under the protection of England, one of the
inducements held out was security in slave property; at the same time
those officers warning the colonists that if France obtained
possession she would liberate the slaves, as she had done in
Martinique, thereby ruining this colony as she had ruined that
island; that the English Government had recently and suddenly changed
its policy, and required them to conform to the change with equal
alacrity, whereas they were convinced that gradual emancipation, with
securities against vagrancy, was the only safe course. The
emancipation had been sudden, and the slaves had been placed upon a
perfect political equality with their former proprietors. The
missionaries applauded this as a noble and generous act of the
Imperial Government, and they were told that by everyone in England
it was so regarded. But at whose expense was this noble and generous
act carried out? Agents of the Imperial Government had appraised the
slaves, generally at less than their market value. Two-fifths of this
appraisement, being the share apportioned to the Cape out of the
twenty million pounds sterling voted by the Imperial Parliament, had
then been offered to the proprietors as compensation, if they chose
to go to London for it, otherwise they could only dispose of their
claims at a heavy discount. Thus, in point of fact, only about
one-third of the appraised amount had been received. To all
slave-holders this had meant a great reduction of wealth, while to
many of those who were in debt it was equivalent to the utter
deprivation of all property.

As regards the missionaries, a crusade was organized by some of these
worthies, who had themselves married Kaffir women, and who spared no
effort and showed no scruple in blackening the name of colonist.

The views and interests of the colonists and of these men were so
different that concord was hardly possible. The missionaries desired
that the blacks should be collected together in villages: the
colonists were unwilling that they should be thus withdrawn from
service. 'Teach them the first step in civilization, to labour
honestly for their maintenance, and add to that oral instruction in
the doctrines of Christianity,' said the colonists. 'Why should they
be debarred from learning to read and write? And as there can only be
schools if they are brought together in villages, why should they not
be collected together?' replied the missionaries.

Then came another