LEMAN SAUNDERS SLOMAN, CAPE OF GOOD HOPE GOVERNMENT AND L E G I S L A T IL R B CONSIDERED. LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY, 1851. PREFACE. A PREFACE to the subjoined Pamphlet is only needed as a thread to bind together the different facts, asser- tions, and opinions therein contained ; and to exhibit from a connected view of them the necessity of such a publication as the e< Cape Monitor," from which they are extracted. During- the Anti-Convict agitation at the Cape, the local Press was the most absolute tyranny which ever attempted to g*ag- a fair expression of opinion. Printers were censors, and the power of a veto on any article seemed to lie with the compositor. The only Editor, in Cape Town, who at the time attempted to express an opinion contrary to the leaders of the agitation, received notice from his printer that he could not print such articles ; and the Editor in question was compelled with much risk and incon- venience to purchase type and press for his own use. Up to this period, contradictions to assertions, boldly and unblushing'ly made in the columns of the ultra papers, were refused insertion 5 althoug-h the most violent and unconstitutional articles, teeming- with abuse of those in authority, were put forth as if they expressed the g-eneral opinion. In the leading 1 article of the first number of the " Cape Monitor," it was adduced as a reason why a 2$ new paper should be established, that there are two parties in the Colony, and two opposed sets of opinions : and one of these parties only, and one of these sets of opinions is represented in the Cape Town Press. It is notorious it has not been denied : it has been openly admitted by some of the Cape Town Newspapers, that they do, on principle, refuse to give a place in their columns to communications opposed to their own, or to their party's views. When the first number of the " Cape Monitor " appeared the Legislative Council had just been rendered incomplete by those who styled themselves "the popularly-elected Members," resigning- their seats. The consequences of this resignation were, that the Governor appointed the remaining- seven a Com- mission to consider and report on a scheme of Repre- sentative Government for the Colony j and that the four seceding 1 Members formed themselves into another Board with the view of preparing- an opposition Con- stitution to be submitted to the Cape Town Munici- pality, and afterwards it is believed to the ee Colonial Reform Party " in England. Both of these parties, namely, the Government Commission, and the Board formed by the seceders, reported ; and the conclusions to which they respec- tively came will be found in the Pamphlet under the heads : " Report of Government Commissioners" (pp. 724), and " Draft of the retiring* Members of Council, (pp. 2528.) Previous to the publication of the " Cape Monitor/' the Press of the Western Division of the Colony (with only one exception) would lead to the supposition that the draft of the seceding- Members of Council expressed the opinion of the whole Colony. The " Monitor" has entirely disproved and overthrown this deception. That two opinions existed was long- privately known, but to utter a free opinion openly was attended with difficulty, in consequence of the means of intimidation, and the inhuman threats which had been put forth under the Anti-Convict " Reig-n of Terror," the ban of which it was publicly stated, should continue from generation to generation. The (( Monitor" appeared. Good men and true looked on it, acknowledged it, and have supported it as a boon, and as a rallying 1 point. It declared its fair intentions ; it has adhered to them. It has spoken truth j it has exposed and put down falsehood. And by giving 1 publicity to the Memorial to the Governor from the merchants of Cape Town, and the Addresses and Resolutions and Memorials passed at Graham's Town, Graaff-Reinet, Sidbury, Uitenhage, George, Caledon, Swellendam, Wynberg, &c. ; and also many letters from different townships exposing how meeting's were got up and conducted, as well as extracts from the papers of the Eastern Division of the Colony, where there is no clog 1 on the liberty of the Press, it has given utterance to a general and growing* opinion that the scheme of Government proposed by the seceding- Members does not receive the confidence of the Colony, but must prove detri- mental to its prosperity and fairest interests. The addresses, letters, statements, &c. put forth in this Pamphlet have challenged contradiction. As originally published they have called attention to abuses which have at once " quailed their front" before VI them. They have received no contradiction save such attempts at reply as have been noticed in the columns of the " Monitor/' and most of which appear in this Pamphlet. But they have effected a mighty change ; and we believe they may yet save the Colony from utter anarchy, continued party feuds, and ruin. The leading articles under their respective dates form a fair and able running commentary, and whole- some matter-of-fact statement of the case as it is ; and an attentive perusal of them will give a g-eneral and just notion of our present position. The papers on the question j "Will the proposed schemes for our new Constitution afford a balance of power ?" are a sequel to six previous papers, showing from the histories of Greece, Rome, England, France, and America, the necessity of such a balance ; and it will be found to contain the opinions of the Judges and other official authorities at the Cape, as expressed in their memoranda and minutes forwarded to the Governor, in the year 1848, on the nature of the representative Government suited to the Colony of the Cape. The articles (( Con- siderations on the Constitution" are also exceedingly valuable, as leading back to the steps taken, and to opinions heretofore advanced, especially by Lord Stanley in his despatch to Sir G. Napier, respecting the Cape ; and those of Sir W. Denison, and Sir H. E. T. Young- to Earl Grey respecting Van Diemen's Land, and South Australia. The effect which the establishment and circulation of the paper, from whence the extracts which compose this Pamphlet are taken, has had upon the inhabitants of the Cape, may be gathered from the leading article vii for January 3rd (p. 246), which states : " No sooner had this paper been established than it became publicly known that in every district where the democratic leaders had previously proclaimed themselves trium- phant, there was a considerable body opposed to their views which had hitherto possessed no medium for the expression of its own opinions. It is in supplying such a medium that we trust we have done good service to the cause of order and property. We have enabled the friends of that good cause to speak for themselves, and right well and loudly have they spoken. It is no longer possible now for the most impudent impostor to pretend that the Colony is unanimous in favour of democracy. The leaders of that party can now no longer hope to impose upon the ignorant and ill- informed. Wherever throughout the Colony, their deceptions penetrate, the statements of our numerous correspondents follow and expose them 5 and thus, as we have said, a healthy public opinion has been estab- lished in the Colony, which will assuredly defeat and annihilate their democratic schemes." Since the real feeling of the Colony has been fairly represented by the " Monitor," the opinion has been growing daily not only amongst persons of influence, whether from position, or property, or information, but also amongst calm-thinking people generally, that we are by no means in a position for two elective Houses, that the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly should be chosen by a very different consti- tuency, so that the one might be a real and practical check to the other and that, in order to make this check as efficient as possible, Members of the Legis- Vlll lative Council should not be elected by the people, but nominated by the Crown. And that this opinion is not only prevalent at the seat of Government, but throughout the Colony, is attested not only by letters from correspondents, but from the country memorials, some of which petition for a nominated Upper House in direct terms, and others by implication. No Constitution less fenced and guarded by such a check as this, can be either safely recommended, or inspire g-eneral confidence. The real interests, the vital prosperity of the Colony are now on the balance, at their critical juncture. With a legislation giving popular representation on the one hand, and yet fairly representing property and English feeling on the other, confidence may restored ; persons of all classes will be without just complaint ; the British merchant will be encouraged, and the English name respected; the Dutch farmer will have an impetus to landed improvement, from having- a voice in the popular election, and knowing that the agricultural as well as the commercial interests of the Colony are represented ; and the Hottentots, and other recently emancipated slaves, will have fair protection, without the possibility of being reduced to a rigorous servi- tude little less galling and oppressive than actual bondag-e. It may possibly be supposed that there will be a difficulty of obtaining a sufficient number of nomi- nated Members, for the Legislative Council; this difficulty is but a supposition. The opinion is now so general, that the interests of the Colony are at stake, that many whom no popular election could IX induce to take seats, would take them readily from a sense of duty if nominated nor would any future display of the declining- democratic feeling- be ahle to deter them. This it is only fair to judge, as no reply, much less opposition, has been made to this sug-g-estion of a nominated Upper House, . openly and repeatedly put forth in the columns of the C( Monitor," and called for by public memorial. In fact, it may here again be stated, that no reply has been made to any of the assertions, no clearing 1 up of any alle- gations, no refutation of any of the arguments of the "Monitor," in a direct way; save those which as before stated, appear as answers in the pages of this Pamphlet. Some measures even more protective measures which shall check anti-English disaffection, and give a stimulus, whilst it removes the present stigma which rests on British loyalty our present calamitous position urgently demands. From muttering- disaffection we have advanced to o the expression of opinions, which honest men count treason from vituperation and abuse of British rule, we have suddenly been hurried into a cruel and treacherous frontier war; and whilst the homes, the properties, the lives of many are in hourly jeopardy ; whilst the wild Kaffir, inspirited to outbreak, from his too correct knowledge of our distracted position, and the slander breathed against the British name, and the opprobrious terms of " butcher," " canting hypo- crite," and " buffoon," applied to her Majesty's repre- sentative, and those of " malig-nant liars," and (< secret traitors," to his advisers whilst this is the case, the Boers, near the very seat of war, to put their position in the very mildest light, sit still; the democratic papers breathe such unjust, disloyal, insidious language that every honest feeling- is outrag-ed \>y it. Every movement of the Governor, every measure for the rescue of life, and protection from savag-e barbarities, every Proclamation calling 1 for aid or denouncing- re- bellion, is made the subject of insolent and ig-norant attack in a word, we are at a perilous crisis, viz. : with a savage border war, with the Hottentot of the Kat Kiver joining- the Kaffirs, whom they have before with very hatred resisted, the Burg-her forces refusing- to act even under the Proclamation of Martial Law j the whole Colony distracted and divided, and yet without a Legislative Council to direct and aid the Executive in its trying- hour of need. If the Colony is now to be saved, if the British name is ag-ain to be respected, if the honest spirit and loyalty of the English population is not to be crushed, and overpowered, prompt, decisive measures must be taken. To talk now of elections which would only rend the breach wider, and lay us more open to fron- tier ag-gression, is destruction. To delay till a Consti- tution is framed and approved, and put in force, is to bid us be at peace, whilst the enemy is at our very g'ates. And to be presented with a Constitution, formed in rash haste, when calm deliberation and cool practical inquiry are so essentially needed, is to make that, which has been promised as a boon, a Pandora's box filled with the deadliest ills and most baneful conse- quences. One prompt, determined step, a step which shall be intermediate to any final measures, a step XI which will give hatred and disaffection time to settle down and find their own place/ a step which will allow breathing- time from the panting- excitement throug-h which we have been hurried, a step which when the war is ended, will permit us deliberately to see what the now wants of this long-distracted Colony really are, a step which will be our safety, and Eng*- land's honour such a step, as a jury-mast, if we are to struggle throug-h the present storm into peaceful waters, must be taken. That step is a temporary return, to our form of Government in 1836, viz. a Governor and an Executive Council, with legislative powers. This, and this only, will save the scenes exhibited in Canada in the years 1839 and 1840, from being- transacted with greater fury at the Cape. This will be justice to English loyalty, to the Dutch interests, to the Negro and Hottentot and Fingo, who are now cheerfully swelling our levies in the West. This, in a word, will inspire confidence to our flagging commerce, respect to British authority in the misguided and dis- affected, and peace and prosperity to all. Cape Town, Feb. 1st, 1851. THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE GOVERNMENT, ETC. ETC. Ci)e "Cape Is published every Friday Morning, at 8 o'clock, at No. 62, Castle-street, corner of St. George' s-street, where all communi- cations for the Editor are to be addressed. TO COEEESPONDENTS. We cannot undertake to return rejected communications. Whatever is intended for insertion must he authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication, but as a guarantee of his good faith. No notice can be taken of anonymous communications. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, October 18, 1850. To those who may be inclined to ask the question, Why is it proposed to establish another Newspaper in Cape Town? a little reflection on the circum- stances of the times in which we write, and a brief retrospect of the colonial events of the last few weeks, will, we trust, afford sufficient answer. For some years past a considerable section of the public of the Cape Colony have been praying- Her Majesty's Government for Representative Institutions. B 2 Her Majesty's Government at length determined to accede to this request. An Instrument granting" such Institutions, in the most general terms, was sent out to the Colony, and the details were left to be filled up by the local Legislature, under the influence of the Colonial. Public. The Legislative Council then in- complete was called together ; the vacancies being- filled up by a Popular Election. They set to work diligently considering the suggestions of the Home Government ; and after six or seven days' labour, four of the unofficials, who now arrogate to themselves the title of ct the Popularly Elected Members," resigned their seats. We do not propose at present to enter upon any discussion of their motives or their policy : we are simply stating facts. The Council was thus again rendered incomplete : and, to judge from present appearances, there is no intention on the part of the local Government to attempt its reconstruction. The Governor appointed the seven remaining Members a Commission to con- sider and report to him on a scheme of Representative Government for the Colony, to be thereafter submitted, first to the Public here, next to the Government at home. The four seceders formed themselves into an opposition Board, with the view of preparing an oppo- sition Constitution, to be submitted first to the Cape Town Municipality, and afterwards it is believed, to the " Colonial Reform Party" in England. Both these Commissions have reported : and though we have no wish to travel further than is absolutely necessary into the transactions of the past, we have thought it expedient to print the two reports in 3 another column/ as they will probably form the text of many of our future comments. The Report of the self-styled " Popularly Elected Members" has been adopted by the Cape Town Muni- cipality, and by what are called " Public Meeting's " in some of the country districts. The plan of the Government Commissioners has, with some modifica- tions, on which we shall hereafter remark, received the approval of a considerable section of the Cape Town public (whose Memorial will also be found elsewhere)^ and will probably be similarly received in several of the country divisions particularly in the eastern province. There are thus two parties in the Colony, and two opposite sets of opinions : and one of these parties only, and one of these sets of opinions, is represented in the Cape Town Press. It is notorious it has not been denied. It has been openly admitted, by some of the leading- Cape Town newspapers, that they do, on principle, refuse to give a place in their columns to communications opposed to their own and their party's views. We hold that every considerable section of public opinion oug-ht to be represented in the Press ; we hold that opinions opposed to those which are advocated by the leading- papers in Cape Town are entertained by a larg-e body of the Colonial commu- nity. This is the cause, and the justification, of the appearance of this Paper. We resume our narrative. Both the Committees, or Commissions, which undertook the construction of a Constitution for the Colony, took the well considered Report of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and * See pp. 7 and 25. f See p. 31. B 2 the Letters Patent, as the basis of their work ; and appear to have considered themselves in some degree bound by them. Hence it is that on many points the suggestions of the two Reports are identical. Both recommend that the Legislature should consist of a Governor and two Elective Houses : that the Council or Upper House should consist of fifteen Members) and that the Assembly or Lower House should consist of forty-six Members : both recommend the same Electoral Districts and the same distribution of Members of the Assembly among- them : the same qualification of Members of the Assembly : some of the disqualifications recommended are the same in both Reports : and both advise that Money Bills should originate in the Assembly, and should be liable, like all other Bills, to amendment by the Governor and the Council. On these points, with regard to which the two schemes agree, we shall for the present abstain from comment. Nor shall we touch just now on some minor points of difference which are observable in the two Reports, such as the special disqualifications for membership, and the propriety of officials not Members of either House taking- part in the discussions of the Legis- lature. The main difference between the two plans or schemes of Government now before the public will be found to be connected with the Constitution of the Legislative Council or Upper House. On this subject the Government Commissioners have enunciated a principle. They say " We can discern no quality by which the Council can be distinguished from the Assembly, more marked/ or more salutary, or more calculated to secure independence of action, than that of representing- in a peculiar manner, the property of the Colony, and with it those qualities, intellectual and moral, which the possession of property, generally speaking 1 , implies." By this principle, which is the only one, as far as we know, that has yet been promulgated on the subject, for the Committee of Privy Council, with whom the scheme of an Elected Upper Chamber originated, are very vague in their suggestions, all the recommendations of the Commissioners have been guided. This principle has been distinctly rejected by the (C Popularly Elected Members/' who have not, however, suggested any other in its place. The principal question, therefore, which is now at issue, and on which the public opinion of this Colony ought to declare itself is this shall property be repre- sented in the future Legislature of the Cape. The gentlemen who lately fabricated a Constitution at the Town House, and the party which they represent, have answered this question in the negative. They are to have an Assembly elected by universal suffrage, and for which every elector shall be eligible as a member: and they desire to have a Council elected also by universal suffrage, and without any property qualification at all. This is not indeed the proposition found in their draft, which suggests a property quali- fication of 1000. But in Council, as is well known, they voted against any property qualification : and as they do not now require 1000. unincumbered, their proposed qualification amounts to nothing : such quali- fication may be manufactured by the gross ; and it is on this very ground that this delusive proposition has been accepted by the facile " Popularly Elected Members," to quiet the scruples of Mr. WICHT, and some monied members of the Cape Town Muni- cipality. Animated by the same spirit, they opposed the suggestions of the Privy Council Committee that it fthould be competent to the Governor to dissolve the Assembly Avithout at the same time dissolving the Council : though with singular inconsistency they make the ordinary duration of the Council four, and of the Assembly three years j so that, except in cases of dissolution, the two Chambers would not be elected together. Not, however, to dwell on details, it may be briefly stated that the principal characteristics of the Upper Chamber, as proposed through the Cape Town Municipality for the adoption of the public, are Election by Universal Suffrag-e, and no property qualification. It will be the duty of every man in this Colony, before signing the petitions which are being hawked about by the party to Avhom we have referred, to consider well whether under such a Constitution the objects of an Upper House the protection of pro- perty and the prevention of hasty and inconsiderate Legislation will be secured. We would have him ask himself Is it desirable to have an Upper Chamber at all ? That question has suggested itself to the minds of the gentlemen who are now endea- vouring to lead the Colon} 7 ; and it is not long since one of them the real leader of the party answered it in the negative. In the South African Commercial Advertiser of the 27th April last, we find the follow- ing- : " The Colonists themselves have already come to this conclusion, and as they regard their future welfare, let them adhere immoveably to that conclusion No Upper House" These words were written before the arrival of the Privy Council Report, and consequently before an Elective Upper House had been suggested ; but on the arrival of that document, it at once appeared that whereas the Home Government would oppose the plan of a single Chamber, and that scheme would therefore fall, they might not oppose two Houses elected by the same constituency and from the same class j and that scheme, which afforded just as little security to property as the other, might succeed. This explains the change of opinion, and shews pretty clearly that the object of the self-appointed Commis- sioners, is to get a Legislature with two Chambers that will act in the same manner, and produce the same results, as one Chamber elected from the whole mass of the people by universal suffrage. THE NEW CONSTITUTION. BEFOBT OF GOVERNMENT COMMISSIONERS. Cape Town, 30th September, 1850. To His Excellency Sir H. G. SMITH, Bart., G.C.B. Governor, &c. &c. &c. I. WE, the undersigned, nominated by your Excel- lency to act as a Board of Commissioners for the pur- pose of resuming and completing the consideration of the several subjects which were before the Committee of the Legislative Council, appointed to inquire into and report upon the proposed Constitution for the future government of the Colony, at the time when the proceeding's of the Committee were interrupted by the retirement of the four Members of the Council who recently resigned, have investigated the matters to us referred, and have agreed to the following- report : II. By your Excellency's letter, appointing- us to act, we observe that your purpose is to transmit our Report with your own remarks, and any petitions from the colonists, to the Rig-ht Honourable the Secretary of State, "in order that Her Majesty's Government may be in a position to determine upon the course which it shall be fitting' to adopt in reg-ard to the estab- lishment of Representative Institutions at the Cape." From this it follows that the course of legislating- upon the subject by Ordinance, as prescribed by Her Majesty's Letters Patent of the twenty-third of May, 1850, having- become, in fact, impracticable for the present, has been abandoned by your Excellency ; and as this unavoidable chang-e of plan will necessarily require the recall of those Letters Patent, and the issue either of other Letters Patent or of an Order in Council, we shall not, in this Report, reg-ard the pro- visions contained in the existing- Letters Patent as necessarily withdrawn from our consideration. III. The Letters Patent, of the 23rd May, 1850, established the following- points : 1st. That the Colonial Legislature should consist of a Governor, a Legislative Council, and a House of Assembly; both Chambers to be entirely elective, 9 except as to one person, viz., the President of the Legislative Council. Sndly. That the Chief Justice of the Colony for the time being 1 should, ex officio, be the President of the Legislative Council. Srdly. That both Chambers mig-ht be dissolved tog-ether, should the Governor think fit, or the Assembly be dissolved without the Legislative Council. ' IV. We believe that the expediency of a Second Chamber is not now questioned by any influential por- tion of the Colonists, and we consider it unnecessary to dwell upon a subject on which there exists, it is believed, little or no diversity of opinion. V. In reg-ard to that provision of the existing- Letters Patent which constitutes the Chief Justice President of the Legislative Council, the case is very different. This subject was discussed in the Com- mittee of the Legislative Council, and the Members were unanimously of opinion that Her Majesty should be humbly solicited to rescind a provision which seemed to bring- the head of the Supreme Court into a connexion with the g-eneral business of the Legislature too close to consist with the preservation of that degree of respect, from all parties, which so hig-h a Magistrate should at all times command, and which, by combining- in one person the distinct duties of making- and of expounding- the law, must tend to lessen the confidence of the public that they will be sure to receive from the Chief Justice, in his judicial capacity, interpretations of the law which shall be wholly free from any previous bias arising- from opinions given by him in his capacity as a member of 10 the Legislative Council. We believe that the incon- veniences likely to be felt from requiring- the high functionary in question to descend from the bench of justice into the arena of colonial politics, would far outweigh all the advantages which could be expected to result from such a measure. And we,, therefore, venture to express our hope that Her Majesty, taking- into consideration the universal repugnance which exists to risking 1 in such a way the future character of the adminstration of justice in this colony, will be pleased to rescind the provision upon which we are observing 1 , and to leave to the Legislative Council the election of its own President. VI. The powers conferred upon the Governor by the Letters Patent in regard to the dissolution of both Houses together, or the House of Assembly separately, we view as being 1 extremely salutary. We are aware that very many of the public, taking 1 , as we conceive, defective views of the objects, uses, and advantages of a Second Chamber, and desiring 1 to place the whole power of the Colony in the hands of the Assembly, are prepared to insist that the Assembly shall, in no case, be dissolved unless the Legislative Council be dissolved at the same time. It is probable, indeed, that a large numerical majority of the inhabit- ants will be found to advocate this restriction upon the right of dissolution. We cannot, however, hesitate to say that AVC should regard such a restriction as short- sighted and mischievous. It appears to us that the one main end of a Second Chamber is, to moderate the action of popular excitement, and if, in every case of dissolution, the members of both Houses are to be 11 elected at the very same time, this main end must be, almost necessarily, sacrificed. No reason can, we think, be given for establishing- a qualification, as reg-ards ag-e or property, for the members of the Upper House different from that required for members of the Lower House, or, indeed, for establishing- an Upper House at all, which will not be a reason for rejecting the principle that at the very moment when popular excitement will be, presumably, most violent, the members of both Houses shall be chosen under the same impulse. Persons who would arrang-e the dura- tion of both Houses, under ordinary circumstances, so as to have the elections for both contemporaneous, mig-ht yet, most rationally, and consistently, make an exception in the peculiar case of dissolution. But how persons who think that there is a reason, under ordi- nary circumstances, for arranging- the duration of the two Houses, so as to have the elections for both at different times, can rationally and consistently main- tain that in the peculiar case of a dissolution, the elections for both Houses shall, for once, be simul- taneous, we do not understand. We therefore humbly recommend, that the provision of the existing- Letters Patent relative to the rip'ht of dissolution be retained o in any other instrument by which the new Constitution may be finally established. VII. We shall now proceed to submit to your Excellency the several points considered and provision- ally agreed upon by the Committee of the Legislative Council, previous to the interruption to its labours already mentioned : 12 1. That the Parliament ouo-ht to consist of a O Governor and two Houses, a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, was, as we have already stated, unanimously resolved. 2. It was unanimously resolved, that the Members of the Assembly should be chosen for three years. 3. It was unanimously resolved, that every per- son, not subject to any special disqualification, who should have occupied for his own use and benefit, within the limits of any electoral division, for twelve calendar months, fixed property of the value of 25, should be entitled to be registered as a voter, and to vote, in that division, for Members of Assembly. 4. It was unanimously resolved, that the 20 ex- isting 1 fiscal divisions of the Colony should be, respec- tively, electoral divisions, returning- each two Members to the Assembly; that the Municipalities of Cape Town and Green Point, voting- as one electoral division should return four Members, and that the Munici- pality of Graham's Town, as another electoral division, should return two Members ; making- in all, a House of Assembly of 46 Members. 5. It was unanimously resolved, that any person qualified to be registered as a voter, and to vote for Members of Assembly, in any electoral division, mig-ht be himself elected a Member of Assembly for any electoral division. 6. It was unanimously resolved, that the Legis- lative Council should consist of 15 Members. 7. It was unanimously resolved, that Members of both Houses should receive from the Colonial Revenue 13 a daily allowance for expenses whilst attending- their legislative duties, and also travelling- expenses upon the principle of mileage. 8. It was resolved^ by a majority, that the quali- fication of the electors for both Houses should be the same. 9. It was resolved, by a majority, that no person under 30 years of ag-e should be competent to be elected a member of the Legislative Council. 10. It was resolved, by a majority, that no per- son should be competent to be elected a member of the Legislative Council who should not be the owner of fixed property, within the Colony, to the value of 2000 above all registered incumbrances thereon, or D f the owner of fixed property to the value of 2000 who should be worth 4000 above all debts. 11. It was resolved, by a majority, that of the members of the Legislative Council first chosen, 7 should, by lot, vacate their seats at the end of 5 years, and the remaining- 8 at the end of 10 years, in such manner, that, except in cases of dissolution, there should be elec- tions of 7 members and of 8 members alternately, every 5 years, so that each member, after those first elected, should sit for 10 years. 12. It was resolved, by a majority, that for the purpose of every election of members of the Legislative Council, the 22 electoral divisions before alluded to should each, by a majority of votes, choose a number of candidates equal to the whole number of members then to be elected, and that the required number of members should be those candidates for whom the gTeatest num- D ber of electoral divisions should be found to have voted. 