of beingcompelled, upon a v ague charge, to exhibit my most 
 frit-ate papers and documents, but to show that I was throughout 
 
 * Dr. Barry will be remembered by some of the elder inhabitants of 
 Cape Town. He was a small, delicate-looking person, without \vhit-kers 
 or beard. Report had it that he was a woman in disguise, which, it was 
 said, was verified on his (Uath. The writer remembers him (or her) well.
 
 pursued with unremitting rancour and virulence, and after the pe 
 of the informer was thoroughly exposed, the Governor, although 
 he had previously promised me copies of the depositions, refused 
 to interfere, nor would the Fiscal prosecute the man for pcrju.y." 
 
 The following extract of the ' Facts," in conclusion, is here 
 copied : 
 
 " Thus terminated," says the writer of the " Facts," " the South 
 African Commercial Advertiser, in the eighteenth week of its 
 existence, and such has been the fate of the first man who dared to 
 express in print the obligations of Morality, the consolations and 
 duties of Religion, and the principles of British Justice in this 
 Colony. One circumstance more may be stated to illustrate the 
 value of this newspaper. The Fiscal, in the month of February, 
 instituted a prosecution against Messrs. Cooke, Edwaids and Hoff- 
 man, for a Libel. Mr. Greig reported the proceedings of the Court, 
 and these gentlemen were acquitted of all the charges brought 
 against them. Shortly after the Fiscal again brought a criminal 
 action against the same Edwards, for a Libel ; but to 
 prevent interruption, put out, in the meantime, the candles 
 of the Press, as has been before stated. Mr. Edtvards was 
 found guilty, and sententtd to seven years' transportation without a 
 single witness being called, or any other evidence considered besides the 
 showing of the Fiscal. The whole of this extensive, loyal and once 
 promising Colony is thus laid prostrate at the feet of some dark 
 inexplicable power whose future who shall tell ? and under the 
 operation and fear of which no industry can ensure success, nor 
 t ny good design be prosecuted with confidence or safety." 
 
 The South African Commercial Advertiser having been 
 suppressed, the second trial of the unfortunate William 
 Edwards was never published. It did not suit the policy 
 of the South African Chronicle to publish the proceedings. 
 William Edwards was indicted for an alleged libel on the 
 Governor, Lord Charles Somerset. A mock trial ensued, and 
 he was sentenced to seven years' transportation, "without a single 
 witness being called or any other evidence considered besides 
 
 2
 
 68 
 
 the showing of the Fiscal." He was sent to prison, and steps 
 taken for his immediate transportation. His sympathisers, 
 however, made arrangements to effect his escape. Small files 
 were introduced into his cell (on the upper story, facing the 
 street), two iron bars were filed through, a rope ladder handed 
 up to him at night, by which he descended, his trusty servant 
 Thos. Mahony being in waiting below vvith a horse. What 
 further happened is thus stated in the South African Chronicle 
 of the i8th August, 1824: 
 
 ' Orders having been received for the removal of William 
 EHwards under sentence of transportation to New South Wales, to 
 be placed on board the convict ship Minerva, in Simon's Bay, he was 
 removed on the lyth September, 1824, in charge of the third 
 Under-Sheriff Stilwell, and a constable, both on horseback. At the 
 ' Three Cups/ Rondebosch, he feigned illness, and was permitted 
 to leave the cart. On approaching Captain CarnalFs place, near 
 Wynberg, he was met by that gentleman on horseback, and was per- 
 mitted, through indisposition, to proceed to Captain Carnall's house. 
 Still ill, or pretending to be so, he retired to an inner room, leav- 
 ing Stilwell on the outside. From this room he made his exit, and 
 found a horse equipped and in waiting for him, and set off wiih all 
 possible speed to Simon's Town. Stilwell at length got alarmed at 
 the long absence of his prisoner, and finding him flown, and noticing 
 'the footprints of a horse, went in pursuit ; meeting Under-Sheriff 
 Van der Schyff. who had seen Edwards on the road, both joined in 
 pursuit. First they found Edwards' horse, entirely blown and 
 unable to move. Edwards' footprints were traced to a rock at the 
 edge of the sea, to give an idea that he had drowned himself. But 
 Edwards had made his way back to Capt. Carrall's (taking off his 
 boots whenever the ground would show his 'spoor'), where he 
 arrived in the evening. He was, however, traced, and Capt. Car- 
 nail's house surrounded by Major Molesworth and some Dragoons, 
 and some Military from Newlands. The premises were entered, 
 and after considerable search Edwardr was found concealed in his 
 wife's bed-room, under the mattress, his wife being in bed. He was
 
 6 9 
 
 at once overpowered, but during the struggle contrived to inflict a 
 superficial wound on his throat with a razor.'' 
 
 Captain Carnall and W. Stilwell were tried on the 2"th 
 September before two Commissioners of the Worshipful Court 
 of Justice, and ultimately sentenced, Captain Carnall to one 
 year's banishment from the Colony and to be placed on Robben 
 Island until the sentence should be enforced. He was further 
 fined Rds. 50 (3 155.) for not proving his allegations. W. 
 Stilwell was sentenced to three months' imprisonment. 
 Although the trial lasted many days, and much evidence was 
 taken, no report appeared in the South African Chronicle^ the 
 Government organ. 
 
 "These occurrences," wrote Mr. Pringle, "produced a 
 strong sensation in Cape Town. No public meeting could be 
 held without the Governor's permission ; but a petition to the 
 King in Council, praying for the extension to the Colony of 
 the privileges of a Free Press, was drawn up, and signed by a 
 very large proportion of the most respectable inhabitants, includ- 
 ing almost the whole of the English merchants. This peti- 
 tion was couched in the most moderate and decorous language, 
 and only referred in very calm and measured terms to the 
 recent extraordinary transactions. Such was thepanic^ however, 
 that had been excited by the sentence of banishment issued 
 against Mr. Greig, that comparatively few of the Dutch inhabi- 
 tants dared to sign it. The Governor's power, they said 4 was 
 absolute' and his resentment 'ruin.' They durst not venture, 
 even to petition the King contrary to the pleasure of the 
 Governor. Such abject dread of arbitrary power found little 
 sympathy, of course, in our breasts. Mr. Fairbairn and I 
 signed the petition." 
 
 Nof satisfied with stopping the Press, and issuing a sentence 
 of banishment from the Colony against its proprietor, the Governor 
 next turned his vindictive feelings against Messrs. Pringlc 
 and Fairbairn. " From that moment," says Mr. Pringlr,
 
 "the prosperity of our Academy was blasted. Week after 
 week pupils were taken away, some on one pretext, some 
 on another; until, in the course of a few months, scarcely 
 half our former number remained." This result was probably 
 accelerated by certain occurrences which took place shortly after 
 the affair of the Press, and of which the following is not the 
 least memorable and characteristic : 
 
 " The establishment of a Literary and Scientific Society at the 
 Cape had been one of the objects to which we had most earnestly 
 dirccteo our attention, with the view to the intellectual improve- 
 ment of the Colony ; and in order to prepare the public 
 mind for the formation of such an association, two able articles 
 from the pen of Mr. Fairbairn had appeared in successive numbers 
 of our Magazine. After the suppression of the Press, we still 
 cherished the hope of succeeding in this object, which had now 
 become of more importance than ever, since by that event ' light ' 
 was ' by one entrance quite shut out.' Besides, as such societies 
 have been generally tolerated, and even liberally patronized, by 
 some of the most despotic Governments of ancient and modern 
 times, we flattered ourselves that even our South African ' divan ' 
 would be disposed rather to encourage than obstruct the direc- 
 tion of the public mind to such pursuits, both for the sake of their 
 own credit in the eyes of the Commissioners and the Home 
 Government, and in order to withdraw attention from more 
 unpleasant topics. 
 
 "On the iiih July, accordingly, we met with a few of our 
 friends at the house of Messrs. Thomson and Pillans, merchants in 
 Cape Town, to concert measures for carrying this purpose into 
 effect. Some fundamental resolutions were adopted ; a committee 
 of three persons was appointed to prepare specific regulations, &c. 
 Copies of these regulations, &c., were transmitted to the Colonial 
 Office, the Fiscal, the members of the Court of Justice, and to the 
 Commissioners of Inquiry. The members at this time had 
 increased to 61, comprising among others the Chief Justice, and 
 two other members of the Bench, the Deputy Fiscal, Mr. Lind,
 
 four other civil servants, two advocates, four ministers of religion 
 nine medical gentlemen, and twenty-one merchants. A deputation, 
 consisting of the Chief Justice, Sir John Truter, Dr. Trutcr, a 
 member of the Bench (and brother-in-law of Mr. Barrow, of the 
 Admiralty) Mr. Advocate Cloete, two Indian residents, two 
 medical gentlemen, and two English merchants of Cape Town." 
 
 "The Governor, however," wrote Mr. Pringlc, "did not allow 
 lime for the deputation to wait upon him. He had been watching 
 our proceedings all along, with a most feline vigilance, and now 
 sprung forth upon us like a tiger from his den. He called 
 the Chief Justice to his presence, and gave him such a rating for 
 joining the Society, that Sir John, almost frightened out of his wits, 
 anxiously entreated me to withdraw his name from the list of 
 members ; at the same time assuring me, with a sort of rueful 
 simplicity, that he conscientiously believed the institution to be a 
 most praiseworthy one, and calculated to be of inestimable 
 advantage to the commurity ! ! ! 
 
 "With Mr. Advocate Cloete his Lordship came at once to the 
 point, and told him distinctly that he was resolved to crush the 
 institution ; adding, with vindictive emphasis, that it was quite 
 sufficient for him to know that the Society had originated with Mr. 
 Pringle and Mr. Fairbairn for he was fully determined, so long as 
 he held the reins of Government, to oppose and thwart everything, 
 without exception, which emanated from them, or in which they 
 were concerned." 
 
 What a Governor ! What a Chief Justice ! ! And this during 
 the lifetime of several persons still living ! 
 
