Jacob Abraham de Mist

Jakob Abraham de Mist (Cape Archives)

Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist (20 April 1749 – 3 August 1823)[1] was a Dutch statesman. He was Head of State of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic from 17 April 1797 – 1 May 1797 and Commissioner-General of the Cape Colony during the interregnum from 21 February 1803 – 25 September 1804 in accordance with the short-lived Treaty of Amiens. The Cape Colony had been under Dutch control from 1652. In 1795 it was occupied by the British following the Battle of Muizenberg but under the final terms of peace between Great Britain, France and the Netherlands – then the Batavian Republic – in 1802, the colony was restored to the Batavian Republic.

Education and career

Born in Zaltbommel on 20 April 1749, de Mist studied Roman Dutch law at the University of Leiden, from 17 September 1766 to 1 July 1768. He practised law in Kampen from 1768 to 1769 and held the following positions thereafter:

Appointment by the Batavian States-General

The States-General resolved that the executive and legislative authority of the Cape Colony should be committed to a governor and a council of four members, of whom one at least should be, by birth or long residence, a colonist. The governor was to be also commander of the troops. The high court of justice was to be independent of the other branches of the government, and was to consist of a president and six members, all of them versed in the law. Trade with the possessions of the Batavian Republic everywhere was to be subject only to a very small duty. With these principles as a basis, the task of drawing up a plan of administration was entrusted to De Mist, an advocate of high standing and a member of the council for the Asiatic possessions and establishments.[2]

The document prepared by De Mist gave such satisfaction that he was sent out to receive the colony from the English, install the Dutch officials, and make such regulations as he might find necessary. A very able military officer and man of high moral worth – Lieutenant-General Jan Willem Janssens – was appointed governor and was also commander-in-chief of the garrison for which three thousand one hundred and fifty soldiers were provided,[3] and councillors and judges were selected.[2]

Commission at the Cape of Good Hope

A model of Cape Town in 1800, around the time that De Mist arrived at the Cape.

De Mist reached Cape Town on 23 December, and next morning went to reside in the Castle of Good Hope. On the 30th, General Dundas issued a proclamation absolving the inhabitants of the colony from the oath of allegiance to His Britannic Majesty (George III) on and after 1 January 1803. After a temporary withdrawal of the order to hand over control, at sunset on the evening of Sunday 20 February 1803 the English guards were relieved by Dutch soldiers, and next morning the Batavian flag was hoisted on the castle.[2] De Mist announced that after making himself acquainted with the condition of the county, it would be his duty to prepare a charter which, however, would require ratification by the States-General.

In February 1804, De Mist issued a proclamation which formed several wards of the colony into a new district which General Janssens named Uitenhage after a title in De Mist's family. He also reorganised other areas, creating Tulbagh in the same year. This was intended to ease administration by dividing the colony into less disparate geographic areas. The settlement was previously divided for magisterial and fiscal purposes into four districts – the Cape, Stellenbosch, Swellendam and Graaff-Reinet, – this reorganisation divided it into six of smaller size and he stantioned landdrosts in the two new districts.

Freedom of religion

In July 1804 a proclamation was published by De Mist declaring that all religious societies that worshipped an Almighty Being were to enjoy equal protection under the law, and that no civil privileges were to be attached to any creed. This ordinance also provided for the establishment of schools under control of the government and not belonging to any religious body.

Another ordinance of De Mist had reference to marriage and ended the need to travel to Cape Town to obtain a marriage licence and be married by a clergyman. The ordinance permitted couples to be married by a landdrost and two heemraden.

When the colony was reoccupied by the British in 1806 at the end of the interregnum, the provisions of the proclamation were annulled and not re-established until 1820.

Resignation

In September 1804 De Mist laid down his authority as commissioner-general so that the governor would have greater freedom to act with vigour. The great question of the time was how to place the colony in a condition for defence, as no one doubted that sooner or later it would be attacked by the British. De Mist professed to know nothing of military matters and thought that the governor, upon whom the responsibility would fall, should have sole authority, although they had worked together in perfect concord.

Family life

De Mist was the son of a clergyman, Arnoldus de Mist, and Geertruida Verstrinck. He was married three times.

His first marriage was to Amalia Strubberg on 20 September 1772 in Cleves. They were divorced on 10 December 1783.

His second marriage was to Elisabeth Morré on 8 May 1796 in Beverwijk. They were divorced on 8 January 1800.

His third marriage was to Magdalena de Jonge on 20 December 1808 in The Hague.

He had four sons and two daughters by his first marriage.[1] He died 3 August 1823, in Voorburg.

Honours

Publications

"Advys van het ontwerp voor eene constitutie voor het volk van Nederland." (Notice of a plan for a constitution for the people of the Netherlands.) (1796)[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Parlement & Politiek
  2. 1 2 3 George McCall Theal (1890) A Short History of South Africa. (1486–1826), Darter Brothers & Walton, Cape Town, digitized by Google
  3. ↑ George McCall Theal (1894) South Africa, T. Fisher Unwin, digitized by Google
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