was coveted to no purpose. At length, Gaika, whom we still supported against the tribes driven from the colony into Caffreland, was prevailed upon to form this tract into a neutral territory, or an intervening space to prevent collisions between the colonists and his people. After a short lapse of time it became convenient to a governor, more compliant than General Craig, to grant some of this neutral land as farms to colonists. For this purpose it soon acquired the character of ceded territory, in a series of transactions most disgraceful to the powerful civilized state, while they materially impeded the progress of a small active race of barbarians. Those transactions were, commandos after the old fashion, and springing from comparatively petty border plunderings by Caffres; over-reaching negotiation; and oppressive treaties, often broken by us as readily as they were often unfairly made. Out of these transactions, there grew up gradually in the minds even of our friend Gaika's tribe, a strong suspicion, which he is known to have shared, that we had designs upon his country. This suspicion was not a little strengthened by our forcibly expelling a powerful section of this friendly tribe, Macomo and his people, from their part of the neutral ground, under circumstances which could not but excite the highest degree of exasperation among them. They had a flourishing missionary station in the tribe; and might fairly be said to be the advanced post of a people capable of any degree of civilization upon the appliance of proper means for promoting it. The offences of some individuals among them, were perfectly insignificant, when compared with the burning of their villages, the ruin of their harvests, and the expulsion of their people of all ages. This violent act was followed up by similar expulsions of the same tribes from hill to hill, and stream to stream, until oppression could be borne no longer; and a frightful outbreak of all the Caffre tribes, except one, into the colony, took place in December, 1834-the invasion forgotten by the Times.'

It is no reply to this strong imputation upon the integrity of the British government, and upon the Colonial authorities, that the steady acquisition of land from the Caffres here insisted upon so broadly, is inconsistent with the known policy pursued for a long time against the extension of our colonies. Our Colonial administration on this head, has been full of inconsistencies. Such a restrictive policy has been professed-and in some spots sincerely followed. Nevertheless, in all quarters, our boundaries have been extended in part; and the real error has lain in their irregular extension without respect to the claims of humanity, or to the national interests. It has been a strong example how far the system has been a Chapter of Accidents.'

One of the frontier tribes, the people of Congo, Pato, and Kama, did not join the confederacy against us in 1834-5. Their lands had been more respected than those of the other tribes. The Hottentots, too, to whom we had lately granted a free settlement upon a portion of the neutral territory, fought on our side with the greatest courage; and in the course of the war we released several thousands of Africans, called Fingoes, strangers from the interior, whom the Caffres held as their slaves. We repelled the invaders, after great loss of property and life. Then invading Caffreland in our turn, we defeated the confederates and seized their country, which the governor of the Cape formed into a British province. The Home Government ordered its restoration to the Caffres, and re-established their independence, upon the two grounds of the conquest being unjust after a war to which they were driven by oppression, and of the inexpediency of occupying a country, the military establishment of which would cost more than it was worth.

This step has been the occasion of bitter controversy. It is alluded to in the foregoing extract from 'The Times,' in which it is said, that‘the Caffres have been released from a superintendence which they were compelled to respect, and subjected only to treaties which they could not be presumed to understand.' That 'superintendence' was the conquest of the country of the Caffres, after their invasion of the colony in 1834-5; and the establishment of a system of administration in the new British province in that country, eulogised in the extract from "The Morning Chronicle' as equally beneficial to the colonists and to the natives. The eulogy assumes, of course, that there would have been no difficulty in keeping the Caffres in good order under the conquest, and without undue expense. The expectation of that result is believed, upon strong grounds, to be very far from well founded. In the first place, the facts that occurred on the frontier, before this coercive system was rescinded by orders from home, proved its extreme danger. Marauding by the Caffres had fearfully increased, and their most active men were in the woods and mountains determined indefinitely to prolong the war. This may be ascertained by thousands of living witnesses; and the Cape newspapers of the time, especially those which have the most warmly vindicated the conquest, attest it. This first effect of the conquest upon the conquered, is consistent with all experience. The bravest men among them escape to inaccessible fastnesses, where, although freedom is preserved, they are too apt to lose whatever civilization they possess. Thus, besides giving a new example of our ability to oppress the barbarian, we should have had a fresh occasion for enjoying the un

enviable privilege of still further degenerating the savage.' ** Happily, wise and humane counsels then prevailed at the Colonial Office. The act of the governor of the Cape against the independence of the Caffres was rescinded; but without visiting him with more than the mortification of disapproval. The parliamentary documents of the time prove, against the assertion in the Morning Chronicle,' that his removal from this post took place long afterwards, solely in consequence of his contumacious despatches. The secretary of state, Lord Glenelg, is entitled to the honour of this noble act, which was strenuously resisted in the Cabinet. But although Lord Glenelg decided wisely and justly not to keep Caffreland, the circumstances under which that wise and just decision was formed, were unfavourable to its being accompanied by the proper measures to turn the remarkable events of that period to the best account either in South Africa or in any other colony. A considerable number of books had lately been published, advocating a more humane policy towards the aborigines of the colonies. These books had attracted some attention, but they had failed to interest the public at large in the subject. They had only prepared the way for a proceeding in the House of Commons, which was soon to have that effect; and had exerted some influence on the minds of one or two of the half-a-dozen secretaries of state, who had ruled the colonies in the preceding half-a-dozen years.