 Mr. Greig had made arrangements for leaving the Colony, 
 and had advertised a Public Sale of his effects for Monday, the 
 24th May, when late on Sunday evening, the 23rd, he received 
 from His Majesty's Fiscal the following note : 
 
 "Cape Town, May 23, i8z4. 
 
 "To Mr. George Greig, Sir, Considering that the advertise- 
 ment in the Cape Gazette of yesterday, for the disposal of your
 
 effects to-morrow, had relation to the order I communicated to you 
 on the pth instant, to quit the Colony in a month from that period; 
 and being aware that it had not been His Excellency the Governor's 
 intention to enforce that order, unless some fresh cause for its 
 necessity should arise, I have obtained His Excellency's permission 
 to inform you, that His Excellency has been pleased to rescind that 
 order, and to signify his permission for you to rcmsin in the 
 
 Colony. 
 
 "I am, &c., 
 
 "(Signed) D. DENYSSEN, Fiscal." 
 To which Mr. Greig returned the following reply : 
 
 "Cape Town, May 25, 1824. 
 
 "Sir, I received your note of Sunday last, May 23, signifying 
 your having obtained His Excellency's permission to communicate 
 to me that it was not His Excellency's intention to enforce the order 
 respecting my expulsion from this Colony, unless I should com- 
 mit some fault or other tending to render such a measure necessary. 
 I beg to state, in return, that, in consequence of His Excellency's 
 order, my flourishing trade has been ruined, my honourable pros- 
 pects of usefulness for the present destroyed, my character as a 
 man and a subject defamed, my friends alarmed and shaken, my 
 people scattered, and exposed to poverty and starvation, on account 
 of their having accepted employment from me. In consequence of 
 that order, also, T have made my arrangements for quitting the 
 Colony. I have written to England to retain Counsel for the re- 
 covery of damages adequate to my enormous losses, and to get the 
 stamp of sedition taken off my character by the proper authorities. 
 I cannot, therefore, in conscience, say that I feel in any way 
 relieved by your communication, in which I see nothing of 
 remuneration, or my being restored to the situation in which I was 
 placed before I was assailed by the Government. 
 
 ' I am, &c., 
 
 " (Signed) GEORGE GREIG." 
 " D. DENYSSEN, Esq., H.M. Fiscal."
 
 73 
 
 Mr. Greig accordingly proceeded to England within the 
 time ordered, and was successsful in ootaining justice from, 
 the Imperial Government. He returned to the Colony, and 
 by order of Earl Bathurst, Secretary of State for the Colo- 
 nies, his Press was relieved from censorship, and writ- 
 ten authority was given that he should not be further 
 interfered with, and the publication of the South African 
 Commercial Advertiser was resumed under the sole manage- 
 ment of Mr. John Fairbairn. Lord Charles Somerset was at 
 once recalled to vindicate himself against the charges brought 
 against his administration. He never returned to the Colony, 
 and was succeeded on the 8th February, 1826, by Lieut.- 
 Governor Richard Bourke, who again in September, 1828, was 
 succeeded by Sir Lowry Cole. But while in England Lord 
 Charles Somerset, by his family and other influence, succeeded 
 in procuring an order from Downing-street for the suppression 
 of the South African Commercial Advertiser for the second time, 
 which order reached the Colony in 1827. The ground ?lleged 
 for this act was not the publication of any obnoxious original 
 article, but an extract copied from the London * Times of 
 January 25, 1826. Mr. John Fairbairn was hereupon sent to 
 England as a delegate from the Cape public, and on his arrival 
 in England was supported by the influence of the merchants 
 and others connected with the Colony. A change of Ministry 
 had also taken place, and the new Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies, Mr. Huskisson, conceded to the expressed wishes of 
 the colonists, and intimated on behalf of the Government that 
 " the Press wculd be placed under the control and protection of 
 the Law, and that no arbitrary suppression should take place in 
 future." Mr. Fairbairn returned to the Colony triumphantly, 
 and the South African Press has been FREE ever since. 
 
 It may be as well here to state that immediately after Mr. 
 Grc-ig left the Colony, in accordance with the order of Lord
 
 74 
 
 Charles Somerset, his (Greig's) press and printing materials came 
 into the possession of Mr. William Bridekirk (nephew to the 
 then Port Captain, Captain Bridekirk). Mr. William Bride- 
 kirk was at the time a compositor in the Government Printing 
 Office, where the Cape Gazette was printed. Mr. Bridekirk at 
 once started a weekly newspaper, called the South Ajricau 
 Chronicle, and had the assistance of several of the compositors 
 of the Government Printing Office. Not wishing his son to 
 lose what he had learnt in Mr. Greig's establishment, the 
 writer's father agreed, on the solicitation of Mr. Bridekirk, that 
 his son should enter Mr. Bridekirk's establishment, with the 
 understanding that should Mr. Greig return to the Colony, he 
 (the writer) would be permitted again to join Mr. Greig's 
 establishment. This was accordingly done, and on the return 
 of Mr. Greig, the writer went back and remained until he 
 finally left Cape Town for the frontier about the middle of the 
 year, 1828. Soon after Mr. Greig's return the South African 
 Chronicle ceased to exist.* Other newspapers were also started, 
 such as the 'Luid-Afnkaan ; the Colonist, by Mr. W. Beddy, 
 MA., Trinity College, Dublin ^afterwards Clerk to the Clerk 
 
 A remarkable circumstance happened to the writer. He had been in 
 the habit of 'composing" (setting up into type) the leading articles of the 
 South African Chronicle, and was inquisitive to know the name of the 
 Editor, but could not find out. One night he dreamt that a gentleman 
 had come into the printing office, and handed " copy ' of the leading article 
 to him. He took particular notice of the gentleman's features, and not 
 long afterwards came across a gentleman in the streets whose features he at 
 once recognized as the person he had seen in his dream. A few days 
 subsequently he had to take a note to the Public Library, then hell in 
 the Exchange, and saw the identical face. Struck with the likeness, he 
 made inquiries, and found it was Mr. A. J. Jardine, Librarian, and, under 
 the rose, Editor of the South African Chronicle He had never seen Mr. 
 Jardine before until he met him in the street, after his dream. The 
 Chronicle was " inspired " by the Government.
 
 75 
 
 of the Peace, Grahams Town; the Verzamelaar, by J. 
 Suasso de Lima, &c.* 
 
 Mr. J. Suasso de Lima \vas a Dutch lawyer, a clever man, and a 
 linguist. He was always in trouble; never paid anybody, especially his 
 
 runt. On one occasion he had to changu his residence, but there 
 writ ot " gyseling " (civil imprisonment) out against him, and 
 constables on the watch. To effect his removal he obtained a large 
 " ballast-mant " (clothes basket), got into it, and had it covered over 
 with books, newspapers, &c , and carried by two "coolies." The con- 
 stables on the watch being suspicious, gave chase ; the frightened 
 " coolies " abandoned their charge, the basket upset, and De Lima rolled 
 out. Mr. De Lima was caught, and paid the writ. When he started 
 the Verxamelaar (Gleaner), as was the custom with pi inters, the " formes," 
 or type, of the first number had to be " christened " by the overseer of 
 the office by spilling some wine over the type, while the printers had each 
 to drink a glass to the success of the new infant. Mr. De Lima was 
 jamc (one leg shorter than the other), and generally wore a long grey 
 overcoat, with a large pocket on each side. The usual warrant of 
 
 ling " was out against him. The writer accompanied him towards 
 evening to fetch the wine. Mr. De. L. put a bottle into each pocket, and 
 when near the office, the constables gave chase a run had to be made 
 the bottles clashed and broke but the Editor got safely into the office. 
 The yerxamelaar was a kind of Dutch Punch, and the editor was 
 constantly in hot water tor his personalities. There was a Dutch Doctor 
 V. H. in Cape Town very much smitten with a handsome young lady, 
 
 A. M. Escorting her home one night from a party just 
 at midnight arriving before the door of her mother's house, a cock crew 
 Dr. V. H. made a pun 
 
 De haan kraait koeker-de-koe, 
 De deur is toe. 
 
 The lady of the house, who was not favourable to the doctor, at that 
 moment opened the door, and replied 
 
 Neen, Mynheer ! de deur is open, 
 En gy kunt naar den drommel loopen. 
 
 The next morning the impromptu verses were in the ferzamf/aar, and 
 poor De Lima th-eatened with a horsewhipping from the irate doctor.
 
 PART II. 
 
 The Establishment of the Eastern Province Press, 
 
 COME we now to the establishment of the first newspaper in 
 the Eastern Province, viz., The Graham's Town Journal. 
 
 As already stated, among the British Settlers who arrivei in 
 Table Bay in 1820, were Messrs. Robert Godlonton and 
 Thomas Stringfellow. Both these gentlemen were practical 
 printers, and had, before leaving England, been engaged in a 
 branch of the King's Printing Office, at Shacklewell, and the 
 manager of the establishment, Mr. Rutt, anxious to give them 
 a fair start, had consigned to them the whole plant of a printing 
 establishment, in conjunction with Dr. Roberts, afterwards a 
 medical practitioner in Cape Town, with the distinct under- 
 standing that if they were successful, he should be paid for his 
 venture ; and if not, no demand would be made upon them on 
 account of it. "On^our arrival in Table Bay," wrote Mr. 
 Godlonton, " it soon became known that a Printing Press was 
 among the emigrants' luggage, and the Government printer, 
 Mr. Van de Sandt, was sent on board to make the inquiry. 
 The result was a prohibition against its going any further, the 
 Acting Governor' (Lieut.-General Donkin) remarking, as we 
 were told, that to allow it to go forward would be equal to 
 scattering firebrands along the Eastern frontier. We were under 
 quarantine at the time, not that any sickness was on board, but 
 to prevent the emigrants from going ashore, and falling in love 
 with Cape Town. But, notwithstanding this, for the purpose 
 of carrying out the arrangements of the Government, Mr.
 
