LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
THE TRANSVAAL.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.."] :Sea,—The Spectator of January 8th contained a letter from Mr. Roden Noel, who demands, as many other Liberals are -demanding, that the Boers of the Transvaal shall regain their independence and their liberty. Before joining in this demand, we ought to know something of the nature of this liberty that they require. Judging by the past, I think it will be found that their ideas of liberty are entirely without any recognition of the rights of others. They have had liberty iu the past, and they have used it to hold great numbers in slavery, and to add to the numbers of their slaves by the free use of the Commando system,—that is, by attacking tribes beyond their borders, .slaughtering the adults, and carrying off the children. They have also indulged in the liberty which once belonged to the planters of the Southern States,—the liberty of suppressing all who held doctrines different from their own. None who know the history of Livingstone can forget how his wander- ings first began in the attempt of the Boers upon his life, and their success in burning his house and dearly-loved books. The liberty to maintain slavery and all that comes of it is what they demand of us ; but, in fact, they demand a great deal more. Liberty, to them, means the right ofencroaching by force and fraud upon their neighbours, and acquiring without any restraint their land and cattle, as in the acts which led to the quarrels
with the Zulus and Secocoeni, and to a condition of irritation against the white races that was supposed to endanger the settlers in Natal.
Further, they claim the right of extending their rule and their peculiar institutions towards the Equator. Any limitation of their borders is, in the opinion of many, a trampling upon their rights.
Now that we have exercised authority over them, it appears to me that we are bound to regard ourselves as responsible, to some extent, for the half-million Kaffirs, and to bear their interests in mind, as well as those of 30,000 Boers ; and therefore it is that I cannot join with those who propose to give up all authority, and with it all hope of exercising a useful influence, in the regions between the Vaal and the Zambesi.—I am, Sir, ite., T. POWELL BUXTON.
• Varlies, Waltham Abbey, ,Tanuary19th.
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