14 13. It was unanimously resolved, that no person holding* any office of profit under Her Majesty within the Colony should be eligible to be elected as a member of either of the two chambers, and that any member of either chamber accepting 1 any such office should ipso facto vacate his seat. VIII. The foregoing are, we conceive, the only points of any importance which were provisionally agTeed upon in the Committee of the Legislative Coun- cil, and in order to place your Excellency in a position to judge of the balance of opinion among'st the Mem- bers of the Committee upon those points in regard to which they were not unanimous, we attach to this Report a copy of the Minutes, signed by the Clerk of the Council. IX. Fully recognizing the value of a suggestion contained in your Excellency's letter appointing us to act, we are desirous not to depart, unless upon the clearest grounds, from any of the conclusions at which the Committee of the Legislative Council had arrived. It would, however, be wrong to conceal from your Ex- cellency that some difference of opinion exists amongst us regarding the proposed qualification, as well for the electors as for the members of the Legislative Council. Whether these matters should remain as already fixed, or whether a higher property qualification should not be required for electors of the Council than for electors of the Assembly, and the property qualification of mem- bers of Council, as voted in Committee, be, in that event, reduced, are important questions upon which our opinions are not in unison, and upon which the sense of the Colony at large has not yet been ascertained. Re- 15 g-arding- it as important that the two Houses of Par- liament should^ respectively, be so constituted as to exhibit as many diversities as may consist with ulti- mate agreement and substantial sameness of origin and r> o objects, we can discern no quality by which the Coun- cil can be distinguished from the Assembly, more marked, or more salutary, or more calculated to secure independence of action, than that of representing-, in a peculiar manner, the property of the Colony, and with it those qualities, intellectual and moral, which the possession of property, generally speaking', implies. But the manner and degree in which this beneficial principle should be acted on are matters of much diffi- culty, and your Excellency will not, we think, be in a position to determine them conclusively until the senti- ments of the public shall have been more generally de- clared. X. The mode of conducting* business adopted in the Committee of the Legislative Council was to read and consider the Report of the Rig-ht Honourable the Com- mittee of Council for Trade and Plantations, of the 19th January, 1850, paragraph by paragraph, and upon our assembling-, as a Board of Commissioners, under your Excellency's authority, we deemed it advisable to continue the same course. Pursuing- this system, we resumed the subject matter of that Report at Section 31, the clause at which the Committee of the Council left off when rising- for the last time. XI. We are humbly of opinion that it will be pre- ferable, at least in the first instance, to abstain from all legislation reg-arding- the rigiit of any members of Government to take part in the discussions of either 16 House of Parliament. It appears to be a grave departure from the principle of withdrawing- all officers of Government from party contests, to place any of those officers in the position of discussing' questions, in either House, which can scarcely fail to involve them, more or less, in party contests. So far as the prin- ciple of non-interference is concerned, we can perceive little difference between speaking- and voting- as mem- bers, and speaking- without voting- as officers, except that officers who attend ex qfficio are perhaps more likely to become politically and personally obnoxious than officers entitled to sit and vote as members popu- larly elected. Should either of the Houses require information which any officer of Government is sup- posed to be capable of affording-, that officer will, of course, upon application to the Governor, be directed to attend and give all the information in his power. And if it should hereafter be found that the public interests suffer from the want of some officers of Government to explain and support Government mea- sures in both Houses, the Parliament will, when the evil shall have been practically experienced, be in a position to devise and apply the safest remedy. XII. Connected with the subject just observed upon is another, which, thoug-h it can scarcely enter into the formal legislation necessary for establishing- the new Constitution, is, nevertheless, so much akin to the prin- ciple of making- the officers of Government entirely non-political, that those of us whom it most immedi- ately concerns desire to bring- it under your Excel- lency's notice. We allude to the constitution and functions of the Executive Council. At present, the 17 members of the Executive Council are all officers of Government. By the Royal Instructions they are enjoined to advise the Governor upon all matters which he shall bring- before them ; and he, in turn, is enjoined to call for their advice upon all matters of importance. But if certain officers of Government are to advise His Excellency in regard to what measures he should pro- pose to the Parliament j in regard to what measures of the Parliament he should amend and return ; and, more than all, in reg-ard to what measures of the Par- 7 O liament he should wholly disallow ; it will, we fear, be impossible to preserve those officers from being mixed up, or, at least, from being- supposed to be mixed up, with those party contests from which it is intended to withdraw them. It is to be feared that should they at any time feel constrained to offer advice opposed to the impulse of the hour, there will be turned against them, as a clique of secret advisers, a tide of popular indigiiation stronger by far than any which they could have encountered had they, in one or other of the Chambers, been privileged, as members amongst their fellow-members, to urge their reasons in open and fair debate. Those of us who belong to the Executive Council, whilst prepared to take upon us any responsi- bility which Her Majesty shall be pleased to impose, feel it to be our duty to bring this subject, through your Excellency, under the notice of Her Majesty's Government and the Colonial Public. XIII. Proceeding to the important subject of a (f Civil List," we observe that the Right Honourable the Committee of Trade and Plantations appear to re- commend the adoption of the following principles. 1st. That the fixed (as contra-distinguished from the unfixed) Expenditure, should, before the summoning- of a Parliament, be provided for by law. 2nd. That the remainder of the public Revenue should be appropriated, annually or otherwise, by the Parliament, as the Parliament should think fit. 3rd. That it should be competent for the Parlia- ment, by any Act duly passed, to provide as it should think expedient, for alterations in that Fixed Expendi- ture which, until so altered, would remain, as already stated, under the sanction of a law. 4th. That Her Majesty would be graciously pleased so to exercise her powers, as at all times to confirm, without hesitation, all laws passed with a bond Jide view of reducing 1 expenditure, in case they were con- sistent with a due regard to the claims of individuals o on the public faith, with however, two exceptions, that is to say, first, laws lowering- the salary of the Governor, and secondly, laws diminishing- " the appropriations now made, from the Colonial Revenue for the mainte- nance of the establishments required for the preserva- tion of order and the spread of civilization among-st the border tribes." From laws coming- within either of these two exceptions it seems to be intimated that Her Majesty's sanction might be properly withheld, althoug-h no claims of individuals were therein involved. XIV. We have given this delicate and difficult question the fullest consideration in our power ; and we have come to the conclusion that, subject to the preservation of the public faith in reg-ard to any exist- ing- rig-hts now vested in particular individuals, the entire Revenue of the Colony should be at the disposal of the Parliament. 19 XV. That any portion of the public now harbours the desig-n of subjecting- all existing- salaries to the pleasure of the future Assembly and Legislative Council^ with a view of removing- from office, or reducing- the income of such public officers as may not chance to be popular with those bodies, we should be sorry to believe. It is our impression that few would, at present, be found to dispute the justiceof the sentiment contained in the following- extract from the report of the Big-lit Honourable the Committee of Trade and Plantations : " Men who have abandoned other prospects for the purpose of accepting 1 colonial employ- ment, which they had reason to expect would be per- manent, and who have grounds of public faith, and on contracts which on their side have hitherto been strictly fulfilled, oug-ht to retain their present salaries, so long- as they conduct themselves properly, or to receive adequate compensation for their loss." Acting 1 upon this view, we* should propose that the reasonable rights of existing- officers should be placed under Her Majesty's protection. If the majority of the inhabitants shall approve, as we think they will, of affording- this protection, the provision in that behalf will meet general acceptance j and if the majority of the inhabit- ants, having- ulterior views, should unfortunately dis- approve of what would appear to be but an act of justice, we submit that the protection recommended will, on that account, be only the more necessary. XVI. His Excellency will not, we trust understand us as meaning- to say that all existing- salaries are to be unconditionally guaranteed. We are aware that all existing* public servants have not the same claim to c 2 20 consideration, and we have no desire to fetter, in regard to any public servant, Her Majesty's Royal pleasure. We only mean to submit that the Parliament should take over all Her Majesty's existing- contracts, as well those with public servants as with all other people, in the plight and condition in which they stand. We therefore recommend a clause to the effect that all persons holding joffice under Her Majesty at the time of the coming into operation of the new Constitution, should continue to receive their salaries during their term of office, without reduction, unless Her Majesty should otherwise determine. XVII. In thus offering our humble opinion that no permanent Civil List should be reserved by law, but merely existing individual rights preserved, so that when this temporary arrangement shall gradually cease to operate, by offices successively becoming vacant, the entire Colonial Revenue should be subject, without exception, to the power of the Parliament, we would not be understood as thinking it expedient that the whole of the Public Establishments should be at all times provided for by annual vote. It would not, we think, be either wise or proper, to leave all salaries and services, of whatever nature, to be the subject of annual agitation, and, perhaps, contention. But our conviction is, that whilst, in regard to certain services, an appropriation more permanent than annual will be highly expedient, the power of making that more per- manent appropriation cannot be withdrawn from the Parliament without a sacrifice of the great principles upon which a Parliament is granted, and without occasioning, throughout the Colony, deep and general 21 discontent. If, at this moment, no equity existed in favour of particular individuals, growing out of Her Majesty's previous arrangements, we cannot see how the granting- of Representative Institutions, at all, could be defended upon any grounds which would not be also grounds for leaving- to the Representatives, when chosen, the rig-lit of fixing- the scale of remune- ration to be paid for services in which, as the Report of the Committee of Trade truly observes, " the Colo- nists alone are interested." Should Her Majesty be pleased to provide that officers appointed by Her Majesty, previously to her gracious grant of Repre- sentative Institutions, shall not have their position essentially altered by the fact that she has been moved to make that gracious grant, few persons, it is hoped, will object to such a provision. But further than this, it will, we think, be unadvisable to g-o, until the Parlia- ment shall be assembled, and the course of removing- from the precarious class of annual grants certain kinds of expenditure, not admitting- of, or not requiring-, annual revision, shall have been, by the Parliament, considered and adopted. XVIII. The principles by which we propose to reg-ulate the salaries of existing- Civil Servants will equally apply to the salaries of the existing 1 clergy of the several denominations which receive Government aid, and to all pensions and retiring" allowances j and, it would also seem, that all public servants now in office should have their claims to future pensions (estimated according- to the principles applicable to such claims at the time when they respectively entered office), recog-nized and secured. XIX. We shall now advert to a few points, more 22 or less important, which, though not arising- directly out of the Report of the Board of Trade, seem to require notice. XX. We are of opinion that the following- general disqualifications should be established in regard to membership of either House of Parliament, in addition to any other disqualification already mentioned: 1. Persons under 21 years of ag-e, 2. Persons not born in this Colony, and not being natural-born subjects of the Queen. We consider that Naturalization Acts should not qualify persons alien born. By the Statute Law of England, no Naturalization Act can be introduced which does not contain a clause disabling- the party from sitting in Parliament, and although in rare instances of great rank or splendid services this statutory prohibition has been, through courtesy, repealed, it never, we believe, occurs that any parties naturalized by Act of Parliament, become Members of either House. 3. Uncertificated Insolvents. 4. Persons of unsound mind. 5. Persons convicted of treason, murder, rape, fraud, perjury, or falsity. 6. Persons holding office of profit under Her Majesty within the Colony, and persons in the Military or Naval Service of the Crown, and in active employment. 7. Contractors with the Government. XXI. We are of opinion that the same general disqualifications which we have just enumerated in regard to membership, should also destroy the right of voting, with the two exceptions, that aliens natu- S3 ralized by either the Imperial or Colonial Parliament, and Contractors with the Government, should be com- petent to be registered as electors, and to vote, in conformity with the law of England on these heads. XXII. We are of opinion, that provision should be made, in whatever instrument shall be issued for establishing* the new Constitution, for registering" the electors of the Colony, in their several Field-cornetcies or Municipal Wards so as to frame an accurate Divisional List for each Electoral Division, since, by no other means could even the first election be conducted, without great confusion and unavoidable irreg'ularity. XXIII. We are of opinion, that provision should be made, requiring 1 that all Bills, directly or by con- struction, imposing 1 any burthen, or charge upon the inhabitants of the Colony, or any of them, should originate in the Assembly, but be capable of being- returned by the Legislative Council, or the Governor, with amendments. And we are also of opinion, that it should not be lawful for either the Assembly or the Council to pass, or for the Governor to assent to, any Bill, appropriating- any part of the Colonial Revenue, unless the Governor on Her Majesty's behalf, shall first have recommended to the Assembly to make pro- vision for the specific purpose contemplated by such appropriation. This, we may observe, is in keeping- with an old and inflexible rule of the British House of Com- mons, from the practice of w^hich it has been intro- duced into most Colonial Legislatures, and its wisdom is too apparent to require any comment. Should either House desire an expenditure for any purpose which the Governor, of his own motion, does not bring for- ward for consideration, an Address to His Excellency, requesting him to recommend to the Assembly to make provision for the object in view, will scarcely fail of success, unless there be something' in the state of the Revenue, or the nature of the service proposed to be provided for, which renders a compliance w r ith the Address impracticable. XXIV. Should your Excellency, after considering the several matters contained in this Report, deem it advisable that they should be put into the form of a Draft Law, so as to be connected with the various details which they necessarily require, it will be com- petent for your Excellency to direct the Attorney- General to prepare for publication in the Colony, and, after due publication, transmission to England, such a Draft Instrument as shall seem to him best calculated to meet the end in view. XXV. We have, in conclusion, to lay before your Excellency, a document drawn up by the two last undersigned, for the purpose of being attached to this Report, and treating of the form of Government alleged to be necessary for, arid to be demanded by, the inha- bitants of the Eastern Districts of this Colony. Not considering- that the subject of this document falls within the scope of our commission, we abstain from making any observations thereupon. (Signed) JOHN MONTAGU, Sec. to Government. HA KEY RIVERS, Treasurer-General. WM. HOPE, Auditor-General. WM. POETEB, Attorney-General. W. FIELD, Collector of H.M.'s Customs. W. COCK, Member of Legislative Council. R. G.ODLONTON, Member of Legislative Council. So DRAFT OF THE RETIRING MEMBERS OF COUNCIL. " Art. 1 . The Legislative Powers of this Settlement shall be vested in a Governor and a Legislative Coun- cil, and a House of Assembly, both of which shall be composed of members elected by the inhabitants, and shall be called ' The Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope.' u Art. 2. The Council shall consist of fifteen Mem- bers, chosen for four years, of which no less than six shall form a quorum. The Assembly shall consist of forty-six members, chosen for three years, of which fifteen members shall form a quorum. " Art. 3. The present fiscal divisions of this settle- ment shall be electoral divisions, and shall choose for the first Assembly the number of members herein placed against their names, respectively, until further provisions be made by the Parliament, as follows : Cape Town & Green Point . 4 TJitenhage 2 Cape Division .... 2 Port Elizabeth 2 Malmesbury 2 Graham's Town .... 2 Stellenbosch 2 Albany 2 Paarl 2 Fort Beaufort 2 Worcester 2 Somerset (East) .... 2 Clanwilliam ..... 2 Cradock . 2 Swellendam 2 Graaff-Reinet 2 Caledon 2 Colesberg 2 George 2 Albert 2 Beaufort 2 Victoria ..;.... 2 " Art. 4. The election of the members of the Council shall be entrusted to the constituency of the entire settlement, who shall record their votes in the several electoral divisions in which they possess, at the time of 26 election, the right of voting- for the election of members of the Assembly. u Art. 5. Every male inhabitant of the full age of twenty-one years, who shall have occupied fixed pro- perty for his own use and benefit of the value of 25,, for twelve calendar months next preceding- the regis- tration and time of voting, within the limits of an electoral division, shall be entitled to vote for members of Assembly to represent that division and for members of Council. ec Art. 6. Every male inhabitant entitled to vote for members of Assembly, shall be eligible for election to a seat in the House of Assembly; and every male inhabitant of the age of thirty years, who shall have resided in the Colony during three years preceding the registration and time of voting, and who shall be the proprietor of landed property, situate within the Colony, of the value of not less than 1000, shall be eligible for election to a seat in the Legislative Council. u Art. 7. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election of Members of either House of Parliament, or to be elected a member thereof, who shall not be either a natural-born subject of the Queen, or shall have been naturalized by law passed by the Imperial Parliament, or shall not have obtained a deed of burghership, or shall not be naturalized by act of the Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope, or who shall be undergoing punishment and restraint under a judicial sentence for any crime, or who shall hold any contract under the Government, or who shall be in active employment in the civil service of Her Majesty's Government; and any Member accepting an office in 27 the service of the Government as above, or entering 1 into any such contract, shall thereby vacate his seat in either House. " Art. 8. The Secretary to Government, the Attorney-General, and the Treasurer-General, shall have the privilege of taking- part in the discussion of both branches of the Legislature, so far as may be necessary for the explanation of any measures proposed by the Government, but without being- entitled to vote. " Art. 9. The House of Assembly shall choose its own Speaker and appoint its own officers, and the Legislative Council shall also choose its own Speaker and appoint its own officers. cc Art. 10. The Members of both Houses shall receive a pecuniary allowance, to be fixed by law, for expenses incurred by attendance. " Art. 11. The Governor shall call tog-ether a Parliament once at least in every year, so that a period of twelve calendar months shall not intervene between the last sitting- of the Parliament in one session, and the first sitting 1 of the next session. " Art. 12. The Governor may introduce Bills in either House of Parliament, or return Bills submitted to him with amendments, for reconsideration, with the exception of Money Bills, which shall be introduced first in the Assembly. Any other Bill may originate in either House of Parliament. " Art. 13. The election of Members for the Legis- lative Council shall take place by the person entitled to vote delivering- in person to the officer presiding- at such election a list, signed by him, and containing- not 28 more than the names of fifteen persons, and for the Assembly, by each voter giving-, vivd voce and in public, to the officer presiding- at such election, the names of the person or persons for whom he votes. tf Art. 14. The Governor shall have the power to dissolve the Parliament at any time, but he shall not have the power to dissolve one House or Chamber without at the same time dissolving 1 the other. " Art. 15. The Queen and the two Chambers of Parliament shall be supreme within the Colony, as the Queen and the two Houses of Parliament are supreme in Great Britain, the Queen acting- immediately in her own person, or in the person of her representative, the Governor. " Art. 16. The Legislative Council and House of Assembly shall, respectively, have the power to frame and determine their own rules of order, and all voting* therein shall be vivd voce, and all subjects and questions be decided by a majority of votes, the respective speakers, or presiding- members, having- a casting- vote, in case on any point the votes shall be equal. " A. STOCKENSTROM. " J. FAIRBAIRN. F. EEITZ. "J. BRAND." ADDRESS TO THE GOVERNOR. To His Excellency Sir HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN SMITH, G. C. B., Governor and Commander-m- Chief of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. The Memorial of the Commissioners and Wardmasters of the MUNICIPALITY OF GRAHAM'S TOWN, RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH, That the conduct of your Excellency, in assisting and promoting- the establishment of Representative Institutions in this Colony, calls forth the warmest approbation of Memorialists, whilst a deep anxiety is evinced at the recent disruption of the Legislative Council j the seceding- members of which come under the deprecation of a very larg-e portion of the Engiish community of Albany. Your Memorialists, however, hasten to convey their highest admiration of the noble, uprig'ht, and constitu- tional course adopted by your Excellency throug-hout the recent difficult proceeding's in Council, and to express their deep sense of gratitude which is due to your Excellency and the faithful Members of the late Council, in striving* to effect such measures as were intended to advance the public interests, but which, it is much to be deplored, have been for a while thwarted by a factious opposition. The reasons for assenting to the order of the day, in proceeding to the consideration of the Estimates, appended to this Memorial, have been adopted by your Memorialists, as evincing a pure conservative and statesmanlike spirit. 30 It is the opinion of your Memorialists that the peace and the repose of the frontier has hitherto heen owing* to the judicious arrangements of your Excel- lency, and the admirable line of policy which your Excellency has adopted. And your Memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. By order of the Board of Commissioners and Wardmasters, A. W. BECK, Town Clerk. Town Office, Graham's Town, 4th October, 1850. HIS EXCELLENCY'S REPLY. Colonial Office, Cape of Good Hope, 14th October, 1850. To Town Clerk, Graham's Town. SIE, I am directed by His Excellency the Governor to acknowledge the receipt of a Memorial, dated the 4th instant, and signed by you by order of the Com- missioners and Wardmasters of the Municipality of Graham's Town. His Excellency is gratified to find that his effort for the establishment of Representative Institutions in this Colony, and the unforeseen difficulties by which he has been met, are duly appreciated by the Munici- pality. His Excellency reg-rets that the present incom- pleteness of the Legislative Council, caused by the retirement of four of the unofficial members, renders it impossible to act according to the instructions of 81 Her Majesty's Government, by establishing' a Repre- sentative Constitution for this Colony by local ordi- nance : but trusts that the course which he has adopted will enable him to furnish the Secretary of State with such ample information as will prevent the occurrence of any serious delay in consequence of recent untoward events. I am to add that his Excellency will spare no effort or exertion to maintain that tranquillity on the frontier which has hitherto existed, and which he observes with pleasure that the Municipality attribute to the policy adopted by him. I have, &c. (Signed) JOHN MONTAGU. MEMORIAL TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR. A Memorial, of which the following- is a copy, now lies for signature at the Commercial Exchang-e : To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir HENRY GEORGE WAKELYN SMITH, G.C.B., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. &c. &c. The Memorial of the undersigned Merchants, Land Owners, and other inhabitants of this city and neigh- bourhood RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH That your Memorialists have observed with deep reg-ret the dissolution of the Legislative Council, by which the Colony has been deprived, for an indefinite 32 period, of that legal channel which Her Majesty, by her Letters Patent, had prescribed for giving effect to her most gTacious intention of g'ranting Representative Institutions to this country ; and that, in consequence, your Excellency has been compelled to resort to the appointment of Commissioners for resuming- the con- sideration of the provisions for the constitution so abruptly terminated. In publishing the Commissioners' Report, your Memorialists have observed with much satisfaction, that your Excellency is open to receive petitions on the several subjects contained therein, with the view of forwarding them to the Right Hon. the Secretary of State. Availing themselves of this opportunity, Memorialists beg leave to inform your Excellency that they have examined that document with feelings of the deepest interest, and while they desire to declare their satis- faction at the general scope and liberal tone of the Report, they take the liberty to sugg-est such modifi- cations in a few of its provisions, as they think would be better adapted to the circumstances of the colony. Your Memorialists concur in the sentiments ex- pressed by the Commissioners in the 6th clause of their Report, "that a large numerical proportion of the public take defective views of the objects, uses, and advantages of a second Chamber, and desire to place too much power in the hands of the Representative Assembly." The Report of the Committee of Trade and Plantations contains this observation, " that it is highly desirable that there should be a second branch of the Legislature, less easily swayed by the popular 30 feeling 1 of the moment than the Representative As- sembly, and capable of acting- as a check or counter- poise to that body, to guard against too hasty Legis- lation, without requiring 1 the too frequent interference of the Governor, or the Crown." By the same Committee it is also remarked in reference to the Legislative Council, "that it will only be a proper precaution to require that the electors, by whom its members shall be chosen, shall be of a higher grade in society, than will necessarily be possessed by those who will be the constituents of the House of As- sembly." Your Memorialists are aware that some difference of opinion exists in the minds of the Commissioners regarding the proposed qualifications, as well for the electors as for the members of the Legislative Council, and fully coincide in the opinion expressed in the 9th clause of their Report, "that they can discern no quality by which the Council can be dis- tinguished from the Assembly more marked, or more salutary, or more calculated to secure independence of action than that of representing in a peculiar manner the property of the Colony." Regarding such conclusions as well founded, your Memorialists confidently recommend that the electors of the Upper Chamber, should possess a higher quali- fication than those of the Assembly, and are of opinion that they should be proprietors or renters of fixed property to the value of 500 ; and that the qualifi- cation for members of the Legislative Council, should be the possession of unincumbered landed property, to the value of not le$s than 1000, or, double that D amount in moveable or mixed property, with a resi- dence of three years in the colonial territory. In reference to the suggestion of your Commissioners, respecting* a pecuniary allowance to members of both Houses, for their attendance and travelling- expenses, your Memorialists are of opinion that travelling- expenses alone should be allowed to the Members of the Legislative Council, conceiving* that the class of persons who would be elected to that Chamber, would not require nor consent to receive such remuneration. The attention of your Memorialists has been anxiously directed to that portion of the Commissioners' Report, which has reference to the principle of making- the officers of Government entirely non-political. Deeply impressed with the difficulties which must arise in the effectual working- of any Government, where its advisers are withdrawn from the full and free discussion of any measures of importance, which may be proposed for Legislation, your Memorialists are of opinion that it is not only expedient, but that it will be higiily beneficial to render the members of the Executive Council eligible for election to seats in either Chamber, as they cannot contemplate that among-st so larg-e a body of Representatives, they can exercise any undue or prejudicial influence. In commenting- on the 6th clause of the Report, your Memorialists fully agTee with the Commissioners, and deem the provision that enables the Governor to dissolve both Houses together, or the House of Assembly separately, to be extremely salutary. In regard to the duration of the Legislative Council, it is the opinion of your Memorialists, that the hide- pendence of its members will be sufficiently secured by limiting- it to a period of five, in place of ten years. Memorialists acknowledge the justice which will result to the rural divisions of the colony, from the application of the principle involved in the 12th para- graph of Section No. VII, regarding the election of members for the Legislative Council. Having thus expressed their sentiments on the recommendations contained in the Commissioners' Report, your Memorialists have the honour respectfully to pray, That your Excellency will be pleased to forward their Memorial to the Right Honourable the Secretary of State, for his Lordship's consideration, with such remarks thereon from your Excellency as may seem to be required. G. H. Twentyman T. Draper, Sen. J. Jearey J Lycett J. Schikerling C. S. Gickard J. Calf, Junr. R. J. Jones J. King L. Busby G. Greig, Junr. L. Busby, Junr. L. H. Twentyman W. Fell A. Croll J. L. Statham H. B. Christian A. G. Mathieson M. C. Gie J. Reid T. H. Baird J. Taylor C. R. Eaton A. Alexander J. Fuller A. Searle T. Jones B. Schitlin \V. Openshaw F. Bindemann C. Martin G. Rawstorne J. Fell C. J. Christian A. J. Phillips T. B. Venn J. Dyason J. Albertus J. Stein J. D. Thomson E. Chiappini E. Christian A. McDonald T. Ansdell J. Searight W. Hawkins A. Chiappini J. Ross W. J. Elridge F. Porter P. G. van der Byl E. J. Jerram E. Norton B. Norden J. Thomson R. J. Jones M. W. Nisbett D 2 J. Hall J. C. Gie, Mz. H. Walker E. H. Norton S. Bushell C. J. Manuel H. C. Robinson H. H. Gird A. Woolf B. Alexander J. H. Parker T. Radmall P. Stigant H. E. Knight C. Arkcoll S. Bailey, M.D. G. W. Prince E. Lansdberg J. Townsend D. M. K. Cameron J. Jones V. G. B. Baker M. Nisbet H. Reid G. D. Brunette J. Young H. Piers R. Kelly H O. H. Holland H. Bevern G. Lesar E. J. Hanbury J. Rose EEPLY. " Colonial Office, Cape Town, 1/th October, 1850. " SIR, I am directed by his Excellency the Go- vernor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, enclosing* an address signed by ninety mer- chants and others of Cape Town and its neighbourhood, relative to the Draft Constitution proposed by the Commissioners appointed by his Excellency for that purpose. " I am to acquaint you, in reply, that his Excellency will forward the Memorial to the Secretary of State, together with such comments as may appear to him to be required j and that in doing so he will not fail to represent to his Lordship how large an amount of the respectability and intelligence, and how much of the property of Cape Town and its neighbourhood, are represented by the signatures to this memorial. " I have, &c. "JOHN MONTAGU." " E. TV. EATON, Esq., " Sec. to the Commercial Exchange." 