m Kimberley and Natal, besides a few
ex-Raiders and Reformers. As may be imagined, there was no lack of
instructive material, and naturally much divergence of political
opinion. The smoking-room soon become like a debating club, but,
notwithstanding the frankness and partisan character of the debates, the
good temper with which each person delivered himself of his opinions was
most astonishing.

From the Boers and Afrikanders I heard not one favourable remark about
England, but all indulged in banter and irony, to prove that argument
with them was of no avail. So extreme was their dislike that they even
said "English servants and clerks are of no use, and they are most
unreliable, as for instance," and here followed incidents to prove what
they said. While the English were false and could not be trusted, it
was said that the Germans were "good" in the colonial sense, and made
the best citizens. They were industrious and thrifty, and their
improved condition did not alter their habits. The indenturing of the
Bechuana rebels was a subject upon which much was said on both sides.
But a Boer's way of putting it was characteristic. "England, you say,
considers it illegal. Ah, well, the English know nothing of the matter,
and what they say don't count. Rose-Innes, however, ought to have known
better. Had he been asked by a Cape farmer whether, to keep the rebels
from starving, we should give them work to do for wages, Rose-Innes
would have said, `It is a good thing, and the best that can be done for
them;' but with the view of forming a party against the Government, of
course, he denounces indenturing as illegal and iniquitous." I have
cited these extracts to show the process of how we became initiated into
South African politics.

The treatment of natives by the Rhodesian Government was, according to
the general opinion of Cape people, more liberal than they deserved, and
such as any white colonist of no matter what country would approve. It
was said, "Why, if we were to be governed by what these sentimental
English societies--referring to the A.P.S.--think is right, we should
have to abandon Africa altogether, for neither our lives nor property
would be safe. Law-abiding men and lawless natives cannot live together
unless one or the other is compelled to, and as we have taken the
country and intend to live in it, common sense tells us that the natives
must submit to the same law under which we must live."

Th