;VN ,,GULATION f f~ LEMAN SAUNDERS SLOMAN THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES BRITISH RULE IN SOUTH AFP^CA, "The territory of the Orange Free State forms one of the tiuest countries I have seen. There is no district of country in Australia which 1 have visited, which, throughout so great an extent of territory, affords so uniformly Kooil a pastoral country." Governor Sir GEOBGE GREY to the Riht Honourable Lord JOHV RUSSELL, M.P., November 17. 1855. BRITISH RULE IN SOUTH AFRICA. A COLLECTION OF Official Documents a lib otiuv Comsponbnut, KSriXG THE ADOPTION OK A I'oLK'Y WHICH SHAM. ENSURE THE PEACE AND PROGRESS OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC THE ABORIGINAL TRIBES, IN THEIR RESPECTIVE RELATIONS WITH THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE AND NATAL. i;i) AM> \V FOsTKi;. ST. GEOI^GE'S-STREET. CAPE TOWN 1808. P E E E ACE. 'I'm: circumstances connected with the British occupation of the Cape of Good Hope are in some degree peculiar, and it has been perhaps unavoidable that the measures adopted by successive Governors have represented rather a series of shifts and compromises than any well-matured and definite policy on the part of Great Britain. It is, at any rate, very certain that, during the last thirty years, some most serious blunders have been committed, and that we are now suffer- ing the evil effect of the vacillating and inconsistent policy which has been applied to the settlement of our domestic troubles, and of our difficulties with the Border Tribes. It is only very lately indeed that we have received the gracious assurance that the theories and traditions of the Colonial Office will no longer be adhered to in spite of remonstrances from those whose local knowledge, political experience, and unblemished reputation for loyal attachment to the Crown, may fairly be deemed titles to respect and consideration. This gratifying change in our relations with the Depart- ment, which is practically our only Court of Appeal, may not unfairly be attributed to the light thrown upon the real bearing of colonial questions by such writers as Mr. Merivale, Mr. Money, whose work upon Java is a valuable manual of government, and Mr. Arthur Helps, who has drawn most striking lessons for our future guid- ance from the history of the Spanish Colonies of South America. The unexpectedly disastrous termination of those internal disputes which led to the original settlement of the Colony of Natal, and of the Orange Free State, as well as the prodigious loss of life and property entailed upon the 2^ VI I'KKFACE. Mmpiiv by the Kafir wars, may surely be ascribed as much to a want of proper and reliable information by the Home authorities as to the influence or intrigues of interested parties Avithin the Colony. The recent embroilment of the Orange Free State with the Basutos, which led to the latter being received under British protection, has naturally excited a great deal of public attention; and, although there is every reason to rest assured that the political significance of the dispute has been fairly represented in Downing-street by Sir Philip Wodehouse, it has occurred to the compiler of these pages that the present time offers a favourable opportunity for supporting His Excellency's measures in so far as they have received Imperial sanction, and also for suggesting their extension on a larger scale than he has perhap- ventured to recommend. The object of the present Publication is to place before our fellow-colonists, and others in the Mother Country connected with us by ties of association and interest, an intelligent expression of public feeling in the existing crisis. Many sources of information have been resorted to, and the opinions of different classes of society em- bodied, and much that has already appeared in the local press has been reprinted. The influence of newspapers, though powerful, is also ephemeral, and it may be fairly presumed that even careful readers are occasionally pre- cluded from noticing some particular issue where points of fact have been adduced which have an important relation to the whole case. Thus, e.g., the letters signed "Colonist" have been reproduced in extcnso at the risk of incurring the imputation of tautology, because the writer has endea- voured logically to follow up every phase of the argument which has been developed by the progress of events, and to leave no occurrence of importance unnoticed. For the same reason, there 1 has been annexed the memorial pre- sented by some influential London merchants to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham, in anticipation of his reception of the Orange Free- State Deputation, and which, in I'lxM'JJ'ACK. VII tact, may lie regarded u* a "counter-blast" to the repre- sentations (>{' tlie delegates. It is a faithful record of the history of the abandonment of the Sovereignty, and the arguments with which it ably advocates the re-assertion of British authority beyond the Orange River cannot easily be refuted. If matters rest where they are, a collision between the inhabitants of the Free State and the Basutos is imminent, and in the event of any outbreak, the latter would naturally apply for, and be entitled to, assistance from this Colony. The position of British subjects within the State (and it will be observed that the cjiicestio vexata of the legal inde- pendence of all its inhabitants is far from being decided) will again be fraught with trouble and difficulty. The exercise of force would, of course, quickly repress all resist- ance to the authority of Great Britain, but the employment of such means would on every account be deprecated, as tending to widen the breach which already exists between the Colonists and those whom real or imaginary griev- ances originally drove over the Orange River, and as offering a specious argument to those factious demagogues whose interest lies in fomenting disaffection to the British Crown. There can be but little doubt that, if the suffrages of all intelligent residents in the Free State who have a substan- tial stake in the country were fairly collected, a decided majority would be in favour of British rule ; and that, as the advantages of such an arrangement became apparent, the task of dealing with the Transvaal Republic would be simple and straightforward, rendering any appeal to coercive action entirely unnecessary. The anarchy, lawlessness, and demoralization, the com- mercial stagnation, and utter insecurity of life and property which prevail in the Free State suggestive rather of a mediaeval community under the ban of a Papal interdict than any picture of modern times are graphically described in the following pages, and call loudly for the interference of the British Government, while the pecuniary loss this Ylll PREI --late of things i-nlails upon our mercantile community, ihono-h ID one sense a secondary considteration, is one which is not likely to be forgotten. The existence of slavery, with all its attendant horrors, in the Transvaal Republic, and the continued recurrence 1 of those raids against tribes who are anxious to proffer fealty to England, which, if not actually authorized by those in power, are never discountenanced, are a dis- grace to civilization ; and, apart from missionary views of such questions, which it is not within the province of this Pamphlet to plead, all must feel keenly and strongly the extraordinary apathy which permits an obscure and semi-barbarous State to violate every principle of humanity in the perpetration of cruelties which Great Britain has attempted to suppress at the cost of precious blood and millions of treasure. It is perhaps premature to speculate upon the conse- quences which might follow the discovery in any quantity of gold or precious stones beyond our boundary, but is it not highly probable that the reports of their abundance, which have already been circulated, may induce an immigra- tion from various parts of the world of a horde of adven- turers, whose presence in a country free from the restraints of law and order would be a new and powerful element of discord ? The chronic disturbances on the Western and North- western Frontier have now risen to a height which should convince us that the antagonism between the Boers and the Native Tribes is as deep-seated as it is fatal to the progress of the out-lying settlers. The only substantial guarantee for the future prosperity of South Africa, for the development of its pastoral and mineral resources, and for the extension of Christianity and civilization to the Aborigines, would be a policy which should extend our frontier over the whole continent from Walwich Bay to the Zambesi River ; which should give a Lieutenant-Governor and a nominated Legislative Council to the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic, PREFACE. IX subsidise the leading Native Chiefs, appoint men of charac- ter, energy, and experience as British Residents at the head-quarters of every important tribe, and ensure respect to our traders and explorers, as well as security to border farmers, by adding largely to the strength and efficiency of the Frontier Armed Mounted Police. If this scheme should ever be favourably entertained, it will be found that its details present few of those difficulties which are believed to be inseparable from any policy having Annexation or Confederation for its basis ; and there can be no doubt that its adoption, in one shape or another, would alone secure to us and our descendants permanent peace and prosperity. It is also hoped that this publication will be consi- dered to have appeared at an opportune moment, if it have the least effect in persuading the Orange Free State Government, now that their delegates have returned from England, to enter upon amicable negotiation with the Queen's representative at the Cape, " for a solution of its difficulty with the Basutos on the basis of mutual conces- sions, and a willingness also to come under British rule ;" or if it be in any remote degree instrumental in inducing Her Majesty's Government to retrace the fatal step taken in 1854, and to resume British Sovereignty northward of the OHM i go River in South Africa.. CAPE TOWN, /V,v, ////<,-, ] | CONTENTS. PAGE I. Extract from Speech of Sir Philip Wodehouse at the Prorogation of the Cape Parliament, September 2, 1868... 1 II. The Transvaal Convention between Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners, Major W. Hogge and C. M. Owen, Esq., and a Deputation of Emigrant Farmers, headed by A. W. H. Pretorius, Commandant-General, January 17, 1852 2 III. Articles of Convention between Sir G. Russell Clerk, K.C.B.. and J. P. Hoffman, President, and other Delegates, Feb. 23, 1854 3 IV. Protest of the Committee of the Delegates of the Sovereignty, February 17, 1854 6 V. Resolutions of a large Public Meeting, held at Bloemfontein, February 17, 1854 8 VI. Resolutions of a Public Meeting at Smithfield, March 2, 1854 9 VII. Cape Town Petition to the Imperial Parliament in Feb- ruary, 1854 10 VIII. Memorial from the Cape Merchants in London to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham, August, 1868 13 IX. Resolutions of the Natal Legislative Council, recommending to the favourable consideration of Her Majesty's Govern- ment the Annexation of the two Republics, the Orange Free State and Transvaal, August, 1868 19 X. Resolutions of the Natal Legislative Council respecting Slavery and the High Commissioner, August, 1868 20 XI. Cape Town Address to Sir Philip Wodehouse on his return from Aliwal North, May 13, 1868, and his Reply thereto 22 XII. Resolutions unanimously passed by a Public Meeting at Port Elizabeth, June 13, is8, and the Governor's Reply :24 XJ1 CONTENTS. i'.u; t \ni. Letter, of Porl Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, March 23. 180H, to Sir Philip Wodehouse, and His Excel- lency's Reply 20 XIV. Suggested Petition to the Queen, referred to by the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce 28 XV. Resolutions unanimously passed at a Special Meeting of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Commerce, December 31, ls7 31 XVI. Resolutions passed at an adjourned Monthly Meeting of the Cape Town Chamber of Commerce, February 10, 1868 32 XVII. Letters to the Editor of the Cape Standard 33 XVIII. Letters to the Editors of the Cape Ar/jus 198 XIX. Leading Articles of the Friend of the Free State 209 XX. Orange Free State Statistics (compiled from the Friend}... 215 XXI. Speech of the Hon. John Robinson, Esq., in the Natal Legislative Council, August, 1868 217 XXII. Federation Memorial presented to Sir Philip Wodehouse at Aliwal North, April, 1868 21'J FREE STATE AND BASUTO QUESTION. Documents, lUsoIutbns of |pwblk &c., &c. EXTRACT FROM SPEECH OF SIR PHILIP WODEHOUSE AT THE PROROGATION OF THE CAPE PARLIAMENT, SEPTEMBER 2, 1868. There remains still for final adjustment one question of importance in its effect on the native tribes, that of the reception as British subjects of the tribe of the Basutos, which I sincerely hope may be so accomplished as not only to secure their welfare, but to pave the way for other beneficial changes in due season on the northern bank of the Orange Eiver. Speaking entirely on my own responsibility, giving expression only to my own opinions, I may say that I regard the measures which severed from their allegiance the European communities in those regions to have been founded in error ; and that it will be a blessing for all if, with their general and hearty con- currence, they can be restored in a general sense to their former position. I should not wish to be regarded as an advocate of the actual union of any of them with the Colony of the Cape. This Colony is already large enough probably too large for the population by which it is likely for many years to 'be inhabited ; and the extension of it beyond the Orange Eiver would, it is to be feared, cause a renewal of those demands for disunion, whether under the name of Separation or Federation, which have done so much mischief, and which I rejoice to see dying out. What is to be hoped for, in my opinion, is the creation, beyond the river, of a large and well-organized Government, bound to this Colony only by a common allegiance, by the ties of kinship, by congenial laws, by just covenants, and by a common desire to extend the blessings of Christianity, peace, and civilization to all within their reach. B THE TRANSVAAL CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY'S ASSISTANT COMMISSIONERS, MAJOR W. HOGGE AND C. M. OWEN, ESQ., AND A DEPUTATION OF EMIGRANT FARMERS, HEADED BY A. W. H. PRETORIUS, COM- MANDANT-GENERAL, JANUARY 17, 1852. The Assistant Commissioners guarantee in the fullest man- ner, on the part of the British Government, to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal Eiver, the right to manage their own affairs and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Govern- ment ; and that no encroachment shall be made by the said Government on the territory beyond, to the north of the Vaal River : with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British Government is, to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit, that country ; it being under- stood that this system of non-interference is binding upon both parties. Should any misunderstanding hereafter arise as to the true meaning of the words " The Vaal River," this question, in so far as regards the line from the source of that river over the Draakenberg, shall be settled and adjusted by commissioners chosen by both parties. Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners hereby disclaim all alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the north of the Vaal River. It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River, by the emigrant farmers. Mutual facilities and liberty shall be afforded to traders and travellers on both sides of the Vaal River ; it being understood that every wagon containing ammunition and fire-arms, coming from the south side of the Vaal River, shall produce a cer- tificate signed by a British Magistrate or other functionary duly authorized to grant such : and which shall state the quantities of such articles contained in said wagon, to the nearest Magistrate north of the Vaal River, who shall act in the case as the regulations of the emigrant farjners direct. It is agreed, that no objection shall be made by any British authority against the emigrant boers purchasing their supplies of ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South Africa ; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the emigrant farmers, on both sides of the Vaal River. I It is agreed, that so far as possible, all criminals and other guilty parties who may fly from justice, either way across the Vaal River, shall be mutually delivered up, if such should be required, and that the British Courts, as well as those of the emigrant farmers, shall be mutually open to each other for all legitimate processes, and that summonses for witnesses sent either way across the Vaal Eiver, shall be backed by the Magistrates on each side of the same respectively, to compel the attendance of such witnesses when required. It is agreed, that certificates of marriage issued by the proper authorities of the emigrant farmers, shall be held valid and sufficient to entitle children of such marriages to receive portions accruing to them in any British colony or possession in South Africa. It is agreed, that any and every person now in possession of land and residing in British Territory, shall have free right and power to sell his said property and remove unmolested across the Vaal River, and vice versa ; it being distinctly understood that this arrangement does not comprehend criminals, or debtors, without providing for the payment of their just and lawful debts. ARTICLES OF CONVENTION BETWEEN SIR G. EUSSEL CLERK, K.C.B., AND J. P. HOFFMAN, PRESIDENT, AND OTHER DELEGATES, FEBRUARY 23, 1854. 1. Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, in entering into a Convention for finally transferring the Government of the Orange River Territory to the representatives delegated by the inhabitants to receive it, guarantees on the part of Her Majesty's Government, the future independence of that country and its government ; and that after the necessary preliminary arrangements for making over the same between Her Majesty's Special Commissioner and the said representatives shall have been completed, the inhabitants of the country shall then be free. And that this independence shall, without unnecessary delay, be confirmed and ratified by an instrument, promulgated in such form and substance as Her Majesty may approve, finally freeing them from their allegiance to the British Crown, and declaring them, to all intents and purposes, a free and independent people, and their Government to be treated and considered thenceforth a free and independent Government. 2. The British Government has no alliance whatever with any native chiefs or tribes to the northward of the Orange B2 Eiver, with the exception of the Griqua chief, Captain Adani Kok ; and Her Majesty's Government has no wish or intention to enter hereafter into any treaties which may be injurious or prejudicial to the interests of the Orange Eiver Government. 3. With regard to the treaty existing hetween the British Government and the chief Captain Adam Kok, some modi- fication of it is indispensable. Contrary to the provisions of that treaty, the sale of lands in the Inalienable Territory has been of frequent occurrence, and the principal object of the treaty thus disregarded. Her Majesty's Government therefore intends to remove all restrictions preventing Griquas from selling their lands ; and measures are in progress for the pur- pose of affording every facility for such transactions, the chief Adam Kok having; for himself, concurred in and sanc- tioned the same. And with regard to those further alterations, arising out of the proposed revision of relations with Captain Adam Kok, in consequence of the aforesaid sales of land hav- ing from time to time been effected in the Inalienable Territory, contrary to the stipulations of the Maitland Treaty, it is the intention of Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, personally, without any unnecessary loss of time, to establish the affairs in Griqualand on a footing suitable to the just expectations of all parties. 4. After the withdrawal of Her Majesty's Government from the Orange Eiver Territory, the new Orange Eiver Government shall not permit any vexatious proceedings towards those of Her Majesty's present subjects remaining within the Orange Eiver Territory, who may heretofore have been acting under the authority of Her Majesty's Government, for or on account of any acts lawfully done by them, that is, under the law as it existed during the occupation of the Orange Eiver Territory by the British Government. Such persons shall be considered to be guaranteed in the possession of their estates by the new Orange Eiver Government. Also with regard to those of Her Majesty's present subjects, who may prefer to return under the dominion and authority of Her Majesty, to remaining where they now are, as subjects of the Orange Eiver Government, such persons shall enjoy full right and facility for the transfer of their properties, should they desire to leave the country under the Orange Eiver Go- vernment, at any subsequent period within three years from the date of this convention. 5. Her Majesty's Government and the Orange Eiver Govern- ment shall, within their respective territories, mutually use every exertion for the suppression of crime, and keeping the peace, by apprehending and delivering up all criminals who may have escaped or fled from justice either way across the Orange Eiver ; and the courts, as well the British as those of the Orange Eiver Government, shall be mutually open and available to the inhabitants of both territories for all lawful processes. And all summonses for witnesses, directed either way across the Orange Eiver, shall be countersigned by the magistrates of both Governments respectively ; to compel the attendance of such witnesses, when and where they may be required ; thus affording to the community north of the Orange Eiver every assistance from the British courts, and giving, on the other hand, assurance to such colonial mer- chants and traders as have naturally entered into credit trans- actions in the Orange Eiver Territory, during its occupation by the British Government, and to whom, in many cases, debts may be owing, every facility for the recovery of just claims in the Courts of the Orange Eiver Government. And Her Majesty's Special Commissioner will recommend the adoption of the like reciprocal privileges by the Government of Natal, in its relations with the Orange Eiver Government. 6. Certificates issued by the proper authorities, as well in the colonies and possessions of Her Majesty as in the Orange Eiver Territory, shall be held valid and sufficient to entitle heirs of lawful marriages, and legatees, to receive portions and legacies accruing to them respectively, either within the jurisdiction of the British or Orange Eiver Government. 7. The Orange Eiver Government shall, as hitherto, permit no slavery, or trade in slaves, in their territory north of the Orange Eiver. 8. The Orange Eiver Government shall have freedom to purchase their supplies of ammunition in any British colony or possession in South Africa, subject to the laws provided for the regulation of the sale and transit of ammunition in such colonies and possessions ; and Her Majesty's Special Com- missioner will recommend to the Colonial Government, that privileges of a liberal character, in connection of import duties generally, be granted to the Orange Eiver Government, as measures in regard to which it is entitled to be treated with every indulgence, in consideration of its peculiar position and distance from the sea-ports. 9. In order to promote mutual facilities and liberty to traders and travellers, as well in the British possessions as in those of the Orange Eiver Government, and it being the earnest wish of Her Majesty's Government that a friendly intercourse between these territories should at all times subsist, and be promoted by every possible arrangement, a consul or agent of the British Government, whose especial attention shall be directed to the promotion of these desirable objects, will be stationed within the colony, near to the frontier, to whom access at all times may readily be had by the inhabitants on both sides of the Orange Eiver, for advice and information, as circumstances may require. PROTEST or THE COMMITTEE OF DELEGATES or THE SOVEREIGNTY, FEBRUARY 17, 1854. BLOEMFONTEIN, ORANGE EIVER SOVEREIGNTY, 17th February, 1864. To His Grace the Duke of NEWCASTLE, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, THE SOLEMN PROTEST OF THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE ASSEMBLY OF DELEGATES OF THE ORANGE RIVER SOVEREIGNTY. We declare the late acts of Her Majesty's Special Commis- sioner, Sir George Eussel Clerk, to be illegal, unconstitutional, and in violation of the terms of Her Majesty's Commission, whereby he is enjoined to " enable the inhabitants to establish peaceable and orderly Government" in the Orange Eiver Sovereignty ; his proceedings on the contrary being certain to involve the country in irretrievable anarchy, confusion, and misrule ; in confirmation of -which assertion, we subjoin a statement of the transactions which have taken place since the arrival of Sir G. Clerk in this country, condemning and protesting against his acts in connection therewith. On his arrival in the Sovereignty, an Assembly of Delegates, publicly elected throughout the several districts, was convened at Bloemfontein on the 5th September last by a Government notice dated 9th August, 1853, and published by his authority. That Assembly, at his recommendation, elected as a Committee of their number " for the purpose of considering a form of government for this territory, and for communicating with Her Majesty's Special Commissioner on all matters connected there- with;" the Committee being " specially enjoined not to receive this country from this British Government until the questions alluded to in Sir G. Clerk's reply of yesterday are satisfactorily settled, and full authority received from the Imperial Parlia- ment ratifying all his acts." The Assembly of Delegates further instructed their Committee " not to entertain any proposals for the formation of an indepen- dent government until certain questions should have been adjusted to their entire satisfaction ;" it being left the Committee " to entertain any other question which might appear to them important to the interests of the country." After the appointment of the Committee, the Assembly recorded their protest against the withdrawal of British protec- tion, and then adjourned. A copy of the resolutions passed by the Assembly of Delegate* having been sent to Sir G. Clerk on the 9th September, he replied that some of the proposals were very reasonable, and that some he could not entertain, without, however, specifying any but the fourth, regarding a guarantee against interference from beyond the Vaal Eiver. On the 9th September a deputation of our number waited upon Sir G. Clerk, and expressed, in the name of the Com- mittee, their desire to render him their assistance in any way in which it might be available. He replied, that he was not yet sufficiently advanced in his duties, or sufficiently acquainted with the different matters to be attended to by him, to be able at that moment to avail himself of their services ; and stated that he would give the chairman due notice when he desired the Committee to re-assemble. On the 10th November the Committee again met for the purpose of electing a Vice Chairman, when Sir G. Clerk was duly made acquainted with their sittings, but did not avail himself of their services, A system of agitation was then commenced by certain persons, countenanced and encouraged by Sir G. Clerk, for the evident purpose of prejudicing their representatives in the eyes of the public. The leaders of this agitation held private meetings in different places, at which certain pseudo-representa- tives were chosen. On the 10th January a Government Notice appeared, sum- moning " all persons who, on the part of the inhabitants, are now prepared to discuss with Her Majesty's Special Commis- sioner the terms upon which the independent government of this territory will be transferred to their hands," to assemble at Bloemfontein on the 15th February. We, being the only persons legally and constitutionally authorized for the purpose, assembled on the appointed day, and informed Sir G. Clerk of our readiness to treat with him. The pseudo-representatives above mentioned also assembled and held a meeting, from which the public were excluded by Government authority. Sir G. Clerk entered into negotiations with these persons with the view of resigning the Government of this portion of Her Majesty's dominions into their hands, or to a Government about to be formed by them, and refused to acknowledge or treat with us the lawfully elected representatives of the people, without even deigning to give any public notice of hie intention to ignore us, or recognize others as such. In so doing and in guaranteeing to them, that their so- called new Government will be considered independent, he has unlawfully exceeded the powers invested in him by th Royal commission. 8 We arc well aware that the bulk of the inhabitants whom we lawfully represent will never agree to succumb to the govern- ment thus attempted to be forced upon them ; and we declare that Sir George Clerk, by consenting to its formation, after having been informed by our chairman of the probable consequences, has made himself answerable for the anarchy, and insecurity of life and property, which must inevitably ensue ; and as the representatives of this people we hold the British Government responsible for all the consequences of the above- mentioned illegal and unconstitutional acts of him, their accredited agent. On the part of the Committee of Delegates, (Signed) H. J. HALSE, Vice- Chairman. GOD SAVE THE QUEEN ! RESOLUTIONS OF A LARGE PUBLIC MEETING, HELD AT BLOEMFONTEIN, FEBRUARY 17, 1854. 1. That the sentiments expressed in the following Eesolu- tion, passed this morning by the Committee of Delegates, be adopted by this meeting : " That the Committee having been informed by Her Majesty's Special Commissioner that he is now engaged in treating with persons who are not legally authorized for that purpose, pro- test against all his acts in connection with such persons in the strongest terms, and declare that the resignation of the Government of the country into their hands is in direct contravention to the terms of his Commission, and that we, or those we represent, never will submit to any Government so formed, and that the Special Commissioner be requested to forward a copy of our protest to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, to whom we will also forward a copy direct." 2. That this meeting denounces the proceedings of Her Majesty's Special Commissioner as illegal and unconstitu- tional. That it regards his attempt to thrust upon the in- habitants of the Sovereignty a Government composed of per- sons who have been elected at private meetings of only a section of the community, and not convened by public notice, with unmitigated disgust, and we hereby declare our deter- mination not to acknowledge the authority of such Govern- ment or to obey its mandates, and we call upon our fellow countrymen to support us to the utmost of their power in this Determination. 9 8. That as our allegiance has been always, and up to this moment is, entire and undivided, and as the Special Commissioner, Sir George Clerk, has acknowledged that he has heen invested with no power whatever to absolve us therefrom, nor any more, of course, to annul, by his own single authority, the Act of Parliament of William IV., we declare that his proceedings have been unauthorized by his Commission, and contrary to Her Most Gracious Majesty's will and wish, as expressed in that docu- ment. 4. Eesolved, that we declare all dealings of the Special Com- missioner, Sir George Clerk, with any persons, not freely elected, whom he may, by either public or private, open or underhand, means, pretend to call representatives of the people of this Sovereignty, are, ipso facto, null and void, and shall not be recognized by us. 5. That should it become a certainty that the Special Com- missioner will carry out the unjust measure of abandonment, and hand us over to the power of men in whose election we have had no voice, and in whom we have no confidence, whenever that measure be gazetted, that the Committee of Delegates, assisted by a permanent com mittee at Bloem- fontein, shall proceed to organize a suitable and efficient Government for this country, which Government we pledge ourselves to support to the utmost extent of our power. RESOLUTIONS OF A PUBLIC MEETING AT SMITHFIELD, MAKCH 2, 1854. That this meeting has this day learned by the Bloemfontein Gazette that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner has entered into a convention with, and handed over the Government of this country to men in whom we have no confidence, who were neither legally elected nor represent the majority of the people, while the delegates duly elected by the people were pre- pared to take over the Government on sound constitutional principles. That this meeting has learned with feelings of indignation, that a body of men termed the New Government, countenanced by Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, Sir George Kussell Clerk, has authorized the levy of four hundred Burghers, with pay of 4s. per diem each, guaranteed by Sir George Clerk, for purpose of forcing independent government upon us, and com- pelling us to submit to the rule of men in whom we have no 10 confidence, and whom we will not recognize or obey. That as loyal British subjects we are resolved not to be deprived of the rights and privileges of Englishmen by Sir George B. Clerk, and that till our allegiance has been repudiated by an Act of Parliament, we will establish a Provisional Government acknowledging allegiance only to Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria. Besolved, that we will not submit to any appointment of Landdrost, or other officers, made by Mr. Hoffman's Govern- ment, but should any such appointments be made, to be stationed at Smithfield, we will expel them forthwith. Besolved, that this meeting, before separating for the day, do with heart and lungs nurtured and invigorated by the un- tainted air of freedom, and with right true loyal feelings, join devotedly, first, in our most beautiful and sacred National Anthem, and then sincerely and vigorously in three times three hearty cheers for our beloved Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, and may her reign and that of her children be long and permanent, happy and glorious, over the Orange Biver Sovereignty. CAPE TOWN PETITION TO THE IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT, IN FEBRUARY, 1854. THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE UNDERSIGNED INHABITANTS OF CAPE TOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD. HUMBLY SHOWETH, That the Orange Biver Sovereignty was taken formal pos- session of by Governor Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Smith, in February, 1848, while holding the office of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, for settling and adjusting the affairs of the countries bordering upon this country, by whose authority the lands were either sold or granted in perpetual quitrent, and whose proceedings were duly confirmed by Her Majesty's Ministers. That these authoritative arrangements for the settlement of the country as a British possession, induced numbers of Her Majesty's subjects to settle therein, and to embark their capital in trade and agriculture, by which means it rapidly advanced ; and in the course of the following five years had assumed the aspect of a thriving British Settlement, producing abundance of black cattle, extensive flocks of wool-bearing sheep, stock, 11 and other articles of various descriptions, adapted to the par- poses of trade and commerce, thus affording every prospect of being enabled, at no very distant period, under the fostering care of Her Majesty's Government, to defray the expense of such military force as might be required for its protection, while the loyal and respectable portion of the inhabitants are most anxious to remain under Her Majesty's rule and govern- ment. That in the early part of 1853, Her Majesty was graciously pleased to issue Her Koyal Commission to His Excellency Sir George Clerk, requiring and enjoining him " to take all such measures, and to do all such matters and things, as can and may lawfully and discreetly be done" by the said Sir George Clerk, by virtue of the said Eoyal Commission, " for settling the affairs of the Orange Eiver Sovereignty, and for determining the disputes which exist between the natives and other inhabi- tants thereof, and for enabling the said inhabitants to establish peace and orderly government therein." That on his arrival at Bloemfontein, Sir George Clerk invited the said inhabitants to select delegates for the purpose of communicating with him on the subject of his mission ; and accordingly each district sent one or two delegates to represent them at the conference with His Excellency. When this meeting took place the delegates were confounded by Sir George Clerk's announcement that his mission was not for