GO, AND JOY GO WITH YOU. 215 court a fair competition with the Kaffirs. As land increases in value, as increase it must, the blacks must pay a heavier hut tax; and this they will be unable to do unless they work. If they cannot and will not work, the sooner they clear out the better for the Natalians, who may fitly take their locations and respectfully dedicate their services to some warlike potentate in Central Africa. In all future settlements in Africa, the land should be dispensed, with great circumspection and care, and this thought leads me to say something on the Anglicisation of Africa generally. CHAPTER XXIX. THE COLONISATION OF AFRICA. 66 AMBITION SHOULD BE MADE OF STERNER STUFF." "Statesmen that are wise Shape a necessity as sculptor's clay To their own model." WE are as yet only on the borders of a promised land. Our Colonies in South Africa, rich as they are in good expectations, are indeed poor in comparison with the countries which lie beyond.. I do not intend to give my long-suffering readers a few pages of Stanley and water, or of Livingstone with the chill off; but I think it behoves me to say, how strongely I feel, that our destiny lies centrewards. Whether we allow the Boers in the Transvaal, the Zulus over the Tugela, the Portuguese at Delagoa Bay and along the coast, the freebooting marauders who have got up the republics of Stelleland and Goschen in the Bechuana country, or M. de Brazza on the Congo; to ban and bar our progress to the rich uplands of Central Africa, for a long time or for a short time, we must go there ultimately by an immutable law of expansion, which we shall find we are far less powerless to control, than we are likely in the future to be able to control, the winds, and the waves, and the rains. Why should we fear this destiny, and be perpetually endeavouring to erect barriers against it? Why don't our legislators instead of quarrelling over clôture and countless utterly useless measures, address themselves to projects of imperial import? to the solution of the problems of over-population, to the removal of the cancer, of the dangerous classes SHORT-SIGHTED PARSIMONY. 217 from our midst, and to the creation of fresh fields for English enterprise and commerce, for our teeming, and cooped-up millions? It is the fashion to laugh at such ideas, and to poohpooh them as wild and visionary. They are nothing of the kind, they are sensible and commonplace suggestions enough. The expense is trotted out against such a policy. This is the first phantom to be knocked over. I believe the colonisation, on a gigantic scale, of Central Africa would prove to be a splendid speculation. For generations, at least thousands of necessaries and luxuries would be sent from home, and we should receive raw productions in return. Our ancestors did not fear involving the nation in an enormous National Debt, in order to prosecute the Seven Years' War, to humble Louis XIV. and the "Corsican Ogre," but we fear a little expense, when the question of redeeming thousands to-day, and millions unborn to-morrow, from a life of misery and degradation-a polluted existence, which endangers the physical and moral health of the community-because it would necessitate a little present outlay. The Anglicisation, utilisation and civilisation of Africa, is a theme second to none in interest not only to Colonists and to Englishmen but in a far wider sense-to humanity at large. The benefits to be derived from its realisation are so numerous, and so magnificent, that they must materially affect the future of the world. Let me first view the subject from a Natalian outlook. The limited area of Natal—true, it is as large as Scotland, but then the disparity between the activity of its productive power and the appropriation of its natural resources makes the comparison pointless, as, in fact, all comparisons of mere territorial extent between an old country and a young colony must ever be-is now beginning to tell upon Natalians. The major part of their land is alienated, and, having no more fifty-acre grants to make in the neighbourhood of the towns, Natalians are, until railways open up the country, placed at a disadvantage as regards adequate inducements to intending immigrants, except those of larger means, to settle in the colony. On the South, Natal is shut in by Kaffraria, (which is now an integral part of the Cape Colony), and by intervening territories. On the west and north, it is surrounded by the Free State and the Transvaal; and, in order to get to the country in the rear of these states, Natal will have to make a circuit, possibly annexing Zululand en passant. We will not rob the Dutch of the undoubted right they possess to consider themselves as the pioneers of civilisation in South Africa. All praise is due to them for the work they have achieved in this direction, and we cannot but admire the pluck, which they have displayed in the past, in trekking into unknown lands, as also now, when it is recorded that many families leave from time to time for Tembuland and the Zambesi, or beyond. But after all, comparatively speaking, the Dutch Boers are but a small community of isolated farmers, and, for many reasons, I am convinced that there is neither hope nor remote possibility, of their being able to do much, towards developing the hidden treasures of the further interior. In the first place, they are so exclusive, and conservative, that they not only resent, by all possible means, English influence in their dominions, but they also treat with the utmost indifference-nay, even jealousy-fresh arrivals from Holland. It is not to be supposed that we are to wait until these Dutch microcosms shall have increased and multiplied sufficiently to admit of their pushing on in large numbers into the interior. We must take into consideration also, the antipathy expressed towards the English by these Republicans, and it must not be forgotten that Englishmen are retarded from making one of those Republics their home on account of the present insecurity of life and property owing to native difficulties, engendered by the unstable and weak Government, inevitable in the very conformation of such States. I am convinced that, unless the British flag is soon to be seen flying again between the Limpopo and the Vaal, we shall be compelled to work independently of the Transvaal. The opening up of centres of important trades must benefit the commercial life of Natal immensely, and would bring to its aid that which it so much requires-new life and fresh blood, capital, labour, and enterprise; and, at the same time, her sons would find those fields for their energies which their athletic and hardy training has prepared them to occupy in the most satisfactory manner. Durban, and other seaports which could be more or less easily acquired, would be the route by which to convey inland products to England. Having shown the particular and individual benefits Natalians might expect to derive from the "spec," as our American cousins would say, let me now look at the question in a more general manner, and let me try to demonstrate how humanity, collectively, would be affected by it, and Imperial Britain in particular. Now, in the first place, what do we know of the great "unknown Continent"? What have travellers taught us about it? First as to the resources of the native territories in the immediate vicinity of the colonies. The travels of Chapman and Baldwin, Leslie, Mauch and Mohr, as well as the sketches of Thomas Baines, have familiarised us with the details of la vie intime et la vie hors de chez soi of the natives, as well as the capabilities of the country. We know all about the Zulus, the Bechuanas, the Matebele, and the Damaras. Speke, Livingstone, and Moffat have penetrated to Lake Tanganyika, and we have graphic descriptions regarding their experiences. Burton and Speke, striking in from Zanzibar, reached about 2° of southern latitude and 30° of east longitude. The chief characteristic of the natives in this part of the world appears to be sneaking cunning in gratifying an inordinate desire for other people's goods. So we cannot be accused by old women and toadies, of any very superlative degree of wickedness in intruding upon their lands. This obselete argument cannot be used against us, for they would rob us of all we possess, could they do so with impunity. Again starting from the north, from Khartoom in Egyptian Nubia, we have reached Gondokoro. Richardson, Overweg and Barth, setting out from the north-west coast, explored as far as Wara, to the East, and Adamawa to the South. Denham and Toole, at Mandara, Clapperton in the Soudain, and Mungo Park and James Bruce have all done good service in their day. To this long list, which might be indefinitely extended, I appeal. Let it speak for itself. Are those courageous and self-denying men to have worked for naught? Are their labours, and is their life's blood, to have been expended in vain? Mr. Young and the Livingstonia party are settled on Lake Nyassa, and will form, according |