Although unable to take much part in public affairs during this session, yet, at the instance of the Rev. Dr. Philip of the Cape of Good Hope, Mr. Buxton made an effort in behalf of the Hottentots, which was crowned with easy and complete success.

Eight years before, Dr. Philip had been sent out by the London Missionary Society, on a deputation appointed to inquire into the state of their missions in South Africa. In the course of these investigations he had become acquainted with the grievous state of degradation in which the Hottentots were held by the inhabitants of the colony, and especially by the Dutch boors. One hundred and seventy years before, they had been the undisturbed possessors of that fertile tract of country which is now comprehended under the name of the Cape Colony. In 1652, the first Dutch settlement was formed, and the curse of Christian neighbours fell upon the hapless owners of the land.

The first germ of the treatment they met with may be seen in the following extracts from the journal of Van Riebech, the Dutch governor.