arranging the affairs of the Sovereignty, and determining the disputes between the natives and other inhabitants, with a view to the establishment of peace and orderly government, but for the reverse of all these, viz., for the total abandonment of the settlement as a British possession, and the establishment of independent power throughout the Sovereignty, on the very border of our Colonial territory, and between that and a highly important portion of the native tribes. Of course, when the delegates heard this announcement, it became impossible for them, when such appalling prospects opened to their view, to lend their countenance to a project of BO alarming a character ; consequently, after some unavailable interview and correspondence, Sir George Clerk formally dis- solved them as a representative body. But the subject was one which too deeply involved the future peace and welfare of their adopted country to enable them to abandon it, while any hope remained of arresting its ultimate overthrow. They therefore determined upon dispatching their chairman, Dr. Fraser, and the Rev. Andrew Murray, the Minister of the Dutch Reformed Church at Bloemfontein, to represent their case to Her Majesty's Government, and who proceeded by the Queen of the South mail-steamer. The departure of these gentlemen having been made known to Sir George Clerk, it was naturally hoped and expected that 12 His Excellency would not have pressed forward his measures till the result of the deputation to England should he known, but that he would have reported the anticipated result of the measures he had been instructed to adopt, and wait for further instructions . But these hopes and expectations have been disappointed, and that too in a manner which has rendered the disappointment more appalling. On the 23rd February last, Sir George Clerk executed a convention with twenty-five individuals at Bloemfontein, by which the Orange Eiver Sovereignty was to be delivered over to them, and proclaimed a " Free State." It must be supposed that Sir George Clerk could not have known, when he thus recognized these men as "the represen- tatives of the people," that several of them are not British subjects not residents in the country, whose interests they affect to represent that many of them have been engaged in rebellion against Her Majesty's Government ; that for the apprehension of the most prominent among them, Sir Harry Smith offered a reward of five hundred pounds, and that others had been fined after they had surrendered. Yet such is the fact, which the public records of the Colony establish ; and these are the people to whom has been confided, under the authority of the Secretary of State, the lives and properties of Her Majesty's subjects in the Sovereignty, the future welfare of the native inhabitants, and the peace of South Africa. A Foreign Republic upon the confines of the Colony is ill calculated to establish peace and maintain orderly government on either side the boundary. The disputes between the native and other inhabitants will probably be determined promptly enough by the annihilation of one or the other, and by deluging the land with the blood of both, and thus the affairs of the Sovereignty will be settled, but in a way that will ultimately compel Her Majesty's Ministers, they may rest assured, to resume possession of the abandoned territory at a vast expen- diture of public money, amid the horrors of war, which will far exceed any which has yet been waged in South Africa. For the sake then of the peace and prosperity of this pro- ductive settlement ; For the protection of Her Majesty's thriving possessions at Natal, the overland communication between which and the Colony is entirely cut off by the abandonment, and is thus rendered an easy prey to the Foreign Republic ; For the preservation of our border territory, and the main- tenance of the peace which His Excellency Sir George Cathcart has so happily established with the Kafir tribes ; And especially for the sake of the native population, whose chance of civilization will thus be utterly obliterated, and whose reduction to slavery will become more than probable, notwith- 13 standing the provision against the slave trade contained in the convention ; But above all, for the honour of the British nation, and for the sake of justice in behalf of those who have invested their capital and labour in the country, with implicit confidence in the good faith of Great Britain ; Your petitioners humbly pray, that the arrangements made by Sir Harry Smith, and confirmed by Her Majesty's Govern- ment, may not be abrogated, and that the convention which the Special Commissioner has entered into with persons who do not, as His Excellency has been led to think, represent the people of the Sovereignty, may be revoked, in order that the Orange Eiver Sovereignty may remain a possession of the British Crown. MEMORIAL FROM THE CAPE MERCHANTS IN LONDON TO His GRACE THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, AUGUST, 1868. To the Right Hon. the Duke of BUCKINGHAM and CHANDOS, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, <&c., &c. MAY IT PLEASE YOUR GRACE We, the undersigned, all more or less connected with and interested in the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, under- standing that two Delegates from the adjoining territory, known as the Orange Free State, are at present in England, beg to submit the following brief particulars for your Grace's consideration : That in or about the year 1838 a large number of the Cape Colonists, being dissatisfied with British rule, for various reasons, but chiefly in consequence of the abolition of Slavery which had previously existed there, emigrated beyond the boundaries of the Colony, and established themselves on a tract of country since known as the Orange Free State, and inhabited partly by natives of various races, and from time to time their number was increased by emigrants from Europe and from the Colony. The occupation of this territory led to the usual and inevit- able results cattle were stolen from the Farmers, and they in return made reprisals, and thus in frequent petty conflicts lives were sacrificed on both sides. This lawless state of things, too often marked by acts of tyranny and oppression on the part of the stronger race, led eventually to the interference of the 14 Colonial Government, on an appeal for protection being made by some of the Native Chiefs against the aggressions of Colo- nists, most of them British-born subjects. Prior to the action of the Colonial Government the popula- tion of the Orange territory had been largely augmented by the influx of a number of Boers from the territory beyond the Vaal Kiver, these people having fled there after having been in open rebellion against British authority in the adjoining dis- trict of Natal. An attempt on the part of the Colonial Govern- ment to establish Magisterial supervision over the Orange River territory was resisted, chiefly at the instigation of these people, who endeavoured to cast off their allegiance, and pro- claimed the territory a Eepublic, independent of British rule. This precipitate measure, and the revival of a species of domestic slavery among the emigrant farmers, led to armed interference on the part of the Home Government ; the terri- tory was entered by a British force, and the rebellious farmers, having rashly attacked the troops on their march, were defeated, and the country was at once proclaimed as British territory, under the designation of the Orange River Sovereignty. The assumption of authority by the Crown over this large and valuable country was hailed by the emigrants of Dutch and English descent, as well as by the native tribes who were scattered over the territory, as the advent of a better state of things. A British Resident was appointed, and the course of affairs was marked by unchecked peace and steady prosperity. A small garrison, at no time exceeding 400 men, was found adequate to support the Resident's authority. The malcontents went further Northward and Eastward, and established what is now known as the Vaal River Republic ; and a large number of colonists, both of English and Dutch descent, relying on the stability of British authority, went to reside in the Sovereignty, purchasing and receiving grants of land, and investing largely in other property. During the continuance of the Kafir war of 1852, the British Resident in the Sovereignty unwisely and needlessly allowed himself to be forced into a conflict with the Basutos and other native tribes, in which he met with failure and disaster. This mismanagement produced serious complications, and the then Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner, Sir Harry Smith, was superseded in his Government before he could apply a remedy. Sir George Cathcart succeeded to the Government, and, with the avowed object of sustaining the prestige of the British name, he marched into Basutoland, and attacked the Basuto army. The enormous cost of the Kafir war, and the charges on the Imperial revenue arising out of this expedition, naturally 15 aroused the attention of the Home Government, and to prevent further expenditure a gentleman trained in the Civil Service of the East India Company was sent to ascertain whether it was practicable to make arrangements for the abandonment of the whole of the territory. Proposing to be guided in his decisions and report by the opinions of those most interested, the residents themselves, meetings were called throughout the Sovereignty for the election of Delegates, through whom the public voice was to be ex- pressed. The expression of public opinion and feeling thus gained through those twenty-four Delegates was clear and unmistake- able ; it was that on every consideration of right, honour, and expediency, the British Government could not abandon the Sovereignty. The views and opinions of the vast majority of the residents in the Sovereignty, both of European and Native descent, being at variance with what was evidently a foregone con- clusion, was entirely disregarded by Her Majesty's Commis- sioner, who thought fit to recognise, instead of them, a small knot of persons elected by no competent authorities, possessing no representative character whatever, notoriously disaffected towards British authority, and devoid of that moral character which could alone give their opinions any weight. But it was on the expression by this convenient clique of their readiness to undertake the formation of a new Govern- ment, that the small detachment of troops was withdrawn, and, by a proclamation, the Queen's authority over the territory was declared to have ceased. This unlooked-for decision was loudly and earnestly protested against as a breach of good faith on the part of the Queen's Commissioner, who, professing to be guided by public opinion, had notoriously disregarded it. The abandonment of the Sovereignty was effected in opposi- tion to the declared opinions of all the English residents ; by far the largest and most influential residents of all other races j it was earnestly remonstrated against by all classes of the Cape Colonists ; it was in despite of the urgent entreaties of the surrounding Native Chiefs, even those with whom we had been recently at war ; and in stern opposition to the opinion and advice of every missionary who resided in the country, or knew anything of its affairs. When, in the year 1854, the fatal measure of withdrawing British rule was decided upon, and the territory was abandoned to the inhabitants, they were not formally absolved from their allegiance to the British Crown, and to this day, therefore, they are legally British subjects, a fact which has either been lost sight of by the Home and Colonial Governments, or otherwise disregarded for obvious reasons. 16 Many of the English abandoned the territory in disgust, and a Republic, under the name of the Orange Free State, with an elective President and Council, was at once formed, with results which all who knew what the disorganised state of society is in the Free State, fully anticipated. The residents, unable to find among themselves the materials for forming a Government (after a period of comparative quiet, the effect of the arrangements of the previously existing Go- vernment) have drifted into a series of harassing and protracted wars between the Free State and the native tribes, involving great loss of property and the sacrifice of many lives. In the progress of events, the Free State Government adopted the idea that the Missionaries labouring among the native tribes were inimical to European interests, and they passed a law depriving the native inhabitants of the Mission Stations of their right in the soil. This harsh and uncalled-for measure pressed with great severity on a number of French Protestant Missionaries, who had long laboured successfully amongst the Basutos, and who in consequence had to abandon the mission stations on which large sums of money had been expended, and where their prin- cipal native congregations were collected. Moshesh, the Chief of the Basutos, with whom the Free State has been frequently at war, has, after repeated requests, been received with all his tribes as British subjects, and the Basuto country has been proclaimed British territory, a proceeding which has been resented by the Free State authorities as an interference between them and a hostile tribe, a large portion of whose territory they had taken by force of arms, and whom, at no distant period, they expected to reduce to abject and uncon- ditional submission. The Free State Government having refused to allow their President to treat with the Governor of the Cape Colony as to the fixing a proper line of boundary, and having determined to send home a deputation to appeal against the Governor's pro- ceedings, with what instructions your Memorialists are not aware, it is incumbent on them to place before your Grace the views and opinions of by far the larger portion of the residents in the Free State of all those commercially connected with it of all the native tribes and races, and of a vast majority of the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope, whose interests are identical with those of the Orange Free State. Your Memorialists do not hesitate to state that by all these classes re-annexation in one form or other as a British Depen- dency is most earnestly desired ; and they would go further and say, that by all these classes strong, earnest, and often repeated remonstrances against the withdrawal of British authority were made, as being derogatory to the honour of the Crown, inimical to the best interests of the people, and alike 17 fatal to the extension of law and order and the spread of Christianity and civilization. It is impossible to convey in language to your Grace an idea of the state of demoralization to which a large proportion of the Free State inhabitants have been reduced by the protracted wars carried on against the native tribes ; but it is sufficient to state, as of the most pressing and important interest to the Cape Colonists, that for the past three years, under the pretext that the State is at war, all the Courts of the Free State have been closed, and in consequence they have no legal means of recovering debts, which in the aggregate amount to not less than 300,000 (Three Hundred Thousand Pounds). That the wars with the natives are carried on by paper money, issued on the security of the public lands, and current at about the value of lls. to 12s. in the pound by levies in kind on the residents, and by a special tax of 40, on each occasion of war, on non- resident landowners. The paper issue is a legal tender in the Free State, and as there is no check on its issue beyond the will of the Volksraad, a further depreciation seems inevitable. Among the -more comprehensive questions involved, there are others which impress themselves very forcibly on your Memo- rialists, as rendering it highly desirable in the interests of humanity, for the honour of Great Britain, and the welfare of her Colonies in South Africa, and the due control of a large territory, the inhabitants of which are still British subjects, though not under her protection, or amenable to her jurisdic- tion, that means should be taken for re-asserting British authority over the region in question. These may be stated as follows : a The anomalous position of residents in the Free State, who as subjects of the Queen, and separated only by geographical lines from the Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, are allowed to exercise independent authority, and are regarded and treated as Foreigners. b The inevitable complications which must result from the altered position of the Basuto nation in relation to Great Britain and to the Orange Free State. c The assumed position taken up by the Transvaal Republic, who by Proclamation have recently defined its boundaries, adding an immense extent of territory to the Republic, including the country over which a Chief named Matjen rules, and embracing a large portion of the land contain- ing the recently-discovered Gold Fields, and extending to the great Lake N 'garni. A very important addition has also been made on the eastern boundary, reaching to the River Umzuti (including the Pongola and Umzuti Rivers), to where it discharges into the ocean on the east coast, and including one mile of territory on each side of the 18 river. This river is navigable for a considerable distance inland, and discharges itself into Delagoa Bay to the south of the Portuguese settlement there, thus securing a good and safe harbour, "which may also eventually become available for the Orange Free State. d The great changes which may be expected in the con- dition of the territories through the discovery of gold and diamonds, and the possibility of Foreign Govern- ments extending their dominion over them. e The furtherance of the interests of humanity in putting down that modified system of slavery which is known to prevail in the territories north of the Vaal Elver. Taking these circumstances into consideration, and others which might be adduced, we believe that it would be of very great benefit and advantage to the natives if the British Go- vernment should assume the protectorate of such of the tribes as may desire the same ; also that it would be a great ad- vantage to the Free State people and the Cape and Natal Colonists, if British authority was resumed in the Free State, with the consent and concurrence of the people ; and finally, that it is desirable that no unnecessary delay should occur in taking the necessary steps, inasmuch as there is good reason to believe that there will be a considerable migration of Euro- peans to the gold and diamond fields, which, as already mentioned, are in the territory of some of the chiefs who de- sire to enter into alliance with the British Government. In expressing so decided an opinion as to the political, moral, and social advantages to be derived from an extension of British authority over the Orange Free State and adjacent territories, your memorialists have not lost sight of the fact that con- sideration of expense in maintaining British authority over the Sovereignty was the moving cause of that protection being withdrawn. But your memorialists do not hesitate to say that these con- siderations were based on erroneous data and imperfect in- formation, as well as on a thorough misccnception of the actual state of things existing in the Sovereignty and the adjacent Basuto territory. Speaking from a general knowledge of the various races in- habiting the territories to the north and north-east of the Colony, and from the experience gained in the neighbouring Colony of Natal, where large bodies of natives are in subjection to British authority, your memorialists are led to believe that the further extension of the authority of the Crown which they advocate, might be effected without imposing additional pecuniary burdens on the Colony or the Imperial revenue. We have the honour to be Your Grace's obedient humble Servants. 19 RESOLUTIONS OF THE NATAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, RECOMMENDING TO THE FAVOURABLE CONSIDERATION OF HER MAJESTY'S G-OVERNMENT THE ANNEXATION OF THE TWO REPUBLICS, THE ORANGE FREE STATE AND TRANSVAAL, AUGUST, 1868. 1. That the interests of the two South African British Colonies, viz., the Cape Colony and Natal, are in many respects so closely united with the Eepublics situated on their several borders, that a union of these under British rule can scarcely fail to conduce to the material welfare of the whole, both as a means of promoting an interchange of friendly relations amongst them, as well as of providing, by judicious combination, for their adequate security and confidence in time of danger ; and establishing and regulating commercial intercourse on a per- manent and satisfactory basis to all parties. 2. That the comparative dependence of these Eepublics on the Cape Colony and Natal, together with the similarity of the religion, laws, and customs of the white inhabitants to those of the same classes inhabiting the two latter colonies, favours the belief that sooner or later they will be desirous of coming under the dominion of the British Government. 3. That the Council is therefore of opinion, that with a view to furthering the objects above set forth, it would be highly desirable for Her Majesty's Government favourably to consider any proposal which the authorities of these Eepublics, being empowered thereto by the inhabitants, may put forward, affect- ing their annexation to either the Cape Colony or Natal, or embracing suggestions with respect to any other form of allied or separate administration deemed suitable by the majority of the white inhabitants of such states. 4. That a respectful address be presented to the Lieutenant- Governor, transmitting to His Excellency copy of the above resolutions, and requesting His Excellency to forward the same to the Eight Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for the favourable consideration of Her Majesty's Government. c 2 20 RESOLUTIONS OF THE NATAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL RESPECTING SLAVERY AND THE HlGH COMMISSIONER, AUGUST, 1868. 1. That in the opinion of this House, the office of High Commissioner, as exercised at present in relation to this Colony, is inimical to the maintenance of the prestige and influence of Her Majesty's Government amongst the Native Tribes of South East Africa, and the House is guided to this conclusion by the following considerations : a The High Commissioner, as Governor of the Cape Colony, resides at Cape Town, which is about 700 miles from the northern frontier of the Eastern Province, where alone independent native tribes are to be met with. b That Natal is surrounded on three sides by territories chiefly occupied by large and powerful independent tribes, with whom the local authorities cannot deal, irrespective of the consent of the High Commissioner at Cape Town. c That in times of disturbance amongst the surrounding communities, the Government of Natal is deprived of that power of timely and effectual action which it might other- wise exercise with great benefit to the interests of peace and civilization. d That ever since the annexation of the Orange Eiver Sovereignty (since abandoned) in 1848, the emigrant farmers who settled over the Vaal River, and formed a Government of their own, under the style of the South African Eepublic, have carried on a system of slavery, under the guise of child-apprenticeship such children being the result of raids carried on against native tribes, whose men are slaughtered, but whose children and property are seized, the one being enslaved and sold as " apprentices," the other being appropriated. e That in 1862 this system of slavery was brought to the notice of the High Commissioner and the Secretary of State by Lieutenant -Governor Scott, in the form of a statement made by a Bushman woman named Leya, who had been captured and enslaved by the boers of the Trans- vaal Eepublic, but no steps were taken to put an end to the practice in question. / That on the 25th of April, 1865, Lieutenant-Governor Maclean forwarded to the High Commissioner a statement made by Mr. W. Martin, of Maritzburg, dated June 1st, 1865, in which clear and positive evidence, acquired during two visits to the country in 1852 and 1864, was given at length, and in which certain wrongs suffered by 21 the writer, in direct contravention of the treaty entered into between Her Majesty's Special Commissioners, Hogge and Owen, in 1852, were set forth. g That the existence of this system of slavery, attended as it is by indescribable atrocities and evils, is a notorious fact to all persons acquainted with the Transvaal Eepublic ; that these so-called "destitute children" are bought and sold under the denomination of " black ivory ;" that these evils were fully admitted by persons officially cognizant of them at a public meeting held at Potchefstroom, the chief town of the Eepublic, in April, 1868, and that the whole subject has been brought fully under the notice of the High Commissioner. h That the following reply was sent to Lieutenant-Governor Maclean by the High Commissioner : " I can assure you that I fully sympathize with you in your desire to put a stop to what is so strongly described by Mr. Martin, but I am really quite at a loss to discover in what manner I could interfere with any prospect of success. There can scarcely be a doubt that the President, if referred to, would strenuously deny the existence of such traffic. A bond fide inquiry would be almost impracticable, and, moreover, it would be beyond the power of the Transvaal Eepublic, admitting it to have the inclination, to put down a trade which the Boers must find to be very tempting and pro- fitable. Under all the circumstances, I trust that you will, on further consideration, be prepared to acquiesce in my desire to abstain from addressing Mr. Pretorius on the subject." i That as a bond fide inquiry to be instituted by the Govern- ment of the Transvaal Eepublic would be, under the cir- cumstances, " quite impracticable," it is highly important that Her Majesty's Government should take other steps to ascertain the truth and to put a stop to a trade which, however "tempting and profitable to the Boers," is a direct breach of the treaty entered into with Her Majesty's Commissioners ; is an outrage on humanity and civiliza- tion, and is an aggravation of the traffic which Her Ma- jesty's Government has so long sought to suppress upon the East Coast. j That so long as this traffic in children is suffered to exist, there can be little hope for the progress of civilization amongst the native tribes living in the Transvaal Eepublic, while the prevalence of such practices in the immediate neighbourhood of independent and colonial tribes has a most pernicious and injurious effect, and tends to lower the position and influence of the white race. k That it is impossible for the High Commissioner, living so far as he does from the scene of these atrocities, to judge 22 clearly and fully their character and tendencies, but it would be in the power of the Government of Natal, had it the right to act, to interfere in the matter without entailing any troublesome or costly complications on the Home Government. / The state of peace which the colony of Natal has enjoyed ever since its establishment, combined with the constant recognition here of all the just rights and claims of the natives, have secured for the local Government the con- fidence of the neighbouring independent tribes, and would enable the representatives of Her Majesty's authority here, were they freed from the control of the High Commis- sioner, to exercise a most salutary and beneficent influence over the native races of South-eastern Africa. 2. That a respectful address be presented to the Lieutenant- Governor, forwarding copy of above resolution, and praying His Excellency to transmit the same to the Eight Honourable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, for his consideration, together with copies of all documents bearing upon the subject. CAPE TOWN ADDRESS TO SIR PHILIP WODEHOUSE ON HIS RETURN FROM ALIWAL NORTH, MAY 13, 1868, AND HIS REPLY THERETO. CAPE TOWN, May 13, 1868. To His Excellency Sir P. E. WODEHOUSE, K.C.B., Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, Her Majesty's High Commissioner, &c., <&c. SIB, We seize the opportunity of your Excellency's return to Cape Town from Basutoland to convey our grateful sense of the energy and ability with which you have endeavoured to carry out the instructions of Her Majesty's Government to restore peace in South Africa. The British Basuto Protectorate is, in our opinion, wisely calculated to put an end to the wretched and protracted warfare between the Boers and the Basutos, which has been so manifestly disastrous to both, and was even fraught with dan- ger to the happy continuance of the peaceful relations so long subsisting between this Colony and the Native tribes, both within and without its border. It may reasonably be expected that the Basutos, as British subjects, will be more efficiently restrained from committing outrages on the life and property of their neighbours, than under the former control of the chiefs. 23 Taking a deep interest in the welfare and progress of our former fellow-colonists, relatives and friends, northward of the Orange Eiver, we cannot help regretting that the Volksraad did not empower the President to meet your Excellency in amica- ble conference at Aliwal North, because we feel persuaded that you were prepared to give the fullest consideration to the just claims of the Orange Free State. We do not, however, yet despair that the people of that State will see that it is to their real interest to urge upon their representatives, when they next meet in Council, the justice and expediency of at once entering into negotiation with your Excellency, as Her Majesty's High Commissioner, with a view to a settlement on satisfactory terms of the only material point at issue the future boundary line of Basutoland, now British territory. Your Excellency, we respectfully submit, cannot be ignorant that there is but one opinion throughout the Cape and Natal, that the abandonment of the Sovereignty in 1854 was a measure most prejudicial to the interests of both these British Colonies, to the country which the Convention of Sir George Clerk professed to make independent and free, and to the Aborigines of South Africa, who have so long claimed the pro- tection of Great Britain. Without desiring to dictate to our neighbours of the Trans- Orange Eepublic, we think that we may assume that the exten- sion of British Eule to the Orange Free State would be attended with great advantage to all parties concerned ; and we venture to express the earnest hope that, in the event of the subjects of the Queen of England in South Africa who have been abandoned petitioning Her Majesty, to whom they owe their natural allegiance, to be placed again under the pro- tection of the British Flag, your Excellency may deem it right to exert your powerful influence with the Home Government on their behalf. We are not unmindful of your Excellency's past services in the administration of the Government of this Colony, but we have no hesitation in recording our opinion that it would be an appropriate close to your useful and honourable career in South Africa to be instrumental in the annexation of the Orange Free State, as well as Basutoland, to the British Colonial Empire. We have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient and humble servants, (Signed) J. B. EBDEN, J. J. LE SUEUE, J. T. EUSTACE, H. DOUGLAS, &c., mri properly remarks : " It is very annoying to hear such questions raised as, shall we have to pay for pro- tecting the Basuto border, and if so, what will it cost?" The idea that perhaps the expense of any new arrangements may be " shuffled off from the British Government on to the Colonists" makes the proposed British Basuto Protectorate less popular 86 than it ought to be, but surely this fear is groundless now that Her Majesty has resolved to retain her troops in South Africa, and the Governor would do well in the present juncture to publish, for the benefit of those so deeply interested in the question, the despatch of the Duke of Buckingham, in reply to the Parliamentary resolutions which he so strenuously sup- ported. Although it is said that the " Hollanders" resident in the Orange Free State are "very angry at the interference of the British," it is probable that the majority of the people of that State will see the advantage of having for their neighbours British subjects instead of savages, over whom their chiefs can exercise no sufficient control, and it is earnestly to be hoped that the President and Volksraad may yet, after cairn delibera- tion, see fit to restrain for a while the fierce bloodhounds of war, and, in common with Moshesh, welcome the arrival of the Queen's High Commissioner, when he comes to enter into amicable negotiations for the purpose " of restoring and main- taining general peace" in South Africa, at the same time that he is prepared to give the fullest consideration to the just claims of the Free State, without of course infringing the rights of Her Majesty's new subjects, the Basutos. February 22. COLONIST. HER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER AND THE FREE STATE. " Sic volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas." SIR, It is vain to attempt to deny the fact that the laudable desire of the Queen's Government to restore peace to South Africa is not duly appreciated by all Her Majesty's subjects at the Cape of Good Hope, and that there unfortunately exists an opinion, both within this Colony and the Orange Free State, that "the British interference in the Basuto question" is ill-timed, as likely to prevent the belligerent Burghers from inflicting on their savage foes condign punishment. If there be any reasonable prospect that, by April next, when the Queen's representative is formally to declare Basutoland British terri- tory, all the strongholds of Moshesh will have yielded to the conquering arms of President Brand, and the Basuto tribe materially reduced in numbers, I can understand the argument of the Free Staters, who naturally enough wish to retaliate on those from whose aggressions on their property they have so seriously suffered, and who have no great faith in the power of the Colonial Government to restrain " its own native tribes from stealing," or in the probability that it will " succeed better with the Basutos." I confess, however, that I incline to the opinion of the Friend of the Free State, that a lasting peace is not so close at hand as 87 is anticipated, if the Boers and Basutos are left to fight it out by themselves, and that it would be better for the Free State in future, in the case of stolen property, to have to look " for redress to the British Government" rather than " to the different Basuto chieftains." Many also, who reflect upon the subject, will " indulge in the hope that the annexation of Basutoland may be the thin end of the wedge, and lead to the incorporation of the whole country" with the British Colonial Empire. No doubt it may be argued that the addition of Basutoland to Natal or the Cape is " clearly a reversal of the former policy of Great Britain, and shows a complete change in those who direct the councils of the State," but in a colonial point of view, is it the worse for that ? It is true that the able editor of the Advertiser and Mail, who, it is to be regretted, has not espoused the cause of _ the British Basuto Protectorate, in a leading article written for transmission to England by the last mail steamer, condemns the step about to be taken with respect to Basutoland, as inconsistent " with the policy for years past of Her Majesty's Government, to check the extension of British dominions in this country, as well as in all parts of the world," and very properly gives, as instances, the " abandonment of the Orange Eiver Sovereignty," and, to use the words of a Frontier newspaper, " the giving up of the Transkeian territory to hordes of barbarians, whilst it was refused to Colonial farmers." But, instead of quarrelling with the want of consistency in the Home Government, does not the Natal Mercury more ably and earnestly advocate the interests of both the Colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, as well as the cause of the aboriginal tribes of South Africa when it writes as follows ? The time is nigh when Great Britain must awake to the full sense of her mission on these shores. During the long reign of Palmerstonian princi- ples, no proposal involving any enlargement of territory had the slightest chance of a hearing. Non-intervention and non-annexation were inflexible rules of policy. But the present Ministry appear to take a broader view' of national responsibilities, and to understand more fully the great practical truth that national prestige is necessary to sustain commercial greatness. Non-annexation may be the means of necessitating active intervention. England has constituted herself the ruling power in South Africa, and she cannot afford to shirk any of the obligations thus assumed. She acquired the Cape by conquest. She established herself in the Eastern Province by military occupation. She took possession of Natal for Imperial purposes, and for the protection of the native tribes, and the Queen's subjects then resident there. She became the mistress of what was then the Sovereignty with the same ends in view. The abandonment of that country was, equally with its acquisition, an act of the Imperial choice, and was done in the teeth of the engagements entered into with, and the strong wishes of, the inhabitants. Since the Sovereignty was transformed into the Free State, constant strife, trouble, and disorder have prevailed there, and its relations with the Basutos have been a source of endless perplexity to the High Commissioner. The sooner that false step is retraced the better it will be for England. If the Home Government wishes to avoid future com- plications, it will act wisely to help South- Africa, as it has helped Canada. There, through the intervention and good offices of the Ministerial repre- sentatives, a group of independent States have been compacted into one 88 grand and strong dominion. There the mother land has done her best to build up an empire, whose strength lies in its coherence and its unit}-. Before the Queen's possessions on this continent are placed in a position where they may be truly independent of Imperial aid, and cease to be any drain upon the Imperial exchequer, a similar binding process will have to be gone through. Governed by the same people, and under one common Sovereign, and according to the same general principles, the different States and Provinces of South Africa would be strong enough to put down all internal danger, and to resist all probable external aggression. Governed by different peoples, and owning no uniformity of plan, policy, or rule, the same territories will be a continued thorn in the Imperial side. Believing, as we do, that the Basuto will prove as manageable under British rule as our natives are, perhaps more so, we shall be glad most glad to hear the flying rumour confirmed (" that the English Government intend to yield to the wishes of the Basuto people, and accept them as subjects of the Crown"). I cannot conclude without expressing a hope that there is no truth in what the Eastern Province Herald has termed " a marked expression of sympathy with the Basutos," viz., " that the Governor has prohibited the transmission of all munitions of war from this Colony to the Free State." Although it is much to be regretted that the President and Volksraad have not lent a willing ear to the good advice of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, to stay the ruthless hand of war until the terms of a lasting peace can be satisfactorily arranged, very many in the Colony, who warmly approve of the British Basuto Protectorate, will be disposed to agree with the Eastern Province Herald that " the step (of ' serving out the Free State') is calculated to still further complicate the difficulty of arranging border affairs with the Free State Government." Even if it can be shown that the express terms of the Conven- tion with Sir George Clerk, which have escaped my memory, are not infringed by the stoppage of the supply of gunpowder, &c., this decisive act on the part of Sir Philip Wodehouse would increase the number of sympathizers in this Colony with their brethren across the Orange River. No doubt it may be fairly argued, on the side of His Excellency, that the anxiously ex- pressed wish of our Sovereign, that deadly war should cease in South Africa, cannot be allowed to be treated as a dead letter ; but a little diplomacy may yet produce the desired effect, with- out incurring the risk of needlessly exciting the antagonism of feeling between the two distinct races in the Colony. The Volksraad may not perhaps be easily convinced by reason, now that their feelings appear to have been excited, but I venture to throw out an idea that the immediate application of the rule, " Sio volo, sic jubeo, stet pro ratione voluntas," will not facilitate the satisfactory carrying out of the wise reso- lution of Her Majesty's Government with respect to the "re- storation and maintenance of the general peace" of South Africa. February 25, 1868. COLONIST. 