Revenue and Population.

The income and expenditure of the colony, since its reorganisation in the year 1836, has been as follows:

Import duties produce nearly one-half of the revenue, and the rest is made up of transfer duties, land sales and land tax, and a number of miscellaneous receipts. The largest item of expenditure is for public works.

The Cape of Good Hope was discovered in 1486 by Bartholomew de Diaz, a Portuguese commander. Vasco de Gama doubled it eleven years later, from which time it appears to have been resorted to by European navigators of all nations, but chiefly by Portuguese, Dutch, and English. In 1620, two English East India commanders, by a proclamation dated from Saldanha Bay, took possession of the Cape in the name of Great Britain; but no settlement was formed. In 1652 the colony was colonised by the Dutch East India Company, under Van Riebeek. The Cape remained in possession of the Dutch till the year 1795, when the British government took possession, but ceded it at the Peace of Amiens, 1802, to its former possessors; and in 1806 it was again taken by the English, to whom it was confirmed at the general peace, 1815. It has since continued a British colony.

The colony extends from the Atlantic and the Southern or Indian Oceans on the west and south; and it is bounded on the north by the Gariep or Orange River, on the north-east by the territory of the Basutas, and on the east by Kaffirland and British Kaffraria. The colony contains an area of about 110,000 square miles, and an estimated total population of 267,096, composed of 102,156 white and 129,167 coloured men, the rest being Malays and other aborigines.

Trade and Commerce.

The total value of the imports and exports of the Cape Colony in the seven years from 1856 to 1862 was as follows:

The chief article exported is sheep's wool, the value of which forms about two-thirds of the whole of the produce shipped from the Cape of Good Hope. The imports consist chiefly in manufactured goods from the United Kingdom. The settlers at the Cape are chiefly employed in the production of wool and wine, in the breeding of horses, cattle, and sheep, and in the growth of wheat, barley, oats, and maize. The export of all these articles of agricultural produce is gradually, though slowly increasing.

LIBERIA.

Constitution and Government.

THE Constitution of the Republic of Liberia is on the model of that of the United States of America. The executive is vested in a president and a non-active vice-president, and the legislative power is exercised by a parliament of two houses, called the Senate and the House of Representatives. The president and vice-president are elected for two years; the house of representatives also for two years, and the senate for four years. There are 13 members of the Lower House, and 8 of the Upper House; each county sending 2 members to the senate. It is provided that, on the increase of the population, each 10,000 persons will be entitled to an additional representative. Both the president and the vice-president must be thirty-five years of age, and have real property to the value of 600 dollars, or 1201. In case of the absence or death of the president, his post is filled by the vice-president. The latter is also President of the Senate, which, in addition to being one of the branches of the legislature, is a Council for the President of the Republic, he being required to submit treaties for ratification and appointments to public office for confirmation.

President of Liberia.-Daniel Bashiell Warner, elected May 5, 1864, for the term of two years.

Vice-President of Liberia.-James W. Priest, elected May 5,

1864.

The first president was Joseph Jenkins Roberts; he was succeeded by Stephen Allen Benson. Each of these two presidents served four terms of two years each. Mr. David B. Warner, the actual chief magistrate of the republic, is the third president.

For political and judicial purposes, the republic is divided into counties, which are further subdivided into townships. The counties are four in number, and called Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, and Maryland. The townships are commonly about eight miles in extent. Each town is a corporation, its affairs being managed by officers chosen by the inhabitants. Courts of monthly and quarter sessions are held in each county. The civil business of the county is administered by four superintendents appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the senate. The county system of

government is capable of indefinite extension over new districts of territory that may be acquired, giving all the advantages which local self-government affords to the inhabitants. The government of Liberia is entirely in the hands of men of the African race.

Population, Revenue, and Trade.

The settlement of Liberia, founded in 1822, was, on August 24, 1847, proclaimed a free and independent state, as the Republic of Liberia. The state was first acknowledged by England, afterwards by France, Belgium, Prussia, Brazil, Denmark, and Portugal, and, in 1861, by the United States. The republic has about 600 miles of coast line, and extends back about 100 miles on an average, but with the facility of almost indefinite extension into the interior. It is stated that the natives everywhere manifest the greatest desire that treaties should be formed with them, so that the limits of the republic may be extended over all the neighbouring districts. The Liberian territory has been purchased by more than 20 treaties, and in all cases the natives have freely parted with their titles for a satisfactory price. The chief solicitude has been to purchase the line of sea-coast, so as to connect the different settlements under one government, and to exclude the slave trade, which formerly was most extensively carried on at Cape Mesurado, Tradetown, Little Bassa, Digby, New Sesters, Gallinas, and other places at present within the republic.*

The population is estimated to number 500,000, of which 16,000 are Americo-Liberians, and the remaining 484,000 aboriginal inhabitants. In the year 1862, the public revenue amounted to 30,1907., and the expenditure to 29,9731. The Liberians have built and manned 30 coast traders, and they have a number of large vessels engaged in commerce with Great Britain and the United States. The principal articles of export are coffee, sugar, palm oil, and various other products of the soil of Africa.

*The Republic of Liberia, its Products and Resources. By Gerald Ralston, Consul-General for Liberia. A Paper read before the Society of Arts.

NATAL.

Constitution and Government.

THE Colony of Natal, formerly an integral part of the Cape of Good Hope settlement, was erected into a separate government by Letters Patent issued in November 1845. A Lieutenant-Governor was appointed, as well as an Executive Council created. The Lieutenant-Governor was subordinate to the Governor of the Cape, and the Legislative Council of the latter continued to frame laws for Natal till 1848, when a separate Legislative Council was established. In 1856 Natal was erected into a distinct and separate colony, and from that time has not been under the control of the Governor of the Cape. Its affairs are administered by a Lieutenant-Governor, assisted by an Executive Council, composed of the Chief-justice, the senior officer in command of the troops, the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary for Native Affairs; and a Legislative Council, composed of four official members, namely, the Colonial Secretary, the Treasurer, the Attorney-General, and the Secretary for Native Affairs, and 12 members elected by the counties and boroughs.

Lieutenant-Governor of Natal.-John Scott, formerly Secretary to the North American Boundary Commission, 1843–48; Lieutenant-Governor of Labuan, 1849–55; appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, March 1856.

The Lieutenant-Governor has a salary of 1,2007., and the Colonial Secretary of 7007.

Revenue and Population.

The public revenue and expenditure of the colony in the year 1850, and in the four years 1859-62, were as follows:—