State and Prospects of the British Settlement on its Borders The accounts which Mr. Kay gives of the system of M sals, which has long been maintained by the colonial autho relations with the frontier tribes, affords a humiliating pictu an policy and humanity. This is not a novel topic: fren Sparrman to the present, almost every writer on the Cape the revolting injustice and barbarous impolicy of what is the Commando System.' Mr. Barrow exposed its iniquity in the strongest terms, as exercised, at the period of his visi cially against the miserable race of Bushmen. Many deta cities on the northern frontier were published by Mr. Thom Dr. Philip has given the rise and progress of this system liest records of the colony down to 1528, when his valuable ed;† and several subsequent writers on South Africa-Bann Pringle, &c., not to mention the printed reports of His M missioners of Enquiry-have furnished lamentable and una idence, that the same shortsighted and barbarous policy is s with but a very slight and inefficient modification. I do says Lieutenant Rose, the Caffers a cruel or vindictive policy adopted towards them has been severe: for when d respect the rights of the savage? By the Dutch Borderwhom their government had little control, they are said slaughtered without mercy-to have been destroyed as they wolf. At no period, I believe, since the English have been has wanton cruelty been committed; but the natives. have at been driven back from boundary to boundary, and military p established in the country from which we have expelled th too, have been issued that all Caffers appearing within the p * Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa. Second Edition. Vol † Researches in South Africa; illustrating the Civil, Moral, and Rel of the Native Tribes. By the Rev. J. Philip, D.D. Humane policy: or Justice to the Aborigines of New Settlements expenditure of British Money, and to the best Interests of the Setilers tions how to civilize the Natives by an improved administration of exis S. Bannister, late Attorney-General in New South Wales. London, 18 which has not received attention at all adequate to the importance of i tains some valuable details respecting the Cape frontier system, well rious consideration of the Colonial Department. § Four Years in Southern Africa By Cowper Rose, Royal Engi 1829.—See p. 74–77, 94. road of military and boors) was the frequent conses were individual, but the punishment was general; mando was to destroy, to burn the habitations, and to they did their duty.'-'I hate the policy that turns the the cold-blooded butcher of the unresisting native; I by the calculator, it might be considered expedient; id as it is cruel.' Rose's Four Years in South Africa, nt of our Caffer frontier policy, given by an officer for on the Caffer frontier, and officially cognizant of the characterises. Let us now turn to Mr. Kay. In notreme alarm spread among the natives by the rumour ng entered their country from the colony, he remarks, indiscriminate manner in which military expeditions ed upon the tribes, spreading dessolation and death on committed by individuals unknown, has naturally ren1 of such expeditions dreadful throughout the land.'p. 241-266) is occupied with the history of the treatthe Amakosa clans from the Colonial Governments, from an early period down to 1820. We cannot find etails; but many of them are such as to excite reflecainful character. The authenticity of the principal , be questioned: they rest not only on the testimony of icial documents, and on the statements of the local gov al Gazette. Some of these atrocities rival any thing conduct of certain States of North America towards the with t erful i exactly On the he spo ftakin they suc ve had Seer, w or, that Englis The m d occupa Numbers, g e more re to the dee tuation son the savag ith blood." This is a pectable ma be authority Tho were pr act due atte vestigation justice, as In the cond attending tending to ndary, and een the treatment of neighbouring tribes, and of recog e above case of Gaika,) more distant hordes have, it onally assaulted with even less ceremony. Mr. Kay g example (p. 330): In June, 1828 rumours reached arlike Zoolu Chief, Chaka, had invaded the Amaponda Chief had lately sent two of his principal captains on a the Colonial Government, an officer was very properin armed escort of about forty men, with the view of e conference with this African Cæsar, and mediating ng the Amaponda territory, however, the party found ers had retreated, but being solicited by an Amate mbu with their fire-arms in an attack upon another horde, ection and object of their expedition. This was the i, a tribe who had been driven from their own territory areer of the Zoolus; and who were now pressing upon tory from the north. The Fa'ish party, unhappily, aracter of mediators as to become parties in these intes It has indee erful in their van, the natives hastened onward to the combat, exactly the site whereon was erected the temporary huts of the On the Sunday evening, the troops arrived within a few hou the spot, and, after