The development and failure of the Eastern Cape separatist movement with special reference to John Paterson

From Preface: In 1960 Pamela Ffolliott and E.L.H. Croft wrote a biograpby of John Paterson entitled One Titan at a Time. This concentrated mainly on his business activities and his civic role to the virtual exclusion of his political opinions and career even though contemporaries often regarded him as second only to John X. Merriman. The result of diligent enquiry for further biographical detail both in South Africa and in the United Kingdom has been disappointing. A close examination of such evidence as there is, suggests that his political abilities have been over-rated rather than under-rated. It is now nearly forty years since the study of separatism was first seriously undertaken. The period 1854-72 was studied by N.H. Taylor (M.A. Thesis, University of Cape Town, 1938) and D.B. Sole undertook a broader survey (M.A. Thesis, University of South Africa (R.U.C.), 1939). Neither study used the Godlonton papers. The Godlonton-White correspondence is at Rhodes House, Oxford and this mainly concerns business matters and news of prominent local people. The collection of Godlonton papers housed in the Historical Papers section of the Library of the University of the Witwatersrand proved more interesting. The use of these papers made it possible to make a new approach to the critical period of representative government and to explore in more detail lines suggested in part by J .L. McCracken in the more general study, The Cape Parliament 1854-1910 published in 1967. Yet because in many cases the leaders of the movement after 1854 carried into the new era ideas and attitudes formed in earlier years, it was necessary to consider also the origins of the separatist impulse. Separatism had many roots: as a term it had many meanings. Clearly the meaning attached to the word varied from time to time, from place to place and even from person to person. The goal varied too. Sometimes the Eastern Province wanted to move the centre of government from Cape Town; sometimes the cry was for a completely separate colony to be established in the East; sometimes the theme was federal devolution of powers, to a resident government. Indeed among the many reasons for the failure of the separatist movement was the inability of the Easterners to agree among themselves about what they were seeking. This exposed and emphasised their political ineptitude