37 THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, October 25, 1850. WE have already shown that, on the 27th April last, Mr. Fairbairn was in favour of a Legislature * o consisting- of a single elected chamber, and represented the future welfare of the Colony to depend upon its obtaining 1 that form of Government. On the 10th of the following- September, when the Committee of the Legislative Council were considering that clause in the Report of the Board of Trade which provides that the Cape Leg-islature shall consist of a Governor and two Houses, Mr. Fairbairn said, "he believed there was a difference of opinion upon the point some time ago, but he had not heard of any lately." We mig'ht fairly warn our fellow-colonists of the dang*er they incur in trusting- the formation of their future Constitution and Government to the hands of a states- man whatever his ability whose opinions on such a vital subject are so lightly changed. But as we have already intimated that we have no faith in these sudden changes, but rather believe that Mr. Fairbairn (and in speaking- of him we speak also of the party which he leads, and of which his paper, the Commercial Advertiser ', is the organ), was perfectly sincere when he wrote in favour of a single Chamber, and would still insist upon the same point were he not well convinced that it is unattainable. A perusal of the Privy Council Report at once made it perfectly clear that the scheme of a single Chamber must be abandoned; and that the same end must now be sought for by the establishment, 38 if possible, of an Upper Chamber composed of the same elements as the lower, and subject to the same influences. This diversion was first attempted to be covered by a series of articles in the Commercial Advertiser, in which it was announced that minor differences should be forp-otten, and that the Colonists should work o / tog-ether for the common good. In the mean time the agents of the party were zealously distributing- voting- tickets throughout the Colony, with a view of placing a portion of the legislative power in the hands of their leaders. Thus the four gentlemen who have recently become so prominent, found themselves seated at the Council Table, with all the prestig-e which they fondly sup- posed w r ould attach to them as " popularly-elected members :" and thus strengthened they opened their battery against an tipper House in which it was proposed that the property of the Colony should be represented and protected. The qualification debate will be fresh within the memory of our readers. The levelling' party were discomfited : their machinery had failed : and in due course they retired from the Legislative Council. The seceding- members have represented to the public that they resigned their seats not, as we hold, because they were foiled in their attempt to nullify the ^influence of property, but because the Governor pro- posed to proceed to g*eneral business, which they were not empowered by their constituents to consider. If this were really the case, they oug-ht to have spoken sooner. On the Oth of September the Governor 39 read a list of subjects which he proposed to bring" before the Council, and not a word of objection was heard for then not a word had been said of qualifi- cation. On the 10th His Excellency laid upon the table a series of Minutes on those subjects, and nothing* was then said in opposition by the unofficial members* for nothing- had then been decided about the Upper House. On the former occasion, the feeling 1 of the Cape Town constituency was clearly manifested by the general applause of a crowded audience when the Governor mentioned the Trial by Jury in Civil Cases and the establishment of Resident Magistrates' Courts at Missionary Institutions, showing* the anxiety of the public for immediate legislation on those subjects : and, with reg*ard to the country constituencies, it is well known that petitions on g-eneral subjects were sent in from all parts of the Colony. One of these that in favour of the re-enactment of the Church Regulations was prepared at Swellendam, in the immediate neig-h- bourhood of the residence of Mr. Reitz : and several others were entrusted to Sir A. Stockenstrom, who does not appear to have explained to the petitioners that he could not support their prayer. Nay, we are very much misinformed if the Honourable Baronet did not assure the Glen Lynden memorialists that he would not quit the Council till he had obtained justice for them. If this is not the case, we shall be very g'lad to be corrected : if it is, Sir Andries ought to explain how the Glen Lynden petition is connected with the formation of the Constitution, as he now says he came into the Council on the understanding- that he was to confine his attention to the latter subject. These are all matters well worthy of the attention of the public : and it will be for them to decide, with this evidence before them, whether the refusal to consider general business was not an after-thoug-ht suggested by the defeat of the party in the division on the qualification of members of the Upper House. Foiled in the Council, the seceders betook them- selves to the Cape Town Municipality, whose Board- room has recently resembled the forum of a Debating Society much more than the place where a respectable Corporation meet tog-ether to discuss the municipal interests committed to then* care. This matter, however, only concerns the rate-payers, who might, we think, not unreasonably object to the admission of strange orators, not elected by them, who harangue the Board on governments and constitutions, and rival the authors of the Oceana, Utopia, or the New Atalantis, while the unfortunate inhabitants of Cape Town continue poisoned with stench, and threatened with fever, in consequence of the neglect of the city drainage. Freed from the critical supervision of Messrs. Montagu and Porter, and but slightly embarrassed by the timid hesitation of Mr. Wicht, the seceders soon framed a Constitution to their liking-, which was readily adopted by their patrons of the Municipality, not without some qualms on the part of Mr. Maynard, who has more property than he likes to trust to be taxed by gentlemen who have none, and 41 was circulated through the Colony for the admiration of the inhabitants. All the columns of all the Cape Town papers of last week teemed with letters of Municipalities and Road Boards, and with accounts of public meeting's approv- ing- of the Town House Constitution, and of the resig-- nation of the four unofficial. Never was such unanimity : the five self-appointed Constitution framers have divined, as if by magic, the views and wishes of the entire community ; and with felicity altogether unprecedented have concocted a document which expresses the opinions of several thousand individuals, with whom the framers of the document have held no previous communication. To be sure we are not told that any other scheme has been under considera. tion : and we are informed that at one (( public meeting-" the chairman, on being 1 requested to read the Report of the Government Commissioners, declined to do so, on the ground that it would be (f a bore :" no serious consequences followed this contumacy, the meeting- being- only about twenty strong 1 . It is certain that no subject could be conceived fitter for the consideration of public meeting's than that on which the Colonists are now invited to express their views : but we entertain a different opinion with reg-ard to Municipalities and Road Boards ; and we are g-lad to observe that some of the latter have refused to consider the subject, on the ground that they have no political functions. It is true that these institutions were employed to collect the votes of the rate-payers, when a rude election was to be made without any previously prepared machinery : but it is a mistake to 42 suppose that they were on that account, clothed with any usual amount of political wisdom, or that they therefore represent the political opinions of their con- stituents, by whom they were elected for an entirely different purpose. But the convenience of now consulting them is O sufficiently evident, when it enables the leader of the party to boast that his policy is approved by a the capitals of Districts or Divisions which contain three- fourths of the whole population and three-fourths of the estimated value of the whole fixed property of the Colony," and that " thus as rapidly as time permitted the population and property of the Colony have uttered a decision that no man can pretend to misunderstand." On this point the following- remark from the Attorney-General's memorandum appears to be very apposite : " To discharge ordinary municipal duties, and to choose Members of Assembly, are surely quite unconnected functions, and I may think a man very fit to look after the cleansing 1 and ventilation of our town, whom I do not think at all fit to choose for me my representative in Parliament." But it will be said public meeting's have been held in the Country Districts, and have pronounced in favour of the scheme proposed by the seceders : and money has been subscribed (not very much we are told) to send Sir A. Stockenstrom and Mr. Fair- bairn home to England. We have seen on more than one recent occasion how easily even larg*e public meeting's may be assembled, and how easy it is to disregard them where it is convenient to do so. We 48 know also that the public may be gulled even into paying 1 their money for a cause which is not the cause of truth. We know not of what great truth Dr. Tancred was the Apostle. But w r e have a word or two more to say about these meetings. The true account of the proceedings of " the noble people of Stellenbosch" will be found in Mr. Norden's letter, which we have taken over from the last number of the Cape Town Mail* That " noble people" whose proceedings will gladden the heart of every real lover of his country, consisted of five or six idlers headed by Mr. Onkruydt, who is dignified for the nonce with the title of Justice of the Peace, in order to magnify the importance of the demonstration. The reader will perhaps remember a memorable occasion on which a memorial professedly emanating' from (( the people of England" was traced by the late Mr. Canning* to three tailors in Tooley Street. The Meeting at Riversdale, we are informed, was rather more nume- rous, some forty persons being present, owing to its being held at sacrament time when the Dutch farmers come into the towns in great numbers. It is stated, however, confidently that not more than five or six of those present understood even the language in which the proceeding's were conducted. At Swellendam a meeting was called for the 2nd October, and failed for the want of attendance. A second attempt was made on the fourth, (also sacra- ment time) at which about thirty persons were present. The number of persons in the town at the time may * See p. 50. 44 be judged from the fact, that the sacrament was administered to upwards of 600 recipients. These are facts which should be compared with the accounts of these meetings given by the Cape Town papers of last week ; and the proportion of truth to falsehood in those statements will be easily ascertained. These are merely given as instances of the system ; and we feel no doubt that similar exaggerations have been and will be made in the case of all other towns in the Colony. It is to be remarked, however, that in detailing- these proceeding's of the "noble people" of Stellenbosch and other parts of the Colony, not excepting- even Cape Town, a sing-ular silence is preserved in reg-ard to names. We shall print in our next number the names of the ninety g-entlemen who signed the memorial which was given in our last, and we challeng-e the opposite party to imitate our example. It will be found that for amount of annual transactions and for the " possession of property, and those qualities, intellec- tual and moral, which the possession of property, g-enerally speaking*, implies," any two names in this list are equal to any two hundred that can be produced by our opponents. Such testimonies, however, of public confidence, whether in the shape of money or memorials, as the manoeuvres of the party can obtain, are to be carried home, we are told, by Mr. Fairbairn and Sir A. Stockenstrom, thoug-h if any person is inclined to subscribe in order that he may be represented by the 45 Baronet, we recommend him to withhold his sub- scription for a time, as it is rumoured that that g-entleman's medical attendants have given him g-ood and sufficient reasons why he should not undertake the voyage. If this be so the advertisement in last Saturday's papers, which states that Mr. Fairbairn will be followed to England by Sir A. Stockenstrom as soon as the necessary documents are completed, will be another instance of the deception of this party. The Colonists are now aware that the greatest dang-er which threatens them, is, that "the deputation" may, by displaying- in England names which they do not venture to publish here (because they would be scrutinized and placed at their true value) induce the belief that they represent the g-eneral opinion of the Colony. If those who differ from them, and desire to avert from themselves and their children the evils which the accomplishment of these designs will surely bring-, only have energy enough to avail themselves of the Governor's invitation by speaking- out their opinions on this matter, in such a manner that they may be duly represented by him to the Government at home, this danger, we have no doubt, will be effectually removed, by the establishment of such an Upper House as will secure that balance in the Con- stitution, the necessity of which has been shown by an able correspondent in this day's paper to have been felt by political philosophers in ancient, as it has been generally acknowledged in modern times. But this can only be effected by present exertions ; and delay can only lead to disappointment and defeat. 40 MEMORIAL FROM GRAHAM'S TOWN. (From yesterday's Gazette.) Colonial Office, Cape of Good Hope, 18th October, 1850. His Excellency the Governor has directed the publication of the following 1 Letter from Mr. "W. Smith, of Graham's Town, with the accompanying- Address, and the Reply thereto, for the information of the public. By Command of His Excellency the Governor, (Signed) JOHN MONTAGU, Secretary to Government. Graham's Town, 12th October, 1850. His Excellency Sir H. G. AV. Smith, G.C.B., Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. &c. Sir, I have the honour to forward to your Excel- lency a Memorial from the Inhabitants of Graham's Town, convened in Public Meeting, held on the 7th instant, (being one of the largest assemblies ever held in that place), and signed by me as Chairman of that Meeting. With the most cordial sympathy for your Excel- lency, under the present trying state of affairs, and confidence in your Excellency's intense interest in the true welfare of the colony, I have the honour to be, Sir, Your Excellency's most obedient and most humble Servant, W. SMITH. 47 To His Excellency Sir H. G. Smith, Bart., Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. &c. &c. The Memorial of the Merchants, Traders, and other Inhabitants of Graham's Town, in meeting- assembled: SHETVETH, That Memorialists deplore with the most unfeigned regTet the dismemberment of the Legislative Council, by the resignation of four of the Unofficial Members belonging- to that body, by which means the several legislative measures for the internal improvement of the Colony, as proposed by your Excellency in the Government Minute of the 10th September, have been interrupted ; and which measures, Memorialists firmly oelieve, would have tended to the early introduction of Representative Institutions, the prosecution of Harbour Improvements and Public Works generally, and added several wholesome laws to the existing- code for the better protection of a portion of the varied interests of both Provinces, as shown by the Draft Ordinances for consolidating* the laws relating 1 to the Courts of Resident Magistrates within the Colony : for amending- the law relating- to the apprehension of Criminals and the prosecution of Crimes; for improving- the Public Prisons of the Colony; the further con- sideration of which important matters must therefore necessarily for the present be abandoned. That Memorialists cannot but consider the suspension of all business in Council as a great public misfortune, and that the establishment of a Parliament for the better Government of the Colony, or a modified form 48 of government for the Eastern Province, is thereby postponed to an uncertain and indefinite period. That all past experience, as in the case with the Australian Colonies Bill, which Memorialists believe has not yet passed the present sessions of the Imperial Parlia- ment, tends to the impression that a Representative Constitution will not be promulgated in this Colony for the next two j^ears, or eighteen months at least. That Memorialists view with the deepest apprehensions and alarm the cessation to all legislative functions for so long 1 a period, and earnestly pray that your Excel- lency will be pleased to order the several vacancies in the Legislative Council to be filled up, by allowing- the Colonists to elect four other g-entlemen to supply the places of those who have retired, that the public busi- ness of the country may be at once resumed. That Memorialists are fully sensible of the difficulties with which your Excellency is beset, and beg 1 to tender their warmest sympathy in the very painful and trying- situation in which recent events have placed you, deeply afflicting- as they must be to your Excellency, both mentally and physically. That Memorialists respectfully make the above suggestion to re-org-anize the Council, not only from the deep interest which they take in the country's welfare, but also to strengthen the hands of your Excellency's administration, which as loyal and devoted subjects of her most gTacious Majesty the Queen, Memorialists consider that all measures tending* to the prosperity of the country, and the advancement of the g'eneral g'ood, it will be their bounden duty firmly to maintain and strenuously to uphold. 49 And Memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray. WM. SMITH, Graham's Town, October 7, 1850. Chairman. REPLY. Colonial Office, 17tli October, 1850. W. Smith, Esquire, Graham's Town. SIR, I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th instant, tog-ether with an Address to His Excellency the Governor, which arrived here last night after His Excellences departure for the Frontier. Hearing 1 that the Governor was detained by unfavourable weather at Simon's Bay, I lost no time in forwarding- to him your Letter and Address, and have just received his directions thereon. His Excellency joins you, in regretting- the interrup- tion of legislative business which has occurred, in consequence of the unexpected resignation of four of the Unofficial Members of Council, and cannot doubt that the Colony will suffer much injury from that unlocked for event. With regard, however, to your proposal that the four vacancies should be filled up by a second popular election, His Excellency regrets that recent experience does not in any degree encourag-e him to adopt that suggestion. He trusts, however, that the measures which he has taken will have the effect of establishing-, at an earlier period than you contemplate, a Repre- sentative Constitution, which will command the confidence of the Colony generally j and though the E 50 delay cannot but be attended with mischief, he fears that all legislation must be deferred to that period. I am to request that you will communicate this reply, together with His Excellency's thanks for the expression of their sympathy, to the gentlemen who joined in the Meeting* over which you presided. I have, &c. &c. (Signed) JOHN MONTAGU. ME. NORDEN'S STATEMENT. (From the " Cape Town Mail.") SIR, As my name has been mentioned at the late Public Meeting, and more particularly in the columns of the Advertiser., charging me with having deserted the cause I had promised to support, I think it right that the public should have the facts before them, and I rely upon your impartiality to publish the following statement. I was informed, and led to suppose that, upon the occasion referred to, Mr. Hamilton Boss would take the chair ; and under these circumstances, I agreed to assist Mr. Stigant, at his request, in getting up three resolutions for the meeting. The three following resolutions were accordingly agreed upon, the first, to show that distress existed, the second, the cause of that distress, and the third, the remedy : " 1. That it is the opinion of this meeting* that the depressed state of trade and the distress of the working- classes call for an immediate remedy, to prevent the evil consequences likely to arise, should such a state of affairs continue for any time." 51 " 2 That it is the opinion of this meeting*, that the cause of the distress existing- in this city, and other parts of the Colony, is occasioned by the prolonged political agitation, which has caused the stoppag-e of public works, and the discontinuance of larg-e public contracts ; thereby taking* out of circulation upwards of 20,000 monthly." (< 3. That it is the opinion of this meeting 1 , that in order to remove the cause of the present distressed state of the Colony, a petition be presented to His Excellency the Governor, praying 1 that he will exercise those powers vested in him by law, to nominate as many additional members as may be required to fill up the vacancy in the Legislative Council, in order that the Government of the Colony may be resumed, until the new Constitution, which has been forwarded to England, shall have been returned to the Colony." In referring* to these subjects, I specially prohibited any remarks or censure upon any party whatsoever, whatever my own opinion mig-ht have been. This was clearly understood. The g'reat, and only, object of the meeting- was, to petition His Excellency the Governor to fill up his Council, so that public works might be resumed and the Government proceeded with. And being- firmly of opinion that the Municipality of Cape Town and the Press have not the confidence of the people, I intended if these three resolutions were carried to move a fourth ; which I was prepared to support, and which expresses my real sentiments : " 4.-^That it is the opinion of this meeting-, that the Commissioners of the Cape Town Municipality, as well as the Cape Town Press, have not the confidence, nor 52 do they express the opinions, of a gTeat and respectable portion of this community." But, in consequence of there being 1 no chairman at the time of the meeting*, and Mr. Stig*ant failing- in his first resolution, I did not consider it necessary for me to come forward, though I much regTetted the result of the failure, as I felt that the cause was a good one. Had I moved the last resolution, I intended to support it, as regards the Press, by showing* that it does not represent the true state of the present agitation. For instance, it represented that at a meeting of "the good people of Stellenbosch" the Constitution prepared by the four popular members was (< unanimously adopted ;" when, in fact, that meeting* consisted only of Mr. Onkruidt and six other persons, in a town of some five or six thousand inhabitants- and the proceeding's in other districts have been similarly misrepresented. As regards the Commissioners of the Municipality, I intended to show that they have not the confidence of the inhabitants, inasmuch as that, instead of attending to their duty by fumigating and cleansing the town, they have become an anti-government party. I think it un- necessary to answer Mr. Fairbairn's editorial remarks about the u coolie demonstration," because he has already discharged me by a public apology in his own columns, after having been convicted by the Supreme Court for making the same charge. BEN. NORDEN. It is announced that Mr. Fairbairn will sail to- 53 morrow by the Madagascar for England, where he hopes ({ by incessant strokes" and (( rapid and constant hammering*/ 7 to gain an easy victory over Lord Grey. His weapons are the memorials and petitions of several municipalities j and armed with these, he is to attack the Colonial office first, and then fc if need be, Parlia- ment and the British people." Although we admit that his journey is fraught with danger to the Colony ? we have great hopes that he willr not find Lord Grey quite so weak and compliant as he supposes. Cape Town, 22nd October, 1850. To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, I have been a good deal surprised and some- what pained at reading in the 8. A. C. Advertiser and the Cape Town Mail of last Saturday, an advertise- ment, which states that C{ Mr. Fairbairn proposes to proceed to England by the next opportunity, and will be followed by Sir A. Stockenstrom as soon as the necessary documents shall have been received from the country." I have often differed in opinion from Sir A. Stocken- strom : I have often thought his proceedings hasty and unwise : but never till now did I see occasion to doubt that he was influenced by a religious regard for truth, and high principles of honour. Yet it is commonly stated that not many days ago, Sir A. Stockenstrom was examined by a Medical Board, one of the members of which was the referee of the Association in which his life is insured ; and 54 that it was decided that he could not, in his present state of health, attempt to go to England without great dang-er to his life, and that should he do so his policy would be vitiated. It is further stated that upon receiving- this decision Sir A. Stockenstrom, like a sensible man, determined to remain in the Colony, and has himself so stated to several persons. Yet we find a statement of his intention to go to England, in an advertisement urging- the public to subscribe money to cover his expenses. If he is not g'oing-, it is unworthy of him to lend his name for the purpose of extorting- money on such pretences. Nothing- short of a public denial by Sir A. Stocken- strorn himself will satisfy the public that he has not lent himself to an unworthy deception. And if he should declare that he intends to g-o to England, he should also state when; because his colleag-ue Mr. Fairbairn has in his paper pronounced that the depu- tation will be useless unless it is in London before the meeting- of Parliament, which he states will take place in the first week in February. I am Sir, &c. A LOVER OF TRUTH. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, November 1, 1850. THERE is one circumstance connected with the introduction of Representative Institutions into this 55 Colony which has been either entirely overlooked, or studiously kept out of sight, by all writers and speakers on the subject here ; namely, that that measure must inevitably be followed by a considerable increase of Colonial expenditure. The Colonial Reform Society in England is, in fact, only an off-shoot of Mr. Cobden's Financial Reform Association, and the movement had its origin in a feeling- of impa- tience at the amount of Imperial expenditure in the Colonies, and in the Cape more than any other. This feeling* was expressed without the slightest disguise by Mr. Cobden, in his great Colonial speech at Bradford, on the 20th December, 1849 j the follow- ing- are his words : cc Now I have no hesitation in stating 1 , I have seen it from the first, that you can make no reduction in the public expenditure unless you fully remodel your Colonial system; for at present the great cause of your vast expenditure for the army and navy is on account of your Colonies. I say, then, to these Colonists, I will give you the fullest self-government you can require : but, on behalf of the people of England, I say you must pay for this Government I say you must pay for your own army, you must pay for your own functionaries, you must pay for your own ecclesiastical establishment." And further on, speaking with particular reference to this Colony, after complaining of the expense of the last Kaffir war, and alluding to the Rev. Dr. Adamson's military speech at the great Anti-Convict meeting, he says: " I say after that speech, and the manner in which 56 it was received, there is no reason for putting 1 you to one shilling" expense for the protection of this Colony." The doctrine thus laid down is one to which the Cape Colonists cannot, with any appearance of con- sistency, offer the slightest opposition. When we were reminded of the two millions which the Home Government had expended in the last Kaffir w T ar, and asked to take convicts as a set-off against that debt, what was our answer ? (( Do you expect us to thank you for paying- expenses incurred through your own mismanagement ? It was because you would meddle in matters which, at your distance from the Colony, you could not understand, that all this money has been wasted ; give us the management of our own affairs, and we will bear the burden." The Home Government have, naturally, not been slow to avail themselves of the principle thus enun- ciated by the Colonial reformers, and accepted by the Cape Colonists. They have not, indeed, uncon- ditionally adopted the views expressed by Mr. Cobden and Dr. Adamson, for ministers and agitators seldom employ exactly the same language but they have ne- vertheless distinctly intimated what we have to expect. On the 8th of March last Mr. Labouchere, speaking* as a Minister of the Crown, in his place in Parliament, -in reply to Mr. Cobden's motion for a reduction of public expenditure, said : " When the Cape obtained Representative Govern- ment it might fairly be expected to bear a consider- able portion of the expense incurred for barracks and troops in that Colony." 57 Moreover, there seems to be a disposition on the part of the Government partially to carry out this principle, even before the actual introduction of Re- presentative Institutions. We have already been warned more than once that the British people will not be called upon to pay the expenses of another Kaffir war : and in the Governor's late Minute on the Orange River Sovereignty we find a charge for "mili- tary building's, &c. which the Secretary of State has decided must be paid from local funds." The actual result of all this may be briefly stated thus : the Colonial revenue in 1849 was, in round num- bers, 230,000 ; the Colonial expenditure 240,000 ; showing* an excess of expenditure of 10,000 : the annual Imperial expenditure (as now reduced by the removal of the rifle brigade, and by a large decrease of naval and commissariat expenditure, partly caused by the importation of supplies, in consequence of the inconvenience felt by the army and navy from the operation of the pledge last year), may be stated at 250,000 : add this to the Colonial expenditure, and you have expenditure, 490,000 ; revenue, 230,000 ; deficit, 260,000. This is on the supposition that Mr. Cobden's proposal is to be adopted, and the whole military expense thrown upon the Colony: but suppose the Home Government, more moderate in their expectations, only require us to relieve them of a moiety of the burden, still we should have a deficit of 135,000. The advocates of self-government cannot, of course, think that they have purchased that at too dear a price. The price, however, must be paid, and with the 58 Prospect of a deficit possibly exceeding- the whole of our present actual revenue, and certainly so large that no imaginable economy could save it out of our present means; with the certainty, therefore, of increased taxation, which must, under any circum- stances, be mainly borne by property, and which will be imposed exclusively on property, if unprotected in the new Parliament, is the demand for a special repre- sentation of property unreasonable or unfair? It is settled now that there are to be two Houses of Legislature : whatever doubt there may have been on that subject, there appears to be none now. Why should we have two Houses? To preserve a balance of power, and to secure due consideration of every legislative measure. Surely, then, it is clear that there will be no balance of power in a Legislature consisting of two Chambers composed of the same materials, and that little additional deliberation is to be expected from a second Chamber elected by the same constituency and under the same influences as the first : the same amount of advantage might be expected from reading a bill in one House six times instead of three. In 1841, the prayer of the Colonists was that their Constitution might be assimilated in principle and form to that of the mother country ; and, until very lately, this view has been uniformly taken by all who have agitated the question, including the present leaders of the democratic party. This would have given a nominated Upper House, and it would then have rested with the Crown to make such a selec- tion of nominees as would have secured the objects for 59 which only an Upper House is desirable. The scheme of an elected Upper Chamber originated not with the Colonists, but with the English Government ; and it is too much to be feared that, not holding the Cape in very high estimation, they have been guided by the maxim, Fiat experimentum in corpore vili. They have, however, left the Colonists to find out how the purposes of an Upper Chamber may be best reconciled with the elective principle. In the discussion of this great question, one party, which has declared itself the representative of the unanimous feeling- of the people has pronounced for a purely democratic Chamber, universal suffrage and universal eligibility. The consequence is that the capitalists throughout the country, in anticipation of increased burdens and reduced protection, are becom- ing 1 alarmed, are looking* closely to the security of their investments, and reducing" the amount of their advances on mortgages hitherto deemed unexception- able. Even while we write we have ascertained that the trustees of the Guardians' Fund (the great Colonial mortgagees), sharing 1 these apprehensions, have been for the last fortnight eng'ag'ed in an inquiry into the state of that fund with a view to similar reductions, and that instead of advancing* two- thirds of the assessed value of property, as they have hitherto done, they have determined in future only to advance one-fourth. We have not heard that the Banks at present propose taking- any steps in the same direction, but we trust that the Directors of the Savings' Bank will take due care that the deposits of the poor who have not the liabilities of share- GO holders to fall back upon, be not exposed to risks which are shunned by private capitalists. All the data for the solution of this problem are now before the Colonists : they are to have a Lower Chamber essentially popular, they require an Upper Chamber to balance this popular element ; they have among- them a class from which such a Chamber could be formed j the members of that class will soon be called upon to contribute largely to the g'eneral revenue ; in return for such contribution they ask that they may be separately represented in the Legis- lature. Fearing 1 that this prayer will not be granted, they are already giving- palpable proof of their appre- hensions for the value of property; and the only concession that is required to restore their confidence, so essential to the public welfare, is one which two years ag-o would have been readily made by the most violent of their present opponents. How it is that the party which would formerly have been satisfied with a nominated Upper House is now opposed to the more moderate principle of elected members, with a reasonable property qualification, we are not bound to show : they must account for their own inconsistencies. It may be found possible, how- ever, to assign a reason for the course they are pursuing', and next week the attempt shall be made. In the meantime, the colonists are showing- a disposition to speak for themselves, and to be editor-ridden no long'er. Petitions are in preparation in several of the Country Districts in favour of a hig-her property qualification for both electors and members of the Upper House than that proposed by the Government Commission. 01 This fact is in itself a sufficient answer to the assertions of unanimity so clamorously reiterated by the demo- cratic party. The qualification of electors is quite as important a question as that of the elected, and it seems likely that the Colonists will agree with Lord John Russell, that the Legislative Council should be tf elected by persons having- a considerably hig-her qualification than those who are the choosers of the Representative Assembly." Even with this provision, as observed by the premier in his great speech on colonial policy at the commence- ment of the session, " the experiment is new, and it would be presumptuous to say that it would entirely succeed :" but if we are to be made the subject of experiments, we have, at least, a right to demand that they may be cautiously made j and that if new theories of government are to be first practically tested here, the process be gradual. At present we are asked, like Curtius, to leap into a gulf for the benefit of the whole Colonial Empire. In reply, apparently, to our challeng-e of last week, and at the last moment, the names attached to the memorial borne home by Mr. Fairbairn have been pub- lished in the Commercial Advertiser. To analyse and classify correctly a list consisting- of nearly one thou- sand names, one-half of which are entirely unknown, and not traceable by the directory, would be a labour for which we have little taste or convenience, and it would involve us in personalities which we are desirous at all times to avoid. The public, moreover, will be perfectly able, without our assistance, to appreciate the 62 value of the names : our business was to bring* about the publication. Among- them there is not a single merchant, and there are very few considerable pro- prietors. The wonder is that in a population of 30 ; 000 the municipal street-keeper was not able to collect many more such signatures. We perceive that the Advertiser and the Mail the leading- organs of the democratic^ or, as we may now fairly call them, the deceptive party continue to assert that it is the intention of Sir A. Stockenstrom to follow Mr. Fairbairn to England : we therefore deem it right to explain that we entirely adopt the statements of our correspondent " A Lover of Truth/' on whose correctness we implicitly rely^ and whose letter has extorted the explanations which it is now our unpleasant duty to notice. The advertisement to which our correspondent refer- red, contained the following- words : " Mr. Fairbairn proposes to proceed by the Mada- gascar, and will be followed by Sir A. Stockenstrom as soon as the necessary documents shall have been received from the country." This statement was signed, " H. C. Jarvis, Chair- man of the meeting of householders/' Our correspondent explained in his letter that there was a general impression that this statement was in- correct : that the state of the baronet's health would not permit him to go to England : that he had been so assured by his medical attendants : that the referee of the society in which his life is insured had declared that his doing so would vitiate his policy : and that he C3 had himself avowedly abandoned all idea of the voyage. What is the answer ? We quote from the Cape Town Mail of last Saturday : u Sir A. Stockenstrom intends to follow his colleagiie in January, by which time all the necessary docu- ments will have been received from the Country Dis- tricts. The health of the respected baronet is of late much improved; but it is still considered advis- able that he should not arrive in England before the close of the winter." We quote also from the Advertiser of the same date : " The health of Sir Andries, which suffered most severely from the exposures and hardships to which he was subjected in the field during' the late Kaffir war, is unhappily such that, in the opinion of five medical men, whom it was necessary to consult pro- fessionally in this case, without incurring 1 the most unjustifiable risks, he cannot proceed immediately from such a climate as this to the cold and foggy north, where he would thus arrive in the depth of winter : but they are also of opinion that at a more advanced period of the year the voyage would be rather beneficial than otherwise." Now, on behalf of the public who are asked to con- tribute to send this government pensioner and landed proprietor to England, we desire explanation on the following points : Firstly, the Advertiser should explain how it hap- pened that until the appearance of our correspondent's letter, no word was heard by the public of " the 64 opinion of five m edical men whom it was necessary to consult professionally in this case." Secondly, the same paper should explain whether the referee of the society in which Sir A. Stocken- strom's life is insured is among- those who are " of cl opinion that at a more advanced period of the year the voyage would be rather beneficial than otherwise." Thirdly, Mr. H. C. Jarvis should explain how he happened to sign a statement that the baronet was waiting* for documents from the country, when it is now avowed that he was waiting- for the English summer. Mr. Jarvis owes this explanation to the householders over whom he presided, and in whose name he signed ; and he will have an opportunity of giving it at the municipality meeting* next Wednesday, when we shall take care to have a reporter present to take a note of his statement. Fourthly, Sir A. Stockenstrom if he has any regard for his character should explain whether it is, or is not, true, that he has stated his determination not to proceed to Eng'land ; and, if it be true, how it is that he has allowed these false reports in the papers to remain uncontradicted. Fifthly, the baronet, or some of his friends, should explain, whether it is or is not true, that application has been made to the Insurance Society in England to allow him to undertake the voyage : and whether a reply is expected in January. Lastly, Mr. Fairbairn's present representative in the Colony whosoever he may be ought to explain how it is, if Sir A. Stockenstrom is to proceed to Eng'land in January, that " he (Mr. Fairbairn) will, from the hour of his arrival in London, communicate to his col- league, and to a Constitutional Committee in Cape Town, and through them to committees in the Country Divisions, and throug'h all to the public of this Colony, the fullest information which he can obtain respecting 1 the progress and probable issue of the great cause so dear to every heart ;" all which he has in last Saturday's Advertiser solemnly promised to do. If the public will, in the absence of these explana- tions, continue to close their ears to the voice of reason and truth, they deserve to be g-ulled. It is, however, but rig'ht that we should warn the several parties from whom these explanations are required not to criminate themselves : for, if the story which we have heard, and which we believe, be correct, it will be a question for the Public Prosecutor whether they have not been concerned in a combination to extort money upon false pretences. To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, Surely the time must have arrived for some decided effort to remove the scales from the eyes of " the faithful and loyal inhabitants of the municipali- ties of Cape Town, and Green Point," and the greener inhabitants of our fields and vineyards, that they may see the manner in which they are practised upon to serve the purposes of a wily faction, who are making* the people their stepping- stone to the accomplishment of their own ambitious designs. Two instances will be sufficient for my present purpose. 