89 HER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER AND THE FREE STATE. SIR, You must allow me to take the earliest opportunity of referring to an error, unintentionally committed by your printer, in prefixing to my last letter the line from Virgil quoted at its conclusion. In that position it is inconsistent with the spirit and general tenor of my remarks. I never for one instant dreamt that the will of the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, that bloody war should cease to rage in South Africa, should not be implicitly obeyed by the Cape Colonists. Without stopping to argue the point, all I intended was to convey a gentle hint, with the best motives, in the hope that it might reach high places, that a little reasoning with the President and Volksraad on the spot might be more efficacious in satisfactorily carrying out the peaceful policy of Her Majesty's Government, than the exercise of stern authority at a distance. The Graham's Toim Journal just received so completely expresses my views on this question, that I must beg permis- sion to borrow its language : The Resident Magistrate at Port Elizabeth has received instructions to refuse permits for the despatch of arms and ammunition to the Free State. We do not greatly admire this. Its effect will be to exasperate the Boers, and incline them to use vigorously the powder and shot they have. Moreover, this sort of thing increases the sympathy of the colonists with the Free Staters. It would be far wiser for the Governor to declare at once that Basutoland is now part of the British dominions, and corns mence negotiations with the States' Government. His Excellency i- staying too long at Cape Town, while events at the scene of action are doing anything but waiting upon his will. Although doubtless there is a great deal in the argument of the Advertiser and Mall, that, until His Excellency has proclaimed the Basutos British subjects, the laws of neutrality with respect to the Free State, at least, ought to prevail, it is diffidently submitted that the force of such argument is weakened by the rather strong language used in the following paragraph : This, however, we take leave to consider as a mere sham ; and whether the transmission of supplies is actually stopped or not, the intervention by His Excellency in the affair, even to the extent he has intervened, is alike mischievous and unjustifiable. It may be " mischievous" for the reasons so clearly set forth by the (jnilit/m'x Toun Journal, but it can hardly be fairly termed altogether " unjustifiable" after the formal rejection by the Free Republic of the friendly advice of the representative of Her Majesty's Government, that hostilities should be suspended. Suppose, but only for the sake of the argument, that President Brand, under an earnest conviction that the blessing of Provi- dence attended his successful arms, and that nothing short of the 90 total annihilation of Moshesh and his tribe would satiate the vengeance of the belligerent burghers, now flushed by the great victory of Tanjesberg and the death of Bushuli, should give an unlimited order for ammunition and fire-arms with the view of protracting the war to a distant period, is Her Majesty's High Commissioner, after having written " Great Chief, It gives me much pleasure to be enabled to inform you that Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to accede to your request, so frequently made by you, that you and your tribe should be received subjects of the British Throne," quietly to permit the deadly weapons of war free transmission from Port Elizabeth to the territory north of the Orange Eiver, and destroy for ever in the minds of the aboriginal tribes of South Africa the prestige of Great Britain ? If it be true, in the words of the Graham's Town Journal, " that the despatch from Moshesh, which His Excellency by this time has received, contains the formal cession of Basuto- land to Great Britain, and places the responsibilities of posses- sion and rule in the hands of Her Majesty's Representative, and that it is indeed likely that the British flag now waves over Moshesh's mountain," all real friends of this Colony and the Free State will anxiously hope that the peaceful overtures of Sir Philip Wodehouse will yet receive a favourable response from the Volksraad, after calm deliberation upon all the advantages likely to accrue to the Orange Eiver Free State from the British Basuto Protectorate. In thanking the editor of the Znid-Afribtnn for his fair notice of my letters, I rejoice to find that "he verily believes that a large section of the Orange Free State would hail the day that they were again incorporated with the British Empire." He must, however, forgive me for remarking that it is hardly just towards me to insinuate that I wish the extension of British rule, to what was once the Sovereignty, to be effected " i-i ct arm is." I have always maintained that the union with the British Empire, so far from being " compulsory," must be voluntary, and that the request for such union ought to originate within the Free State, and that the abandoned subjects of Her Majesty have no chance to be placed in the same position with Moshesh, unless they follow his example and impLore Her Majesty to grant them the protection of the British flag. While, on the one side, it is distressing to learn that a peti- tion to the Volksraad is being numerously signed, praying for the repudiation of debts, the further issue of bluebacks, and the denial of justice by the Colony of the Courts of Law, it is, on the other side, most gratifying to be informed that an appeal is to be made to Her Majesty's High Commissioner, by very many of the inhabitants of the Orange Eiver Free State, to use his influence with the Home Government to bring about, if not 91 annexation to this Colony or Natal, at least the establishment of British rule, by federation or otherwise, in the territory now governed by a Free Eepublic. February 28th. COLONIST. THE BASUTO QUESTION. NEW VERSION. The Tizer quoted Wicqueful, And Puffendorf and Grotius, And proved from Vattel, Exceedingly well, Such a deed would be atrocious. 'Twould move a Free Stater's bowels To read the doubts he scribbled, But Sir Philip did As he was bid, And squashed them while he scribbled. The Cape Argus. SIR, Without for a moment disputing the principle enun- ciated by the Advertiser and Mail, that, according to the law of nations, " honour and justice demand that, feeble though the Free State may be, its rights should be regarded not less sacredly than if it were the great American Eepublic, or the French Empire itself," I venture to think that, after your legal comments on the express words of the Articles of Convention of Sir George Clerk, which you quote, many will incline to the opinion that your able contemporary, doubtless with the best intentions, has painted in too vivid colours the grievous wrong about to be committed by the Governor's vigilance with respect to the permits of the transmission of " the supplies of ammuni- tion" from Port Elizabeth to the northward of the Orange River. The spirit of the course of legislation for several years past in this Colony has been to make, subject to the restraint of the Executive power, the free trade and traffic in gunpowder and fire-arms, for, as you clearly have pointed out, the discre- tion vested in the Resident Magistrate or Justice of the Peace is not likely to be exercised in opposition to the positive direc- tions of the Governor : and a moment's reflection seems to lead to the conclusion that, in a case of emergency, it is quite right that it should be so. For the sake of illustration, suppose the Governor, who has the best means of information, to be aware that there exists a conspiracy among the Tambookies, and that they are intent upon hoarding gunpowder with an evil design, would he not be justified in issuing a circular to the magistrates that no gunpowder should be sold to one of that peaceful tribe ? Again put the extravagant hypothesis of cer- tain European traders continuing abundantly to supply the Kafirs in the Transkeian territory with arms and ammunition, 92 when there was evidence that the intentions of Kreli towards the Colony were hostile, would not the intervention of His Excellency to prevent such persons persisting in the dangerous traffic be just and commendable ? A thoughtful and able correspondent of the Great Eastern, writing from Aliwal North, concludes a letter, which in strong terms denounces the alleged " contemptible trickery of advo- cating repudiation and the onslaught of the Kafirs in order to render the Free State subject to colonial laws," with the follow- ing passage : There is no doubt that we cannot allow the Boers to exterminate the Basutos, nor allow the latter to overcome the Boers ; and the only safe method to avoid all future wars between them is to take away their power to kill each other. The Boers, according to information received, are carry- ing on the destruction of crops with the most assiduous perseverance, and with a determination to impoverish the country as much as possible. Her Britannic Majesty's High Commissioner has informed President Brand that the " Power" he represents is " actuated by the most friendly feelings towards the Free State," and has assured him that " Her Majesty's Government have contem- plated with great concern the prolonged hostilities that have prevailed between the State and the Basutos," and "without the slightest view to the political aggrandisement of the colonies, or to any other result from their interference than the restora- tion and maintenance of general peace" in South Africa. Moshesh has laid down his arms waves the white flag, and cries for peace ; and, after all, is not the checking the supply of the deadly weapons of war beyond the Orange River one practical mode of staying further bloodshed ? There seems to be a great deal in the argument tersely con- veyed by the concluding sentences of your leading article of this morning : The legislation on the subject (the trade in gunpowder, &c.) has been with a view to preserve peace in South Africa. Sir Philip Wodehouse has declared his intention to secure peace, and he has taken the means which seem to him the most effectual to that end. Whether his views are correct is another matter. Many who hail with delight the new and enlarged colonial policy of Her Majesty's present advisers, foreshadowed by the British Basuto Protectorate, will regret that the delay which has occurred in proclaiming the Basutos British subjects, has afforded to the President of the Orange Free State the oppor- tunity of treating with apparent scorn the overtures of peace which emanated from Great Britain ; and at the same time has enabled the Cape colonists, whose sympathies, as fellow- sufferers from the aggressions of native tribes, have always been naturally enough on the side of the Free State, to express approval of the determination to expose for a month or two longer the Basutos to the just vengeance of the Burghers, now that they have gained " an indisputable ascendancy" over their 1)3 sable enemies. I have always endeavoured to show that the putting into summary execution " the Imperial mandate to stay the wretched warfare" between the Boers and the Basutos, would be beneficial alike to the interests of the Free State and of this Colony, and I most gladly call in aid of my own feeble arguments the annexed extract from that able journal, the King William's Toim Gazette, from which I always quote with pleasure, whenever I have the opportunity : The Free State war, which is to be so abruptly concluded, was of a nature the most inimical to our native policy. Each reverse that the Boera received and we maintain that they did receive reverses, their tremendous victories notwithstanding more than effaced a colonial enactment for the governance of the natives. It gave to the natives exactly what they require to make good warriors it gave them pluck. ... To reduce all our arguments to a little sentence : the Free State war was making the white man look ridiculous. This sort of thing would not pay the colonists, although the closing of the courts and the repudiation of debts suited the Free State book admirably. If it were for this reason alone, we should welcome with pleasure the plan of annexing Basutoland. Not that this is the great desideratum. We are only regarding it as the first approach to the annexation of the Free State. To the colonists who have been so com- plaisant as to permit the Staters to get into their books, this notion will be peculiarly acceptable. If we know that a man is insolvent, if there is a certainty that the most judicious arrangement of the estate will not result in a dividend that will pay the expenses of winding up, we yet like to get the books into our bands, and investigate the actual returns of receipts and disbursements. Although Sir George Clerk obligingly set the Free State on its legs, by granting it independence, he did not destroy its actual reliance upon the Colony from which it was peopled. It was the old story of parent and son threats of a summary disposition of property, leaving but one coin to the expectant heir and yet a liberal allowance made. Sinew its establishment as a Republic, the Free State has been living upon the paternal curse, although apparently absolved from all connection. This being the case, we claim to have some voice in its affairs. If two or three journeymen carpenters get out of work and initiate a war, it is their concern that they do not get their bones broken ; but it is our look-out that they shall not imperil the funds entrusted to them for a far different purpose. If ihey warred properly, beat their adversaries, and made money out of the transaction, we should have no objection to their indulging their bellicose propensities ; but when they only disgrace their colour by their conduct of squabbles, and rob their creditors under the pretence that they are effect- ing vronders, then it is time that more enlightened people should control them. While the Advertiser ami Mail cannot be accused of being backward in showing sincere sympathy with our neighbours of the Free State, it very properly stigmatizes " the fulsome and pot-valiant address to the President from the district of Win- burg, requesting His Honour again to become a candidate for the presidency, and assuring him that they in such case are prepared to stand by him, and defend their rights with their lives, even to the taking up of arms against a ' foreign power,' if need be ;" and, in common with the Friend of the Free State, strongly condemns " a further and unlimited supply of blue- backs to assist the public," and the dishonest and wicked pro- posal of " closing the civil courts for seven or ten years for Free State debts, and the entire repudiation of all colonial 94 ones ;" it appears no very easy matter to decide which is the more absurdly ludicrous idea of the two that of, in the language of the editor of the Free State Friend, " stirring up the unsophisticated farmers to cross bayonets (if need be) with the British infantry," or that of the repudiation of debts and denial of justice to civil suitors. The special Cape Town correspondent of the Port Elizabeth Telegraph finds fault with what he calls the " disreputable modus ojierandi used to accomplish" the British Basuto Protec- torate ; but, if it be the " thin end of the wedge" for the annexation of the Orange Free State to the British Colonial Empire, many will not join in the unmeasured abuse of Sir Philip Wodehouse " as a scheming autocrat or despot," but, on the contrary, will award to him his just meed of praise for having been instrumental in promoting the welfare and progress both of this Colony and the Free State. Surely, the popular avowal of such silly and dangerous doctrines as those above referred to within the Orange Free State is evidence of its mis- government, and it does not require much argument to prove that the extension of British rule to that State would be attended with advantage to all parties concerned the Free- Staters themselves, the colonists of the Cape and Natal, and, last not least, the aboriginal tribes ; and it behoves the press of South Africa to labour with its moral influence speedily to bring about this " great desideratum." Under all the circum- stances then of this case, it is cheering to find that the belief with respect to the wish of the Orange Free State to "be in- corporated with the British Empire," of the Zuid-Afrikaan, an influential organ of the opinions of the inhabitants of Dutch descent in the West, to which allusion was made in my last letter, is corroborated by the report in the columns of the G real -Eastern, which consistently advocates the cause of the Basutos, " that the annexation of the Free State is the popular cry of the day among both the English and Dutch." It is to be expected, as the Friend, writing from Bloemfontein says, "that fierce denunciations of Sir Philip and his policy will be heard in the Council Chamber, and that it will be assuredly maintained by some that he is the sclmld van alles;" but perhaps, after a natural ebullition of feeling, the President may yet be empowered by the Volksraad to meet Her Majesty's High Commissioner in April next, in a truly amicable spirit, for the purpose of discussing the "just claims of the Free State," so long as it remains an " independent" Republic, to the favourable consideration of Great Britain, and at the same time of preparing the way of uniting, by some system of annexation or federation, the colonies of the Cape and Natal with the Orange Free State and Basutoland, as dominions of the British Crown under the protection of the British flag. Saturday, 20th February, 1868. COLONIST. 95 P.S. It is often much easier to censure the mode in which a particular policy has been carried out, than to devise a practical substitute for what has been done. Perhaps, without sufficient consideration, I presumed, with no bad motive, to venture an opinion that the declaration of the Basutos as British subjects ought to have been simultaneous with the commencement of the negotiations with the Free State ; but it has occurred to me that His Excellency may be able satisfactorily to explain that, before the future boundaries of Basutoland are settled, he cannot formally proclaim the proper limits of the new British territory, and that the interests of Her Majesty's old subjects of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal may be seriously affected if Her neic subjects, the Basutos, have not sufficient land whereon to live. It is said that the Governor is very soon to hurry over the Karroo to the scene of the negotiations with President Brand, for the purpose of finally carrying out the good inten- tions of Her Majesty's Government, and it is earnestly to be hoped that, notwithstanding the difficulties which beset his mission of future peace to South Africa, the efforts of Sir Philip "Wodehouse will be crowned with success. THE BASUTO QUESTION. SIR, Although you " imagine that the public are becoming pretty well tired" of the Basuto question, I cannot help think- ing that, after your truly practical comments of this morning, it will be a matter of regret with very many of your readers that you do not more frequently, in your editorial column, discuss this important and interesting subject. It seems to me that few will be found to differ from you, that President Brand erred when, in his reply to Sir Philip Wodehouse, he apparently relied upon the opinion "that the proposed annexation of Basutoland was a breach of Sir George Clerk's convention with the Free State," the express words of which, as bearing upon this point, I must be permitted to quote : Article 2. The British Government has no alliance whatever with any native tribes or chiefs to the northward of the Orange Kiver, with the exception of the Griqua Chief, Captain Adam Kok, and Her Majesty's Government has no wish or intention to enter iuto any treaties which may be injurious OT prejudicial to the interests of the Orange River Government. In a former letter, I transferred into your columns the able arguments of the Graham's Town Journal, with a view of show- ing that there was no valid ground for the President's remark, that the communication of Governor Wodehouse, " that Moshesh and his tribe were in all probability to become subjects of the British Crown," had taken him by surprise. Whatever may have been the misgivings of the authorities of the Free State with respect to the good intentions of Sir Philip Wode- house, they ought certainly to be removed by the conciliatory 96 rejoinder of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, to what you do not inappropriately term " Mr. Brand's attempt to snub him." If the version of this despatch of the Governor given hy the Friend of the Free State, received hy yesterday's mail from the frontier, be correct, it will indeed, " although no threat is held out, be rather a delicate and difficult matter for His Honour longer to continue the war." What could Sir Philip Wodehouse have said more than to " have fissured the President that he wished to act fairly by the Free State, that in future Moshesh would have no voice in the matter, that all questions and disputes would be settled between the British Government and the Free State ; but that His Excellency foresaw difficulties in the way, should the Basutos be cooped or penned up within too narrow limits, so that the tribe had not sufficient land on which to live with their families" ? However much many who are anxious to see the humane policy of Her Majesty's Ministers with respect to the Basutos satisfactorily carried out, may regret that Sir Philip Wodehouse, placing too great reliance on the strength of his argument " with Mr. President Brand to stop the war which can lead to no good end," should not sooner have held the proposed conference at Burghersdorp with the representative of the Free State and the Chief Moshesh, it must be conceded to him that reason and justice are on the side of his argument, and that it could hardly have been expected that his overtures of peace should have been received in the way they have been. I may not be quite accurate in my dates, but I think it will be found that the great victory of Tanjesberg, which certainly was more decided than the usual battles of the Burghers, has had something to do with the opposition on their part to allow arms to yield to the negotiations for peace. It is in vain, however, to attempt to conceal the fact that censure is freely bestowed on the delay which has taken place in the formal declaration of the Basutos as British subjects, particularly as they are likely to suffer from it, if it be true that " Moshesh will not permit his people to fight any more till he has seen or heard further from Sir Philip Wodehouse." As evi- dence both of the general feeling ayaimt the course pursued by the Governor, and in favour of my view of the case in his justi- fication, I cannot refrain from quoting the opinion of a gentle- man of learning and ability, as well, as great local experience on the frontier, who is a " born Colonist :"- The Basuto difficulty becomes a very complicated affair. John Brand, if he studies the interests of the people he governs, should at once stop his guerilla warfare. He will find it more difficult to make civilians of his Boers than it will be for the Governor to make loyal subjects of the Basutos ; but the sooner His Excellency is on the spot the better. That Sir Philip W^odehouse is evidently intent upon acting fairly by the Free State may be gathered from the annexed 97 paragraph from the Friend of the 21st February, which cer- tainly does not appear to be a bad way of compromising a diffi- cult matter : THE BASUTO LINE. We hear that a gentleman recently from Aliwal North has learnt that Sir P. Wodehouse purposes declaring the old line to be the line of the Free State ; but that the farms already disposed of, or granted in the so-called conquered territory, will still be held by the pur- chasers or grantees but under British titles, and under the same conditions of occupation as previously ; the purchase money owing and still unpaid on the said farms to go to the Free State Government as compensation for the expenses of the war. This, if true, seems to be rather an equitable arrange- ment. The purchasers and grantees, we are convinced, for the most part, would not object to accept British titles to their land. I had written thus far when your telegrams from Burghers- dorp and King William's Town, of the wonderful successes of the burghers, rather startled me. They may be exaggerated, and seem a little inconsistent with the subjoined statement of the Friend : u But few Basutos, it is rumoured, will be found in the Teimie, and the cattle are said to be removed from thence to the Double Mountains," but they must have some foundation to rest upon. The " serious complications" you anticipated appear to have arrived, and the result may perhaps be the annexation of Basutoland to the Eepublic of the Orange Free State, rather than to the British Colonial Empire. If this be so, it is to be feared that the remnant of the tribe of Moshesh will fare badly, and the prestige of Great Britain in protecting the cause of the aborigines, and in checking their hostile pro- pensities towards the British Colonies in South Africa, will have received a shock. In the absence of precise information it is vain to indulge in speculations, but there can be no harm in expressing the hope that the conference at Burghersdorp may yet be attended with beneficial results to all parties concerned the Cape, Natal, the Free State, and the Basutos. Perhaps now even Natal may fail in gaining the prize of Basutoland, which by right of conquest will belong to the independent nation of the Free State, or otherwise I would put in a claim on behalf of the Cape of Good Hope for this slice of new territory, if annexation was not so unpopular in Cape Town, because I feel disposed to agree with the Graham's Toim Journal, that there are many good reasons why the land of Moshesh and his tribe should be annexed to this Colony instead of to Natal. Tuesday, March 3. COLONIST. THE REPUDIATION OF DEBT BY THE FREE STATE. SIR, In the leading article of your Second Edition, published yesterday for transmission to England per mail-steamer Norse- man, you correctly argue that the great " successes on the part of the Free State, in its struggle with the Basutos, are likely seriously to embarrass the negotiations which the Governor has signified his intention to open ;" and who can tell but that they ii 98 may ultimately end in the abandonment of the humane policy of Hex* Majesty's Government, and in the strangling in its birth of the British Basuto Protectorate ? It is true that yon seem to have arrived at the conclusion that " out of apparent evil good springs, and that the circumstances which have arisen will doubtless advance the confederation of the various Colonies and States of South Africa," which, in the opinion of many, cannot fail to be a " source of blessing to the members of the union, and which will also exercise a highly beneficial influence on the civilization and social development of the native tribes of South Africa." Some, however, much as they desire this happy con- summation, may think that you are too sanguine in your expectations, now that Thaba Bosigo, the famed irresistible stronghold of Moshesh, is in the hands of the triumphant Burghers, and that, so far from the " extinction of the Free State as an independent power" being an accomplished fact, the South African Republic, under the auspices of President Brand, again elected to his high office, now that laurels deck his brow, will long continue a terror to all those who dare to encroach upon its territory gained by the right of conquest. If the report be correct that the old Chieftain, whom, it is supposed, the " deserving French Missionaries" have taught to be peacefully inclined, is dead, further complications may perhaps arise in keeping in subjection the alleged more warlike propensities of his sons, that is to say, if they have any warriors left to fight ; and new difficulties to the Free State, " in holding the country which they have conquered," may be probably also accompanied with disadvantages to the neighbouring British Colonies of the Cape and Natal. At any rate, without despair- ing that the forthcoming conference at Aliwal North may be attended with good results, my present communication with your readers is prompted by the dread that a Republican form of G-overnment is likely to remain for some time longer at least on our border, although many Britishers as well as Africanders within the Orange Free State are evidently yearning to become again loyal subjects of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria. The Buryhersdorp Gazette, in the extract you have given from it, states : " It is greatly to be feared that at the approaching session of the Volksraad in the Free State, one or two iniquitous measures will be carried, either the entire repudiation of debts away out of the Free State, or a further closing of the Civil Courts for ten years, with an immense issue of bluebacks. The latter is the popular scheme, and, as far as the action of the Free State goes, there is grave apprehension that it will succeed." There seems to be good ground for the fear thus entertained, if the representations of a correspondent, a "Free Stater," in the columns of the Friend, be founded on fact, viz. : Many of our unsophisticated boers, at the instance of some unprincipled men among us, are signing memorials ; one, urging upon the Government 99 to make no end of bluebacks ; another, praying the Eaad for the total repu- diation of all foreign debts, and the staying of all Free State debts for ten years to come ; a third asking the Volksraad to keep the Civil Courts closed for seven years still, after May next ; and these memorials, credible persons say, are eagerly and numerously signed, and that there is not the least use to endeavour to convince the Boers that they are doing wrong. My chief object is, through the medium of your columns, to invite the attention of the Port Elizabeth Chamber of Com- merce, for the Cape Town institution is forbidden to tread on the dangerous ground of politics, to the Fifth Article of Sir George Clerk's Convention, the Magna Charta of the Independ- ent Republic, which is in the terms following : Her Majesty's Government and the Orange River Government shall, within their respective territories, mutually use every exertion for the suppression of crime and keeping the peace, by apprehending and delivering up all criminals who may have escaped or fled from justice either way across the Orange River, and the courts, as well the British as those of the Orange River Government, shall be mutually open and available to the inhabitants of both territories for all lawful processes. And all summonses for witnesses directed either way across the Orange River shall be countersigned by the magistrates of both Governments respectively, to compel the attendance of such witnesses when and where they may be required, thus affording to the community north of the Orange River every assistance of the British Courts, and giving, on the other hand, assurance to such colonial merchants and traders as have naturally entered into credit transactions in the Orange River territory during its occiipation by the British Government, and to whom in many cases debts may be owing, every facility for the recovery of just claiuis in the courts of the Orange River Government. And Her Majesty's Special Commissioner will recommend the adoption ot the like reciprocal privileges by the Government of Natal in its relations with the Orange River Government. It is submitted that the spirit, if not the letter, of this treaty will be infringed by the denial of justice on the part of the Free State to colonial creditors in shutting the doors of their courts of law to civil suitors, and thus hindering " lawful pro- cesses" for the recovery of just debts. Although the Friend expresses a hope " that the good sense and right feeling of the majority of the Raad will prevail, and that these memorials, and those who affix their signatures to the same, will be treated with the contempt they so richly merit," it may be just as well for Sir Philip Wodehouse, after other important matters are settled, to bring to the notice of the legal mind of Mr. President Brand this point of law, or rather equitable construction of the Articles of Convention. With respect to " the entire repudiation of debts" to outsiders, the Volksraad, after calm deliberation, will never dream for a moment of adopting so suicidal a policy ; but the mere popular approval of these silly memorials above referred to, is calcu- lated to shake the credit of the Free State at a time when they want to borrow money. As it is well put by the Worcester Courant, " capitalists will naturally argue, that if there is a talk of repudiation now the national debt is comparatively small, this talk might assume a more serious aspect as the debt be- n2 100 came larger; and therefore it would be imprudent to invest their money in Free State debentures." In my too-oft repeated letters to the editor of the Standard, I do not aim at originality, but my object has earnestly been to endeavour to excite discussion on the important and now " un- comfortable relations" between this Colony, the Free State, and the Basutos, by collecting the opinions and condensing the arguments of others, and by giving extracts from the ably-con- ducted press of the Eastern Province. British Kaffraria, and the Free State, which might otherwise have escaped the notice of your numerous country readers, and which I believe calculated to throw light