 77 
 
 Stringfellow was permitted to go on shore, and between him 
 and the Government printer the matter was finally settled. 
 The amount of the invoice was paid, and remitted by Dr. 
 Roberts to Mr. Rutt, in England. By a curious chain of 
 circumstances this identical press came into my possession at 
 Graham's Town, and was used in printing the first newspaper 
 ever published in the Eastern Province. A portion of the 
 4 platen ' now stands as a memorial on my library table." 
 
 The manner in which the identical press brought out by 
 Messrs. Stringfellow and Godlonton (an old-style wooden press) 
 afterwards came into the possession of the latter gentleman is 
 remarkable. It has already been stated that the writer of these 
 " Reminiscences " had been taught the art of printing in Mr. 
 Geo. Greig's establishment in Cape Town. Printers in those 
 days were not to be had in the Colony. Not only was the 
 writer engaged in the mechanical part of printing the South 
 African Commercial Advertiser, but he also became proof-reader 
 to both Messrs. Fairbairn and Pringle. In 1828, having lost his 
 only surviving parent, the writer proceeded to Graaff-Reinet with 
 a friend, from whence he went across the Orange River (then a 
 wild country, uninhabited except by wandering Bushmen) with 
 a shooting party of Dutch farmers. Graaff-Reinet at that 
 period was an " oasis in the desert," th% farmers travelling to 
 Cape Town in ox-wagons, with their butter, fat and skins. 
 Woolled sheep had not yet been introduced. Returning to 
 Graaff-Reinet after some months' absence, the writer ascer- 
 tained that the press and printing plant taken from Messrs. 
 Stringfellow and Godlonton had, to get it out of harm's way, 
 been transferred to Graaff-Reinet, where an amateur printer, 
 the late Mr. P. C. Wahlstrand, was employed in printing 
 Government forms for the use of the public offices, the salary of 
 the printer amounting to more than the "forms" were worth. 
 
 The " Freedom of the Press'' having been obtained, there 
 was no longer any fear of the " Settlers' Press " getting into
 
 other hands. It was sold by public auction, at Graafr-Reinet, 
 and bought by the writer. Following the advice of several 
 friends, the writer took his press and plant to Graham's Town, 
 where he commenced a printing establishment in the month of 
 September, 1830. The British Settlers were not a people to 
 have a printing press in their midst, and not to have a news- 
 paper of their own. Messrs. Godlonton and Stringfellow were 
 then residing in Graham's Town, both being in the Civil 
 Service. 
 
 The writer was soon solicited to establish a newspaper, but 
 there was an unforeseen difficulty. A stringent law was in 
 existence regulating the printing of newspapers, the preamble 
 of which was as follows : u Ordinance for preventing the 
 mischiefs arising from the printing and publishing newspapers, 
 and papers of a like nature, by persons not known, and for 
 regulating the printing and publication of such papers in other 
 respects ; and also for restraining the abuses arising from the 
 publication of blasphemous and seditious libels." One of the 
 provisions of this Ordinance was, that "no person shall print or 
 publish within the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, or any 
 of the dependencies thereof, any newspaper, or any such paper 
 as aforesaid, until an affidavit or affidavits, affirmation or affir- 
 mations made and signjd as hereinafter mentioned, and con- 
 taining the several matters and things hereinafter for that pur- 
 pose specified and mentioned, shall have been delivered to the 
 Colonial Secretary, or Acting Colonial Secretary, at his office" 
 (in Cape Town). The affidavits were to be made 
 in writing, before the Colonial Secretary, 600 miles from 
 Graham's Town ; and the printer or publisher to enter 
 into Security Bonds in the sum of ^300, and two 
 or three sureties in like sum, in the event of any 
 judgment being given against printer, editor, or publisher, 
 for printing or publishing any blasphemous or seditious libel. 
 Berore the writer, therefore, could establish his projected news-
 
 79 
 
 paper the Graham's Town 'Journal he had to proceed to 
 Cape Town, a distance of boo miles. Travelling then was very 
 different from what it is now ; there were no passenger or mail 
 carts indeed there were no carts at all the mails from and 
 to Cape Town, &c., were carried on horseback in huge leather 
 bags, heavy enough to break the back of the unfortunate animal 
 which carried them. Then it involved a journey on horseback 
 to Port Elizabeth, about 75 miles, and a sea voyage thence to 
 Table Bay in a small coasting schooner of 80 tons,* in which 
 the " bilge-water," as it was called, was enough to stifle one. 
 Having arrived in Cape Town, the writer had to procure a 
 certificate which he was fortunately able to do that he was 
 worth 300, before he was allowed to enter into a Surety 
 Bond before the Colonial Secretary ; then he had to find three 
 sureties (who had to .procure similar certificates). The follow- 
 ing are copies from the originals, now filed among the archives 
 in the Colonial Office : 
 
 I, the undersigned, Louis Henry Meurant, do hereby declare and 
 make oath, that I, living at Graham's Town, am the editor of a 
 certain newspaper to be entitled the Graham's Town Journal, and 
 that I am also the proprietor of the said newspaper, and further 
 that I am the printer and publisher of the said paper, at Graham's 
 Town. 
 
 Cape Town, 22nd November, 1831. 
 
 (Signed) L. H. MEURANT. 
 
 Sworn before me, Colonial Office, Cape Town, Cape of Good 
 Hope, this 22nd day of November, 1831. 
 
 (Signed) JOHN BELL, Sec. to Government. 
 
 * On one occasion the writer had to proceed from Port Elizabeth to 
 Table Bay in a 30 ton cutter, the crew consisting of Captain, cook and a 
 boy. The voyage occupied three weeks. The poor little craft afterwards 
 m <le tnc voyage too many, and went down " with all hands."
 
 8o 
 
 I, the undersigned, do hereby certify that Louis Henry Mcurant, 
 printer, in Graham's Town, has duly entered into a recognizance 
 on the 2 1st day of October last, before the Honourable Mr. Justice 
 Menzies, whereby he bound himself in the sum of 300, and three 
 sureties in the sum of jioo each, as editor, printer and publisher 
 of a newspaper to be entitled The Graham's Town "Journal. 
 
 Cape Town, 22nd November, 1831. 
 
 WALT. HARDING, Acting Registrar of Court. 
 
 (Signed) T. H. BOWLES, 
 
 Registrar of the Supreme Court. 
 
 But this was not all. He had to lay in a supply of paper 
 for twelve months, and to have every sheet stamped with a 
 penny stamp at the Stamp Office, in Cape Town, and which 
 had to be paid for in cash. 
 
 Graham's Town was not the City then which it is now. As 
 Mrs. Malaprop would have said, it was then in a state of 
 " infanticide" (infancy). There were some amusing stories 
 told of its "infanticide" days. A Mr. Kromhout was the Field- 
 cornet, and auctioneer, and jack-of-all-trades. In ringing his 
 brass plate at the commencement of a sale his stereotyped 
 condition was " drie monts krediet for de Christemens no 
 krediet for de Settlaar." The latter term was then, and for 
 some years afterwards, one of opprobrium. Mr. Kromhout 
 had a colleague, who generally assisted him in holding inquests, 
 valuing damages to gardens, &c.; this gentleman went by 
 the name of Peculiar Clarke. He dropped his b's, and 
 laid great stress on his v's. and w's. Major Dundas was the 
 Landdrost. On one occasion Messrs. Kromhout and Peculiar 
 Clarke had to hold an inquest, on returning from which they 
 had to report the appearances of the body to the Landdrost. 
 Mr. Peculiar Clarke reported " that when they came to the 
 body "thetfital spark was qujte extinc/f." "Yes, Me.'ieer," 
 chimed in Kromhout, " he stink very mosh."
 
 Si 
 
 The Rev. H. Dugmore, in his " Reminiscences of an 
 Albany Settler," also tells some amusing stories Take the 
 following : " One of our old Queen's Town Field-cornets, 
 in the days of his youth, took charge of the party's ration sheep 
 (the Settlers were located in parties) from Bathurst to Green 
 Fountain. The sheep numbered probably twelve to fifteen. 
 Those who know that part of the country know what an 
 excellent field it is for a sheep chase ; and how a dozen of 
 startled hamels, just separated ftom a large flock, would be 
 likely to try a driver's legs, and lungs, too, in crossing it. If 
 the course of the journey could have been afterwards traced on 
 a chart it would have looked like the working out of some 
 intricate geometrical problem. Such a succession of zig-zags, 
 angles, and arcs of circles, no ship, beating up against contrary 
 winds, ever described. To mend matters, after miles of open 
 plain had been traversed, there lay a tract of 'enchanted ground ' 
 in the shape of a belt of thick mimosa woodland, right across 
 the way home. By dint of unconquerable perseverance the 
 sheep were brought thus far ; and then ! one starting this way, 
 two in that, three in the other ; a rent in the coat in stopping 
 these ; face scratched and eyes endangered in turning those j 
 a shout to his two companions to ascertain where the rest were; 
 an impenetrable barrier of bush stopping all access to them. 
 Before giving up all for lost our friend declared he had run the 
 sheep so hard, though they had large tails at starting, they had 
 melted away to half the size by the time he had done with 
 them 1 Driven to desperation he at length exclaimed : 
 * Dead or alive I'll secure one of you at any rate,' <s a dis- 
 charge from his fowling-piece stretched it on the ground before 
 him. But he was still miles away from home. Of his (wo 
 companions one couldn't and the other wouldn't take his share 
 jn carrying the dead sheep. There was nothing left for it but 
 to shoulder it himself ; and sturdy John Staples showed that 
 if his own staple was not very long it was very good, for
 
 carried his load home. It was the only sheep of the lot that 
 reached its intended destination the wild dogs, wolves and 
 jackals got all the rest." 
 
