up the Spaniards to execration for their conduct to the nations of South America?

Independent of the scene which is now passing under our eyes in this fearful drama, one stands appalled at the bare apprehension of the consequences to which such a system, if persisted in, must ultimately lead. What hope can we entertain of saving the oppressed population of our foreign possessions; of checking the abuses of uncontrolled power; of curbing the cupidity of an insatiable avarice; or even of saving England, if such proceedings are to be covered and protected by the colonial government at home? Let us not suppose, because the Bushmen country, measuring 48,000 square miles, is now in the possession of the farmers, that the work of death and devastation in South Africa is now done. With respect to the Bushmen, we have now to think of what is to be done with the prisoners; but there are countries beyond our extended frontier, which must shortly share the same fate, if effectual checks are not imposed on those destructive passions to which the Bushmen have been sacrificed. Scarcely had the colonists, now inhabiting the Bushmen country, seated themselves on their remote frontier, when the Bergenaars were at work on the other side of the Orange river, and an active trade was opened between those plunderers and the colony. The poor Bechuana tribes, who lived in peace while the Bushmen were between them and the colonists, were now plundered, and captured, and found in the colony. Since the English took possession of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, we have deprived the Caffers of the finest parts of their country; we have, according to the testimony of the Commissioners of Inquiry, added to it 48,000 square miles of Bushman

country. And we shall proceed, if the present system is continued, till, having treated all the Caffer tribes as some of them have been treated, and as the Bushmen have been dealt with, we come to fix the boundary of the colony at Delagoa Bay, and then we shall order out our commandoes against the inhabitants of Mosambique*.

And can men who believe in the existence of a God, or who have enough of human sagacity to perceive the connexion between national crime and national degra dation, flatter themselves that such a system can be connived at in our foreign dependencies by the government at home, with perfect impunity? "The judg ments of God," says Milton, "are for ever unchangeable, neither is he wearied by the long process of time, and won to give his blessing on one age to that which he hath cursed in another." Independent of any supernatural interference of Deity, perseverance in such a system has an obvious tendency to desecrate every efficient vestige of national virtue still remaining among us, and must in the end give rise to a reaction, subversive of national honour, of national independence, and of civil liberty.

I shall now take my leave of the gentlemen under whose auspices this system of devastation has been carried on in South Africa, and of those who may have the hardihood to become its apologists, by recommending to their serious consideration the sentiments contained in the following extract of a letter, addressed by

* Having, on one occasion, asked a colonist if he could point out to me the northern boundary of the colony, he made the following reply:-"We colonists are not nice in these matters': 'all is 'colony to us where we can find a good spring of water, and pasturage for our cattle."

Granville Sharpe, Esq., to the Right Honourable the Earl of Dartmouth, his Majesty's Secretary of State. ...

The letter in question is dated 10th October, 1772, and was occasioned by its becoming known that it was the intention of the British government to employ some regiments of British troops against the Caribbs of the Island of St. Vincent. The sentiments which at that period produced a change in the determination of the government may, if the parties concerned have any belief in a future state, and in the responsibility of man to his Maker, produce contrition for the unmerited fate of the Bushmen, and perhaps save the interesting remnant of that nation, and many of the tribes of Africa, who, like the Bushmen, must perish miserably, if the progress of destruction be not speedily arrested.

1

"

"For God's sake, my Lord, if you are really the conscientious man that I believe you to be, inquire strictly and carefully into this matter, as it is now in your proper department; and if you find there are just grounds for what I have advanced, I think I may rest assured that you will use your utmost endeavours to stop all further proceedings against the Indians, that the credit of our nation may not openly be stained by the horrid crimes of unjust oppression, robbery, and premeditated murder; and that such complicated guilt may not occasion the withdrawing of God's blessing from the king's family and this kingdom. I have already mentioned the great uncertainty of success in the present undertaking against the Caribbees; but let me add, that even a victory in so bad a cause will load the English government with indelible shame and dishonour. The credit of our ministers must sink to the

VOL. II.

U

hateful level of politicians, whose principles are baneful to human society, and must necessarily, therefore, be detestable before God and man. The blood that will probably be spilt on both sides, must somewhere be imputed; for open and avowed injustice and wilful murder cannot be vindicated before God by any deceitful sophistry about the necessity of such measures to produce the nation's good, or to maintain the prosperity of our colonies; because good and evil can never change places, and because we must not do evil that good may

come.

"These are the first and most fundamental principles of government; so that statesmen and politicians, who thus venture to dispense with them, ought to be reminded, that such measures not only accumulate a national, but a personal guilt, which they must one day personally answer for, when they shall be compelled to attend, with common robbers and murderers, expecting an eternal doom; for the nature of their crimes is essentially the same, and God is no respecter of persons."

291

CHAPTER XVI.

Examination of the Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry respecting the Bechuana Refugees.-Disorders occasioned by the Bergenaars, fomented by the Frontier Colonists.-Mr. Melvill's Journey to Cape Town, and Correspondence on the subject with the Colonial Government.-Conduct of the Colonial Government on this Occasion.-Remarks of the Commissioners of Inquiry on the "unauthorized" Occupation of the Bushman Country by the Colonists.-Situation of the Bastaard Population on the Northern Frontier.-Connivance of the Government in the Encroachments of the Boors.-Means suggested by the Commissioners for the Improvement of the Coloured Population.

IN In the preceding chapters of this work, I have given many illustrations of the injuries inflicted upon the native tribes of South Africa, and I must add a few more to the catalogue before closing the present volume. In my remarks on the return to the Honourable the House of Commons on Mr. Buxton's motion, I had occasion to advert to the Reports of his Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry, in support of my statement; and in pursuance of my present object, I shall, in this and in the following chapters, take the liberty of referring to the same authority. It has afforded me particular pleasure to have had the opportunity of referring so frequently as I have done to the statements and opinions of the Commissioners with approbation. In documents like their Reports, however, embracing such a vast variety of detail, it would be unreasonable to expect accurate information on every point; and if I