The Sun.
London, England, 1851-04-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY

be responsible
was fearful if we took that course we should r able his authority might be upon other points, he was at
(I'l7iponsible for an immense deal of blordshed.— ! least welle,qualified to speak as to the characteristics of
vaert..) We should be responsible for a dreadful civil I the Kafir race. and the abominable practices to which
„e , for a war of races would certainly take place in they were addicted. They ate one another; they be-
; colonies, and we should be responsible for looking on lieved in witchcraft, and aced on that belief;
toepl4arently as governors and protectors, while in fact, they openly practised perjury, arson, and
1_
1-aere contented spectators of a scene of murder and rape. Further, it appeared teat no progress
/Ziae revolting to the human mind.—(Hear, hear.) had cr could be male with such men in the work of civi-
Itlevissing this alternative, then, there came the other lization—neither by means of missionaries nor of mill-
clere.dion, which he thought might very fairly be consi- tary. Long as our missionaries had been there no con-
ed with respect to it. They might consider the plan siderable progress was made in spreading the influence
Reichee. was adopted by Lord Glenelg and the Govern- of religion among them; with such savages, then, there
rather
of Lord Melbourne, viz., that of endeavouring was no hope of improvameet. When the Noble Lord
..`t,,,11 rto restrict than extend the frontier of the colony, spoke of extending our frontier, ho (Mr. V. Smith)
'l°l to make treaties with the native tribes, in the hope could not help feeling that, as we had a governor at
that they would observe those treaties. This plan seemed the Cape, there would be a constant attempt
e, have been fairly tried. Those who had tried it had to extend the frontier, for governors were driven to
see_reY wish that they might succeed; but hitherto their that policy by all possible motives. In extending the
:fa.. se had not been commensurate with the benevolence frontier they felt that, generally specking, they were
(nt_tie project or their desire to carry it into effect.— quite safe so long as they bad unbounded military re-
,d:ar.) Then there cause lastly the plan which had been sources; and in most cases they might be said to possess
sir Opted on the advice of Sir B. D'Urban, Sir P. Maitland such resources, for the moment news reached this eoun-
i . Pottinger, and Sir H. Smith, namely, that of ex- try of a British subject having been killed, the House
tending the frontier to the borders of a river where mili- of Commons—and very properly so—was prepared to
tart
posts could be established to cheek the incursions incur any expense that might be necessary for avenging
eeule savaere tribes that sought to infest the colony, the outrage. But, on the whole, he doubted whether
Bt,`".of endeavouring by the best system that could be this colony was entitled to all the protection and encou-
tto keep them in obedience—having, at the same ragement which it seemed to claim; and he did not agree
ra
a e scattered through the colony a series of forts with the Hon. Member for Staffordshire, in the opinion
as Places of security. In his (Lord John Russeli's) opi- which he expressed with regard to the convict question
b
u, that was certainly the system which was after all the at the Cape; in the contrary, he thought that the inha-
tone. consistent with security on the one hand and hui• hitants of the Cape ought to have been willing to take
aet, "itY on the other.—(Hear, hear.) In point of secu- from us our reformed convicts. He would not press that
ety, it seemed to him to promise better than the plan point any further, but merely content himself in this
'' restricting the frontier, and in Point of humanity ho place with adding, that he thought the Cape, at least,
rarn2idered it better than leaving the native tribes to de- ought to support its own military. As to the more li-
tiie teeTe by the sword which was the strongest.—(Hear, mited question now before the House, he should only
ar.) In point, therefore, both of security and hu- say, in conclusion, that it formed part of the great
inanity, this was the plan which he should be inclined to question which the Hon. Baronet the Member for
°op
which in
But, at the same time, as this was the plan Southwark had already brought before the House, and
In 1835, 1845, and now in 1851, had caused the that it must always be considered with reference to
great • •
be military movements, and all the expense attendant the whole of our colonial system. For the reasons,
liPoen those movements, it was quite right that the then, that he had stated, he should divide against both
tb.ll:ge of Commons should delegate to a Committee the propositions.
,„°. of obtaining all the information they could on the Mr. F. SCOTT said it had been truly stated that this
e`aaieet, and of giving their opinion whether this was the question presented great difficulties, but, after the best
'' 4 which Government ought to pursue. He thought consideration which he could give to the subject, he felt
thatplan if the Committee should approve of the that he ought to support the proposition of the Noble
that
hitherto adopted—always supposing, of course, Lord at the head of the Government, as, at all events,
13' t the first thing to be done was to give Sir better than the appointment of a commissioner. It ap-
tatTTY Smith the reinforcements he required, in order peered to him that the reasons given by the Right Hon.
ii aerl,able him to meet the immediate danger—(Hear, Gentleman opposite against the appointment of a COM.'
