In the course of a few days, Van Clootz was informed, that a troop of cavalry had arrived at a farm he had on the borders of Hottentot Holland, about thirty miles from the Cape, and that it was supposed they would remain some time in that neighborhood. The boor was delighted at the prospect of a long bill for hay, corn, &c. &c. folio after folio; every day’s stay was joyfully noted! It was not long, however, before complaints were made that the troopers behaved in a licentious manner, killing his poultry, destroying his fences, plundering his garden, kissing his maids, and the Lord knows what! Now, as most of his stock was consumed, it was no longer an object for Mynheer to court the stay of the cavalry; therefore he went boldly to Lord Macartney with a long list of damages, and his bill for corn, &c. demanding, in a very haughty manner, that the farm should be evacuated by his _now_ unwelcome visitors. ‘Bless me, Mr. Van Clootz,’ said his lordship, ‘why, I thought you was delighted with revolutionary principles?’—‘Yes, my lord, I am so; the acts of the French nation should be written in characters of gold!’—‘And yet, Mr. Van Clootz, you complain against the troop I sent to be quartered upon you—no, no, Sir; you have been so fond of the _sweets_ of revolution, that I am resolved you shall taste some of its _bitters_ also: therefore the cavalry shall remain at your farm, until you acknowledge the benefits of British protection, and retire peaceably to your lands, there to cultivate corn, instead of sowing sedition at Constantia.’ The result may be easily guessed: Constantia was depopulated, and Mynheer Van Clootz was held in derision throughout the Cape. It should not remain untold, that, however strict Lord Macartney might have been during the time he governed at the Cape, such was the impression made by his equitable, liberal, and firm conduct, that, when he embarked for Europe, the inhabitants were truly grieved; but consoled themselves under the hope, that a petition they sent to his Majesty, for the re-appointment of his lordship, might prove successful.