Page:George McCall Theal, History of South Africa since September 1795, Volume 1 (1908).pdf/188

160 arrangements were hurried on as soon as information was received of the expedition to the Plata, which met with the serious disapproval of the ministry, as having been undertaken without their authority or knowledge. Du Pré Alexander, second earl of Caledon, one of the representative peers of Ireland, was selected as governor. He was then only twenty-nine years of age, but he had already shown that he possessed abilities of a high order. In character he was upright and amiable, in disposition good-tempered, courteous, and benevolent, though when occasion required firmness no man could be more resolute than he. He was a tory as well as an aristocrat, of course, or he would not have been appointed to high office by the English government of that day; but no one could have been better adapted to make despotic rule sit lightly upon a people. As lieutenant-governor and commander of the forces Lieutenant-General the honourable Henry George Grey was appointed. Mr. Andrew Barnard was restored to his old office of colonial secretary, and Captain Christopher Bird received the post of deputy secretary. The other offices of importance were also filled, but as changes rapidly took place among the holders, it would occupy space needlessly to give the names.

Lieutenant-General Grey was the first of the newly appointed staff to arrive in South Africa. As his commission authorised him to carry on the administration when the governor was absent, on the 17th of January 1807 he took the oaths of office. On the following day General Baird embarked in the transport Paragon, and sailed for England. He had won the esteem of the colonists by his kindly bearing towards them, and respectful addresses were presented by the public bodies on his departure. He left South Africa with the rank of lieutenant-general.

In the afternoon of the 21st of May the earl of Caledon and Mr. Barnard arrived in the ship of war Antelope, and on the following morning the governor took the oaths of office.

The system under which the colony was henceforth ruled was despotic in form, though tempered by moderation and a