 Take another instance of how fat the Settlers were fitted for 
 the work of bringing the wilderness into cultivation. Some 
 sowed carrot seed at the bottom of trenches two spades deep, 
 filling up the tre nches with soil as soon as it was done. The 
 remark of one who saw them was, " It will come up most 
 likely in England about the time it does here." In another 
 case a man wishing to get some mealies for seed, applied to his 
 neighbour who had obtained a supply just before, but found he 
 had planted the whole, without knocking it off the cobs ! A 
 third person planted out a lot of young onions, " roots upwards." 
 
 There is another good story told, which has been extracted 
 
 from the Graham's Town "Journal, for which the writer 
 
 remembers the late Mr. Webb (better known in Graham's 
 
 Town as Doctor Webb), painter and glazier, was responsible : 
 
 A Settler, of the name of H., head of a small party 
 near Bathurst, went one day (no great while after locating) 
 to Capt. T., then acting Landdrost at Bathurst, to have 
 some advice about his land. After obtaining the information 
 wanted, he abruptly exclaimed " I don't know if it is 
 worth while to bother myself about the land, as most likely I shall 
 not be permitted to hold it." "Not hold it ?" exclaimed the Cap- 
 tain, "why not, Mr. H. ?" " Why Sir, in the Government Circu- 
 lar, with which we were furnished in England, there is some reser- 
 vation mentioned." " Reservation ! Mr. H.," said the Captain 
 with an air of curiosity. "What reservation?" "Why, such as 
 mines of precious stones, Sir." " What, said he eagerly, have you 
 any such things on your location ?" "Yes, Sir, I have." The Cap- 
 tain (now all politeness): "Take a chair, Mr. H., sit down." (Being 
 seated.) What kind of precious stones ?" " Precious big ones, Sir," 
 said the wag, and retired in haste. 
 
 The ground which is now adorned by splendid edifices was
 
 83 
 
 crossed by footpaths. The public offices were in a barn, 
 where the Circuit Courts were also held. Judges wore wigs, 
 and the "bar" was represented by "agents." On one 
 occasion, a Hottentot being on his trial, was asked by the 
 interpreter whether he had any objection to any of the jury 
 who were about to a sit " on his case. Scanning the jurymen 
 for some minutes attentively, and then looking up at the Judge, 
 he replied, " No objection to those ' baase,' I object to the 
 baas with the ivitkop (wig). I want him to leave the Court." 
 
 Mais reveno* a nos moutons. The day was at length fixed 
 for the publication of the first number of the Graham's Town 
 Journal. The young " Settler " was to be introduced into life 
 with a flourish of trumpets, and half-a-dozen u Prospectuses " 
 were forwarded to the writer, one of them more especially, 
 most grandiloquent. The author is now no more, and for 
 obvious reasons his name is not mentioned. The following is 
 a copy : 
 
 "TO THE PUBLIC, 
 
 " Respectfully soliciting their co-operation in establishing a Weekly 
 Paper, to be printed in English only, at Graham's Town, and 
 to be called The Albanian, or Eastern Province Register. 
 
 " Near eighteen eventful months have vanished since the necessity 
 of introducing some check upon the arbitrary dissemination of one set 
 of principles was acknowledged by many inhabitants of the Colony; 
 and to place the feeling then manifested beyond the chance of 
 reasonable contravention, it is sufficient to observe that the Zuid- 
 djrikaan at one period could boast of having 700 subscribers. 
 
 "We were not then prepared for entering the Lists, to maintain 
 the independent designation of Eastern Provincials ; but the time 
 appears to have arrived a PRESS is now in Albany, and if we are 
 ripe for, and really wish a Representative Assembly, there must be 
 intellect enough amongst us to keep step in the universal march. 
 ' Nothing venture, n< thing have,' as Poor Richard says. Let us 
 
 muster our forces. From the Western Districts (not excluding Cape 
 F 2
 
 8 4 
 
 Town) good wishes and assistance is to be hpped for ; these, with 
 the Commercial Mart of Graham's Town, daily improving, the 
 rising Port of Algoa Bay, in the populous district of Uitenhage, 
 the unobtrusive people of George, the hoarded news from Graaff- 
 Reinet, which, whilome, through the medium of the Commercial 
 Advertiser ', shone forth a brilliant example to all around ; Beaufort 
 also and the good folks of Somerset united ; surely with these, 
 and when other resources, to be named hereafter, are brought into 
 operation, we can furnish such a sufficient support to a Paper as 
 shall indicate the political distinction conferred by the wisdom of 
 His Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry. Without a union of this 
 kind, the distinction is, in our opinion, a nonentity. 
 
 "Having beat a roll-call, instead of sounding pibrochs of Gathering, 
 it remains for you, Most Potential Public, to fall into our ranks, 
 set the Artillery of the Provincial Press in motion, under the motto 
 of OPEN TO ALL PARTIES, INFLUENCED BY NONE''; our Marching 
 Order will then be complete ; and we shall steadily advance 
 towards the attainment of the Glorious, the Just Privilege of 
 Legislating for Ourselves. 
 
 "Be contented to consider our first efforts at skirmishing 
 * Rome was not built in a day '; so do not be discouraged should 
 we not dash on with sparkling Literary Abilities ; Shakespeare's 
 advice to Lovers when they are at a loss for lack of matter, is, as 
 the cleanliest shift, to KISS ; we, as general Lovers of the Colony, 
 follow the hint, and WRITE ; trusting to get method and wisdom as 
 we go on. Without auxiliaries, however, we are nothing, and we 
 earnestly call on every person in the Eastern and Western districts, 
 who has the welfare of his Fellow Creatures at heart, to aid us with 
 Communications, and even Gleanings on all subjects of general or 
 local import. Those from Cape Town will be highly valuable, as 
 the greatest difficulty under which we (-hall labour must arise from 
 not having immediate access to the English Papers. It shall be our 
 endeavour to make up for this considerable deficiency, by carefully 
 selecting any novelties that may have been omitted in the other 
 periodicals; and as it is likely to be our lot to differ from the political 
 conclusions formed by the editors of those, it shall not be for want
 
 of assiduity if we do not produce some new feature. On the other 
 hand, we hope to have the earliest and most copious intelligence 
 from the interior ; the market prices of the Frontier Districts 
 arc to he inserted in turn, so as for one to appear each week. 
 We propose procuring reports from the various Magistrates' Courts ; 
 observations of interest ; accounts of school progress ; public 
 meetings ; shipping news ; christenings, marri.tges, &c., &c., Sec., 
 will be thankfully received ; and as this intercommunication between 
 the East and West will facilitate commercial and other intercourse, 
 the advantage of advertising in our columns cannot fail suggesting 
 itself in numerous instances. 
 
 " All the foregoing, and as much more as we are able to perform, 
 will be forwarded to every part of the Colony at Rds. 16 per 
 annum, or Rds. 4 per quarter (including stamps and postage), and 
 in Town at Rds. 13 per annum, or Rds. 3.2 per quarter; and 
 when our List of Subscribers shall contain 250 names, the first 
 number of The Albanian, or Eastern Province Register, will be 
 immediately struck off, of which timely notice will be given to our 
 Subscribers, to enable them to forward their communications. 
 
 " To be paid on delivery of the first number, and afterwards for 
 every quarter in advance. 
 
 " Subscription Lists lie open for Signature at the Stores of Mr. 
 B. Norden, and Messrs. P. Heugh & Co., Graham's Town." 
 
 At length the name Graham's Town Journal was adopted, 
 and the following, written by the late Lieut. T. C. White, of 
 Table Farm, near Graham's Town, to whose memory belongs 
 the honour of having introduced the infant paper, for infant it 
 was in size as well as pretension : 
 
 " In presenting to the public the first number of the Graham* s 
 Town Journal, the proprietor feels it necessary that he should ofte r 
 a concise view of the motives, objects and proposed scope of hi 8 
 undertaking. 
 
 " The importance of Graham's Town as a commercial station 
 lone seems sufficient to cnt'tlc it to a local newspaper ; or, in other 
 words, appears to ensure adequate remuneration to the proprietor.
 
 86 
 
 " It must, indeed, be matter of surprise that a newspaper has so 
 long been dispensed with by a community distinguished for its 
 activity, intelligence and enterprise. At a distance of 600 miles 
 from the seat of Government and Press, upon a soil and un'Jcr a 
 climate in many respects dissimilar from those of the Western districts 
 of the Colony, with the opposition of interests and the diversity 
 of opinions which must necessarily have existed, there could have 
 been no deficiency of matter for profitable discussion ; and as even 
 such objects as are common to both extremities of the Colony, 
 when observed from different points of view and in different lights, 
 frequently present a considerable change in their features and 
 characteristics, the proprietor, by opening a channel for conveying 
 to Government and the public the opinions of the Eastern districts 
 upon matters of general as well as local interest, would have had 
 some claim to support on the ground of general utility. 
 
 " But independent of these considerations the proprietor of the 
 Graham's Town Journal is led to expect that the commercial and 
 other interests of Albany will afford sufficient matter for support of 
 his paper. Its chief town has risen into an importance second to 
 Cape Town only ; its exports and imports approach two millions of 
 rixdollars annually ; its traffic with the tribes in the interior is 
 boundless in its extent, and promises to afford ample employment to 
 an increased population and an enlarged capital ; and the direct 
 trade to England has been established on a permanent basis. In this 
 stage of their prosperity the inhabitants of Albany have consented 
 to indulge in the luxury of a newspaper. This consent has been 
 signified to the proprietor by a respectable body of subscribers in 
 Albany, Cape Town, and other parts of the Colony, and this 
 expression of the public will has been the proprietor's chief motive 
 for establishing the paper. 
 
 " One grand object of the proprietor of any newspaper, under 
 whatever figure of speech the generous public may be apostrophized, 
 must be to make his speculation pay ; which end can only be 
 obtained by givhig satisfaction to the public. The proprietor will 
 therefore confine himself to stating the means he proposes to employ 
 for the attainment of that object.
 