But these earnest books, especially the poems, the African sketches, and the miscellaneous writings of the late Thomas Pringle, had by the graces of their style begun deeply to interest general readers in that predominant topic, the claims of the free aborigines of South Africa, the Hottentot, the Bushman, and the Caffre. Mr. Pringle had lived among them; and painted their griefs with all the vividness of truth. He was a colonist himself, and a friend of liberal colonial institutions; so that he carried many colonists along with him, although he strenuously resisted colonial prejudices. He was a man of genius, and intimately connected with the literary world here; and so brought philanthropy with the greatest effect home to the hearts of many who were capable of disseminating their new humane sentiments far and wide in the numerous and various channels of the press with which they were connected. Hence in the newspapers, in the annuals, and in the magazines, the same spirit began to prevail, which, in the last century, the early discussion of the ills of slavery stamped deeply upon our

These words are borrowed from the eloquent remonstrance of Captain Stokes, against the scandalous project for founding a new penal colony in North Australia.—Discoveries in Australia. By Captain Lort Stokes.

literature. Mr. Pringle was also secretary to the Anti-slavery Society; and this enabled him, year after year, to bring with great zeal and tact the claims of his free Aborigines before those who were well practised in the cause of philanthropy. As the connecting link of that cause with the literature of the country, Mr. Pringle's high merits have not been enough rewarded. To his efforts must be added those of Dr. Philip, whose volumes on South Africa produced a greater effect in a narrower circle. Himself long the energetic head of the London Society's missions in South Africa, his testimony against the enormities practised upon the native tribes, was received with its due weight by the principal missionary bodies of all denominations.

These circumstances falling in with the close of the antislavery struggle, by the abolition act of 1833, led the way to a movement in the House of Commons, on behalf of all the Aborigines of our colonies. In 1834, the late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton made his first motion for papers on the subject. In 1835, he obtained a committee which, although general, was chiefly occupied with affairs of the Caffres; and continued to sit until 1837. How much the inquiry was needed, was shown at its opening. The secretary of state for the Colonies, who joined heartily with it in eulogising the object in view, utterly despaired of the effort producing good results. He held it to be the will of providence that the civilized man should destroy the uncivilized with brandy and rum. Again, colony after colony was then being founded without any provision for imparting civilization to these victims of our superiority. The Swan River had just been so founded, and South Australia was about to follow in the same track. It was not foreseen, that in a very few years, indeed, 'friendly intercourse might be brought about between the Aborigines and the Colonists, and the former be advanced in civilization,' even in those unpromising regions, provided governors would take a deep interest in their welfare, and adopt humane and judicious measures for their improvement,' as is reported, on good authority, to have occurred at Western Australia.*

These grave proceedings in the House of Commons utterly failed, for reasons imperiously demanding the most attentive, and impartial consideration. A great mass, of evidence, oral and documentary, was printed on the occasion; and, in 1835, the first report of the committee of the House of Commons condemned the old system, and insisted, in plain terms, that it would be EASY to frame a better one. The witnesses, who had come from all quarters of the globe, had produced a great effect, * Address of the Legislative Council to Governor Hutt, on his departure for England in September, 1845.

and every sort of abuse was in danger of exposure. It was perceived, however, that more facts were wanting, before any practical conclusion could be safely formed. This conviction led to the proposal of a plan of larger inquiry by the government throughout all the colonies, which was the very wisest measure that could then have been devised. As it is by no means too late to revive this plan, which was printed in draft for the Committee, and of course exists, to show the several bearings upon the affairs of the Caffre frontier, will be a convenient illustration of its importance.

The inquiry was to have been made by commissioners, whose influence must, in several respects, have proved highly beneficial. The collection of facts would have been the least important of their labours. Even the wise measures to have been afterwards devised by the government, with the aid of their facts and opinions, would have been of secondary value, when compared with the advantage of such a mission in preparing the minds of Colonists for a change, to which many were already well disposed, and the success of which would be affected more by unfounded prejudices, than by bad principles.

With a little diligence, these commissioners might have been appointed in 1837. They would have been distributed, and set to work in all the colonies in 1838. Their early reports would have been soon received after personal communications with many men of experience, of all opinions, upon the spot; and the conclusions already prepared by the labours of parliament could then have been either confirmed or corrected. In places like the Caffre frontier, where action was become urgent, they could have aided at once in the execution of the measures already planned-modifying them according to circumstances, and facilitating their ready adoption by this solemn mode of carrying them out. In New Zealand, their presence would have prevented the calamities since produced by gross want of precaution. In the Australias, such missions-and such missions alone, from home, and composed of men of high intelligence, would contribute materially to save the simplest people on earth from the hardest fate that the indifference of civilized men ever exposed such savages to. Here they would find examples of many means of elevating these poor people, which a blind and selfish government has neglected, and still continues to neglect.

In this way, the system, which all call for, and dispute about, would soon have been successfully framed, and adapted, with proper distinctions, to every colony in turn. All of them possess a certain number of men zealous to advance the fair interests of the natives. These individuals would be supported, and en