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. <f Anarchy and 
 government are both before us, and in our choice. If 
 we fall, we fall by our folly, not our fate ; and we 
 shall evince to the world of how small influence to 
 produce national happiness are the fairest gifts of 
 heaven, a healthy climate, a fruitful soil, and inesti- 
 mable laws, when conferred upon a frivolous, per- 
 verse, and ungrateful generation." 
 
 The Advertiser, of last Saturday, charges Mr. M. 
 Blake with travelling about the district of Swellendam 
 to obtain signatures to a Memorial against the 25 
 franchise, and has garnished his article on that sub- 
 ject with some personalities which we forbear to 
 characterise. 
 
 The leaders of the party of which the Advertiser is 
 
 M 2
 
 164 
 
 the principal organ, must be made to know that they 
 cannot stifle public discussion, and force their opinions 
 without deliberation upon the Colonists by these per- 
 sonal attacks upon those who presume to differ from 
 them. It is true that the 25 franchise Avas adopted 
 by both sections of the late Council ; but if Mr. Blake 
 thinks differently upon the subject, he has a perfect 
 rig-ht to express his opinion, and is adopting- a perfectly 
 constitutional and proper course in endeavouring- to 
 persuade others to adopt his views. The attempt to 
 silence him by a personal attack is another instance of 
 the oppression and tyranny practised under the name 
 of liberality. 
 
 A SOMEWHAT novel style of newspaper warfare has 
 been adopted by the democratic organs. Unable to 
 question our facts, or fairly to meet our arguments, 
 they complain that our articles are anonymous ; and 
 themselves sensible of the absurdity of a charge which 
 mig-ht be broug-ht with equal truth ag-ainst the Times, 
 the Chronicle, or the Spectator or, indeed ag'ainst 
 any newspaper that ever existed they hint, with a 
 mysterious attempt to make it appear that they know 
 more than they express, that this journal is conducted 
 by persons in the employment of government. 
 
 This absurd charg-e was first made in the columns of 
 the Ziufid Afrikaan, and was last week repeated in the 
 Cape Town Mail. The Monitor was not, indeed, men- 
 tioned in either of those papers, it being* the policy of 
 our democratic contemporaries to suppress all mention 
 of this journal by name. But we shall not affect to
 
 165 
 
 misunderstand the allusions by which those who have 
 failed to answer our arguments are attempting 1 to 
 damage our personal credit. 
 
 Not only are we anon}^mous, but we intend to con- 
 tinue so ; and ; as we are not responsible to our contem- 
 poraries, we deny their right to interfere with matters 
 in which they are not concerned. We are responsible 
 only to public opinion, by which alone a newspaper 
 can be supported ; and we believe that the judgment 
 of public opinion on our writings will be guided by 
 their truth; and not by their authorship. 
 
 Truth is truth, no matter who writes it. If the 
 articles in this journal are not true, no author's name 
 can render them respectable : if they are, no author's 
 name can damage their credit and effect. 
 
 It is quite a novel theory that the truth of any state- 
 ment, or the justice of any argument, depends upon its 
 authorship. If any misstatement has been made, let 
 it be exposed : if any unsound argument has been 
 employed, let it be refuted : but let us have no more 
 of this cant about anonymous writing in newspapers. 
 
 The most respectable press in the world the Press 
 of England has always been anonymous: nor has 
 any one ever pretended that that circumstance has 
 lessened its weight with the public. On the contrary, 
 what our contemporaries are attempting to do here is 
 precisely what has lately been done in France, with 
 the avowed intention of destroying- the power of the 
 press. The Times an anonymous newspaper having 
 a larger circulation than any other newspaper in the 
 world thus describes the effect of the new French 
 law which requires the signature of the author to be
 
 appended to all political articles : " The French law- 
 takes away the liberty of speaking* anonymously : it 
 destroys those associations which most powerfully 
 affect public opinion. In the true spirit of democracy 
 it refuses to submit to any inequality of position between 
 man and man : in the true spirit of despotism it pro- 
 hibits the lang-uag-e of criticism in any form but that 
 of a personal discussion, at the peril of the remon- 
 strant." 
 
 Now, to this tyranny we will not submit. Those 
 who will, may parade their names as public writers : 
 we prefer to enjoy the usual editorial immunities. We 
 shall strive to promote the spread of anti-democratic 
 opinions by every means in our power j but having- no 
 personal purpose to serve, we shall make no personal 
 parade. No writer in this journal is striving- to write 
 himself up to a seat in the Council, or on the Bench. 
 Content with our position as public writers, we have 
 no desire to fig'ure as demag'og'ues, party leaders, or 
 declaimers at public meeting's. The press of this Colony 
 has been too often degraded already for such purposes ! 
 Our sole purpose is to disseminate truth, and from that 
 we shall not be diverted. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, December 13, 1850. 
 
 THE principal actors in the late political contests 
 have, for a time, retired from the scene. The Governor 
 has been called away from Cape Town, by the dis-
 
 167 
 
 turbed state of the Frontier. The leading- officials are 
 eng-ag-ed in the performance of their executive duties. 
 Mr. Fairbairn is by this time far advanced on his 
 voyag-e to England. Sir A. Stockenstrom has g % one 
 " back to his flocks." Mr. Reitz is cong-enially and 
 more appropriately employed in writing- letters about 
 Ayrshire cattle, and other agricultural matters. Mr. 
 Brand his dreams of elevation to the bench having 
 been dispelled has ag-ain devoted himself to his pro- 
 fessional avocations, or to the preparation of lectures, 
 said to be on law, but believed to be on democratic 
 politics. And Mr. Wicht is believed to be (( drink- 
 ing- deep at the generous spring- of English litera- 
 ture." 
 
 The action of the political drama being- thus, for the 
 time, suspended, the proper season for criticism has 
 arrived, and the proceeding's of the principal performers 
 are proper subjects for examination. Some of these 
 proceeding's have been already pretty freely discussed, 
 and we have not scrupled to condemn where we 
 thought condemnation was deserved. Our strictures 
 have hitherto been directed less against the opinions 
 expressed by the democratic leaders, than against the 
 means they have adopted for disseminating- those 
 opinions. We blame no man for honestly maintaining 
 and urging the adoption of his own political sentiments. 
 A conscientious Chartist is entitled to as much respect 
 and consideration as any other conscientious man. 
 But when an individual attempts to propagate his 
 opinions by falsehood, fraud, and fiction, then, be 
 he Chartist, Tory, Whig, Eadical, or Conservative, he 
 deserves to be held up to public reprobation.
 
