of any Council returned will consent to accept Lord Kimberley's proposal
as it stands; to walk into a parlour in which the spider is so very
obvious, and to deliberately undertake the guardianship of all the
Imperial interests in South-Eastern Africa. If they do, they will, in my
opinion, deserve all they will get.[*]

[*] Since this chapter was written the Natal constituencies
have, as I thought probable, declared against the acceptance
of Lord Kimberley's offer in its present form, by returning
a majority of anti-responsible Government men. It is,
however, probable that the new Legislative Council will try
to re-open negotiations on a different, or, at any rate, a
modified basis.

The Natalians are fortunate at the present crisis in having, by dint of
vigorous agitation against the appointment of Mr. Sendall, a gentleman
selected by Lord Kimberley to govern them, obtained the reappointment
of their former Governor, Sir Henry Bulwer. Sir Henry, during his
first tenure of office, lost credit with the South African colonists
on account of his lukewarmness with reference to the Zulu war, but the
course of events has gone far towards justifying his views. He is one
of the most hard-working and careful Governors that Natal has ever had,
and, perhaps, the most judicious. Of a temperate and a cautious mind,
he may be more safely trusted to pilot a country so surrounded with
difficulties and dangers as Natal is, than most men, and it is to be
hoped that the application to the questions of the day, of the strong
common sense that he possesses in such an eminent degree, may have a
cooling effect on the hot heads and excited imaginations of the "party
of progress."