THE POLICY OF CONCESSION TRIED. 49 
stopping this continual border warfare and blood- 
shed, a great object would doubtless have been 
gained. Such, unhappily, was not the case ; for 
the policy of concession, formed without know- 
ledge of the native character, proved a failure. 
The Kaffirs are by no means a dull, though a 
savage people; and they had sufficient pene- 
tration to canvass, most shrewdly, our line of 
policy towards them. While firmness and control 
kept them in awe, concession was looked upon 
as either vacillation or cowardice. They at once 
concluded that we could not hold what we had 
taken from them, or else that we were afraid of 
them, and that they could frighten the white 
man out of the country altogether ; if only they 
persisted in their invasions and pillage, and in 
waging periodical wars whenever they found 
their strength sufficiently recruited to commence 
and prosecute one. Being, however, weakened 
by that of 1835, which had but then ended, 
they were content to "sit still 9 ? (as they style 
it in their Kaffir phraseology) for a while, and 
enjoy their lately acquired spoil. Moreover, a 
strong military force was retained in the coun- 
try, such as they were unable to compete with, 
until the rising generation should come to man- 
hood. Accordingly, no actual outbreak took 
place until 1846, when another war was opened 
with the Colony. During the eleven years, how- 
E 