free,,,,ra—there were persons in this country perfectly able, missioner were quite conclusive; to appoint a commis-
oe—, their intimate knowledge of the colony, to be of sioner would be at once to supersede the Governor. In
am!" assistance with respect to making treaties with the his opinion the Kafirs were such irreclaimable savages
14 tribes, and arranging the mode in which they that they should be at once made aware that England,
shouldlotions
live in future with each other, and what their re. in defiance of' them, was determined to retain its
°iis ought to be with respect both to the colony and colony at the Cape, however great might be the cost of
e; Great. Britain. If the House should appoint a Corn- doing so. He should still be favourable to the appoint-
fete; the views of the Government would, of course, be ment cf a committee, for there had been so many
4r. Y stated to the numbers of that Committee; the quese changes in the Colonial-office that investigation
ate]
submitted to them would be considered dispassion- was desirable. There had been three propositions
abllY, as a great question which concerned the empire, made upon this subject; one was that of the Hon
all not as a question which concerned either the person Member for Staffordshire; another that of the Noble
o 0 Was at present Governor of the colony, or the per- Lord; and a third that of the Member for Southwark;
pa.who at present held the seals of the Colonial De- but the three propositions could really be resolved into
inept.—(Heartai" hear.) He was quite sure the Corn- two, namely, who was to pay for the war, and how the
tee would spend their time far better in considering war had been caused ? The war had been to a great
~.,
;nether the policy which had hitherto been adopted was extent caused by our home policy; and it therefore was
sesound one or not, and, if not, in suggesting whether the duty of Parliament to investigate those causes, so as
tell other could be adopted which was likely to be at- to prevent a repetition of such untoward events. In the
tsided with more benefit than in endeavouring to aster- course of the debate respecting Ceylon it had been said
lion whether Sir H. Smith was wrong in this proclama- that the vote then proposed amounted to a direct censure
right
or in that interview, or whether Lord Grey did on the Government, and he confessed it appeared to him
vigat in receiving with approbation the information that that the motion of the Noble Lord was little less; with
th" RDA to him. With this view, therefore, he moved that view, he should support the motion, and he thanked
tiettallaendment of which he had given notice. The Com- the Noble Lord for so candidly bringing it forward. The
Pia which
might come to the opinion that instead of the conduct of the Government of Ceylon might be considered
sending assistance
the Government proposed, and instead of harsh and severe, but every one must admit that the ad-
s --ee''ng assistance to Sir H. Smith, as First Commissioner, ministration of the Government of South Africa must
the commission should be sent to the colony, be regarded as having been in all respects conciliatory.
I,e 'le Ron. Gentleman (Mr. Adderley) proposed; but The next object which he Ghoul() notice was the tenure
o; thought it would be premature to decide that in the of land in the colony. The Kuflrs had a land question,
sei:gati instance. He thought it would be better that the like caner native tribes, in a system of quit-rents which
'enlaterials for judging of the matter should be fairly was established, and in limits to their holdings of land.
g Placed before the Committee before adopting that sug- It was a mistake to suppose that the pay ment of a
ititesnon.
The Noble Lord concluded by moving, as an sum of money was considered by them as an equivalent
Committee
to Mr. Adderley's motion, " That a Select for the loss of the pomp, license, and authority which
tureen
be appointed to inquire into the relations be- ' they had been accustomed to hold. Another cause of dis.
!ri this country and the Kafir tribes on our South pute was the boundary question. The Kafirs did not
.African frontier." believe in the permanence of the present system, and
tiZT. V. SMITH hoped he should escape one impute- that gave them such audacity in venturing into our limits.
Me- which the Noble Lord had cast upon the Hon. He could not believe that Sir H. Smith, when the out-
par-al, uer for Staffordshire, viz., that of treating this as a break occurred, was well informed upon the state of feel-
vie LeY question, because he was undeniably impartial in iog among the natives. Up to the last moment he ap-
(ill eting to both the motion and the amendment.— peared to believe that there was no serious cause for
ieee,ar, hear.) He obected to a commissioner being apprehending a breach of peace and tranquillity. He
milt' out, as proposed by the Hon. Member for Stafford- held in his hand a letter from an officer at the Cape,
,e2re, because he could not help thinking that while there dated January 14, 1851, in which the writer said that
commissioner
a governor in the colony the appearance of a Sir H. Smith had, for several weeks, been warned of
there would cripple his authority, and what was going on, but to no effect. On the 25th of
sitlweaken at once his power over the settlers and his in- December 5,000 Kafirs fell upon the patrol set by Sir
oeence with the natives.—(Hear, hear.) He was equally H. Smith, and attacked them wholly unprepared. Col.
he
to the amendment of the Noble Lord, because Mackinnon chose to march his men with pieces not
~,6 could not conceive what course the Committee could loaded, and the consequence was they had to fight their
Pursue that had not already been pursued by the Execu- way out of the defile at considerable loss. He (Mr.