1st. The municipality have been advertising- for money to defray the expenses of the joint embassy to the Colonial Reform Association in London. Mr. Fairbairn is now gone, and the superannuated Baronet is to go, they say, when certain documents are received from the country. The period thus named for his departure is very convenient for the purpose of delay. The Mail is more precise ; that organ names January. But Mr. Fairbairn, in his leading article for Saturday last; incautiously betrayed the secret which till then had not escaped, namely, that it had been determined that Sir Andries should remain in the Colon}', till he should receive advices from him, after his arrival in England, reporting progress on his " thrice Messed Resolution" see the leading article of the Commercial Advertiser of the SOth of October. This inadvertency has established and confirmed what before was but a subject of suspicion, so that the call on the people for money is clearly made under a false pretence which eventually they will not fail to see. 2nd. With regard to the methods resorted to for collecting the coloured people at their recent demon- strations, the following little anecdote will throw on them a flood of light : It is confidently affirmed that the Malay fishermen were informed that the Government Draft of a Con- stitution would have the effect of reviving slavery in the Colony, and that as the gentleman who procured the emancipation of the slaves was going' home expressly for the purpose of frustrating- that wicked design, they should turn out with all their boats and streamers, to cheer him when he embarked on so noble an expedition. Of course they turned out accordingly ; as to the rest who accompanied this gentleman and his corporate body guard from the C7 Town House to the beach, those only who saw them could picture to themselves such an assemblage of riff-raff. These two facts speak so clearly for themselves, that they require neither note nor comment; but I dare say the signatures of the fishermen to a declaration denying* this statement may be obtained in the same manner as most of the signatures to their numerous petitions have been obtained. I acknowledge that practices of this sort are but too frequent in England ; but here, it must be admitted to be a very bad beginning-, in their attempt to attain what is called self-government, and will certainly curtail the limits of the popular branch of our antici- pated representative legislature. In old countries like England, where the liberty of all classes is secure, these blemishes are but as spots upon the sun ; but here, where the best of us are inexperienced in legislation, they but too surely prognosticate the evils that will result from placing 1 too much power in the hands of the lower classes ; such numerical majorities as we have lately seen are no test of public opinion in the proper sense of the term. A LOOKER-ON. Swellendam, 1 6th October, 1850. To the Honourable ROBERT GODLONTON. SIR, We, the undersigned Landholders and other Inhabitants of the town and neighbourhood of Swel- lendam, avail ourselves of the opportunity afforded by your passing- visit, to express to you the high opinion we entertain of the steady perseverance with which, as a public journalist, you ha,ve, for a long series of F 2 08 years, advocated the best interests of the Colony, and also of your upright and consistent conduct as a Member of the Legislative Council, by adhering- to the tacit pledge under which you had accepted your seat. When His Excellency the Governor issued the notice of the 6th of May last, conferring- on the people the rig-lit of electing- five g-entlemen to fill the vacant seats in the Legislative Council, he stipulated for one condition only, which was, that we should refrain from recommending- g-entlemen whom we had not reason to believe would, if appointed, be willing- to serve as Members of the Legislative Council pending the establishment of Representative Institutions. In the strict meaning- of this condition we believe the five new Members to have accepted their seats, and there- fore much regret that the Government should have reason to complain of its non-fulfilment. You, Sir, have shown that you accepted the trust reposed in you by your fellow-citizens, with the honest intention and determination to keep faith with them and with the Government ; and we congratulate you on having- strictly maintained such your intention and determination. We have the honour to be, with great respect, Your most obedient servants, (Signed by fifty-eig-ht persons.) Swellendam, 18th Oct. 1850. GENTLEMEN, I have had this moment the honour of receiving- the communication which you have been pleased to make to me, informing- me that yourselves and fifty-five other inhabitants of the division of 69 Swellendam, had been induced, by the opportunity afforded by my passing- visit, to give expression to their opinion of my public conduct as connected with the press of this colony, and also as to the course which I felt it my imperative duty to pursue during" the recent proceeding's in the Legislative Council. In reply, I must beg* of you to have the goodness to convey to the subscribers my deep sense of the unexpected honour they have done me, and the gratified satisfaction it affords me in being thus sustained by the good opinions, and encouraged by the commendations of so numerous a body of men, whose intelligence and independence are so perfectly unquestionable. To yourselves, gentlemen, I must tender my sincere thanks for the very handsome manner in which you have conveyed to me this flattering 1 mark of respect j and trust I shall ever be found ready, to the best of my ability, to co-operate with you and my fellow- colonists at large in the promotion of everything 1 calculated to establish and uphold Constitutional Government, that shall tend to the conservation of pro- perty, and promote the true substantial interests of all classes. I have the honour to be, gentlemen, Your obedient and humble servant, R. GODLONTON. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, November 8, 1850. IT will scarcely be seriously argued that what its advocates style " the People's Constitution" has been the result of any very deep or mature deliberation on 70 the part of the people : but since the orators of the Town Hall and their organs of the press are in the habit of dwelling- yery complacently on the alleged unanimity of the Colonists in favour of that document, it may be as well to set the question at rest, by refer- ence to a few dates which may be verified at pleasure by turning- to the September newspapers. It was on Friday, the 20th September, that Sir A. Stockenstrom and his three colleagues resigned: on Wednesday, the 25th, they were requested by the Cape Town Municipality to prepare a draft constitu- tion, in conjunction with Mr. Wicht : on Saturday, the 28th, their draft was presented to and approved by the Cape Town Municipality : and then, for the first time, it was resolved that the country Colonists should be consulted : and petitions to the Queen and to both Houses of Parliament were accordingly prepared and circulated for signature. The space which intervened between the resignation of the four members and the adoption of their draft constitution by the Cape Town Municipality was thus barely a week : and before the first event was known throughout the colony, Sir A. Stockenstrom and Mr. Fairbairn had been already deputed to represent the Colonists in England. It is evident, therefore, that with the preparation of the draft the people had nothing- whatever to do, and the whole proceeding reminds us of C( Jedburgh law, where in the morn they hang* and draw, and sit in judgment after." On the various important questions involved in the draft questions which have perplexed the wisest heads for ages on the franchise, the qualifica- tion of members, the formation of electoral divisions, 71 and so forth, all discussion has been postponed ; and these modern Solons have first decided for them- selves what the constitution is to be, and when all was fixed and settled have condescendingly consulted those who are interested in the question. This method of proceeding- may have its conve- niences, and even advantages j but the wisdom and authority derived from the unanimous assent of a multitude of councillors is not one of them. The most ardent admirers of the proposed scheme of Govern- ment will scarcely argue that the fact of sig'ning these petitions proves that the majority of the subscribers have carefully considered the several subjects involved and have, after mature deliberation, arrived at the same conclusion. It may prove their confidence in the gentlemen who prepared the draft, but it can prove nothing' more. The disciples of Pythagoras did not more implicitly rely on the ipse dixit of their master. There can be little doubt that the same result would have followed if these petitions had been drawn up by the leader of the popular party when he held different opinions on some vital constitutional questions: had he told the people of this Colony to petition for a single Chamber, or for a nominated Upper House, they would doubtless have done so. In effect they ask, not for this or that form of legislature, but for what Mr. Fair- bairn and his colleagues happen, for the time being, to recommend. It therefore becomes of immense importance to con- sider how the influence thus exercised has been acquired, and whether it is likely to be beneficially used. If the gentlemen who possess this unusual amount of public 72 confidence are really deserving- of it, and are likely to employ it for the public good, we may rest content ; but if this confidence is misplaced, the danger is incal- culable. For example, it has been stated we know not with what truth, and we only quote the case by way of illustration that the sympathies of a portion of the coloured class have been g-ained by the representation that the Government are about to re-introduce slavery, and that Mr. Fairbairn has g-one home to prevent it. Supposing- this to be true, it is clear that a larg-e class would be induced to give their support to the framers of " the People's Constitution" by considerations quite unconnected with any constitutional question. In the same manner, we believe that the support of a larg'e section of the community has been g-ained by considera- tions wholly apart from the real question at issue. To explain what these considerations are, it is neces- sary to g*o back to a period of colonial history which we, at least, do not contemplate with pleasure. We allude to the Anti-Convict agitation. There probably never was such absolute unanimity in any community as was displayed here on the first proposal to send convicts to the Colony. All the inhabitants Dutch and English, white and coloured pronounced ag-ainst the scheme. The officials threw off their habitual reserve, and protested as heartily as any. The people were of one mind, and the Government was with the people. There was thus no dang-er to be apprehended from diversity of opinion in the Colony ; but many thoug-ht that they had a dang-erous enemy without, in the 73 persDn of the Secretary of State; and ail were well pleased to see the leading- writer of the Cape Press devoting 1 his talents and his energy to the common cause. The Governor was not less opposed than Mr. Fair- bairn himself to the proposal for making- this Colony a penal settlement j and at a very early period of the agitation he promised that he would not disperse the convicts against the will of the Colonists. This was all that was required at first ; but by the time this was g-ained, a large party in Cape Town had discovered the strength which they had acquired from the previous unanimity of the people. They had put themselves forward as the leaders of a movement approved of by the entire Colony ; they had gained the confidence of a great body of the public ; they were thus enabled to dispense with the support of the respectable names ; by the influence of which they had mounted to power. At the commencement of the agitation the anti-convict meetings were held at the Commercial Exchange : they were afterwards convened in the Town Hall. The migration was typical of a change of principle; what had begun as an Anti-Convict Association had been transmuted into an Anti-Government cabal. By approaching the Governor with requests with which they knew that he could not legally comply, the party referred to made it appear that the views of the Government were opposed to the interest of the people. The Governor was prepared to maintain the convicts in the Amsterdam Battery till he could receive instruc- tions as to their final destination : to prevent the gTound of the Colon}'* from being u tainted" and " polluted/' in 74 the ridiculous jargon of the party, he was willing- to send them to Robben Island : but neither would this suffice, the Robben Island soil was sacred also. Finally, to meet the views of the people as far as pos- sible, he agreed to detain the convicts afloat in Simon's Bay: but the people were told that their safety depended upon the Neptune being- sent away : pre- cisely because the party knew that this could not leg-ally be done, and that thoug-h the Governor would disobey his instructions he would not violate the law. While the Neptune remained in Simon's Bay, the violent section of the anti-convict party were de facto rulers of the Colony. They dissolved the Legislative Council ; they dismembered the Supreme Court ; they made laws and repealed them ; they decided judicially on questions affecting- the rig-hts and property of indi- viduals : they issued passports, without which it was unsafe to travel : they closed and opened all places of business at their pleasure : they placed such of their fellow-citizens as displeased them " in vacua" They abrog-ated Government contracts : they ruined respec- able tradesmen : they denied supplies to the servants of the Crown : they openly defied and set at noug-ht the British Government : and, as a crowning- insult, one of their body, the chosen lieutenant of their leader, the acknowledg-ed second in command declined an invitation to Government house, which he never oug-ht to have received, on the g-round that he could not conscientiously drink the health of the Queen. At length the wished-for news arrived : the Neptune was ordered to Van Diemen's Land : Cape Town was 75 illuminated ; business was resumed : the members of the Association dined tog-ether : various weary souls were released from " vacuo :" and it was announced that the Anti-Convict Association was dissolved. Cre- dat Judcsus. Just so did the Anti-Corn-Law League dissolve when Sir R. Peel's bill was carried, and in the course of a year or two up rose the Phoenix from its ashes in the form of a Financial Reform Association. At one period of the Anti-Convict movement, when the business was dull, and a considerable period had elapsed since the last news from England had come in, or the last insult to the Governor had been officially answered in the Gazette, some novice in the art of agitation proposed that the Association should add to its original functions those of a Representative Govern- ment Society. The leader knew better : " No, no," said he, " let us do one thing- at a time : we will g-et rid of the convicts first, and talk of Representative Government afterwards." But it was not in human nature to lay down calmly such power as that party had so long- wielded : and accordingly when they had g-ot rid of the convicts, the Advertiser oracularly announced that the recent proceeding's of the Colonists had proved that they were ripe for self-g'overnment. The organization of the defunct Association was ready for the work. It was the same which, in O'Connell's time, had made the Repeal Association all-powerful in Ireland. There was the Central Association in Cape Town, and a Branch Association in every village of the Colony. Thus the leaders of the party knew who would be ready to act as provincial leaders in any Anti-Government movement ; and our country readers 76 can tell whether the principal supporters of fe The People's Constitution/' in all parts of the Colony, were not last year the principal leaders of the violent Anti- Convict party. It is needless to travel again over the history of the last six months, to show how this party have uni- formly worked to frustrate the views of the Govern- ment : how, until the arrival of the Privy Council report, they prevented all legislation, by threatening with their displeasure all who should accept seats in Council: how, when the Council was re-assembled, they contrived, by means of the organization above referred to, to have their own leaders appointed to four of the vacant seats : how, because their own ultra- democratic views were not adopted by the Govern- ment, they have again rendered the legislature incom- plete. But if the above account of the manner in which they have obtained and exercised the influence they now possess be correct, it is not needless for the colo- nists to inquire whether that influence is likely here- after to be employed for beneficial or mischievous purposes. Practically, the people of this colony have, for the last two years, been governed by a few ambi- tious individuals in Cape Town, in conjunction with the Cape Town Municipality. Are they prepared to con- tinue so ? If they are, they can adopt no better method than petitioning for a form of Legislature which will enable that party to nominate, with few exceptions, all the members of both Houses of the new Parliament ! and through their nominees, who will be O r no holders of property themselves, to tax the property 77 the colonj'. We have not enjoyed much self-govern* lit or freedom of action under their rule hitherto, nor T now likely to beg-in. If the Colonists believe that in a great strug-g-le in luce of Hg'h moral principles which in themselves nnanded the respect of all the world, they derived utag-e 1rom the exertions of these men, and so i ving-, have followed them into excesses not orig-in- 7 contemplated by the mass of the people, it is not late to pause. The anti-convict victory has been ued not, in our judgment, owing- to the outrageous r i^eding-s of the violent party ; but let that pass. are is nc battle to be foug'ht now. The Home rnment are prepared to grant all reasonable con- utional demands. If we now place ourselves under niocratic despotism, the act and the suffering- will our own. 78 known, or, as in the case of the London Times, &c. unknown, are respectable while they report the truth, and no longer. The public shall judge whether in the case before us there has or has not been an attempt to conceal or distort the truth. It is now said that " Sir A. Stoc- kenstrom will proceed to England in January or February" last week it was (( in January/' the week before, " as soon as the requisite papers shall have been received from the country." With regard to Sir A. Stockenstrom's Life Insur- ance, it is stated " that the office concerned has no medcal referee or agent at the Cape of Good Hope." If, as is generally believed, the "Alliance" be the company alluded to, they advertise " MEDICAL officer at the Cape, John Laing, Esq." We wish the public to know the truth. Does any reader believe that when it was advertised that Sir A. Stockenstrom was waiting for documents from the country, he was not really kept back by the state of his health ? And if he lent himself to this deception, why not to a thousand others ? Which of the three statements his friends have published is true ? And when his intentions are questioned in future, which are we to believe ? If the necessary documents arrive from the country this month, will he go ? or will he wait till January ? or will it be February ? or will it be the first of April ? And will some member of the party condescend to state how Mr. Fairbairn's letters to his colleagnie in Cape Town are to be addressed ? And whether when the Baronet is at sea or in England, the other member 79 of the deputation will be reporting progress to him by letters to the Cape ? The only thing that is clear in the whole matter is that there has been a palpable deception practised as to the time of the Baronet's intended departure. Mr. Jarvis has said one thing*, the Mail has said another, the Advertiser has implied a third, and the Observer now asserts a fourth. The only thing certain is that they are not all true. It is said that when " Sir A. Stockenstrom is charged with being a party to an attempt at public swindling*, it is not difficult to judge that the men who make the charge are sacrificing better knowledge for the attainment of party objects." The hard words are not ours : but Sir A. Stocken- strom is a public man, and must be judged by his acts. If his advocate believes that this appeal to character is sufficient, he g*reatly over-estimates the gullibility of the public. If there is no danger in letting the truth be known, it can be done by public statement from Sir A. Stockenstrom himself, and by the publication of the FIRST medical certificates of the five gentlemen referred to by the Advertiser. Those who remember his successive aspersions on almost every Governor who has administered the affairs of this Colony for many years past, will allow that Andries Stockenstrom is the last man who ought to complain of criticisms on his public acts : nay the very paper which now defends him, contains, in the very next article, an insinuation, founded on no evidence whatever, that the Governor has charged him with tampering* with Kaffirs. 80 It is not long* since Sir A. Stockenstrom was the most unpopular man in the Cape Colony ; and though he has been recently taken up by the Democratic party for purposes of their own, his evidence before the House of Commons, the circumstances under which he obtained and forfeited the office of Lieute- nant-Governor, and his constant attempt to establish a system of Frontier Policy which the Frontier Colo- nists will not endure, are not } T et forgotten. It is not by his character that he will be relieved from a suspi- cion which not we, but his own friends, have brought upon him. There are other questions still unanswered. We have yet to learn from Sir A. Stockenstrom whether he did not, over and over again, declare that he would bring- before the Council the cases of the Dutch o Reformed Church at Glen Lynden, and of Zacharias Pretorius and the Farmers of the Klaas Smit's River, together with the several other subjects wholly uncon- nected with the Constitution question. When all this has been explained, we shall be g*lad to learn further how the two following statements are to be reconciled. The first is taken from Sir A. Stockenstrom's letter to the Municipality of Graaff-Reinet, when it was first proposed to elect him : the second from his speech in Council on the 18th September j and the subject is the interpretation of the Government Notice of the 6th May. (From the Advertiser, June 15.) (From the Observer, Oct. 1.) The Government Notice of the He (Sir A. S.) had been led to 6th instant, does not explicitly understand by the Government pledge the Governor to the ap- Advertisement that his Excel- poiutment of the five elected who lency would take the five at the shall have the greatest number of top of the poll ; he thought it his of votes. Letter of Sir A. S., bounden duty to do so, he had May '23^ not done so ; and that was his reason for voting against the mo- tion. Speech of Sir A. S. t Sept, (From the Cape of Good Hope Observer, Nov. 5.) THE anonymous conductors and correspondents of the newspaper which has recently been added to the Colonial press^ are sacrificing' their better knowledge and better judgment to the gratification of tastes of no very elevated character. It may be difficult to judge of the " better know- ledge" or " better judgment" of anonymous writers, but when in a public newspaper at the Cape of Good Hope, Sir Andries Stockenstrom is charged with being a party to an attempt at public swindling 1 , it is not difficult to judge that the men who make the charo-e are sacrificing 1 better knowledge for the attain- O o c5 ment of party objects. Who these men may be, is a question of otherwise little importance, than that public report connects with the Monitor the names of some who bear a respec- table position in private, or in public life. If report speaks truth in this respect, we shall regret it much. This is all that can be at present said on the subject. With respect to Sir Andries Stockenstrom's intended departure to Engiand, it is as well to place his assailants at once in a position to correct the state-^ G 82 merits they have made. This we have now to do in few words. Sir Andries Stockenstrom will proceed to England in January or in February. Of this he has given notice to the Insurance Office from which he holds a policy, and to his ag-ents in England, whom he has desired to pay the additional premium demanded for the sea voyage. Any other communication that is represented to have been made to England on the subject of his Life Insurance is imaginary ; and it may be as well to add that the office concerned has no medical referee or agent at the Cape of Good Hope. It is proper to say, also, that the medical men, to whom allusion has been made in the public prints, gave it as their opinion that Sir A. Stockenstrom's health would not be injuriously affected by a voyage undertaken at the time now contemplated. (From the same.) Intelligence has been received in Cape Town, that the Honourable Mr. Cock, one of the Members of the Legislative Council, stated at a preliminary meeting to that recently held at Graham's Town on the state of the Frontier, that his Excellency the Governor had information of some tampering that had been going on between certain persons in the Colony and the Kaffirs. Upon this a person present asked, whether Mr. Cock referred to the frequent intercourse between the Kaga and Kaffirland. Another individual then rose and said, that he could not believe that such a traitor existed in the Colony, but if there were, he would readily be his executioner. The conse- quence of these allusions was, that the persons present understood, that Sir Andries Stockenstrom had tampered with the Kaffirs, and that the Governor had information to this effect. The possibility that Sir A. Stockenstrom could be concerned in such proceeding's need not be discussed ; but inquiry remains to be instituted into the nature of the Governor's alleged D information as to the tampering process, and the use his Excellency has made of if. We copy the following* paragTaph from the last number of the Observer, one of the organs of the Democratic party. From its tone of exultation, it can only be reviewed as an announcement to the Dutch Reformed, English, and Roman Catholic Churches, and other religious bodies in this Colony now receiving- u protection" from Government, what will be their fate when that Party commence opera- tions in our shortly expected Parliament : "An article below, published from an English Paper, contains the particulars of a vote recently adopted by the Canadian Houses of Parliament, with- drawing 1 the support which religious sects have here- tofore received from the Government. The churches of the country will thus be freed, henceforth, from the worse than useless i protection,' which so many Governments are accustomed to inflict upon the Chris- tian Religion." G 2 THE GEORGE MEETING! To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, The Commercial Advertiser and other Cape Town Papers having- given an account of a so-called " Meeting" at George, to back up the four Councillors who lately resigned their seats, I wish to let you know that this fc Meeting" was a very small one, and a packed one ; for one or two g-entlemen, who wished to move amendments, were not allowed to speak, and therefore left the meeting'. A meeting- of the Commissioners of the Munici- pality was held shortly afterwards, and it was resolved with only one dissentient voice, that no minutes of the previous meeting- should be entered on the books of the Municipality, because it was considered that the resolutions then passed did not represent the sentiments of the people, and the Municipality declined to father them ! This information may be relied on ; and it affords another proof of the dirty manoeuvres of the Cape Town radicals, because all these ridiculous villa o-e ' o " Meetings" have sprung- from their solicitations, and in the hopes of bolstering- up Mr. Fairbairn in Eno-land withjictitious documents. Yours truly, F. H. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, November 15, 1850. IN close alliance with the four gentlemen who have lately been eng-aged in an attempt to revolutionise the Cape by establishing- a democratic Government, in which they were to act as demagogues, the more active of the Commissioners of the Cape Town Municipality have constantly been found. These gentlemen will doubtless expect to pick up some crumbs when the People's Constitution becomes the law of the land ; and as the characters and ever-varying principles of the leaders of the movement are now tolerably understood, it may not be out of place to enquire what are the characteristic peculiarities of these their principal coadjutors. The Municipality of Cape Town was established by an ordinance enacted in 1839, and amended in 1840. The objects contemplated by this ordinance were the supervision of the water supply of the town j the making, repairing, cleaning, and lighting of the streets the regulation of weights and measures ; the prevention and abatement of public nuisances ; the maintenance (in conjunction with the Colonial Government), of an efficient police force ; the establishment and provision of markets, lamps, fire-engines, pounds, and so forth ; and security for the wholesomeness of provisions sold in the public markets. Although attention to these matters does not require or imply a very vast amount of political wisdom, although a man may be very fit to attend to such matters as those specified above, and yet essentially unfit to construct a constitution or compose a code of laws, still the duties imposed upon the Municipal Commissioners by the Municipal Ordinance are such as all good citizens are generally glad to undertake for the common good ; and accordingly among the 86 names of the first Commissioners we find those of four members of the Legislative Council, of many con- siderable proprietors and men of wealth and influence in the community, and the heads of the principal mercantile firms. But in course of time, some members of the muni- cipal body began to be dissatisfied with the simple though important functions with which they were invested, and to yearn after greater things. They began to think that they who governed Cape Town so well, might be of material assistance in the government of the Cape Colony. From being ever reminded by their admirers that it was for them to prove the fitness of the Cape community for the introduction of the representative system, they soon evinced a desire to prove it, not by the judicious discharge of their own duties, but by the assumption of those of others. They began to advise and interfere in all political questions 5 and thus . it came to pass that they were deserted by the more influential and respected members of their body, and that as they busied themselves in matters not properly belonging to their jurisdiction, their influence and the confidence reposed in them gradually dwindled away j less inclination was felt by the better class of citizens to take office among them ; less interest was felt by the public in their proceedings; so that it is not now uncommon for two or three meetings of householders to be called before a sufficient number can be got together to fill up vacancies of office-bearers by new elections. What is the state of the Cape Town Municipalitv uow ? We menu no disrespect to the individuals 87 composing* that body : but it would be folly to deny that, as a class, they have fallen, and that the Com- missioners now are not men of the same stamp and standing' as those referred to at the commencement of this article. For example, we find among-st the present Commissioners an auctioneer, a builder and carpenter, a general ag-ent, a butcher, an attorney, a retail dealer, &c. all very decent and respectable men in their way, no doubt, but not such as would have been chosen to act as Commissioners when the Municipality was content to attend to its own business, and to leave the administration of the Government in the hands of the Executive. In justice to the Wardmasters, it should be stated that these remarks are not intended to be applied to them. In several instances they have shewn a laudable desire to steer clear of politics j as, for instance, when they lately refused to join in the meeting- convened by the Commissioners for the purpose of breaking- up the Council, and forced them to the expedient of a hole- and-corner petition, praying- the Council to neglect g-eneral business, and confine itself to the Constitution question. But as the Commissioners have lost caste by inter- fering- in matters wholly apart from those for which the Municipality was established, so, with the loss of caste, this meddling- disposition may be observed to increase. They now distinctly assume the powers of Government; they think it necessary to debate and decide upon every political measure ; and this dispo- sition to usurp the powers of Government has been especially observable since the Municipality was em- 88 ployed as an instrument by the leaders of the extreme Anti-convict party ; and again since they were appointed by the Governor to act as Returning-offi cers in the late elections. It is only in the natural order of thing's that as the individual members are now chosen from a lower class than formerly, and as they attend less to their proper duties and more to matters beyond their sphere and experience, the character of the body should decline, and their acts become less worthy of approval. Many instances might be mentioned, if it were a grateful task to reproduce the annals of their administration. The impediments which they threw in the way of Government when required to furnish a contingent during- the last Kaffir war ; the arrogance with which they disputed with the then Governor and Commander- in-Chief as to the number of men he ought to require from Cape Town ; their selfish opposition to the Market Relief and Road Bills ; and, more lately, their shameful neglect of the drainage of the city, and then" mean attempt to shuffle the responsibility on the shoulders of the Government which they and their abettors were striving to cripple and impede ; the attempt to raise the price of meat, and thus serve the interests of some of their body, by the juggle about the trek-paths j the late scheme for monopolizing the breakwater and erecting it in the proximity of the property of some of themselves; the proposal to transfer the payment of rates from owners to occupiers j their unpaid contri- bution of 150, promised first to the Kloof-road and then to the Botanical Garden ; their promised subscription of 200 to the new library, retracted because the 89 Government had granted as a site a piece of its own land, erroneously alleged to belong- to the Municipality : these and many other such acts will readily suggest themselves to the minds of our readers, as illustrations of the present character and conduct of the Municipal body, as directed by its leading- members. If they were actuated by a laudable economy, in such measures as those which we have last noticed, we might be less severe in our condemnation of such palpable