and cruelties which have been recorded against them for
so many years. It is most blessed to contemplate the depth of their
religious sentiments; they express the love they bear to our Lord and
Saviour, and their desire to walk in His steps. All this is very
beautiful, and, _if true_, is the greatest comfort ever given us
concerning the native races. I will take that document as a promise for
the future that they will act upon these principles, that they are
Christians, and that they will act on Christian principles, and respect
the rights of the natives. That is perhaps the most generous view to
take of the matter; but, nevertheless, we shall be inclined to doubt
until we _see_ that they have put these principles into practice.

"Let me come to the laws of the Transvaal. It is a fundamental law of
that State that there can be no equality either in Church or in State
between white and coloured men. No native is allowed to hold land in the
Transvaal with such a fundamental law. It is nothing more than a
necessary transition to the conclusion that the coloured people should
be contemned as being of an inferior order, and only fit for slavery.
That is a necessary transition, and it is for Englishmen to protest
against it, and to say that all men, of whatever creed, or race, or
colour, are equal in Church and State, and in the sight of God, and to
assert the principle of Civil and Religious Liberty whenever they have
the opportunity. I have my fears at times of the consequences of
democratic action; but I shall never feel afraid of appealing to the
British democracy on a question of Civil and Religious liberty. That
strikes a chord that is very deep and dear to every Briton everywhere.
They believe,--and their history shows that they act upon the
belief,--that the greatest blessing here below that can be given to
intellectual and moral beings is the gift of Civil and Religious
liberty. Sensible of the responsibility we have assumed, we appeal to
the British public, and I have no doubt what the answer will be. It will
be that by God's blessing, and so far as in us lies, Civil and Religious
liberty _shall_ prevail among all the tribes of South Africa, to the end
that they may become civilized nations, vying with us in the exercise of
the gifts that God has bestowed upon us."

Sir Henry Barkly, who had held the office of Governor of the Cape
Colony, and of High Commissioner for a number of years, said:--

"Apart from other