LIVINGSTONE ON CAPE GOVERNMENT. 95 



not have been made in favour of either Boers or CafFres, 

 our openly avowed enemies ; but nevertheless the excep- 

 tion was made., and is still continued in favour of the Boers, 

 while the Bechuanas and Griquas, our constant friends, 

 are debarred from obtaining a single ounce for either 

 defence 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 researches, 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 quantity for up- 

 wards of two years in an open box in my waggon at 

 Lhryanti. 



The lamented Sir George Cathcart, apparently uncon- 

 scious 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 defenceless. The Boers never attempt to 

 fight with CafTres, nor to settle in CafTreland. We still 

 continue to observe the treaty — the Boers never did, and 

 never 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 cherished in their hearts ever 

 since the emancipation of the Hottentots. Thus, from 

 unfortunate ignorance of the country he had to govern, 

 an able and sagacious governor adopted a policy proper and 

 wise had it been in front of our enemies, but altogether 

 inappropriate for our friends against whom it has been 

 applied. Such an error could not have been committed 

 by a man of local knowledge and experience, such as that 

 noble of colonial birth, Sir Andries Stockenstrom ; and 

 such instances of confounding friend and foe, in the 

 innocent belief of thereby promoting colonial interests, will 

 probably lead the Cape community, the chief part of which 

 by no means feels its interest to He in the degradation of 

 the native tribes, to assert the right of choosing their own 

 governors. This, with colonial representation in the 

 Imperial Parliament, in addition to the local self-govern- 



