WITH LIVINGSTONE IN SOUTH AFRICA 151 
way, if made, will help to suppress slavery, by giving carriage 
for the ivory, its only cause at present—no ivory, no slavery. 
May the venture turn out better than many another has 
done, and not end in that very questionable blessing, a rum- 
civilisation ! 
The influx of immigrants into Mashonaland will, in time, 
with the gold and diamond seeking population further south, 
tend to minimise the power of the Boers over the native tribes. 
Dutchmen: are slow colonists, and will not be able to hold their 
own with the incomers in enterprise, or in a few years in 
_ numbers or power, and the evil influence and oppression they 
have at times exercised upon the black race will be at an end. 
_I hope no worse régime may come in with the new rule. . 
_ There were many good points in the Dutch farmers, and I 
think they compare very favourably with English squatters in 
other lands. Where antagonistic races are brought together, 
the minority, the whites, if they are to hold their ground, are 
_ almost inevitably forced for very existence to terrorise the black 
majority that would otherwise overwhelm them. I am not 
arguing that their conduct is moral or legal, but it has been, 
and will continue to be, the rule where whites settle in black 
men’s lands uninvited. We may hold up our hands in a 
Pharisaical way, and when we are once secure, I grant we try 
to improve our subjects ; but they must be our subjects first. 
But would Englishmen under similar conditions have done 
much better than the Dutchmen? I think not. Without the 
pale of law, they would hardly have been so much of a law unto 
themselves. No doubt the Boers have many faults, and with 
respect to the native races have shown great cruelty—my con- 
_ tention is they could hardly have held their own without. 
_ We must not be too hard on them because they have twice got 
_ the better of us in the field, and twice in diplomacy. English- 
_ men have not forgotten Laings Nek and the Majuba Hills. 
_ Diplomatically, too, we were twice worsted : the Boers had very 
_ troublesome neighbours, and sought the suzerainty of our Queen 
_ \for their own ends, not by a unanimous vote I know; but 