've.---(Hear.) The Noble Lord said that they ought to Scott) thought that to sacrifice the lives of officers and
Put aside the opinions of this or that Secretary of the men by not having their muskets loaded evinced, on the
Colonies, and consider the question with reference to the part of Colonel Mackinnon, an unwarrantable laxity,
e
hes,en e t of
the empire. But whom could the Committee and as great a disregard of the interests of his men as
first call before them but those very persons whose opi- was possible. Another letter from the Cape stated that
!lions they were told to set aside?—(Hear, hear.) And the burghers were very slow in coming forward, and if
when the Noble Lord said that there were various gen- they did not take the field it was hard to say what the
tleraen in this country who wore capable of giving in- result would be. At present it seemed es if the war to
formation to the Committee, he (Mr. V. Smith) looked be waged was very like a war of extermination. It was
aghast, for although he knew one or two gentlemen who clear that our colonial policy had already involved the
could give information if they liked, yet it was by no country in great expense, and that it was likely to lead
means a grateful task for any one to come forward and us into further expense, unless a change of system was
, _°Y that this superior officer had failed, or that subordi- adopted.
late had misconducted himself, and, as there were no Mr. MACKINNON said it was very convenient to
means of compelling them to come forward and give in- Hon. Gentlemen opposite to make the actions of Sir H.
formation, he saw no good that would be derived from Smi h and other officers at the Cape of Good Hope a
antttempting it.—(Hear, hear.) He was confirmed in this cloak for their attacks upon the Colonial-office. It was
t-13,'Iai°n by what took place last year in the Committee no new thing in the history of civilization that the savage
d'" the army and ordnance estimates. Then again be tribes did not amalgamate with the colonists. On the
had
if 15 gentlemen could be got in that House who contrary, they by degrees receded until they disappeared
sufficiently studied the maps of the Cape to be able from the bounds of humanity. This was the case in the
10egaive an opinion as to where the frontier line should West Indies and in the United States. In the case of
rttoerawn.7(Hear.) It was almost impossible to sepa. the latter country, there was the certainty that in a few
Le the discussion of the present question from the ge- years the North American tribes would he annihilated.
iral question brought forward the other night by the Civilization was extending itself at the Cape, and con-
140U. Member for Southwark; and, in his opinion, they stant conflicts between civilization and barbarism there-
ought not to be separated.—(Hear.) The truth was, that tore, bee ime inevitable. Our governors had extended
ti e Cape was a sample colony.—(Hear.) Let them just their territory as far as they could, so as to make a
1
oelk at it for a moment. If it was true, as the Noble neutral ground between the colonists and the natives.
bird seemed to admit, that the policy which had been The colonists were increasing and extending their terri-
`4Btled since 1806 was erroneous—or at all events un. tory, and it was impossible to prevent conflicts between
Successful—it surely followed that some great reversal the advancing colonists and the retreating tribes. Sir
tati that policy should take place; and this was the opi- H. Smith, under such circumstances, bad shown great
(3'i of one of the best and wisest of the Governors of the tact and prudence in settling the questions at issue be-
tlpe, Sir H. Pottinger, who in one of his dispatches tween the colonists and the natives. It was out of his
slidhe would be too glad if it were in his power to re- power to prevent the last outbreak. It was not possible
izotet the limits of the frontier.—(Hear, hear.) The for the House to pass a judgment upon the conduct of
Isle Lord said that we must protect the settlers who the Governor unless they had the whole of his policy
had gone out to the Cape under our encouragement. To before them. A Select Committee of impartial Members
a
_certain extent this was true; but how far was this to would be more likely to form a fair judgment than any
t carried?—(Hear, hear.) Were we always to continue other tribunal. Being satisfied that Sir H. Smith had
afford them military protection, and they to afford shown himself to be a man of honour and humanity, as
themselves
ee'raselves none? Because ho coule prove that in the well as of superior powers of mind, he should support
eyii?! of the Cape the colonists had all along been un- the amendment of the Noble Lord (Lord J. Russell).
li,„."ng to protect themselves, and had always depended Mr. GLADSTONE said the Hon. Member for Lytn-
azij?ll us for military protection, and always would do so ington had propounded, by way of solving the practical
z long as we gave it to them.—(Hear.) The Noble question before the House as regarded the Cape of Good
ieTil said that the colonists had accumulated 4,000,0001. Hope, a philosophical theory which might be very in-
theust:was his answer to that? He would answer in genious and reasonable—that they were to regard the
C. words of the Noble Lord the Secretary for the Co- war that hail occurred as one of the incidents of the con-
thnle..!! who, by the way, differed from the Noble Lord tact of civilization and barbarism. That might be very
First
First Minister of the Crown. The Noble Lord the true; but the question then for them to consider would
t Minister of the Crown denounced every proposal' be, whether those incidents were capable of being iin-
tZT retrenchment, and the withdrawal of the troops from proved by prudent conduct on their part. It was enough
4O colonies as the dismemberment of the empire. Lord for him if they took practical measures on this question;
reY, on the contrary, was recommendjng the with- at the same time he agreed with those who had spoken
''ra,..w al of our forces in all quarters of the world. that the more they separated this question from the in-
-Lord J. RUSSELL—I referred to that in my culpation of individuals the better, because the matter
ilc:Nreelie--(Elear, hear.) was so difficult, and the blame, he believed, must be di-
tee—tre V. SMITH, in continuation, said that the Secre- vided among so many, and the House itself must come in
aY for the Colonies wrote to the Australians that they for its full share, that it would be unprofitable to con-
b tist defend themselves. The Governor of Australia cider how that blame should be shared. As to himself,
eeittid, " Surely you will not withdraw your forces from a he should be content if they could establish against the
Colony where there is so much property to defend." Cape any claim for bearing part of the expenses of this