 "Local Intelligence of Public Interest, connected with the 
 Commerce and Agriculture of the Frontier ; information respecting 
 the condition of the neighbouring tribes ; selections from the 
 English and other newspapers, from periodicals and other interesting 
 publications ; reports of law proceedings ; the state of the markets ; 
 together with the communications of correspondents, and the 
 advertisements with which he may be favoured, arc all the proprietor 
 can offer for the present. 
 
 " Correspondents may depend upon the secrecy and honour of 
 the editor, and the public may rely upon a rigid exercise of the 
 editorial prerogative of rejection, should anything be offered unfit 
 for the public eye, whether arising from the matter or manner of 
 the communication ; and this right he feels will be the more readily 
 acquiesced in, as the editor will carefully abstain from taking tny 
 part in the discussions in which his correspondents may be engaged. 
 
 " The editor does not propose to inflict iuvariably on his readers 
 what is usually called a LEADING ARTICLE. Perhaps he has not yet 
 chosen a political hobby horse, and is not prepared to witch the 
 world with didactic essays. Be this as it may, the proprietor con- 
 fidently hopes that his humble undertaking will prove serviceable 
 to the public, even if it should do no more than afford a ready and 
 convenient means of circulating advertisements and of communi- 
 cating commercial and other useful information." 
 
 Thus, then, was the first number of the Graham's Town 
 Journal the first newspaper printed out of Cape Town, in 
 the " City of the Settlers " ushered into life, on Friday, the 
 3Oth December, 1831. Small as the paper was (half sheet 
 double crown) it was no small matter to get it printed. Printers 
 there were none. The proprietor had to teach apprentices, 
 and to do much of the mechanical part himself. The press 
 was an old wooden one ; there were no u composition " rollers 
 or balls, and steam was not dreamt of. 
 
 The editor, printer, publisher and proprietor were all com- 
 bined in one person, a young man, alittleover2Oyearsof age, who 
 was somewhat in the same predicament as an American editor,
 
 88 
 
 who published the following notice : <l The editor, printer, 
 publisher, foreman and eldest apprentice (two in all) are con- 
 fined by sickness, and the whole establishment is left in the care 
 of the devil" 
 
 The appearance of the first number of the Graham's Town 
 Journal was a. red-letter day in the Town (now City), after 
 which it was named. Early on the morning of publication the 
 street in front of the little office was crowded with anxious per- 
 sons, jostling each other who should get the first paper. The 
 arrival of the English Mail no\v-a-days with important news could 
 not excite greater interest than was shown in Graham's Town on 
 the 3<Dth December, 1831. From that day the paper prospered. 
 The prospectus contained in the first number was strictly 
 carried out. There were no Editorial "Leading Articles" 
 Politics were left to be discussed by correspondents. It com- 
 prised The News of the Day, Reports of Courts of Justice, 
 Extracts from English and Cape Town Newspapers, and 
 useful information on various subjects. The contributors were 
 numerous, principally in " Original Correspondence," which 
 formed the staple of the paper, and extracts from interesting 
 works, &c. So well was the undertaking supported, that in 
 about six months the proprietor had to enlarge its size to a full 
 sheet of demy. 
 
 And here the writer of these Reminiscences wishes to correct 
 an error into which several persons have fallen. In the " Story 
 of the Settlement," published in Graham's Town, there is a 
 reference to the first South African Newspaper, the Commercial 
 Advertiser, and the paragraph concludes thus : "It will not be 
 without interest, in this connection, if we here state, that this 
 very press was brought to the Colony by Mr. Godlonton, but 
 was confiscated on its arrival in Cape Town." 
 
 The Graaft-Reinet Hirald of April 30, 1884, took up the sub- 
 ject, and said u And also we were not aware that the same press 
 happens to be in our possession, as we had no information that
 
 8q 
 
 Fairbairn's press and that of Mr. Godlonton were one and the 
 same. There were among the British Settlers only four printers, 
 namely, Robert Godlonton, Wm. Cook, Thomas String- 
 fellow, and another.* It was not till many years after his 
 arrival that Mr. Godlonton resumed his trade in Graham's 
 Town, and became proprietor of the Graham's Town Journal^ 
 some time after its establishment by Mr. L. H. Meurant, in 
 1832. We have no information how Mr. Fairbairn and 
 Mr. Gieig became possessed of the original press, which Mr- 
 Godlonton landed at Cape Town. It has, however, been in 
 Graaff-Reinet nearly 40 years to our knowledge. It is at 
 present in our office, and daily doing serviceable work ; and 
 upon this now historical press, the first Graaff-Reinet Herald 
 was first printed in 1852. It is a 'Stanhope,' of good work- 
 manship, bearing engraved on its side l Walker/iff// No. 98.' ' 
 There is a confusion in all these statements, which it is as 
 well should be corrected. Mr. George Greig, as before stated, 
 arrived in Cape Town from England not many months before 
 he started the South African Commercial Advertiser, bringing 
 with him the necessary plant for a printing office. The Rev 
 Dr. Philip, Superintendent of the London Missionary Society, 
 had a wooden printing press, which he lent to Mr. Gieig, until 
 his own press should arrive, and which was the press sealed up 
 by Lord Charles Somerset. Mr. Fairbairn had nothing what- 
 ever to do with the " plant "j he did not become "possessed 
 of the original press." He merely became joint editor with 
 the late Thos. Pringle, as stated in Part I. of these " Remi- 
 niscences." He had no property in the paper. When the 
 South African Commercial Advertiser was suppressed In 1824, 
 Dr. Philip's wooden press (formerly used by Mr. Greig) and Mr. 
 Greig's type passed into the possession of Mr. William Bridekirk, 
 
 The writer can supply the name of that other, viz. : - Samuel Mollctt, 
 he well knew as overseer in Mr. W. Bridckirk's printing office.
 
 9 o 
 
 then a compositor in the Government Printing Office,* and 
 who then, August 18, 1824, started the South African Chronicle, 
 which was edited by Mr. A. J. Jardine, Librarian of the Cape 
 Town Public Library. There can be no doubt that the 
 Chronicle was a Government undertaking, and the articles which 
 appeared in it were inspired by Government officials and 
 toadies. It bore the " imprint" W. Bridekirk, editor, but Mr. 
 Jardine was the editor. Having failed to induce Mr. Greig to 
 remain in the Colony after his sentence of banishment, the 
 next best thing was to start a Government organ to endeavour 
 to counteract the feeling raised by the despotic conduct of the 
 Governor. 
 
 But to return from this digression. Mr. Greig's press, 
 as has been stated, was a wooden press (Mr. Philip's), and 
 passed into the possession of Mr. W. Bridekirk, in whose 
 printing office it still was when the writer left Cape Town for 
 Graaff-Reinet in the middle of 1828. Messrs. Godlonton and 
 Stringfellow's wooden press was sent to GraafT-Reinet shortly 
 after it was taken from those gentlemen ; and, as before stated, 
 the writer bought it from the Government in 1830, and took it 
 to Graham's Town, and from him it passed into the possession 
 of Mr. Godlonton, by sale, in 1839, when the partnership of 
 Meurant and Godlonton ceased by effluxion of time. That it 
 
 Copy of a letter from Mr. George Greig to Earl Bathurst : 
 
 " 31, City Road, i9th Nov , 1824. 
 
 "My Lord, Having by late letters from the Cape of Good Hope 
 learned that a newspaper and printing establishment is commenced there 
 by a person formerly connected with the Colonial Printing Office, and 
 being aware that there were at the time no printing materials in the 
 Colouy but those purchased from me and their own, I beg to inform your 
 Lordship of this fact, conceiving, as I do, that it adds an aggravating 
 ingredient to my case. Begging respectfully to solicit your Lordship's 
 early consideration to my case, 
 
 " I have, &c., 
 
 "^Signed) GEORGE GREIG."
 
 9' 
 
 was the identical press brought out by the Settlers the writer 
 had from Mr. W. C. van Ryneveld, Civil Commissioner of 
 Graaff-Reinet, and also from Mr. P. C. Wahlstrand, the 
 Government printer. Besides this, not only the press but the 
 type also were recognized by Messrs. Godlonton and String- 
 fellow on the arrival of the writer at Graham's Town. Surely 
 no one will doubt all this testimony. But there was an old 
 iron " Stanhope " press in the Government Printing Office, 
 precisely such a one as the Graaff-Reinet Herald mentions, and 
 it is not unlikely that it may have found its way to Graaff- 
 Reinet. One thing, however, is certain, the Graaff-Reinet 
 Herald was not printed on the Settlers' press in 1852, since 
 that became the property of the writer in 1830 and was sold by 
 him to Mr. Godlonton in 1839, anc ^ never passed out of the 
 possession of the latter since. 
 
 Coming back from this digression it will not be out of plac e 
 to record, for future reference, how the Settlers' press, as it may 
 be called, again fell into the hands of one of its former pro- 
 prietors, Mr. Godlonton. , 
 
 When the Graham's Town Journal was started by the 
 writer of these "Reminiscences," Mr. Godlonton was Chief 
 Clerk in the office of the Civil Commissioner of Albany, 
 Captain Duncan Campbell. Leading articles, as will be seen 
 from the prospectus, were dispensed with, so that no "leader " 
 writer was necessary. The custom at that time was that the 
 Chief Clerk of the Civil Commissioner travelled annually in an 
 <>x-wagon to collect the " opgaaf " (taxes). Albany and 
 Somerset were then one fiscal district, and this collecting 
 journey took up several months. On Mr. Gcdlonton's return 
 from one of these collecting journeys in May, 1832, he wrote 
 an account of the Kat River Settlement, then newly formed, 
 which appeared in the Graham's Town Journal, No. 24, of the 
 8th June, 1832, under the signature of R. G. This was Mr. 
 Godlonton's first contribution to the Journal. The subject
 
 9 2 
 
 being interesting, even at this distance of time, a few extracts 
 are here inserted : 
 
 "The population of the Settlement maybe estimated at 1,500 
 inhabitants, consisting of Bastards and Hottentots, natives of the 
 countries beyond the colonial boundaries, and a few whites. After 
 its first establishment the line of policy adopted by Government was 
 judicious, and well calculated to promote the ultimate success of 
 the undertaking. Assistance was very sparingly afforded, and the 
 people were led to depend more on individual exertion than to expect 
 extraneous aid from whatever quarter. Due attention was, however, 
 paid to their moial improvement, and in the selection of a Minister 
 the choice has fallen upon an individual every way suitable." 
 