 168 
 
 Now, a glance at what is termed, for distinction's 
 sake, "the People's Constitution/' will enable the 
 reader to discover some palpable deceptions practised 
 by the framers of that document, which have either 
 not been exposed at all, or only lightly touched upon. 
 For example : after agitating* and distracting 1 the 
 Colony from end to end to ward off the pollution of 
 convictism, they admit into their proposed Legislature 
 convicts who have undergone punishment, and are 
 not actually, at the period of election, " undergoing- 
 punishment and restraint under a judicial sentence 
 for any crime :" again in the Legislative Council, 
 they represented it to be essential that the two Houses 
 of Parliament should be elected for the same period in 
 their draft they provide that the Council should be 
 chosen for four, and the Assembly for five years, but 
 neutralize this provision to a g-reat extent, b}~ denying 
 to the Governor the right of dissolving one House 
 without dissolving both : in the Council the}* voted 
 against a property qualification for Members of the 
 Upper House; in their draft we find a quali- 
 fication provided for, which is, however, a specious 
 deception, being in fact, and effect, no qualification 
 at all. 
 
 These and other such matters, however unimportant 
 in themselves, are valuable, as showing- the animus of 
 the authors of the document referred to. Taken in 
 connection with other deceptions of the same party, 
 with which our readers are familiar, they shew that 
 the proposals of the democratic leaders are not dictated 
 by conscientious conviction, but by considerations of 
 temporary expediency : and they will induce the public
 
 169 
 
 to scan narrowly those proposals, and to adopt them, 
 if at all 7 on their own merits, and not through faith 
 in their authors. 
 
 If judged by its own merits, " the popular Consti- 
 tution" is pretty certain to be rejected. Having' in 
 former papers endeavoured to elucidate the means by 
 which its authors obtained their influence, and hoped, 
 by the prestige of their names, to force their Chartist 
 doctrines upon the people of this Colony, we proceed 
 to advert, briefly, to some of the provisions of their 
 Constitution, to which the public opinion of the Colony 
 is now clearly opposed. 
 
 Hitherto we have remarked only upon the Consti- 
 tution of the Upper House, as proposed by the seceding 
 members of the late Council, deeming 1 that to be the 
 most vital point at issue : and our numerous cor- 
 respondents, from all parts of the Colony, have shewn 
 that there is a strong 1 feeling 1 abroad opposed to the 
 tenets which have been blindly adopted by the dupes 
 of the democratic leaders. The thinking portion of the 
 community have not failed to perceive, that the adop- 
 tion of that Constitution must have the effect of placing 
 all political power in the hands of demag-og-ues who 
 can influence the uneducated masses of the Colo- 
 nists. Various expedients have been proposed for 
 frustrating- this design, for the opponents of the 
 democratic movement are by no means unanimous in 
 adopting the draft proposed by the Government Com- 
 missioners. The Board of Trade, apprehensive of the 
 tendency towards democracy, which a community con- 
 stituted like ours was likely to display, hoped to obviate 
 it, by recommending 1 a peculiar constituency for elect-
 
 170 
 
 ing- the members of the Upper House, consisting; of a 
 class of Government and Municipal officials. The 
 members of the local Government proposed to attain 
 the same end by adopting- a hig-h property qualification 
 for members of that House. The merchants of Cape 
 Town, supported by a larg-e and influential party in 
 the Colony, propose a property qualification for the 
 electors of those Members, as the best method of 
 securing 1 the same result. Another party, with the 
 same view, opposes the 25 franchise ; for, however 
 the Advertiser and the Zuid Afr'ikaan may bluster, 
 Mr. Blake is not the only person in the Colony who 
 holds that opinion. Another would effect it by extend- 
 ing- the duration of the Council : and others have other 
 proposals ; all, however, tending- to the same result. 
 
 This is perfectly natural : the opponents of the 
 democratic party are acting- upon reason and reflec- 
 tion ; and reason and reflection lead different men to 
 different conclusions. The adherents of that party 
 take then* opinions on trust from their leaders, w r ho 
 are g-uided by selfish considerations of their own per- 
 sonal interests. But thoug-h the apparent unanimity 
 on one side, and the diversity of opinion on the other, 
 give to the democratic party an appearance of strength 
 which they do not in reality possess, it is, nevertheless, 
 perfectly clear that the larg-e majority of the thinking- 
 portion of the Colonists have become alarmed by the 
 levelling- tendency of the doctrines held by those who 
 assume to direct the movements of the people of the 
 Colony, and are determined to check that tendency 
 while it is yet practicable. 
 
 The public mind in this Colony has been unsettled
 
 171 
 
 by the proposal of an elective Upper House. This 
 provision of the new Constitution, which, having- been 
 suggested by the Board of Trade and embodied in the 
 letters patent, has been adopted by the democratic 
 leaders with feelings of elation, and by the Govern- 
 ment Commissioners from a conviction that the question 
 had been fully decided by the Government at home, is 
 felt by all parties to add greatly to the strength of 
 that section of the community which desires the 
 democratic element to be controlled as little as possible 
 by the power of the Crown or the interests of the large 
 proprietors. That this provision has been adopted by 
 the officials as a matter not of choice but of neces- 
 sity, is sufficiently clear from the extracts of their 
 minutes on the subject, which will be found in the 
 article on the (( Balance of Power" in this day's paper. 
 Hence the various schemes above alluded to have been 
 suggested, all with the purpose of curbing that inor- 
 dinate power of the democrats. But a few years ago 
 all who were in favour of the introduction of represen- 
 tative institutions at all, viewed a nominated Tipper 
 House as an essential part of the Constitution of a 
 British Colony. It will be well for our Cape poli- 
 ticians to consider, before it is too late, whether any 
 good cause has been shewn for their sudden departure 
 from a sentiment formerly universal j and whether 
 the Constitution which has succeeded in other British 
 communities, may not be preferable here, to one which 
 will place all power in the hands of a few ambitious 
 individuals, capable of influencing a population thinly 
 scattered over an extensive territory, with very scanty 
 means of acquiring information, and very liable to be
 
 172 
 
 actuated by prejudices which, once aroused, it will be 
 extremely difficult to allay. 
 