1) rd Grey replied, nlf you have so large an amount of war. If the Government could effect that object they would
(4Vrty spend some of it in defending the rest." He deserve well of the country, but what he was most anxious
V. Smith) applied the same argument to the Cape. about was that they should remember that the future was
Bear hear.) (The Right Hon. Gentleman here in some degree in their power, and that they should not
quotedr some extracts from the dispatches of Sir H. Pot- commit themselves as to the future by any act of
t
lall'ger, to show the indisposition of the colonists to make indiscretion, or by any omission it was their duty to
e Y sacrifice to defend themselves, and the readiness fulfil. He was indeed very much in the same predica-
with which they profited by the extravagant manner in ment as the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for Nor-
I° the late war was conducted.) The causes of these thampton. He did not agree with one proposal or the
car wars and the causes of their long continuance bad other. As to the appointment of a commissioner, he
been noticed; but of this the House might rest perfectly thought the Right Hon. Gentleman had stated all that
assured, that so long as the wars were expensive, so long could be said; but as to the appointment of a Committee,
uoold they prove profitable to certain persons at the he thought that all the objections to a Parliamentary
ape, and so long would means of promoting and ex- Committee for the examination of a colonial question had
the them be found. He saw some gentlemen in especial force in this instance. The effect of such a
~e House who had served on the Army Estimates Committee would be to hang up the question, and stop
t)narnittee, and he appealed to them to say, had they the discussion of it probably for two sessions of Parlia-
Illat abundant evidence laid before that Committee to ment.—(Hear, hear.) The Committee must necessarily
rove that nothing was more difficult than to control be composed of gentlemen having many other avocatione
a commissariat, or to prevent People encouraging They would examine such witnesses as would be ready
if war which was profitable to themselves ? Now, to their hand; they would find it necessary to send for
i such expenses—of which this country had striking witnesses from the Cape to give them further informa-
ilatances_were necessary to a war, how careful should Lion; those witnesses would not arrive until next session;
ngland be in entering upon such wars, especially when then there would be the old story over again, and the
i, was remembered that so long as the expenses went House would be in great good fortune if they obtained
b"
l' the war would be continued! If they were to have the report in the session of 1852, or even of 1853. But it
either a committee or a commission, he should like to was objectionable at all times to stop for a long time the
e,ttve them inquire late war, discussion of public questions—(Hear)—and in regard
into the expenses of the
aka especially to inquire into the charges of peculation to a question of this kind it was objectionable in a ten-
,seett,against the British army. If such a commission fold degree. At that moment the House and the country
pn„,-'e issued as the Hon. Member fur Staffordshire pro- were smarting under the sense that there was something
fe--(1, he did not see how it could be rendered efficient wrong in the policy that led to these continued and sue-
t: all
1 necessary purposes. A commission, for example, ces'ive wars, and so long as they suffered from that
Friend
not audit accounts. He hoped that when his Hon. smart, and felt that the mischief was pressing and urgent,
dltiend the Under-Secretary for the Colonies rose to ad- there was some hope of the attention of the House being
taess the House on this subject ho would apply himself profitably directed to the subject.—(llear, hear.) But
thethis Part of the question, and tell the House why let this war pass away and the items for it appear no
the expenses of the war had never been properly inves- longer in the estimates, and they would be met on all
practical reformation was attempted
®eat
The Noble Lord at the head of the Govern- occasions when any
were about to dismember the
tire-ist spoke of the commando system in terms of disap- with declarations that they
teCation; but, after all the results of the late war, Sir empire, and the spirit of patriotism and freedom would
be Smith found it necessary to call out the whole of the be again inv the discussion would be a waste of
ttme.—(Hear, hear.) But a Committee was a bad in-
-174P1e of the colony, in fact, to order a levy en masse;
atitil he would ask, was not that creating, by British strument for the examination of this question.—(Hear,
impressed with the conviction,
biand°ritY, a system almost identical with the corn- hear.) He had long beenbi
We r—° Plan of operations? But such proceedings from his acquaintance wietmsceolvlonial affairs, that Govern-
e
leai not new; they had been repeated again and ment in the colonies themselves was the only Govern-
tl.;a- la; they afforded the most irresistible proofs that ment that could be satistactor.y, and sound, and health-
it would only
alteraYastena of our Government in that colony must be ful, when the colonists were in a legitimate and normal
oft tared; and he made this assertion under the influence position as freemen of our Ow'? care. But if they were
cod opinion that England never could have any to have a Government in trhiconntry, let it be the
cod he
the Kafirs. If it we're thought desirable— Queen's Government.—(Hear, a el_hear.)
in-
me" was far from saying so—bot if it was for a me- crease the mischief to leave ta,. Government with that
heat,,:otb,,ought of, that we ought to exterminate that race, House. The Secretary of State was a responsible officer
la would sn,, A._
ore dim, ee Lust the undertaking might prove much —he had means of information which the House had.
cipat , cult than those who contemplated it at all anti- not, Gad he was always acting under a sense of respell-
We eu; but one
- never thing was certain, as he thought—thatP aelvantages for govern-
-1 sibility. Then e oild not find fitteen gentlemen in that
peace . could agree with the Kafirs, or live on terms of , house who would have the cam .
to,er
Iv; ith them. In suport of this assertion he might 1
ing as the Secretary of , if he looked at the
fished,°n• Metrib to work ritten or at least pub.' I conduct of committees on colonial que
,_ . ers a W I Awns he could not
State, ar,d
"I
1837 by Mr. Boyce; and, however question- I say h 9 WAS satisfied with the result, They had heard

something about Ceylon, but he did not think the cha-
racter of that Rouse had been elevated by the single in-
stance of the Ceylon Committee.—(Hear, hear.) The
history of the Cape question afforded anuti,er instance.
