South Africa -- Description and travel; South Africa -- History -- 1836-1909; South Africa -- History -- To 1836
But the Dutch were determined to go out from us. Our ways were not their
ways. I am now speaking of a period nearly half a century back and of
the following quarter of a century. Our philanthropy disgusted them, and
was to their minds absolutely illogical,--not to be reconciled to that
custom of our nation of landing here and there and taking the land away
from the natives. The custom to them was good enough and seemed to be
clearly the intention of God Almighty. It was the purpose of Providence
that white men should use the land which was only wasted while in the
possession of black men;--and, no doubt, the purpose of Providence also
that black men should be made to work. But that attempt to strike down
the Native with the right hand and to salve the wound with the left was
to the Dutchman simply hypocritical. “Catch the nigger and make him
work.” That was the Dutchman’s idea. “Certainly;--if you can agree about
wages and other such matters,” said the British Authorities.
“Wages,--with this Savage; with this something more but very little more
than a monkey! Feed him, and perhaps baptize him; but at any rate get
work out of him,” said the Dutchman. Of course the Dutchman was
disgusted. And then the slaves had been manumitted. I will not go into
all that again; but I think it must be intelligible that the British
philanthropical system of government was an hypocritical abomination to
the Dutchman who knew very well that in spite of his philanthropy the
Englishman still kept taking the land;--land upon land.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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