 WILL THE PROPOSED SCHEMES FOR 
 A NEW CONSTITUTION AFFORD A 
 BALANCE OF POWER.? 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 ALL great political changes, however wholesome 
 they may be in themselves, end in disappointments. 
 They do not, per se, work out the imagined good 
 which enthusiastic and theoretical minds supposed, 
 and which a too credulous community believed they 
 would. We remember, during 1 the most violent agita- 
 tions of the Reform Bill, that many who thought 
 themselves ag-g-rieved (in whatever way), looked to the 
 passing- of the bill as to a panacea against every 
 grievance. The Reform Bill was to overleap the 
 narrow conventionalities of every custom that was old , 
 to break " the ancient solitary reign" of every bloated 
 abuse ; a to crumble every brazen wrong- into dust ;" 
 nay, with some visionaries, it was almost to take off 
 the primeval curse, and enfranchise labour itself 
 " from eating- bread in the sweat of its brow." The 
 Reform Bill passed, and we wereamong-st those who 
 hailed its passing 1 ; common sense, as well as common 
 justice, called for the chang-es contemplated. It has had 
 its eighteen years' trial ; but are the people satisfied ? 
 Are the supposed g-rievances removed ? Are the mon- 
 ster abuses crumbled ? Does indolence eat the bread 
 earned by industry ? Or will activity and talent let pro-
 
 digalism and effrontery " push them from their place V 9 
 Certainly not : the great political change has not effected 
 the great social change so sang-uinely looked for. The 
 people still murmur. In every troublous period, 
 SOCIALISM and CHAKTISM start up, and shaking- their 
 clenched fists, cry out " Reform was but a great 
 sham : its effects have not relieved our millions : we 
 must have a further change, a radical chang-e, from 
 the head to the roots \" 
 
 And why is this ? The people are deluded. Design- 
 ing- men, who make the people their stepping-stones to 
 power, cajole them to believe that what they clamour 
 for is the philosopher's stone ; it will chang-e all to 
 gold, and make the most barren desert a glittering 
 California. No deceit can be more wanton or cruel 
 than this : yet we believe there are many in our com- 
 munity thus deluded ; many who suppose that our new 
 constitution is to redress every imagined evil, to place 
 us in (a burdensome) independence, and make us a rival 
 with the most liberal institutions of the day. 
 
 It is well, then, that we should listen to those who 
 are competent to judg-e ; that we should be g-uided by 
 the opinions of men of experience ; that we should 
 have clear notions 'as to the probable g-ood or 
 possible evil which any great chang-e may now 
 entail upon us. We should fairly understand that 
 our new constitution is but an experiment ; we may 
 imagine, and even sang-uinely hope, that it will evolve 
 good arid beneficial chang-es, but at the same time we 
 must not be so sang-uine as to forbear to take every 
 precaution against possible evils. 
 
 There is but one opinion as to the incompetency of
 
 174 
 
 the old Legislative Council, even if that Council had 
 not committed felo de se. But the question " What 
 shall our new Constitution be ?" is still open, still a 
 matter for deliberate anxiety ; and our deliberations 
 on it should be well matured. We should not hastily 
 give our weig-ht, whatever it may be, to a scheme 
 merely because it is popular, or plausible, or set off 
 with theoretic credulity of the people's good sense and 
 moral worth; but our deliberations, and memorials, 
 and recommendations should be conducted on the prin- 
 ciple which Junius says is the intent of all laws, viz. : 
 <( Not to trust what men will do, but to guard against 
 what they may do." 
 
 With this intent, then, viz., to advise our readers to 
 listen to those who are competent of judging-, and 
 whose opinions are those of men of weig-ht and expe- 
 rience, we extract in the present paper the deliberate 
 convictions of the leading- advisers and counsellors of the 
 Colony, when writing- dispassionately in 1848, and with 
 the sole intention, we may believe, of advising 1 what (to 
 use the Governor's own words), was best calculated for 
 the greatest happiness of the greatest number. We 
 confine ourselves to the opinions expressed in their 
 u correspondence and communications" to the Secretary 
 of State, as far as they bear on our subject,^ 
 necessity that there should be a check and balance 
 between conflicting interests. 
 
 We take the several opinions in the order in which 
 they stand in the printed document. 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 1. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S 
 MEMORANDUM. 
 
 " A property qualification is often found to be a very
 
 175 
 
 bad security for property, and a worse security for 
 either intellect or character. But still it would not be 
 safe, I conceive, to dispense with it entirely. It must 
 tend, in some degTee, to clip the wings of ambitious 
 adventurers. 
 
 " The qualification of all others (not professional) 
 might depend on property, and the ownership of fixed 
 property to the value of 1000, or of moveable pro- 
 perty to the value of 2000 would seem to me to meet 
 the exigency of the case. The amount, in both cases, 
 should be over and above all debts, charges, and in- 
 cumbrances." 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 2 His EXCELLENCY THE GO- 
 VERNOR'S MINUTE. 
 
 cc If the formation of a representative government is 
 to be regarded as an experiment, it is one to be founded 
 on the precedent of the British Constitution ; and if we 
 establish it we have no resource but to give it full 
 scope, taking care, however, so to frame the charter, 
 that the evils may be avoided and the good retained." 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 3. MEMORANDUM OF THE 
 SECRETARY TO GOVERNMENT. 
 
 " Men of integrity, wealth, and intelligence, whether 
 resident in the constituency they are elected to repre- 
 sent or not, are those best calculated and the most 
 likely to maintain a just balance between conflicting 
 interests, because they cannot fail to exercise a salutary 
 control over the proceedings of such an asssembly. 
 