breaches of faith ; but while, as pointed out in a paragraph below from the Observer, with a truly penny- wise and pound-foolish policy, they darken our streets at midnight, as if for the special convenience of such "minions of the moon" as broke into Mr. Strath's shop, a few nights ago, they complacently authorize the illegal expenditure of the town rates, in presents to Mr. Adderley, royal salutes and boat pro- cessions to Mr. Fairbairn, and demonstrations of disloyalty on all convenient occasions. We regret, that such important duties as those contemplated by the Municipal Ordinance, should be left in such hands, and we would earnestly impress upon our fellow townsmen the expediency of selecting their municipal representatives from the hig-her class, which would properly represent their sentiments, and would command their confidence and respect. But we much more deeply regret that such a body as the present Cape Town Municipality should be allowed to exercise a large political influence in the Colony. As their powers have increased, their scruples have diminished ; and we may guess what will be the cha- racter of the Government the}' are building for us, 90 from the fact pointed out in an extract from the Port Elizabeth Telegraph, that at one of these late meeting's, a proposal, involving* a direct violation of the public faith, was made by one of the Commissioners, and calmly listened to by the rest, without a word of objection, and without its having' occurred to any one that they were being' asked to sanction a dishonest act. Such thing's in our City Corporation are bad enoug-h, but in our Colonial Legislature they would be utter ruin. If such men are to be its g'uardians, the cha- racter of the Colony must decline : the confidence of the public must be shaken : the value of property must be diminished : all the elements of the wealth and cha- racter of the community must gradually disappear. Yet to such hands are the Colonists blindly committing- their future Government, cajoled by soft speeches into the hope of increased quiet and prosperity under their rule. When men gather gTapes of thorns and fig's of thistles, such hopes may be realised, but not till then. THE GAS LAMPS. A letter just received contains the following- passag-e, to which it is of pressing- importance that the Com- missioners of the Municipality give their attention: "A burglary was committed on Saturday nig'ht, at a spot which mould have been under the immediate protection of a gas lamp, HAD THE LAMP BEEN LIGHTED." The fact is that the lamps of the town are lig'hted until midnight, and all that thieves need to do, is to 91 wait until five minutes after that time, to transact their business, without let or hindrance. Observer. EXTRACTS FROM LOCAL PAPERS. THE CIVIL LIST. (From the Port Elizabeth Telegraph, Oct. 31.) IN the proceeding's of the Cape Town Municipality, reported in the " Mail" of the 19th October, we find a certain sapient Commissioner " holding- forth " on the subject of the Civil List. He objects to the Report of the Government Commissioners, because those -en- y o tlemen state "that any portion of the public now harbours the design of subjecting- all EXISTING salaries to the pleasure of the future Assembly or Legislative Council, with a view of removing- from oifice, or reducing- the income of such public officers as may not chance to be popular with these bodies, we shall be sorry to believe." This worthy Commissioner is pleased to be facetious at the expense of public faith, and opines that the control of the entire revenue and expenditure of the Colony should immediately be at the disposal of the Colonists, counting-, apparently, as nothing- the absolute claims of the present officials. We are sorry to be compelled to inform this sapient speaker of the municipal rostrum that there is such a thing 1 as public faith, and that lightly as he may value the claims of the existing 1 officials, they are yet looked on by his fellow-colonists as a sacred lien on Colonial Reform. We will suppose this erudite and very independent Cape Commissioner in the position of the 92 Honourable J. Montagu or Wm. Porter. We will suppose him to have laboured all his life in the public service, to have rejected any possible means of ad- vancement in private life, and to be burthened with a large family. What would this erudite and humane Commissioner do ? Would he reduce the emoluments of office, sacrifice the faith of a tacit and yet no less binding agreement, and turn the unfortunate object of his misplaced wrath on the world, homeless, houseless, and a wanderer ? W r e know not ; but this we feel, that some of our municipal friends in Cape Town, and especially Mr. Commissioner Maynard, would do well to repress the promptings of a too ardent patriotism, or, in other words, to refrain from talking nonsense. The Cape Municipality certainly does not rule the Colony, and although it may be an amazing-ly active little body in cleansing streets, repairing water- courses, and laying down foot-pavements, we cannot see how that style of occupation fits it for legislation ; or what rig'ht it has to foist its opinions on the world on matters not connected with Cape gutters and other local affairs of equal importance. When it is called on as a public body for its opinion, that of course may be given; but it has a certain meddling, and certainly not discreet or sage, way of dealing with Colonial affairs, which makes it sometimes an annoy- ance and sometimes a laughing-stock to the public, however useful it may be in attending to the municipal affairs of the Western metropolis. We believe that every true and upright man in this town considers that no change in the government of this Colony will release him from religiously observing- the claims of the present officials. After their resignation or depar- ture, alterations in salaries, &c. may be made ; but no men in this province are yet so destitute of the finer feeling-s which grace and adorn humanity, as to wish to give an example of Punic faith, unworthy even of a less enlig-htened age than this. We recommend our sapient friend, the Commissioner, to attend to muni- cipal affairs in future, and to abstain from giving* to the world his individual views of public matters as those of the public, who repudiate and deny them. UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. (From the same.} WE cannot so far pander to the feeling's of the igno- rant as to express our concurrnce in the views of those who advocate a species of Universal Suffrag-e for an uneducated and mixed community. We would not g-ain notoriety at the expense of a falsehood, which if disseminated and believed might work the ruin of thousands, by scattering- the seeds of political agitation in the rank and desert soil of ig-norance. Liberty in this Colony must be accepted with peculiarly restrictive limits, or conditions, attached to it. Our community is one divided into too many elements to be dealt with unreservedly as one people. Hitherto there has been little in the shape of actual antag-onism of race or colour, but even of that there has been quite enough to prove of what society is composed, and that the rival forces do exist. That the leaders of the people are educated men now, only proves the fact that talent 94 and reason yet maintain their natural ascendency. But let the representative system with Universal Suffrage once come into operation, let the vote of the ignorant be made equal to the vote of the well- informed, and those who are leaders now, like their great prototypes of the French E evolution, may sink into insignificance, to give place to some brawling 1 demagogue or froward patriot. Youth and inexpe- rience are but too prone to overleap the barriers of discretion, and plunge into the vortex of chance. Education corrects the errors of youth, and compen- sates for the want of experience. It points to the page of history as an index of what has been y and deduces from the contemplation of certain known facts what may be the fate of the present race of men. Believing' this to be the case, we publish to-day extracts from Alison's History of the French Revo- lution, which the advocates of Universal Suffrage will do well to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest. DEMOCRACY AT THE CAPE. (From the Eastern Province News, Nov. 2.) To THE EDITOR : Sir, The great problem in poli- tics is to adjust the counteracting- forces of control in the Government, and spontaneous action in the individual. Too much control paralyzes and renders imbecile the national mind; too much spontaneous action in the individual generates anarchy. The time seems approaching in the United States which will decide whether the doubts entertained by Washington^ Hamilton, and Adams of the adequacy of the Demo- 95 cratic Constitution, carried through by the energy of Jefferson, were not well founded. The experiment still in prog'ress in the Union is not merely as to the possibility of a Republican Government, using 1 the phrase in the wide acceptation in which it is applied to the ancient Constitution of Rome, Venice, and Hol- land, but as to the possibility of a Government based on the theory of human perfectibility and the growing- ascendency of reason. The founders of the United States were under the necessity of adopting' a Repub- lican Government because no materials existed for any other. But they went further, and adopted institutions to the working 1 of which it is indispensable that an immense majority of the population must be well educated, orderly characters, and in easy circum- stances. Hence the gTeat exertions made, by the support of schools, to educate the people. In Prussia and other parts of Germany similar exertions are used, but the arbitrary character of the Government renders the Germans but great schoolboys, full of knowledge, but debarred from applying- it to political advancement. So long- as the population of the United States continued what it was at the time of the revolution, such a Government was sufficient the general compe- tence, the general education, the traditionary respect for law acquired under the stronger government of the mother country, kept the mass orderly, and unruly spirits betook themselves to the back woods. But in the gTeat emporiums, such as New York, a suffering- a degraded class akin to that which we find in the old cities of Europe is growing- up. The inhabitants of the new Southern States are a very different race from 96 the men of New England, or even those of the " Old Dominion/' Virginia. Will a constitution framed for a nation of philosophers prove adequate to the govern- ment of the people of the present day ? Let us now carry our views nearer home, and ask if the four ex-members are not pursuing a course simi- lar, on a minor scale, to the philosophers of the French Revolution the Girondists who reasoned for their principles on the perfectibility of human nature who used the Municipality of Paris to serve their objects of political regeneration, which ended in their own destruc- tion, and the Municipality overawing the National Assembly and becoming the instrument of the most atrocious and bloody tyranny that mankind ever wit- nessed. Before our ex-members run rampant about the capacity of the Colonists for self-legislation in a democratical manner, drawing their deductions from the results obtained by anti-convict machinery let them pause and remember the heterogeneous nature of our population : a single generation of which has not yet run its race accustomed to free institutions, except- ing those of English birth. The Colony has scarcely received common liberty above twenty years, a great proportion of the people were in degrading bondage a less number of years ago many are heathens and Mahommedans, certainly not the best worshippers of freedom. Let them ask themselves if these men are not exposed to the duplicity of the demagogue ? If a conservative check is not essential to control and modify the furor into which the Lower House will no doubt occasionally be led by design or unavoidable events ? It would be a false appreciation of ourselves 97 as a community to suppose that we are as fit as the people of England; or their descendants in America, for free institutions we are no more so than many of the nations in Europe, nor the South Americans who have had from 200 to 300 revolutionary movements in the different States since they obtained emancipation from big'oted old Spain. We must suit our demands to our capacity to exercise them. In the war of Inde- pendence; to counteract the revolting* Colonies, England granted to the Canadians free institutions similar to what had been granted to their neighbours ; but it has proved a failure from the ignorance, apathy, and other peculiarities in the character of the HABITANS, who are a most amiable people, but easily misled, and for the present in the hands of an Anti-English faction, moulded by a Monsieur Papineau a Colonial lawyer. Q- THE 25 FRANCHISE OF FIXED PROPERTY. (From the Port Elizabeth Mercury, Nov. 2.) To THE EDITOR : SIR, We have seen with alarm and disgust the opposition that is made on the frontier to the 25 Franchise of fixed property. The natives always had their foreboding's about a South African Parliament, but their fears are now confirmed by the spirit which has been evinced by the Bay people, some of the Uitenhag-e people, the people of Graham's Town and Fort Beaufort. Mr. Porter has drawn a line between the Dutch and English, but the Colonists are drawing- a still wider line, between the whites and the H 98 natives. What hope, what chance is there for the coloured people if the 25 Franchise is thrown out ? It would be far better, more honourable, more manly for the Colonists at once to tell the natives, because you are black you cannot vote, you have no rights, no liberties, you cannot, and oug'ht not to think for your- selves, we will think and act for you. You are the foremost during- war, you protect our property and persons, you stood nobly by us, but we can now dis- pense with you, Ave cannot allow you to enjoy with us the same privileges ; because you are coloured men there must be separate laws for you, class laws, partial law r s. This is colonial spirit, colonial prejudice. The natives are now called upon to arise, and rally around the 25 franchise. Here let them take up a position, for here is their only hope, their only refuge ; for if such a spirit is now manifested at so early a stage of the pro- ceeding's, what must there not be yet in store for the natives ? The natives have their forebodings about a South African Parliament, but they will petition, memorialize, and protest against a Frontier Parliament; they scruple not to say they have no confidence in the Frontier people : their sympathies are more with the Dutch than with the English settlers, and we would rather throw in our lot with the Cape Town people and the "Western districts, for among* them you find liberal, independent, and impartial men. But the best thing- the natives can do is to petition the Queen that the Colonists have no Parliament at all, or if they are to have one, that the Queen appoint a 99 High Commissioner to govern the natives, independent of the whites. The Colonists must know that the natives are wide- awake, they watch every act, every movement of the whites. The Colonists take no interest in the welfare of their coloured brethren, they would wish them to be kept down, to make stepping" stones of them ; for what reason ? just because they are black, as if the man of colour had a voice or choice in his creation j if there is blame, if it is a sin or misfortune to be black, blame a higher framer, but leave us alone j we are quite satisfied with our skin, though not with our treatment j the loss of our country, from Cape Town to Natal, the loss of all that we would call our own, have not destroyed that love and sympathy which we feel to one another. f( Skin may differ, but affection dwells in white and black the same." The same love that the white man has for his friends and family, his rights and liberties, we have too ; and just as much as they ; and we, too, know the difference between oppression and liberty, might and right. We are surprised that Port Elizabeth is also against us, and joins the Graham's Town party. This, however, will not be the only instance where known enemies have sunk their own differences and joined to carry a point ; and what is that point ? To exclude the man of colour, to shut his mouth, to tie him down. We certainly expected better thing's of Port Elizabeth. It would be better that all o the natives be at once sunk in the ocean, than to kill them by slow poison. Let the Hottentots and active natives in the towns, villa o-es, and Missionary institutions come forward, and c5 / * * H 2 100 all rally round the 25 Franchise. Cleave to the Queen, the Imperial Parliament, and the British public. The Queen, the Imperial Parliament, and the British public for ever. SPECTATOK. To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, It is not by any means wonderful that there has been a general silence preserved on the subject of the transfer of expenditure from the Imperial to the Colonial Treasury, adverted to in your paper of the week before last, because it would not suit the radicals to alarm the holders of property by any such admission, and no other party has had leave to speak. You have now, however, pretty clearly shown that the Colony must be prepared to submit to increased taxation; and my present purpose is to strengthen your argument by reference to a Despatch from Lord Grey, which was published in the Gazette in 1848. " Her Majesty's Government," said his Lordship, (< will take care to maintain in the Colony a reg'ular British force sufficient to garrison the seat of Govern- ment and some of the more important posts. But the Militia, or whatever other description of irregular troops or local police it may be necessary to employ, for the protection of the spacious territory now included within its boundaries, must be kept up at the cost of its inhabitants." And in another Despatch published in 1849, his- Lordship writes: "An additional reason for the strictest economy in public expenditure is that you 101 will have to provide for the cost of defending- that large accession to the territory of the Colony Avhich has recently taken place." This was before we had been promised representative institutions ; and in promising- them the Home Govern- ment tell us that we must now be prepared for additional charg-es against the Colonial Revenue. If, then, they were only prepared to g-arrison Cape Town and one or two important posts formerly, what are we to expect now ? These are questions well worthy of the consideration of all holders of property in the Colony, who will have to pay the expenses thus im- posed upon the Local Government. At this rate we, holders of fixed property, shall very soon find our road tax of a penny converted into a defensive tax of a shilling- in the pound. I am, &c. A PROPRIETOR. P.S. I do not know what amount of credit your readers may be disposed to g-ive to Dr. Tancred's nar- rative of his interview with Lord Grey in last Monday's Zuid Afrikaan, but as far as it g*oes it fully confirms the view of the question expressed above. Lord Grey, he says, told him u that the Colonists w r ould, in future, have to pay for the barracks if the troops should remain ;" and ag-ain, u all the expenses of whatever number of troops may be stationed in the Colony. That the Colonists should defend their frontier and meet all the expenses of Kaffir and other wars :" and this g-enerous advocate, who himself lives upon the contributions of the Colonists, and in this very letter impudently hints at the necessity of a remittance, 102 proceeded to inform his Lordship that when the Colo- nists had got an unrestricted Representative Assembly they "fully expected that the expenses of defensive and offensive measures were to be defrayed by the Colony." The public, as well as the jury who happened to be impanneled, ought to express an opinion 'upon the case of the " Queen v. Van Reenen" and others, tried before the Chief Justice, on Monday, the 4th instant. The prisoners in this case were charged with assaulting Joseph September, a Hottentot. This man was in the service of one of the Van Reenens ; and for some offence or other was cruelly beaten by them. The following- are portions of his evidence : " Jan then beat me with a yoke-strap. Schabord, Jan, and Sandenberg forced me down. Schabord held my feet, Sandenberg one hand, and Jan the other ; Jan struck me on my breech and on my back. He gave me fifteen lashes. He struck hard. They pulled me down before the bed, and Willem was lying there awake. He said, i Jan, you don't beat the Hottentot hard enough : you don't beat him till he screams, give here the strap/ He then got up, and gave me twenty-five with the same strap. The beating I got was more than a beast, an ox, or a horse would get. I mean to say that of it. You may still see by my body that the lashes were hard." Hereupon a plea of guilty was put in, by permission of the Court. The Chief Justice proceeded to pass sentence, con- 103 ilemuiiig the prisoners to pay a fine of lo each, and to be imprisoned for two months. We entirely concur with his Lordship's observation that the prisoners had a merciful sentence. It may suffice on this occasion, as it is the first case of the kind that has been brought before the Court : but should another of the same kind occur, it should be punished more severely. There is, however, a feature in this case which especially demands notice. The Grand Jury, when they brought in a true bill against the prisoners, re- marked that f( they felt bound to mitigate or qualify it, by the observation that the Grand Jury consider that a case of this nature should have been settled in the Magistrate's Court." The Attorney-General very properly protested ag-ainst this attempted interference with the responsi- bility of the Public Prosecutor, and the Chief Justice refused to receive the return. We will not here deny ourselves the pleasure of tendering* to Mr. Porter, in the name of the Public, our thanks for his independent conduct on this occasion. Upon the refusal of the Judg'e to receive the return, one of the jurors was heard to remark, (( Very well : we will go back and find no true bill." His Lordship, much to his credit, replied, " You will be g'uilty of perjury if you do :" and ultimately the Grand Jury returned a true bill ag-ainst the prisoners, and the trial proceeded : with what result we have seen. The conduct of the Grand Jury, on this occasion, cannot be too ' severely condemned : and unless it is' distinctly condemned by the public, the consequences 104 may be very mischievous. If the labouring- popula- tion of the Colony are not to consider themselves as slaves, they must be made to feel that their rights are as sacred as those of any other class of the community. Their complaints must not be shuffled off to the Courts of the Country Magistrates, simply because their com- plexions are black, and their oppressors are white. We regret that we are forced to conclude with the remark, that the coloured labourers of the Colony may g*uess what awaits them under the proposed democratic Con- stitution, from the fact that the Foreman of the Grand Jury, who thought this complaint too frivolous for the consideration of the Supreme Court, was one of the five Town-house Commissioners who prepared the Popular" draft. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, November 22, 1850. IN another part of this day's paper will be found an article abridged from the last number of the Quarterly Review, headed " NATIONAL WORKSHOPS." If, in the present state of society in this colony, such a narra- tive can be perused here without emotion by reflecting men, then all history is vain, and experience valueless. We anticipate no such actual results us those which followed in Paris from the committal of great political power to incompetent hands, and the neglect of the mischief till it grew too great to be effectually resisted. Our population here is not so large, their wants are iiot so difficult to satisfy,- their temper is not so con- 105 stitutionally excitable, that we need apprehend any barricades, or July tragedies in the streets of Cape Town. But the mischiefs which are to be seriously feared, though different in character, are scarcely smaller in degree. The blood that has flowed in the streets of Paris may be in time washed away ; the violence of the anarchical fever may gradually subside and be forgotten ; but the loss of public character, the depreciation of all the elements of national wealth, and the check thereby given to a community gradually rising- to consideration, are evils permanent and irreme- diable, t With so many lessons for o&r instruction in the past, and such urgent need of their application to the pre- sent, it scarcely becomes us to dream and speculate on the future; but this at least is certain, or next to certain : that whether this Colony is destined, as some think, in after years to .separate itself from the country which, with an affec'tion no longer demagogue or democrat can persuade us to relinquish, we fondly call our mother, and to become an independent nation, or whether and to this hope our own aspirations are confined we are fated to progress in wealth and re- spectability, accepting the protection of England, and repaying it with dutiful devotion ; or whether, lastly, that progress is to be stayed, and those promising 1 prospects blighted by continued political agitation, t'ne critical step which is to decide our future fate is to be taken now ; and for its future results the present leaders of the T^ape people must be held responsible. And when we see- that the prevailing characteristics of the party which is attempting to guide, and affecting IOC to represent, public opinion in this Colony, are fiction and deception ; that the people in one part of the Colony are gulled into the adoption of then* tenets by false representations of what is taking place in another ; that all sorts of devices are resorted to, to make it appear that there is a strong- feeling- abroad among- the people, which does not in reality exist ; and further, that the apathy, and in some cases, the ig-norance of the people, prevents their giving- to the political questions now at issue, the consideration they require ; while the leaders are such as, though it was no agreeable task, we have lately endeavoured to pourtray, and their plots for they deserve no better name are aided by provincial associates bound to them by the tie of a common hostility to order and to the restraints of any government of which they are not the main movers, or destined to be the main gainers in pocket ; is it wonderful that we should anticipate impending- mischief of no small amount, unless the people can be roused in tune to throw off the tyranny and dictation to which they are gradually submitting themselves. We have already given some illustrations of the tactics of the democratic party j and having- reg-ard to certain wholesome proverbs about touching pitch, or stirring a stench, we feel no great inclination again to approach the subject. It is, however, of such vast importance that the truth should appear, and there are so few channels through which it can be made known, that we must not shrink from the duty. The farce which was enacted at the Town House when the People's Constitution was adopted by some five Municipal Commissioners, and about fifty Malays, and a few others, as capable of legislating- for the moon as for the Cape, is too notorious to require further remark. The resolutions thus adopted were circulated through- out the country districts, and adopted by them at the dictation of the two or three active members of the Cape Town Municipality who claim to represent the city. Elsewhere will be found a further statement of pro- ceeding's at Swellendam, which speaks for itself. The deception practised in the cases of Stellenbosch and Riversdale has been already exposed, as also the attempted mystification about the Cape Town Petition, nearly one-third of the names attached to which are not even discoverable. Among' the other papers taken home by the People's Delegate, or about to follow him, are petitions and resolutions of " the rate-payers" of the Cape, Green Point, Malmesbury, Caledon, Beaufort, Georg'e, Graaff- Reinet, the Paarl, &c. From the grandiloquent manner in which these petitions, &c. are heralded to the world by the party organs, one would at least suppose that they represent the expressed opinions of a majority, if not the whole, of the inhabitants. Not so. In almost every one of the places named the demonstration was a mere delusion. In Graaff-Reinet, where the larg-est of the country meeting's was held, about one hundred individuals, of various colours and classes, answered the summons of the Anti-Government party ; but the number of attendants in the Cape Division never ex- ceeded fifty. At Green Point some ten or fifteen were collected ; at Caledon it was only after a second attempt 108 that a very small meeting- was convened at all j at the Paarl the numher was under twenty j at Malmesbury the question was brought, without notice, before a meeting 1 convened on another pretence ; at Georg*e the party character of the movement and the refusal to hear argument was so palpable, that the Municipality would not allow a record of the meeting* to remain upon their books, and censured their Secretary for placing- it on the municipal archives. And all these impositions are magnificently announced in the columns of the Cape Town Democratic organs as great demon- strations of public feeling- and opinion. Such frauds would excite only ridicule and con- tempt, but for the too successful use made of them. The people of Stellenbosch, for example, know that the demonstration at that place was a piece of humbug 1 from beginning- to end ; but as it was the first of the country meetings, it served, nevertheless, as an example for every other place in the Colony. The inhabitants of each town are induced to believe that every other town has spoken voluntarily in favour of the demo- cratic party, and that another sham meeting* is added to the list. The few who witness the deception, and understand the danger, are induced, from apathy or family considerations, to remain quiet j and thus their scruples are drowned like those of Mr. "VVicht for the sake of unity ! The many, who give little thought to these things, will not see the mischief till it actually comes, and all classes suffer, as they invariably do, by the depreciation of property; but then they will remember who were its authors ; the leaders, metro- politan and provincial, of the present movement, will 109 then reap their reward ; nor will those who saw, but neglected to warn their fellow-colonists of, impending' dano-er, be then forg-otten. r> / o SWELLENDAM. To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, Four meeting's have now been called here to bolster up the Democratic Constitution. At the first of these meeting's about four persons met specially to consider it. This meeting- was adjourned to the 4th of October. At this adjourned meeting 1 the Constitution appears to have been forgotten, and the resolutions noticed in the Mail of the 4th October, were proposed and were considered as carried unanimously without having 1 been put from the chair. A third meeting- was burked in consequence of the disagreeable fact of seven or eig-ht Conservatives having mustered in readiness to attend it, who were informed that the meeting- would / o not proceed. [They should have proceeded themselves.] The fourth attempt was on Saturday last, the 9th inst. when it had rained to such an extent as to preclude the attendance of the landed interest. There were pre- sent about forty villag-ers and fourteen farmers. A resolution proposed on the part of the latter for ad- journment in order to procure a fair attendance from the neighbouring country, was negatived by the pre- vailing party, who having, after three disappointments, secured as many journeymen tradesmen as would serve their purpose, were not disposed to yield their advan- tage. Resolutions were then proposed relating to the ab.wrbiny moral question, involved in the secession of 110 the four unofficial, and not to the Constitution. An amendment^ proposing- that the meeting' should adhere to the specified purpose for which it had been sum- moned, was negatived by the majority. A few Con- servatives present then withdrew. The farmers left the meeting" disappointed that they had no opportunity of expressing 1 an opinion on the Constitution. I am, &c. To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, An article in the Cape Town Mail of the 2nd instant, alludes to the parties present at the dinner given to Mr. Godlonton, and attaches particulars not one item of which is correct. In reply, allow me, throug-h your columns, to state that the Civil Com- missioner has but one clerk ; the Clerk of the Peace has not any clerk ; there were but two gentlemen at the dinner in any way connected with the Bridg-e and there were more than four persons totally unconnected with the Government. The two first statements the Editor of the Mail must have known to be exaggerated j but as it suits the line of politics he is recommending-, they have immediate insertion ; whereas my communications, correct in statement, but having- a somewhat opposite tendency, are debarred his columns. This partiality is unjust, and will materially tend to strengthen the statement of incorrect reporting- and g-arbling- alluded to by Mr. Godlonton. Yours, &c. F. B. SCBUTTON. Swellendam, 1 1th Nov. 1850. Ill We have given, in another column, the Governor's Proclamation relative to the state of the Frontier. At present we only desire to call attention to that part of it in which his Excellency declares his readiness to co- operate with the inhabitants of the Eastern Districts, in raising- corps of volunteers for the defence of the Frontier. This proves, first, that the Governor never proposed anything- so Quixotic as the maintenance of the present Frontier without an efficient protective force : and, secondly, that he feels that the expenses of that force must be borne by the Colony. It is useless to strive against these facts. All we can contend for is, that the additional taxation which must be imposed, being- for colonial purposes, shall be fairly distributed throughout the whole Colony, and not laid exclusively on fixed property, which it will be if the qualification for Members of the Upper House be reg-ulated as proposed in Mr. Fairbairn's Constitution. No explanation having yet been given as to Sir A. Stockenstrom's intention of proceeding to England, and as it appears that no further statement is to be made to the public by his organs, we now lay before our readers a brief recapitulation of the facts. On Wednesday, the 25th September, Sir A. Stocken- strom and Mr. Fan-bairn were requested by the Cape Town Municipality to proceed to England as the People's delegates, which they unreservedly consented to do, and for which subscriptions were to be invited. 112 It shortly afterwards became generally known that Sir A. Stockenstrom had been obliged to take the advice of several medical gentlemen, and that they had recommended him not to venture on a sea voyage. The subscriptions consequently fell off,, and some who had promised to subscribe declined to pay, on the ground that the Baronet had no intention of going to England. This led to the advertisement signed by Mr. Jarvis, chairman of the Cape Town Municipality, which appeared on the 19th October, and stated that Sir A. Stockenstrom would follow Mr. Fairbairn, " as soon as the necessary documents shall have been received from the country." This deception No. 1 was exposed by our Corres- pondent, u A Lover of Truth," in the Monitor of the 25th October. It was then answered by the Mail and the Adver- tiser, that the state of Sir A. Stockenstrom's health would not allow of his going at once to England ; but the latter paper added, that " at a more advanced period of the year" the voyage might be undertaken with advantage. This more advanced period of the year was after- wards fixed at January, 1851. A little further criticism in our paper of the 1st November, elicited a further explanation in the Observer, which stated " January or February" as the period of embarkation. Lastly, Mr. Fairbairn's farewell address clearly states that the Baronet will not sail until he has received reports from his co-delegate in England. 