2 
Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, 
conceded to the colonists a small shar6 in the management of local 
affairs.® 
Less salutary was, however, the cleavage which the coming of a 
new racial element 'created between the eastern portion and the 
older settlements in the west. Sectional strife looms large in the 
subsequent history of the Cape.^ That the government seized upon 
the arrival of “very numerous British born subjects’’ as a pre¬ 
text for attempts at suppressing the Dutch language must be con¬ 
sidered even more disastrous. The Boers were to be denationalized 
by employing Britons, especially Scots, “in the parochial duties 
of the Keformed Religion”; and a decree of 1825 provided that 
after a given period “the English Language shall be exclusively 
used in all judicial and official Acts”.® Although a later procla¬ 
mation modified this decision,® the failure to place the two lan¬ 
guages on an equal footing added fuel to the flame of discontent. 
And the subsequent abolition of slavery created, in the opinion of 
many Boers, an intolerable situation.'^ 
Beginning in 1836 a large number of the most enterprising 
among the Dutch migrated or “trekked” in search for new homes. 
Actuated by one great desire, to be freed from British control, they 
pushed courageously into the wilderness. This object proved, 
however, difficult to obtain. No sooner did the Boers settle in Natal 
than Britain annexed the province. When they crossed the Orange 
and established themselves between this river and the Vaal, the 
Queen’s sovereignty was proclaimed also over this territory.® But 
the more persistent among the malcontents crossed the Vaal and 
continued their quest for freedom. Faced with the possibility of 
having to extend their possessions to the equator in order to retain 
a handful of recalcitrant subjects, the British government finally 
decided to let them go. 
* A proclamation of May 2, 1825, provided for the appointment of a council ‘‘to ad¬ 
vise and assist in the administration” of the colony. This consisted, however, wholly of 
officials and not until 1852 was a representative government established. Eybers, 
Constitutional Documents, pp. 24, 45—5^. 
^ In 1836 a separate district government was established in the eastern provinces; 
ibid., pp. 39-41. 
Ibid., pp. 23, 24. This proclamation was issued by the governor. Lord Somerset, 
and dated July 5, 1822. 
® By ordinance of December 13, 1826; ibid., p. 107. Not until 1882 did the Dutch 
secure equal language rights in the Cape parliament; ibid., p. 66. 
* A “Manifesto of the Emigrant Farmers” printed in the Qrahamstown Journal, Feb¬ 
ruary 2, 1837, is given by Eybers, pp. 143—145. For additional declarations see ibid., 
pp. 154, 155, 167-169. 
* Several important documents dealing with these events are found in Eybers, Con¬ 
stitutional Documents, pp. 145—166; 260—275. 