 "For some time after their arrival, the people had to struggle 
 with difficulties of no ordinary magnitude, and the circumstances 
 alone of their being placed in possession of a country where a 
 powerful tribe of Caflres had been just driven, under feelings exas- 
 perated to the highest pitch at their expulsion, and who did not 
 scruple to declare their fixed determination to obtain compensation 
 by reprisals on the Colonists, was in itself sufficient to depress the 
 ardour of the sanguine, and to deter the timid from placing them- 
 selves in a situation so extremely precarious. But notwithstanding 
 the repeated inroads of these people, the intrepidity displayed on 
 such occasions by the inhabitants of the Settlement, the rapidity 
 with which they pursued the depredators whenever cattle were 
 carried off, and their peculiar shrewdness in tracking them to the 
 kraal of the plunderer, have so successfully counteracted such 
 attacks that they are now shunned by their marauding neighbours ; 
 being a people whom it is not altogether prudent to meddle with." 
 
 "The stock they at present possess consists of 200 horses and 
 mares, 2,200 horned cattle, and 6,000 sheep and goats ; they 
 have also among them 35 bullock wagons." 
 
 The letter signed R. G. called forth an answer from " A 
 Farmer," in No. 27 of the Journal, 291)1 June, 1832, from 
 which the following is an extract : 
 
 "It is (Kat River) a spot favoured by Nature beyond all other
 
 93 
 
 portions of the Colony, and appropriated, judging by what almost 
 daily takes place, to the use of all such Hottentots as choose to 
 resort thither ; no matter whence they come, under what circum- 
 stances they left the service of their employers, or how they got 
 possession cf the stock with which they came provided ; sojourncrs 
 there enjoy a degree of freedom unknown to any of the civilized 
 countries of Europe, they are exempt from the inconvenient control 
 of a Resident Magistrate, and the place, taken all in all, is justly 
 regarded by the idle, the profligate, and by delinquents of every 
 magnitude, as the most perfect place of sanctuary which the whole 
 glohe affords." 
 
 This correspondence was continued for a considerable time 
 between R. G., " A Farmer," and others. In replying to 
 " A Farmer," R. G. (Mr. Godlonton) quotes a Govern- 
 ment advertisement, dated January n, 1832, which, however 
 it may have been discredited at the time, proves the 
 correctness of the adage, that "coming events cast their 
 shadows before " for twenty years afterwards, the very 
 report described in the first paragraph of the Government 
 advertisement actually took place, by a large portion of the 
 coloured inhabitants of the Kat River going into rebellion, 
 " aided by the Kafirs." The Proclamation appeared in the 
 Graham's Town 'Journal of January 6, 1832 : 
 
 "GOVERNMENT ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 " Colonial Office, Cape Town. 
 
 " It is with much regret that His Excellency the Governor feels 
 himself under the necessity of noticing thus publicly the pre- 
 valence of a report which has been, and still continues to be, 
 circulated throughout a large portion of the Eastern Division of 
 the Colony, to the effect that an Insurrection, directed against the 
 Colonists, had broke out, or was on the point of breaking out, among 
 the Hottentots located on the Kat River, aided by the Kafirs. 
 
 "The absurdity of this rumour became instantly apparent 
 to the Local Authorities on the Eastern Frontier, who lost no
 
 94 
 
 time, however, in endeavouring to trace the probable causes of its 
 origin ; and His Excellency has now the satisfaction to announce 
 l hat no grounds whatever did, or do, exist for the invention and 
 propagation of that most false and scandalous report. 
 
 " The Military Commandant and the Civil Commissioner, as 
 well as the Magistrate of the Albany and Somerset Districts, were 
 suffered to remain in ignorance of the apprehended danger ; whilst 
 the rumour was circulated amongst the farmers with a very unusual 
 degree of rapidity. 
 
 " Many of these, with some of the Field-cornets, took up arms, and 
 almost the first intimation received by the inhabitants of Kat 
 River of the danger to which they were exposed by the prevalence 
 of the report, was the appearance of an armed party of farmers in 
 their immediate neighbourhood. 
 
 " His Excellency has had occasion to feel, and has expressed his 
 sense of, the value of the public services rendered heretofore by the 
 inhabitants of the Eastern Districts of this Colony, when duly 
 called out and acting with the troops in maintaining the* peace of 
 the Frontier, and repressing the turbulence of some of the tribes 
 situated beyond its limits. It is, therefore, with great pain that he 
 is now compelled to comment, in severe terms, on the culpable neg- 
 ligence of certain Field-cornets, who neither reported the alarm in 
 the proper quarters, and at the proper time, nor, apparently, 
 endeavoured to prevent proceedings which were not only contrary 
 to law, but had a direct tendency to provoke and inflame the feel- 
 ings of certain classes of the Colonists against each other. 
 
 " Those persons who have thus betrayed their readiness to put 
 trust in absurd and most insidious reports, to arm themselves 
 against their fellow subjects, and to risk the commencement of a 
 state of things which would terminate in their own ruin, may rest 
 assured that the Civil and Military Authorities are sufficiently power- 
 ful to repress any disturbances that might by possibility arise. Their 
 united strength will be instantly put forth in crushing Insurrection 
 wherever, and amongst whomsoever, it may show itself; and His 
 Excellency confidently anticipates that he will not again have 
 occasion to mark his disapprobation of a line of conduct which he
 
 95 
 
 is inclined to believe arose rather from misinformation and 
 prejudice, than from any deliberate intention to disturb the public 
 tranquillity in a portion of the Colony which is happily advancing 
 in improvement, founded on principles that promise fairly to 
 secure its continuance. 
 
 " By order of His Excellency the Governor, 
 
 " (Signed) JOHN BELL, 
 " Secretary to Government." 
 
 The following year, in May, 1833, on returning from his 
 next collecting tour through the Eastern Province, Mr. 
 Godlonton wrote another of his interesting travelling sketches, 
 which appeared in the Graham's Town Journal of the i6th 
 May, 1833, under the signature of U A Traveller." It is 
 here inserted to show that although in after years Mr. God- 
 lonton disagreed with the late Sir Andreas Stockenstrom in 
 politics, he did not withhold from that gentleman the acknow- 
 ledged merit to which he was justly entitled. It will also be 
 seen that over half a century has not much improved the 
 morals of a large section of our Kafir neighbours : 
 
 TRAVELLING SKETCHES. 
 
 Fort Beaufort, May I, 1833. 
 
 To THE EDITOR : Sir, In passing along the frontier from 
 Cradock to the Southward, the traveller cannot but be struck 
 with the great diversity he meets with both in the features of 
 the scenery and the qualities of the soil and pasturage. For the 
 first fifty miles, the country in general presents an appearance of 
 great aridity, whilst the hills some of them almost attaining the 
 character of mountains, are scattered around in such profusion, 
 and exhibit forms so grotesque and diversified, that it would 
 puzzle a modern geometrician to find terms to describe them. 
 
 Immediately after crossing the Baviaans River, the country 
 assumes a new aspect, and you enter upon a tract clothed with 
 the richest pasturage, and adorned with patches of umbrageous
 
 9 6 
 
 thicket in a Way that speaks more forcibly to the senses than all 
 the eloquence of " Burke on the sublime and beautiful." A good 
 road traverses the foot of a magnificent mountain range, the face 
 of which, in many parts, abounds with timber of the finest 
 description. On reaching the height which commands the 
 splendid tract, granted to the Commissioner General, the 
 honourable Capt. Stockenstrom, a thousand ideas will force them- 
 ^elves on the mind of any person accustomed to reflection. This 
 meritorious officer has attained his high rank and his great 
 popularity, by his incessant activity and his able arrangements in 
 promoting the interests of the frontier, and particularly of that 
 district over which he, for many years, presided as Landdrost 
 (Graaff-Reinet), and it is certainly not improbable that the 
 oracular distich composed by an Amateur Bard, one of his admirers, 
 
 that 
 
 Ages still to come, 
 
 Will hail the name of " patriot " Stockenstrom. 
 
 Behind the Kaga mountains is situated one of the Government 
 forests, from whence the farmers of the Sneeuwberg and GraafF- 
 Reinet districts procure their timber. There is another forest of 
 equal extent, covering the face of the Kromme Range, a few miles 
 only distant, and which contains woods of a similar description. 
 tn both of these are found trees of the most magnificent growth. 
 Yellow wood of both varieties (Taxus and Tax us elongatus] is 
 frequently found without a branch to the height of 40 feet, and 
 at the butt six feet in diameter. Hard woods in request for 
 wagon work, are likewise met with in great abundance and variety. 
 The sawyers who inhabit these forests are principally emigrant - 
 from the United Kingdom ; but the inhabitants of the neighbours 
 hood complain, and I believe, with good reason, that they are 
 the resort of and serve as a secure harbour to great numbers 
 of idle and dissolute Hottentots, to whom they do not scruple 
 to attribute many of the petty and vexatious depredations frequently 
 committed upon them. 
 It was, perhaps, a lucky incident, that Fortune should, in one of
 
 97 
 
 her vagaries, transmit from the shores of Scotia to this part of the 
 Colony, one of those enigmatical bipeds yclept a POET ; the con- 
 sequence is, that it has almost attained the rank and celebrity of 
 classic ground. If the traveller have a spark of enthusiasm in 
 his composition, a thousand fanciful images will be dancing through 
 his mind, and sober realities will be presented in language refined 
 and purified by the rarified atmosphere of the Parnassian Mount. 
 Thus he finds as he proceeds, that he has " Kaga's dark mountains" 
 behind him the " cold and cloudy Winterberg " on his left hand, 
 that beneath this winds the " lone Mancanzana's margin grey," 
 whilst on passing an execrable drift, he will be charmed to find 
 that the stream which rolls over huge masses of loose rock, is no 
 other than the "dark and rapid Koonap." On the height above 
 this drift stands a deserted Military Post, which, together with 
 the surrounding country to some extent, has, it is understood, been 
 recently granted to the present Civil Commissioner of the Cape 
 District. 
 