113 These four contradictory statements are still before the public, unexplained, and inexplicable except upon the supposition that there has been intentional deception throughout the whole affair. Quern Deus vult perdere prius dementat. It is strange that the leaders of the party should ever have lent themselves to a deception so certain to be discovered and exposed. But they began with a disregard for truth, and they have certainly maintained their con- sistency. We have done with this subject. If the people, with these facts before them, will suffer themselves to be further imposed upon, an angel from Heaven would fail to open their eyes. A SYSTEMATIC attempt is being made by the demo- cratic press to elevate Mr. Brand to the seat on the bench rendered vacant by the death of the late Mr. Justice Menzies. We do not seriously apprehend that the Government will suffer itself to be driven to take such a suicidal step : but lest the party which is advocating it should, with characteristic candour, represent that the people of the Colony are unanimous in its favour, it seems advisable briefly to state the reasons why, of all men, Mr. Brand is most unfit to succeed to this appointment, even temporarily. We do not question his professional fitness, as he has been for many years a practising advocate, and is now the senior member of the Colonial bar ; but in a small community like ours, it is of essential importance that the Judges of the Supreme Court should be i 114 elevated, as far as may be, above the suspicion of being- liable to political influences. Mr. Brand himself took an opportunity, in the course of the trial of Letterstedt v. Morgan and others, to insist very strongly on this axiom ; and we recommend to his friends a careful perusal of his speech delivered on that occasion. It contains some very good arguments, supported by a host of authorities, in favour of a principle which no man of sound mind would ever think of questioning ; and which, still more recently, at a public dinner, he earnestly impressed on the attention of an admiring audience : that it is the duty of a Judge " to keep his mind free from the influence of personal hatred or friendship, and from the political contentions of the day." Now, Mr. Brand is one of the acknowledged leaders of a very violent political party in Cape Town ; of a party whose members are not remarkable for the absence of expressions of personal hostility towards their opponents and personal devotion to their friends. He is therefore disqualified, by his own words, from aspiring to the vacant appointment ; and he must himself feel for he lately expressed the same sentiment, though not with regard to the same persons, that however great may be the confidence of one of his own partizans who should come before him with a case for decision, the opposite party, in case he should happen to be a political opponent, might chance to entertain very different sentiments. Again, it is very desirable that the members of a small court, vested with very large powers, should not be liable to be swayed by feelings of private enmity 115 jr affection. Mr. Brand is a Colonial lawyer : he has been brought up in the Colony : his family is resident here : his private affections and connexions are all Colonial : if he has enmities, they are probably Colonial also : for these reasons he would be objection- able as a Judge. It is also to be wished that a Judge should be independent as to pecuniary circumstances, because otherwise he is liable to influences, which he would not perhaps acknowledge, but possibly could not control, in deciding cases between individual suitors : at all events his judgments would be suspected, which is as bad. Now, Mr. Brand is not believed to be in independent pecuniary circumstances : it is not long since he was insolvent. By that event the Govern- ment, through the Guardian's Fund, lost 1200 : and it is presumed the other creditors did not come off scot-free. The Government which lately decided that the insolvency of any of its servants should in itself cause the forfeiture of their offices, could not, under these circumstances, consistently bestow its patronage on Mr. Brand. If Mr. Brand were to take his seat on the bench, he would do so hampered by political, personal, and pecuniary obligations, and he must be more than man if he could forget these obligations in the discharge of his judicial duties. For these reasons we hold him to be utterly unfit to succeed to the vacant office : and for the same reasons we believe it to be extremely desirable that new blood should be infused into the Court by the appointment of a competent person unconnected with the Colony. There are many men in England perfectly qualified I 2 116 for the office in every respect, and we hope some such will be appointed. When Mr. Brand was formerly spoken of for a similar appointment, and his claim was, it is said, favourably viewed by the Colonial Govern- ment, he was unconnected with politics, and had not been insolvent. The recognition of his fitness for judicial employment then, has therefore no application now. It is rumoured that Mr. Brand has not spoken only through his friends of the press ; but that he has made application to the Government for the vacant appoint- ment. We can only say that if this rumour be true, the course adopted has not only not been creditable, but, we believe, unprecedented in the profession ; and that it furnishes in itself a sufficient reason why this applicant for judicial emolument should be disappointed. There are a hundred sufficient reasons, which could not be officially stated, but which might weigh with a Government, and ought to have due weight for or against the appointment of a particular individual to the judicial office, and the indelicacy of a personal application seems in itself sufficient to disqualify the applicant. Little doubt, however, is really entertained that the vacant judgeship will be properly filled up by the appointment of some qualified English barrister unconnected with the Colony : but the opinion of the two surviving judges that the functions of the Supreme Court are suspended by Mr. Menzies' death, makes it incumbent upon the local Government to appoint an acting successor pending the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure. This involves no difficulty or 117 embarrassment ; certainly none such as would require even the temporary appointment of Mr. Brand. Various persons have been spoken of as competent to fill the temporary vacancy. Mr. Denyssen, the late Fiscal^ possesses qualifications fully equal to those of Mr. Brand, with none of his disqualifications. Mr. Surtees already holds a judicial position, is perfectly independent of parties and individuals, and is in every respect unobjectionable. The Honourable Mr. Barring-ton is a qualified barrister who, but for indifferent health, would have risen to eminence at home. We take the liberty of naming 1 these g-entle- men, in order to show that the Court may be completed, and the bar may yet retain Mr. Brand as an ornament; and the municipality may still depend upon him to assist in framing- another Constitution, should a further infusion of democracy be required. But, since the name of Mr. Bowles, the present Registrar of the Supreme Court, has been introduced into the discussion, we may be permitted to add, that no fitter person could be selected to hold the office until the appointment of a permanent successor to the late Judg-e. Mr. Bowles is a qualified barrister has been for many years an officer of the Court has thus enjoyed daily opportunities, equal to those of any practising- advocate, of observing 1 its practice and the principles on which it is conducted is personally and politically unobjectionable is known to be a g'entleman of learning- and acquirements and in every one of these respects is the equal, and in some the un- questioned superior, of Mr. Brand. 118 Since the above was in type A\e have received a copy of the evidence taken before the " Official Sala- ries Committee" of the House of Commons. The following- extract of Earl Grey's examination speaks for itself, and fully confirms our view of Mr. Brand's unfitness for the vacant seat on the bench : "With regard to judicial appointments in the Colonies, how were they filled up, from parties in the Colonies or from persons sent out from hence ? That also varies according- to the Colony : in the American Colonies they are invariably filled up from the Colonial bar : in Jamaica, sometimes from the Colonial bar, and sometimes from the bar at home ; it is very much according 1 to circumstances at the time. Sometimes it is reported that there is no barrister in a particular Colony at the moment, who can be strongiy recom- mended for the office ; at other times there are persons who have strong 1 claims, and they are appointed. But perhaps judicial offices are the offices of all others which, in a small society, it is most desirable not to fill up in the Colony. I am rather anxious, where it is possible, to make interchang-es between the Colonies ; to fill up a judg-eship in one Colony from the bar of -another, so as to give each a fair share ; but at the same time, not to put upon the bench a person who is connected with the society there by various family ties, and has been, perhaps, also eng-ag-ed on one side or the other on all the causes which are pending*, which may make it inconvenient that he should be upon the bench in that particular Colony." 119 THE CAPE MONITOB. Cape Town, Friday, November 29, 1850. THE system of collecting- public meeting's in the Country Districts, to express the sympathy of the inhabitants with the four seceding 1 members of the Council, is in fact only an amplification of the policy by which those members obtained seats in Council. The public meeting's, each consisting- on an average of about twenty persons, approve the ce popular" drafts because its authors were " popularly elected :" its authors were (( popularly elected" because the late ultra Anti-Convict rulers so willed it. The simple fact is, that there was organization on one side, and none upon the other. When the Governor issued the Government Notice of May last, he intended the people to choose for themselves, and the friends of Government, desiring- to see his views properly carried out, abstained from interference, and left the people to make their own election : on the other hand, those who had constantly shown them- selves the enemies of Government, finding- that, in consequence of the liberal concession made, they could keep the Council incomplete no longer, and that the vacant seats must be filled, determined that they would fill them. In every town and villag-e of the Colony, (with one or two honourable exceptions) there was an Anti- Government leader, who had distinguished himself in the previous struggle : at the election for that town, village, or district, he acted as whipper-in for the demo- crats : he wrote the tickets, distributed them, and 120 brought up the voters to the ballot-box: in several instances nearly every ticket in the box was found to be in the same handwritino*. o In every district in which these tactics were in full operation, there were two other parties : those who were opposed to the democratic movement, and those who, from various reasons, would take no part in the matter. The latter unfortunately a large class did not vote at all, except when the Anti-Government leader chanced to get hold of them and supply them with the stereotyped lists : the former. voted according to their opinion, but without concert, so that the names recom- mended by the Government party in one place, did not correspond with the names recommended by the same party in another. But after all, those who took no part in the question constituted, and still constitute, the largest class. A public meeting* is called at Riversdale, for example, and attended by some twenty persons, who propose, second, and carry unanimously the circular resolutions of the Cape Town Municipality : the other inhabitants of the district do not indeed countenance the meeting*, but they do nothing* to discountenance it, they sit quietly at home, and let thing's take their course j and the pro- ceeding is designated a public meeting. Just as it is with the meetings, so was it with the elections. The local Anti-Government ag*ent having received his instructions from Cape Town, got together a sufficient number of voters ; the tickets were dropped into the box ; the " popular" leaders were elected : and the mass of the community were calmly inactive, taking* no part in the movement. 121 Even in Cape Town, the same thing- was observable, notwithstanding' all the agitation and appliances to boot of the leaders. Out of a constituency of about 2500, 600 only voted, and of these 600, scarcely more than half voted for the Anti-Government nominees ; about 1900 qualified voters stood aloof, taking- no part in the election. Now, on what principle can it be pretended that Mr. Wicht, who obtained only 123 votes, or Mr. Brand, who obtained 341, or even Mr. Fairbairn, who obtained 446, are the representatives of the 2500 qualified voters of Cape Town ? It may be said if the 1900 did not choose to avail themselves of their privi- lege, they must take the consequence. Yery true: they are sensible of that now. They are suffering- the consequences, and are likely to suffer more. Still the facts are the same j and it is simply false to say, that the five nominees of the Cape Town Municipality, are the actual bondjide elected representatives of the body of the municipal rate-payers of Cape Town. The indecent haste with which the Cape Town ballot was closed, was one reason why so small a number of the rate-payers voted. A most respectable body of merchants urg-ed upon the Municipality their reason- able wish, to defer recording- then 1 votes until they could ascertain whether the g-entlemen whom they wished to nominate would sit. They also represented, that suffi- cient time was not given for all the householders to vote. The Municipality decided, that no alteration could take place, and the ballot was hastily closed, with the result already stated. The editor of the Advertiser, elated with his new dignity, sneered at the party which had desired the postponement, as consisting- of 122 " clerks, book-keepers, shopkeepers, and attorneys " but the consequence was, as we have seen, that only about one-fourth of the constituency voted. If this is all that could be g-ained at head-quarters, what results can be expected when we examine the country returns ? We are not able to state them with the same precision, because the numbers were not pub- lished in every instance ; but there is scarcely one place in the Colony, in which the majority of the rate-payers did not abstain from voting", and in which, therefore, the " popularly elected members" were not returned by a minority of the rate-payers. We will explain : In the Municipality, the number of votes given bore, of course, a larg-er proportion to the number of voters, than in the Country districts, on account of the greater concentration of the rate-payers. But an examination of the published returns of both will prove the fallacy of the statement, that the four members were popularly elected by the almost unanimous voice of the Colony. About half the Municipalities and Road Boards pub- lished the number of votes recorded by their rate-payers for each of those members, and from these published returns it will be found that the number who voted was very small compared with the number of qualified voters. From the documents published by the Council last year, it appears there are in the Colony (exclusive of Cape Town,) about 10,000 rate-payers, and from the returns which have been referred to of the votes in the different Municipalities and Road Boards, the whole number cannot be ascertained to exceed 2000 ; so that throughout the Colony one-fifth only of the voters have expressed their opinions relative to the four C( popular 123 Members." To this may be added that the Municipal voters, owing- to an inadvertence of the Government^ since pointed out by our correspondent " Landowner," enjoyed in many instances the privilege of a second vote as road-rate payers, so that the 2000 may probably be still farther reduced to about 1500. From the above facts the conclusion is inevitable, that a very large proportion of the rate-payers of the Colony took no part whatever in the late election : yet the business that was to be transacted by the Council was the most momentous which the Legis- lature of any country can be called upon to discuss. We say nothing- here of the squabble about the Estimates, and the other important subjects which the Governor desired to bring before the Council. Whether they were or were not right in refusing to take these matters into consideration, certainly, the proposed change in the Constitution was business of much hig'her moment. With this, at least, the Colonists knew that the Council would have to deal ; yet they appear to have cared so little about the matter that the large majority of them actually did not take the trouble to vote. From this fact, which has been studiously kept in the background, two consequences are to be deduced. First, that if when the Colonists are called upon to elect the members of two Houses of Legislature, they do not display more energy than they lately did, when called upon to elect five members of Council, the whole government of the Colony may easily be placed in the hands of the nominees of the democratic party in Cape Town : and, secondly, that the five gentlemen who were recently appointed by the Cape Town Municipality to frame a Constitution for the Colony were not as they professed to he, the elected representatives of the majority of a population of 200,000 souls, possessing fixed property to the amount of 6,000,000. Hitherto we have gone on step by step : we have allowed the democrats first to gain power and organi- zation by means of the Anti-Convict agitation ; then by virtue of that organization to obtain seats in Coun- cil by a fictitious election ; then by resigning those seats to break up the Legislature ; then by virtue of their election to declare themselves the representatives of the Colonists, and, in that character, sitting apart from the officials, to prepare a model Constitution for the Colony. If we permit them to take one step further, if we allow that Constitution to be adopted, our rights, our liberties, and our property will be sacrificed. THE Cape Town Municipality is rapidly becoming a monster nuisance, and all sorts of little nuisances are growing up beneath its shadow: probably a worse managed town than this metropolis is not to be found in Her Majesty's dominions. The following are a few of the complaints which have reached us : the streets are never watered, they are strewn with " rubbish" instead of metal: the gas-lamps are extinguished just when they are most required : the drainage of the city is most imperfect : a great portion of it is effected by open ditches choked with filth, and which, but for the cleansing* south- easier could not fail to produce periodical pestilence : the whole line of the beach from the north to the south jetty is disgraceful : every kind of dirt and refuse is thrown on the open beach : the entrails of fish lie rotting 1 in front of the fish-market, till the sea chances to wash them away : the blood of slaughtered oxen finds its way to the sea, in little natural gutters across the sand : the vegetable market is held under two or three crazy umbrellas, in the middle of Green- market square : on the occasion of a fire, the town engines are either inefficient or inefficiently worked, and the Municipality go beg-g'ing- to the Insurance Companies to make up for their defect : the water supply is notoriously insufficient: the state of the road within the military lines is so unsafe that a respectable tradesman is obliged to advertise for a low and secure vehicle to carry him through that portion of his daily journey which lies within the limits of the Municipality of the city of Cape Town. When we remember how the Municipal Commissioners have been principally employed for the last two years, and the class from which they have been chosen, there is nothing- wonderful in all this : but we draw attention to those abominations, in order to remind the rate- payers that the remedy is in their own hands. If, at the ensuing- election, they will not take the trouble to replace the present Commissioners by a better class of men, they must not be surprised if it is ag-ain asserted, that their want of exertion is attributable to their extreme satisfaction at the present state of things. lee Although we stated in our last number that we should make no further allusion to Sir A. Stocken- strom's alleged intention of proceeding- to England, still, as we have dealt somewhat freely with the subject, we cannot refuse to lay before our readers such further explanations as the Baronet and his friends may, from time to time, vouchsafe. The following is accordingly extracted from last Saturday's papers. (From the S. A. C. Advertiser.) "Sir Andries Stockenstrom left Town on Thursday, on a visit to his property on the Frontier, prior to his departure for England. He passes through Beaufort and Graaff-Reinet on his way, and will return by the more direct route of George and Swellendam." (From the C. T. Mail.) " Sir A. Stockenstrom. Sir Andries left Cape Town for Maastrom on Wednesday last, for the purpose of arranging his affairs for his voyage to England." This is the jifth story. It thus appears that when Sir A. Stockenstrom first accepted the mission to England without reserve, secondly, determined to wait for documents from the country, thirdly, till January or February, on account of his health, and fourthly, till he received letters from his colleague in England, he had, in fact, affairs to arrange at Maastrom previous to his departure. Perhaps he is gone to fetch the documents from the country. 127 FROM THE GRAHAM'S TOWN JOURNAL. Graham's Town, 9th Nov., 1850. GENTLEMEN, I have much pleasure in handing- to you the enclosed Address from the Town of Fort Beaufort, which I have been requested by some of the subscribers to place in your hands, and I beg- to assure you of my hearty concurrence with the senti- ments therein contained. I remain, Gentlemen, Yours very faithfully, GEO. JARVIS, To the Hon'ble W. Cock and R. Godlonton, Esqrs. We, the undersig-ned, inhabitants of the Division and Town of Fort Beaufort, as loyal and faithful subjects of Her Majesty, cannot at the present crisis refrain from tendering- to you our sincere and g'rateful approval of your conduct in the Legislative Council. We deem it a duty at the same time to express our disapprobation of those proceeding's which have so abruptly terminated the labours of the Council, and thrown the Colony into a state of useless agitation and confusion. While we appreciate the value of Representative Institutions, we fear that they will be retarded rather than promoted by the late captious resignation of the four unofficial Members ; as some time must necessarily elapse before the details of our New Constitution can be satisfactorily settled, we cannot admit the justice or expediency of clog'ging' (in the interval) the wheels of Government, and compelling 1 Her Majesty's Representative to act in an unconstitu- 128 tional way, by spending the public money without any vote of the Legislature. Trusting that you will continue to rally around our most respected Governor, Sir Harry Smith, to whom we and the other inhabitants of this Frontier are greatly indebted, and with whom we most cordially sympathize under his present difficulties, We have the honour to be, with much respect, your obedient servants, (Signed by 88 Inhabitants.) REPLY. Graham's Town, llth Nov., 1850. G. Jarvis, Esq., J.P. SIR, We have had the honour of receiving the Address from the inhabitants of Fort Beaufort, ap- proving of our recent proceedings in the Legislative Council, which you have been so good as to forward to us with your note of the 9th inst., and in reply we must request that you will convey to the subscribers our heartfelt thanks for this public token of their approval, together with our assurance that it will ever afford us high gratification to advance, to the utmost of our ability, the interests of the Eastern Province. Begging you to accept our joint thanks for the expression of your concurrence in the sentiments con- tained in the address, We have the honour to be, Sir, your very obedient humble servants, W. COCK. R. GODLONTON. 129 PUBLIC MEETING AT SIDBURY. ON Wednesday., the 6th instant, a Public Meeting- was held at Sidbury, to take into consideration the state of the Frontier, and the Constitution of the Colony. F. 0. Hutchinson, Esq., presided. The following- Resolutions were adopted : 1. That this meeting- desires to record its approval of the i( Exceptions" brought forward by Messrs. Cock and Godlonton, and to express its opinion that those g-entlemen have, as Members of Council, merited the approbation and gratitude of the Inhabitants of the Eastern Province, from the ability and unflinching- determination with which they have advocated its rig-ht to Local Government ; and considers that the conduct of those g-entlemen, in retaining- their seats in the Legislative Council (when Sir A. Stockenstrom, Mr. Fairbairn, Mr. Brand, and Mr. Reitz, caprici- ously, if not factiously abandoned their legislative duties), was manly, consistent, and patriotic. Proposed by Mr. Austin, seconded by Mr. Pollard. 2. That scarcely any two other individuals could be named, so destitute of the confidence of the people of this Division as Sir A. Stockenstrom and Mr. John Fairbairn, or who are more unfit to be the represen- tatives either to the Home Government, or otherwise, of the people of this section of the country. Proposed by Mr. Rice Smith, seconded by Mr. Hig'g-ins. 3. That in the opinion of this meeting- the state of alarm now existing- on this Frontier is most de- K 130 plorable ; but fully justified both by the official state- ment of Colonel Mackinnon, and by the alarming- manner in which registered Kaffir servants, suddenly and simultaneously, left their employers on receipt of a message from their Chiefs. Proposed by Mr. Rippon, seconded by Mr. Home. 4. That subsequent events have not tended to restore a general feeling- of security, nor will that feeling- exist until the authority of the turbulent portion of the Chiefs be completely abrogated, and the probability of future mischief and rebellion greatly diminished by the removal to safe keeping* of such offenders ag*ainst the public peace. But that, at the same time, Avilling to place every proper confidence in His Excellency, it is not the desire of those present to hasten prematurely the developement of his plans. It is, however, their firm and deliberate conviction that nothing- short of summary measures will give any prospect of Frontier tranquillity, and, therefore, that the mere deposition of the rebellious Chief, Sandilli, cannot be reg-arded in the lig-ht of a satisfactory conclusion to present pro- ceedings against our rebellious and crafty neighbours. Proposed by Mr. Moxon, seconded by Mr. Thomas. 5. That this meeting* would emphatically warn His Excellency and Her Majesty's Government, unless permanent measures of security be forthcoming, the result will be the certain abandonment of the Frontier Districts by a larg*e proportion of its more respectable and enterprising* inhabitants, both Dutch and English, and that this meeting, therefore, desires to recal to memory the reasons which led to the great Dutch Emigration of 1835 to 1838, viz : The unsatisfactory 131 state of relations with the Kaffir tribes 5 the with- holding- of compensation for losses incurred in the war of 1834-35 ; the existence of uncontrolled vagrancy to a ruinous extent ; all acting- upon embittered feel- ing-s consequent upon the Slave Emancipation. Proposed by Mr. C. F. Pohl, seconded by Mr. Austin. 6. That Local Government is indispensably neces- sary to give security and confidence to the Frontier Districts of the Eastern Province and this meeting-, therefore, pledges itself to continue every exertion on behalf of such a just requirement. Proposed by Mr. Pollard, seconded by Mr. Austin. 7. That a copy of the Resolutions be forwarded to His Excellency by the Chairman. Proposed by Mr. John Austin, seconded by Mr. Home* 8. That the thanks of the meeting- be given to Mr. Hutchinson, for his able and impartial conduct in the Chair. Proposed by Mr. Moxon, seconded by Mr. Pollard. (Signed) F. 0. HUTCHINSON, Chairman. MR. BOWLES having- received his appointment as Acting- Puisne Judge of the Supreme Court, and the question being- thus, for the time, settled, it is, on every account, desirable that the present constitution of the Court should cease to be a subject of party and political contention. We believe that the step which His Excellency has taken will give general satisfaction to all, with the exception of the extreme section of the K 2 132 democratic party who, of course, will be satisfied with nothing- short of the appointment of their own no- minee. The organs of this party have been, apparently, very much exasperated by the article in which we, last week, stated the reasons why, in our opinion, Mr. Brand was not eligible for the vacant appointment. We held those reasons to be good, and deemed it our duty, as public journalists, to explain them ; we are therefore charged with having made a personal attack on Mr. Brand. This is not true : we were not the first to mention Mr. Brand's name. An office of great responsibility and trust was vacant, and Mr. Brand's friends thought it right to put forward his claims to succeed to that office. We thought there were cogent reasons why he should not obtain it, and we stated them : we should never have mentioned Mr. Brand's name, if it had not been first mentioned by others. Among the reasons which appeared to disqualify Mr. Brand were his pecuniary circumstances. He was lately insolvent. The Government has announced that the insolvency of any of its servants shall be sufficient reason for the forfeiture of office. To have appointed Mr. Brand, would have been a virtual deviation from this law. In reply, it is courteously insinuated that we are insolvent also. What then? We have not applied forthejudgeship. It is also contended, that there was nothing disho- nourable in Mr. Brand's insolvency. Possibly : but we never asserted the contrary. We also stated Mr. Brand's recent political pro- 133 ceeding's as an objection to his being- placed upon the bench, and we are not aware that that objection has been answered. We have not said that Mr. Brand should not be appointed because he is of Dutch extraction. The attempt to make this a question of race, and thus to array the English and Dutch Colonists in antagonism to one another is none of our doing-. Mr. Brand was pleased to imagine such an attempt on a late occasion in Council : and his supporters seem disposed to keep up the delusion. It is to be hoped that this attempt of a discontented party to ag-gravate the dis- agTeements now too prevalent in the Colony, may prove abortive. Lastly, we are charg-ed with making- assassin-like onslaughts on Mr. Brand, by the cowardly medium of anonymous writers. The charg-e of anonymous writing-, as ag-ainst a newspaper, is simply ridiculous : it is as if one should vehemently assert that fire is hot, snow white, and grass g-reen. The articles in this paper, are not more anonymous than those in the democratic org'ans. For oug-ht we know the article to which we are now referring- may have been written by Mr. Brand himself. But supposing- it not to be so, we are not aware that the fact of an article being' written by Mr. Watermeyer, or Mr. Smuts, gives it a value which it would not derive from its own intrinsic merit. If the articles in this journal contain correct statements of fact, and legitimate deductions from them, it matters very little who are their authors. This view, however, is not shared by one of our 134 contemporaries, who having- failed to ascertain the authorship of our former article on this subject, has edified his readers by the announcement that we receive " pay from the pence contributed to the general reve- nue, by even the meanest coolie in the Colony," and (C serpent-like wound the hand that feeds us." This is very mysterious. However, we can afford to allow our contemporary to amuse himself and his readers by his conjectures. Yet it is singular that the conductors of a paper which was for several years edited by Mr. Brand, should be so ignorant of Insolvent Law as to suppose that the fact of the Government having- suf- fered a loss of 1200, by the learned gentleman's insolvency, could be a secret to any one who cared to know it. These matters appear in an insolvent's schedule, which is generally consulted by his creditors, and is open for public inspection. Mr. Brand's case was no exception to this rule. Other remarks similar to those already noticed, have been sufficiently answered by our correspondent "Civis." In concluding our own comments upon this subject, to which we do not propose to return, this only need be added ; that when any individual is seen aspiring to an office, for which he is, on many accounts, totally unfit, he must not complain if the reasons of his unfitness are fairly and openly stated to the public ; if he thrusts himself forward and finds his qualifications freely dis- cussed, he must not complain of personality ; if he places himself in a position to provoke the comments of public journalists, he must not complain of anony- mous writing. But over and above the personalities which have 135 been introduced into these subjects, though not by us, there is one incidental point in which the public are deeply interested. It is urged by the Advertiser that Mr. Brand's insolvency cannot prove a bar to his elevation, because he has obtained a legal discharge. We asserted his pecuniary obligations as a reason why his judgements would be open to suspicion, and we are met with the reply of a legal discharge. If this be the standard of morals adopted by the party w r hich has been advocating Mr. Brand's claims, if they consider that in consequence of his legal discharge he is no longer morally responsible for his debts, we can no longer wonder at other of their unscrupulous proceed- ings. The present plea reminds us of that provision of the "People's Constitution" which would admit to the exercise of the Franchise, and to seats in the Legislature, persons who have been convicted of heinous crimes, provided only that they have completed their five or seven years' hard labour. It would be strange if the prime movers of the Anti-Convict agitation should procure for the Colony the blessing' of a Convict Legis- lature. But it is thus that the principles of a party gradually disclose themselves; and from such speci- mens, the Colonists may judge what will be the cha- racter of their Government when the leaders of that party are allowed to come into power by the adoption of the ({ People's Constitution." To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. SIR, The Zmd Afrikaan and the Radical press of Cape Town generally, unable to refute your arguments, 136 or to evade the truth, is now trying' to make out a i. D case of personality against you, with respect to Mr. Brand. But the editors of the Commercial Advert txtr and Cape Town Mail should recollect that they origi- nated the discussion regarding- Mr. Brand's qualifica- tions for the Cape Bench. They obtruded his supposed claims before the public, and backed them with the weight of their editorial authority. This was not very decent. It was certainly ill-judged. But, as they thoug'ht proper to provoke such a discussion about Mr. Brand, your acceptance of the challenge, as a public monitor and guardian, was indispensable. There is only one opinion amongst unprejudiced persons, of the able manner in which you have discomfited Mr. Brand's indiscreet eulogists, and disposed of that gentleman's pretensions. The charge of personality broug'ht against you is nonsense j and if no more can be said in favour of Mr. Brand's claims to the Bench than the editor of the Advertiser and Mail have hitherto adduced, Mr. Brand may well say, (e Save me from my friends." Did it ever occur to those friends that there is another " colo- nial lawyer," whose claims to the vacant seat in the Supreme Court of Cape Town are superior to Mr. Brand's in every way, and on the very principles which they themselves have laid down ? Mr. Henry Cloete, Recorder of Natal, is a (( colonial lawyer" in its full meaning', like Mr. Brand. He was senior to Mr. Brand at the Cape Bar ; and the fact of his having* held for some time a judicial appointment at Natal, surely gives him a better title to the superior emolu- ments and dignity of the Cape Bench, than any which 137 Mr. Brand's friends can display on his behalf. I do not wish to enter into a comparison between the public or private qualifications of Mr. H. Cloete or Mr. Brand for judicial power, in a colony where they have been both born, and both have resided for so many years. Each gentleman will have his own advocates, t/ O } and a public paper is scarcely a place to discuss such delicate matters. Indeed, it is of little importance which of the two stands first in the estimation of their countrymen, or of the colonists at large : for no " colo- nial lawyer" could be tolerated as a judge, in the midst of his own private or political connexions. The editor of the Observer, who is at