halting an hour or two, again proceeded, of taking them by surprise ere dawn of day the following morni they succeeded; so that while the greater part of the people w asleep, the rushing of horses, the clashing of spears, and the h musketry, poured in upon them* on every side. Who can c situation more awful? The thought makes one's very blood we had not heard the details of this sanguinary affair confirm than fifty eyewitnesses, we could not possibly have given cred strange was the plan, and so barbarous its results! A respect officer, whom duty required to be on the spot, candidly declare thor, that it was "one of the most disgraceful and cold-blooded the English soldier had ever been rendered accessory." "The moment our troops arrived on the summit of the en overlooked the vale in which the Matuwana and his men we ders were given for all to gallop down amongst the houses. T ed occupants then poured out in droves, and a dreadfully de was forthwith opened upon them. Very few seconds elapse hut was vacated, and thousands seen scampering off in every Numbers, gaunt and emaciated by hunger and age, crawled miserable sheds, but with pitiable apathy sat or laid down. heedless of their fate. Many of the females cast away thei the more readily to effect their own escape; whilst others actu into the deepest parts of the river with infants upon their bac situation some were drowned, others spared, and many ston by the savage throng; insomuch that the water was at length 1with blood.' This is an appalling statement; and brought forward as i= spectable man, then resident in the Caffer territory, and wh the authority of British officers, and 'the unanimous testimony who were present during the whole affray;' it will not fail, we tract due attention in the proper quarter, and lead forthwith to t investigation which appears to be imperatively required for of justice, as well as for the vindication of the national charact In the concluding chapter Mr. Kay gives a statement of the ces attending the seizure (or cession, as it is termed) of a trad extending to eighteen hundred square miles, eastward of the boundary, and the forcible expulsion from it of the Caffer in "It has indeed been said, that a parley was attempted; and for the hor rymen, we cannot but wish that this could have been proved. Unhappil The facts as here stated, (and a report of the Commissioners of Enquiry is referred to as one of his chief vouchers,) are of a character that again remind us most forcibly of the treatment of the Creek and Cherokee Indians, as detailed by Mr. Stuart in his late valuable work on the United States.* If correctly represented, they may well make us blush for the honor of our country. When did Europeans,' exclaims Mr. Rose, 'respect the rights of the savage!' But though past iniquities cannot be recalled, nor perhaps to any great extent redressed, surely our present Government will promptly adopt effective precautions to prevent the repetition of outrages not less disgraceful to the British name, than detrimental to the progress of civilization and Christianity among these interesting tribes. It is of vital importance,' says Mr. Kay, 'to the peace of the frontier, and the civilization of our neighbours, that such measures be adopted, as shall in future protect (their rights), and prevent all further encroachment upon them.As already shown, much good feeling has of late been manifested towards the tribes in many different ways: but we have not as yet by any means extended to them that protection which they reasonably demand at our hands, and which our increased intercourse renders absolutely necessary. Hence numbers are at this moment suffering most grievously from their rights being shamefully trampled under foot, and their clanish feuds materially promoted by lawless colonists, English as well as Dutch, who, when once beyond colonial precincts, seem to laugh both at law and legislators, scrupling not to commit acts of aggression and cruelty quite equal to those of former years.' After relating a recent case of a very revolting description, in which a Cape trader (an Englishman) and a Caffer chief were parties, and where the terms 'civilized and savage,' appear to have changed sides, Mr. Kay emphatically remarks, 'that the astonishing supineness with which deeds of this horrid character are treated, would really seem to confirm a doctrine that has again and again been gravely argued, namely, that "crimes committed without the Colony are not cognizable within.". Pp. 498, 500. The unprotected state of the tribes on the northern frontier,' he adds, is, if possible, still more distressing. There, numbers of Dutch Boors, despite both of right and remonstrance, are continually trespassing upon the lands of the Aborigines, and treating them in a manner the most oppressive.'