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a larger scale. The Divine blessing has rested conspicuously on these efforts, and especially on numbers of the Bechuanas, who had from the destructive attacks on their tribes in their own country retired to the banks of Vaal River, within the Griqua district. These were brought by a way they knew not. Many of them have been savingly converted to God, and are now able to read in their own language His wonderful works.*

I have thought it proper to be a little particular in reference to the origin and present state of the Griquas, who have been so signally preserved and blessed for forty years, and remain after so many conflicts a monument, while other stations like the one which gave birth to theirs, are left desolate. Humanly speaking, Waterboer's government is on a basis too firm to be moved by a foreign foe, that is, so long as it supports by its influence the cause of God, and continues the faithful ally of the Cape colony. It is not without great reason, however, that many judicious persons deprecate the effects of what they consider an unhallowed union, in the missionary's holding among the Griquas the office of "Confidential Agent to the Colonial Government.” There may be apparent advantages arising from this measure, in accordance with the sentiments of those who hold up the benefit effected by missionary labours to be more of a political than a religious nature, and who maintain that it is far more convenient for government than appointing distinct agents; but the fact is, it has no warrant from Scripture, and the question is, What does experience say? Let us

*The following information has come to hand since the article on the Griqua mission was prepared for the press, and cannot fail to interest. Mr. Helmore having been appointed to Likhatlong, a station of Bechuanas connected with the Griqua mission, 190 of their members were thus transferred to his care, and now form a distinct church. In the early part of last year, Mosheshe, chief of the Basutos, sent messengers to the chief Waterboer, informing him that as his people were now favoured with missionaries in their own country, it was his particular wish that all the Basutos in those parts should return home. Waterboer having at once made it known that all that chose to do so, were at liberty to depart with their property, after having resided under his protection for seventeen years, a party of that people, about 100 souls, lately removed, among whom were 33 church members. This measure cannot fail of being an important acquisition to the French missionarics, as nearly all of them were able to read in their own language. After these deductions, and including recent additions, the number of church members at Griqua Town is 520. The schools on the station have, under many discouraging circumstances, continued to prosper, and the Infant school under the care of Troy Vortuin, a native female of a respectable family, reflects great honour on her abilities and perseverance.

MISSIONARIES GOVERNMENT AGENTS.

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take South Africa for an example. The preceding statements demonstrate that the cause of Mr. Anderson's removal was his government agency; and though his not having had a precedent is an apology, the principle and the consequences of that agency cannot but be deprecated,

*

Mr. Brownlee, our missionary in Kafir-land, was the next who trod on that slippery path, and resigned the office of missionary agent to government, as incompatible with the position of a missionary heathen. Mr. Thompson, of the Kat River, followed him with still less success. His " political functions interfered very much with his religious duties." He informed the writer that it nearly cost him his life, and he would by no means advise missionaries to assume any thing like a diplomatic character among the people of their spiritual charge. More than twenty years' experience among the aborigines beyond the boundary of the colony, has convinced the writer that the two offices ought not to be held by the same person. Among the Bechuanas our lives have been placed in imminent danger from the suspicions excited in their minds by Conrad Buys and others, that we were agents of government, or in some way or other connected with it. No missionary, however, can with any show of Scripture or reason, refuse his pacific counsel and advice, when those among whom he labours require it, nor decline to become interpreter or translator to any foreign power, or to be the medium of hushing the din of war arising either from family interests or national claims; nor is it inconsistent with his character to become a mediator or intercessor where life is at stake, whether arising from ignorance, despotism, or revenge. I once seized the right arm of an enraged chief of no little power, who grasped a weapon, which, but for this interference, would have been plunged into the breast of a victim, who had greviously offended. I did no wrong, nor did the chief think So, for when the paroxysm was over he said to me, “I thank you, father." A missionary may do all this, and more than this, without endangering his character, and what is of infinitely more importance the character of the gospel he

*The Rev. Stephen Kay, in his letter to Sir T. F. Buxton, on the Kafir-case, makes the following remark, which being the result of long observation, is worthy of regard. After some very wholesome hints on the subject of agency, he writes-"I trust, therefore, that Government will never again think of committing the office of agency, amongst the Kafirs, to a missionary; as it places missionaries in a position which might, by possibility, be construed into that of spies, and there would, in all probability, be an end put to their usefulness at once."

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SIR A. STOCKENSTROM'S TESTIMONY.

proclaims; but his entering into diplomatic engagements places himself as well as the great object of his life in jeopardy.

That missionaries do obtain an influence among the tribes beyond, without any official interference, has been demonstrated along the whole line of the colonial boundary, from the Atlantic, to the Fish River on the east. Among other instances, the following may be adduced as given by the honourable, now Sir A. Stockenstrom, in his evidence before the Aborigines Committee :

"It strikes me that it is impossible to deny that the benefit thus conferred is incalculable. In 1832, I believe it was, that there was an inroad of a marauding horde of Corannas, Hottentots, and others, who were considered outlaws and independent of the Griqua tribes. They slaughtered, indiscriminately, several families, and plundered to a great extent; a strong expedition was sent against those people, but was unsuccessful. It was apparent to every man acquainted with the frontier, that if it had not been for the influence that the London missionaries had gained over the Griquas, we should have had the whole nation down upon us. It was only the state of feeling produced by that influence which prevented the Griquas from taking advantage of the exposed condition of the country, and the panic then existing, to give vent to their old animosities against the colony, and overrun the northern half of it. Had they been without that helm-that influence, I say, of these missionaries, we should have had a strong tribe instead of a gang of robbers to contend with. We had no force to arrest them if they had. Now that those people are in that state to enable us to treat with them, I attribute altogether to the domesticated state to which they have been brought by the labours, and the confidence which they have in the advice of the missionaries, whose interest it is to preach peace."