present the officiating- editor of the Advertiser, should be careful how he talks about personality and slander. He, and nearly all the other editors of the Cape Town Newspapers, in the height of the Anti-Convict frenzy, if they did not abet the libels Avhich appeared in their columns, certainly did not scruple to publish speeches made at the Town Hall, in which persons of the highest respectability were dragged before the public, and exposed to insults of the grossest kind. Private individuals, whose only offence consisted in not yielding to the threats of the Town Hall agita- tors, were commonly called " Traitors." Others who kept aloof from all public discussions, were most unjustly, and often wantonly, accused of favouring the Convicts ; and the speeches of the Town Hall orators containing' these attacks were duly reported, with a full anser-ous accompaniment of hisses, " and a symphony of groans !" It would be strange, indeed, if those who suffered from personal imputations, and public ridicule of this kind, should soon forget them. Let the editor 138 of the Advertiser ask himself, if he would have liked to have been marked for ruin, or to have witnessed his friends exposed to the insults of a cowardly confede- racy. I say cowardly, because what was called the Public Press not only denied us the Englishman's privilege of a clear stage and no favour ; but, like a band of red Indians, they tied us to the stake, and then gave their oratorical Squaws the full use of their tongues and nails upon us. The infliction of the former was less endurable than the latter ; especially when a strolling- player, who makes an exhibition of himself at one shilling the hour, was apparently hired to take part in the performance. Some of us thoug'ht that the good taste of this was questionable, and that savage insults against defenceless persons were not to be applauded. Others again went to the Town Hall, as they now go to the Circus, to see the clown. To be sure the capa- city of the audience generally was not of the highest order, seeing that they could derive amusement from the grimaces of a declamatory mountebank, or the pugilistic contortions of a pocket " Hercules." I really think that after what occurred last year, the editors of certain Cape Town papers, need not be very squeamish about what they now call personalities. They are mistaken if they suppose that public atten- tion will be diverted from the investigation of public characters by any manoeuvre of this kind. Your readers are quite capable of drawing the line between the public and private career of any marked man ; and when the peculiar position and circumstances of such a man, in private life, are incompatible with his elevation to a public office of enormous responsibility, the press 139 must do its duty, and private considerations must give way. Civis. THE CAPE MONITOR. Cape Town, Friday, December 6, 1850. WE have transferred from the columns of the Port Elizabeth Telegraph, of the 21st November, an interest- ing- letter, signed "Verax," on the state of public opinion in the Colony. We take in good part the writer's advice to us to steer clear of allusions to anti- convict agitation. We have not referred to that dark O chapter in the history of the Colony further than was necessary in order to show the means by which the present leaders of the democratic party have obtained the influence they have of late so extensively exercised ', such influence, so acquired, could not be of very long 1 duration : we are happy to believe that it is already on the decline more happy to believe that our own exertions have contributed in some degree to its over- throw. We claim no higher merit than this that we have afforded to the loyal and well-meaning- portion of the community, a medium through which their senti- ments may be made known, and through which the deceptions in which the opposite party very liberally indulge may be exposed. It is a fact that this paper is circulated and read in places where, before its appear- ance, newspapers were not read at all, because the inhabitants had become so disgusted with the dishonest assertions and arguments of the democratic press, that they preferred receiving- no public intelligence at all, to intelligence garbled and distorted for party pur- poses. It will be in the recollection of many of our readers, that on the 12th of October, the Editor of the Com- mercial Advertiser somewhat prematurely announced that the Colonists had " not been slow in expressing their approbation of the withdrawal of their four re- presentatives from the Legislative Council ;" and pro- ceeded : " Meetings have already been held, and resolutions of approval adopted, in the following- places : " Cape Town, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Swettendam, Worcester, George, and Uitenhage. " Private letters also state that similar proceedings had taken place or were about to take place, no doubt being entertained as to the results of the same, at the following places : a Malmesbury, Graaff-Reinet, and Beaufort. " These ten places are the capitals of districts or divisions which contain THREE-FOURTHS of the ivhole population, and THREE-FOURTHS of the estimated value of the whole FIXED PROPERTY of the Colony : the population being upwards of ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY THOUSAND, and the value of the fixed pro- perty being estimated at upwards of FOUR MILLION AND TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND. * " Thus, as rapidly as time permitted, the POPULA- TION and PROPERTY of the Colony have uttered a decision that no man can pretend to misunderstand. u With respect to the CONSTITUTION drawn up by the five representatives of the people, there appears to be as much unanimity." The above statement is laid before the readers of this journal,, with all the typographical emphasis of the original. For absolute untruth, for deliberate, wilful deception, it has scarcely a parallel in the English language. We shall not travel over again the ground already traversed. Our readers know how far the meeting's here alluded to generally consisting- of some twenty or thirty mechanics and apprentices represent the hundred and thirty thousand inhabitants and the four million two hundred thousand pounds value of fixed property, of the districts in which they were held. They also know by how many of the inhabitants of the Colony the four seceders were elected to the position they disgraced. Our purpose now is to show how many of the Colonists have deliberately condemned the recent proceeding's of " the popular four," who, we are lately told by one of their org-ans, will hereafter be (< the real rulers of the Colony." The apathy of many of the Colonists who have, up to this moment, pursued the let-alone policy adverted to in our last number, is much to be lamented. It must not, however, be supposed that this apathy is universal. Many have spoken out in support of order and good government, who will be found, both in numbers and in property, to constitute a party by no means despicable. The merchants of Cape Town took the lead. Their memorial, signed by ninety of their body who repre- sent property and annual transactions to the amount of at least half a million, contains the following- words : 14-2 " Your Memorialists have observed with deep regret the dissolution of the Legislative Council, by which the Colony has been deprived for an indefinite period of that legal channel which Her Majesty, by her letters patent, had prescribed for giving effect to her most gracious intention of granting Representative Institutions to this country." Graham's Town the metropolis of the Eastern Districts, and the second town in the Colony was not slow in adopting the same course. The Municipality of that place declared the conduct of the seceding members deserving of "the most unqualified repre- hension and disapproval of all the thinking portion of the community," and adopted the (( Reasons for Assent," prepared by Messrs. Cock and Godlonton, in which they stated their opinion Cf that the resignation of their trust, under existing circumstances, would be the abandonment of a solemn duty." Similar resolu- tions were almost unanimously adopted a few days afterwards by one of the largest meetings ever held in Graham's Town. The Divisional Road Board of Cradock, condemned the resignation of the four Members, and rejected their draft Constitution. The Divisional Road Board of Fort Beaufort followed the same course ; and the Albany Board and many others would, without doubt, have done so, but for the consideration that they were elected by their constituents to make roads and not constitutions. A public meeting at Port Elizabeth declined to offer any opinion on the merits of the rival Constitu- tions, as the inhabitants of that place had taken no 143 part in the previous elections; but on an attempt being 1 made to pass a resolution approving' of the resignation of the four members, only five hands were held up in its favour. Subsequently, however, a further meeting' was held at the same place, at which the excessive liberality of the Government draft and a fortiori of the " popular" Constitution, was earnestly deprecated. At Somerset, the District in which Sir A. Stocken- strom's estates are situated, and in which his influence was supposed to be paramount, a public meeting-, larg'ely attended, denounced the resignation of the four members as " detrimental to the interests of the whole Colony," and rejected, by a larg-e majority, a resolution declaring- that their conduct had been dictated by conscientious feeling's of duty. At Sidbury, resolutions were passed declaring- the course adopted by the seceders to be characterised by caprice and faction : and that they did not possess the confidence of the people of that part of the Colony. The people of Zwag-er's Hoek and Fort Peddie adopted similar resolutions. At Georg'e and Swellendam the democratic agents obtained the appearance of a triumph, but our readers are aware that in those places public opinion is very much divided, that the meeting's were packed, and that those who wished to oppose the cut-and-dry resolutions were not allowed to speak. The Governor's recent visit to the Frontier has enabled some of the inhabitants of those districts to address him personally on the subject of the Consti- tution. The following- is extracted from the Uitenhag-e address : 144 "We, as British subjects, ore naturally desirous to enjoy the privilege of our birthright Constitutional Government; but we dare not conceal from 1 your Excellency that our ardent aspirations are clouded by a deep anxiety that in obtaining' this long- delayed con- cession (a concession which we reg-ret was not granted in less perilous excitement), we run the danger of being 1 swamped by that democratic feeling- which has unfortunately taken possession of the popular mind within the last few months. And we implore your Excellency to represent these our views and alarms to the Home Government in time, so that while P-ranting- / o o us our undoubted privileges, we may be protected by a conservative system of franchise, which will do justice to the rights and duties of property and intel- ligence respectively." The following* extract from the Port Elizabeth address is to the same effect : " We trust that through your Excellency's repre- sentation, the boon of representative institutions, based on sound and constitutional principles, may not long- be withheld from this Colony." The following- is from the Sidbury address : " We have been made more fully aware by the gentlemen composing our deputation of the present sad disorganization in public affairs consequent on the existing lamentable political convulsions, and in the democratic and factious proceeding's of certain par- ties." We are also informed that petitions and addresses of the same purport are in preparation at Graaff- Reinet, George, the Knysria, Eiversdale, Swellendam, 145 Caledon, and Graham's Town : besides which there are many places which up to the present time, have remained neutral, and may be expected to feel the effects of the reaction evidently in progress in the colony. It would, perhaps, be possible, by a judicious employment of capitals and italics, to found upon the facts above stated a tolerably plausible assertion that " the almost unanimous voice of the Colony" has pronounced against the measures proposed by the seceding members. But we wish to state nothing that will not admit of proof j and the fact is, that the Colonists are not unanimous. There is, however, among them a large and daily increasing party opposed to the democratic movement. The more the question is discussed the more widely truth is circu- lated the more that party will increase. The Colo- nists will learn that the democratic form of Govern- ment, which is proposed for their acceptance, is one which has never brought peace and prosperity to any country, and they will . ultimately prefer a Constitu- tion founded upon the experience of ages, and the national traditions of Englishmen. (Port Elisabeth Telegraph.) THE PUBLIC VOICE. Port Elizabeth, 12th November, 1850. To THE EDITOR : Sir, The Colony is rapidly recovering- from the democratic fever with which it has been of late so violently affected, and the tumult L of applause extorted by the grand Coup de Theatre of the seceding- members is fast subsiding-. I question much if the begging circulars from the Cape Town Municipality, asking 1 for applause and money, were to be sent round again, they would meet with as favourable a reception as they did a few short weeks since. Already have many respectable individuals in Uiten- hage expressed then* sorrow at having- so committed themselves at their late meeting-. A large number of inhabitants of George have disavowed the sentiments and resolutions of the public meeting held in that town. At Swellendam, the stronghold of one of the dissenting members, so strongly adverse has been the feeling of an influential portion of the inhabitants to the fustian and balderdash put forth at the meeting, that by way of demonstration they actually complimented Mr. Godlonton by inviting him to a public entertainment. From Cradock, Colesberg, and other places, commu- nications of a similar tenor have been received, while at Graham's Town, Fort Beaufort, Somerset, Sidbury, and Port Elizabeth, the factious opposition of the would-be "popular members" has been openly and unhesitatingly denounced, and a large body, repre- senting the wealth and intelligence of the capital have mildly but firmly recorded their disapproval of the recent proceedings in Council. The ultra admirers and supporters of the ex-members and their politics, plume themselves complacently on their overwhelming numbers, and the ff insignificance" as they phrase it, of the minority opposed to them. They do well to make the most of this temporary and imaginary majority, for temporary and imaginary it certainly is to a very 147 great extent. Even now the ground is fast giving' way under them, and in a short space of time, when reason shall have assumed its sway, these boasted numbers will have dwindled away to zero. People, even now, are beginning- to enquire what grand step has been gained by this parade of opposi- tion? What great principle has been vindicated? What popular or salutary measure has been for- warded ? What victory achieved ? To any or all of these simple inquiries, the characteristic colonial reply is the only one which can be given Ik meet niet. But on the other hand, they ask with well-founded indignation Have not the wheels of the Government machine been unnecessarily clogged ? Have not all fiscal arrangements and all enquiry into Government Revenue and Expenditure been recklessly burked? Have not public works and improvements been inde- finitely suspended ? Have not the much-needed amendments in several defective Ordinances been needlessly delayed ? Have not division and antagonism been most inopportunely engendered at a time when perfect unanimity was of the most momentous import to the success of our cause ? And lastly, has not the great question of Representative Institutions itself been certainly postponed, and probably endangered, by these ill advised proceedings ? And all this interruption of public business and public improvements is to be caused, and all this bad feeling- is to be created, because four democratic G ' members, who arrogate to themselves the leadership of the people, and who proclaim themselves the exponents of the public voice, think proper to turn L 2 148 sulky when they find it impossible to cany everything- their own way, and vainly flatter themselves that they will produce a sensation, by stalking- out of the Council Chamber in all the majesty of offended dig-nity. The effect of this exhibition was precisely what your able correspondent, Punch, described as the throwing up of caps by the mob at the passing' procession, but on their return home when the excitement has subsided and the enthusiasm has abated, the spectators beg-in to wonder what it was that called forth their unbounded admiration. The delusion and the false impressions have been ably kept up by the misrepresentations of a dishonest Press, for such it is affirmed to be by their new con- temporary the Monitor, who fully corroborates an assertion I made in a former communication. It is refreshing* after the displays of radicalism with which we have been surfeited for months past to be enabled to refer to the sound constitutional views of this credit- able Journal ; but I would whisper a word of friendly advice to this new offspring- of the Press, and strongly counsel him to let alone the settled question of anti-con- victism, and not to risk the g-ood opinion of many would-be friends, by the re-agitation of a painful subject which has been long- since satisfactorily disposed of. Various charg-es have been brought against the people of Port Elizabeth, founded on their judicious opposition to the 25 franchise. They have been accused of fomenting- national antag-onism, and of illiberal and vexatious interference with the rights of the coloured classes. I am not aware of a single word having- escaped the lips of any public speaker, or of a line written in any local journal, indicative of any such feeling's. On the contrary, they know that the 25 franchise was introduced into the Council for the express purpose (whether mistaken or not, it is not my present purpose to enquire) of equalizing- the con- stituency in favour of the English portion of the com- munity, and with regard to the prejudice against colour, I do not believe that there is a town in the whole colony more free from any such unfounded and contracted views. The people of Port Elizabeth object with great reason to the placing- of the franchise in the hands of those who are not capable of using- it, and they think that it would be a means of raising- many of thecoloue d community from their present degraded position by rendering- the attainment of the franchise an object of honest ambition. History has shewn, and experience has confirmed, that there is no character so truly despotic as your extreme radical or democrat when in power, and the attempt is already perceptible in this Colony to exercise a despotic sway over the minds of that large portion of the public who do not like the trouble of thinking for themselves. But the people of this Colony, and especially the Dutch portion of it, are by nature, habit, and education, the very reverse of democratic; and there can be no doubt whatever that when they have cast the film from their eyes, and have thrown off the trammels which their despotic leaders have endeavoured to fasten upon them, they will rally round the Government and those leaders whose object, they will not fail to discover, is to preserve them from the perils of democracy and republicanism. VERAX.. 150 SWAGER'S HOEK. MINUTE& of a meeting- held on the 7th Nov. 1850, at Groote Vlakte, in S wager's Hoek, district of Somer- set (East), at which between thirty and forty respectable farmers and rate-payers attended. 1. It was proposed by Mr. T. Robson, and seconded by Mr. C. Button,-" That Mr. David Malan, senior, take the chair." Carried unanimously. 2. Proposed by Mr. 0. Button, seconded by Mr. Jacobus Smit, " That Mr. Frans Massyn act as Secretary to this meeting'." Carried. The Chairman then stated that the meeting* had been called by Mr. T. Robson, residing- at Groote Vlakte, at the request of the Secretary of the Road Board for Somerset (East), who had forwarded to him a number of printed documents, comprising' the Government notices of the 25th September and 2nd of October, 1850, the letter of the four Unofficial Members, dated the 21st of September, 1850, con- taining- their reasons for resig-ning-, &c. &c. and the report to his Excellency by the officials ; all of which the Chairman intimated should be carefully read to the meeting-, trusting* it would g-ive its candid opinion on the subject it had been called to discuss, entirely divested of all individual prejudice for either party. The letter of the Secretary of the Road Board and Mr. Robson's answer to it having- been read, the Chairman requested the Secretary to read the above- mentioned documents, slowly and distinctly ; after which they were thoroughly explained for the benefit of the few who had not a perfectly distinct view of the difference existing- between the two parties Cape Town. The following- resolution was then proposed b}^ Mr. Robso n, "1. That this meeting- is of opinion that it is the duty of every one present to consider and weig-h well in their minds the perplexed state of the Colony at this time, believed to be caused by the resignation of the four Unofficial Members, and that we, without partiality or prejudice, give our opinion on the different statements read to us to-day, as contained in the printed documents." After much discussion, it was evident all present were fearful of embracing- either side. The resolution O was consequently not carried. 2nd. Resolution. Proposed by Mr. H. Erasmus, and seconded by Mr. Thos. Rohson, " That this meeting- will not pledg'e itself to any form for a proposed Constitution that has not for its object the removal of the seat of government to a more central position." Carried unanimously. 3rd Resolution. Moved by Mr. R. Veitch, and seconded by Mr. W. C a wood, " That, in the opinion of this meeting-, the whole Colony would have benefited more, had the four Unofficial Members continued to hold their seats in the Legislative Council, believing- that as much or more could have been accomplished by their protesting- ag-ainst such measures as they might consider injurious to the Colonists." Carried by a majority of three. 4th Resolution. Moved by Mr. Emanuel Petersen, 152 seconded by Mr. T. Robson, " That this meeting- is of opinion Sir A. Stockenstrom and J.Fairbairn, Esq., do not sufficiently merit the confidence of the Colonists to warrant our returning* them as efficient persons to represent the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope in her Majesty's Parlia- ment in England, and that consequently we most decidedly refuse any support towards the expenses incurred by their voyage to Europe." After much argument, pro and con, the resolution was put to the vote, and earned by a large majority. The meeting then broke up, and although several spirited discussions had taken place, the greatest equa- nimity of temper was preserved throughout, and all parted most amicably. (Signed) T. ROBSON. UITENHAGE. Uitenhage, 18th Nov. 1850. To the Hon. "W. Cock and R. Godlonton, Esquires, GENTLEMEN, We, the undersigned, inhabitants of the town of Uitenhage, beg to express the highest satisfaction in bearing testimony to your upright and loyal conduct in the late Legislative Council, and which has shown itself still more conspicuous by the conduct of the four members, whose attempts to em- barrass the Colonial Government, to the injury of the Colonists generally, is very properly repudiated by every right-minded man in the Colony. In conclusion, Gentlemen, we feel assured that whenever the new Constitution is framed for this Colony (trusting as we do most sincerely that your 153 healths and lives may be spared), that from the con- fidence already with which you have so justly inspired the Colonists, that you will stand in the most pro- minent situation at the first " general election " of members for the Albany Division of the Eastern Province, viz. " The head of the poll." With every consideration, we have the honour to remain, Gentlemen, Your most obedient servants, J. C. Hitzeroth Col. A. B. Armstrong Christopher Emmet George Brehm J. Crowe John Niblett John C. Chase Joseph Charlton John F. Emmott W. R. Merritt Thomas Charltoa William Thompson Joachim Brehm Thomas Thompson William Cadle J. Hood John Stow Jonathan Clark William Francom George Davison Thomas Shaw Ant. Forrest John Younger F. J. Noyce Robt. Gunn C. J. Albo F. Stanley J. Curtis George M. Brunett C. J. Krog L. Jones Thomas Watts T. Kelsey II. O. Lange Frederick Hitzeroth Robert Pannell John Cadle A. A. Frantz James Lance Matthias Hall Horatio Emmott K. E. Greener H. W. Alexander J. M. Fleisher David Rees John Fleetwood John Knap H. Watson Wm. Mclntosh H. Allison W. H. Emmott T. Jones A. C. Dormehl Dan Hurtur. IN our last number was closed a series of articles, by an esteemed correspondent, " On the necessity of a balance of power in a constitution/' in which he has proved by reference to the history of Greece, Rome, England, France, and America, the necessity of such a balance, and the evils which invariably arise from its absence. There has been little or no allusion in these papers to recent events at the Cape ; but the appli- cation must be obvious. A new Constitution is to be established in this Colony, and it becomes those who are concerned in its preparation to take care to avoid the evils depicted by our correspondent as resulting* from the absence of a balance of power. To-day the same writer commences the discussion of the question, (C Will the proposed schemes for our new Constitution afford a balance of power ?" He has already exposed the fallacies by which the popular draft is supported, and if the whole question should be answered in the negative by arguments so cogent, and evidence so un- questionable, as our correspondent is accustomed to employ, it is not too late to amend those schemes. We await our correspondent's conclusions, simply for the present recommending* his papers to the careful attention of our readers. 155 WILL THE PROPOSED SCHEMES FOR OUR NEW CONSTITUTION AFFORD A BALANCE OF POWER? No. 1. SANGUINE precipitance and a want of due experi- mental calculation have brought irreparable ruin on thousands. All the wild schemes, from the South Sea bubble down to the crisis of the Railway mania, have g-ained their rapid impetus and equally rapid ex- plosion from speculative and enthusiastic minds pre- tending- some subtle clairvoyance into the future, and by a mag-ic mesmerism throwing- innumerable victims into a state of coma., out of which nothing- but the shock of ruin can arouse them. We profess ourselves, speaking- mesmcrically, not to be under influence. We endeavour to look clearly at the matter of fact of the present, as well as hopefully to the future. We mig-ht easily shut our e}^es, and fall into a dream j but our dream mig-ht be deceptive, and our sleep too long- : we therefore prefer to keep our eyes open, and to persuade others to do the same. With this intent, we would follow up our former papers ON THE NECESSITY OF A BALANCE OF POWER IN A CONSTITUTION, with the enquiry, WILL THE SCHEMES PROPOSED FOR OUR NEW CONSTITUTION AFFORD SUCH A BALANCE? We would lay down clearly at the outset of this enquiry, that the great question about which so much discussion has been held, both publicly and privately, is really not whether property ALONE should be represented in the Constitu- tion ? but, if looked into with open eyes, is, if pro- perty should be AT ALL represented? This is the point truly at issue. For in a colony which has no hereditary aristocracy, and in which, contrary to all sound precedent, it is at present proposed to have an elective Upper House, if, in the words of one of the framers of what is called, for distinction's sake, the People's Constitution, "Government is instituted chiefly for the protection of property," property, we conceive, must form the check and balance to popular precipitance and democratic irresponsibility. For we enquire, I. Would moral qualification give a check and form a balance ? We are told " in- telligent public opinion would constitute the upper chamber, a much better breakwater than any property qualification," that "the hig'hest qualification, any man could have is the entire confidence of the whole inhabitants of the country/' and that " if you fetter the people in any way (referring to the proposed restriction of voting for those having a property quali- fication) you will at once cease to hear their own in- stinctive voice, which sounds so much like the voice of God," and again, "of the good sense of 180,000 people." Can we believe that all this is spoken of a people one- third of whom have only very recently been emanci- pated from slavery ! We by no means wish to speak disparagingly of any, the poorest or most ignorant of the community ; but we ask of those who best know the colony, where are we to look for this so general intelligent public opinion, w r hich is to be the break- w-ater against w 7 hat? Against itself. Who is the 157 mean in the colony, rent as it is at present into party and faction, who is to have the entire confidence of the whole inhabitants of the country ? There is not a man who would obtain it. What restriction to voting for men of property could fetter the people more than the misrepresentations, and the prejudices, and the actual political hatred, and fangs of discord which are tearing- this once peaceful colony ? Who that reads how voters are influenced, as the many unquestionable correspondents to this party attest they are, in the country districts, would have any confidence in u their own instinctive voice, which sounds so much like the voice of God ?" Who that knows the present low state of education throughout the colony, the utter ignor- ance amongst the peaceful majority of what is trans- piring beyond their very neighbourhood, the fact of their being thoroughly unacquainted with what the anticipated change in the constitution really means, who, that is familiar with all this, would be willing to jeopardize the welfare of the whole colony to the good sense of such a constituency, composing the larger proportion of the 180,000, or to defend, only by so frail a barrier, that property which one who would throw us on the people's good sense tells us is, " a divine institution, over which law has no control ?" But we conceive there must be some misunderstand- ing about the term qualification for a Member of the Upper House. If by qualification were meant fitness for such membership, and it were urged that property alone imparted that fitness, we could understand the appositeness which has been advanced of election to the House of Legislature, with the Queen appoint- 158 ing a Governor or a Secretary. But we understand by qualification not so much Jitness as security. The Queen, it is true, may appoint a Governor or Secretary without asking- has he 3000 or 4000 ; but she ap- points him from his known or supposed fitness or deserts. He is recommended by her Ministers as competent for the post assigned him ; he is ordinarily a tried man, proved capable and worthy of his post ; he is wholly responsible, and may be recalled at any moment for misg'overnment or mistake. But by the qualification of a member is meant something- more than his bare fitness. Those who entrust the legisla- tion, which regards their own and the public property to him, require security. His having- property at stake is a guarantee to them that property will not be rashly meddled with. An opposite case to his we con- ceive to be that of a manag-er of a larg-e mercantile or banking" company, from whom his employers would not require 4000 as a qualification in the sense of Jitness y but of whom they would require it per se y aut per aliinn, in the light of security. Now, we question if any public company would be satisfied with moral security ; as men of any knowledge of the world, we believe they would not entertain it as a guarantee. Let a man of the highest character attempt to raise a loan from any public body on such seeming security, however unexceptionable in itself it may appear, and he would find the common sense against him. And if the interests of any joint-stock company would not be deemed satisfactory if leaning only on moral security, much less can the interests of an entire colony. Moral qualification, then, we hold to be no security in the 159 point ot issue ; and if so, affording- no check to popular rashness, and no balance to give property its due weight, if property be at stake. II. Would 1000 qualification for a member of the Upper House afford a balance ? If by this be meant a nominal property of 1000, it is vain to ask the question. For a property might be bought to-day, and be mortgaged nearly to its whole amount to- morrow, in any political struggle, merely to qualify. But we are told " that in the Lower House property will have its full representation," We have no gua- rantee for this. It may, or it may not. Out of the 46 members there may be a few possessing property, there may be some possessing their 2000 fixed pro- perty, or their 4000 mixed j but the great probabi- lity, judging* from experience, is, there will not : for " the great evil of universal suffrage," writes Lyell : " is the irresistible temptation it affords to a needy set of adventurers to make politics a trade, and to devote all their time to agitation, electioneering*, and flattering the passions of the multitude. The natural aristocracy of a republic (and of a colony) consists of the most eminent men in the liberal professions, lawyers, divines, and physicians of note, merchants in extensive business, literary and scientific men of cele- brity. And men of all these classes are apt to set too high a value on their time to be willing to engage in the strife of elections perpetually going on, and in which they expose themselves to much calumny and accusations, which, however unfounded, are profes- sionally injurious to them. The richer citizens, who mig'ht be more independent of such attacks, love their 100 ease or their books, and from indolence, often abandon the field to be more ignorant." Lyell's second Visit to the United States, vol. 1. p. 100. But allowing- that in the Lower House there may be some to represent property, there is more than proba- bility that the majority will not. Where, then, will be the guarantee that property shall be fairly repre- sented, unless in the Upper House qualification ; and looking- at the disparity in numbers, 15 to 46, the qualification to be at all a balance should be such an amount as mig'ht be beyond the means of being- attained in a great political strug-g-le. It would be no impossible thing-, in a nice balance of votes, to qualify a demag-ogne with 1000 to obtain a seat, and turn the scale. But some may think there is security, thoug'h with a low qualification, from the proposal that the members of the Lower House shall consist of those elected from particular districts, while the Upper House would be elected by all the voters in the whole colony. But nothing- would be easier than for a designing* and watchful committee of central manag-ement to have an ag-ency throughout the whole colony, who should propose and canvass for particular men : and with what effect such a committee can work is too well known. A difficulty also is raised, that if property be the qualification, a man may have property to-day, but to-morrow, by the decease of his wife, his property may be divided, and his qualification cease. And in like way, if the House were filled with needy adven- turers, or with the holders of a nominal 1000, any 1G1 of them might on the morrow be insolvent, or find politics not so profitable as some other scheme, and so be disqualified by bankruptcy, or by a sudden transi- tion to a new place or pursuit leave a vacant seat. Contingencies must occur in either case. Since, then, it is more than probable that property would not be fairly represented in the Lower House, the only way in which the Upper House could act as a balance would be the guarantee, by a high amount of qualification, that property there at least should be represented and protected. III. Would the members of the tnw Houses, being elected by the same constituency, afford a balance? We conceive not, even if there were a higher quali- fication for voters than that proposed ; but with the almost universal suffrage at present contemplated, it is a perfect delusion to suppose so. As far as any real balance would be effected, we might as well have but one House, with increased Members. If, as is sup- posed, the Lower House is to represent the people, as distinguished from property, and the Upper House to represent property, though not distinguished from the people, if the people vote for its own protection, it is but safe and equitable that property should vote for the representatives which are to protect its interests. Let there be no difference in the constituency for electing Members for the two Chambers, and no quali- fication, or a very low one or nominal one for the members of the respective Houses, and what defence has property? Where is its balance against mere arbitrary power ? What shall hinder, to the exclusion of long residents, a host of needy adventurers, with M 162 eager and hungry expectation, making- a mere specu- lation of a seat in either House, men put in by a party, and to serve any party turn, men who neither represent the Colony, nor care for its protection or its peace, but who want some arena where they may display their cacoethes loquendi, or some agitation through which they may be jostled into place ? The history of the American Assemblies must con- vince us that there is a tendency, wherever universal suffrage prevails, for the electors to talk over those who are to represent them, to make conditions on which they return them, and to make employment for those that are needy. Against this a higher consti- tuency for an Upper House would materially work. On such terms as those supposed, few electors having property, or few candidates of large property qualifi- cation, would give or receive suffrages. Property, therefore, electing property to represent it, seems the only sure check to political adventurers, and the only safe balance to the undue weight of universal suffrage. Our present balance, assuredly, seems but a very critical one. A rash and precipitate determination may plunge us into ruin ; while calm, and dispas- sionate and temperate measures may restore our lost tranquillity and ensure our future progress. We need fair, judicious, unprejudiced enquiry into our present state, and what mode of government, and with what checks and balances, we really need. It is the opinion of Humboldt, Cordier, and others, following the hypo- thesis of Leibnitz, that volcanoes are caused by the earth's surface, when in a state of incandescence, cooling more rapidly than the interior parts, thus occasioning-, from the unequal contractions, cracks and fissures, throug'h which water being* admitted, occasions at length the violent disruption. We have need to ask if there may not be similar causes at work, which may result in a moral earthquake and political volcanoes amongst ourselves. Our amorphous society has for near two years past been in a state of fusion, and though superficially we may have cooled a little, the rents of disaffection and the ruptures of animosity are, alas ! too visible. We need but a flood, nay, a mere waterdrop, infused on the still hot, though smothered, enmity which is lurking' beneath the sur- face, to cause the devastating' lava-stream to pour out its scathing' current, withering 1 our peace, desolating* our homes, and changing' our Colony of Good Hope once more to the Cape of Storms. od. We look at it in a few of its probable bearing's, and would throw out a few questions which common sense may answer. 