Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa from 1795 to 1872, Volume 1 (4th ed, 1915).djvu/51

1797] allowed, torture on trial and barbarous modes of execution were abolished, and the strictest justice in every case was to be enforced.

Lord Macartney, who was an Irish gentleman recently raised to the peerage, had previously filled many positions of importance. In 1764 he was sent as envoy extraordinary to the empress of Russia, in 1769 he was appointed chief secretary of Ireland, in 1775 he became governor of Grenada, and in 1780 governor of Madras. In October 1785, when returning to Europe after holding the appointment last named, he visited Capetown and resided here for a fortnight. In 1792 he was sent as ambassador extraordinary to the emperor of China. He arrived at the Cape in the ship of war Trusty on the 4th of May 1797, and at ten o'clock on the following morning, in presence of the members of the high court of justice, the burgher senate, the clergymen, and the principal residents in Capetown, at the government house in the garden his commission was read, and he took the oaths of office. General Dundas did not assume duty until the 23rd of May, when General Craig proceeded to Bengal.

The administration of Lord Macartney in South Africa has been described by one of the ablest writers of the day, and that description has been received generally by Englishmen as correct. But the official records of his government, as well as the accounts given by colonists and by foreign visitors and travellers, do not accord with all that Mr.—afterwards Sir John—Barrow wrote. There are reasons for this, without implying that Barrow was intentionally guilty of misrepresentation. He was bound to Lord Macartney by the strong tie of gratitude. He had accompanied the embassy to China, during which he met with many favours. Then he was selected by Lord Macartney as one of his private secretaries, with a promise that he should be well provided for in South Africa, a promise that was faithfully kept. The one was