know that we destroyed that legislation after a struggle of
eighteen years. In the course of that long struggle, we were constantly
met by an assertion similar in spirit to that made by the speaker to
whom I have referred; and to this day we are met by it in certain
European countries. They say to us, "But for every scandal proceeding
from this social vice, which you cite as committed under the system of
Governmental Regulation and sanction, we can find a parallel in the
streets of London, where no Governmental sanction exists." We are
constantly taunted with this, and possibly we may have to admit its
truth in a measure. But our accusers do not see the immense difference
between Governmental and individual responsibility in this vital
matter, neither do they see how additionally hard, how hopeless, becomes
the position of the slave who, under the Government sanction, has no
appeal to the law of the land; an appeal to the Government which is
itself an upholder of slavery, is impossible. The speaker above cited
concluded by saying: "The best precaution against the abuse of power on
the part of whites living amidst a coloured population is to make the
punishment of misdeeds come home to the persons who are guilty of those
misdeeds; and if he could but get his countrymen to act up to that view
he believed we should really have a better prospect for the future of
South Africa than we had had in the past."

With this sentiment I am entirely in accord. It is our hope that the
present national awakening on the whole subject of our position and
responsibilities in South Africa will--in case of the re-establishment
of peace under the principles of British rule--result in a change in the
condition of the native races, both in the Transvaal, and at the hands
of our countrymen and others who may be acting in their own interests,
or in the interests of Commercial Societies.

I do not intend to sketch anything approaching to a history of South
African affairs during the last seventy or eighty years; that has been
ably done by others, writing from both the British and the Boer side. I
shall only attempt to trace the condition of certain native tribes in
connection with some of the most salient events in South Africa of the
century which is past.

In 1877, as my readers know, the Transvaal was annexed by Sir Theophilus
Shepstone. There are very various opinions as to the justice of that
annexation. I will only here remark that it was