Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872, Volume 1 (4th ed, 1915).djvu/43

1796] General Craig replied in writing on the 31st of December. He informed them that they became subjects of the king of England by the capitulation of the Dutch government, and could not expect special terms. He strictly ordered them not to make war upon the Xosas to recover their cattle, or to occupy land beyond the boundary; and advised them to treat the Xosas with all possible kindness. He could not allow them to dictate the nomination of a landdrost. No alteration in the form of government of the district could be made, and the heemraden would be appointed as of old. He advised them to abandon the absurd idea of an independent government, and warned them against further opposition. The deputies hereupon declared that they were willing to submit, and with this the matter ended for a time. Mr. Gerotz remained as acting landdrost, and administered justice in the name of the king of England, without any open opposition, though without any strong hold upon the people. The national party was by no means extinct, but recognised the uselessness under existing circumstances of attempting to set the British authorities at defiance. Many of them hoped that aid from abroad would shortly reach them, for Woyer had been confident of French assistance and had gone to procure it.

A Danish ship that put into Algoa Bay gave him an opportunity to leave South Africa, and embarking in her, he reached Batavia safely. To the governor-general Van Overstraten he communicated the condition of things in Graaff-Reinet, and persuaded him to believe that only a supply of ammunition was needed to ensure a formidable opposition to the English. After remaining eight days in Batavia, Woyer left in a French ship bound to Mauritius, and nothing more is related of him in the colonial records until October 1802. He was then a military lieutenant in the Dutch service, and had gone to the United States with a view of getting a passage to Java in an American ship. The government at the Cape was