Blacks, Boers, and British. By F. Reginald Statham. (Macmillan.) —Mr.
Statham, who has edited newspapers in Natal and Capetown, may be taken as a well-informed and intelligent exponent of colonial opinion. The general purport of that opinion is, "Leave us to take care of ourselves and manage our own affairs," and above all, " Leave us to deal with the natives as we think best.' " "Run athwart him [the colonist]," he says, "accuse him of being the brutal oppressor of the native, and treat him as such, and who do you think will ultimately be the greatest sufferer ? The native, undoubtedly." Does Mr. Statham mean that the colonist will ill-treat the native out of revenge for being falsely accused, or, perhaps, to show that he has been falsely accused ? Curiously enough, this is the conclusion that be draws from his own answer to the question, " Why is Dr. Colenso unpopular ?" He was the most popular man in the colony. But he pleaded for Langilabalele. He pleaded, Mr. Statham thinks, justly. " Bat his influence with Natal colonists:was gone, from this moment." What the home Government has done, or can do, or ought to do, in restraining the dealings of colonists with natives, is not easy to say ; but that these dealings, if not so restrained, end in the extermination or oppression of the natives, is the melancholy lesson of all our colonial history. South-African colonists are not worse than others, bat are they better ? Mr. Statham's is a well-written, interesting book, which we may read with pleasure and profit, whatever we may think of its main contention.
Previous page
