African Republic wrote after conveying his congratulations, "I feel assured that the change brought about in this respect (responsible government) by the united actions of her Majesty's representative and the representatives of the people of the Cape Colony will tend to the good of South Africa at large as well as the Cape Colony in particular; while at the same time I am confident it will direct the spirit of the nation in that proper channel which will ultimately lead to a closer union between the different colonies and states of South Africa."

Federation was looked upon as the certain result of the grant of Responsible Government to the Cape, and Lord Kimberley gave Sir Henry Barkly authority to summon a meeting of all the colonies and states to consider the "conditions of union." 1 The rapprochement, however, was soon clouded over by the action of the High Commissioner in the case of the Diamond Fields annexation, which was not approved by Cape statesmen, indeed was opposed by them as far as was possible; and finally the whole matter was shipwrecked by Lord Carnarvon's ill-conceived and ill-advised attempt at a forcible confederation. On this we cannot dwell; no darker period ever passed over South Africa. Force and fraud were rampant, peoples were deprived of their constitutional rights— their chosen form of government, and the country deluged in blood. In the words of the divine poet :

non ragioniam di lor ma guarda è passa." It was an attempt to force a plant in place of allowing it to grow. The hurricane is over, its effects are still with

1 Parliamentary Papers, C. 508, p. 14.

us; but a wiser policy and the lapse of time are healing the wounds, and the plant of natural growth, which was so ruthlessly torn up between 1875 and 1881, is now quietly rooting once more under the favouring sunshine of prosperity and peace.

Thus the question of union has ever been before the people of South Africa as a natural desire springing out of their common feeling for unity. Had the working of responsible government, which was being watched with anxious interest by the other states, been allowed to proceed untrammelled in the Cape, it would have been a solution of all South African troubles, and the states, seeing the freedom of management of all local affairs enjoyed by the Cape, would have been long since ready to come in under the same system.

The problem now is a very different one, and at the same time a more urgent one. History is being made rapidly in South Africa, almost too rapidly for those on the spot, accustomed to the slower development which was the normal course of affairs before the discovery of the Diamond Fields in 1870, to follow up and keep pace with.

A great change has come over the affairs of South Africa since 1872, when the Cape first entered upon responsible government. The colonies and states of South Africa are to-day in large measure independent powers, sovereign in their own territories and in their relation with each other. The Cape with its responsible government has full control of its internal affairs and its commerce, while it practically controls its relations with the neighbouring colonies and

states. The Transvaal has, by recourse to arms, convinced England of her desire for independence and freedom from foreign control, while the immense wealth pouring into her coffers has given her the means and dignity which at some period of her history she stood much in need of. The Free State was abandoned by England against the wishes of her inhabitants, but having prospered and developed under her independent government, she also is free from foreign interference. Within the last year or two Natal has entered upon responsible government, and has already given ample evidence of her fitness to shape her own course. Thus the control of all the states in their internal affairs as well as their external and internal fiscal relations has been entrusted to those who are responsible to local public opinion for their acts, and, so far as these questions are concerned, they are practically free to control their own destiny.

A strong local attachment to their several governments has grown up in each colony and state, just as was the case with the people of the various states of America. While this factor has its advantages it has also its evils to be guarded against, and with a view to bringing out the dangers which now threaten these colonies and states, owing to their acquisition of practical autonomy, we will point out the very close analogy which exists between their condition and that of the American colonies immediately after their independence had been acknowledged by Great Britain. Similar conditions give rise to similar results; the newly-won freedom has in each case

given rise to the pursuit by the various states of a separate and frequently hostile policy in regard to their neighbours. The comparison will serve to bring out in concrete form and with admirable clearness and force the dangers of the position, and will also point to the remedy which, if applied in good time, will doubtless have the like effective and glorious result of founding the basis of a great and united South African Federation.

NOTE.-When Sir George Grey brought the resolution of the Orange Free State in favour of union before the Cape Parliament in his opening speech in 1859, he suggested a federation of the colonies and states. For this action he was reprimanded and summarily recalled by Sir E. Bulwer Lytton and Lord Carnarvon, the latter being Under Secretary for the Colonies, and largely entrusted with the conduct of the department owing to Lytton's bad health.

CHAPTER II.

THE CRITICAL PERIODS OF AMERICAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY.

Condition of American colonies when war broke out-similar condition of South African colonies and states-Forms of government-Congress sole bond after war-Weakness of Congress-Fate predicted for colonies in EuropePatriotism of leading statesmen-No central authorityColonies retain power of taxation-Failure to pay interest on public debts-Army unruly-Commercial war between colonies-Selfish policy of New York-Isolated policy of Transvaal-Quarrel between New York and Connecticut over duties—Similar tariff war between Cape and Transvaal-Closing of drifts-Feeling of Uitlander populationDangers of this-Necessity for peaceful fusion of racesFine qualities of Boers-English and Dutch traits complementary-Both necessary for development of South Africa.

THE period referred to in the history of America, opens with the signature of the preliminary articles of peace at Paris on the 20th January, 1783, which gave to the thirteen colonies of Great Britain the acknowledgment and guarantee of their independence after the revolutionary war. "When in the reign of George III. troubles arose between England and her North American colonists, there existed along the