-'It is an incontrovertible fact, that these tribes are molested, that they are seriously injured, and that in many different ways. The game upon which some of them (the Bushmen hordes) have entirely to depend for subsistence, is by these Nimrods destroyed, the scanty pasturage of their fields consumed, and their children often reduced to a state of complete vassalage. Barrow records that the Boors used to obtain slaves from beyond the boundaries westward; and certain it is, that the evils of slavery are at this moment increasing on our north-eastern borders, where it is not sufficiently checked by the established authorities. The daily encroachments of Dutch farmers upon lands beyond these frontiers greatly facilitate the practice.'-'Such,' in conclusion he observes, 'are some of the evils under which, notwithstanding all our boasted benevolence and good feeling towards the long oppressed African, we are still leaving him to perish, and that on our very threshold. With wiser men we now leave the case, that they may devise a remedy. Devised some remedy must be, and that speedily, if we wish to maintain the honor of our character either as Britons or as Christians. In 1826 his Majesty's Commissioners of Inquiry declared, that they could only hope for a reduction of the heavy expense, now incur *See Stuart's Three years in North America, vol. ii, p. 166. red in maintaining the defence of the frontier, by the progressive extension of more amicable relations with the tribes;' adding, moreover, that ‘it is at once consolatory and satisfactory to reflect, that any measures tending to preserve the tranquillity of the frontier on the side of Caffraria, will in the same degree contribute to the prosperity and commercial enterprize of the colony.'-Pp. 502, 504, 506. Connected with this painful topic is that of the lamentable deterioration of character, in the case both of the civilized man and the savage, which appears to have, in this quarter, resulted from their intercourse. It did not strike me,' says Lieut. Rose,' that the savage tribes are improved by their intercourse with us.' 'Gaika, the neighbouring chief, dressed with an old regimental jacket, was in the fort with his retinue of twenty-five wives; and it was not without interest that I looked on one of whom Barrow had prognosticated so highly. He was then nineteen, he is now fifty; and melancholy has been the change that has taken place in the interval. The English have given him their protection, and with it their vices; and he is a sunk and degraded being-a wretched savage, despised and suspected by his tribe, continually intoxicated, and ever ready to sell his wives for brandy. Such are the fruits of our protection! such have ever been the effects on the savage, of the kindness of the civilized. If we find them simple and trusting, we leave them treacherous; if we find them temperate, we leave them drunkards; and in after-years, a plea for their destruction is founded on the very vices they have learned from us!' (P. 94.) This is one side of the picture: Mr. Kay gives us the other. He is speaking of some Europeans, partly Englishmen, who, owing to desperate fortunes, or impatience of the restraints of civilized life, have domiciled themselves among the native tribes. 'In such a situation,' he remarks, 'men soon become deaf to the checks of better principles. Fancied insult arouses revengeful feelings; unrestrained passions speedily generate incredible licentiousness, whilst avarice and self-interest prompt to acts the most iniquitous. There is a significant phrase frequently used on the coast of Guinea, that such a man is "grown black." It does not mean an alteration of temper, but of disposition.' And, incredible as it may appear, there are now in Caffraria, also, Englishmen whose daily garb differs little from the beast-hide covering of their savage neighbours; whose proper color can scarcely be identified from the filth that covers them; and whose domestic circles, like those of the native Chieftains themselves, embrace from eight to ten black wives or concubines.' (P. 400.) There are several other topics we could have wished to notice, but we The author's ob can only, at present, briefly advert to one or two of them. servations upon the Bechuana and Zoolu (or Amazulu) tribes, do not require any particular remarks as he has added little to the information collected by Burchell and Thompson. There is, however, a valuable chapter on the frontier trade, of which we regret that we cannot give a summary.From his remarks on this topic, and on the British settlement of Albany generally, we are glad to find that this district, the distresses of whose new inhabitants, a dozen years ago, made an impression in England so unfavourable to the capabilities of South Africa, is now decidedly the most prosperous part of the whole Cape Colony. Of this improvement, the prohibition from employing slaves is generally acknowledged to have been the leading cause. This restriction was rendered effectual by a judicious clause in the grants of land to the British settlers. A still more remarkable and unexpected proof of the advantages of freedom and free labor over servitude and coercion, was witnessed by Mr. Kay, on visiting a colony of emancipated Hottentots, who, in the year 1829, were planted in a wild valley on the new Caffer frontier, called the Kat |