The English South African, His History, Culture and Achievements
Finally, reaching the Gonubie River, they were safe. On the 14th they crossed the Keiskama River into the area allocated to them. They had been protected by the English, and under a large milkwood tree where a national monument was later erected, they raised their hands and recited a pledge to be loyal to the British King, and to do all they could to support the English missionaries and to educate their children.[14]
Another historic moment when whites came to the rescue of blacks was after the tragic event known as the National Suicide of the Xhosas in 1857. “There are those today who will stop at nothing to convince the world that the coming of the white man to South Africa resulted in nothing but misery. The truth, however, is that the heathen darkness in which the black tribes lived was degrading and cruel; and the preaching of the Gospel by white missionaries was instrumental, under the sovereignty of God, in improving the lot of the black nations in general, in all aspects of life.”[15] A young Xhosa “prophetess” and her witchdoctor uncle convinced the Xhosa nation that all the white men would be driven into the sea if all the Xhosa cattle were slaughtered and all the corn was destroyed. Cape government officials and missionaries tried to dissuade the Xhosa from this suicidal act, but in vain. “The nation began to starve to death. Many resorted to cannibalism, even eating their own children. In the territory of British Kaffraria, the population dropped from 104 721 to 37 229. And if it were not for the fact that whites had gathered supplies of food to distribute among the blacks, the situation would have been even worse.”[16]
As time went by, the descendants of those first 1820 settlers scattered across the length and breadth of South Africa, and beyond. So much more could be said of the English in South Africa. “The nature of their contribution is enshrined in oft-told tales: how they… fought for the freedom of the Press and for the right to associate, of their determination to achieve representative government for the people generally… of their patronage of the sciences and of the humanities and the great names that they added to the nation’s roster of distinction, of great deeds wrought in South Africa itself and beyond the Limpopo…. Their achievements have been hymned in prose and verse and commemorated in every kind of edifice. Their names are proudly borne by Afrikaans- as well as English-speaking citizens of South Africa today.”[17]
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Filed under: History without the humbug