 " I have long held the opinion that there are two 
 forms and only two, in which good government can 
 be exercised in our Colonial communities. * * * The
 
 176 
 
 one is that of absolute government, conducted by a 
 Governor and Council composed of responsible public 
 functionaries ; the other is that of a representative 
 government, as closely assimilated to the free insti- 
 tutions of the parent state as the relations and the 
 condition of a dependency, in regard to that state, is 
 capable of sustaining*. As there is no safe halting 
 between two opinions, so to my mind there is none, 
 either permanent or satisfactory, between these two 
 forms of the government of a dependency; no juste 
 milieu that does not, on the one hand create disap- 
 pointment and dissatisfaction in the mind of the 
 public, or, on the other hand, grant to an unchecked 
 and irresponsible popular power an ascendancy dan- 
 gerous to the interests of society, a power to which 
 the executive becomes a mere passive instrument for 
 the carrying out of its decisions, which are more 
 frequently the result of transient feelings than of 
 calm and dispassionate deliberation." 
 
 " That the Legislature should consist of two Cham- 
 bers, one composed wholly of the representatives of 
 the people, I also concur in the opinion expressed in 
 Mr. Porter's memorandum. In regard to the other 
 House, usually designated the Legislative Council, it 
 must, according to the opinion I hold, be entirely 
 elective, or consist of members nominated exclusively 
 by the Crown. The Jirst of these forms, I am of 
 opinion, is incompatible with the condition of a depen- 
 dency and the constitutional influence of the Crown. 
 In the government of many of the States of the 
 American Union, the elective principle has failed, in 
 their Senate, to check the evils of democratic prepon-
 
 17? 
 
 derance, and hence the executive has become the 
 mere tool or passive agent of the popular assembty, 
 an evil which the founders of the Union were careful 
 to avoid in framing- their system of federal govern- 
 ment." 
 
 a As to the composition of the Legislative Council. 
 Against this body there will naturally prevail much 
 popular jealousy and no little prejudice. This, I am 
 of opinion, can only be countervailed by nominating- 
 men whose wealth, and intelligence, and social stand- 
 ing, give weight to their opinions and proceedings 
 among- the more intelligent and influential ranks of 
 
 o 
 
 the people. I should, therefore, propose that, irre- 
 spective of other qualifications essential to the main- 
 tenance of the constitutional influence which belongs 
 to such a body, no member should be nominated who 
 is not possessed of unincumbered fixed property to the 
 amount of 2000, or who is not in receipt of a fixed 
 income of 500. per annum, and upwards." 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 4. MINUTE OF THE TREASURER- 
 GENERAL. 
 
 " I am prepared to propose that the government 
 should consist of a Governor and Legislative Council, 
 as at present constituted, and a House of Assembly 
 to .be elected by the people. The qualification of the 
 elected should be the possession of property, whether 
 real or funded, in the Colony, of not less than 1000, 
 or that of being members of the learned professions, 
 having taken degrees at any of the Universities of Eng- 
 land or Holland." 
 
 N
 
 178 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 6 MINUTE OF THE LATE MR. 
 
 JUSTICE MENZIES. 
 
 "It appears to be universally admitted that 
 wherever a House of Assembly is established entirely 
 composed of members elected by the people, there must 
 also be a Legislative Council, consisting 1 of official and 
 unofficial members all nominated by the executive." 
 
 This Council u should be so constituted as to ensure 
 that from the personal characters and particular posi- 
 tion in society of its members, they may be relied on 
 as almost certain to be uninfluenced by the popular 
 prejudices, popular delusions, and popular impulses, 
 which sometimes influence legislative bodies entirely 
 composed of representatives chosen by the people, and 
 therefore able and disposed to resist the progress of 
 injurious measures which the House of Assembly, 
 actuated by that rash spirit of legislation which such 
 prejudices, delusions, and impulses are calculated to 
 produce, mig'ht unfortunately have been induced to 
 propose or to pass. A Legislative Council not pos- 
 sessing- this requisite, instead of answering' the purpose 
 for which it had been instituted, namely, of interposing* 
 between the Executive and the House of Assembly, 
 as a shield and bulwark to protect the former from the 
 evil effects of collision with the latter, would, by 
 yielding- to the torrent of popular opinion, give it an 
 additional force and weight, which the executive 
 g-overnment could not long- successfully withstand." 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 7. MEMORANDUM OF MR. JUS- 
 TICE MUSGRAVE. 
 
 " I am of opinion that the Legislature should consist
 
 179 
 
 of two Houses, and that they should be formed in imi- 
 tation of those which exist in the British chartered 
 Colonies in the West Indies. I am not prepared to 
 recommend that the members of the Council should 
 hold their situations for life, but would suggest the 
 expediency of their being all appointed by the Crown 
 during pleasure, for the purpose of counteracting the 
 casual effects of any popular excitement that might 
 arise from too free a representation of the people in 
 the House of Assembly, and otherwise very seriously 
 perplex and paralyze the effects of the local govern- 
 ment in particular emergencies. The appointments 
 would doubtless be made with a view to preserving a 
 preponderating influence on the part of the local 
 government, as far as might be consistent with a due 
 regard to the interests of the people." 
 
 ENCLOSURE No. 8. MINUTE OF THE CHIEF 
 JUSTICE. 
 
 " I feel fully the force of the necessity of counter- 
 vailing as of bestowing* the powers incident to a repre- 
 sentative legislature, and the expediency of protecting 
 the interests of the Crown and of the people, when in 
 the balance, by more than the single authority of the 
 Governor; a balance only sure to be found in and 
 through the medium of a second legislative Chamber. 
 The resolves of a Legislative Council, if in concur- 
 rence with the Assembly, then stand before the 
 Governor for confirmation, with redoubled strength of 
 claim upon his own paramount discretion and disposal." 
 
 We do not conceal the Chief Justice's opinion that 
 it would prove more satisfactory that the popular ele- 
 
 N 2
 
 180 
 
 ment should mingle even in the constitution of the 
 Council^ "the Crown appointing 1 four or five civil 
 officers and nominating- two or three others, and that 
 the other seven should become so by popular election." 
 But this suggestion is by no means unqualified. We 
 let the Chief Justice speak for himself : 
 
 "The qualification of an elective member of the 
 Legislative Council if to become such by election at 
 all; might well be double as to amount, in respect of 
 the ownership of real property, or quitrent tenure, of 
 that qualifying for admission to the Representative 
 Assembly ; and like fit qualification might also subsist 
 in and be given to the possession of moveable pro- 
 perty, over and above all debts, charges, and fixed 
 liabilities, of at least 2000." 
 