on this interesting subject of the British Basuto Protectorate, which has not altogether, according to my ideas, been fairly handled in Cape Town. Thursday, March 5. COLONIST. THE GUNPOWDER QUESTION. SIR, In my last letter, under a false impression that Thaba Bosigo had fallen into the hands of the victorious burghers, and that even the veteran chief Moshesh was no more, I despondingly imagined that Basutoland, instead of becoming British territory, would be annexed to the Orange Free State ; and therefore I ventured to suggest that the South African Republic should, during its probably lengthened career of independence, in the spirit of the Articles of Convention of Sir George Clerk, " give every facility for the recovery of just claims in the courts of the Orange River Government" to the colonists of the Cape and Natal, who have had commercial dealings with them. The Argus, however, of this morning says, " Information received yesterday from Aliwal North, of a thoroughly trustworthy character, gives a different complexion to the war news from the Free State," and this has probably determined the Governor to accelerate his departure from Cape Town, for it is currently rumoured that His Excellency pro- poses to start on Wednesday next, in a spider with a pair of horses (relays of course being provided on the road), via Beaufort West, Richmond, and Murraysburg, for the scene of the proposed conference with the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, President Brand, and the new loyal subject of the Queen of England, Moshesh. The position, then, of Sir Philip Wode- house does not seem, after all, to be so embarrassing as it has been represented to be, and there is yet reasonable ground of hope that he will at once be enabled satisfactorily to carry out the main and good object of Her Majesty's Government " the restoration and maintenance of general peace" in South Africa. Indeed, the conclusion of the Argus, which writes with authority as follows : " The frontier police are moving towards Basuto- 101 land to meet Sir Philip Wodehouse, who is without delay to proceed thither. Perhaps, after all, the settlement may be arranged without any great difficulty. The Free State may fairly claim some increase of territory in consequence of recent successes, and the burghers may possibly be content with a moderate portion in consideration of the peace and quiet on the border, which may be expected to follow the proclamation of the protectorate," appears to be a solution of the problem, not inconsistent with the alleged communications of His Excellency to his private correspondents at Bloemfontein. Of course, it remains to be seen what effect the conciliatory rejoinder of Her Majesty's High Commissioner to the rather warlike reply of Mr. President Brand, coupled with the fact, brought promi- nently to notice, that the stoppage of the supply of ammunition can easily be managed, may have produced on the deliberations of the Volksraad. Is it not probable, as well as desirable, that the President may still be instructed to listen to reason in the corning negotiations, and not to oppose the peaceful wishes of Her Majesty being carried out, at the same time that he is commissioned to endeavour to make as good a bargain as possible with respect to the addition of territory to the Orange Free State, or compensation out of the military chest for the laudable purpose of redeeming the obnoxious blue-backs, the offsprings of the long war ? My object earnestly being to make the British-Basuto Pro- tectorate as popular as possible with the readers of the Standard, and to attempt to remove the prejudice which has been excited against it in Cape Town, I prefer, even at the risk of again subjecting myself to the harmless ridicule of the editors of the Argus and their literary and witty correspon- dents, to pursue my matter-of-fact course of quoting largely from the ably-conducted Frontier press, so peculiarly conversant with this and like questions, rather than to borrow its ideas and information, and clothe them in my own feeble and less convincing language. The Graham's Town Journal, in referring to the last despatch of Sir Philip Wodehouse above mentioned, which is said to "be penned in conciliatory language," and " the instruction given to the Port Elizabeth Civil Com- missioner concerning the stoppage of the gunpowder permits," in its own amusing and terse style writes thus : The conciliatory despatch and the hostile instruction were intended to go together, and unitedly to produce an exactly definite effect. They resemble in relation and purpose the constituents of a seidlitz powder. The con- ciliatory despatch is the carbonate of soda, and the hostile instruction is the tartaric acid of His Excellency's diplomacy. In his view of the case it was necessary that both should be taken together. He very likely thought that hie polite style of letter writing would be misunderstood unless accom- panied by a certain sharpness of action. The Great Eastn-n, which, many will rejoice to see continuing in its sphere of usefulness with renewed vigour, instead of 102 succumbing to difficulties, smartly defends Sir Philip Wode- house against a severe attack made on him by the Graaff-Reinet Herald, for " his arbitrary act of interference," as it is called, of " interdicting any further supply of ammunition to the Free State," in the annexed passage from its leader of the 29th of last month : Our Graaff-Eeinet contemporary has not Landled this subject with his usual ability. Possibly, stopping the supply of ammunition may be disastrous to certain traders in this Colony, but the first consideration of High Commissioners and Colonial Governors is not trading, but govern- ment. It is by no means an unusual thing for rulers and governments to adopt a policy which is calculated to check currents of trade, divert them, or stop them altogether. The peace of this Continent is of vastly more consequence than the profits arising from the selling of gunpowder and lead, for stopping the sale of ammunition to the Free State. We are exceedingly glad that Sir Philip Wodehouse has resorted to it. The Free State cattle-lifters thought nothing of stopping the legitimate trade of this Colony, when they saw that they could avoid debt and live without work by declaring war and shutting up their Law Courts. Hundreds of our enterprising, industrious, and honest fellow-countrymen who live in the Free State are compelled to sit with their arms folded and watch without having the power to prevent it their properties grow " small by degrees and beautifully less," to provide supplies for a mob of boisterous cowards who ridiculously call themselves a Grand Army. The steps taken by Sir Philip Wodehouse, on the instructions of the Imperial Government, will do more good for the trade of this Colony, for the Free State, and for South Africa generally, than anything that has been done on the other side of the frontier border during the last quarter of a century. It is not easy to estimate the fearful losses which the Cape mercantile community have sustained by this rumpus with the Basutos. The trade which was growing so rapidly and conducted so satisfactorily between the respectable firms in the Free State and our Colony has been utterly destroyed, and the amount of debt due to our merchants is frightfully large. Instead, therefore, of censuring Sir Philip Wodehouse for taking decided steps to put a stop to the war, he should be thanked most certainly by the merchants and traders and that too most heartily. Even the Eastern Province Herald, which so fairly sympathizes with our neighbours of the Free State in their struggle with the Basutos, begins to see that, if the closing of the Courts of Law within that State be the natural consequent of the pro- longation of the war, the stoppage of the transmission of gunpowder from Port Elizabeth northward of the Orange Biver will not be such a bad thing after all. As far as my memory serves me, it uses rather strong language in saying something about the Free-Staters becoming greater thieves than the Basutos, if they continue to shut the doors of their Courts of Law against the just claims of Port Elizabeth, whence they draw all their supplies ; and I only regret that I have not the opportunity of giving the extract in ej-tensu, for the benefit of your readers. It is earnestly to be hoped that the President of the Kepublic will no longer be in antagonism with the representative of Her Majesty, and that the restoration of peace, on terms satisfactory to both the former combatants in the Avar, will alike render 108 unnecessary the restriction in the granting of permits of gun- powder and fire-arms at Port Elizabeth, and the denial of justice at Bloemfontein to colonial creditors. It is true that this question seems to he presented rather in a different light in the subjoined extract from an able article on the Basutos, communicated to the Great Eastern, which appears in the Argus of this morning : The repudiation scheme of roguery is still gaining ground, and if it is not a wily but unmanly scheme to compel the Cape Colonists to get the Free State annexed, it is the most shameful piece of rascality ever heard of in our days. It is to be hoped that a body of men will be found in the country who will most strongly protest against this iniquitous method, as well as against the unjust proceeding of continually closing the Law Courts, thereby giving freedom to rogues and ruin to honest men. Surely the Free State authorities will be hard indeed to please, and will sacrifice the interests of those committed to their rule, if they do not gladly accept the terms about to be proposed by Sir Philip Wodehouse, according to the following statement of the Graham's Town Journal, which cannot fail to recommend itself as an equitable compromise to all unpreju- diced persons : The Friend puts forward some details which explain what His Excellency is supposed to mean by fairness towards the State. Moshesh is to be nobody. In any contract he is not to be a highly-considered personage. The British Government is not about to be guided by Basuto policy or to avenge Basuto wrongs. Basutoland under the British is not to be an old foe with a new face ; but an old foe restrained by a powerful hand. Then as to the boundary line. The line before the so-called conquest is to be the frontier, but the farms sold or granted last year are to remain the property of purchasers or grantees, and are to be held under British title, the pur- chase money to go to the Free State Government. Very many of the Queen's subjects at this end of the Colony will join with rne in sincerely wishing that signal success may crown the efforts of Her Majesty's High Commissioner on his mission of permanent peace to South Africa ; and, if I were not afraid of bringing down on my devoted head the dire anathemas of the able editors of the Aryus and Advertiser and Mail for unnecessarily meddling with politics, I would suggest that, before His Excellency takes his departure from Cape Town, there shall be some expression of public opinion, in accordance with that of the Graham's Tr that ]>ur- pose. But for the reasons already adverted to in mi/ despatch of November 14 last, I do not consider it nciTxmin/ t<> "/'/rof,:wd to make "the inhabitants of the Orange River Territory free," would it not be well that some steps should be taken to request Sir Philip Wodehouse to suggest to Her Majesty's present Ministers 136 the introduction of a short Act of Parliament, to annul, as far as possible, what has been done to resume the Sovereignty, and to restore to their natural allegiance to the Queen of Eng- land "Her Majesty's abandoned subjects in South Africa ?" Thursday, 23rd April, 1868. COLONIST. THE GOVERNOR AND THE FREE STATE. ANNEXATION OR FEDERATION. SIB, It has been the fashion in Cape Town to quarrel with the modus operandi of Sir Philip Wodehouse, and even to accuse him of gross " tyranny and despotism" in his dealings with the Orange Free State, in carrying out the instructions of the Home Government to establish the British Basuto Protectorate. Some who lead public opinion in the Western metropolis must, it is thought, have been anxious to prevent the respectable Dutch inhabitants of this end of the Colony from duly appre- ciating the humane and peaceful policy of the Queen's present ministers towards South Africa, or they would not have laboured so hard to make Her Majesty's Representative at the Cape, entrusted with the execution of that policy, as unpopular as possible by too readily assuming the truth of sensational telegrams, now proved to be inaccurate, and founding thereon violently written articles to his prejudice. I have throughout attempted to argue that the despatches of Sir Philip Wode- house, which contrast more favourably than ever with those of Mr. President Brand, noiv that it is self-evident that " the war was not nearly at an end, nor the so-called conquered territory cleared of Basutos," afforded the best evidence that he was determined in a conciliatory spirit " to give the fullest conside- ration to the just claims of the Free State," and the pertinent extract from the Graaff-Eeinet Herald, in your issue of this morning, more than corroborates my view of the case. It seems to me also that the Graham's Town Journal has satisfactorily proved that " His Excellency has brought to the task set him by the Imperial Government an admirable calmness of mind and an inexhaustible store of patience," and that he has almost entitled himself for the future to bear the motto of " Sauviter in modo, fortiter in re," whatever difference of opinion there may be as to his official courtesy or diplomatic tact in other past transactions. Some will now begin to think that even the delay in issuing the Proclamation declaring the Basutos British subjects, which at once so happily produced the desired effect of staying the bloody hand of war, was prompted by a wish on the part of Sir Philip Wodehouse to negotiate on friendly terms with the President of the Orange Free State, as to the future boundaries of Basutoland, before he formally de- clared it British territory. It appears, however, needless to 137 dwell further upon the merits or demerits of the particular course of action adopted by the Governor, as it requires no great foresight to predict that there must be in Cape Town, as there has already been in the Eastern Province, a strong re- action of public opinion in his favour. May it not be taken for granted, without argument, that "the peaceful subjugation of Basutoland to British authority is a happy event to the Orange Free State the best thing that could happen to it short of its own annexation ? That the Government of the State do not see this, is greatly to be deplored." But the subjoined para- graph from the columns of the Friend of the Free State affords some cheering hope that " a change will come o'er the spirit of the dream" of the councils of the Orange Free State as soon as the eyes of the people thereof are opened to see their real interests : THE PROTEST AND REACTION. From all quarters we learn that great dis- satisfaction exists among the intelligent of our Boers in regard to the resolution of the Volksraad to having nothing to do with His Excellency the Governor. Mr. Daniel Groblaar, the godfather to this (Mr. Hamel- berg's) resolution, was surrounded by a crowd of Boers on the market last Saturday, who one and all denounced the resolution. Something more will come out of this. Although it may take some time at Bloemfontein to counter- act the baneful influence of the anti-British Hollander party the prevailing opinion throughout the Colony must be, that when Sir Philip Wodehouse was prepared to apportion one- half of the " conquered territory" to tbe burghers in farms of 1500 morgen each, and to settle down the Basutos as peaceful British subjects on the other half, the Volksraad ought to have immediately authorized Mr. President Brand to accept this reasonable and equitable compromise. As was well pointed out by Sir Philip to the ten annexationists who waited upon him at Aliwal North, the purchase price of the 300 farms sold at public auction with guaranteed British titles, would have gone far towards relieving the pecuniary difficulties of the Free State, while it is very much to be feared that the sale proceeds of the 222 farms advertised for sale on the 29th April next, with Orange Free State titles, will not amount to a sufficient sum to redeem the obnoxious bluebacks. Although the Znid- Afnkaan (most inappropriately, I think,) applies to Her Majes- ty's High Commissioner the Latin aphorism, " Qiios Deus vult perdere prim dementat," and appears to laugh at the idea of his having gained any advantage from his long journey in the spider, there can be little doubt that he will soon return to Cape Town with laurels on his brow, having satisfactorily accomplished his mission of peace by the annexation of Basuto- land to this Colony, instead of to Natal, as was first contem- plated. It being admitted, then, that the British Basuto Protectorate is an accomplished fact, how can it be turned to better account for the good of South Africa than to regard it as 138 a stepping-stone to the extension of British rule to the Orange Free State in some shape or other ? The editor of the Friend of the Free State concludes an interesting account of what occurred at Aliwal North on the 30th March, by saying, "the deputation took their leave highly gratified and satisfied with the interview with His Excellency, and coin- in fed that the first step had been taken towards remedying the mischief and annulling the foolish and criminal act of Sir George Clerk" and it is to be hoped that no time will be lost in taking further steps to obtain the great desideratum the resumption of the Sovereignty, which Her Majesty's Special Commissioner abandoned. Notwithstanding the " persistent advocacy of federation" by the Argus, many practical men will concur with Sir Philip Wodehouse, that " annexation was prac- ticable and might be managed in time, but what was termed ' federal union' presented insuperable difficulties ; in fact was almost impossible to work out ;" and it is submitted that it would be quite feasible to provide for " the domestic legislation, such as the making of roads, or the construction of public works, and the passing of measures affecting the physical well-being of the people of the Orange Free State," without giving it a separate Government or Parliament ; but the form of the Constitution to be granted to the Sovereignty seems of secondary importance to its being again placed under the pro- tection of the British flag. His Excellency may be right, but I venture again diffidently to submit the opinion that he has been a little too scrupulous about laying himself open to the charge of interfering with the independency of the Trans- Orange Republic, by declining formally to receive the memorials which were presented to him from Bloemfontein and Philippolis. Of course, in the absence of instructions from the Home Government, he had no power to give effect to the prayer of these memorials ; but, surely, the earnest representations of the Queen of England's abandoned subjects of their desire to be restored to their natural allegiance to Her Majesty, if, indeed, they can be said to have ever legally forfeited it, might have been received by Her Majesty's High Commissioner without giving offence to any one. Under existing circumstances, when a foreign influence is at work northward of the Orange Eiver to prejudice British interests, I confess I cannot see why one so well qualified to give an opinion on the subject as Sir Philip Wodehouse should not have spoken out as to the expediency of extending British rule to the Orange Free State but perhaps it would have been contrary to the law of nations to have tam- pered even with the nominal independence of the South African Eepublic. His Excellency will, however, doubtless keep his promise of conveying to Downing-street the wishes of the memorialists no longer to remain independent of England, and, perhaps also, it would be as well for all the inhabitants of the 139 Orange Free State, both English and Afrikanders, who are weary of their " fruitless freedom," simultaneously to make a direct appeal by petition to the Queen of Great Britain to do for them what Her Majesty has already done for Moshesh and his tribe to declare them British subjects. The colonists of the Cape and Natal would also, it is again suggested, best show their sympathies with their neighbours of the Free State in joining in petitioning the Queen to extend her regal sway over that State as well as over Basutoland. Saturday, 2oth April, 1868. COLONIST. THE FREE STATE-BASUTO DIFFICULTY. SIR, Many will fully sympathize with your leading article of Tuesday last, which so justly appreciates " the wisdom, firmness, as well as forbearance of the Eepresentative of the Queen of England" in his proceedings since he reached Aliwal North, and considerately expresses the "hope that His Excel- lency will, before his departure, have succeeded in so convincing the Free State people of his desire to do them justice, that they will make some effort, by petition or otherwise, to be again received as British subjects." Few also will dissent from the idea you seem to suggest that the deputation to England shall change its purpose, and seek rather the entire cancellation of Sir George Clerk's Convention, which professed to make the inhabitants of the Orange River territory free and independent, than complain on insufficient grounds that any of the articles of the said Convention had been infringed, either by the British Government or their accredited agent at the Cape. The evidence that " the people of the Free State are more reasonable than their President and representatives," to which you allude this morning, is so strong as to have given rise to a rumour that the Volksraad will soon re-assemble to rescind their absurd resolution to treat Her Majesty's High Commissioner with contempt, and to consent to an amicable negotiation with him as to the extent of "the conquered terri- tory" which is finally to be annexed to the State. It remains to be seen whether the last proposal of an armistice and a temporary boundary line, which should be respected by both parties until a reply to the protest could be received from Eng- land, has met with a favourable reception ; but there can be little doubt that the Graham's Town Journal is quite right in its conclusion " that the wisest course for the Bloemfontein Govern- ment to adopt would be to request His Excellency to revert to his former offer." The proceeds of the sale of the three hun- dred farms with British titles would very probably have realized a respectable sum towards the redemption of the bluebacks ; while the Orange Free State would have had its border guarded by the occupation of the " conquered territory," converted into 140 British territory by the purchasers of these farms, who might fairly, under the circumstances, have looked to the British Government, the vendor, to guarantee them peaceful possession of the land sold, as well as to protect them against any aggres- sion from Her Majesty's new subjects the Basutos. Whatever, then, may be the ultimate decision on this knotty point of boundary, the main portion of the former territory of Moshesh and his tribe is now part and parcel of the British Colonial Empire in South Africa, and, although I was in error in assum- ing that Basutoland had already been annexed to this Colony, it appears probable that the Cape Parliament will, when the matter shall have been formally submitted to them for discus- sion by the Governor, sanction such annexation. As the High Commissioner intends for the present to make temporary arrangements for the government of the new British territory, it is submitted that the Colonial Legislature would act wisely in agreeing to and proposing some equitable terms upon which Basutoland might be annexed to the Cape ; for, if the Imperial Parliament had reason and common sense on their side, when they objected to the continuance of British Kaffraria as a separate British Colony in South Africa, it can scarcely be argued that British Basutoland will long be allowed to remain in a similar position. Taking then, for granted, that Basuto- land will ere long share the fate of British Kaffraria, and become incorporated with the Cape, the question arises Is not the annexation of Basutoland to this Colony a step in the right direction, and does it not, in the natural course of things, lead to the further extension of British rule and protection north- ward of the Orange Eiver ? In your editorial Summary, written for transmission to England by the mail-steamer Saxon, you sensibly remark that " the Free State itself is evidently anxious to terminate the state of almost anarchy into which a succession of native wars has plunged it" ; but you must excuse me if I express the fear that your remedy for the grievances under which " Her Majesty's abandoned subjects" are now labouring, is too far distant in prospect, and rather theoretical, when you suggest "that the Queen's Ministers should select a man," to succeed our present Governor, " capable of conceiving a policy and organising a plan of confederation, having within it a power of extension which may embrace, before the century closes, all that is contained within the two sea-boards of Southern Africa.'" I confess, I think Sir Philip Wodehouse much more practical, when he candidly avows the opinion "that federation is not feasible under the present cir- cumstances of South Africa," and gives a decided preference to the other alternative annexation. The Friend of the Free State, while it does not despair that the day will come when the Orange Eiver territory and Basutoland will " form one united and flourishing Colony under the rule of 141 a Lieutenant- Governor appointed by the Queeu of England, assisted by a local council," is evidently indifferent about the form of the Constitution to be granted in lieu of the existing Republic, provided the British flag be again hoisted at Bloem- fontein. It cordially endorses the opinions of the Graham's Town Journal, before quoted in your columns, that " the State must be weary of its false and fruitless freedom," and that " annexation alone will make the State free," and earnestly urges upon the inhabitants of the Orange Free State to "go as humble suppliants to the foot of the throne, admitting that their self-government had proved a curse to themselves and their neighbours, and praying to be re-admitted into the family of British Colonies." The Port Elizabeth Telegraph warmly approves of the idea of the people of the Free State petitioning the Queen to become British subjects, and " begs to assure its contemporary that the request, if necessary, will be well backed up from this side of the Orange River." The representatives of the Cape people in Parliament need not, on the score of economy, throw obstacles to the annexation of the Orange Free State to this Colony ; for a country which can, notwithstanding the continued warfare with the Basutos, export wool from Port Elizabeth to the extent of about 350,000 per annum, must have great natural re- sources, capable of being made available, to pay the expenses of its Government. At present, in its unsettled position, the Free State consumes, it is believed, about one-fourth part of the imports into Algoa Bay, and there can be little doubt that the restoration of peace, order, and good credit to the country be- yond the Orange River, would materially augment the customs dues at Port Elizabeth, as well as raise a revenue from the quitrents on the land, which is good, and at present only partially occupied. It is therefore to be hoped that the people of Cape Town will not be slow to see that " the interests of civilization, humanity, and commerce alike demand" the extension of British rule northward of the Orange River, and that they will take part in a constitutional agitation to convince, by friendly argument, their neighbours of the Free State that it is to their interest again to be placed " under the wide folds of the flag of England." Asa preliminary step to a petition to the Queen, humbly praying Her Majesty to resume the Sovereignty, I would suggest that an address be presented to Sir Philip Wodehouse on his return to Cape Town, congratu- lating and thanking him on his successful accomplishment of his mission of peace, and requesting him to use his powerful influence with the Home Government further to carry out their liberal policy of extending British influence in South Africa, by annexing the Orange Free State as well as Basutoland to Her Majesty's dominions on this continent. Saturday, May 2, 1868. COLONIST. 142 ARE FREE STATE BURGHERS BRITISH SUBJECTS ? SIR, The Advertiser and Mail quotes the Letters Patent of the 30th January, 1854, abandoning the Sovereignty, and the Eoyal Proclamation of the same date founded thereon, and intimates that the question whether the Burghers of the Free State can still he considered subjects of the Queen after the publication of these documents, will be submitted to the highest legal authorities for opinion. It will be recollected that Her Majesty's High Commissioner, when directly interrogated upon this point by the first President of the Free State, Mr. Hoffman, who accompanied the Bloemfontein deputation to Aliwal North, replied that the natural-born subjects of the Queen of England still owed allegiance to Her Majesty, and appeared to convey the impression that they were still justified to approach the foot of the Throne of Great Britain by petition for the main- tenance of their rights and the redress of their wrongs. No doubt, at first sight, the express words in the Proclamation, "We do hereby declare and make known the abandonment and renunciation of our dominion and Sovereignty over the said territory and the inhabitants thereof," appear conclusively to decide the question put in the negative. The trite legal maxim, " The King can do no wrong," does not necessarily imply that every act of the King's Government is "of course just and lawful." Queen Victoria jirofessed by Letters Patent to confer coercive ecclesiastical jurisdiction on the Bishop of Cape- town, but the Privy Council decided that Her Majesty had not the legal power to do so, having already parted with her autho- rity to make laws for the Cape of Good Hope by having granted independent representative institutions to this Colony. Black- stone lays it down that " natural allegiance, which is due from all men born within the Sovereign's dominions immediately upon their birth, cannot be forfeited, cancelled, or altered by any change of time, place, or circumstance, nor by anything but the united concurrence of the Legislature." The late Duke of Newcastle, at the time, in a despatch to Sir George Clerk, expressly declared that an Act of Parliament would be necessary to release the former subjects of Her Majesty from their natural allegiance, but I believe it will be found, on a reference to his despatches in the Blue-book, that he hesitated to apply for such an Imperial Act of Parliament, because he believed that the inhabitants of the Orange River Territory, who were natural-born subjects of the Queen of England, would be unwilling to forego and be deprived of " the great variety of rights which they had acquired by having been born within the Queen's legiance." Of course an authoritative decision upon this point is of the utmost importance at the present moment in our relations with the Orange Free State. 143 It is true that the editor of the Friend and the other gentle- men deputed to convey to Sir Philip Wodehouse the memorials in favour of a British Federal Union, have not yet been com- mitted to prison on a charge of high treason, but it is reported that even official threats have been thrown out that they, who dared to agitate for the substitution of a Monarchical for a Republican form of Government northward cf the Orange River, shall suffer for their rash act. It would be a great con- solation to those attached to British interests in the Orange Free State to know -that, although they had been apparently abandoned by the Convention of 1854, they were in point of law still British subjects, and that the all-powerful arm of Great Britain would be raised in their defence, if they became the victims of any act of unjust tyranny for venturing to treat Her Majesty's Representative with becoming respect, and making known to him the wishes of a large number of the inhabitants of the land which was once the Sovereignty, to be again placed under the protection of the British flag. Notwithstanding Sir Philip Wodehouse has done all in his power to prevent the necessity of " keeping commandoes in the field during the winter," which must entail cost on the Free State and hard- ships on its subjects, the President seems determined not to accept the proposed armistice, and has issued " instructions to the different Landdrosts to commandeer another batch of 500 men to relieve those at present doing nothing in the field." Of course, if the burghers are British subjects, they ought to refuse to go out and fight with Her Majesty's new subjects, the Basutos, and thus it is very material to have the knotty point herein attempted to be argued finally settled. It is a matter of regret that Her Majesty's High Commissioner is not sufficiently in- structed, or the most simple plan to get rid of all difficulties would be to issue a Proclamation, similar to the Basuto Pro- clamation, declaring the Free Staters British subjects, and the Orange Free State British territory, a consummation which would be hailed with delight by all the Englishmen and Ger- mans, as well as by the Afrikander boers, who were not under the baneful influence of the anti-British Hollander party. Wednesday, May 6. COLONIST. THE RETURN OF THE GOVERNOR. SIR, The Advertiser and Mail, while it is compelled to praise Sir Philip Wodehouse for " the wonderful amount of cool self- possession, calmness of temper, and quietude of tact in all his dealings, alike with the Free State and the native tribes, ever since his departure," and to admit that " he honestly meant to deal fairly with all of them, and to settle affairs amicably on a permanent basis of peace and justice," authoritatively 144 declares that " his mission has proved beyond all question an unmitigated failure." Many will be bold enough to dispute the soundness of this conclusion, and even feel themselves justified in predicting good results to Southern Africa in consequence of His Excellency's presence at Thaba Bosigo personally to receive from Moshesh and his tribe their grateful allegiance to the Queen of England, who has been pleased to declare them subjects of Her Majesty. It cannot be denied that " nothing has been determined as to the territorial boundaries of this British annexation," but is not this the fault of the President and Volksraad rather than that of Her Majesty's High Commis- sioner ? " The civil, but short note with which the Governor bade the Free State good-bye," speaks volumes on this point. The plain English of it seems to be, even if the Duke of Buckingham should most graciously receive the deputation in Downing- street, and grant them all they want "the conquered territory," the burghers of the Free State will not be so well off, as if the equitable compromise of the Queen's Eepresenta- tive at the Cape, to sell three hundred farms in that territory with British titles, and to give the proceeds of the sale to the bankrupt exchequer of that State, had been accepted. The dictum of your contemporary, who has throughout opposed the British intervention on behalf of the Basutos, that " upon His Excellency rests the responsibility of the chronic and guerilla warfare which must still continue, and the serious inconvenience which must result to colonial merchants from the continued closing of the Free State Civil Courts," appears to be unjust, and to be founded on the fallacious assumption that the disputed territory has been conquered. I venture to think that it will be found to be the general opinion of the British party northward of the Orange Elver, which includes all the English, Germans, and many of the Afrikander Boers, that Sir Philip Wodehouse would have acted wisely if he had proclaimed at once, as the boundary between the Orange Eiver State and Basutoland, the Warden line, approved of both by Sir George Grey and himself, on the reasonable ground that " the so-called conquered territory can neither be cleared, occupied, nor governed" by the South African Trans-Orange Eepublic. It seems to me also that it is unfair towards His Excellency to charge him with the responsibility of the denial of justice to colonial creditors, when he has in his despatch to the President directly condemned the conduct of the Free State in this respect, as being an infringement of Sir George Clerk's Con- vention, and when there exists a report, to which some credence is attached, that the vote of the Volksraad declining to have anything to do with the High Commissioner, may partially be ascribed to the desire on the part of some of the representatives of the people to prevent the enforcement of civil process within the territory of the State for the recovery of just debts, as well 145 as of the claims of the Republican Government for quit-rents in arrear. Some rather loudly maintain that the statement made by Mr. Adderley in the House of Commons, proves that the annexation of Basutoland to the British Colonial Empire has been unauthorized by the Queen's Ministers, but it is diffidently submitted that Sir Philip Wodehouse is not the man to act beyond the instructions from Downing-street, and that perhaps it may turn out that the discussion on this point has not been quite fully or accurately reported. On the other hand, the Graham's Toicn Journal, with its usual practical good sense, infers from these remarks of the Under- Colonial Secretary, that if "the Volksraad were to pass a vote in favour of a return to British rule, and the majority of the people in this Colony would unite to recommend to the British Government a favourable consideration of that vote," a " ready compliance" would be given in England to the reversal of the fatal policy of the abandonment of the Sovereignty. Under existing circumstances, I care not to argue further whether the Governor has been justly or unjustly con- demned for his line of conduct, when all seem agreed that his motives were good. The address, which has been well signed in Cape Town, affords evidence that even in the Western metro- polis, so far removed from Basutoland, public opinion is not wholly against His Excellency, and the press of the Eastern Province may fairly be said to be decidedly in his favour. Swellendam also, perhaps under the influence of that public- spirited gentleman, Mr. John Joseph Barry, who is justly es- teemed a good authority on Free State matters, has joined in this address, the main purport of which may be said to be the appreciation of the good intentions of Sir Philip Wodehouse towards our former fellow- colonists beyond the Orange River, and the expression of an opinion that it would be to their real interests if the Orange Free State, together with Basutoland, were made part and parcel of Her Majesty's Colonial dominions in South Africa. I cannot refrain from making, according to my old bad custom, a quotation from the Graham's Taicn Journal on this point : " On the Free State side, events are being shaped towards the inevitable end of British supremacy. The commandoes are unpopular. Meetings are held in almost every ward for the purpose of censuring the course taken by the Volksraad in the British and Basutoland question ; and in several cases the same meetings declare in favour of a return of the State to the old allegiance. The Volksraad was about to sit in regular session, and the Friend anticipates that memorials from all sides, pro- testing against the protest and denouncing the deputation, will cover the table." This, coupled with the rumour that Mr. Advocate Hamelbcrg was not indisposed, if iinsucccssful in his L 146 mission to England to get all " the conquered territory," to demand of the British Government to resume the Sovereignty on certain terms, affords good ground for believing that there is a growing opinion within the Orange Free State itself, that the Union Jack should be again hoisted at the fort of Bloemfontein. Indeed, the Great Eastern, in allusion to Sir Walter Currie's sojourn under the Tieme, amusingly says : " The gallant Knight had not been encamped a week before the Free State Army admitted that they would rather drink his health than fight him. There appears to have been orders issued that these visits were not be kept up, but, orders or no orders, SirWalter's tent has always been full of visitors, and, if he is not out of the country before the next election takes place, we shall have to look out for another Commandant for our Mounted Police Force. They will take Sir Walter to the President's chair ' nolens volens.' " Upon the whole, then, I hope that I have succeeded in showing that the long journey of Sir Philip Wodehouse has not been so fruitless as has been represented, and, if it only pro- duces the great desideratum of the extension of British rule over the Orange Free State as well as over Basutoland, his name will long be gratefully remembered by all who have the welfare and progress of South Africa at heart. 