1. Will the new Constitution really advance the true interests of the colony at large ? Will it, if faction and prejudice prevail ? Will it, if property be unrepre- sented and unprotected? Will it, if confidence be checked and security weakened ? landed property depreciating- in value ? Will it, if many having- their means invested in the Colony, deterred by continued feuds and repeated excitement, seek for more peace- able scenes ? Will it, if in consequence of this, property chang-e hands, and moneys out on mort- g-ag-es be called in, and capital be draug-hted out of the country ? Will it, if from lack of capital the land is unused, and labour ceases, and less produce be broug-ht into the market, and few imports be required, and unpacked bales lie idle in the store, and fewer vessels enter our bay ? Will it, if from a g-eneral stagnation, the labourer, and the artizan, and the shopman, and the storekeeper, and the merchant, all feel the pressure, and consequent bankruptcy lays its cramping- hand on 200 adventurous industry? Will all this serve the true interests of a growing- Colony, whose very well-being 1 and progress so materially depend on mutual con- fidence, on increasing 1 public spirit, and internal peace? Free institutions grow out of enterprize, not enterprize out of free institutions. 2. Will the new Constitution diminish our taxation? Our present taxation is probably as easy as that of any civilized country in the world ; but can it continue so if all the chang-es which some contemplate are effected ? Will taxation be diminished by the annual travelling- and other expenses of sixty-one members ? By the payment of speakerships, and ushers, and messeng-ers ? By all " the pride, and pomp, and circumstance " of a newly-formed legislation ? and by the bonus of our self-defence as the consequence of our self-government ? Can we expect reduced taxation, or even rigid economy, if property be unrepresented, and those who have no property to tax have the power to tax the property of others ? We let an authority already quoted answer these questions, who tells us, " Taxation in America is considerable ; and its pressure may easily be supposed to fall upon the rich. The poor, who regnlate the assessments of these imposts, being- the majority, and having- little or no property of their own, deal very freely with that of the rich, and the expenditure of this taxation is often very beneficial to them, by employment in public works and offices." 3. Will the new Constitution reduce the present expenditure for Government servants? We do not believe it for one moment. What ! Is public faith at 201 so low an ebb ? Is the English nation, or are its Colonists so given to moral repudiation ? Is the most fair-dealing- country in the world likely to become a party to manifest injustice ? Has Great Britain sent out, on a certain promise, her men of character and men of rising- worth, have these men given their best days and their most energ-etic services to a distant Colony, and shall we suppose that the mother-country will leave them to the tender mercies of sudden retrenchment, and to be dealt with as if they were worthless hireling's, instead of public servants who have been tried and proved faithful? "Would the Colonists even ask for it, or wish it ? We do not believe they would. Different appointments as they fall out may be stipulated for on lower terms ; but will an honest man for one moment conceive the idea, that retrenchment is to be obtained by the breaking* of public faith, and that an act of injustice is to be one of the first results of our free institutions ? 4. Will the new Constitution make places for active and ene/rgetic men ? It may, and it will. But probably those who expect to fill them may be dis- appointed. The wheel of great chang-es keeps revolving-: and where there is determined party spirit, and the eye of watchful jealousy, men's motives are soon discovered, and even motives (which do not influence them) readily ascribed to them. Hence the place- seeker is commonly thwarted ; if for no other reason, at least, because he is a place-seeker. One ascends by the ladder another has planted. The Abbe Sieyes was Napoleon's stepping-stone to the first consulate ; and Perillus in his brazen bull, and M. Guillotine 202 beneath the instrument of his own invention, convince us how a man's machinations may serve to his own overthrow. It will be no enviable post which the representatives of our first Assembly will be called upon to fill. Their probable return, be they who they may, will be undisguised opposition, public complaint and disappointment. 5. Will the new Constitution cause the existing mem- bers of society to cliange places ? Will those who, from their position, now take the lead be moved from it, and give place to persons now of no influence? Certainly not. Influence does not depend merely on place and power. It is the result of tried experience, straightforward intention, active energy and public spirit. A man's place may call attention to him, and give him occasion to be tried as an influential man : but his mere position will never confer upon him real influence : his influence is, in every sense, his talent. The caste of talent, activity, and public zeal will always prevail over the mere conventional caste of station ; and the man who has the seeds and energies for prominence in him will have power in every com- munity. Make what distinctions you please, still, whilst heavy indolence and inert self-ease will sink, the buoyant and elastic energy of true greatness will rise. Shakspeare took a true estimate of man when he wrote : " It is not in our stars But in ourselves that we are underlings." 6. Will the taste for politics y arising out of our new Constitution^ benefit us ? Not if they be factious party politics. The quiet and the prosperous do not 203 need changes and experiments, but protection. The enterprising- merchant, the thriving- tradesman, the careful farmer, are too engrossed with what really concerns them to meddle with those subjects which most g-enerally end in talk. Party views in politics, however hotly maintained, are like controversies in religion, whose common results are far from any practical g-ood. The political tradesman is very seldom your dilig-ent and successful one ; and the political field is to most men a very barren field for either peace or prosperity ; they who toil in it sow the wind to reap the whirlwind. A small community torn by party feeling- is like a house divided against itself. Every contested question raises dissension, animosity, ill-feeling-, jealousy, exclusive dealing-, and long--continuing- rancour j and the ultimate con- sequences are family divisions and bitterly-maintained and unprofitable strife, in which all common interests are forg-otten. We cannot too cautiously remember that our Constitution is but an experiment ; and as such it should be dealt with. Precipitance may be fatal. Well has it been said : " There are seasons when political reforms are safe, expedient, and desirable ; there are others when none but the most rash empiric would prescribe their appli- cation. If, when the minds of a people are violently agitated by political enthusiasm, kindled by the examples of other nations actually in a state of revolu- tion, if, while that class of the people who derive their subsistence from bodily labour and industry are artfully rendered discontented with their situation, inflamed by pictures of imaginary grievances, and 204 stimulated by delusive representations of immunities to be acquired and blessing's to be obtained by new political systems, in which they themselves are to be legislators and governors, in such a crisis it cannot be the part of true patriotism to attempt the reform even of confessed imperfections. The hazard of the experiment at such a time is apparent to all rational and reflecting 1 men. It is then we feel it our duty to resist all attempts at innovation, to cherish with gratitude the blessing's we enjoy, and quietly wait a more favourable opportunity of gently and easily removing 1 our imperfections, trivial indeed, when balanced against the high measure of political hap- piness which we possess." Tytlei-'s General History. Free institutions, to be of real value to a community ; must not merely be the result of hasty impulse and legislative enactments ; they must increase and gain permanent strength by progTessive measures, by the experiment and moderation of judicious changes, and by the growth and development of the moral, intel- lectual, and religious character of the people. It is the gTowing belief of many that to leap from our nominated Legislative Council to two elected Houses of representatives is as dangerous as it is novel. Difficulty has been found in the choice of a few representatives, where are we to find sixty-one ? Are there that number of competent and independent persons who can and mil fairly represent all parts and classes of this scattered Colony ? \Ve believe the practical difficulties of the carrying out our Constitu- tion, as proposed by some, will be far greater than is generally anticipated. Would it not be safer that our 205 elective representation should be gradual, and whilst the Lower House is chosen by the people, that the Upper House should, for the first Parliament, be nomi- nated by the Crown? Such a modification of elected representatives would, there is little doubt, work well. The experiment would be tried by degrees j opportu- nity would be given of proving our capability for self-o-overriment ; violent and extreme changes would O / O be avoided ; talent would have opportunity of being tested j many who are now against extreme measures would be satisfied ; and, as far as we can see, every practical good to result from free institutions would be secured, and we should be saved much bitterness, continued opposition, and, if we mistake not, disap- pointed failure. Some of the old apologues are full of terse, and experimental wisdom, and though trivial, yet Horace testifies : Ridiculum acri Fortius et tnelius magnas plerumque secat res. Two of these fables are descriptive of our present position. The one is that of " The two goats crossing over the narrow plank." Our party spirit, if main- tained as contentiously as theirs, must serve for our common ruin. Our one and the self-same object should be the common g m ood ; and we should follow after this with less bitterness and more calm delibera- tive wisdom. The other fable is that of " The frogs asking for a king." Our government has until lately been so easily conducted, and our tranquillity so perfect, our taxation so easy, and our institutions so liberal, that we scarce know what to complain of, 200 unless it be that the reign of King- Log is too stupid and too uneventful. But let us look to it that we are not agitating' for the reign of King- Stork, and for such hasty changes as shall give us too much reason to lament that we have changed a government of peace and a state of prosperity for one of contention, heavy imposts, and ruin. The government we need is one which while it is liberal is just, and while it is popular is protective; and which in practice as in theory effects (( the greatest happiness of the greatest number" CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CONSTITUTION. IT is much to be regretted that so many of our fellow colonists appear to have given so little consi- deration to the character and principles involved in the formation of a Constitution for the Colony, which, whatever may be its nature, must necessarily affect, in a very important degree, the peace, happiness, and prosperity of all classes of its inhabitants. It would seem that they have thoughtlessly yielded up their better judgements to the alluring 1 sophistries of Mr. Fairbairn, and the very refined oratory of his coadjutors, without pausing 1 to consider that the great principles involved in the government of nations and communities are the result of experience progressively developed in successive ages, the application of which to each particular state of society has generation after generation occupied the thoughts of the greatest statesmen that ever devoted their talents and acquire- ments to the service of mankind. 207 Possibly the g-entlemen to whom I have referred, and the worshipful Commissioners of our Municipality, may be well qualified for the discharge of the duties belonging* to that station of life into which it has pleased God to call them ; but I may, I think, without offence, be permitted to question whether their wisdom must be allowed to outweigh that of the most distin- guished statesmen of the past and present generations. Yet these g'entlemen have, with the most unhesitating- confidence, enunciated principles which the experience of all well-ordered communities has long- since re- pudiated. Had they not, with such indefatigable zeal, laboured night and day to instil their principles into the minds of their credulous followers, the Colony at large would not have cared for what they said or thought ; but the consequences of their teaching 1 have already been productive of so much individual suffering- and public injury, that it is now high time that those misguided people should be cautioned to stand still for a while and survey the path whither they are suffering* them- selves to be led. The two great and paramount enquiries which are most essential to consider before determining the cha- racter of the Constitution, are 1st, What principles experience has discovered to be the best on which to construct a Legislature, with the view of conferring the greatest amount of good on all classes of commu- nities ; and, 2nd, To what extent those principles can at present be adapted to the particular character and circumstances of the very heterogeneous and dispersed population of this Colony. 208 In following* up these enquiries, it seems to be indispensably necessary to weigh the opinions of those distinguished persons, whose lives, or the greater part of them, have been devoted to their consideration, in their practical application to Her Majesty's settle- ments abroad. Those opinions have frequently been recorded in the despatches wliich have passed between the Colonial Office and the Colonies, and in the course of the debates in Parliament. I purpose, therefore, setting forth some of them, that they may be compared with the extravagant theories of the inexperienced persons who have taken so much pains to infuse their mischievous theories throughout the Colony ; and shall begin with Lord Stanley's despatch to Governor Sir George Napier, which acknowledges the receipt of a petition from Cape Town, praying that the Govern- ment of this Colony might consist of a Governor and Executive Council, both appointed by the Crown, and an Elective Legislative Assembly, on which occasion his Lordship thus expresses himself on the subject of Representative Government for the Cape : " The plan suggested in the petition, and recom- mended in your despatch, is described as an assimila- tion in principle and in form to the Government of Great Britain. I cannot admit the accuracy of this statement. A Legislature composed exclusively of persons elected by the people at large is utterly un- known to the constitution of this kingdom, and does not exist in any of the Colonial dependencies of the British Crown." " The very fact of such a scheme being propounded as one analogous to the British Constitution, affords convincing proof that the authors 209 had contented themselves with a very superficial con- sideration of the subject, and could not have applied their minds to it in such a manner as to have mastered or even ascertained the difficulties by which it is beset." (e In all the more extensive British Colonies in which representative assemblies exist, a problem has arisen of which it has never been possible to find a complete solution. The capital town of the province must be the seat of the local legislature. But it is the place of residence of a comparatively small proportion of the Colonists. The settlers resident in the remote country districts have many interests opposed to those of the citizens of the metropolis. But the representative body is composed of the inhabitants of the capital town in a proportion far exceeding 1 that of their relative wealth and numbers, because to them alone attendance in the Legislature is matter of convenience or desire. To the rural settler it is a heavy and often an unwel- come burthen." " Cape Town is barely accessible from the eastern or northern districts, except by persons prepared to incur an amount of fatigue and expense to which it would be unreasonable to expect that men would habitually subject themselves from a spontaneous zeal for the public service." " There would of course be exceptions, but as a general rule it would be irra- tional to expect the actual attendance at a House of Assembly at Cape Town of many Members, excepting those whose settled residence was in that town or its immediate vicinity. They would of necessity be chosen, in a large majority of cases, to represent the country districts, and the Assembly would in reality express the opinions and consult for the interests rather p 210 of the capital than of the Colony at large yet they would be entitled and enabled to claim for their opi- nions all the authority belonging to a body freely chosen to act for the whole population." " During* the actual session of the proposed Assembly, the same physical causes mnst create serious hindrances of another kind to the successful discharge of their duties. To a very large proportion of the constituency, all communication with their representatives, and all knowledge of their proceedings and deliberations, must arrive so tardily and so imperfectly, as to destroy one of the great advantages of such institutions in other countries." Adverting to the distinction which results from the diversity of race and origin, his Lord- ship says, C( It cannot be denied that at the Cape of Good Hope, more than in almost any other possession of the British Crown, the elements of which society is composed, are heterogeneous, dissimilar, and sepa- rated from each other by distinctions almost indelible. I have no means of stating with entire precision the relative numbers or the comparative wealth of the different classes which combine to form the collective population of the Colony. But I apprehend that the Colonists of the English race are at once the least numerous and the most wealthy, active, and intelligent class. To these succeed the old Dutch settlers or their descendants, between whom and the English there probably subsist many mutual jealousies, and but few domestic or even commercial connexions." " Now if an assembly of the people of the Cape of Good Hope should be convened by Her Majesty, by what method is it proposed to secure for each of these component elements 211 of society its due weight and influence in that body, and no more ? When I bear in mind how powerful, indeed lww nearly irresistible, is the authority of an elected Legislature in the Colony which it represents, I cannot reg'ard as a matter of secondary concern the adjustment and balance of that authority in such a manner as may prevent its being" perverted into a means of gratifying 1 the antipathies of a dominant caste, or of promoting- their own interests or prejudices at the expense of those of other and less powerful classes. Will the wealthy, and intelligent, and enterprising- minority, to which I have adverted, be content to find themselves overborne by a majority inferior to them- selves in all respects, except in that of numerical strength ?" Cf It is no lig'ht thing 1 to throw down the barriers which have, hitherto, afforded protection to the great mass of the colonists, and to hazard the conse- quences of placing 1 them without that protection in the presence of an authority, the abuse of which might work out a great amount of irremediable injustice." <( Neither, so far as I can perceive, has it yet occurred to you to inquire by what means the necessary autho- rity of the Executive Government is to be sustained in the presence of such a representative Legislature as you contemplate, composed, as that Legislature must be, of at least two different European races." The substance of the despatch from which the above Extracts have been taken, was communicated to the Cape Town petitioners, and a public meeting 1 was held to consider Lord Stanley's objections. The question was referred by the meeting 1 to a committee, of which Messrs. Fairbairn, Brand, and Jarvis were members ; P 2 212 and we learn from the Zuid Afrikaan of the ?tli October, 1842, that the Committee held their first meeting- on Friday, the 5th of that month. How many attended is not stated ; but " the unanimous opinion of those present was, that the representative Govern- ment which the inhabitants seek to obtain, and which they prayed for in their petition, was not that of an Assembly as the only legislative power, but of an As- sembly of representatives elected by the people, a Council chosen by the Crown, and a Governor similarly appointed j each having- concurring legislative powers, the Assembly as a Lower and the Council as an Upper House, and the Governor, as the representative of the Crown, constituting the third estate. Thus the Colonial and her Majesty's Government would always have a check on the proceeding's of the Assembly, and all the fear of excess of jurisdiction or power , and of oppression of any particular class of people, mould cease any longer to exist ; while in case of any difference between the Colonial Government and the Assembly, her Majesty's Government would sit in judgment as the umpire, and decide upon what should be or should not be." It does not appear that the Committee ever met again, and here the subject seems to have rested till the 2nd November, 1846, when Earl Grey transmitted a despatch to the Governor of the Cape, in which his Lordship refers to various questions proposed by Lord Stanley, which had not then been answered ; and ex- presses a wish that the Governor, in considering the question, would advert attentively to the observations made by Lord Stanley in his despatch to Sir George 213 Napier. Earl Grey then alludes to the hostile feeling's which had been exasperated between the different races by the contest then in progress, and by the emigration of the Boers. But his Lordship observes, " that on a question of this nature some difficulties may be wisely encountered, and some apparent risks well incurred, in reliance on the resources which every civilized society, especially every society of British birth or origin, will always discover within themselves." The Attorney-General, in obedience to the directions of his Excellency Sir Harry Smith, prepared and sub- mitted for the Governor's consideration, a g-eneral plan for introducing- the element of popular representation into the Government of this Colony. It is sufficient for my present purpose to observe only on the fact that this plan proposes a Legislative Council, composed of official and unofficial Members, all of whom are to be nominees, as distinguished from the Members of the House of Assembly, who are to be elected by persons who are owners and occupiers of land or building's to the annual value of 10, or oc- cupiers for not less than twelvemonths, of fixed pro- perty of the annual value of 15. Sir Harry Smith, after his return from the frontier, enclosed the Attorney-General's plan to Earl Grey, with the remark that it had confirmed his Excellency in his original idea that a Governor, a Legislative Council (to be nominated is implied), and a House of Assembly, is the best form of Government for the Colony. This memorandum of the Attorney-General was next transmitted successively to the Members of the 214 Executive Council and to the three Judges, for their individual opinions, unbiassed by each other. Hence the able documents which were presented by the Governor to the Legislative Council on the 10th July, 1849. I shall at present merely refer to these documents to show that, besides the Attorney-General, the Secre- tary to Government, the Treasurer-General, the Col- lector of Customs, and the three Judg-es are unanimous in agreeing that the Legislative Council should be nominated by the Crown. . The Chief Justice was the only one of the seven hig-h functionaries who qualified his opinion on these points, by observing- that it would prove more satisfactory if about one-half of the Mem- bers were elected. Early in the following- year, His Excellency received Earl Grey's despatch of the 31st January, 1850, transmitting- the Report of the Committee of the Board of Trade and Plantations, where his Lordship states, that as the leading- features of the Constitution to be granted to the Cape are recommended by the Com- mittee to be laid down in letters patent, he will cause the necessary instrument for this purpose to be pre- pared immediately ; and accordingly the letters patent followed. Now, Sir, let your readers observe what the Com- mittee of the Board of Trade and Plantations say in their Report. They state that, the question of grant- ing- to the Cape a Representative Legislature had been affirmatively determined by Her Majesty, and that it had been referred to them to report only, on the particular form of Representative Constitution which appears to 215 them to be the best suited to the peculiar circumstances of the Colony. This question they find to be one of equal difficulty and importance, for while they recog- nize the necessity of a change in the existing* form of Government, and the expediency of granting 1 to the Cape a Constitution founded on the principles of repre- sentation, they have found tc in the peculiar circum- stances of the Colony, very serious obstacles to the establishment of any such system of Government, of which the satisfactory operation can be anticipated with any cotifidence ;" and the report adds, " we are bound to express our fear that we have failed in disco- vering any mode of proceeding which we can recom- mend as being free from grave objections" Referring to the geographical difficulties anticipated by Lord Stanley, the Committee observe that, they regret their inability to express their opinion that, " in the practical working- of a Representative Constitution at the Cape, these difficulties will not be experienced to a very con- siderable degree." It is self-evident, from all this, that had not the Queen determined on a Representative Legislature for the Cape, the Committee would not have recommended (e any such system of Government." The same Committee in reporting on the Bill for the Australian Colonies, remark, that until the commence- ment of the nineteenth century, it was the almost in- variable usage to establish a Local Legislature in the North American settlements of the Crown, consisting of three Estates, that is, a Governor appointed by the Crown, a Council nominated by the Sovereign, and an Assembly elected by the people. That although the experience of centuries has ascertained the value and 216 the practical efficiency of the ancient constitutional usage, by establishing- the three Estates, public opinion in Australia constrains the Committee to adopt the opinion that a - singie House of Legislature should be provided for the Australian Colonies, one-third of the Members of which should be nominated by the Crown, with power of amending 1 their own Constitution with the consent of the Imperial Parliament ; but as such emendations may be productive of injurious conse- quences, the Committee are of opinion that it should not be lawful to make any order in Council confirming" any act of the Colonial Legislature, until it had been laid before Parliament for at least thirty days. The Committee also state, that in Bug-land the Queen's Civil List is settled upon Her Majesty for life, (f and in addition to this, Parliament has thoug'ht fit to provide, by a permanent charg-e on the Consolidated Fund, for a very considerable part of the establishments kept up for the public service, including- the whole of those of a judicial character, leaving- to be defrayed by annual votes those only which have been regarded as requiring- the frequent revision of the Legislature." The reasons for thus withdrawing- various heads of expenditure from annual discussion apply, the Com- mittee apprehend, with much increased force in the Colonies. " It is not to be denied," they say, (e that in these small societies party spirit is apt to run still higher than among- ourselves, and that questions re- specting- the remuneration of public servants are occa- sionally discussed, rather with reference to personal feelings than to a calm consideration of the real in- terests of the community." 217 If not trespassing 1 to too unreasonable a length on your columns, I propose to pursue this subject to its conclusion in another letter. A LOOKEK-ON. WHETHER the result of sales which may have taken place within the last month has shown an apparent rise or fall in the value of fixed property, is a matter so slightly bearing" upon the larger question, how such property is likely to be affected by the adoption of a form of Government which will inevitably throw a vast amount of political power into the hands of an Assembly composed of persons possessing no property at all, that we could be well content to leave it entirely untouched. The value of an unsupported assertion in the Cape Town Mail is tolerably well known to Cape Town readers ; and if the only object of an article in that paper had been to show, that since the promulga- tion of the Town-house Constitution " landed property in this city and its vicinity has been steadily rising in value/' such an assertion might safely have been left to the unbiassed judgment of the public, who know the character of the paper, and will estimate the statement at its true value. But the ultimate and true object of the article to which reference has been made was very different. After discoursing: on " the rise in the value of fixed o property," our contemporary proceeds in the following strain : ^ It would be unjust, however, if we did not admit 218 that there is a certain description of property, which is really in danger. It was, indeed, this species of property which some of the authors of the alarm probably had in view, when they raised their cry of terror. This property is that which certain office- holders and their dependants imagine themselves to possess in the patronage and i pickings' of the Colonial civil establishment, and the public expenditure. There is no doubt that this kind of property will be in very serious peril, when the new Constitution is established. And perhaps it is the public knowledge of this fact, which has lately caused other kinds of property to rise in value." Now every word of this is palpably untrue. The (( office-holders and their dependants" have experienced none of this (( terror" which our contemporary so complacently imagines : and for this simple reason : that every newspaper and every public speaker (with one exception) and every individual in the Colony w r ho has expressed an opinion on the subject, that the framers of the Privy Council Report, the framers of the "popular Constitution," as well as the Govern- ment Commissioners, have all acknowledged the principle, which no honest man could question, that the public faith shall be preserved, and that, what- ever changes may be made as vacancies occur, the claims of the present holders of office will be religiously respected. For this reason the officials feel no danger, and it is simply a deception to assert that they are influenced in then* political course by regard for their own position ; for only one party in the political contest 219 has yet ever hinted at the possibility of the breach of faith proposed by our contemporary, and that party is too insignificant to create any serious alarm. Still, if, in the midst of these dissensions, the character of the Colonists is to be considered of any value, it is right that this disgraceful proposal should be placed in its true light, and that its secret history should be disclosed in all its deformity. It is, there- fore, to be clearly understood that the Civil servants of this Government whether high or humble, whether " office-holders" or " dependants" are threatened with loss of office, and deprivation of emoluments, of which, by an implied contract, the public have guaranteed them the enjoyment, unless they suppress their honest convictions, and hypocritically profess democratic doctrines which they do not in reality entertain. This is the threat which, having* been repeatedly disclaimed by Government Commissioners, by the seceding 1 Members, and by all classes of the public, is now revived by the Mail. It will be repudiated with deserved scorn by all right-minded and honest men ; but it deserves some notice, considering" the quarter from which it emanates. The Cape Town Mail is very well known to be the political organ of the Commissioners of the Munici- pality of Cape Town. Now, when we bear in mind that at one of the meeting's of that body a Com- missioner was hardy enough to propose that the claims upon the public faith of individuals now holding office should be disregarded, and that the other Commissioners present were we will charitably suppose obtuse enough to overlook the dishonesty of 220 the proposition made to them ; and when we find that dishonest proposition reproduced in the columns of a newspaper known to be in the interest and under the direction of the Commissioners;, we are scarcely uncharitable in suspecting- the commencement of a crusade against that " description of property" (we adopt the phrase) whose only security is the g*ood faith and honesty of the public. If it should hereafter be proposed to reduce the salary of the Governor and Members of the Executive Council by one-half, what objection can those function- aries make to such a proposal? They would say,