The Noble Lord had recounted instances of the failure
of their policy. The strongest measures ever adopted
by the executive Government of this country as to the
Cape were in the time of Lord Glenelg, in consequence
of the report of a Committee of that House. A Committee
was appointed to examine our relations with the Ketirs
in 1835. It sat during 1836. On that Committee he
(Mr. Gladstone) sat with Sir F. Buxton, who he believed
was tee chairman, and he never saw a Member of Par-
liament discharge his duty with greater zeal or energy,
or with a more complete command of the subject; and
yet what was the result? A total change of policy was
recommended. It had proved a failure, and the
wars since that period had been more ruinous and
bloody than before.—(Cries of " Hear, hear.") But
he had a greater objection still to a Committee. It was
a step in the wrong sense and in the wrong direction.
It was impossible to devise in this country any satisfac-
tory system of adjusting the relations with the Kafir
tribes.—(Hear, hear.) It must be done by men on the
spot. He did not say it could be done in a moment.
The consequences of the unfortunate steps taken in
former times were not so easily retrieved. They must
endure much before they could work things round for
the future. But lot them not take a step in the wrong
direction. This was clear—there could be no new do-
mestic authority in England to give a sanction to the
management of the affairs of the frontier. He objected
to the management being in Downing-street; but he ob-
jected still more to its being vested in a Committee of
that House. If they felt now their responsibility as to
the expense of the war which had arisen when the Se-
cretary of State had managed the relations of the colony,
would they not be tenfold more responsible if they ap-
pointed a Committee to determine on those relations and
the system of managing them, and war were to break out
while that system was in operation?—(Hear.) Those
were his objections to the appointment of a Committee;
but, as he had said, he was not prepared to propose any
remedy of a domestic character.—(Hear, hear.) He
was persuaded that one great object of their policy ought
to be, as cautiously as they would, but as speedily as
they could, to carry on the management of this whole
matter by the colonists themselves.—(Hear, hear.) He
agreed with the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for
Northampton that that was a principle of the utmost
importance, and they could not separate it altogether
from the consideration of any particular case. The
main principle on which he voted against the appoint-
ment of a Committee was the anxiety he felt to avoid any
system that could give a fresh Parliamentary sanction to
the mischievous and unsound system of the management
of the local affairs of a colony from home.—(Hear.)
These wars with barbarians on the frontier were local
affairs; and if they asked him why he was so anxious to
throw on the colony the burden or managing these wars,
he begged they would not suppose it was entirely, or
even mainly, on account of great public economy, which
he believed, however, would result from that policy.
He was not ashamed to say that, saving public honour,
no duty was more incumbent on that House than the
maintenance of public economy.—(Hear, hear.) It was
not for them, as the representatives of the people, and
whose special duty it was to tax the people, and to see
that they were not taxed more than the exigencies of
the empire called for, to be ashamed to propound the
principles of economy—(Hear, hear)—but he felt that
there was a much higher principle in this matter. Ii
was not only for economy they ought to give to these
people the management of their own affairs, and leave
them to arrange their relations with the aboriginal tribes
in the colony, but to get back to the old system of colo-
nial policy—that system under which they ruled the
old American colonies. The colonists there did not ask
them to maintain their wars with the Indian tribes. The
real question was not one of economy. It was this, how
the plague and scourge of war could be best kept down?
He was convinced that could not be done unless the whole
community to be exposed to the war was responsible for
the expense. The burdens of war, were they an unmiti-
gated evil? No. Whey were a providential correction,
imposed on mankind to check their disposition to quarrels
and warfare. What would this country be it we had some
unlimited fund belonging to other people, and not to us,
upon which we might draw at pleasure to pay the ex-
penses of wars in which we might be engaged? He
trusted that even in such a case our moral sense would
restrain us; but it required to be backed up by other
considerations, and the monstrous expense of war was a
providential check to restrain the fury of men, and to
render them less disposed to war. How was this war at
the Cape carried on ? He might say by the most scan-
dalous extravagance; he was afraid he might go further,
and say by the most scandalous corruption—(Hear)—for
he was afraid there was public authority for saying that
peculation and corruption had disgraced this war. Did
they think it cost the Americans in their wars with the
Indians 1,500,0001. at a time? Were those wars dis-
graced by corruption and peculation? No! because the
responsibility was placed on those most interested in them.
The only parties who could settle or adjust these mat-
ters were those who were directly interested in them.
Those were the persons on whom the burden ought to
lie. As for the proposition of the Hon. Baronet the
Member for Southwark, he had a difficulty in agreeing
to any abstract proposition asserting what they ought to
do us to colonial government, but when they had a prac-
tical question before them, if they did not assert their
principle in a theorectic form, let them act on the right
principle according to the principles that had arisen.