 This part of the Frontier being particularly exposed to Cajfffr 
 depredations, the visitor will find he is compelled to listen to 
 numerous tales of severe losses by these midnight plunderers. At 
 the time 1 passed, one farmer had had 13 horses stolen ; by 
 immediate pursuit they were overtaken near the mouth of the 
 Kat River, and though the robbers contrived to escape under cover 
 of the thick bush the horses were recovered. Another person was 
 informed by a boy that a party of Gaffers had been seen driving his 
 horses into a certain bush at no great distance from the house ; 
 on proceeding to the spot, the animals were found tied in the 
 thicket for the purpose of being driven off when darkness should 
 veil their proceedings. At another farm-house which I visited, a 
 Caffcr had been shot dead only a few days before my arrival. 
 The farmer hearing about midnight an unusual noise among his 
 sheep, supposed, as he stated, that a wolf had entered his kraal, and 
 on proceeding with his gun to the spot, he distinguished a Caffcr in 
 the act of lifting a sheep over the enclosure : he instantly fired 
 when the shot struck, not the robber in the kraal, but his com- 
 
 G
 
 panion, who was crouched down on the outside for the purpose of 
 receiving the plunder ; on examin ing the spot, I found that the 
 kraal was built to within the distance of two feet of the edge of 
 a deep and rugged cavity, and it appears that the Caffer, when 
 struck, fell headlong into this chasm and from thence rolled into 
 a dry ravine below, where the body was found lying the next 
 morning. 
 
 Such are the lamentable effects which are often recurring from 
 the proximity of the frontier farmers to the Caffer Tribes, and 
 perhaps, it will be quite impossible to adopt any method which 
 will altogether put a stop to the depredations of these restless 
 people. The exist ing system certainly requires amendment, and 
 much might unquestionably be done in the way of improvement 
 were a proper understanding preserved with the Caffer Chiefs, but 
 still it must be expected, that on an extensive line of frontier like 
 this, which possesses so many local ^facilities for concealment and 
 escape, depredations will occur even under the most perfect system > 
 and that, when the opposite parties come into collision, fatal results 
 will occasionally follow. The military were very generally spoken 
 of in terms of praise for the promptitude with which assistance 
 was afforded in the depredations, and I heard of numerous instances* 
 where timely notice had been given, in which stolen property had 
 been retaken by the patroles ; but still it is very clear, that to give 
 effect to the Colonial regulations and to maintain something like 
 system, the Government must have accredited agents stationed in 
 Cafferland, a measure that is alike required for the protection of 
 the farmer and for the advancement of the frontier trade. 
 
 Along the whole of the route which I passed, the great Fish 
 Piverisof so much importance to the inhabitants, that I canno* 
 quit my subject without adverting to it. This stream may almost 
 be considered at the Nile of this part of South Africa ; without it 
 a great tract of country, in which are situated some of the finest 
 and most fertile farms in this district, would be quite uninhabitable. 
 Its extreme tortuosity is of immense advantage, as it thus gives 
 fertility to a much greater extent of country than it would, were
 
 99 
 
 its course less impeded by natural obstacles. Innumerable 
 streams pour their contents into this River, and the torrents which 
 occasionally rush down from the mountainous country frequently 
 augment its current, more especially in the summer season 
 when thunder storms are prevalent, to the magnitude of a furious 
 and impassable torrent. The quantity of matter which is rolled 
 down into this river, and deposited at its mouth within a single 
 year, must be immense. Its waters are not only greatly discoloured 
 by it, but very frequently the sea where it disembogues itself, 
 acquires the same yellow hue to a considerable distance from the 
 shore. At such seasons it is altogether impassable, and as this is of 
 very frequent occurrence it is a matter of surprise that among the 
 other improvements on the frontier no measure has been 
 adopted for constructing a bridge, or other means of preserving at 
 all times a communication between one part of the district and 
 another ; this is a subject pf very great importance to the well 
 being of the Frontier. There is, however, some reason to believe 
 that the inconvenience will shortly be removed, as at one of the 
 most frequented drifts an ingenious practical Mechanic has expressed 
 his readiness to undertake to complete the requisite work for the 
 small sum of 400, an expense that certainly cannot for a moment 
 be set in competition with the imminent risk of life and property 
 which frequently occurs when necessity compels the traveller to 
 ford the river at hazardous seasons, or to the loss of time and 
 great inconvenience which arc often sustained by a detention on its 
 bank for days together in tempestuous weather. 
 
 I am, &c., 
 
 A TRAVELLER. 
 
 The " City of the Settlers " having its own newspaper, also 
 knew how to enjoy itself, as will be seen from the following 
 account of a Fancy Ball, given by the Officers of H.M. g8th 
 Regiment in the month of July, 1832: 
 
 " Wonders never will cease ! Only think of a Fancy Ball in 
 2 G
 
 1OO 
 
 Graham's Town ! What would the old mimosa * say if it had 
 been there. But a few years have passed since the founder of our 
 town chose its shade for head-quarters." " I fancied the 
 millcnium commenced the dwellers in all lands and the mighty 
 dead of all ages were mingled time and space were annihilated, 
 and the lion and the lamb were sporting together. The renowned 
 Beau Brummel led out, glittering in old Isaac's jewels, the represen- 
 tative of the lovely Rebecca ; the deposed Dey of Algiers danced 
 vvith good Queen Bess (who, by the way, somewhat anticipated the 
 fashion by wearing a hoop), His Zulu Majesty, Dingaan, laid aside 
 his assegai and shield, and footed it with a pretty Welsh peasant ; 
 a Malay Priest waltzed with a tight little Quaker, and the Imaum 
 of Muscat flung the handkerchief al ternately to little loves 
 from Alp and Appenine, for whom he would apparently have 
 exchanged all the joys of his fabled Paradise," Sec., &cc., " and I 
 trudged home," says the writer, singing 
 
 Dance, Regan, dance, with Cordelia and Goneril, 
 Down the middle, up again, pousette and cross ; 
 
 Stop, Cordelia, do not tread upon her heel, 
 
 Regan feeds on coltsfoot and kicks like a horse. 
 
 Round let us bound, for this is Punch's holiday, 
 Glory to Tomfoolery, huzza, huzza. 
 
 The Grahams Town journal continued to be conducted by 
 the writer, with the assistance of the late Lieut. T. C. White, 
 of Table Farm, until that lamented gentleman was killed by 
 Kafirs at the Kei River in the war of 1834-35. The 
 late Mr. W. Beddy, of Trinity College, Dublin, formerly 
 editor of the Co/onist, printed in Cape Town, was then engaged 
 
 In the very centre of High-street stood for many years a Mimosa Tree, 
 indigenous to the country, near which it was said Colonel Graham, the 
 founder of Graham's Town, pitched his tent when the Zuurveld was 
 cleared of Kafirs in 1819, and that in the stem of this tree he drove a nail, 
 upon which he hung his sword. The tree, vvith the nail stuck in it, was 
 afterwards protected by a wooden railing, round which were seats. The 
 tree, by what means the writer is unaware, was eventually removed, as 
 well as the railings.
 
 101 
 
 by the proprietor, at a salary. In the beginning of 1834, the 
 proprietor entered into an arrangement with Mr. Godlonton to 
 edit the paper, and after a few months, induced the latter to 
 leave the Government service, and join the proprietor in part- 
 nership for a term of five years, the proprietor finding the 
 capital, and the printing establishment remaining his private 
 property. The following Advertisement was then published in 
 the Graham's Town 'Journal of July, 1834: 
 
 NOTICE 
 
 Is hereby given, that the Business of Printer, Bookseller, Stationer 
 and Bookbinder, hitherto conducted by L. H. Meurant, will, 
 this date, be carried on in the joint names of the Undersigned. 
 
 (Signed) L. H. MEURANT. 
 
 R. GODLONTON. 
 
 Office of the Graham's Town Journal, 
 I ;th July, 1834. 
 
 In July, 1839, the partnership having ceased by effluxion of 
 time, the writer sold the whole of the printing establishment, 
 together with his share of the goodwill of the Journal^ to his 
 late partner, Mr. Godlonton, who thenceforth continued the 
 Journal as his own private property. New iron presses and 
 other improvements had been imported by the firm of Meurant 
 & Godlonton, but the old historical Wooden Press was retained 
 by Mr. Godlonton, as stated by him in the description of its 
 importation and subsequent seizure. 
 
 Up to thfs period and long after the Graham's Town Journal 
 continued to be the only newspaper published in the Eastern 
 Province. On the 2nd April, 1845, the fi fst number of the 
 Eastern Province Herald was published at Port Elizabeth by 
 Mr. John Ross Philip. The late Mr. John Paterson, M.L.A., 
 then Government Schoolmaster at Port Elizabeth, assisted
 
 102 
 
 Mr. Philip by writing for it. Mr. Paterson subsequently 
 got out printing materials of his own, about the latter end of 
 1849, and started another paper, under the title of the 
 Eastern Province News. The Port Elizabeth Mercury and 
 Port Elizabeth Telegraph were started about the same time. 
 Later on Mr. Paterson dropped the title of News, and by 
 some private arrangement with Mr. Philip resumed the old 
 name Herald. The Eastern Province Herald was the first 
 newspaper issued in Port Elizabeth, and the second in the 
 Eastern Province. The present talented editor, Mr. George 
 Jmpey, bought the plant from Mr. Paterson in October, 1857, 
 and has been the editor and proprietor, or co-proprietor, ever 
 since. 
 
