f about 2000 loyalists and native chiefs. On the
outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam," and an eloquent
oration was delivered over the grave. Such demonstrations are, no
doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely without political
significance.

But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of
attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity
of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession, to about a
hundred native Chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been
gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the natives
had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country, although they
outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty to one, and that,
beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing had been done for
their interests.

Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially
by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly if not
worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy with
their sufferings to bring me to the conclusion, that in acting thus we
have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, that as
they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled to some
consideration in the question of its disposal, and consequently and
incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is generally considered
that the white man has a right to the black man's possessions and land,
and that it is his high and holy mission to exterminate the wretched
native and take his place. But with this conclusion I venture to differ.
So far as my own experience of natives has gone, I have found that in
all the essential qualities of mind and body, they very much resemble
white men, with the exception that they are, as a race, quicker-witted,
more honest, and braver, than the ordinary run of white men. Of them
might be aptly quoted the speech Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth:
"Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses,
affections, passions?" In the same way I ask, Has a native no feelings
or affections? does he not suffer when his parents are shot, or his
children stolen, or when he is driven a wanderer from his home? Does he
not know fear, feel pain, affection, hate and gratitude? Most certainly
he does; and this being so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who
made both white and black, gave to the one race the right or m