THEWHITEINVADERS
"I found them," he wrote in the Preface to his Researchesin South Africa~
"in the most oppressed condition of any people under any civilized govern-
ment known to us upon earth ....
The Hottentot has a right to a fair price
for his labour; to an exemption from cruelty and oppression; to choose the
place of his abode, and to enjoy the society of his children; and no one can
deprive him of those rights without violating the laws of nature and of
nations."58 Philip's mission was fruitful. On July IS, 1828, the House of
Commons passed a motion that the colonial government was to be told to
"secure to all the natives of South Africa, the same freedom and protection
as are enjoyed by other free people of that Colony whether English or
Dutch."59
That motion proved to be redundant. Seeing the writing on the wall, the
Cape governor had consulted Landdrost Andries Stockenstrom, whose
Swedish father had come to the Cape Colony in the service of the Dutch
and who was sympathetic to the Khoikhoi cause. On July 17, 1828, the
governor
promulgated
Ordinance
50, which
repealed
the previous
Khoikhoi legislation and made "Hottentots
and other free people of co-
lour" equal before the law with Whites. The yoth Ordinance met with stri-