They had a case of that kind then before them. The ques-
tion was, whether or not they were really to endeavour
to fix on the colonists the responsibility of governing the
colony. He knew of only one objection to that system.
and it was this :—Appeals might be made to their hu-
manity, and it might be said, " You are not going
to expose these colonists to the fury of barbarous tribes."
He did not know how that matter really stood, nor did
he believe that any information he could get in that
House would tell him whether it was true that these

tion; there had been something mentioned about putting
:he foot upon the nook of a chief; what would lave
been said has; Sandilli proposed to put his foot upon the
nook of the Governor ? The House had heard, too,
about a brass-headed stick, under circumstances pre-
senting a very near approximation to a curtain hat by
which one Gessler, once upon is time involved himself
and his principals in a considerable difficulty, He (Col.
Thompson) had, both in Africa and Asia, seen evidence
that to treat semi-barbarians with justice was the sure
key to their attachment and good faith.—(Hear, hear.)
The question was, who hed applied the match to this
train? Gunpowder, everybody knew, was explosive,
and so were the Kafirs.—(Hear, and laughter,) He
wanted to know who it was that had fired the train,
and so begun the mischief? It would be quite sufficient
for the House to say that in case of need it would pro-
tect our fellow-subjects in that part of the world from
being overwhelmed; but as to any proposition that we
would conquer all that portion of the African continent,
and thrust beck and back the irreclaimable savages whom
injured,
let ourselves had wantonly insulted and
let the House take heed how it sanctioned any such
thing, for be sure the retribution of Providence that
ever, throughout the world's history, had, sooner or
later, punished injustice, would, sooner or later, punish
that injustice also.—(Hear, hear.)
Sir E. N. BUXTON was rejoiced to hear this asser-
tion of the right of the aborigines of Africa. There
was ample ground for considering that very great en-
croachments had been made on the lands of the natives,
especially on those of the Kafirs, who, a fierce, warlike
people, had done that which it might have been expected
they would do in resistance of the aggression. We had
already been encroaching and encroaching, in Southern
Africa, until our empire there exceeded in extent the extent
of Great Britain. He denied that the policy of Lord Gle-
nelg had totally failed; on the contrary, it was the de-
parture from the Noble Lord's policy which had occa-
sioned all this mischief. Lord Glenelg's policy, as laid
down for the guidance of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, was—
" a systematic and persevering adherence to justice, con-
ciliation, forbearance, and the honest arts by conciliation
may be advanced, and Christianity diffused among the
people." Had that policy been adhered to the result
would have been totally different from those now un-
happily before the House. He was of opinion that it
might be dangerous to place the affairs of the colony
wholly in the hands of the colonists. The colonists,
no doubt, might be able to defend themselves,
but he was afraid it would be by means wholly dis-
tasteful to the Christian feelings of this country, by
bloodshed, devastation, and the final extermination of
the native tribes. The real cause of these hostilities was
described in the words of Lord Glenelg, with relation to
the conflicts of the colonists with the natives in Australia
—" The real causes of these hostilities are to be found in
a course of petty encroachments and acts of injustice
committed by the new settlers, at first submitted to by
the natives, and not sufficiently checked in the outset by
the leaders of the colonists."—(Hear, hear.) The only
right course open to the Government was a return to
the policy of Lord Glenelg —(skar.)
Mr. ROEBUCK said that much had been said about
justice and humanity, and the necessity of adhering, as
between our colonists and the savage tribes by whom
they were surrounded, to the same principles which re-
gulated the relations between nations of equal civiliza-
tion, the Honourable Gentleman, in common with every-
body else, blinding himself to the leading fact that is
all these cases we, of necessity, began with that which
in the abstract, and upon general principles, was
gross injustice. What had we done in Kafraria? Why,
we had begun with taking away people's land
from them, and then Honourable Gentlemen got up
in the House and said, Oh, you must follow out the
principles of justice in this case." The real question
was, injustice having been done, whether there was no-
thing to justify the injustice? He, for one, affirmed that
there was. Take America, discovered in its islands by
Columbus, in its continent by Cabot; take it at the time
it was so discovered, and ask yourselves what was the
amount of human happiness which that vast continent
then contained?—(Hear, hear.) Compare it, as it then
was, not with what it is now, but with what it is in its
splendid expectations—weigh its past mischiefs, great,
enormous, overwhelmning as they were—terrible as the
conquests of Cortez, direful as those of Pizarro, cruel as
those of the Puritans of Massachusetts, miserable as the
devastations of Virginia;—compare all this with that ex-
hibition which its wide-spread plains now present—the
developments of modern science, the myriads of popula-
tion, the progress of human happiness and well being;
—weigh these two even together, though sorrowing, you
could not but accept the one for the sake of the other.
