174 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



To readers of Captain Mahan it will come as no surprise that 

 British movements at the Cape were directly dependent on the Navat 

 War in European seas. Thus Lord Howe's "glorious ist June" 

 was the prelude to the departure of Admiral Elphinstone, while Sir 

 Hume Popham's expedition may be regarded as one of the earliest 

 results of Trafalgar. 



The Congress of Vienna and the final settlement of Europe after 

 Waterloo, have to be mentioned in connection with South African 

 history ; for by the new order of affairs British dominion was recog- 

 nised. This settlement cannot possibly be judged or understood in 

 sections. The treaty was a human arrangement full of human errors ; 

 the Austrian rule in Italy was destined to fall after fifty years of 

 conspiracy and bloodshed, the coupling of Norway and Sweden was 

 destined to be undone peacefully after ninety years of friction. One 

 crime was perpetrated and remains a monument of international 

 wrong-doing ; the fetters of Poland were more firmly rivetted by 

 the joint Governments of Austria, Prussia and Russia. Yet, for all 

 this, the settlement was a genuine attempt to secure the tranquility 

 of Europe ; and England in particular can claim to have come out 

 of the transaction with clean hands. 



In leading and financing the European resistance to Xapoleon, 

 England had added six hundred millions to her public debt ; while 

 France, the aggressor, had made war pav for itself by the plunder 

 of the vanquished. It was now in the power of Britain to recoup 

 herself by the annexation of all profitable over-sea dependencies. 

 Instead of this, we find that practically nearly all French Colonies 

 were restored, while Holland recovered the East Indies, her only 

 revenue-producing dominions, while the Cape, with all the involved 

 expenditure, was retained by England for its strategic importance. 



Nor was this all. An attempt was to be made to set up a new 

 power in Europe. Holland and Belgium were to be erected into a 

 new kingdom of the Netherlands for England's old ally, the Prince 

 of Orange. To enable him to fortifv his new kingdom a subsidy of 

 several millions was granted him bv the English Government, whose 

 rule in South Africa he at the same time recognised. This transac- 

 tion has been sarcastically described as the sale of his South African 

 subjects by the new king for so many pounds a head. If sale it 

 was, the terms were far more complimentary to the Colonists than 

 is commonly supposed. For each Colonist with whom the king 

 parted he received more than a hundred pounds sterling and more 

 than two hundred live and industrious Belgian subjects. What higher 

 estimate could the South Africans desire? 



But enough has been said, in the course of one paper, to 

 emphasise the assertion that Colonial history cannot be intelligently 

 studied in a water-tight compartment ; and from this statement we 

 may proceed to enunciate our belief that Cape History, which is 

 inextricably interwoven with the great web of human affairs, may be 

 made the focus of a system of instruction which shall direct the 

 minds of students towards the most valued treasures of historical 

 knowledge. 



