dues collected in Durban, on
goods passing through to the interior, which yield the bulk of the
Natal revenue: and possibly, some concessions to Boer public opinion as
regards the English mode of dealing with the Natal natives. I incline
to the opinion that in relying on the assistance of the Boers in time of
trouble the inhabitants of Natal would be leaning on a broken reed. They
are more likely to find them in arms against them than fighting on their
side.

The party of progress also talks much about the prospects of
confederation with the Cape, if once they get responsible government.
Most people, however, will think that the fact of their being
independent, and therefore responsible for their own defence, will
hardly prove an inducement to the Cape to offer to share those
responsibilities. The only confederation possible to Natal as a
self-governing community will be a Boer confederation, to which it
may be admitted--on certain terms. Another cry is that the moment
responsible government is established immigrants will flow into the
country, and thus restore the balance of races. I take the liberty to
doubt the truth of this supposition. The intending emigrant from Europe
does not, it is true, understand the ins and outs of the Natal native
question, but he does now that it is a place where there are wars and
rumours of wars, and where he might possibly be killed, and the result
is that he wisely goes to some other colony, that has equal advantages
to offer and no Kafirs. To suppose that the emigrant would go to Natal
when he came to understand that it was an independent settlement of a
few white men, living in the midst of a mass of warlike Kafirs, when
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, are all holding
out their arms to him, is to suppose him a bigger fool than he is.
At the best of times Natal is not likely to attract many desirable
emigrants: under a responsible government I do not believe that it will
attract any.

It seems to me, that there is only one condition of affairs under
which it would be at all possible for the Natalians to assume the
responsibilities of self-government with any safety, and that is when
the great bulk of the native population has been removed back to whence
it came--Zululand. Causes of a diametrically opposite nature to
those that have been at work among the natives of Natal, have been in
operation amongst their brethren in Zululand. In Natal, peace, polygamy,
p