 And last of all, in Earl Grey's despatch, we have 
 the concurrence of the Colonial Secretary, in the main, 
 to these suggestions 5 for he writes to the Governor: 
 
 ff I am of opinion that the views of yourself and the 
 majority of your advisers as to the form of the consti- 
 tution to be established, viz. a Representative Assembly 
 and Legislative Council appointed by the Crown, 
 should, in the main, be adopted." 
 
 We do not venture to comment on these opinions j 
 yet we would observe that in the several communica- 
 tions quoted from, a general feeling is (in the Attorney- 
 General's words), tliat the constitution is ancxperimciit^ 
 and that the step, once taken, cannot be retraced. It 
 behoves us, then, to look well to it, that it be in a 
 right and safe direction ; and to consider if those to 
 whom, in all probability, the legislation will ultimately 
 fall (if universal snffrage and only nominal qualification
 
 181 
 
 be agreed upon), will consult the rights of property as 
 well as the rights of the people, and will use their 
 power to the good of all classes of the community, to 
 the advancement of all just interests, and for our com- 
 mon prosperity and peace. 
 
 We propound this suggestion because we feel the 
 force of the following remark : (( In prosperous times 
 when men feel the g'reatest ardour in their pursuits of 
 gain, they manifest the most callous apathy to politics. 
 Those who possess nothing-, and have nothing to do 
 but to manage the intrigues of elections, will prevail 
 against five times their number of men of business. 
 Each description is actuated by strong passions, moving 
 in different, but not opposite, directions ! When, how- 
 ever, some of the great interests of society are invaded, 
 those passions change their direction, and are quickened 
 in it. They are then capable of defending themselves 
 with all the vivacity of the spirit of gain and enter- 
 prise, with all the energies of vengeance and despair. 
 These, it must be confessed, are revolutionary resources, 
 for the defence of property and right, which cannot 
 and ought not to be called forth on ordinary occasions. 
 The classes in question will be long* in danger before 
 they will be in fear ; and if their adversary forbears to 
 push the attack in so rude a manner as to make that 
 fear overpower all other emotions, he may proceed, 
 unsuspected, and unopposed. They will be as much 
 engrossed with their business as the political projectors 
 with their plans of reforming, till they destroy it." 
 
 It is also a remark of the philosopher HUME, 
 " That it is not with forms of government as with 
 other artificial contrivances, where an old engine may
 
 182 
 
 be rejected if we can discover another more accurate 
 or more commodious, or where trials may be safely 
 made, even though the success be doubtful, but to 
 try experiments upon the credit of supposed argu- 
 ments and philosophy, can never be the part of a wise 
 magistrate, who will bear a reverence to what carries 
 the marks of age. Though he may attempt some 
 improvements for the public good, yet he will adjust 
 his innovations as much as possible to the ancient 
 fabric, and preserve entire the chief pillars and sup- 
 ports of the Constitution." 
 
 Our proposed Constitution, though it be but an 
 experiment, by judicious deliberation and fair dealing, 
 and wise adaptation to the present condition and real 
 wants of the Colony, may be productive of material 
 and progressive advantage ; but if rashly devised or 
 unwisely used, it may impede rather than advance 
 our actual interests. A boon surreptitiously obtnined 
 or wrongly employed may be a curse. A Prometheus 
 may steal fire from heaven, but the mighty Titan, 
 bound by Force and Necessity to the hard rock, and 
 inwardly eaten by the vulture of growing remorse, is 
 a warning to the demagogue that he may destroy 
 himself in the very acquisition of what he seeks ; and 
 the weapon of slaughter moulded by stolen fire is an 
 eternal memorial, that what is beneficial in itself may 
 minister to that which is destructive. 
 
 AJST ORGANIZED HYPOCRISY. 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 SIR, The announcement in your paper, of the
 
 22nd ult. of a letter received from Mr. B. Moodie, of 
 the Swellendam district, induced me to suspend my 
 own correspondence with you, as I felt convinced that 
 something* decisive was at hand. My anticipations 
 have been fully realized, and we are much indebted to 
 Mr. Moodie for showing 1 us so clearly how political 
 " meeting's" are manag-ed in the country villages. 
 How satisfactory it is, also, to find Mr. Barry, who 
 is said to possess unbounded influence among-st the 
 Boors of Swellendam, asserting- the present "most 
 urgent necessity of checking overwhelming Dutch 
 interest now existing to the prejudice of the English 
 interest." Better authority than Mr. Barry on this 
 question cannot be obtained ; and it will be a hard 
 matter for the editors of the Advertiser, Mail, and 
 Zuid A-frikaan to g-et over it ? What Mr. Barry so 
 emphatically states, is exactly what every man expe- 
 rienced in the colonial mind knew well enough before, 
 
 o / 
 
 and is now trying- so anxiously to conceal. Had his 
 Excellency the Governor taken the evidence he once 
 proposed to have taken, respecting- the new Constitu- 
 tion, he would have been now in a position to have 
 explained the fact acknowledg-ed by Mr. Barry, a 
 fact which has been long- notorious to every English- 
 man in the Colony, excepting 1 the Government officials 
 who wrote upon this subject, with much ability as 
 theorists, but with small success as prophets. How 
 could they discourse otherwise than erroneously on 
 such a subject, when many of them cannot have mixed 
 with the country residents sufficiently to catch their real 
 sentiments and understand their secret spring's of 
 action. Those among-st them who had some suspi-
 
 184 
 
 cion of the truth were not anxious to avow it, lest 
 they should be accused of holding- " illiberal" senti- 
 ments. This was natural enough, hut it might have 
 been anticipated j and the ill effects of it mig'ht have 
 been obviated, by the evidence of practical men in the 
 Colon}', capable of forming an opinion, and not afraid 
 of expressing it, if they had a chance. Many things 
 would then have come to lig'ht which the Home 
 Government ought to know, but evidently do not 
 know, and of which the principal officers of our local 
 Government may be excused for being ignorant. 
 The Governor, it may be presumed, confined himself, 
 in the first instance, to the written minutes of the 
 officials, under the impression that the discussion of 
 such a subject out of doors, would lead to unpleasant 
 consequences in our limited society, and would create 
 political dissensions before their time. So for his 
 Excellency's precaution was considerate, and would 
 have answered its intended purpose, if the office in 
 Downing Street had displayed its customary misgiv- 
 ings. But the Home Government, unfortunately, 
 took the Governor's suggestion as the voice of the 
 Colony, and so, between two stools, down we went ! 
 Had the English Ministry been a little less precipi- 
 tate, they would never have broached such ultra- 
 liberal views, with respect to the new Cape Consti- 
 tution, as they have now sent forth. They would 
 have estimated our capabilities better. The existence 
 of such "unworthy sentiment^' (as Lord Grey calls 
 them) as national distinctions between Dutch and 
 English would have been possibly acknowledg'ed, or 
 at all events provided for. It would have been more
 
