To James Madison from John Elmslie, 18 January 1806 (Abstract)
From John Elmslie, 18 January 1806 (Abstract)
§ From John Elmslie. 18 January 1806, Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope. “I have the honor to inclose for the information of Government the Articles of capitulation of the Cape of Good Hope [not found] to his Britannick Majestys forces under the command of Major General Sir David Baird.1 The British fleet consisting of 57 sail of ships of war & transports arrived in Table Bay 4th. Instant & in the course of a few days the troops were landed & according to report to the number of 15000 men, little opposition being given to their landing on the part of the Dutch. On the 6th. The Governor, General Janssens marched out with his small army in order to oppose the British forces & on the 8th. between 7 & 10 OClock am, an engagement took place which ended in the defeat of the Dutch, General Janssens however has retreated with a small part of his army to a strong pass named Hottentots Holland Cloof. The British troops marched on to Cape Town. On the morning of the 9th. when the English were within a few miles of the lines. The Commandant of the castle sent a Boat with a flag of truce to the British Commodore Sir Home Popham offering to capitulate, upon which the British general came to Town, & the enclosed articles of capitulation were signed, the English troops took quiet possession of the lines same evening, and on the 10th. at 4 OClock Pm the British flag was hoisted on the Castle—General Jannsens with his small party, not above five hundred men, still hold out & no doubt will give the British Government a good deal of trouble, but General Baird is determined should General Janssens not accept the terms offered him by Brigd. General Beresford who is marched out with a large detatchment of the English army to oblige him by force of arm⟨s.⟩ General Janssens probably wishes to imitate Leonidas, & if his troops are equally heroic as the Grecian, most certainly is in possession of a second Thermoplyæ,2 a short time will determine the event. As ther⟨e⟩ is a vessel to be dispatched to England to-morrow I embrac⟨e⟩ the opportunity to forward the enclosed Gazettes. All foreign vessels are at present detained among which are several Americans. As the British General has been much engaged since the captur⟨e,⟩ I have not as yet had an opportunity of paying m⟨y⟩ respects, or to learn whether foreign Consuls are to be received at the Cape.”3
RC, two copies (DNA: RG 59, CD, Cape Town, vol. 1). First RC 2 pp. Second RC marked “Duplicate.”
1. By the terms of the 10 Jan. 1806 capitulation of Cape Town, the city and all fortifications were to be surrendered; the Dutch troops were designated prisoners of war; any officers who were or who had married natives or who owned sufficient property, could remain “so long as they behave as becometh good subjects and citizens,” or be transported to Britain on parole until they were exchanged; all officers who elected to go to Britain would be provided pay and passage at British expense; all French subjects must be transported to Europe; town inhabitants who had borne arms were to return to their previous occupations; the distinctions between burghers and other inhabitants would remain as they had been under Dutch law; private property would be untouched; public property would be turned over to the British; paper money then in circulation would remain unchanged until the king’s will was known; prisoners of war would not be pressed into the British army but could serve if they wished; no troops would be quartered on the residents; and two ships that had been sunk in Table Bay were to be raised at the expense of those who had sunk them (Times [London], 1 Mar. 1806).
2. The Spartan king Leonidas and his three-hundred-man royal guard defended the pass at Thermopylae in Greece to the last man against a much larger Persian force to cover the retreat of the rest of the Greek army (New Encyclopaedia Britannica [15th ed.; 2005], 7:280).