CHAPTER VII.

Imperial Policy in South Africa.

The Early Governors of Cape Colony and Their Difficulties--The Colonial Office and its Lack of Defined and Continuous Policy--Growth in England of Public Indifference to Colonies--Its Unfortunate Expression in 1852-54--Fluctuating Treatment of the Natives--Good Intentions and Mistaken Practices--Sir George Grey and South Africa--A Wise Statesman--His Policy of Confederation and Conciliation--Hampered by the Colonial Office and the Anti-Expansion School in England--The Non-intervention Policy and the Natives--Conditions in Natal--Importance of the Cape to the Empire--Importance of South Africa to the British People--Slow-growing Comprehension of these Facts in England--Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape--Eventual Repudiation of His Plans and Recall of the Best of South African Governors--The Gladstone Government's Responsibility for Succeeding Evils--The Absence of a Continuous Policy toward the Natives and Varied Questions of Territorial Extension Involve the Colonists in Constant Trouble and the Imperial Exchequer in Immense Expenditures--A Story of Imperial Burdens, Mistakes and Good Intentions; of Colonial Difficulties, Protests and Racial Complexities