46 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. 
to £300,000. per annum. It has been argued, that the value of the 
Cape, as a settlement, is not equivalent to such a loss. This asser- 
tion is founded on the calculation of the outgoing, since the Cape 
has been in the possession of the English, which is by no means a 
fair criterion. The Dutch left the fortifications in ruins, the public 
buildings nearly falling down, and in the barracks not one article of 
furniture, as the Dutch soldiers are accustomed to find their own. 
The British Governor, who was not limited by the narrow spirit of 
the Batavian government, not only repaired the old, but built 
several new fortifications ; he put every public building into a perfect 
state of repair, and, as is the custom in the service, provided all the 
necessary barrack-furniture for the troops. These different expenses 
cannot be fairly calculated as a part of the permanent expenditure 
at the Cape. A garrison of nearly 6000 men had been kept up 
during the war, which in peace might be greatly diminished. 
Another very material alteration might take place in the expen- 
diture at the Cape, by an increase of the Hottentot corps, which at 
present consists of only five hundred men. Experience has now so 
fully shown their capability of becoming good soldiers, that a dimi- 
nution might take place in European troops, nearly in proportion 
to their increase. Their fidelity to the British they have proved 
by fighting even against their own countrymen ; and their antipathy 
to the boors is naturally such, as to render any union between them 
contrary to the British interest, impracticable. It is also fair to sup- 
pose that the revenue, which under the Dutch was only about 
£^5,000. a year, but which rose gradually under the British to up- 
wards of £"100,000. a year, would continue to increase. But even 
were the expense to continue to exceed the revenue to the amount 