15th May, 1868. COLONIST. THE ADDKESS TO THE GOVERNOR. SIB, Although there is not much to object to in the general tenor of your remarks in this morning's leading article, it can- not fail to strike many that you somewhat under-value the efforts so energetically made by Sir Philip Wodehouse " for giving effect to the instructions of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the reception of the Basutos as subjects of the British Crown." Some, no doubt, will join with you in regret- ting that the boundary line between the Orange Free State and Basutoland has not been permanently fixed ; but certainly those in Cape Town, who cannot help their natural sympathies with their former fellow-colonists beyond the Orange Biver preventing them from duly appreciating the good intentions of the Queen's Ministers to put an end to the Basuto war, ought not to blame His Excellency for this conciliatory act of for- bearance in not declaring the limits of the new British territory. The Advertiser and Mail repeats that the Governor "deserves not applause, but censure, for the practical encouragement he has given the Basutos to continue their systematic depredations on the Free State farmers, pending the settlement of the boundary question, which, by his own consent, has been re- ferred to the decision of the Imperial Government in England ;" but, surely, this is unjust towards His Excellency after the 147 rejection by the President and Volksraad of his reasonable offer of an armistice and a provisional line to be respected alike by the Free-Staters and the Basutos. It could hardly under the circumstances be expected that the first act of the Queen's Representative towards Her Majesty's new subjects, the Basutos, should have been their forcible expulsion from the disputed territory, of which they still hold partial possession, notwith- standing the oft-repeated assertion that it has been conquered and cleared by the Free State Army, particularly as it would be difficult to procure for them a suitable habitation without some inconvenience to the neighbouring Colonies of the Cape and Natal. It seems to me, however, that Sir Philip Wode- house does not stand in need of any advocate to defend him against the accusation of your contemporary, so persistent in condemning him, and that the subjoined extract from his des- patch of the 14th of April to His Honour the President, cannot fail to secure the verdict of public opinion in his favour : I shall be very glad to find myself in a position to enforce upon the Basutos the absolute necessity of abstaining from all depredations, to see the country open and safe for all peaceable individuals, and to witness the revival of commerce throughout these regions ; at the same time, I see no prospect of obtaining these benefits, while the Basutos have before them the spectacle of a hostile camp at the Tieme, in the midst of their most valued possessions. And it is in the hope that your Government, participating in my desire for tranquillity, and recognising the cost and hardships which will be entailed on the State and its subjects, by keeping commandoes in the field during the winter, will be prepared to entertain the following pro- posal, which I make upon the express understanding that its acceptance shall not operate to the prejudice of any representations which it is intended to submit to Her Majesty's Government in opposition to my views. I have to propose. . . . With this temporary arrangement I believe that acts of violence and dishonesty could be effectually checked. While I am glad to see that you " cordially endorse the address to the Governor," and think you right in saying that it was intended " not simply in the light of a personal compli- ment to His Excellency," but also "as a manifesto of the views which those who sign it entertain in regard to the Free State itself," you must forgive me for suggesting that you are rather unjust towards " the framers of the address" in the forced construction you put upon its last paragraph. They could scarcely be ignorant that, if " the British Standard is to be hoisted in Bloemfontein as wellasinThabaBosigo," the peo- ple of the Free State must take the initiative in "the expression of the general will" in favour of this happy event ; but, as memorials praying for " the extension of British rule to that unhappy land of chronic war and insolvency" had been already presented to Her Majesty's High Commissioner at Aliwal North, and the prospect of further agitation in this direction within the Free State itself was not very remote, and as also Sir Philip Wodehouse had been at the Cape for more than six years, the period usually allotted to Colonial Governors, and there was a L 2 148 rumour that he is not to remain here much longer, they desired to express the opinion that his being instrumental, before he ceased to be Governor of this Colony, in the annexation of the Orange Free State to the British Colonial Empire, would not be inconsistent with his " useful and honourable career in South Africa." Whatever fault, however, may be found with the sentiments or language of the address, it is thought that few will regret having signed it, if it be only on the account that it has elicited so good a reply. This clear and conciliatory document, while it will encourage the British party within the Orange Free State to join with the colonists of the Cape and Natal in agitation for the xpceihj reversal of the short-sighted and mischievous policy which severed the Free State from this Colony, must also convince the people of that State that Sir Philip Wodehouse is really sincere in endeavouring to obtain for them, through the medium of the British intervention, " a substantial return for the exertions they have made, and the .losses they have sustained during this melancholy strife with the Basutos." The Vollixblad may, perhaps, be disappointed in observing that the alleged " palpable mis-statements" of this address have been endorsed by Mr. Frank Eeitz at Swellendam, and regret that the signatures to this " verbose document" of so many respec- table Dutch farmers, who have relations and friends northward of the Orange Eiver, are calculated to remove the prejudice which unfortunately exists in the minds of the majority of the Boers against the Queen's representative " for having meddled in the Free State and Basuto quarrel at the time he did ;" but the more the Basuto difficulty is discussed the more will it appear that Sir Philip Wodehouse has reason, justice, and equity on his side. Some clamour loudly against the employ- ment of the colonial forces the Mounted Frontier Police in Basutoland, and it is to be feared that the complaint will be re-echoed within the walls of Parliament ; but may it not be fairly argued that, when the police could be moved at little or no expense, without danger to the security of the property of the district they left, it would have been unwise and inexpedient at a moment when it is not yet quite decided whether the Queen's troops are to be removed from the shores of South Africa or not, to have drawn too largely upon the Imperial Military chest ; and also that Sir Walter Currie and Mr. Bowker, who naturally sympathise with the Burghers, were less likely to come to extremities in the discharge of the delicate duty of protecting Moshesh and his tribe in the so-called " conquered" territory than British officers eager for an oppor- tunity of proving the military prowess and discipline of the troops under their command ? The hospitality of the popular Commandant in his tent under the Tieme may have been exaggerated by the Great Eastew, but there is clearly no fear of 149 any hostile collision between the Boers and the Police. It remains to be seen whether the reported movement in the Volksraad to rescind their absurd resolution not to treat with Her Majesty's High Commissioner at the Cape, has been successful ; but it would not be very surprising, after the tone and tenor of Mr. President Brand's last despatch, to find that the Anjits is right in predicting " that the Government of the Free State already repents of the obstinacy with which it has refused to enter into negotiations with the Governor for the settlement of the Basuto difficulty ;" and if this be so, the day is not far distant when British rule will be extended over the Orange Free State as well as over Basutoland. Saturday, 16th May. COLONIST. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. SIR, Although it may be gathered from the general scope and tenor of your leading article of this morning, that you intend to express approval of the speech of the Governor at the opening of the last session of the third Cape Parliament, which, if report speak truly, was well received by all parties, you rather unjustly withhold praise "from the concluding portion of the address which relates to the Basuto question." While you cannot condemn its spirit you seem to suggest that it is wanting in substance. I venture to submit that many will dissent from your idea " that the gist of his statement is to be found in his promise to produce the instructions on which he has acted and the subsequent correspondence," and experience no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that there is quite sufficient material information within the four corners of this statesmanlike document to justify the formation and record- ing of an earnest opinion that Sir Philip Wodehouse has well performed his duty in the endeavour "to give full effect to the benevolent intentions of the Government of Her Majesty." How can the blue-book throw much light upon this subject, when we already know that Her Majesty's Ministers " have come to the conclusion that the peace and welfare of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa would be best promoted by accepting the overtures made by Moshesh towards being received under the authority of the Queen, and that they left to the discretion of Sir Philip the time and manner of accom- plishing the measure, and the terms on which he should com- municate on the subject with the Free State, which they supposed would be glad to see a new order of things, calculated to give them freedom from the depredations of the Basutos ?" Can any one now doubt that there is no foundation for the out- cry which has been raised in Cape Town, grounded on the reported statement of Mr. Adderley in the House of Commons, 150 that His Excellency has exceeded his instructions from Down- ing- street ? The Argus aptly remarks: "The speech wound up by a reference to the annexation of Basutoland and the negotiations with Mr. Brand, made in singular good taste ;" and it is thought that this opinion will find very many ad- herents, not only in the colonies of the Cape and Natal, hut within the Orange Free State itself. I have before attempted to combat the arguments of that portion of the Cape Town press, which contends that " the mission of the Governor to Aliwal North and Basutoland has been an unmitigated failure ;" and I confidently submit to your readers that the part of his speech which sums up the " reasons for being content with the results of his recent journey," more than corroborates my view of the case. The Governor also graphically, but in a con- ciliatory tone, describes " the evils of the delay which must in- evitably result" from the Government of the Free State having sent a protest to England, instead of negotiating with him on the spot ; and, notwithstanding the contempt with which he has been treated by the Volksraad, declares his " willingness to proceed with the necessary negotiations." I, for one, cannot help expressing regret that " this utterance from the guber- natorial chair" had not been delivered at an earlier period, so as to have been before the Council of the Free State in the recent debate, when perhaps it might have had the good effect of the new proposals for negotiation with His Excellency in Cape Town having been submitted in a more reasonable shape. The report of the debate on the 6th of this month, which was received by to-day's post, is most interesting, inasmuch as it affords convincing evidence that there is a strong reaction of feeling northward of the Orange Eiver in favour of British in- tervention for the piirpose of restoring peace to South Africa. Dr. Neebe puts the case in a nut-shell when he says: " The welfare, nay, the very existence of the State, depends upon en- tering into amicable arrangements with the British Government. I therefore urge that we should meet His Excellency. We must make the best of our bad case. Where are we to get the money to continue our ruinous course any longer ? It is perfect folly to talk about our honour, and in the meantime ruin the country." It is true that Mr. President Brand sticks to his text that "the conquered territory" has been cleared of Basutos, and strongly argues in support of sending a deputation to England ; but it will strike many who are anxious that British rule should be extended to the Orange Free State, that the an- nexed extract from one of his reported speeches is very signifi- cant at the present moment : ^ Even if a portion or the whole of the public iccre opposed to a deputation being sent, and in favour of the Governor beiin/ met, it would be our duty to act ayainst Ute public, if this be most advisable. As far as he understood, the spirit of the people was for a protest and deputation being sent. TfV 151 cannot obtain gunpowder, but we have enough to carry on a years' icar." I confess my total ignorance of the constitution of the Volksraad, but if it be, as I have heard stated, of a permanent nature, so as not altogether clearly to reflect the present opinions of the people of the Orange Free State, some will think that Her Majesty's High Commissioner ought not to be too scrupulous about receiving the respectful petitions of the subjects of the Queen of England beyond the Orange Eiver, who have not yet been legally deprived of their natural allegiance, except through the official channel of the Free State Parliament. Doubtless, it is often in good taste to exclude politics from public dinners, but the fact of the toast of Sir Philip Wodehouse having been proposed at the President's dinner by the mover of the resolution in the Volksraad, which so strongly denounced Sir Philip's line of conduct, does convey to my mind an impres- sion that the Queen's representative is not after all so very un- popular within the Orange Free State. This also reminds me to advert to a statement made by the Volksblad the other day, "on the best authority," "that the courtesy and cordiality with which His Excellency was received at different country town>;, stood in no connection with his intended policy in reference to the Basuto question," and in contradiction of this erroneous assumption, to refer your readers to the sensible address, which appeared in the An/us, from the leading men of the Dutch-speaking community of the division of Albert, which expressly recognizes in terms of approval the efforts of Her Majesty's High Commissioner to settle on a permanent peaceful basis the relations between the Boers and the Basutos. It is often easy to indulge in criticism, even when it is undeserved, and I may perhaps lay myself open to censure on the present occasion ; but I cannot help remarking that the " weak point" of the Governor's address seems to rue to be his laboured justification of the employment of the Frontier Police. Surely it needed no argument to prove that " the reception of the Basutos as British subjects," so essential for the future peace of South Africa, was a " colonial question." The absence also of any hostile collision between Sir Walter Currie and the Free State commandoes in the conquered territory, speaks for itself in favour of British troops not having been marched to the Orange Eiver, and, when the Mother Country has so long been, and still is generous towards the Cape of Good Hope in affording military aid, it can hardly be expected that the representatives of the Cape people would grudge some trifling colonial expenditure even upon an "Impe- rial question." While I generally approve of the remarks of the An/us upon this speech, I cannot admit the soundness of its conclusion that, because His Excellency was silent "with regard to the resumption of the Sovereignty," that therefore there is to be "no Parliamentary discussion on the question." 152 It seems to me that the Eastern Province especially will be grievously disappointed if there be not a debate this session as to the justice and expediency of speedily annexing the Orange Free State as well as Basutoland to the British Colonial Empire. 21st May, 1868. COLONIST. THE GOVERNOR'S SPEECH. SIB, In my last letter I presumed to question the soundness of your criticism on that part of the speech of the Governor which referred to the recent "transactions which have taken place between the President of the Orange Free State, the Basuto Chief Moshesh, and himself," and I attempted to argue that enough had been already disclosed to raise a fair discussion upon the merits of the conduct of Her Majesty's High Commis- sioner in this important matter, without the need of further information from Blue-books. The subject is involved in no great mystery. The Queen's Ministers resolved to put an end to the wretched war between the Boers and the Basutos, not only, perhaps, for the purpose of pleasing Emperor Napoleon, who pleaded the cause of " the deserving French missionaries," but also in order to maintain the consistency of Great Britain in her treatment of the aboriginal tribes of South Africa ; and they came to the conclusion that the only way to attain the desired end was the conversion of Moshesh and his tribe, at their own request, into British subjects. They left entirely to the discretion of their accredited agent at the Cape "the time and manner" of making the necessary arrangements, and, so far from anticipating any opposition to the accomplishment of their peaceful purpose, they fully expected that the Orange Free State would, to repeat the words of the Governor's Speech, " be glad to see a new order of things, calculated to give them freedom from the depredations of the Basutos." The foolish perverseness of the President and Volksraad, in declining to meet the Queen's Kepresentative at Aliwal North, in order to settle the boundary line of Basutoland, is the sole cause of the difficulty, which may, however, now soon be dissipated, if the people of the Orange Free State will only induce their repre- sentatives to retrace the false step they have taken, and rely upon the earnest assurance of His Excellency, that " he looks forward to the day when he may yet have an opportunity in negotiation of satisfying the Government of the State of the sincerity of his feelings for them." In the first "hurried notice" of the concluding portion of the address which relates to the Basuto question, at the opening of Parliament, you merely intimated your opinion that " it did not say much," but in your leading article of this morning, penned after mature 153 reflection, you carry your censure much farther, when you assert, that you "are very certain that what the thoughts of the Governor are upon the Basuto question are not conveyed by the language of the Speech." You must forgive me for venturing to make the remark, that some of the readers of the Standard will deem it rather inconsistent, after your having on more than one occasion imputed to Sir Philip "VVodehouse a want of diplomatic tact, now to compare him either with a Metternich or a Talleyrand, for it certainly is a libel upon Lord Brougham to charge him with having said that "language was given to statesmen to conceal their thoughts." There will be many, I think, who will conscientiously differ from you on this point, and fail to discover any ambiguity in the language of Sir Philip Wodehouse on this or any other occasion, and who will most willingly give him credit for the sincerity of his able speech, which happily concludes with the declaration that he " shall be most glad to be instrumental in giving full effect to the benevolent intentions of the Govern- ment of Her Majesty" towards both the combatants in this long protracted and fruitless war the Burghers and the Basu- tos. In my last letter I also gave utterance to the idea that His Excellency had entered into too laboured a vindication of himself for having employed the Frontier Police upon a " colo- nial question," which clearly, as he says, " has a more impor- tant bearing on the interests of these countries than anything that is now passing around us," but I find that you seem this morning to advance the argument that the furtherance of " the cause of civilization and Christianity" is " entirely and dis- tinctly" a matter of "Imperial policy," in which, according to your view at least, the colonists of the Cape of Good Hope have no concern, and about which they ought to be indifferent. I confess that I cannot go along with you in this mode of reason- ing, and sincerely hope that all the representatives of the people of this Colony, who are not prepared to sacrifice at the shrine of Retrenchment all other considerations affecting the future progress and prosperity of South Africa, will adopt the more just and liberal opinion of Sir Philip Wodehouse that " the reception of the Basutos as British subjects" is an " Imperial question," " mainly, almost exclusively, because it is a colonial one," and that they will act accordingly. Looking at the ques- tion through an economical medium in a colonial point of view, you say, " The Parliament can hardly take action in a matter in which it is only indirectly concerned, and, although its police may have attended as an escort to the Governor, the military force and the strong arm of Great Britain will defend the terri- tory the Imperial Government has taken under its protection." Is this judgment altogether sound ? May it not be argued that, after the experience of the case of British Kaffraria, it can hardly be expected that Basutoland, as British territory, can 154 long remain under the separate, absolute, and distinct Govern- ment of Her Majesty's High Commissioner ? Would it not then be prudent for the Cape Parliament to be wise in time, and propose some equitable terms to the Imperial Government with respect to the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape ? If Natal were so anxious to gain the prize of the rich lands of Moshesh and his tribe, why should not the Cape put in a claim for them, particularly as it may be fairly inferred, from the Governor's Speech, that "there are ample means" within Basutoland to " support a system of Government suitable to the condition of the people of that country?" The production in Parliament of the instructions on which the Governor has acted, and the subsequent correspondence " for information only," will not affect much good, unless it lead to a debate in both Houses opening up the whole question of the further extension of British rule northward of the Orange Eiver. British-born subjects within the Free State have already very properly refused to take up arms against the new subjects of their lawful Queen, but, if the Free State Government dare to punish them for disobedience to the commando law, will the British Government demand reparation, or organize a military expedition for the rescue of the citizens of the South African Eepublic ? The most simple and practical solution of the serious complications which may arise out of this difficult and puzzling question, is the hauling down all Republican flags in this part of Africa, and the hoisting up of the Union Jack in their stead. Sir Philip Wodehouse, who unhesitatingly has declared his opinion " that the severance from this Colony of the Free State was a misfortune for both communities," is right perhaps in saying that " a proposal for their re-union must manifestly emanate from the people of the Free State, and must take the form of an unmistakable expression of the general will ;" but, under the circumstances, in order to counteract the influence of the Hollander party beyond the Orange Eiver, it is again submitted that there ought to be some decided expression of public opinion at the Cape, both within and without the walls of Parliament, to encourage the British party within the Free State to take the initiative in agitating for the resump- tion of the Sovereignty by Queen Victoria. Saturday, 23rd May, 1868. COLONIST. THE ANNEXATION or THE OKANGE FREE STATE. SIE, As a sort of set-off to the arguments with which a portion of the Cape Town press has laboured in endeavouring to prove that the long journey of Sir Philip Wodehouse to and from Basutoland has been entirely fruitless, and that his mission of peace was " an unmitigated failure," I cannot 155 refrain, even at the risk of again exposing myself to ridicule in the columns of your contemporaries on account of my invete- rate habit of making copious extracts from the newspapers of the Eastern Province, from quoting almost in toto the leading article from the Somerset and Bedford Courant, which cannot, I think, fail at the present moment to be interesting to your numerous readers in the country districts : Without stopping to inquire for what purpose His Excellency left Cape Town for Thaba Bosigo, these good people cry out " Failure unutterable." This may be all very well as a stroke of party policy. It may suit a certain class of writers to go hap-hazard against His Excellency, that they may satisfy the particular weaknesses of a few of their readers ; but what is the real case ? In the first case, His Excellency never intended to annex the Free State ; in the second, he did intend to annex Basutoland ; and in the third, annexation was not his work at all, as he acted in accordance with the text of his instructions. The party who most strongly opposed the Governor will have most cause to regret that opposition. The blundering obstinacy of the Happy Family at Bloemfontein is the very best point in His Excellency's case, should he recommend the renewal of British protec- tion to the Free State. His Excellency can justly say, " I went to the spot ; I met the Chief ; I wanted to meet the President ; the former complied ; the latter, in opposition to the wish of, I am sure, a majority of his people, refused ; I want the power to compel either discussion or annexation." The Home Government is not slow in supporting those of its servants who may be deemed worthy of support, and we have had several causes of late to lead us to believe that Sir P. E. Wodehouse stands well with the authorities at Downing-street. His Excellency said that federation seemed impracticable, but he did not express his views upon the annexation of the Free State. He is far too wary a diplomatist for that. But His Excellency invariably judges popular feeling aright, and if the current of opinion three months back may have halted before it reached annexation, and split on federation rocks, it assuredly does not do so now. For annexation, pure and simple, there is a general outcry rising. We detect its first symptoms in the addresses pre- sented from the Western Province towns, in the tone of the press of the Colony, and in the actions of the Free Staters themselves. The Friend takes up the subject con amore as a friend should and there can be no doubt that it represents the intelligence of the country. . . . We shall not defend the Basutos for their actions, although we certainly will express a belief that it is more than probable that a considerable portion of the stock they have " stolen" is as much their own as De Klerk's or any one else's. But the Governor has done something. The Boers followed up the spoor of the missing stock, and traced it over the boundary but no farther. Then there was a dead halt ; the circumstance were reported to the President, who does not send a commando to punish the " lifters," or take one of his Arm- strongs to the front, or " demand satisfaction" in due form, of Moshesh, but writes to the Governor. What would Mr. Brand have done had this happened a few months back ? There would have been a pot-valiant, spitfire, bombastical hullaballoo. A force would have marched into Basutoland Proper, as some people call the country beyond the '66 line, cattle would have been taken in hundreds, some half-dozen of Moshesh's people would have been shot, and a great Free State victory would have been announced, and President Brand would have led off the Old Hundredth, while his "dear friends" divided the spoil. But there is now none of this delightful excite- ment. The President simply writes to the Governor. But the only party in the State whose word is worth the breath, cries, " We are not free." That party, a minority in present power, but a majority in intelligence, connot " free" the State. The Home Government alone can do that, and the Home Government will be in the main moved by what may reach it from South Africa. We think therefore the time has come when those who 156 desire annexation should give vent to their complaints against the present disastrous mismanagement of Free State affairs. His Excellency was equal to his late mission, but there is a power at his back the force of which was not brought to bear, rather from reticence, than dubiousness. True, the Free State question is not one that should go to the country, as the common term is, but it is one upon which both the Colony and the State are compe- tent to speak. And now is the time to do it. When we see men differing BO widely upon other subjects, writing so cordially on this, the great question of the day for us, we cannot shut our eyes to the growing conviction that Messrs. Ho well, Barlow, White, and their friends have justice with them. And if His Excellency support the prayer for annexation, he will do " some- thing" besides what he has already done. We hardly entertain the conjecture that he will oppose it. He has not travelled the length and breadth of South African civilisation blindfold, nor, once convinced, will he willingly retract. A careful perusal of the late debate in the Volksraad will, it is thought, lead many to the conclusion that the reply, as reported, of Mr. Adderley to Mr. Miller's question in the House of Commons, which has been alleged to be ambiguous in meaning, and upon which it has been plausibly although erroneously argued by the opponents of the British intervention for the purpose of putting an end to the Basuto war, that Her Majesty's High Commissioner has exceeded his authority, has had the effect of "reviving the hopes of the Hollanders and Mr. President Brand," and has prevented the rescinding of the original resolution of sending a deputation to England, which, it is now said, will be in Cape Town in time to take departure by the mail-steamer on the 19th of June. A copy of the protest has been at last forwarded to His Excellency, and may perhaps be published in the promised bluebook, but if it be con- fined to the two alleged breaches of Sir George Clerk's convention, viz., the reception of the Basutos as British subjects, and the stoppage of the supply of ammunition by Sir Philip Wodehoiise, it cannot have the effect of changing the wise determination of the Queen's Ministers to restore peace to South Africa, by granting the oft-repeated prayer of Moshesh. As the main purpose of this visit to England, however, of the two delegates of the Volksraad is to complain of the extension of British influence northward of the Orange Eiver, ought not the colonists of the Cape and Natal, not only on account of their own interests, but also for the benefit of the Orange Free State itself, to take some action in the contrary direction, so that the land which was once the Sovereignty, may, in common with Basutoland, be again subject to British rule under the " wide folds of the flag of England ?" Thursday, 28th May, 1868. COLONIST. BRITISH RULE FOB SOUTH AFRICA. SIR, Your sub-leader of this morning, which brings to pro- minent notice the fact that Moselikatse, the chief in whose 157 dominions the South African gold-fields are situated, has in- timated his anxiety to become a British subject, and which also directs attention to the alleged cruel treatment of natives, and even the existence of slavery in the Transvaal regions, seems eminently calculated to excite the sympathy of Great Britain with the agitation already commenced within the Colonies of the Cape and Natal, as well as the Orange Free and Transvaal States, in favour of substituting the regal sway of Queen Vic- toria for the Eepublican Governments now in existence beyond the Orange and Vaal Eivers. A propos to the subject of annexa- tion, which, as you rightly say, is now " being taken up on all sides," I must ask permission to transfer to your columns two pertinent extracts from an able letter, evidently from the pen of an old Cape colonist and traveller, which appears in the London Standard newspaper of the llth of April last, received by to- day's mail-steamer : The abandonment of the Vaal Eiver country, under a degrading treaty, was a disgrace to Great Britain, and that the abandonment of the Orange Eiver Sovereignty was a fearful evil, could be proved by the misery and anarchy consequent thereon, at which any one possessed of a spirit of humanity must shudder The ill-advised abandonment of the ceded territory led to the expenditure of millions of money, and the sur- render of territory to republicans on our border was inexplicable to the aborigines in our neighbourhood, and led to the extinction of many tribes. Anybody who has read the history of the Cape Colony must be convinced how much the colonists were opposed to such a step ; but this opposition was all in vain, for Sir George Clerk carried out the scheme with a deter- mination worthier of a better cause. And again : Independent of the tribes already enumerated, we have on the border the so-called republics