Why should he blind himself to the consequences? Did
not the history of the colonies tell him that the mo-
ment the white man, and more especially the Anglo-
Saxon, placed his foot by the side of the brown native,
wherever he might be found, whether in North
America, in Soath Australia, in New Zea-
land, or in South Africa, the inferior man vanished
before him? and the only question was between the long
agony of pretended justice and the immediate expulsion
of the aborigines. Let there not, then, be any false
modesty or false philanthropy about this question.—(A
laugh.) We were going to expel the natives for the ex-
press purpose, and it was a false, hypocritical pretence,
to say that we were going to do anything else. Let the
House take the case of any one of our colonies—begin-
ning with Massachusetts, for example. That was a very
religious colony. They were a pure people, who went
out to cultivate the vineyard of the Lord according to
their own peculiar views. What did they do? Why,
one morning they rose up, and they said they were about
to smite the heathen hip and thigh, and to draw the
sword of the Lord and of Gideon. And they did draw
the sword, and did smite them hip and thigh, and alto-
gether exterminated the natives. That was what they
did, and they did it in the name of the Lord! Take
Massachusetts now, and what was it as compared with
the state in which the colonists found it? As he said at
first, he accepted the difference. He mourned over the
intervening circumstances; but he did say that it was im-
possible to avoid the consequences. He wanted to apply
this practically. We had no business in Kafraria, except
upon the understanding that we were about to plant there
a people of higher intelligence. It was impossible to bring
the degraded heathen up to that state of civilization
at which the white man had arrived. The native would
vanish before the face of the white man. The mode in
which we had commenced our colonization proved that
we believed such to be the case. We found in Kafraria
a body of men who lived by hunting—whose modes of
life required a vast expanse of territory. We took that
territory, and began by seizing the most fertile spots.
What could the natives do? Nature told them what to
do—to fight, to oppose cunning to force, artifice to know-
ledge; and cunning and artifice sank before knowledge
and. force. Then came poor Sir Harry Smith, and talked
as if these people had committed some dire offence against
morality when they rose against his dominion; and the
Hon. Baronet (Sir E. Buxton) asked them to do unto
others as they would be done to. But suppose the
Honourable Baronet were a Hottentot, or member for
Kafraria, would he then apply the , golden rule? Or,
suppose the Hottentots came to England, and seized it,
and some brown Sir Harry Smith were to begin talking
about his tender mercies, would the Honaurable Gentle-
man think that he militated against morality by putting
a musket ball through him? Why, he would think
that he was doing a patriotic thing, and that his name
would he held up to future ages as a Miltiades, a The-
mistocles,.a Wallace, or any '
other patriot. But to re-
turn; having begun with a gross act of injustice, by
dispossessing the country, he yet said that if they were
enabled to introduce a large body of English colonists
there ho was quite prepared to go the whole length of
the consequences; but it was an utter pretence to talk
of honesty, in the ordinary sense of the term, of justice,
or humanity. They ought not to mix up this matter
with the question of the colonization of the Cape of
Good Hope, because British Kafraria was in no way
connected with the Cape colony. British Kafraria was
a large tract of territory taken possession of by the
British Government, into which they had sent soldiers,
but no colonists. The Kafirs had risen, because they
thought that a gross injustice had been done thorn.
They were right for so doing, and we could only put
them down by force. Those men had steeled their
hearts with the deepest sense of injury. We had de-
prived them of that which was dearest to them. The
lands over which they had been used to roam in quest of
the means of subsistence we had taken from them. We
had circumscribed their means of living, and could it be
wondered at that they should rise against us? We had
planted in their nation military colonies, and we were
about to destroy them as a people. He wished English-
men to understand that we were about to introduce
among a people rather more than usually populous for
the extent of territory an English power with the ulterior
object of placing there English colonists. English co-
lonists could not be placed there without the inevitable
consequence of annihilating the aborigines. That was
what had been done in New Zealand, in Australia, in
North America, in all our colonies, and that was what
would be done in South Africa, if the present system
were continued. Tell the colonists —" We will plant
you here; we will protect you from aggression against
the great nations of the earth; seaward, you shall be
safe; against the aborigines you must protect your-
selves." What would be the consequence? A militia
w
would be at once formed; we should march into the
midst of the country and plant a town; an insurrection
would arise; we should put down the Kafirs; punish-
ment would follow; we should dispossess them of their
land, and the poor wretches would be driven back and
exterminated. That was what had been done in Massa-
chusetts, in Virginia, in New 'York. The colonists had
put down a gallant and chivalroal. race—a race warlike,
and possessed of many high qualities. We had dispos-
sessedi
them, and where now, would ask, was the
North American Indian? He lived n history—he was
unknown in fact—and scarcely in the whole range east
of the Mississippi could be found one .single nation of the
aborigines that was not like a vrandermg tribe of Gipsies
—all their high chivalry gones.-all their claims as a na-
tion melted away. They had become the subjects of ro-
mance. In their mostsherished resting-places the axe
of the Anglo-Saxon had cut down and crushed the vast
forests through which they had been wont to wander,
and their hunting-grounds hadbecome the seats
of art, of civilization, and of human happiness in a diffe-
rent form.—(Hear, hear.) This made all the difference,
and this, he said again, we must face, if we intended to
extend the present system to South Africa, As regarded
the proposition of the Noble Lord, he looked upon it as
a complete abdication of the power of the Government.
He (Mr. Roebuck) could put a meaning upon it, because
he could suppose a Government so weak and so inca-
pable of governing as to be glad of any excuse for get-
ting rid of a difficulty. A responsible Colonial Govern-
ment shrouded itself under the miserable subterfuge of a
Select Committee, and in the mean time money was to
be spent, war and slaughter were to be perpetrated, and
the great numa of England was perhaps to be prostituted.
