4,957 settlers and their children, 6,068
servants, and 9,049 slaves. In the whole colony there were 14,929 free
settlers, 11,555 servants, and 19,807 slaves. The oxen numbered 418,817.

The news of the capture of Cape Town caused great relief at Whitehall.
Dundas on 16th January 1796 assured Craig that His Majesty would have
preferred a peaceful acquisition. The remark does not evince much
sagacity; for in that case the Boers would have represented the
occupation as an act of trickery concocted with the Prince of Orange. As
it was, the Cape was conquered after a fair fight. Undoubtedly in the
month of August the burghers might have beaten Craig had they been
either well led or enterprising. Dundas also instructed Clarke to leave
a strong garrison at Cape Town, and forwarded news of the capture of
Trincomalee, the Dutch stronghold in Ceylon. The Dutch soon sent a force
of 2,000 troops convoyed by six warships, for the recapture of the Cape;
but, while sheltering in Saldanha Bay, some fifty miles north of Cape
Town, it was surprised by Elphinstone's squadron and capitulated (17th
August 1796). The news of this disaster hastened the surrender of the
burghers of Graaf Reinet who had defied British authority.

In order to mark the permanence of British rule, Pitt decided to send
out as Governor Lord Macartney, who previously had undertaken a mission
to "Louis XVIII" at Verona. His arrival in May 1797 helped to check the
growth of discontent which was again becoming formidable. Macartney's
difficulties were great. The Dutch held sullenly aloof, in the belief
that England must give up her prize at the peace. Our military and naval
officers disliked Cape Town, owing to the lack of amusements, the
dearness of provisions, and the badness of the roadstead. Admiral
Pringle declared to Lady Anne Barnard that, as a naval station, it was
the worst that the devil could have contrived; that the people were
objectionable, and the animals vile, even the hens being unable to lay
fresh eggs. The soldiers grumbled at the high prices; for, though beef
was only fourpence a pound, and good wine sixpence a bottle, yet an egg
cost threepence and a dish of cauliflowers eighteenpence. Readers of
Lady Anne's sprightly letters will note in germ the problem that has
beset the British in South Africa.[403] They formed a restless minority
among a people curiously unreceptive and suspicious. They were bored by
the surroundings, puzzled by Dutch elusiven