 The Port Elizabeth Telegraph was started by Mr. Henry 
 Dunlop Dyke, and the Port Elizabeth Mercmy by Mr. J. R. 
 Philip, which latter paper was, however, afterwards discontinued. 
 Mr. Dyke took over Mr. Philip's portion of the plant, but 
 the paper was afterwards discontinued in consequence of the 
 death of Mr. Dyke. The plant was then sold by auction 
 and purchased by Messrs. Richards, Impey & Co., who again 
 sold it to Mr. James Kemsley, who, from that time forward, 
 published the Port Elizabeth Telegraph. Such is the history 
 of the first newspapers established in the Eastern Province. 
 The number has increased, including Natal, the Free State, 
 Transvaal and Diamond Fields, to upwards of one hundred 
 and fifty.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 List of South African newspapers filed in the Colonial Office, 
 Cape Town, up to the rst day of February, 1 88 r, when the 
 list was prepared. It is, however, not so complete as might be 
 wished : 
 
 Agricultural News 
 
 Agricultural Register 
 
 Adelaide Standard 
 
 Albert Times 
 
 African Journal 
 
 Alice Times 
 
 Aliwal Observer 
 
 Aliwal North Standard 
 
 Anglo-African 
 
 Beaufort Courier 
 
 Bedford Advertiser 
 
 Boerenvriend 
 
 Burghersdorp Gazette 
 
 British Settler 
 
 Cape and Natal News 
 
 Cape Argus 
 
 Cape Frontier Times 
 
 Cape Mercantile Advertiser 
 
 Cape Mercury 
 
 Cape Town Mirror 
 
 Cape Town Mail 
 
 Cape Town News 
 
 Cape Standard 
 
 Cape Times 
 
 Cape of Good Hope Observer 
 Colonist (Cape Town) 
 Colonist 
 
 Colesberg Advertiser 
 Commercial Advertiser 
 Cradock News 
 Cradock Register 
 Daily News 
 Daily Times 
 Diamond Field 
 Diamond Field Advertiser 
 Diamond News 
 East London Dispatch 
 Echo 
 
 Eastern Star 
 
 Eastern Province Herald 
 Empire 
 
 European Mail 
 Evening Express 
 Evening Star 
 Examiner 
 
 Express (Orange Free State) 
 Eastern Province Mercantile 
 Advertiser
 
 104 
 
 East London Advertiser 
 Exchange Gazette 
 Fort Beaufort Advocate 
 Friend of the Sovereignty 
 
 (O. F. S.) 
 Friend of the Free State 
 
 (O. F. S ) 
 Frontier Guardian 
 George Advertiser 
 Germania 
 
 Graaff-Reinet Advertiser 
 Graaff-Reinet Courant 
 Graaft-Reinet Herald 
 Graham's Town Advertiser 
 Grensburger 
 Grocott's Penny Mail 
 Great Eastern 
 Guide 
 
 Graham's Town Journal 
 Independent 
 KafFrarian Watchman 
 Kaapsche Grensblad 
 King William's Town Gazette 
 Lantern 
 Meditator 
 
 Middelburg Gazette 
 Mining Gazette 
 Mossel Bay Advertiser 
 Midland Province Banner 
 Natal Colonist 
 Natal Independent 
 Natal Mercury 
 Natal Witness 
 Northern Post 
 Observer 
 Oudtshoorn Courant 
 
 Ovcrberg Courant 
 
 Observer 
 
 Patriot 
 
 Penny Post 
 
 Port Elizabeth Telegraph 
 
 Port Elizabeth Mercury 
 
 Queen's Town Free Press 
 
 Queen's Town Representative 
 
 Richmond Era 
 
 Sentinel and Meditator 
 
 Sentinel 
 
 Shipping and Commerical 
 
 Gazette 
 
 Sam Sly's African Journal 
 Shopkeeper's Journal 
 Somerset East Advertiser 
 South African 
 
 South African Com. Advertiser 
 South African Chronicle 
 South African Dominion 
 South African Mail 
 Standard and Mail 
 Statist 
 
 Tarkastad Chronicle 
 Tarkastad Herald 
 Times of Natal 
 Transvaal Argus (Transvaal) 
 Transvaal Advocate (do.) 
 Uitenhage Chronicle 
 Uitenhage Advertiser 
 Uitenhage Times 
 Verzamclaar 
 
 Victoria West Messenger 
 Volksblad 
 Volksvriend 
 Volksstem (Transvaal)
 
 io 5 
 
 Ware Afrikaan 
 Weekly Chronicle 
 Weekly Magazine 
 Worcester Courant 
 
 Worcester Weekly News 
 Worcestersche Courant 
 Western Province Advertiser 
 Zuid-Afrikaan. 
 
 Sereral of the above papers have been discontinued, and 
 others, not included in the above list, started ; but it will show 
 the spread of newspaper literature in the Colony since the 
 inestimable boon of the FREE PRESS was obtained. 
 
 The following letter was addressed by the writer of these 
 " Reminiscences " to the Chairman and Members of the 
 PRESS CONGRESS, held in Graham's Town on November 
 
 27, 1882 : 
 
 Louisville, Riversdale, Nov. 1 8, 1882. 
 
 Messrs. RICHARDS, SLATER & Co., 
 
 Proprietors of the Journal, Graham's Town. 
 
 Dear Sirs, I have noticed with much satisfaction that it is 
 intended to hold a Press Congress in Graham's Town, as being the 
 birth-place of the Press in the Eastern Province. Having been 
 accoucheur at the birth on the 3Oth September, 1830, when I 
 brought to life the first Printing Press in the Eastern Province in 
 Graham's Town, I hope I may be permitted to express my sym- 
 pathy with the movement, and to bear my humble testimony, \vhich 
 I would have been glad to have done personally, to the invaluable 
 services rendered to the Colony, but especially to the Eastern Pro- 
 vince, through good report and evil report (for there was enough and 
 to spare of the latter) by my dear and highly-esteemed old friend, 
 the Hon'blc Robert Godlonton. I rejoice to know that he is alive, 
 and that he will be able to be present at the Congress, and I hope 
 will be further able to give the Inaugural Address. Editors, or 
 Pressmen, as they are now called, have no idea now-a-days of what 
 the labour of conducting and printing a newspaper was fifty year* 
 ago. Not only had my dear old friend to write leading articles, but
 
 io6 
 
 we had to take off our coats and to print the papers ourselves, he 
 " inking" the " formes," first with " balls," and afterwards with 
 the improved "rollers," until our hands were blistered, once a-week, 
 for a very considerable time. I regret very much I cannot be pre- 
 sent, not only to add one to the number of " Pressmen," but to join 
 in drinking the health of my dear old friend, Robert Godlonton, 
 and prosperity to Graham's Town, a city in which I spent the best 
 and happiest portion of my life, and which is as dear to me as ever. 
 
 Do not lose sight of the remarkable fact that the two proprietors 
 of the Journal of Fifty Tears ago are still alive, the one past four- 
 score, and the other past three-score years and ten. 
 
 Please hand my hurried note to the Secretary of the Congress, 
 and beg him to assure those present that the movement has my 
 sincere sympathy. 
 
 Believe me, Dear Sirs, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 L. H. MEURANT. 
 
 To which the following reply was received : 
 
 Graham's Town, December 8, 1882. 
 L. H. MEURANT, Esq., Riversdale. 
 
 Dear Sir, I am directed to inform you that your letter, with 
 reference to the Press Congress, was laid before the Press Union by 
 Messrs. Richards, Slater & Co., and the reading of it was received 
 with pleasure. The Congress ordered that it should be recorded and 
 printed with the " Records of Proceedings," copy of which I will 
 forward you when out of the Press, as I have done the " Press 
 Union Constitution." The members of the Union exceedingly 
 regretted that Mr. Godlonton and yourself were unable to be 
 present. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Yours obediently, 
 (Signed) T. SHEFFIELD, Secretary.
 
 It may not be uninteresting to note the market prices of 
 
 Colonial produce in Graham's Town on the 3Oth December, 
 
 1831. The currency, which was then Rixdollars (is. 6d.), 
 Skillings (2J.) and Stivers (th of a Skilling) being put into 
 sterling : 
 
 . d. 
 
 Soap (Boer), per Ib. . . . . . . 002^ 
 
 Salt, per muid . . . . . . . . 062^ 
 
 Buck skins, each .. .. .. .. o i o 
 
 Caffre hides, per 100 Ibs. (dry) .. .. i io o 
 
 Wet hides, each .. .. .. .. oioo 
 
 Tiger skins . . . . . . . . 080 
 
 Bed feathers, per Ib. . . . . . . 023 
 
 Onions, per muid.. .. .. .. 069 
 
 Tobacco (Boer) ... .. .. .. 012 
 
 Timber, per foot . , . . . . . . 002 
 
 Elephant Teeth, per Ib. . . . .. 019 
 
 Maize (Mealies), per muid . .. 086 
 
 Meal (Cape), per muid .. .. .. i io o 
 
 Wheat, per muid .. .. .. .. I o o 
 
 Cheese (Albany), per Ib. .. .. .. 003 
 
 Oats, per muid .. .. . . .. 046 
 
 Oathay, per 100 Ibs. .. . .. 020 
 
 Turkeys, each . . . . . . . . 050 
 
 Barley, per muid . . . . . . . . 040 
 
 Brandy, per half-aum .. .. .. i 8 6 
 
 Butter (fresh), per Ib. ... . . . . 009 
 
 Potatoes, per muid . . . . . . 050 
 
 Beans, do. . . . . .. o io o 
 
 Peas, do. . . .. .. o io o 
 
 Fowls, each . . . . . . . . 009 
 
 Ducks, do. .. .. .. .. . . o i 6 
 
 Horns, do. - . .. . . .. .. 006 
 
 Caffrc Horns, per 100 .. ... .. 220 
 
 Tallow, per Ib. . . . . . . . . o o 2 J 
 
 Rush (water), per loo .. .. .. 040 
 
 Butchers' Meat, from Jd. to ijd.. per Ib.
 
 000 156 111 7