 185 
 
 statesmanlike in Lord Grey to have looked the danger 
 fairly in the face, as Lord Stanley did, instead of 
 denying- the existence of the fire, because our local 
 officials could not see the smoke. We, who are in the 
 burning house, begin to feel it rather hot, and as we 
 are calling* for water. Lord Grey will probably relieve 
 us with a barrel of g-unpowder, l< by way of making 
 things pleasant" according- to Mr. Hudson's "plan." 
 I have now, Sir, to offer a few remarks on one 
 passag-e of your leading- article of November 29th, 
 wherein you state, " that if when the Colonists are 
 called upon to elect the Members of the 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." But, instead of 
 blaming- the Colonists, you oug-ht to have blamed the 
 Government, by whose " inadvertence" the elections 
 became radical ovations throug-hout the whole of the 
 Western Province. In the first place, there was no 
 occasion for any so-called popular elections at all. 
 The Governor could have obtained as many Coun- 
 cillors as he wanted, by simply stating* for what emer- 
 g-ency they were required. In that case he mig-ht 
 have selected men of quite as much ability as those 
 returned by the Municipalities and Anti-Government 
 Associations, less warped in judg-ment by a partizan 
 spirit, and at the same time of political views so 
 chequered, that the subject of a new Constitution 
 would have been carefully handled, and public opinion 
 fairly elicited, during- their debates. This was mistake
 
 180 
 
 the first j and the second was sanctioning* the late so- 
 called elections on a principle so unjust, and so palpably 
 prejudicial to the agricultural interest, that the radical 
 Municipality of Cape Town, and their satellite cliques 
 all over the country, were virtually supported by our 
 rulers ; whilst Her Majesty's loyal subjects, and the 
 friends of good order, were quietly dropped on the 
 wrong side of the hedge. It was clear, from the first, 
 that the Anti-Government faction had the game placed 
 unreservedly in their own hands, and what was the 
 use of our attempting to fight against long odds, or 
 of our attempting to struggle against a combination 
 of circumstances, all tending to destroy the national 
 equilibrium of the Colony, and to reward with place 
 and power the tactics of an fc organised hypocrisy" 
 only biding its time to grind the English colonists ? 
 
 Yours truly, &c. 
 
 A LANDOWNER. 
 
 GRAAFF-REINET. 
 
 THE following address, now circulating in Graaff- 
 Keinet, has been forwarded to us for insertion : 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir H. G. W. 
 SMITH, Bart., K.C.B., Governor and Commander-in- 
 Chief, &c. &c. of the Colony of the Cape of Good 
 Hope. 
 
 MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, 
 
 We, the undersigned, Landowners and others of 
 the district of Graaff-Reinet, beg- to convey to your 
 Excellency our sincere thanks for the prompt and
 
 187 
 
 energetic measures adopted by your Excellency for 
 securing* to this Colony those Representative Institu- 
 tions which Her Majesty has been graciously pleased 
 to g'rant us, Institutions which we were apprehensive 
 would be indefinitely postponed, by the precipitate, ill- 
 advised, we had almost said factious, resignation of 
 the late soi-disant C( popularly-elected" members of 
 the Legislative Council, to whom, inter alia, the duty 
 of framing- the new Constitution was confided by the 
 public. 
 
 We avail ourselves of your Excellency's notice of 
 the 2nd ult., and while conveying" to your Excellency 
 our g-eneral approval of the Draft Constitution sub- 
 mitted to your Excellency by the Board of Com- 
 missioners, we would respectfully take exception to 
 the recommendation of that Board on the following" 
 points. 
 
 We are of opinion, that in the present condition of 
 the Colony, it is unadvisable to fix the electoral quali- 
 fication at the low standard recommended by the Board 
 of Commissioners. It would be easy for the future 
 Parliament to extend the suffrage, if found expedient 
 or necessary, but difficult to disfranchise those who 
 have once enjoyed the privileg-e of voters. We would 
 therefore respectfully recommend that the proprietor- 
 ship or occupancy of fixed property of the value of 
 100, be considered the electoral qualification for the 
 House of Representatives, and 500 the qualification 
 for electors of the Legislative Council. 
 
 Qualified voters for the Legislative Council to be 
 eligible for a seat in the Representative Assembly. 
 The qualification for members of the Legislative
 
 188 
 
 Council to remain as recommended by the Board of 
 Commissioners. 
 
 We beg 1 leave to subscribe ourselves, 
 With the greatest respect, 
 
 Your Excellency's most obedient Servants. 
 
 UITENHAGE. 
 
 A COPY of the following address to His Excellency, 
 in the course of signature in the Uitenhage district. 
 
 O tj * 
 
 has been forwarded to us for publication : 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir H. G. W. SMITH, 
 Bart., K.G.C.B., &c. &c., Governor and Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. &c. 
 
 The Memorial of the undersigned, landowners, occu- 
 piers, and others, residing- in the northern part of the 
 district of Uitenhage and its neighbourhood, 
 
 RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH, 
 
 That the warmest approbation is due to your Ex- 
 cellency, for your conduct during- the sittings of the late 
 Legislative Council, and while they would wish to offer 
 their unqualified approval and most cordial support for 
 the manner in which you endeavoured to carry out the 
 public business, they cannot but deeply regret that the 
 welfare of the Colony should have been sacrificed to an 
 ambitious and party spirit. 
 
 Your Memorialists cannot too hig-hly express to your 
 Excellency the gratitude they owe to yourself and the 
 members who retained their seats for the faithful dis- 
 charg-e of public duty, as evinced throughout the 
 whole proceedings of the late Council, and for taking
 
 189 
 such a noble stand on behalf of free and enlightened, 
 
 O J 
 
 but safe institutions. 
 
