ere, a former Indian Statesman, as
their special property. The address from the Mahommedan subjects of the
Queen says:--

"We regret that our gracious Queen has seen fit to recall your
Excellency. We cannot help thinking it is through a mistake. The white
subjects of Her Majesty have had good friends and good rulers in former
Governors, but your Excellency has been the friend of white and coloured
alike."[27]

* * * * *

The following letter is from Sir John Akerman, a member of the
Legislative Council of Natal:--

"August 9th, 1880.

"Having become aware of your recall to England from the office of
Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, etc., etc., I cannot allow your
departure to take place without conveying to you, which I hereby do, the
profound sense I have of the faithful and conscientious manner in which
you have endeavoured to fulfil those engagements which, at the
solicitation of Great Britain, you entered upon in 1877. The policy was
not your own, but was thrust upon you. Having given in London, in 1876,
advice to pursue a different course in South Africa from the one then
all the fashion and ultimately confided to yourself, it affords me the
greatest pleasure to testify to the consistency of the efforts put forth
by you to carry out the (then) plan of those who commissioned you, and
availed themselves of your acknowledged skill and experience. As a
public man of long standing in South Africa, I would likewise add that
since the days of Sir G. Grey, no Governor but yourself has grasped the
_native question here at all_, and I feel confident that had your full
authority been retained, and not harshly wrested from you, even at the
eleventh hour initiatory steps of a reformatory nature with respect to
the natives would have been taken, which it is the duty of Britain to
follow while she holds her sovereignty over these parts."

Sir Gordon Sprigg wrote:--

"August 29th, 1880.

"I don't feel able yet to give expression to my sentiments of profound
regret that Her Majesty's Government have thought it advisable to recall
you from the post which you have held with such conspicuous advantage to
South Africa. They have driven from South Africa 'the best friend it has
ever known.' For myself I may say that in the midst of all the
difficulties with which I have been surrounded, I have always been
encouraged and strengthened by the cheerful view you have taken of
public affairs, and th