though the salary was only £75 per annum, this small modicum was regarded
as the foretaste of better things to come. All promised this, indeed, in a colony
which had lately passed into our hands, and where a British population and
character were to be superinduced, as speedily as possible, upon the original
Dutch colonization. Slavery was to be extinguished, churches and schools
to be erected, the English language to be established, and all things changed
for the better. This was the commencement of a colonial millennium, into which Pringle threw himself with ardour. Eager to be at the head of the literary and educational departments of this happy change, he received pupils for private instruction; wrote to his talented friend Mr. Fairbairn, in Scotland, to come out to his aid, for the land lay before them to enter and possess it; and planned, in conjunction with the Rev. Mr. Faure, a Dutch minister in Cape Town, the publication of a new periodical for the wider dissemination of knowledge, that should be written both in Dutch and English. This last project would have been admirable in London or Edinburgh; but in a colony where discontent was so rife—above all, in a conquered colony, where the two European races were still at daggers-drawing what individual man, however good or talented, could be intrusted with the unlimited power of publishing what he pleased? Besides, was there not already the "Government Gazette," which
contained everything, in the shape of political intelligence, at least, that the colonists needed to know? It was no wonder that Pringle's application for permission to start his journal was refused. He received a verbal answer from the governor, through his secretary, intimating that "the application had not
been seen in a favourable light." Nothing, of course, remained for him but submission; but as the arrival of British commissioners was expected, who were to examine into the state of the colony, he hoped they would sanction his proposal. The commissioners arrived, and thought well of it; but all that
they could do was to report of it to the home government. Thus thrown back
for an indefinite period, if not for ever, he resumed his educational labours with greater zeal than before; and Mr. Fairbairn having arrived from Scotland, the two were soon at the head of a large flourishing boarding establishment of pupils at Cape Town. And now it was that a whole sunny shower of good fortune had commenced, and was to fall upon him as it had done in Edinburgh; for while he
was thus prospering, the home government had received his proposals of a new
journal, and sent out full permission for its commencement. Thus the "South African Journal" started into life upon the original plan, one edition being in Dutch, and the other in English. Soon after, Mr. Greig, a printer, encouraged by this beginning, commenced the "South African Commercial Advertiser," a weekly newspaper, of which Pringle also undertook the editorship. He was
again a twofold editor, as well as government librarian, and at the head of an
educational establishment which was daily becoming more prosperous. But how long was this good fortune to last? scarcely even so long as it had done in Edinburgh, while the downfall that followed was to be more sudden and complete.
The commencement of the evil was of a kind always dangerous to free, high-spirited, colonial journalism—it was a government trial. A person named Edwards had libelled the governor, and was tried for the offence, while a report of the proceedings was expected in Pringle's newspaper. This expectation was fulfilled; but as it was a ticklish duty, the editor had done his best to expunge from it whatever he thought might be offensive to the ruling powers. Still,
