NAVAL AND MILITARY DEFENCE, AND RELATIONS WITH THE NATIVE FORCE.

Naval Force.-The Eastern Province of the Cape colony, during the last European war, was so little known, that, had any maritime force of a belligerant power in the Indian Ocean, with adequate means, chosen to make an aggressive move on our conquest at the Cape, it never would have contemplated it through that quarter. Twenty-six years have effected such changes, that, if the colony be really what it is considered, the key to British India, no portion of this large settlement offers so great a temptation to a hostile fleet to annoy the empire and cripple the resources of England, in the oriental seas, as Algoa Bay. It will be remembered that the two captures of the Cape, by England, were very judiciously made, not in face of the stronghold of the Dutch, the metropolis itself. The first was effected in the rear through Simon's Bay in 1795, and the last in 1806, by a landing at Blaauwberg; but if the colony should hereafter be successfully attacked, it must be in one of the Eastern landing-places, and that would undoubtedly be in Algoa Bay. This bay has for several years past been known as a safe harbour, its soundings laid down and published by authority, and the charts are in possession of every government in the world; the country is known to be well stocked with provisions along the whole road to Cape Town, while its population is not of a military character. The little peninsula on which the metropolis is situated is inclosed by three grand series of mountain passes, preventing, in the case of a safe debarkation of an enemy at Port Elizabeth, the succour of troops from the Cape; and should the invaders take possession of those passes, they could cut off all supplies from the interior, and starve the garrison of Cape Town into a capitulation. With the chances of such danger, what are the defences of Elizabeth Town?—a miserable block-house on the hill, with two or three old and scaly cannon, and a force of from sixteen to twenty-five men, including two artillery-men. The late Governor, Sir Benjamin D'Urban, intended to make Elizabeth Town the centre of the military defences of the colony, and he had marked out a fort to defend the landing and command the anchorage; but the reversal of his judicious measures prevented this and many other excellent arrangements being carried into effect, and the town,

with its newly erected and well-supplied military store-houses, is left to the risk of being plundered, burnt, and laid under contribution by a couple of privateers, or of being made the highway for the subjugation of the colony by a larger force. The present naval force on the Cape and Brazilian station consists of thirty vessels viz:- -one of 50 guns; two of 26 guns; seven of 16 guns twelve of 10 guns; one of 6 guns; six of 3 guns; and one steamer. The Military Defence of the Eastern frontier has been very materially augmented since the Kafir invasion of 1834-5, which would not have taken place had the present force been there. For several years previous to that most disastrous event, the military force, under a most mistaken and short-sighted idea of economy, had been greatly reduced, and at the time of that occurrence had actually dwindled down to 700 men. At present the military in the colony consist of the 25th, 27th, 75th, and 91st Regiments, the Cape Mounted Rifle corps, a detachment of the Royal Artillery and of Royal Engineers. The 75th is about leaving, to be relieved by the 86th, hourly expected. Of these the following are stationed on the Kafir frontier :—

including 100 men on the Omzimvooboo River, (a post of observation,) and 200 men despatched to take possession of Natal. This chapter would be very incomplete without reminding the noble duke at the Horse Guards of the high opinion entertained by his illustrious brother the Marquis Wellesley respecting this colony-the surrender of Natal to the Dutch farmers, who pretend to erect a republic in the rear of the Eastern frontier of the Cape colony, would never have had the sanction of the marquis for an instant. If the cheap defence of nations was chivalry, the cheap defence of colonies is population; let Natal be colonized as Albany in 1820, and all is safe. The opinion of the Marquis Wellesley may be ascertained at page 125; the opinion of the Dutch Boers may be ascertained by their present proceedings.

PART THE THIRD.

SECTION 1.

ADVANTAGES OF THE CAPE COLONY.

"Do you think the colony of the Cape of Good Hope is suited for British emigration ?" Such was a leading question propounded by the South African Land and Emigration Society in the year 1839; the solution of which is all-important to an Englishman contemplating emigration, and to the colonist who desires to see his fellow-countryman partaking of the advantages he has secured to himself by his settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. I shall attempt a reply to the query.

