TAKE EVIDENCE. EVIDENCE OF NATIVES AND OTHERS CONCERNING SLAVERY IN
THE TRANSVAAL. APPEAL OF THE CHRISTIAN KING KHAMA. LETTER OF
M'PLAANK, NEPHEW OF CETEWAYO. PREVALENCE OF CONTEMPT FOR THE NATIVE
RACES. SYMPATHY OF A NATIVE CHIEF WITH THE SUFFERINGS OF CHRIST.


In the midst of the manifold utterances and discussions on the burning
question of to-day,--the War in South Africa,--there is one side of the
subject which, it seems to me, has not as yet been considered with the
seriousness which it deserves,--and that is the question of Slavery, and
of the treatment of the native races of South Africa. Though this
question has not yet in England or on the Continent been cited as one of
the direct causes of the war, I am convinced,--as are many others,--that
it lies very near to the heart of the present trouble.

The object of this paper is simply to bring witnesses together who will
testify to the past and present condition of the native races under
British, Dutch, and Transvaal rule. These witnesses shall not be all of
one nation; they shall come from different countries, and among them
there shall be representatives of the native peoples themselves. I shall
add little of my own to the testimony of these witnesses. But I will
say, in advance, that what I desire to make plain for some sincere
persons who are perplexed, is this,--that where a Government has
established by Law the principle of the complete and final abolition of
Slavery, and made its practice illegal for all time,--as our British
Government has done,--there is hope for the native races;--there is
always hope that, by an appeal to the law and to British authority, any
and every wrong done to the natives, which approaches to or threatens
the reintroduction of slavery, shall be redressed. The Abolition of
Slavery, enacted by our Government in 1834, was the proclamation of a