The Governor
determined, 'This must be wiped out; its effect has already been
disastrous; the Queen's uniform has but one colour.' He applied to
Downing Street, only to be informed that it was not possible to reward
native troopers, on retirement, as whites were. This did not content him.
'I went to the Cape Parliament, which, recognising the simple justice of
my proposal, adopted it with a wise liberality. There was immediate
satisfaction among the Hottentots, and on no subsequent occasion did they
give trouble. It was ever my endeavour to bind the natives to us by
esteem, to convince them that British rule was the most desireable rule
they could have.'
How winsomely Sir George made the Queen a living personality as well as a
mighty name to the native races! 'Ha-ha!' cried Maori; African,
Australian, 'the Queen is indeed our mother, for Governor Grey shows it
by his acts. But the eloquent word on that, came from an old Kaffir
woman, whom nobody owned, Lot Hrayi. This was her epistle, through the
Governor to the Queen:
'I am very thankful to you, dearest Queen Victoria, that you have sent,
for me, a good doctor, a clever man. I was sixteen years blind, Mother
and Queen, but now I see perfectly. I see everything. I can see the
stars, and the moon and the sun.
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