on. It
was impossible for us to go there, so we were forced to sell our rights
to middlemen and agents for a mere song; and many of our people were so
overwhelmed by the difficulties placed in their way that they took no
steps whatever to receive their share of the compensation.

Greyheads and widows who had lived in ease and comfort went down
poverty-stricken to the grave, and gradually the hard fact was borne in
upon us that there was no such thing as Justice for us in England.

[Sidenote: Slavery at the Cape.]

Froude, the English historian, hits the right nail on the head when he
says:--

[5] "Slavery at the Cape had been rather domestic than predial; the
scandals of the West India plantations were unknown among them.

Because the Dutch are a deliberate and slow people, not given to
enthusiasm for new ideas, they fell into disgrace with us, where
they have ever since remained. The unfavourable impression of
them became a tradition of the English Press, and, unfortunately,
of the Colonial Office. We had treated them unfairly as well as
unwisely, and we never forgive those whom we have injured."

[Sidenote: The Glenelg policy.]

[6] But this was not all. When the English obtained possession of the
Cape Colony by convention, the Fish River formed the eastern boundary.
The Kaffirs raided the Colony from time to time, but especially in 1834,
when they murdered, plundered, and outraged the helpless Colonists in an
awful and almost indescribable manner. The Governor was ultimately
prevailed upon to free the strip of territory beyond the Fish River from
the raids of the Kaffirs, and this was done by the aid of the Boers. But
Lord Glenelg, the Colonial Secretary, reversed this policy and restored
the whole territory to the natives. He maligned the Boers in even more
forcible terms than the emissaries of the London Missionary Society, and
openly favoured the Kaffirs, placing them on a higher pedestal than the
Boers. The latter had succeeded in rescuing their cattle from the
Kaffirs, but were forced to look on passively while the very same
cattle, with the owner's brand marks plainly visible, were sold by
public auction to defray the cost of the commando. It was useless to
hope for justice from Englishmen. There was no security for life and
property under the flag of a Government which openly elected to uphold
Wrong. The high-minded descendants of the proudest and most stubborn
p