them for competition in the struggle for place. Examinations and other tests which they undergo are not framed in the expectation of finding unusual capacity in any ranks. Mediocrity is the rule; the national edifice is based upon it, and the law and constitution are drawn in suitable perspective. There is no disposition amongst the Western nations to regulate legislation for brilliant scholars, but rather for the common mass of ordinary intelligence. Similarly, the great bulk of aboriginals who are now gaining a modicum of intelligence require laws and government in form appropriate to the standard sit which they have arrived in bulk, and not according to the standard of those who have proved themselves exceptions. We have rightly assumed the position of guardians over the native races, and must act up to it They cannot develop without the aid of the white race. Class legislation was, and is, necessary for their due protection. Because a few have advanced at an amazing rate, and require help and encouragement, it were neither kind nor politic to give the masses, who are far behind, a status they are not fitted for.
The relations between the two races are, as before said, determinable according to the sympathy and confidence existing between them. An idea of the acute anxiety about these relations may be gathered from the Treaty of Peace which formed the closing incident to the late war. In that document it was stipulated that no political rights should be granted to natives prior to introduction of responsible government in the new Colonies. The meaning of this was unmistakable. It meant, in plain language, that the Dutch settlers, in addition to their repugnance to admit any equality between the white and black races, feared being outvoted. In this fear the Dutch were not singular, for it is shared by the greater portion of British settlers in South Africa.
It is of primary importance to bear in mind—
That the native population is between four and five times as large as the European.