 Your Memorialists desire also to inform your Excel- 
 lency that they are decidedly opposed to that form of a 
 constitution framed by the four seceding- Members, as 
 being' only suited to the purposes of a party ; and in 
 stating- their want of confidence in the person deputed 
 to convey that document to Engiand are only mildly 
 expressing- their sentiments towards him. 
 
 That Memorialists are of opinion that the Upper 
 House or Council should be composed of members pos- 
 sessing' a considerable amount of fixed property within 
 the Colony, certainly not less than 2000 over and 
 above all incumbrances, and also that they should be 
 elected by a different class of voters to those admitted 
 to the franchise for the Assembly ; and Memorialists 
 would sug-gest that no one should be entitled to vote 
 for members of the Upper House, who does not come 
 under one or other of the following- classifications, 
 viz. : 
 
 Persons owning- or occupying fixed property within 
 the Colony of the value of 500. 
 
 Persons holding- commissions as justices of the peace, 
 field-commandants, and field-cornets. 
 
 Municipal commissioners and wardmasters, members 
 of the leg-al profession in actual practice, clerks and 
 others receiving 1 salaries, not under 100 per annum. 
 
 And your Memorialists are also of opinion, that the 
 mere occupation of land of the value of 25 is not 
 sufficiently high for electors to the Lower House it 
 will in the present uneducated state of the Colony, 
 Memorialists fear, tend to bribery and corruption.
 
 190 
 
 Your Memorialists hope that the time is not far 
 distant when the seat of government must be removed 
 from the extreme west to a more central part of the 
 Colony. 
 
 Your Excellency's Memorialists, in taking* their 
 leave, beg" to express their admiration at the prompt- 
 ness with which you visited this frontier at the h'rst 
 sound of alarm j it increases that confidence in your 
 Excellency which they previously felt j and they now 
 beg- to subscribe themselves your Excellency's most 
 humble and obedient servants. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, December 20, 1850. 
 
 COMMUNICATIONS continue to reach us from all 
 parts of the country, shewing* the distrust and alarm 
 which has been excited in the minds of the people, by 
 the democratic tendency of the Constitution proposed 
 by the late Members of Council and their adherents. 
 The following" specimens are given in continuation of 
 the extracts of memorials and addresses published in a 
 former number. 
 
 The GraafF-Reinet Memorialists complain of the 
 " precipitate, ill-advised, we had almost said factious, 
 resignation of the late oi-disant popularly elected 
 Members of the Legislative Council, to whom, inter 
 alia, the duty of framing the new Constitution was 
 confided by the public/' 
 
 The following is from the Uitenhag'e address, also 
 given in our last number : 
 
 " Your Memorialists also desire to inform your Ex-
 
 191 
 
 cellency, that they are decidedly opposed to that form 
 of a Constitution framed by the four seceding- Mem- 
 bers j as being- only suited to the purposes of a party ; 
 and in stating' then* want of confidence in the person 
 deputed to convey that document to England, are 
 only mildly expressing 1 their sentiments towards him." 
 
 To these may be added the Graham's Town address, 
 published in to-day's paper, in which the petitioners 
 urg-e the necessity of a more restricted franchise for 
 the Upper House than that proposed by the (( popular" 
 draft, in order (( to impose a check on the hasty legis- 
 lation of that (the Lower) Chamber, to rear a bulwark 
 against popular indiscretion, and to afford a safeguard 
 to property, and establish a counterpoise to the too 
 free enactments of a class who possess no permanent 
 stake nor interest in the Colony." 
 
 It is also stated that the draft, known as " Mr. 
 Maynard's Constitution," which proposes a hig-h pro- 
 perty qualification for Members and Electors of the 
 Upper House, has been numerously and respectably 
 signed, and that similar addresses are in preparation in 
 several other places, in which no opinion has hitherto 
 been publicly expressed. 
 
 These facts are quoted in order that our readers may 
 clearly understand that our statements on this subject 
 are not, as some would make it appear, the mere 
 " pratings" of a few interested individuals in Cape 
 Town, but that they are supported by a large and in- 
 fluential party throughout the Colony j that those who 
 really think upon these matters, and are not influenced 
 by unsupported assertions, see the danger by which 
 they are threatened, and are determined to avert it,
 
 192 
 
 though they may not be agreed as to the exact mea- 
 sures which are to be taken to ward it off. 
 
 It is recorded that when Mahomet forbade his fol- 
 lowers to eat the flesh of swine, he gave as a reason 
 that there was one part of the animal which no true 
 Mussulman could swallow without endangering his 
 eternal salvation. For a time the prohibition was 
 religiously observed, but afterwards the faithful 
 began to consider it a hardship that they should be 
 forbidden to eat pork because one part of the pig- 
 was unclean. Accordingly they beg*an to speculate 
 which portion of the carcase a believer could not 
 swallow without danger to his soul. One party be- 
 lieved that the peril resided in the ribs, and that they 
 could eat the legs in safety, another eschewed the 
 legs, but feasted in fancied security on the ribs : 
 
 " Much controversy straight arose ; 
 These chose the back, the belly those; 
 By some 'tis confidently said 
 He meant not to forbid the head : 
 While others at that doctrine rail, 
 And piously prefer the tail :" 
 
 so that a party of Mahometans might dine together on 
 a carcase of a porker, each confidently believing that 
 his neighbour was sw r allowing* the forbidden morsel. 
 
 Just as it was with the Mahometans and the swine, 
 so has it been with the Cape anti-democratic and the 
 C( popular" Constitution. All saw the danger, but 
 each fancied it was to be found in a different clause. 
 One complained of the 25 franchise : one of short 
 Parliaments : one of no-qualification for Membership 
 of the Upper House ; and thus while differing as to
 
 193 
 
 the quarter in which the mischief was to be found; the 
 party, taken collectively, was in imminent danger of 
 devouring- the whole democratic boo*. 
 
 o O 
 
 It is satisfactory, however, to know that there is 
 now a general agreement as to the real nature of the 
 dang'er, and the manner in which it is to be met. 
 We expect none to go back from opinions they have 
 publicly espoused. Those who, hoping 1 for nothing- 
 better, have signed for an elective Council with a hig-h 
 property qualification, cannot be expected now to 
 declare in favour of a Council which shall not be 
 elected but nominated. It is now, however, well un- 
 derstood, that the Constitution which would be most 
 acceptable to the larg-e majority of those colonists 
 whose opinions are deserving 1 of any consideration, is 
 that which by giving- to a nominated Chamber con- 
 current legislative power with a lower Chamber freely 
 elected by the people, would enable the holders of 
 property, who would unquestionably be selected for 
 the former, to exercise a salutary check upon the de- 
 mocratic tendencies of the suddenly enfranchised pau- 
 pers of the Colony. 
 
