CHAPTER III.
Sir Bartle Frere and Confederation.
AT the end of the period 1806-1854, the Imperial 1 ^ Government had arrived at two conclusions with regard to the future administration of South Africa. In the first place they had decided to restrict their administration to the limits of the Cape Colony, Natal, and British Kaffraria. In the next, they had determined to give to the colonists a larger share in the management of their affairs, and in 1853 a Parliament, with two representative chambers, was established at Capetown. It is with this last decision that we must connect the appointment of such a governor as Sir George Grey;— a governor, that is to say, who was qualified not by military experience, but by a capacity for administration, in part natural and in part acquired during the discharge of the duties of that office in South Australia and New Zealand.
The period of Sir George Grey’s administration, lasting from 1854 to 1862—for he was recalled and reinstated— is remarkable in many respects. We will select two. He originated a method of dealing with the Kafirs which was at once more effective and more humane (Note 9), and he formed a remarkable forecast of the future history of South Africa. In condemning the policy of non-intervention, and the consequent dismemberment of South Africa, he foresaw two important movements—that the Bantu would one day be tempted by the separation and apparent weakness of the Europeans to contest the
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