retarding trade and civilization. Having said thus much, it may be naturally asked, what is to be the remedy for the evils arising from heterogeneous masses of races under separate governments ? I em- phatically reply a federal union or general confederacy under the flag of our beloved Sovereign. When this has been formed, and then only, under a good Providence, will the southern promontory of Africa flourish, and the riches of her soil be brought to light, consisting as they do of various, both useful and valuable, minerals. Then, too, only will an end be put for ever to the burden which her South African colonies have been to the mother country ; and, on the contrary, by their wool, wine, and other products they will largely contribute to the commerce of the United Kingdom. The writer in England of this letter, in which the arguments in justification of the course pursued by Her Majesty's Minis- ters in granting " the exceptional concession to the Cape of Good Hope" with respect to the military defence of the Colony are very clearly put forward, adds the following postscript, which needs no comment beyond the sincere expression of a wish that he may be proved to be right in his reasonable antici- pations : Simultaneously with the closing of the preceding writing, a steamer arrives from the Cape bringing the important intelligence of the annexation of Basutoland to the Colony by Sir Philip E. Wodehouse, with the concur- rence of Her Majesty's Government, and staying the suicidal war between 158 the Basutos and the inhabitants of the Free State. This step I sincerely trust is a prelude to sundry annexations and the general confederacy. I have, with every well-wisher of South Africa, long contended for unity with a prosperous future. Although, however, there is not much difference of opinion as to the justice and expediency of the resumption of the Sovereignty by the Queen of England, it is to be feared that, unless the people of the Free State take the initiative in urging, through the medium of the Cape Parliament, their desire to be placed under the protection of the British flag, the Home Government will not take much trouble on their behalf. The British-Basuto Protectorate was forced upon Her Majesty's Ministers at the earnest entreaty of the Chief Moshesh, and it was wise on their part to intervene for the preservation of the general peace in South Africa ; but, unless the subjects of Her Majesty beyond the Orange Eiver shake off the trammels of the Hollander influence, and speak out decidedly in favour of British rule, it may be some time yet before the flag of Eng- land waves at the fort of Bloemfontein. It is to be hoped, then, that the Orange Free State will soon take the hint of Sir Philip Wodehouse, and " give expression in some unmistakable form to the general will" in favour of its re-annexation to the British Colonial Empire, and that the colonists of the Cape and Natal will not be backward in sympathizing with and sup- porting their former fellow-colonists in their struggle for a change of dynasty and a complete return to their natural alle- giance to the British Crown. Saturday, 30th May, 1868. AFRICANUS. THE ANNEXATION OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. SIR,- The congratulatory address to Sir Philip Wodehouse on his return to Cape Town from Basutoland, which was intended not only as a well-merited compliment to the High Commissioner in carrying out the good intentions of Her Majesty's Government to restore peace to South Africa, but also as an expression of public opinion in favour of the re-annex- ation of the Orange Free State to the British Colonial Empire, has received the signatures of many Dutch-speaking farmers, who have relations within the Free State, and is generally approved of by the Eastern Province press. The Graham's Town Journal says " that it is a very excellent address one to which the great majority of the colonists in these parts would very gladly sign their names." In commenting upon it, the editor further writes : It is not the English alone who see in the annexation of Basutoland the best remedy, if not an infallibly perfect one, for the evils the State suffers from. The Dutch see this quite as clearly, and make no secret of their approbation. We do not say that this opinion is universal. But we do 159 say that it is tbe opinion of the majority. We know what is thought of the case on the frontier. The addresses from Aliwal North, Colesberg, Burghersdorp, town and district, Graaff-Reinet, Murraysburg, Victoria West, and Swellendam show what the prevalent opinion is in the interior districts, both Eastern and Western ; while the Cape Town address speaks the mind of the capital. The Friend, we repeat, should give the news of the Colony expression through its columns. The people of the State would also see from these addresses of the Cape people that they are anxious for a reunion wjth their brethren over the Orange. They would see too that this anxiety is in no sense akin to a lust for conquest, or a mere extension of territory, and increase of power, but a desire after an honest union for mutual advantage. The Great Eastern concludes a leading article, in which it warmly approves of the Governor's policy throughout with regard to the Basuto question, and quotes at length and praises the address, with the subjoined passage : We join with them most cordially in the hope that His Excellency may be instrumental in the annexation of the Free State. If Sir Philip Wode- house can effect that, he may well be forgiven for all sins of omission and commission with which he has been charged by the parties in conflict in the colony. The Port Elizabeth Telegraph, in allusion to the clear coin- cidence of opinion between His Excellency and the gentlemen who had appended their names to the document to which he was penning an answer, namely, " that the severance of the Free State from this Colony was a misfortune for both com- munities," writes as follows : The proper course, therefore, for the annexationists in the Free State to adopt is, first, to cast their eyes about them for a pro-annexation candidate for the next presidency, and having secured his election in succession to Mr. Brand, to endeavour to procure a declaration from the Volksraad in favour of the incorporation of the Free State with this Colony on a federal basis, and then to obtain sympathetic petitions from the Burghers, and so be in a position to approach the British Government with a request for reunion that shall at least be entitled to receive its most careful and respectful con- sideration. Notwithstanding his reticence upon that point, we may be pardoned if we cherish the expectation of finding in His Excellency's later correspondence with the British Government some reference to a question that must necessarily, we should imagine, have forced itself upon his attention during his journey to and from Thaba Bosigo ; the more so since he cannot have failed to notice the anxiety felt in most of the colonial towns and districts through which he travelled that one of the results of his intervention in Transgariepian affairs might be that a way for the ultimate re-union of the Free State with this Colony might be opened up. We earnestly call upon the pro-annexationistn in the Free State to be up and doing. They admit, what all true friends of their country have long since felt, that there can be no real that is, permanent security for life or pro- perty in any part of the Free State while it continues a separate territory. Such being the case, it behoves them to make an united and determined effort to procure the annexation of their fine country to this Colony. Cape colonists, at least the thinking portion of them, desire that they should at once take the initiative in this important matter, and, if necessary, they may rely on every possible assistance being afforded them from this side of the Orange Biver. Some attempt haa been made in Cape Town to show that Sir Philip Wodehouse has been " despotic and tyrannical" in 160 his mode of converting the Basutos into British subjects, but the Graajf-Reinet Herald seems to me conclusively to answer this when it says : The Free State would neither have the profits arising from tho sale of 400 farms on the Caledon, sold under British titles, nor accept a provisional boundary line pending the appeal to the Throne. They would have nothing but a persistence in a foolish and wasteful war, which it was well proved they had no power to terminate. If ever there was a case for arbitrary interference, surely this was one. But the intervention (for it 'was nothing more) never was arbitrary. From first to last, it was conciliatory. In its terms it respected Free State rights, and desired to negotiate on a fair repre- sentation of Free State claims. Such negotiation the Free State Govern- ment considered to be degrading to its dignity, and would not consent to. Whatever difference of opinion, however, there may exist as to the inconsistency of the Volksraad in declining to treat with the Queen's Eepresentative on the spot as to the boundary liiie of the new British territory, it may be taken for granted, with- out argument, that the annexation of Basutoland, if it be not a stepping-stone to the further annexation of the Orange Free State, will only be a half-measure, and involve the British Government in serious complications on questions affecting the rights and duties of British subjects northward of the Orange Eiver. Indeed, much of the opposition to the hoisting of the flag of England at the mountain of the Chief Moshesh Thaba Bosigo may be ascribed to the fact that it was not simulta- neously hoisted on the fort at Bloemfonteiu. The Free Staters did not relish the idea of " being left out in the cold," while the Basutos were admitted into the family of British Colonists. It is to be hoped, then, that the Free State deputation will not succeed in prevailing upon His Grace the Duke of Buckingham to recall his wise resolution to make the Basutos British sub- jects, but that he will go further in the same direction, and confer the like boon upon the inhabitants of the Orange Free State. Your readers will observe that Mr. President Brand is reported to have said in the debate in the Volksraad, on the 18th of last month, " There is still time for the deputation to go, for it appears that no certain instructions icere sent from England to Sir Philip Wodelwuse to accept Moshesh and his tribe as British subjects. If delay took place in the deputation not reaching Cape Town for the 4th of June steamer, they might take advan- tage of the delay by meeting the members of the Cape Parlia- ment, and perusing the blue-books containing the correspon- dence between the Governor and Moshesh. He himself was curious to learn the nature of this correspondence." Upon this, it has occurred to me to suggest that, perhaps after all it is not very improbable that the Rev. Mr. Vandewall and his companion will not reach Downing-street, for when they find from the inspection of the bluebooks, that the Governor, in his speech at the opening of Parliament, gave an accurate 161 view of the purport of his instructions, under which he has acted, when he stated that " Her Majesty's Government had conie to the conclusion that the peace and welfare of Her Majesty's possessions in South Africa would be best promoted by accepting the overtures made by the Chief Moshesh towards being received under the authority of the Queen, and that they left to his discretion the time and manner of accomplishing the measure, and the terms on which he should communicate on the subject with the Free State, which they supposed would be glad to see a new order of things, calculated to give them freedom from the depredations of the Basutos," they will make the best of their way back to Bloemfontein, and endeavour to persuade the President and Volksraad to come to terms with Her Majesty's High Commissioner on the only material point at issue what extent of the so-called " conquered territory" shall be annexed to the Orange Free State. The Governor, not only in his replies to the addresses, but in his speech to the assembled Cape Parliament, reiterates his anxiety and willingness to "proceed with the necessary negotiation;" and, if the Free State consults its interests, it will at once give up further pro- ceedings on the protest, and endeavour to make out an equit- able claim for as much land as possible, if not by right of conquest, by cession of Moshesh under the terms of the treaty of Thaba Bosigo. Wednesday, 3rd June, 1868. COLONIST. THE ANNEXATION OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE. SIR, It is as I anticipated ; the Blue-book relative to the reception of the Basuto nation as British subjects has not thrown much new light on the question, and certainly does not support the conclusion, nor gratify the wish of those who so eagerly caught at Mr. Adderley's ambiguous statement in the House of Commons, as proving beyond doubt that Her Majesty's High Commissioner at the Cape had greatly exceeded his in- structions. The Advertiser and Mail, while it actually recommends the Free State Government at once to accept the last proposal of Sir Philip Wodehouse, and thus show signs of beginning to relent in its opposition to the British Basuto Protectorate, complains " that the settlement of the boundaries between the Free Si.ate and Basutoland, instead of being an integral part of the arrangement, is now as undetermined as ever." But is it just to lay the blame, which fairly attaches to the President and Volksraad, upon the Governor ? It will be recollected that at the time His Excellency incurred public censure for not being more prompt in action, and delaying the issuing of the pro- clamation declaring the Basutos British subjects which, when M 162 it did make its appearance in the (Jocernment (jazette, imme- diately produced the salutary and much desired effect of staying hostilities ou the part of the Free State army. Can anyone doubt that, if Mr. President Brand's reply to the first despatch, in which Sir Philip Wodehouse said, " I most earnestly hope that this communication may have the effect of inducing your Government to suspend hostilities with those who are now, in all probability, about to became the subjects of a Power actuated by the most friendly sentiments towards the Free State, and whose endeavour it will be, in carrying into effect this measure, to give the fullest consideration to the just claims of that State, and to take every precaution against the renewal of those dis- orders on the border which have led to such repeated com- plaints and have ultimately caused the present war," had beer favourable, and the white flag of truce, which Moshesh proffered, had been respected, His Excellency would have deferred the formal promulgation of Basutoland as British territory, until he had been enabled by negotiation with some person, duly authorized by the Volksraad, accurately to define its proper limits ? The Duke of Buckingham states in his despatch to the Governor : I am glad that the prolongation of your term of Government enables me to entrust the negotiation of this matter to you, as you have given so much attention to the position and to the relations of the native tribes, and I trust that it may be in your power to effect an arrangement which will con- duce to the advantage of British interests in South Africa, to the good of the native tribes concerned, and above all, to the preservation of peace. May it not be inferred from this, that the speedy termination of the wretched war between the Boers and the Basutos was the main reason of Her Majesty's Government having come to the conclusion of accepting the " repeated offers made by the Chief Moshesh, that he and his people, with their territory, should be received under the authority of the Queen?" It is true that the majority of the Volksraad, under the joint influence of the lawyers, Mr. President Brand and Mr. Advocate Hamel- berg, have protested against the recognition of the Basutos as British subjects, on the ground that it is an infringement of the second article of Sir George Clerk's Convention, which dis- claims " any wish or intention on the part of Her Majesty to enter into any treaties to the north of the Orange Eiver, which may be injurious or prejudicial to the Orange Eiver Government ;" but this point has already been decided by the British Govern- ment against the Free State, and will not, I think, bear argu- ment. When, therefore, Sir Philip Wodehouse, baffled in his earnest attempt to make " the settlement of the boundaries" of the new British territory " an integral part of the arrangement" for accepting the overtures of Moshesh, which had been left to his discretion, found that his appeal for the suspension of hos- tilities between the Free State and the Basutos had been made in vain, and that the war was being prosecuted with vigour, 163 how could he act otherwise than at once make the formal an- nouncement that the shield of British protection had been thrown over Moshesh and his tribe, and show his determination to carry out the good intentions of Her Majesty's Government to restore peace to South Africa ? Whatever fault, however, may be found by others in Cape Town with the modus operandi of the High Commissioner in this matter, I care not further to dwell upon the vindication of his conduct, which has already received so largely the verdict of public opinion in the country districts in its favour ; but I am content to take the annexation of Basutolaud to the British Colonial Empire as an accomplished fact, not likely to be in any degree disturbed by the efforts in England of the delegates of the Volksraad, and to argue upon its probable result in the reversal of the policy of the abandonment of the Sovereignty, in which both the Colony and the Free State are alike deeply interested. It would seem that the Advertiser and Mail rather exults that the Blue-book does not touch upon " the ultimate annexation of the Free State to the Colony," but, although it somewhat rashly assumes " that the Imperial Government have never dreamt of it at all," it is confidently submitted that the further extension of British rule northward of the Orange Eiver cannot fail to command the favourable consideration of the Queen's Ministers, evidently alive to the advancement of British interests in South Africa, if proper representations from the Colonies of the Cape and Natal, as well as from the Orange Free State, be only made on the subject. The Natal press generally, I am glad to find, supports the annexation of Basuto- land to Her Majesty's colonial dominions as a stepping-stone to the annexation of the Orange Free State, and your readers will forgive my transferring to your columns an extract from a leading article of the Natal Witness, so much in point : Without taking the interests of the natives into consideration at all, the certain degradation of a large body of British subjects is quite a sufficient ground for urging on the Government the policy and the necessity for their re-annexation. The anomalous position of the Free Staters has already become conspicuous. They are British subjects, liable to the consequences of resisting an encroachment on the constitution under which they live, and yet left destitute of the protection of the country to which they owe their primary allegiance. The injustice, as well as absurdity, of supposing such a state of things can be allowed to continue, without producing the most disastrous, expensive, and demoralizing results, is too obvious to admit of argument or to need demonstration. But there is also a commer- cial allegiance which our neighbours owe, and which it is desirable they should not repudiate. The Cape and Natal merchants will experience not a little inconvenience if such a repudiation should take place. And yet what are we to look for ? Will it not follow, as a matter of course, that if the Free State persuades herself that she has been unjustly dealt with by the Cape or British Government, that she will very easily argue herself into the justification of a course of commercial repudiation that must be a grievous wrong to those who will suffer most by the policy that entails the injury upon them, without their having the slightest voice in the business ? Nor need this repudiation, to be fatally effective, be put into the form of a M 2 164 solemn act. It is even now virtually in operation by the closing of the courts, the persistency with which ruinous policy is pursued by the Government rendering mercantile settlements all but impossible, and furnishing a plausible excuse for all defaulters. The brightest feature in the present prospect is the anxiety evinced, and now finding emphatic utterance, for the annexation of the Free State by the people themselves. Sir Philip or the home authorities do not seem to have taken this proba- bility into account ; but it can hardly be imagined that the unsatisfactory position of the Free State can be allowed to continue as it is, or to become as much worse as it must inevitably become. If, as seems to be the prevalent feeling and opinion, the Free State should resume its old status among the British South African Dependencies, then the question arises as to whether any demonstration or movement in Natal can or should be made to secure this end. The Cape Colony is far more deeply interested than we are ; but, irrespective of any immediate claims that are in danger of being jeopardized, there are the general interests of commerce to be considered, and all the advantages that will accrue from the promotion of peace and the consolidation and expansion of the commerce of this part of the South African continent. I cannot conclude without expressing a hope that Mr. Wollaston will succeed in the appointment of a Select Com- mittee of the House of Assembly to consider and report upon the Basuto " question, principally as affecting the interests of this Colony in its relations with the Free State, and the progress of civilization in South Africa," as this will afford an opportunity of all those interested in this important colonial, as well as Imperial question, to be heard in the Cape Parliament. Saturday, 6th June, 1868. COLONIST. THE ANNEXATION OF BASUTOLAND TO THE CAPE. SIK, In your sub-leader of Saturday last, in which you briefly review the despatch of the Duke of Buckingham, con- taining the instructions to Sir Philip Wodehouse with respect to the recognition of the Basutos as British subjects, and more especially refer to the " interesting letter" with which the Blue-book concludes, you say, that " Moshesh is quite right in the view he takes, and that you are disposed to recommend the Cape Parliament to have as little to do with him as he desires to have to do with them." You must permit me, even in your own columns, to express a doubt whether the advice you tender to the representatives of the Cape people be altogether sound, and to submit the expediency of the portion of the Governor's Speech having reference to Basutoland and the Free State, which has so important a bearing on the interests of South Africa, claiming its just share in the deliberations of the Colonial Parliament. The wishes of the old Basuto Chief are best described in his own words : " All that I have hitherto said, however, to prove to your Excellency that neither myself nor the tribe have any wishes to be annexed to the Colony of Natal ; that we would rather become a portion of the Colony of 165 the Cape of Good Hope ; and, that, above all, we should like to depend upon the High Commissioner alone, in case it should be practicable." The very thing which Moshesh says he would most like, was suggested by Sir Philip Wodehouse himself to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, and how does the Duke of Buckingham meet the proposal ? If Her Majesty's Government had merely entertained the question of a closer alliance with the Baautos by the appointment of a British agent, or by some other means not involving Sovereign rights, it would have been right that the tribe should continue to be under the control of the Governor of the Cape Colony in his capacity of High Commissioner ; but as their recognition as British subjects and the incorporation of their territory are now the matters under consideration, Her Majesty's Government have to decide in what manner these important matters can be best carried into effect, and they feel no doubt that the best and most obvious arrangement would be the annexation of Basutoland to the Colony of Natal. Moshesh gives many good reasons for preferring the Cape to Natal, and, as the British Government have clearly determined not " to establish an isolated protectorate in the midst of Africa over a barbarous people, and to maintain the same by force of arms in case of need," does it not follow that the only practical measure is the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape Colony ? Although on the map the Basutos are next-door neighbours to, and seem naturally to belong to our enterprising sister Colony, a mountain barrier, extending along the whole mutual frontier, and, except at one or two points, almost inaccessible, practically cuts off all communication between Basutoland and Natal, whilst, as Moshesh says, " there is nothing to hinder any trade which may spring up between Basutoland and the Cape Colony which trade, as everybody well knows, has now been going on for many, many years." After a careful perusal of your leading article of this morning, in which you properly bring to task the Eastern members for their want of punctuality in attending to their Parliamentary duties, and refer to Mr. Wollaston's motion for a select committee, I find you must forgive me for saying so some difficulty in deciding whether you have, or have not, changed your opinion as to the policy of the Colonial Parliament meddling with the Basuto question. It is true that you do not seem to disapprove of the sound rea- soning of the Governor's Speech in answer to the objection, which has been mooted, that the reception of the Basutos as British subjects is "an Imperial and not a Colonial question," and that you positively admit that "the Colony has a most direct interest in an equitable, peaceable, and permanent settle- ment of the question," and also that it is clearly the intention of the Queen's Ministers that "Basutoland should in future be governed by some Colonial agency," and you even shrewdly hint that its annexation to Natal might be prejudicial to the interests of the Cape ; but then, on the other hand, you appear to be overwhelmed by the dread of expense, and are desirous of 16G throwing the entire responsibility of " advancing the cause of civilization and Christianity" with Her Majesty's new subjects the Basutos on the " Imperial Government." At the risk of being deemed presumptuous, I venture to give a decided opinion that the history of the compulsory annexation of British Kaffraria to this Colony by an Act of the Imperial Legislature, coupled with the express dissent of the Duke of Buckingham from, the opinion of Sir Philip Wodehouse in previous despatches, " that if an opportunity should offer for establishing closer relations with the Basutos, it would be right, with reference to our general policy, to bring them under the control of the Cape as High Commissioner, rather than under that of the Natal Government," ought to induce our Colonial Legislators to be wise in time, and at once to take action in Parliament with the view of proposing some equitable terms for the annexation of Basutoland to this Colony. While I cannot wholly coincide with the opinion you apparently enter- tain, that there is some mystery and ambiguity in the public despatch of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, there can be no doubt that -the production, before a Select Com- mittee of the House, of the despatches of Mr. Cardwell, Lord Carnarvon, and Sir Philip Wodehouse, to which you refer, can- not fail to throw light upon " the circumstances and reasonings which brought about the decision of Her Majesty's Govern- ment," in which not only this Colony and the Free State, but all South Africa, are so deeply interested. I, for one, therefore sincerely hope that the Norseman may bring to Table Bay a good freight of Eastern members in time to support Mr. Wol- laston in the Assembly, on the 18th instant, in his reasonable attempt to obtain the fullest investigation and discussion of this important subject, and that the Select Committee will, after considering the Basuto " question, principally as affecting the interests of the Colony in its relations with the Free State and the progress of civilization in South Africa," report in favour of the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape of Good Hope as a preliminary step to the annexation of the Orange Free State. Tuesday, 9th June, 1868. COLONIST. ME. WOLLASTON'S MOTION IN BE " BASUTOLAND AND THE FREE STATE." SIR, When I last addressed you, somewhat in doubt whether, in your editorial capacity, you really intended to sup- port Mr. Wollaston's motion for a select committee " to con- sider and report upon the Basuto question generally as affect- ing the interests of the Colony in its relations with the Free State, and the progress of civilization of South Africa," I little anticipated that your Cape Town contemporarj', who has so 167 consistently throughout supported the policy of Her Majesty's Government of receiving the Basuto nation as British subjects, would oppose all " Parliamentary discussion" on this interest- ing topic during the present session. The Argus says, " We shall give our reasons for thinking, first, that the resolution of the honourable member for Fort Beaufort is of too vague and general a character, and secondly, that any interference with the question is just now inadvisable." The first objection can readily be removed by adding to the resolution such words as to convey the " definite instructions" of the House upon what points it seeks and desires the suggestions of a select com- mittee, and, in fact, the Argus has already supplied three good points for the consideration and report of the committee : 1. The propriety of annexing Basutoland to this Colony ; 2. The extension of British rule and protection to the Orange Free State ; 3. The desirability of the Cape Parliament occupying the position of being a mediator between the Home Govern- ment and the Free State. I venture to suggest a fourth point, upon which a select committee might be consulted, viz., whether, in the event of the people of the Free State taking the initiative in declaring their weariness of their nominal independ- ence and " fruitless freedom" under a republican form of Government, and their wish to be permitted " to live under the wide folds of the flag of England," there ought to be any ob- jection on the part of the Cape Parliament to the annexation to the land which was once the Sovereignty to the British Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. With respect to the second objection, " that Mr. Wollaston and the House would do well to wait until the Home Government has definitely announced its policy" on the Free State-Basuto difficulty, a question which, it is admitted, " must ere long come in some shape be- fore the House," it seems to me that this objection is grounded upon the fallacious assumption that the Colonial Parliament is called upon to " legislate" on the mere " anticipation" that the deputation from the President and Volksraad of the Orange Free State will be of no avail in changing the wise determina- tion of Her Majesty's Government to grant the oft-repeated prayer of " the Chief Moshesh, that he and his people, with their territory, should be received under the authority of the Queen ;" whereas, in truth and in fact, all that is asked for by the honourable member for Fort Beaufort is " a committee, with power to take evidence and caU for papers, to consider and report" upon a question which, Sir Philip Wodehouse rightly tells us, " may in the future, perhaps, have a more important bearing on the interests of these countries than anything that is now passing around us." Surely, if " the transactions which have taken place between the President of the Orange Free State, the Basuto Chief Moshesh," and the Queen's Representative at the Cape, were of sufficient importance to claim so large a share 168 of the Governor's Speech, they are worthy of discussion at least by the representatives of the people of this Colony in Parlia- ment assembled. If the constitutional practice, borrowed from the House of Lords and the House of Commons, of voting an address in reply to the opening speech of the Representative of the Crown had not become obsolete at the Cape of Good Hope, some notice must, ere this, have been taken both in the Legis- lative Council and the House of Assembly " of that portion of His Excellency's speech having reference to Basutoland and the Free State." If the Volksraad of the Trans-Orange Re- public protests against the recognition, by the Queen of Eng- land of the Basutos as British subjects, as an infringement of Sir George Clerk's Convention, and sends delegates to Down- ing-street for the express purpose of inducing Her Majesty's Ministers to retract their " benevolent intentions" towards Moshesh and his tribe, and to retrace the wise step of extend- ing British influence in South Africa, are the representatives of the loyal people of this Colony in Parliament assembled not to give utterance to any opinion on this point ? Does not the present session afford a fitting opportunity to our colonial legislators to record their cordial sympathy with the opinion, so well lately expressed by Sir Philip Wodehouse, " that the severance of the Free State from this Colony was a misfortune to both communities," and thereupon to recommend to the Mother Country a reversal of the fatal policy of the abandon- ment of the Sovereignty ? After the able letter from " A Frontier Man" in your columns of this morning, it would be a work of supererogation further to pursue this question, and I cannot hope by any arguments of mine to strengthen the posi- tion taken up by him, that no time ought to be lost in making known to the Imperial Government " what is the opinion of the Cape Parliament in regard to the distinct and separate existence of the two Transgariepian Republics as independent States." Your readers, therefore, must allow me to take for granted that that opinion would be against the continuance of these two Republics, and in favour of " the British flag waving supreme in South Africa." The Graham's Town Journal makes the following sensible and practical comments on the recent proclamation of President Pretorius in its last leading article : By the advance of its frontier on all sides but the south, the Transvaal puts itself into possession of the most considerable part of the recent gold-fields, claims authority over several native tribes and their lands, and secures a eea-port on the Eastern shores. This is a statement which, we think, will command attention. At present very little is known about the character of the gold-fields. Their extent and wealth may have been exaggerated, and it is equally possible that they may have been under- estimated. The importance of the new acquisition of the Transvaal has, in this respect, to be established by facts. Should it turn out that the basins of the Zouga and Limpopo are rich in gold, the Transvaal will be considered BO far lucky in its acquisitions. We do not see that any 169 objections could be started to this extension of territory if it only included land and the wealth, or the means of the wealth, it contains. The growth of colonies is inevitable, and the Transvaal is the nearest Colony, or Colonial State, to the Gold-fields. But this acquisition of territory is also an extension of authority over the tribes at present occupying or claiming the annexed lands ; and it is not clear at all that these people are willing to be annexed, or that they have by their conduct entitled the Eepublic to force its authority upon them. One of the chiefs whose territory and people have been thus arbitrarily dealt with and appropriated, has lately made a direct offer of his allegiance to the British Government. This may be taken to be a decisive proof of his antipathy to a Transvaal connection. The chief we refer to is Matjen, in whose lands one of the Gold-fields is situated. ... In connection with this step, there is another which has to be considered iu order that its meaning may be rightly estimated. It is said that the Transvaal Government has been making persistent efforts to establish commercial relations with the United States. It is clear enough that the Kepublic has an eye to business. This is all right and fair. But we see in this free and independent action the seeds of future difficulties which can only terminate in the extension of British authority to the utmost limits of colonization in South Africa. It is also reported that the Volksraad has instructed the Eev. Mr. Vandewall, who is said to be a citizen of the United States, that, in the event of his not meeting with a gracious reception by the Duke of Buckingham, he is to appeal to America, and it may so happen that Brother Jonathan, if his attention be directed to the South African Eepublics at the same moment, may be induced "by the temptation of rich gold-fields, with the super-added luxury of being, when he chose, a thorn in the side of John Bull," to make a strenuous effort " to gain a foot- ing on the African continent." Enough, then, has been said to prove that the extension of the regal sway of the British Crown to the now-existing Eepublics of the Free State and Transvaal, is not only a colonial but an Imperial question, and to suggest the expediency of the Cape Parliament in- augurating a discussion with the view of encouraging the Imperial Government to progress in " the advancement of the cause of civilization and Christianity" in South Africa, instead of to retrograde at the bidding of the delegates from the Orange Free State. The Port Elizabeth Telegraph concludes a review of the Basuto Blue-book, which is very just and favourable to Sir Philip Wodehouse, by saying : We understand that it is intended shortly to convene a meeting of the inhabitants of this town to give expression to the public mind in reference to British intervention in Transgariepian affairs, when we doubt not the important services rendered by our present Governor in connection there- with will be suitably acknowledged. And it would not very much surprise me if that meeting passed a resolution requesting the Eastern members to support Mr. Wollaston in his laudable endeavour to obtain Parliamentary investigation and discussion upon the Basuto and Free State question in all its bearings upon the future welfare and progress of South Africa. Saturday, 13th June, 1868. COLONIST. 