fact that the gentleman immigrant, as a rule, does nothing of the kind foreshadowed. On the contrary, he contents himself in the utterance of loud complaints at the hardness of his fate, and in consequence he is kicked about from pillar to post, the martyr to his own indeterminate action and his own pride, until ultimately he too comes under the spell of home sickness, and with no means remaining to return to that "English earth which gave him birth," he falls an easy prey to the good-for-nothing blacklegs and adventurers with which South Africa abounds, and for whom, in the main, she has also to thank England. Such men may be merely upstarts, or they may be shipwrecked mariners on the storm-tossed sea of life, like unto the very persons I have just now had under review. Anyhow they know how to talk to the decayed or home-sick "gentleman colonist" of scenes which are brightest in the recollection of his past history, and they prey upon their unfortunate victim, until the last remittance from England is spent, and the final sum has been raised and consecrated to Bacchus, from the sale of personal effects. By this time, such slaves of their own weaknesses, prejudices, and pride, and let me add, of their own bad luck, are ripe and ready to join the army of loafing detractors, and impecunious bullies, who are never far to seek in the vicinity of the hotels and canteens, eking out their precarious existence goodness knows how, and waiting with an impatient patience for some one to turn up from England whom they may either know, or may contrive to palm themselves upon. With inward glee they proceed to use their old arts to compass this man's ruin, so that they may fleece him during his downward course, and obtain fuel whereby they may keep the fire of their own vices burning. Their unhappy victims "commence dupes and finish knaves". I have seen very much of this kind of thing, and I have been a sufferer myself from the machinations of these reprobates. I therefore speak with some feeling upon the point. Truly, a man cannot fall without dragging down many others with him, and this is the saddest reflection of all those sad thoughts which the penning of the foregoing lines have brought uppermost in my mind.

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE GENTLEMAN IMMIGRANT.

"TO BURST ALL LINKS OF HABIT-THERE TO WANDER FAR AWAY."

"A wise man should be quite sure that he does not go there from ill-temperor to be pitied, or to be regretted, or from ignorance of what is to happen to himor because he is a poet-but because he has not enough to eat here and is sure of abundance where he is going."-Rev. Sydney Smith.

THUS it comes that the successful European colonist-the man who has acquired wealth and independence—is not infrequently to be sought from among the hard-working German colonists, as well as from the no less pushing and accommodating immigrant from the north of the Tweed, or from the northern counties of England. The men who have succeeded in lifting themselves into the first rank of colonial society, are certainly not, as a general rule, men of good English family, nor are they often members of the artisan class. They belong rather to the more lowly round of the ladder of the middle classes of England, such as small tenant farmers, petty shopkeepers, bailiffs, and stewards, and butlers, retired army or constabulary sergeants. The reason for this is very plain. The rich capitalist comes, he sees, but through a glass darkly, and he does not conquer, but is conquered. A sort of ring is immediately formed around him, not by a settled plan of course, but intuitively. He is lawful prey or treasure trove, everybody's Tom Tiddler's ground. He has to pay for his experience. He may rise again, Phoenix-like, from the smouldering ashes of his departed fortunes, a wiser, if not a better man, certainly with a strong disposition to read the answer to the question in the catechism, as to one's duty to one's neighbour, in the same manner as the Board scholar, who considered that it rested in "keeping your eye upon him". The poor man of pretensions,

unless he be willing, as he seldom is, to lay them aside, goes to the wall in the manner I have described. The labourer, pure and simple, has to compete with all kinds of native labour, and especially with the vegetarian Kaffir, who has no wardrobe to pother his life, nor "establishment" of any kind, worthy the name, to keep up. The British artisan, and really skilled mechanic is not in very great request, but if he possess the accommodating qualities I have fully mentioned, he is not likely to go very far wrong, should he choose a time of prosperity for his advent. The hard trained, hard-headed, stick-at-nothing, rough and toughened men, untroubled with ideas, and unhampered by fancies, of which we have a never failing supply in our poorer tradesmen, are the men South Africa requires, and these are the men who come to the front there. Such fellows as these make headway, they open up colonial resources and industries, and possess themselves of the wealth of South Africa. They bring common sense to bear upon the problem of life, and they believe in the practical solution of all difficulties, the simple plan of "going at them". These men possess themselves of the capital of those unfortunate theorists who come to grief, and they avail themselves of the labour of Englishmen and natives as it may suit their purpose. Thus they bend all things to their will, and make them assist their onward progress. Men of this description hold the destinies of South Africa in their hands. They have risen deservedly by their own abilities, ordinary as they are, and to anyone gifted with strong, sound common sense, with some capital and technical knowledge, South Africa affords a grand field, and one which I can strongly recommend. Men who call a spade, a spade, and may-be don't scruple to call a pitchfork one also, if necessary; who are untroubled as to any idea of their position, or the necessity of maintaining it, in a manner which shall not give offence to their friends or to their family. These are the men Africa wants. To sum up this question of class immigration, let me say, that men with capital stand a good chance of losing it, should they invest in local conThe greatest care may not save them. A gentleman without capital, unless he have some special knowledge, or a