Time was when the Noble Lord would have said, had
such a proposition been made to him, " Do you think
wo are going to abrogate our functions as a Govern-
ment ?" But he said to the Noble Lord, if he were wil-
ling to abrogate the functions of the Colonial-office to a

colonists were not able to defend themselves from the
barbarians. He himself had a shrewd suspicion that
they were; and, if they were not, in case of need this
country would be ready to help them; but what we had
to do, meantime, was to require them to do all they
the mselves csn'd for themselves, and to help them in this
by throwing upon them, to the utmost possible extent,
the responsibility of managing their own affairs. He
protested against the doctrine that the normal system of
colonization was what was phrased thepreparing colonies
for freedom.—(Hear, hear.) It seemed to be taken for
granted by many of our statesmen that the proper mode
of proceeding, when you founded colonies, was to deal
with them as you deal with children; first putting them
into long clothes, then into short clothes, and by and by
(after careful consideration) breeching them. You
must found colonies in freedom if you mean them to be
really free.—(Hear, hear.) By founding colonies in
political servitude you displace all the social elements;
you teach the colonists to place reliance where they
ought not to place it; you create a governing class; you
create a sense of dependence upon the mother country
for purposes which the colonists themselves ought to
fulfil; and, above all, you create a great military ex-
penditure; and you hold out a direct premium for war,
because the more wars there are the greater military
expenditure there is—the greater the profit to be made
out of it by those concerned.—(Hear, hear.) Let the
House beware how it accorded its sanction to any such
mischievous, wasteful, and demoralizing principles of
colonisation as these—(Hear, hear)—let it, by means of
the Executive Government, and the agents of the Exe-
cutive Government at the Cape, endow the colony, as
soon as possible, with entire liberty as to local adminis-
tration, throw upon it the responsibility of managing its
own affairs and its own relations, including those with
the Kafir tribes, always with the distinct understanding
that the mother country would be ready to interpose her
powerful arm in case of actual need. Do this, and there
need be no fear of dismemberment of the empire.—
(Rear, hear.) As to dismemberment of the empire, let
him point out to the House that we had not at this
moment any colonies more attached to the mother
country than were the whole of the American colonies
prior to the outbreak of the revolution, yet there was
not one of these colonies but must have felt insulted by
so miserable a bribe being held out to it as military ex-
penditure, or an army to defend it from the savages on
its frontiers.
Lord MANDEVILLE rose, not so much to answer
what the Right Hon. Gentleman said, as because, having
been in the colony, he might state what would be of use
to the House.—(Hear, hear.) Tho Right Hon. Gen-
tleman said there would be no use in appointing a Com-
mittee. There was a Committee now sitting on steam-
navigation, yet no doubt there were members of the
Government who had information on that subject. Be-
sides, the Committee had the advantage of being at a
distance from the scene of action, and, consequently re-
moved from the party strifes and disputes which would
bias the judgment of persons in the place.—(Hear, hear.)
The Right Hon. Gentleman seemed to speak as if the
colony wished for war. There might have been persons,
certain contractors, who, derived a profit from it, wished
for it; but the colony itself suffered too much to wish
for war.—(Hear, hear.) The Hon. Member for South-
wark stated that the wars were caused by our encroach-
ments. The reverse was the case—the war was
caused by Kafir depredations. The war of 1846 was
caused by the murder of Do Lange, whose cattle had
been stolen after the Fingoe who watched them had
been killed. The Boer was shot when he attempted
to overtake the depredators, and the war, he believed,
was caused by the dissensions consequent on the re-
fusal of the Kafirs to give up the offenders. The Hon.
Baronet had a very erroneous impression as to the
length of our frontier. It could not be much more than
a tenth part of what the Hon. Gentleman had stated
to be threatened.—(Hear, hear.) The whole Orange
River frontier was thinly inhabited by people whenever
attacked us. The Orange River sovereignty, he would
observe, was taken on account of the boors, not of the
Kafirs ; the only part on which were Kafirs was be-
tween the Wintenberg and the sea. The whole of
Natal was surrounded by Zoolahs, not Kafirs. There
were none in any part of it. These Zoolahs were per-
fectly peaceable, as had been stated by the Right Hon.
the Under-Secretary. The Hon. Member for Stafford-
shire, in the same breath that he affirmed that not a
month was to be lost, recommended a commissioner to
be sent out. This appeared to be simply a contradic-
tion in terms.—(Hear.) The Committee itself could
decide whether a commissioner was desirable, and,
meantime, far better than a local commissioner, provide
a constitution, and decide what portion of the expense
should be paid by the colony. The Hon. Member for
Northampton talked of boors in the Kat River. Why
the whole population there were Hottentots.—(Hear,
hear.) Appoint a Committee, and the Government, no
doubt, would be ready to lay all the papers before it,
and there would be found plenty of people in England
able and willing to give information on the subject.
Colonel THOMPSON had heard no answer to the
allegation of the Hon. Mover that there had been dis-
tinct breaches of treaty, to which were to be referred
the first origin of this war. On the other hand, circum-
stances had been suentiolleti which bQrQ 90t that atiee4-