170 THE PORT ELIZABETH MEETING. SIR, While many in Cape Town evidently sympathise with the Orange Free State delegates to Downing-strett, and even predict that they will be successful in convincing His Grace the Duke of Buckingham, or his successor in office, that the Basuto Proclamation by the Queen's Eepresentative in this Colony was a terrible infringement of the law of nations, it cannot but be gratifying to all who duly appreciate the benevolent intentions which prompted this step, that Port Elizabeth, the Liverpool of the Cape, at a public meeting, " which may be said fairly to have represented the community," has spoken out, in unanimous and cordial approval, " of the admission of the Basutos as British subjects," and of the conduct of the High Commissioner in giving effect to the instructions of Her Majesty's Government to restore peace to South Africa. If, upon the evidence as it then stood, this meeting felt justified in declaring " that, throughout the negotiation, His Excellency had endeavoured, by every means in his power, to secure the co-operation and friendly feelings of the Orange Free State Government," does not his despatch of the 13th of June, just published, which concludes by saying, "And I am glad to learn that the Volksraad have not the slightest doubt of the sincerity of my offers, as well as to think that all the evils which must arise out of the delay inseparable from sending a deputation to England will be chargeable, not to my refusal to aid in the attainment of the objects the Free State are now said to have had in view, but to my having been prevented from learning what would be expected, and discussing the means by which it could be accomplished," strongly confirm the opinion so well expressed in the second resolution ? The protest, which has at last seen the light, does not disclose any new point of law not previously argued, but many will agree with the Argus of this morning, that this rather long and laboured document does not fairly represent the facts, inasmuch as it " conveys the impression that Sir Philip had a definite and inflexible policy, which he has carried out at all hazards, and which he declined to alter, whether Mr. Brand and his Eaad heard or forbore," whereas, in truth and in fact, to borrow again the language of your contemporary, " Sir Philip has, from first to last, invited friendly discus- sion on the question of boundary," which, after all, is the main, if not the only material, point at issue. Your readers may perhaps recollect that I have often used, as an argument in favour of the President being authorized by the Volksraad to meet Her Majesty's High Commissioner in amic- able negotiation at Aliwal North, the probability of the blue- backs being partially redeemed by gold and silver coin out of 171 the military chest, if the Free State could have established an equitable claim, irrespective of the natural rights of the original owners and occupiers to their native soil needed for their sup- port, to the territory ceded by Moshesh by the treaty of Thaba Bosigo ; and what does Sir Philip Wodehouse say on this point ? " In the first letter which I addressed to you on this subject, on the 13th of January last, I stated expressly the intention ' to give the fullest consideration to the just claims of the Free State.' It seems almost needless to observe, that if those claims had been put forward in the shape of a demand for ' pecuniary compensation,' I should have been under the strongest obligation to give them the 'fullest consideration.' My rejection of them would have furnished ample ground for an appeal to Her Majesty's Government." Although I must again dissent from the opinion, " that the merits of this case are entirely with the Free State," which has been maintained by the much-esteemed editor of the Advertiser and Mail, to whom I most gladly tender an apology that I should for a moment have doubted that he was strongly in favour " of the extension of British dominion in South Africa," it seems to me that it would be a work of supererogation further to argue the case, as there is no good reason to expect either that the shield of British protection will be withdrawn from Moshesh and his tribe, or that the knotty point of the future boundary line be- tween Basutoland and the Orange Free State can be satisfac- torily settled, otherwise than by negotiation on the spot. If there be any truth in the generally received opinion that some of the much coveted " conquered territory" is absolutely essen- tial for the maintenance and support of Her Majesty's new subjects the Basutos, some compromise will have to be effected; and I cannot help thinking that it will be found very difficult indeed to contrive any plan more equitable and beneficial to all parties concerned than that suggested by Sir Philip Wodehouse, of selling farms with British titles, and giving the proceeds of such sale to the bankrupt exchequer of the Free State. Surely, there is not much in the legal, if not under the circumstances rather technical objection, which appears to be founded on " the respect due to international obligations," that the Orange Free State is entitled to all the so-called :( conquered territory," or rather the territory ceded by Moshesh in 1866, when it is borne in mind that even after this cession on the 22nd of May, 1867, the Free State granted by treaty to Letsea and his minor chiefs, a large slice of that territory for his and their use and occupation. By the Treaty of Irnperani also, on the 26th of March, 1866, if I have been correctly informed, a portion of the land annexed by Commandant-General Fick's Proclama- tion, and afterwards ceded by Moshesh, was allotted to Molappo ; and these two treaties certainly seem to amount to an admission on the part of the Free State authorities that some of the 172 " conquered territory" properly belonged to the Basutos, who, having been metamorphosed into British subjects, ought at least to be permitted to convert the land appropriated to them into British territory ; and the grantees or purchasers of the adjoining farms will not, it is thought, be prejudiced by being placed in the same category in this respect with the Basutos, for British titles to land are doubtless of much more value than Orange Free State titles. It may, perhaps, be a nice and intricate point of international law to de- cide whether Moshesh is right " in holding that the Treaty of Thaba Bosigo was cancelled by the subsequent war," but, at any rate, Sir Philip Wodehouse makes no secret that he " regards the permanent pacification of the country as hopeless without a reasonable modification of it." May it not, there- fore, be fairly argued that the Orange Free State will not best consult its interests if it continue obstinately to claim the dominion and entire possession of the " conquered territory," which, according to the authority of some practical men on the spot, " it can neither clear, occupy, nor govern ?" So much for the Basuto question, but to me, and, I hope, to many of your readers, the third resolution of the Port Elizabeth meeting, which, in the clear paraphrase of the Eastern Province Tele- graph, "reiterates an oft-repeated statement that the abandon- ment of the late Orange Eiver Sovereignty was an egregious mistake, and has seriously and most injuriously affected British interests in Southern Africa, and pledges the Port Elizabeth community in favour of the re-union of the Orange Free State with this Colony," and the fourth resolution, which expresses the hope that Mr. Wollaston's motion for a Select Committee, which has now been postponed until the 6th of July, " will receive the cordial support of all the members of the Legisla- ture," are most deserving of attentive discussion and approval at the present moment. It may certainly be gathered from your leading article of this morning, that there is much to be said on both sides of the question submitted by the honourable member for Fort Beaufort, but I, for one, give the most decided preference to that branch of your argument which asserts that ' ' the interests of this Colony require that from Cape Point to the Zambezi there should be but one paramount influence, and that must be the influence of Great Britain," and cordially coincide with your practical conclusion contained in the follow- ing words : " If our colonial interests are at all concerned, now is the time to speak out. The plea of non-notice will fail us in the day of trial. England is not bound to consult her Colonies in such cases, but only to keep them informed of what is going on. In thit instance, the papers have been laid before Par- liament, and if nothing is said, the Home Government will assume that Parliament has nothing to say." From what has already transpired, there is some reason to fear that Mr. Wollaston will 173 meet with opposition, on the ground that the reception of the Basutos is purely an Imperial question, with which the Cape Parliament ought not in any way to meddle ; but it occurs to me to quote an extract from the speech of one of the gentlemen at the Port Elizabeth meeting, as the line of reasoning adopted by him does not appear inapplicable as an answer to the "dis- tinction so often made in this Colony between Imperial and colonial questions : ' True it is that hints have been dropped that some exception is likely to be taken to the employment of the Mounted Police force on the occasion in question ; but, he felt persuaded the meeting would agree with him in thinking that it would come with a very bad grace from colonists to raise any objection to the use of the colonial force on what is called ' Imperial service' if under the circumstances they were found better fitted for the particular duty than the regular troops stationed in this Colony. They all claimed the privilege of forming part and parcel of the British nation, and cherished a strong feeling of attachment to the Mother Country, though living in one of her distant possessions ; and ought rather to rejoice at an opportunity being afforded them of helping forward the noble cause she has in hand than to begrudge the limited means at their disposal whenever they could be made available ; neither ought they to forget or lightly esteem the manifold advantages enjoyed, through the liberality of their countrymen at home, by the presence of the Queen's troops, so essential to the progress of civilization in South Africa, as well as to the maintenance of order and good government in the Colony. Let them then encourage the hope that there may be no more grumbling on that score either inside or outside the walls of Parliament. These truly English sentiments were lustily cheered by the people of Port Elizabeth, and ought to actuate the House of Assembly when they come to the consideration of the Basuto question in its general bearings upon " the progress of civilisa- tion in South Africa." Saturday, June 20. COLONIST. THE BASUTO QUESTION. SIR, I take the earliest opportunity of tendering through your columns to " A Subscriber" to the Standard my grateful acknowlegment of the flattering terms in which he has referred to me, and of the advice he has so considerately bestowed upon me to desist from attempting to excite further discussion on the Basuto question. " With all deference," however, to him, I cannot admit the force of his reasoning, when he insinuates that the arguments with which I have from time to time endeavoured to uphold, when, in my opinion, unjustly assailed, the conduct of the Queen's Representative in this Colony in giving effect to the instructions of Her Majesty's Government, do not meet with the approval and sanction " of the public generally." At any rate, they remain unanswered, and, there- fore, I have no objection to take his hint, and rest on my oars awhile, particularly as there is every prospect of this important subject being argued on all points with much greater effect with- 174 in the walls of Parliament, on Mr. Wollaston's motion for a Select Committee. Although your rather laconic correspon- dent is far from complimentary to His Excellency, when he talks about " the meddle and muddle of the Basuto difficulty under his auspices," there is abundant proof that the Eastern, more deeply and directly interested than the Western Province in the restoration of peace on the Border, and in the further extension of British influence northward of the Orange River, cordially supports the reception of the Basuto nation as British subjects, and earnestly applauds "the great energy and dis- cretion" of Sir Philip Wodehouse in the performance of " the difficult task" committed to him by the Home Government. I regret my utter incompetency to grapple with the other abstruse subjects to which my attention has been invited by one who is evidently very anxious that the Cape Community should be instructed in the principles of " commercial morality." Thursday, 23rd June, 1868. COLONIST. MR. ADDERLEY ON THE BASUTO QUESTION. SIB, Although I promised your readers to be silent until the important subject matter of Mr. Wollaston's motion for a Select Committee had passed the ordeal of full discussion in the House of Assembly, the Basuto question seems, in the opinion of many, to have assumed so new a phase by Mr. Adderley's reported statement in the House of Commons, as almost to compel me again to intrude upon your columns. That portion of the Cape Town press, which has persistently deprecated British interven- tion on behalf of Moshesh and his tribe, as a violent breach of "international obligations," at once exults in the conclusion that Sir Philip Wodehouse has exceeded his instructions, and that his proceedings will not receive the sanction of Her Majesty's Ministers. The Advertiser and Mail, while it dis- creetly and with good taste declines " to rake up all the weary details of the long wrangling contention between" the Free State Government and the High Commissioner, considers, from the tone of the remarks of the Under- Secretary of State for the Colonies, " that the Free State deputation will be able to establish a very strong case indeed for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government." You also, in your editorial column of Tuesday last, appear to think that Mr. Adderley's speech, in reply to the demand of Mr. Cardwell for the production of the despatches from the Governors of the Cape and Natal with respect to the affairs of Basutoland, " is one of the most per- plexing of the incidents connected with the Basuto business, and that it will almost compel the intervention of our own Par- liament in the way of demanding explanations." I confess I cannot agree either with you or your contemporaries in the 175 construction put upon an official answer in the House of Com- mons given to a question seeking for information upon a matter still pending. As it seems to me, there is nothing in the state- ment of Mr. Adderley inconsistent with the Duke of Bucking- ham's despatch of the 9th December, 1867, which contains the instructions under which Sir Philip Wodehouse has acted. A perusal of that despatch must convince every one " that it was not the intention of the British Government to assume the Protectorate of Basutoland," " under the control of the Governor of the Cape Colony in his capacity as High Commissioner," but, it having been determined that the Queen of England should exercise " Sovereign rights" over the Basuto chief and his people, in concession to their repeated prayers, Her Majesty's advisers decided " that the best and most obvious arrangement would be the annexation of Basutoland to the Colony of Natal." It may perhaps be argued that the strict letter of the instruc- tions of "including a settlement of the boundaries between the Free State and Basutoland as an integral part of the arrange- ment" has not been carried out; but is not this the sole fault of the President and Volksraad, and is not the spirit of these instructions the termination of the wretched war between the Boers and the Basutos ? " The time and manner of accom- plishing this measure, and the terms in which he was to com- municate with the Free State on the subject," were entirely left to the " discretion " of Sir Philip Wodehouse, in whose " power to affect an arrangement, which would conduce to the advan- tage of British interests in South Africa, .to the good of the native tribes concerned, and above all to the preservation of peace," implicit confidence was placed by the Duke of Buckingham. I fancy I can discern traces of the complete discretion and power vested in Her Majesty's High Commissioner by the Downing Street authorities in the subjoined paragraph from Mr. Adderley's speech : As to what events had precipitated measures, we have not yet received any explanation. The reports from the spot which have reached the news- papers are certainly highly coloured and distorted, but the Boers' invasion and devastation of Basutoland have probably been the cause of hastening and necessitating measures of precaution. Notwithstanding, then, all that has been said on the other side, I do not believe that the deputation of the Orange Free State backing up the protest will be received with open arms by His Grace the Duke of Buckingham, or that Mr. Cardwell, his probable successor in the Colonial Office, who had, while in power, " signified his readiness to authorize the establishment of a British agent with Moshesh," will throw his mantle of protection over them, but I am still sanguine that the conduct of Sir Philip Wodehouse will meet with the approval of the Queen's Ministers, whoever they may be, and that the ultimate 17G settlement of the " boundaries between the Free State and Basutoland" will be left to negotiation on the spot. There can be no doubt that you are quite right in the conclusion you draw that, " should the Protectorate be now withdrawn, it is impossi- ble to estimate the damage done," but, in common with all the friends of " the advancement of civilization and Christianity in Southern Africa," you need be under no alarm that Her Majesty will ever recede from the recognition of the Basutos as British subjects, which has been formally made, and you will be forced at length to coincide with me in the conviction with which I have long been most earnestly impressed, that the only practical solution of the Basuto difficulty is the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape, now that Moshesh will have nothing to do with Natal. In the present state of uncertainty as to the truth of the sensational rumours with regard to the revolution or rebel- lion at Bloemfontein, I purposely abstain from dwelling on this painful topic, further than to remark that, if any credence is to be attached to the explanation given in the latest telegram of the Argus from Graham's Town yesterday, of the troubles which are alleged to have arisen from those who have not been released from their natural allegiance to the British Crown declining to go on commando against Her Majesty's new subjects the Basutos, the sooner the serious complications likely to spring from the present relations between the Trans-Orange Republic and Mcshesh and his tribe are put an end to by the annexation of the Orange Free State to the British Colonial Empire, the better it will be for all parties concerned. Whatever, then, may be the fate of the motion of the lion, member for Fort Beaufort in the House of Assembly, I, for one, sincerely hope that the Cape Parliament will not separate without some decided expression of opinion in favour of the further extension of British rule northward of the Orange Eiver, which impor- tant question certainly demands the investigation, consideration, and report of both Houses of the Legislature, if they have any regard for the " commerce of South Africa," to say nothing of its future prosperity and peace. Apropos to this subject, I can- not refrain from, according to my old fashion, transferring to your columns the annexed extract from a late leader of the Queen's Town Free Press, commenting on the public meeting at Port Elizabeth, which seems to me so strongly to support my present arguments : It is a great gain to South Africa that the Basutos are no longer free, and that Moshesh's days of war and thieving at pleasure are over. This gain -would be greatly enhanced were the annexation of^'the Free State to follow. It is a great mistake that the country was ever given up. Much bloodshed would have been saved. In a commercial point of view both the Colony and the Sovereignty would have been more prosperous. Neither of them would have had the debt they now have. The anti-English feelings, to be expected of the ignorant boers for one or two generations after the overthrow of the Dutch Government, would have been almost extinct, at 177 least unfelt ; oiyiliaiug influences at work would hare boon greater, and the circumstances more favourable, and Christianity among the heathen might have been more successful. We see these things now, and feel that it would be wise policy to rectify, if possible, the mistake made fourteen years ago. The most intelligent, both of Dutch and English, in the Free State, feel in the same way, and would hail with joy a re-union with this Colony. The difficulty is how the thing is to be done. The present Government in the Free State will most certainly not entertain a thought on the subject. They are too obstinate to give much heed either to the opinion so prevalent in this Colony, or to the voice of the sensible part of their own people. But the people of the Free State can move in the matter, and must, if anything is to be done. The most of them are British subjects, and as such, they can petition to be received under British protection. Should they do so, they may depend on the warm support of the Colony. In such a petition, as the editor of the Eastern Province Herald clearly shows, they may take higher ground than a mere request. They may claim their re-admission into the British Empire as a right, for it would appear that when Sir G. Clerk gave over the sovereignty to a few individuals, it was received by the same with the express understanding that the residents of the country should be freed from their allegiance to the British Crown. Friday, 3rd July, 1868. COLONIST. THE TRANSVAAL GOLD FIELDS. SIR, The interesting extract from the Colesberg Advertiser in your issue of this morning encourages me to reiterate a suggestion before made in your columns, that some action should be taken by the Government of this Colony for the purpose of obtaining precise and authentic information relative to the auriferous quartz said to abound in the Transvaal regions. It may not be long, perhaps, before the excitement which prevails at Hope Town about the news from the South African gold diggings may disturb the even tenor and content- ment of the population of the Western metropolis, and lead to the result predicted by the following pretty lines from the ode in the South African Magazine of this month : Known is now the land of gold ; Far and wide the tale is told. Forth the banded miners rush ; Each his tools and rifle sports, High in hope and armed to crush Both the savage and the quartz. Who the exodus shall stay ? Who shall bar their onward way ? Try to yonder stars to climb, Stay the rushing wing of time, Curb the whirlwind in its wrath, Turn the lightning from its path, Aye, but never dream to hold Check upon the rush for gold. The official collection of accurate data upon this question may probably prevent many false hopes being raised only to end in disappointment ; but, if there really be rich gold-fields within the dominions of Machuene and Moselekat/e, why should not 178 steps be taken, before it is too late, of making favourable terms with them on behalf of British Imperial and colonial interests ? The rumoured purchase by Prussia of the Portuguese posses- sions on the African continent, if consummated, as well as " President Pretorius' annexing proclamation," may throw serious difficulties in the way of the Queen of England grant- ing the prayer of these native chiefs, to become, like Moshesh, British subjects. If the prospect of finding gold be deemed good ground for British intervention beyond the Vaal River, does not the alleged existence of a system of slavery within the territory of the Transvaal Eepublic justify an appeal to the Imperial Government to extend its influence in that direction ? Doubtless the leading article of the Natal Mercury, commenting on a communication under the title of " A Voice from the Transvaal Eepublic," which appeared in the Standard of Satur- day last, is fresh in the memory of your readers, and I need not therefore fatigue them by referring to the painful details revealed, further than to express an earnest hope that they are not founded on fact. The official correspondence moved for by Mr. Godlonton in the Legislative Council will probably throw more light on this important matter ; but it has occurred to me to submit the idea that some member of Parliament might urge the adoption of a respectful address to His Excellency Sir Philip Wodehouse, requesting him to appoint a Commissioner to proceed to the spot with the object of collecting evidence as to the alleged existence of slavery and gold in the Transvaal country, with full power to treat with those chiefs the original owners of the gold-bearing soil, who would prefer the British either to the Prussian or Transvaal Government. If the report of such Commissioner should establish beyond doubt the sub- stantial reality of slavery and gold in these distant parts, there is not much fear but that the people of England would support Her Majesty's Government in substituting British authority for that of the two Eepublics in Southern Africa. Thursday, 9th July, 1868. AFRIKANDER. THE TRANSVAAL COMMISSION. SIR, It is a coincidence rather singular that, before I should have seen or heard anything about the Governor's message, " forwarding to the House of Assembly correspondence that has passed with the Chief Macen, of the tribe of the Bamang- watos, and the Eev. Mr. McKenzie, now residing in their territory,'' and asking for the " sanction of the necessary expendi- ture" to enable " the Government to obtain trustworthy infor- mation as to the value of the discoveries stated to have been made there, and the general present condition of the country," I should have presumed to suggest, through the medium of 179 your columns, that Parliamentary action should be taken to induce His Excellency to move in this direction. It seems to me to require no argument to convince the representatives of the people in both Houses of Parliament, of the expediency of voting the sum required for the appointment of a competent Commission to consider and report upon the prospect of the sanguine anticipations relative to the South African gold-fields being realized ; and I venture to submit that justice demands a recommendation, on their part, that the opportunity should be embraced of instituting an inquiry on the spot as to the truth or falsehood of the rumours with respect to the existence of slavery in the Transvaal regions. The Argus, in its leader this morning, takes a very practical view of the recent annexation proceedings of the Transvaal Government, when it says : A paper proclamation may, however, work serious mischief, and bring about complications in which the British Government may find themselves involved, particularly as Mr. Pretorius has coolly swooped down upon the gold-fields, and appropriated them for the Republic. Our Natal friends, evidently feeling that whatever goes on in these regions to the north of our frontier, which will one day be peopled by Europeans, is of moment to the Colony, have raised the cry of alarm, and invoked the aid of the British Government in checking Transvaal ambition. Perhaps it may be thought by some that Her Majesty's High Commissioner is rather late in the field for the protection of British interests, which may be found to clash with those of Portugal, Prussia, and the South African Eepublic, which, like its neighbour, the Orange Free State, is so covetous of land. Is not the date of " President Pretorius' annexing proclama- tion" subsequent to that of the rejection of the overtures made through Commandant Jan Viljoen to the Chief Macen to hand over his country to the Eepublic, and if so, may not the former be, in some degree, ascribed to the latter ? Sir Philip Wode- house, after receiving from the chief of the Bamangwato tribe the invitation " to come and occupy the gold country, in so far as it is at his disposal, and to govern the gold diggers in the name of the Queen of England," wisely "advises him to ad- here to his determination to avoid coming under any engage- ments in any other quarters ;" and the sooner, therefore, legally constituted commissioners are sent to the spot to ascertain whether the gold-fields afford sufficient inducement for Her Majesty's Government to gratify the wish of this native chief, that " his efforts to sustain law and order amongst British sub- jects in thfl gold-fields may be superseded by the advent of the power of England," the better it will be for all parties con- cerned. If the report as to the abundance of gold in South Africa be exaggerated, the sooner it is contradicted, through an official channel, the better it will be for the people of the Cape and Natal ; but, if there really be a prize of gold in these dis- tant parts, why should not steps be taken to secure it, not only for these two British Colonies, but for the Mother Country also ? N 2 180 Your Cape Town contemporary above referred to quotes cer- tain passages from an article in the Natal Mercury, under the title of "A Voice from the Transvaal Republic," for the pur- pose of proving that, " unfortunately, the Government which now seeks to extend its authority in Central Africa is one of the worst in the world," and I make bold to transfer to your columns the concluding portion of that article as an argument to encourage the Cape Parliament to provide funds for the T/ommission which Sir Philip Wodehouse so properly appears most anxious to appoint : The origin of the present war is the trade in " black ivory." The way to obtain this is as follows : Train the old black elephants to kill each other ; shoot the females, take their young, and call them ivory. Price of black ivory : one tooth (six years' old), four head of cattle; younger, three head of cattle. Mind, however, that the trade in black ivory has been stopped, with no little ostentation, by Government ; so you cannot sell black ivory, but make presents of it, and take a present in return. Some ivory hunters are said to be very clever. I heard of a little band of hunters who placed some female elephants big with young in a row and shot them, to try through how many they could put a ball, and after- wards gave some young hunters practical lessons in obstetrical anatomy. I have heard a little anecdote about an affectionate black female elephant. A man took away her young ; she loved her young, and crept towards the man who had robbed her, and moistened his veldschoens (or hide shoes) with her own milk. Isn't this funny ? A woman took the young elephant and gave it back to its dam, but the man took it away again, and drove the black female elephant away, but kind-hearted creature he was did not ehoot her. Facts, such as these, come to light day by day, and it is for these reasons that hundreds of Boers and Europeans refuse to fight th Kafirs, but claim that the guilty whites shall be punished first ; however, the Government does, or can do, nothing. Our condition is miserable in the extreme. No protection for Kafirs nor against them ; no security of property, no trade, no government nor police but a name, no money, no education for the people, no maintaining of law and order but for the well- disposed, and, what is worse, no prospect of better times, except when ? Few will hesitate to come to the conclusion that this sad picture of inhumanity must be overdrawn, but if such tales of horror and cruelty can find their way into the columns of the Natal press and form the subject of editorial comment, surely the time has arrived when " all persons interested in the pro- gress of African civilization" ought to call out loudly for a commission of inquiry, and for the application of the remedy of the extension of British influence northward on the African continent, if unfortunately there be any foundation for these terrible statements. Tuesday, July 14. AFRIKANDER. THE TRANSVAAL COMMISSION. SIR, The House of Assembly has done quite right in refus- ing to listen to the proposal made by the hon. member for Graaff-Eeinet, to limit the expenditure of the Commission to the Gold-fields to the sum of 2,000, and has afforded satis- 181 factory evidence of its due appreciation of the desirability and expediency of obtaining official and trustworthy information relative to auriferous quartz and nuggets of gold in the Transvaal regions, by giving to the Governor a carte blanche. There is now no excuse for not doing the thing well in the appointment of a Commission in every respect competent to deal with the important subjects to be committed to its consi- deration and report. As the result of this inquiry, already too long delayed, may be the means of attracting to these shores numbers of the Anglo-Saxon race, as well as other Europeans, and thus exercise a beneficial influence, not only on the pros- perity and progress of the Cape of Good Hope, but also " on the advancement of civilization and Christianity in South Africa," it is to be hoped that His Excellency will not for a moment permit any false notions of retrenchment to guide him on this occasion. Your observations in the sub-leader of the Standard of this morning, regarding the composition of such Commission, are well worthy of attention, and many will agree with you in thinking that two, if not three, Commissioners, should be appointed. I venture also to suggest that if the services of a gentleman who had some knowledge of the language, habits, and character of the native races could be secured, the labours of the Commissioners, whoever they may be, would be facilitated and be more satisfactory in results. I am glad to find that you adopt the suggestion of the Natal press, which has been repeated in your correspondent's column, that this Commission should not confine its attention exclu- sively to gold, but "that it might also take the opportunity afforded of inquiring into the alleged existence of slavery in the Transvaal." The idea you throw out that it might also " feel the pulse of that Eepublic with respect to annexation to this Colony," does not seem to be bad, and might perhaps, with advantage, be made applicable as well to the Orange Free State during the journey of the Commissioners through the dominions subject to the rule of Mr. President Brand. If the policy of this view of the case be sound, I cannot refrain, at the risk of laying myself open to the imputation of an indelicate inter- ference with the prerogative of the Governor, from submitting a suggestion that one of the Commissioners should be a gentle- man thoroughly acquainted with the Dutch language, and one in whom the inhabitants of Dutch origin, not only in this Colony, but also in the two South African Eepublics, would place confidence. The opportunity of promoting the future extension of British influence beyond the Orange and Vaal Eivers by wise conciliation of the Boer element ought certainly not to be lost. If a former member of the Legislative Council, distinguished for his public spirit and independence, and deservedly esteemed by all his countrymen, who has recently turned his thoughts to Free State matters, could be induced to 182 be one of those to accept this important trust, would not Sir Philip Woclehouse be justly adding to his increasing favour with the people of the Cape by availing himself of the services of this gentleman, not deficient in scientific knowledge ? The indictment you prefer against the merchants of Cape Town for apathy and indifference about gold, when their brethren at Port Elizabeth and Natal are so much on the qid rive, does not appear to be groundless. Why does not the Chamber of Commerce of the Western Metropolis take some action in this matter, and organize a respectable prospecting party to accom- pany the Commission ? Surely, if the best route of reaching the gold-fields the new Victoria Diggings in South Africa is via Hope Town, on the banks of the Orange River, you cannot be far wrong in " believiug that