120 MEASURES OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT. 



of approbation from successive governments. A late governor, 

 however, of whom it is impossible to speak without respect, in a 

 paroxysm of generalship which might have been good, had it not 

 been totally inappropriate to the case, set about conciliating a 

 band of rebellious British subjects (Boers), who murdered the 

 Honorable Captain Murray, by proclaiming their independence 

 while still in open rebellion, and not only abrogated the treaty 

 with the Griquas, but engaged to stop the long-accustomed sup- 

 plies of gunpowder for the defense of the frontier, and even to 

 prevent them from purchasing it for their own defense by lawful 

 trade. 



If it had been necessary to prevent supplies of ammunition 

 from finding their way into the country, as it probably was, one 

 might imagine that the exception should not have been made in 

 favor of either Boers or CafFres, our openly-avowed enemies ; but, 

 nevertheless, the exception was made, and is still continued in 

 favor of the Boers, while the Bechuanas and Griquas, our con- 

 stant friends, are debarred from obtaining a single ounce for ei- 

 ther defense or trade ; indeed, such was the state of ignorance as 

 to the relation of the border tribes with the English, even at 

 Cape Town, that the magistrates, though willing to aid my re- 

 searches, were sorely afraid to allow me to purchase more than ten 

 pounds of gunpowder, lest the Bechuanas should take it from me 

 by force. As it turned out, I actually left more than that quan- 

 tity for upward of two years in an open box in my wagon at 

 Linyanti. 



The lamented Sir George Cathcart, apparently unconscious of 

 what he was doing, entered into a treaty with the Transvaal Boers, 

 in which articles were introduced for the free passage of English 

 traders to the north, and for the entire prohibition of slavery in 

 the free state. Then passed the " gunpowder ordinance," by 

 which the Bechuanas, whom alone the Boers dare attempt to 

 enslave, were rendered quite defenseless. The Boers never at- 

 tempt to fight with CafFres, nor to settle in CafFreland. We still 

 continue to observe the treaty. The Boers never did, and nev- 

 er intended to abide by its provisions ; for, immediately on the 

 proclamation of their independence, a slave-hunt was undertaken 

 against the Bechuanas of Sechele by four hundred Boers, under 

 Mr. Peit Scholz, and the plan was adopted which had been cher- 