Some of the claims presented by the Cape of Good Hope to the serious consideration of persons about to abandon Great Britain for a British colony have already been touched upon in the preceding sections; but it is neither difficult to amplify upon those already enumerated, nor to adduce additional ones of equal, if not of superior value. In the first place, then, the superiority of the Cape must strike every inquiry as regards its

Geographical Position.-Beyond all other settlements in the world, it is admirably situated as a central point of communication between the extreme parts of the habitable globe, whence commerce may radiate in every direction, and is thus capable of being made an entrepôt where the raw and rich produce of the less civilized portions of the earth can be exchanged for the valuable manufactures of those of more advanced regions.

On the one side is the hitherto undeveloped wealth of the states of the great American continent; on the other, the maturer riches of Hindostan, China, and the Indian Archipelago, and the African islands of Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon, with the growing resources of the innumerable islets of the Polynesian range, and to the north the markets of Europe. In a mercantile point of view its situation is both enviable and unrivalled. The colony is the very terminus of Africa, and jutting

boldly into the Southern Ocean, it has almost all the advantages of an island, besides a vast back country, full of rich, varied, and yet unculled resources, capable of incalculable augmentation and great improvement. This rearward country swarms with aboriginal races, and in a few short years, under a judicious system, they might be reclaimed from barbarism, and converted into industrious contributors to the general wealth, and their minds raised to those great concerns which relate to their everlasting welfare.

It is, besides, “the key to our Eastern empire-to a maritime power like England, a jewel beyond price," and as long as she holds her vast oriental possessions, the Cape must remain a colony of paramount importance to the mother country. Fears were lately entertained that a successful opening of the Red Sea or Persian Gulf, by steam navigation, might throw the Cape out of the limits of trade and civilization, and reduce her to what she was when the commerce of Cathay and the far East was carried through its ancient overland channels by way of Venice or Constantinople. But the risk of such a communication, dependent on the caprice of the Egyptian Satrap, or of the tribes of the Euphrates, or on the murrain of cattle and camels, must always yield the preference to the open and unrestrained route by the Cape; and as a place of resort and refreshment for all the mercantile fleets which may ever trade with the Eastern world, it not only is supreme, but stands alone and invaluable.

2. Comparison with other Colonies of England.—It may seem invidious to panegyrize the Cape colony at the expense of other British settlements; but still it is at all events perfectly justifiable to shew in what particular points it may be compared or contrasted with those other colonies, to which the tide of emigration has so constantly flowed for the last twenty years, during which period the Cape, while silently and unostentatiously prospering, has remained unknown or neglected, through our own apathy; whilst emigrants also have gone further and fared worse.

The Canadas have the advantage over the Cape of proximity to the British shores, the consequent smaller cost of transport for the emigrant and the means of frequent intercourse with home. They are also rich, fertile, and extensive, and possess internal water communication, all which capabilities promise to

transform them in process of time into a splendid empire; but Canada has a tedious and an iron winter to sustain, requiring, during the brief interval of summer, the anxious preparation of food, both for man and beast, for that inclement season. The temperature, too, is particularly trying to the European constitution, varying from 50 deg. below zero, to the extremes of tropical heat, from the effects of which changes, a great number of our poor countrymen, and especially the young and delicate, have perished before they could become acclimatised. Besides a long catalogue of other discomforts, the emigrant is subject to the initiative process of a seasoning fever, which not infrequently leaves, as the consequence of its ravages, a proneness to disease. Now, although the vicissitudes of temperature are perhaps more considerable in the Cape colony than in any other part of the globe, they do not endanger the tenure of life, or embitter its existence. The weather throughout the year is genial, and even the frail covering of a tent is quite sufficient to protect its inmates from any injurious effects, either from heat or cold. This was tested by the immigrants of 1820, all of whom resided under canvass for a considerable period, and some for full twelve months after their arrival. without suffering the least inconvenience or loss of health, and this too in the winter season, during which they arrived on their respective locations. The impunity too with which not only the natives, but new comers, expose themselves on the long journeys they are frequently compelled to make, sleeping out nightly in the open air, is a proof of the superior nature of the Cape atmosphere. Canada again demands from the emigrant the outlay of a much larger capital than is required at the Cape; there the primeval forest has to be first removed, and the soil the settler intends to cultivate must be reclaimed from the wilderness before he can expect the smallest return for the heaviest description of labour. All this is to be effected in the short season of summer, during which he has to provide for the wants of at least a seven months' cessation from external labours. At the Cape, on the contrary, small means are quite adequate; the ground is not more encumbered than is sufficient to embellish the scenery, and to supply timber and fuel: the soil is ready fitted for the reception of the plough, vegetation is rapid, and there is abundance of pasturage

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