84 



CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 



perial Government on account of the Caffre 

 war of 1878, were discharged. 



NATAL. Natal, on the east coast, was con- 

 stituted as a separate colony in 1856. The 

 colony has an estimated area of 21,150 square 

 miles. The population in 1881 numbered 

 406,625, comprising 25,271 persons of Euro- 

 pean descent, 362,477 blacks, and 18,877 

 coolies. The chief product is wool, which is 

 exported to Great Britain to the value of 

 500,000 annually. Cotton-raising commenced 

 in 1866, but the exportation of raw cotton has 

 entirely ceased. Sugar is also grown. The 

 exports to Great Britain in 1880 were returned 

 as 615,029, and the imports from that 

 country as 1,651,706. Many of the exports, 

 particularly wool, come from the Dutch re- 

 publics, which absorb over one third of the 

 imports. There is no trade of any account, 

 except with Great Britain. A railroad 105 

 miles in length, which was authorized in 1875, 

 has been completed. The company received 

 a land grant of 2,500,000 acres, the right to 

 certain coal-beds, and an annual subvention 

 of 40,000, which is 3 per cent on the cost. 

 The construction of 118 miles more has 

 been authorized. The revenue in 1880 was 

 582,715, and the expenditure 477,100. 

 There is a public debt which amounted in 

 1881 to 1,631,700, on which 6 per cent 

 interest is paid. About one fourth of the 

 revenue is derived from customs and the rest 

 from various sources, including the hut-tax of 

 14s. collected from the natives, which was 

 paid on 85,714 huts in 1878. 



PUBLIC AFFAIRS. The abandonment of the 

 South African policy of the Beaconsfield ad- 

 ministration, upon the accession of the Liberal 

 ministry in Great Britain, caused the complex- 

 ion of politics at the Cape to change. The 

 Tories adopted the scheme of building up a 

 South African confederation, which the Dutch 

 Republics were constrained to enter. It was 

 first necessary to thoroughly subjugate the na- 

 tive races. This part of the scheme pleased 

 all the whites. The British party were in the 

 ascendant at the Cape. The Gladstone admin- 

 istration proposes to leave the Cape Colonists 

 to settle all difficulties which arise between 

 them and their neighbors, white and black. 

 The former policy not only fanned the cupid- 

 ity of the whites and stirred up native wars all 

 along the border, but brought the whole Boer 

 population into a dangerous state of disaffec- 

 tion. The country is gradually becoming quiet 

 under the policy of non-interference. The 

 Dutch yeomen of the older settlements have 

 asserted their preponderance. The Cape Par- 

 liament has passed a resolution allowing the 

 Dutch language to be spoken in debates, but 

 the Boer representatives continue to use Eng- 

 lish. ^ The English colonists of the eastern 

 districts, coveting the lands of the peaceable 

 and industrious Basutos, passed a disarma- 

 ment act through the Legislature, and at- 

 tempted to conquer their country as a penalty 



for non-compliance (see "Annual Cyclopaedia '' 

 for 1881). The colonists soon tired of carry- 

 ing on a Caffre war at their own cost. The 

 Dutch colonists of the west had nothing to 

 gain from the war, and when the Imperial 

 Government announced that there should be 

 no confiscation of lands, the peace party be- 

 came strong enough to repeal the disarma- 

 ment act and proclamation. The arbitration 

 of terms with the Basuto chiefs was left to 

 Sir Hercules Robinson. The majority of the 

 Basuto nation agreed to pay a large fine in 

 cattle, and accept a protectorate and the im- 

 position of a small hut-tax. Masupha and cer- 

 tain other chiefs refused to accept terms after 

 their successful defense. The famous Colonel 

 Gordon was commissioned to arrange the dis- 

 putes. When he was on the eve of a satis- 

 factory settlement the chiefs broke off negotia- 

 tions on account of an act of the Cape Legisla- 

 ture, and Gordon resigned. 



The Basuto question is far from being set- 

 tled. A precarious peace has been kept up by 

 playing off the different chiefs against each 

 other. Leshuburn was threatened by Letbo- 

 rodi that, if he did not pay his hut-tax to the 

 Government, he should be " eaten up." Ma- 

 supha threatened the same treatment to Letho- 

 rodi if he did not pay the tax. The adminis- 

 tration of Basutoland costs 10,000 a year, 

 which must be paid out of the Cape revenue 

 unless local taxes can be collected. The diffi- 

 culties are augmented by the squatting of 

 Dutch and English settlers in the land. The 

 scheme has been broached of providing lands 

 for the loyal natives elsewhere, and leaving the 

 rest to themselves. New complications with 

 the native races have been prepared by an ir- 

 ruption of Dutch squatters into Tembuland in 

 defiance of the land regulations set up by 

 the Cape Government. In "West Griqualand, 

 Mankoroane and Montsioa, two chiefs who 

 aided the British in the war in the Transvaal, 

 have been at war, the latter with Moshette 

 and the former with Massouw, who are be- 

 friended by the Transvaal Boers. Boer re- 

 cruits enlisted with these chiefs, and expedi- 

 tions were organized on Transvaal territory, 

 while British filibusters joined the other side, 

 and arms were supplied from Barkly. Gen- 

 eral Joubert stationed guards on the Transvaal 

 frontier to prevent violations of neutrality, 

 but Massouw and Moshette were not hindered 

 from retreating when defeated and from driv- 

 ing captured cattle into the Transvaal. The 

 Transvaal Government represented that the 

 adjustment of the unsatisfactory boundary- 

 line drawn by the commission so as to include 

 the territories of Moshette and Massouw in the 

 Transvaal, would end the disturbances. Brit- 

 ish freebooters and certain of the Caffre tribes 

 of the Transvaal who refuse to pay taxes are 

 endeavoring to provoke conflicts, with the ob- 

 ject of securing the reannexation of the Trans- 

 vaal, but the present British Government will 

 rebuke such an agitation. There is no disposi- 