Sir A. S. bears the same testimony of the benign and salutary results from the labours of the Wesleyan missionaries. These effects, to which such honourable testimony is borne, we feel no hesitation in ascribing to the pure principles of the Gospel, which, wherever planted, nurtured, and matured under his reign, who has said, "My kingdom is not of this world," will always produce them; and through which, as the chief Waterboer has declared, "the Griquas have become a people, who were not a people."

The course pursued by the Colonial Government in appointing an agent as they did, in the person of J. Melvill, Esq., terminated in a treaty made with the chief Waterboer, by which he became an ally. This latter very important measure was entered into under the auspices of Sir Benja min D'Urban, then Governor, and who in addition to Waterboer's salary most liberally granted 50l. per annum to promote education among the Griquas. Well had it been

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for the country, if this arrangement had been made much earlier, for it would have enabled Waterboer to prevent much rapine and murder, which had devastated the country for seven or eight years previously, during which time he could not even defend his own place, for want of suitable resources. Of this he was so sensible, that in the year 1830, on my way to Cape Town, he put into my hands a document expressing his desires on the subject, with an earnest request that I would use my influence for their accomplishment; this I did most cheerfully with Sir Lowry Cole, then Governor.

It is a wise policy in Government, to render every facility to the advancement of knowledge and civilization among the aborigines. and especially to such as have, like Waterboer, exhibited in legible characters the delightful results of missionary efforts, both in his conduct towards his own people, and the Colony to which he is allied; and we cannot but assure ourselves, that the friendly system now acted upon by Government, towards the chiefs on the frontier, will not only benefit the aborigines, but the Colony itself, and throw a halo of glory around the British throne.

It is deeply to be regretted, that the fountain at Griqua Town has almost ceased to flow, which has compelled the inhabitants to resolve on removing to the banks of the Yellow or Vaal River, where they hope to be able to lead out

* It has been said by one who ought to have a tolerably correct knowledge of the state of the Northern frontiers, that all the chiefs in the country, with only one exception, "are heathens and marauders." This is a sweeping charge, and it would be an easy matter for the writer, who has not been an inattentive observer of the fluctuations of petty interests in the country for more than twenty years, to contradict it. He possesses ample matters of fact for a volume of reminiscences on this subject, and may, if he finds it necessary, resume his pen to give the history, and the characters, of both heathen and Christian chiefs and marauders. It is true, the missionaries, like the primitive church at Corinth, have not many noble, not many rich, of whom they can boast; yet there are chiefs, and promising sons of chiefs, who have laid their weapons of war at the feet of the Prince of Peace, and we have only to glance over our missionary records to be convinced of the transforming effects of the Gospel, even over chieftians, who, though strangers to the inward teachings of the Spirit of God, and notwithstanding the baneful example of some called Christians before their eyes, instead of being "marauders," have made sacrifices to promote peace around them, and shown mercy to those by whom they were formerly plundered. Not to mention Cornelius Kok, the chief of Campbell, whom the Bechuanas have been accustomed to recognise as one of their guardians, Adam Kok of Philippolis; Mothibi, the chief of the Batlapis, and his sons, as also his brother Mahura; Mosheshe, the chief of the Basuto, and others whose names might be mentioned, cannot, without a violation of truth, be designated marauders.

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STATE AND PROSPECTS.

a stream, so as to irrigate a considerable portion of the country; and in furtherance of so noble a work, the "Friends" in England have contributed liberally, through J. Backhouse, Esq. Should they succeed in this important movement, about which they are sanguine, their circumstances will be immensely improved, for their abode at Griqua Town has long been very trying in a temporal point of view. But for this, it is possible that the Griquas might have realized the expectations of many of the Society's constituents, in supporting their own missionaries, which their advanced state of civilization, and liberal support from Government, authorize them to anticipate; and it is sincerely to be hoped that this will be the first mission beyond the Colony which will set the noble example, especially as, according to Mr. Wright, the "place possesses inexhaustible capabilities."

CHAPTER XIV.

We have now partially traversed the different portions of southern Africa, in which our missionaries have laboured with varied successes, among the Kafirs, Bushmen, Namaquas, and Griquas. In our perambulations, our hearts have been alternately the seat of sorrow and of joy. We have mingled our sympathies with those who were called to bear the heat and the burden of the day. We have heard them lamenting that they had laboured in vain, and spent their strength for nought; and we have seen them weeping over immortal souls, who, after having been brought within sight of the haven of eternal rest, despising the day of their visitation, have perished. We have united in our ascriptions of praise to the Author of all good with those who, though they went forth weeping and praying with painful solicitude, have been privileged to come again, bringing their sheaves with them. We have entered the kraal of the filthy and lazy Hottentot, and have witnessed the transforming influence in effecting a change in his character and state, which neither the might nor the policy of an empire could achieve. We have nown beings of so low a grade, that at one time it was