this port might be made the most advantageous centre from which to start for Macen's territory." Making a rough calculation, it is thought that Hope Town will be found to be about 600 miles from Cape Town, and rather more than 350 miles from Port Elizabeth ; but would not the proximity of Table, as compared with Algoa Bay to England, and the greater facility of providing transport overland at this end of the Colony, give Cape Town some claim to be preferred over Port Elizabeth, by gold-seekers from the Mother Country ? The Westerns ought, at least, to make some effort to prevent the tide of emigration from Europe, consequent upon the proof that abundance of gold is a reality in South Africa, being diverted from their port to that of the Easterns or Natalians. Cape Town, 6th August, 1868. AFRIKANDER. THE OKANGE FREE STATE PROTEST. SIB, Having been somewhat disappointed in my expectation that the Governor's message relative to the commission to the Transvaal Gold-fields would have indirectly led to a debate in the House of Assembly upon matters affecting "the interests of this Colony in its relations with the Free State, and the pro- gress of civilization in South Africa," I must ask permission to trespass for the last time on your columns with a brief allusion to the Basuto question, in the anxious hope of provoking in the Legislative Council some discussion, before the Parliamentary session closes, on this important subject. The Argus of this morning announces the fact that " despatches have been re- ceived by the Dane from Her Majesty's Government, fully approving of the policy of Sir Philip Wodehouse in reference to the annexation of Basutolamd, and concurring in the arrange- ments proposed by His Excellency." This intelligence cannot fail to be most pleading to the numerous colonists of the Cape and Natal, who have from the beginning looked with favour 183 upon the British intervention on behalf of Moshesh and his tribe as the best, if not the only, means of restoring peace to South Africa ; and it is earnestly suggested that even they, who have hitherto regarded the formal proclamation of Sir Philip "Wodehouse, declaring the Basutos British subjects, as a " des- potic and tyrannical" infringement of the law of nations, would do well by now throwing oil upon the troubled waters, and wisely counselling Mr. President Brand and the Volksraad to give a willing ear to the amicable negotiations of the Queen of England's representative at the Cape. At any rate, the idea suggested by the reported statement of Mr. Adderley in the House of Commons, that it would turn out that Sir Philip Wodehouse had exceeded his instructions from Downiug-street, which was at the time made so much of in Cape Town, and which probably also had the effect of confirming the mistaken policy of the Free State authorities to treat Her Majesty's High Commissioner with contempt, is now proved to be ground- less ; and there is no longer any validity in the argument, which has been urged, that the uncertainty of the fate in England of the celebrated Orange Free State Protest was a good excuse for the studied and continued silence of the Cape Parliament on this interesting topic. Your contemporary further states, " In fact, the whole business is now left in the hands of the High Commissioner ;" and, if report speak truly, Sir Philip Wode- house has full discretion either to annex Basutoland to the Cape or Natal, or temporarily to keep it as a separate British possession, " under the control of the Governor of the Cape Colony in his capacity of High Commissioner." It may fairly be presumed that the Imperial Parliament will not, at present at least, repeat the process of compulsory annexation a la British Kaffraria, and that the wishes of the Cape and Natal Legislature will be first consulted on this point. If Basutoland then be worth having, has not the time arrived for the Cape Parliament to put in a claim for this valuable prize of territory in opposition to that which has been already preferred on behalf of the rival Colony of Natal by Lieutenant-Governor Keate in the speech with which he opened the Parliamentary session ? If Mr. Wollastou had succeeded in obtaining his Select Com- mittee, the report of that Committee might have thrown some light upon the question of the expediency of annexing the rich lands of Moshesh and his tribe to this Colony, or it might have shown that it would be more practicable under existing circum- stances, and more to the interest both of the Cape and Natal, that Basutoland and the Orange Free State should together form a separate Crown Colony of Great Britain, under the auspices of a Lieutenant-Governor and a Legislative Council. It is now clearly too late in the session to open up the large question of the extension of British rule and protection on the African continent ; but would it be quite right in the Legisla- 184 tive Council, which numbers in its ranks many sincere friends of " the cause of civilization and Christianity in South Africa," to conclude its Parliamentary labours, prior to the approach- ing dissolution, without expressing and recording an approval of the humane policy of Her Majesty's Government in the re- ception of the Basuto nation as British subjects, as a fitting prelude to the further extension of British influence northward of the Orange River ? This expression of opinion, even by one of the branches of the Cape Legislature, would not only strengthen the hands of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, who has authoritatively and distinctly declared " that the sever- ance of the Free State from the Colony was a misfortune to both communities," but it would also give encouragement to the growing British party within the Orange Free State, where already it is notorious that very many of the boers are only deterred from petitioning for a return of the British Govern- ment by the dread of the prevailing Hollander influence over the authorities of this South African Eepublic. In my last letter I broadly hinted that the people of Port Elizabeth and the Eastern Province generally would greatly regret that the reasonable attempt to excite discussion on "that portion of His Excellency the Governor's speech having reference to Basuto - land and the Free State" had been so unsuccessful in the House of Assembly, and I think it may be argued that even in the Free State itself some interest was naturally taken in the result of the motion of the hen. member for Fort Beaufort, which has been shelved, from the subjoined extract from the private letter of a gentleman holding an influential position there : " What has become of Mr. Wollaston's motion in the House of Assem- bly ? I had anticipated a lively and interesting debate on the Free State question." As, unfortunately, many of the Eastern members of the Assembly are expected to take their departure by the Dane on Monday next, it is useless now to try to get up a debate upon the Basuto question in the Lower House, but this is no reason why the Upper House should not take an early opportunity of correcting this sad omission by discussing at least the bearings of the annexation of Basutoland to the British Colonial Empire upon the future prospects and interests of this Colony as well as of the Orange Free State. Saturday, 15th August, 1868. COLONIST. BRITISH BASUTOLAND AND THE STATE. SIB, Although it may fairly form the subject of regret, if not of complaint, both within and without the Colony, that the Cape Parliament should have closed its long protracted session without any discus ion upon "that portion of the Governor's speech having refevi ace to Basutoland and the Free State." it 185 certainly will be satisfactory to many to note that not a single voice has been raised within the walls of either House of the Colonial Legislature in condemnation " of the transactions of Her Majesty's High Commissioner with the President of the Orange Free State and the Basuto Chief Moshesh," which have BO justly secured the full approval of the Home Government. The laboured protest of Mr. President Brand and the Volksraad has signally failed in changing the benevolent intentions of the Queen of England to make the Basutos British subjects, and their territory part and parcel of the British Colonial Empire. There seems, therefore, good ground to hope that the future boundary line between Basutoland and the dominions of the South African Republic will now be easily settled by Sir Philip Wodehouse in amicable conference with the Orange Free State authorities, but there will still remain behind the difficult question of providiug in a satisfactory manner for the efficient internal government of the small though populous new British possession in South 'Africa. It is true that by this time Moshesh and the other Basuto chiefs have been informed by Mr. Bowker "that Her Majesty's Government, having had under their consideration the report of Sir Philip Wodehouse of the transactions which took place during his late visit to Basutoland, have signified their consent to the tribe being placed at present under the control of the Governor as High Commissioner, instead of being annexed either to the Cape or to the Colony of Natal;" but with the experience to be derived from the history of British Kaffraria, it may be taken for granted without argument that this will only be a temporary expedient, and the Duke of Buckingham's despatch of the 9th of December, 1867, appears to warrant this reasonable conclu- sion. The idea proposed by the old and paramount Chief, that Basutoland should form a kind of Native Eeserve, to be annexed neither to the Cape nor to Natal, but to be governed directly by the High Commissioner, would, of course, be agree- able to the Basuto nation ; but it may be doubted whether it would be attended with equal advantage to their neighbours of the Free State ; and may it not be fairly argued that it would be more permanently conducive to the interests and progress of both countries to seize this opportunity of affording the shelter of British rule to the Free Staters as well as to the Basutos ? From a leading article of the Graham's Town Journal, suggested by the late despatches from England, and written with the proper view of showing that " the settlement of Basutoland involves also the determining of the future relations of the Free State to this Colony," I extract the following truly practical remarks, so pertinent to my present argument : Bat is there no other way of dealing with this question between British Basntoland and the Free State 1 Mr. Hamelberg is reported to hare said, that if Basntolaixl wore to become British, the Free State should also be- 186 come British. We do not know that Mr. Hamelberg actually did say this, or anything like this ; hut if he did say so, he never said anything wiser. Unquestionably, this will be the view of the case which will gain adherents in the State, as soon as the first excitement consequent upon the publication of the recent news concerning the fate of the protest and the inevitableness of Basuto annexation, has subsided. There is reason in the State ; its common sense has been disturbed of late, but it has not been utterly destroyed ; and it cannot fail to be seen that the continued independence of the State icill be but a delusion and a snare. If then, as may naturally be expected, the fruitless result of the deputation to England be to damp the ardour of the Hol- landers, and to revive the hopes of the British party northward of the Orange Eiver, why should not some decided effort be made by the inhabitants of the Orange Free State to seek for true liberty under the genial influence of the British Crown as a substitute for the " nominal independence" of the existing Republic '? At the present moment a practical method of bringing about the happy consummation of a change of dynasty in the laud which was once the Sovereignty suggests itself. As each of the three alternatives which have been put forward, the annexation of Basutoland to the Cape, to Natal, or the constituting it a Native Reserve under the sole control of the High Commissioner, is beset with some difficulty, why should not the Free- Staters themselves propose the plan " of the annexation of the Free State, and the creation of a large independent British Colony, consisting of that country and Basutoland ;" and why should not the colonial communities of the Cape and Natal join in giving their support to a scheme so well adapted to maintain the influence and prestige of the British Government and the British people in South Africa ? This idea may perhaps already have presented itself to Her Majesty's High Commissioner at least it seems worthy of being well discussed before much trouble is taken in deciding the intricate question of boundary line, so long the fruitful source of war between the Boers and their sable enemies. If the Free State, now that "it must know that Basutoland is British, would only prefer to become British itself," the necessity for " negotiations about boundaries" would altogether cease, and His Excellency Sir Philip Wodehouse be more profitably employed in inaugurating the formation of an important Crown Colony of Great Britain northward of the Orange River to be annexed hereafter to the Cape of Good Hope, or to be one of the States under the contemplated grand system of Federation, so strongly advocated on all sides. Mi. Godlonton is reported to have referred yesterday, in the Legis- lative Council, " to the Convention entered into at the time British protection was withdrawn from the Free State," and to have quoted therefrom to show that the Convention had never been carried out by either party, and that the Free State inhabi- tants had never been absolved from their allegiance. It would in- deed be difficult to controvert these sound opinions so 187 frequently advocated in your columns and the frontier press, and, if so, may not a reasonable hope be entertained that, if the Orange Free State were to seek for annexation to the British Colonial Empire, the consent of the Home Government \vould be readily given, " because," as the Graham's Toim Journal well puts it, " all British South Africa would unite to desire a measure so politic, so healing, and so full of promise ;" and does not this hope justify some constitutional agitation within the British Colonies of the Cape and Natal, with the view of inducing and encouraging the people of the Free State to take the initiative in petitioning Queen Victoria to replace them under the wide folds of the flag of Great Britain ? Saturday, 29th August, 1868. COLONIST. BRITISH KULE FOB THE FREE STATE. SIE, If the Friend of the Free State felt himself justified, when commenting upon the late debate in the Legislative Council of Natal on the subject of the annexation of Basuto- land, to write as follows : "But any way it must be admitted that the Natal Council has done far better, and displayed more enlightenment than the Cape Parliament has generally done ; the latter has, we regret to say, almost invariably proved itself to be hopelessly obstructive of all progress or extension of British territory in South Africa," what will he say now, after hearing that the long Parliamentary session of the Cape Legis- lature has closed without the utterance of a single syllable in favour of the extension of British rule on the African continent, while the Natal Council has recorded a well-argued recommen- dation to Her Majesty's Government favourably to receive any proposals which may emanate from the inhabitants of the two South African Eepublics with regard to " their annexation to either the Cape Colony or Natal, or embracing suggestions with respect to any form of allied or separate administration deemed suitable by the majority of the white inhabitants of such States ?" The Natal resolutions, which will probably find their way into your columns, will speak for themselves, and cannot fail to give a stimulus to constitutional agitation outside the Cape Parliament, both in this Colony and Natal, with a view of encouraging their neighbours northward of the Orange and Vaal Rivers to seek for the substitution of the regal sway of the British Crown for the Eepublican form of Government. There is not much new to be said in favour of the Resump- tion of the Sovereignty, but there can be no harm in repeating arguments upon a political question of such import- ance to the future progress of South Africa, and, at the risk of again being accused of having " a mania for making extracts," I prefer borrowiog the language of the Natal Mercury, which 188 most ably argues " that no question bears more directly upon our commercial interests and political condition than the annexation of the Free State," in a leading article from which the subjoined passages are quoted : That the Queen's advisers and representatives committed a great mistake when they decided to abandon the Sovereignty, has been and is the common belief of most colonists. No good end has been gained by that policy. It was the beginning of evils. From that time the people who were thus turned unceremoniously adrift have been mixed up in constant warfare with the Basutos. . . . Had the Free State remained British territory it it more than probable that the Batuto wars ivhich have since prevailed would have been prevented. Moshesh has a wholesome respect for the British lion. Again : It may be said that neither the Imperial nor the Colonial Governments have taken any part in the wars we refer to. That may be ; and yet the evils entailed by the wars are as serious in their effects upon our commer- cial interests as though we were parties to the strife. There cannot be much less than half-a-million of money due to the Cape and Natal by creditors in the Free State, and yet so long as war lasts, and as the Civil Courts are closed, these claims are practically irrecoverable. In another way the Basuto wars have operated most injuriously. Nothing can be more disgusting to our natives, and to the tribes around, than the spectacle of another native race constantly at war with the white man. The natural tendency of such a war is to keep alive instincts and sentiments which had far better, in the interests of peace and civilization, become extinct. And again : - Were the Free State and Basutoland both annexed, and both thrown into one compact and separate Colony, we believe not only that war would bfl averted, but that law and order might be re-established and maintained without cost to the Mother Country. The Basutos and the Free State people together would be able to contribute a revenue large enough for all purposes. It is absurd on the face of it to deny their capacity to do this. For years the country has kept in the field a large armed and unproductive force, and has done this at incalculable loss to their trade and other in- terests. At a far less cost to themselves they could afford to maintain a police force of two or three hundred men for the suppression of Basuto thefts. Nor ought the Basutos to bear a small share of this expenditure. Were it not for them, no such force would be required, and we venture to uggest that farms granted or sold within Basutoland should be chargeable ither with a rent specially devoted to this defensive service, or, if sold, that the proceeds should be applied to the maintenance of such a police force. Of course, it remains with the people of the Orange Free State to say whether they will be annexed or not to the British Colonial Empire, but these remarks have been submitted in the hope of exciting discussion at the present juncture, both in this Colony and beyond the Orange Eiver, upon the desirability of restoring, in some shape or other, the Queen's Government to Her Majesty's subjects in South Africa, who were so rudely abandoned in 1854 ; and it is again maintained with some confi- dence, that, under all the circumstances of the case, which have been dwelt upon, the plea of permitting the Free State and Basutoland to form together for the present a separate British Crown Colony, under a Lieutenant-Governor and a Legislative 189 Council, will be found to be the most practicable, and the most conducive to the welfare and progress of all parties concerned the Colonies of the Cape and Natal, the Orange Free State, and the Basuto nation. Wednesday, 2nd September, 1868. COLONIST. THE COMMISSION TO THE GOLD-FIELDS. SIR, Few, after the perusal of your sub-leader of this morning, will feel inclined to dispute the soundness of the con- clusion at which you arrive, that " when men are preparing on all sides to try their lots in the new gold country," it is only fair to expect the British authorities in the Colony to be on the alert ; and that Mr. Black's report furnishes additional force to the general wish for the speedy dispatch of the Commission to the " alleged gold-fields" in South Africa. It is gratifying, however, to find from the Prorogation Speech, that the apparent delay in the appointment of the Commission may solely be ascribed to the difficulty in "the selection of those to be employed" as Commissioners, to consider and report upon this interesting subject in all its bearings. As the Governor well puts it : " To ascertain the existence and quantity of gold forms but a portion only of the duty they will have to perform. Irre- spective of the existence of gold, the colonial trade with those regions is of much importance, and I hope that our relations with the tribes that inhabit them, and those through which access to them must be obtained, may be much improved through the efforts of the contemplated Commission." If the right men only are found for this important mission, their labours cannot fail to bear good fruit, not alone in proving or disproving the reality of the gold discoveries, but " in paving the way for beneficial changes in due season on the northern bank of the Orange Eiver." This idea, which has been sug- gested at Natal, of making the mission to the new Victoria Gold-fields " bear a partially political character," certainly deserves consideration, and the annexed quotation from the Mercury may not altogether be deemed out of place : Nothing can be of greater importance in the present phase of South African affairs than that the influence and prestige of the British Govern- ment and the British people should be maintained. Never yet hag there been so general a desire on the part of the natives to assume the obligations of British subjects. Never yet has there been so wide-spread a reliance upon the bona fides of our Government on the part of the aborigines. Mr. Shepstone's great diplomatic abilities would enable him to make this assur- ance in the native mind doubly sure, and to establish relationships which would virtually amount to the extension of British supremacy over all the territories that intervene between Natal and the Zambezi. Some of your readers may, perhaps, recollect that so far back as January last, their attention was called to a suggestion of 190 the Graham's Town Journal that the British Colonies of the Cape and Natal should take action in concert with the view of obtaining authentic intelligence as to the alleged Gold-fields in the territory of Moselikatse, and of making favourable terms with the native chief. Although there may be a fair rivalry between Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and Durban, as to which is the best port for European emigrants to make as the starting point in South Africa for the Victoria Gold-diggings, both the Cape and Natal are alike interested in establishing the reality of gold, and in the further advancement of Great Britain's in- fluence over the native chiefs and their tribes in the interior of this continent, and why should they not therefore have a joint commission ? Both British Colonies ought to be equally inte- rested in the question of the supposed existence of a system of slavery in the Transvaal regions, so opposed to the progress of civilization amongst the native tribes, and so injurious to the influence of the white race, although the Natal Legis- lature has alone spoken out on the subject. Having read the Natal resolutions, which appear in your columns of this morning, I cannot help thinking that a splendid oppor- tunity is afforded to Sir Philip Wodehouse to refute the calumny thereby conveyed that " the office of High Com- missioner, as exercised at present in relation to the Colony of Natal, is inimical to the maintenance of the prestige and influence of Her Majesty's Government amongst the native tribes of South East Africa," by assigning to the Commission, as part of its duty, on its return from the Gold-fields, to endea- vour to institute " a bond fide inquiry" as to the scandal which now attaches, perhaps unjustly, to the Transvaal Eepublic. Surely, it can never be contended that Great Britain, who has gained such laurels by her active exertions in the abolition of slavery, ought tacitly to consent to an infringement of the positive terms of a treaty, merely because "it would be beyond the power of the Transvaal Eepublic, admitting it to have the inclination, to put down a trade which the Boers must find very tempting and profitable." No one who has read what has been so aptly described as " the admirable and genial address from the Governor, which will long be remembered as a fitting word of farewell to the Parlia- ment, with whom he has worked with varying success," can for a moment doubt the deep interest taken by Sir Philip Wode- house in the future welfare and progress of South Africa ; and it is diffidently submitted that the well-considered report of a competent Commission may in some degree be instrumental in enabling him, or his successor at the Cape of Good Hope, to carry out his good purpose of " creating beyond the river a large and well-organized Government, bound to this Colony only by a common allegiance, by the ties of kinship, by con- genial laws, by just covenants, and by a common desire to 191 extend the blessings of Christianity, peace, and civilization to all within their reach." I venture, therefore, with all respect, to take the liberty of so far trespassing upon the exercise of the prerogative of the Governor as again to suggest " that one of the Commissioners should be a gentleman thoroughly acquainted with the Dutch language, and a person in whom the inhabitants of Dutch origin, not only in the Colony, but also in the two South African Eepublics, would place confi- dence" ; and thus a good opportunity would be afforded of conciliating the Boer element both in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, where already, if report speak truly, there is a growing opinion in favour of the Queen of England's Government. As His Excellency also properly lays great stress upon the expediency of availing of the occasion to improve our relations with the native tribes, would it not be as well to secure the services in aid of the Commission of some gentleman who can speak the native language ? Saturday, 5th September, 1868. AFRIKANDER. BRITISH SUBJECTS IN THE FREE STATE. SIB, Your leading article of Saturday last upon the late trial of Mr. Bowden, at Philippolis, in the Orange Free State, concludes with the remark that " you feel quite satisfied that, in the hands of the Governor, international rights will be strictly observed, and the honour of the British Crown be preserved intact." If it be true, as alleged, that an appeal has been made to Sir Philip Wodehouse, a favourable consideration of the case of the unfortunate convict may fairly be anticipated, for there cannot be much doubt as to the opinion of His Excellency on this point after the short but telling despatch of the 31st of July to Mr. President Brand, in which the " recently commenced prosecution for high treason against a British-born subject, who protested against being called upon to march against his fellow-subjects," is prominently put forward, in conjunction with the contemptuous treatment of Her Majesty's High Commissioner, the protest to England, and the continued " destruction of the crops and huts of the Basutos," as con- demnatory evidence of " the policy adopted and persevered in" by the Government of the Free State. If Her Majesty's High Commissioner had legal jurisdiction, he probably would reverse the judgment of the Orange Free State Court of Law, but the fear is, that, although the Volksraad will n ( J,OOi) Due local banks 51, ODD Sundry debts 15,000 105,000 The amount of Government paper (bluebacks) originally issued was 130,000, but 5,000 have lately been redeemed, and of the 125,000 now in circulation 86,000 have been lent out to the Boers and others on the security of property, &c., which loans yield an annual revenue of 5, ICO to the Govern- ment. The 86,000 here mentioned as an -asset, aud the Government debt under the head of paper circulation (blue- backs), is therefore left at 39,000, as before stated. Annual expense of carrying on the Government in the time of peace 55,000 Number of sheep in the Orange Free State 2,500,000 Total white population of the country 37,000 NOTE. No census having been taken since 1855, either of the population, number of sheep, &c., the figures are, of course, but an approximate calculation. REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE OF THE ORANGE FREE STATE FOE THE YEAR ENDING THE 1ST APRIL, 1868. I. REVENUE. Quitrents 7,710 11 11 Sales of Public Lands 131 8 Transfer Dues 10,077 8 9 Licenses 4,359 3 4 Fees of Office 1,422 8 1 Fines 1,33513 8 Postage Receipts 2,456 18 9 Stamps ." 2,947 13 9 Auction Dues 715 10 8 Inspection of Lands Sale of Ammunition 4,762 15 Commando Receipts 1,707 7 3 Tolls and Pontage Dues 847 8 9 Succession Duty 565 16 6 Native Hut Tax 529 19 11 Pound Sales Miscellaneous 705 14 10 Fees (Orphan Chamber) Import Duty on Munitions of War 718 12 3 Sale of Postage Stamps 480 6 2 Funds for Ruined Burghers 2,428 3 Cape Government Postal Allowance 600 Cape Colonial Postage 150 Total Revenue for the year ending 1st April, 1868 45,254 11 Balance in hand 1st April, 1867 1,562 16 Borrowed Capital 68,400 69,962 16 Total of Year's Receipts 115,216 16 11 II. EXPENDITURE. Civil and Judicial 10,365 8 11 Police 2,323 10 7 Church and Schools 3,602 11 Ammunition 12,330 19 Stationery , 1,007 1 2 217 Administration of Justice 2,234 17 Gaols and Police 2,084 3 8 Hospitals 973 6 1 Ministers (Consilient) 32 House-rent 353 8 G Wagon-hire 204 8 9 Conveyance of Mails 3,185 6 10 Public Works and Buildings 566 16 9 Presents to Native Chiefs 97 8 10 Koads, Streets, and Bridges 17 1 6 Allowances to Members of Kaad 2,301 5 6 Land Commissions 374 10 Commando Expenses 31,869 11 4 Border Police 6 Artillery Corps (Treasurer-General) 4,250 Carrying Expenses 218 13 6 Heemraden and others 93 10 6 Unforeseen Expenditure 4,110 13 5 Printing 933 5 10 College 270 Interest on Loan 2,59216 Import Duty 1914 2 Artillery (Paymaster) 4,952 3 11 Eemittances to Landdrosts 32,523 13 10 Less received from Treasurer-General 31,511 15 3 1,011 18 7 Stolen out of the Chest 464 8 5 Balance Miscellaneous items not specified 22,369 16 8 Total Expenditure 115,216 16 11 SPEECH OF THE HON. JOHN ROBINSON, ESQ., IN THE NATAL LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL, AUGUST, 1868. Mr. EOBINSON moved : " That, in the opinion of this House, the consolidation of the Free State and Basutoland as a separate British Colony, would put an end to the demoralising war which has so long been carried on between the Free State and the Basutos, and would place on a sound footing the extensive trade which exists between the Eepublic and the neighbouring British Colonies, but which, owing to the closing of the civil courts, and the general insecurity of the country, has suffered serious and disastrous injury during the duration of the war." It was hardly necessary for him to go to any length into a historical review of the events in the neighbour- ing territories, which had led to the war referred to in the resolution, before moving the resolution itself, as, in his opinion, the best way of putting an end to them. The Free State had been proclaimed to be British territory in 1848 ; in 1851 it had been declared by letters patent to be a distinct and separate colony ; in 1853 a Commission had been sent out, which resulted in the country being formerly abandoned in 1854, and by letters patent declared to be independent. He believed it was Q 218 generally held by all the inhabitants of South Africa that this step was both cruel and unwise ; it was one of those very few acts on which the enlightened Government of the Mother Country must, he thought, look back with regret, and he traced all the evils which had since beset the Free State back to the adoption of that policy. It had always appeared to him that the people of the Free State had a great claim to indulgent treatment at the hands of all European people. A people of pastoral habits, and in no way fitted for the task, they had yet been suddenly called upon to assume all the responsibilities of self-government. Whatever mistakes, therefore, might have been committed, there was every reason for judging of the policy of the Free State Government in the most indulgent manner. He (Mr. Robinson) was not one of those who disclaimed all sympathy with men of his own colour, and avowed the tenderest feelings for those of another race. He believed that all the Europeans in South Africa must feel that the burgher residents of the Free State had been placed in a very peculiar position by the English Government, and could not have behaved better than they had done under the very trying circumstances in which they had found themselves. Since their abandonment by the British Government they had been constantly at war with the Basutos, which nation even the statesmen of England had found it very difficult to deal with, and it might be that, on this very account, the country had been abandoned. Experience, too, ever since that time, had shown how great a mistake England had made in carrying out the policy which it had done ; for, although on the Free State had rested the sole respon- sibility of dealing with the Basutos, yet the other countries adjacent, which were really British territory, had been most disastrously affected by these protracted wars. Hon. members were aware that large sums of money were owed by the Free State to Natal merchants, amounting probably to not less than a quarter of a million sterling, and for the payment of this large sum no security existed whilst this war was still going on. It was hardly necessary for him to say that the late war had been very demoralising in its effects. It had been demoralising because it kept up a constant state of antagonism between the bhick and the white races, and led them to regard each other as hereditary enemies ; it had been demoralising because it pre- vented all enterprise and caused the cessation of all trade on a solid basis ; it had been demoralising because it was productive of an entirely abnormal and unnatural state of things. At the same time, though he was of opinion that it was highly desirable that the Free State should be annexed to the English crown, yet he thought it was also desirable that the Free State and Basutoland should form a distinct territory under a separate government. The Free State was differently situated from Natal or the Cape, and her requirement was chiefly that of a ,219 strong Government, which sliould afford equal protection to all classes of the population, but she was not in a position to exercise advantageously the rights of Responsible Government. It had been suggested to him that this resolution would, to some extent, be conflicting with that recently passed by the House relative to the annexation of Basutolaud. He candidly stated that, of the two alternatives, the annexation of Basuto- land to Natal, or the constituting that country and the Free State into a separate government, the latter was, in his opinion, by far the better way of getting out of the scrape. But as this could not meet the approval of those hon. members who had voted for the annexation of Basutoland on the previous occasion, he proposed somewhat to modily the resolution so that it would stand as follows : " That in the opinion of this House it is highly desirable that the Orange Free State should once more be brought under British rule, inasmuch as this House has reason to believe that a strong feeling in favour of such a policy exists among the residents of that Republic, and as the re-annexation of that territory by the Crown would put an end to the demoralising wars which have, from time to time, been carried on between the Free State and the Basutos, and would place on a sound footing the extensive trade which exists between the Republic and the neighbouring British Colonies, but which, owing to the closing of the civil courts and the general insecurity of the country, has suffered serious and disastrous injury during the war." No hon. members would be disposed to deny that it was the wish of the great majority of the people of the Free State to come again under British rule. The time, he thought, had now arrived when the Home Government could, with great advantage, retrieve the false step it took in 1854, when these unfortunate people had been, to adopt a phrase made use of the other evening, " left out in the cold." Tl*e whole question would now come under considera- tion in connection with the annexation of Basutoland, and ho thought if it were brought before the Home Government they might be led to consider the expediency of re -annexing the whole of the Free State as well as Basutoland. FEDERATION MEMORIAL PRESENTED TO SIR PHILIP WODEHOUSE, AT ALIWAL NORTH, APRIL, 18G8. lli.s J:'.i-irlli-)if>/ Sir PHIMP EDMOND WODEHOUSE, K.C.B., r of tin' Coloiit/ of the ( \ijii- of (in,,,! //