History of South Africa, 1854 - 1872. By George McCall Theal. (Swan
Sonnenschein and Co.)—This volume of Mr. Theal's in- dispensable History of South Africa deals only with the two Republics and their relations with the native territories, carrying on the account from the point at which it was broken off in the "History of the Boers, 1830-1854" (noticed in the Spectator, September 17th, 1887). For the most part, Mr. Theal writes in his usual dispassionate style, noting down the facts with minute accuracy as he has gathered them from the numerous authentic records which he has consulted; but now and again, as is only natural when he describes recent events which have occurred, as it were, before his very eyes, and as regards which he is not merely
a student of the past, he can hardly refrain from taking sides ; and the side to which he leans is more often that of the Orange Free State, or of the South African Republic, than that of the natives.
But for this reason the book should be wholesome reading for Englishmen, who are perhaps too apt to lean unmercifully in the other direction. Anyhow, there is nowhere an appearance of any selection of facts to suit the writer's views, so that the reader is able to form an independent view from the ample material pre- sented to him. In the case of the annexation by England of the Diamond Fields, very hard things are said against the British authorities for disregarding the rightful claims of the Orange Free State to a part of the area annexed ; but, unfortunately, the history of the dispute is not finished in this volume, and we are promised a continuation in a future chapter down to its settlement by the payment of compensation to the Free State. But as far as the story is carried, Mr. Theal has quoted the leading official documents, instead of giving their substance in his own words ; so that the reader is put in a position to judge how far the author is justified in his conclusions. The following is a curious account of the way in which many villages in South Africa have been founded :—" First a church is built, then a clergyman takes up his residence close by, and is accompanied by a schoolmaster; elderly farmers follow, to be near the church and to provide a home for their grandchildren attending the school; shopkeepers and mechanics come next; and, finally, the Government considers it necessary to have a collector of taxes and a dispenser of justice in the place. It now takes rank as a village, and if its situation is a good one, in course of time it becomes a district town." There is an interesting memorandum in the appendix on the remarkable increase of the Bantu population in South Africa. The growth of civilisation has tended to remove all the old violent checks upon overgrowth, without at present introducing any checks of another kind; but there is said to be a larger death-rate among Christian mono- gamists than among heathen polygamists, "explained by the fact that chest diseases have become not uncommon on mission- stations, and that the children are perceptibly less robust, owing to their changed conditions of living."
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