cerns.

MECHANIZED AUTOMATA.

193

special aptitude to obtain useful colonial knowledge, is the last man in the world to come to Africa. In short the best connected immigrants are the least successful colonists. The fairly well educated man who desires a clerkship, will find the market nearly as glutted as it is at home, and when vacancies occur, or places are created, colonial born men get the preference. I don't say that such a man has no chances, but they are not brilliant, saving perhaps in the case of the Diamond Fields. But let no man who has served his apprenticeship in any large centre of commerce in England, and has in consequence become more or less blighted by the "nipping" system of the present day, go to Kimberley. Unless he have an exceptional constitution, or unless he become a disciple of the temperance party, the grave will assuredly open for him in a few years. The truth of the matter is, as affecting clerks, that their market all over the world is overstocked, and be our commercial prosperity what it may, it is likely to be overstocked for some time to come. We must cure this ill-balanced condition of affairs, or rather it will work its own cure. Technical education is beginning to occupy its proper place in the estimation of the public. This must inevitably be followed by the removal of the stigma from manual labour, and the sources from which clerks are drawn, will in time to come, change their nature, and supply the world with men of sterner mould. But at present this superplusage of clerks, is no less a serious problem abroad, than it is nearer home. Some time must elapse before we shall return to the old Roman custom. Parents will need to learn a great many hard lessons in addition to those which have already been forced upon them, before they will consent to allow their boys to learn a trade; St. Paul a patrician of patricians, was a maker of tents, let it be remembered. The day will come when the cultured, intelligent artificer will hold a higher social position than the mere automatic black-coated quill driver and desk duster. A good carpenter or a skilled engineer, can always get a living, but a clerk, be he ever so competent, must often starve. To such unhappy men, I would say, gloomy advice as it may seem to be, you had better starve in England than in the colonies, for at home, starving may

be made a comparatively comfortable process yonder, you will inevitably have a rough time of it in your downward descent, and you will probably call the bottle to your aid to assist you to "shuffle off this mortal coil," when you see your Nemesis close behind you, the veiled figure, that "holds the keys of all the creeds". Ennui and disgust, neglect and short rations, generally receive a fillip to spur them on to accomplish their fell work, from their natural ally and bed-fellow King Alcohol.

I have in mind, however, cases of men of the very highest birth, who have heroically set to and turned to honest menial labour, at the very outset. These men have nearly always come to the front in the long run. Such cases are few and far between, so much the pity. Men, who by some disastrous stroke of fortune, have been deprived of their substance, and are anxious to begin life on their own account at the very bottom, and work their way up again, will do well to seek a sphere for such a life in these colonies. In the first place, the come down from being waited upon, to having to do themselves the rough work required by the community, is not so wounding to their feelings as the same thing would be at home, and their chances of succeeding in their plucky resolution are far brighter. Unfortunately, the majority who consent so to descend, only do so when all other methods of gaining a livelihood whatsoever have failed, and with them this descent, instead of meaning the birth of a high and noble self-respect, signifies the last flicker, nay, the death, of whatever lamp of self-respect may have hitherto burnt within. The fate of these poor wretches is pitiable to behold.

Mechanics and artisans upon landing in South Africa are guilty of the faults I have described in their superiors. They imagine that they are going to jump immediately into positions superior to those which they occupied at home, and this long before they have given any earnest of what they can do. They imagine the moment that they arrive, they are to blossom into the full bloom-employers of labour, masters in fact. This remark holds good even in the case of farm labourers. The Colesberg Advertiser says:

"General outside servants, or in other words, farm labourers,