 A doubt may be entertained, and has been freely 
 expressed, as to the wisdom of bestowing the electoral 
 franchise on a class who cannot be supposed to have 
 thought deeply upon the important political questions 
 which must, from time to time, come under the con- 
 sideration of the Cape Legislature. How far a Hot- 
 tentot or a liberated African may be capable of 
 forming an enlightened opinion on the judicial S} T stem 
 of the Colony, the best management of the Kaffirs, or 
 the most eligible means of establishing a defensive 
 
 o
 
 194 
 
 force, an}' man may be permitted to doubt without 
 suspicion of political heresy. It is but a question of 
 degree. When we depart from the principle of uni- 
 versal suffra g*e and adopt the 25 qualification, it is 
 surely open for any thinking- man to say why he 
 believes that the amount of qualification has been 
 fixed too low. But since it has been decided by pre- 
 ponderating 1 authority, the local officials, the Board 
 of Trade, and the Cape Town democrats, all concur- 
 ring-, that the 25 qualification is a sufficient as- 
 surance of the wisdom and political g'ood sense of the 
 electors, so be it : the experiment must be tried. But 
 the same authority should have due weight as to the 
 Constitution of the Upper House. The officials, one 
 and all, have deliberately recorded their opinions, that 
 this Chamber should be nominated by the Crown : the 
 democrats, as will be seen from the letter of our well 
 informed and influential correspondent " Looker-on," 
 a few years ago petitioned for the same arrang-ement : 
 the Board of Trade have recommended it for all 
 British Colonies, and in making- this one exception, 
 have advised the establishment of a most limited con- 
 stituency with a high exclusive qualification. All ex- 
 perience points in the same direction : enlightened 
 public opinion in the Colony is daily declaring- itself in 
 favour of the same principle : that property will* be 
 endangered, peace jeopardized, and the prosperity of 
 the community seriously checked, unless the advisers 
 of the Crown are persuaded, in accordance with the 
 more matured views of the Colonists, to recede from the 
 dangerous step they have recommended, and for a 
 time at least, to assimilate the Constitution of this
 
 195 
 
 Colony, as far as may be, to that which has been 
 found generally successful in England, and in Canada, 
 and in every dependency of the British Crown in 
 which it has been tried. This question has again been 
 ably treated this week, in the Article on the <( Balance 
 of Power," and the proposal made by the author of 
 that interesting series of papers is certainly fair and 
 moderate enough : that for the first Parliament the 
 Upper House should be nominated, and that if, after 
 an opportunity for observation and experience has 
 thus been given, the Colonists evidently wish for an 
 elective Council, that innovation be then made, as it 
 can be made at least with more security, when the 
 bitter feelings attending* the first contest shall have 
 subsided, and the attention of the public shall have 
 been diverted from party squabbles to subjects of real 
 and permanent interest. 
 
 (Graham's Town Journal, Dec. 7-) 
 
 THE following Memorial, on the subject of the 
 Franchise and qualification for Members of the pro- 
 posed Parliament of this Colony is in course of sig- 
 nature: 
 To His Excellency Sir H. G. W. SMITH, K.H., 
 
 K.C.B., &c., &c., Governor and Commander-in- . 
 
 Chief of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 The Memorial of the undersigned, Inhabitants of 
 Graham's Town, and other residents of Albany, 
 
 MOST RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH : 
 
 That the Letters Patent, granting Eepresentative 
 Institutions to this Colony having left the question of 
 
 o 2
 
 190 
 
 Electoral Qualification open to the discretion of the 
 Legislative Council, which being- unfortunately dis- 
 solved without having- arrived at such conclusions on 
 this subject as, in our opinion the protection of property 
 and general welfare of the Colony appears to demand, 
 we humbly beg 1 that your Excellency will be pleased 
 to attach this Memorial to the Draft Constitution 
 about to be forwarded to the Home Government, as 
 expressive of our views, that a low and indiscriminate 
 franchise, unless in some degree countervailed, cannot 
 but be productive of most pernicious effects. The 
 large number of the coloured classes by whom we are 
 surrounded, whose simplicity is easily wrought upon, 
 renders it imperative that some effectual barrier be 
 imposed ag-ainst anything- approaching 1 to unrestricted 
 suffrage. 
 
 With a view, however, of extending- the Electoral 
 privilege to as larg-e a portion of the community as is 
 consonant with public safety, we respectfully sug-g-est 
 that the qualifications, both for Members and Electors 
 of the Lower Chamber or House of Assembly, do 
 remain at the scale fixed by the Hon. the Board of 
 Commissioners, appointed by your Excellency on the 
 25th October last, and further, to qualify all persons 
 possessing- an income of 40 per annum to vote for 
 Members of the Legislative Assembly. But in order 
 to impose a check upon the hasty legislation of that 
 Chamber, to rear a bulwark ag-ainst popular indis- 
 cretion, and to afford a safeguard to property, and 
 establish a counterpoise to the too free enactments of a 
 class who possess no permanent stake nor interest in 
 the Colony, we humbly entreat that your Excellency will
 
 19? 
 
 represent to Her Majesty's Government, the absolute 
 necessity of a higher grade of qualification for the 
 Legislative Council or Upper House, which we con- 
 sider (and our opinion is based upon a thorough 
 knowledge of what the Colony can safely warrant) 
 ought to be, at least, the possession of fixed property 
 to the value of two thousand pounds (2000) unen- 
 cumbered, or double that amount (4000) of moveable 
 property clear of drawbacks, for a Member of the 
 Upper Chamber, and the possession of 500 worth of 
 fixed property, or a clear income of 70 a year, should 
 be the qualification for a voter to that Chamber. This 
 we consider would be bringing the Educational test in 
 conjunction with that of Property. Few persons of 
 intelligence receive a smaller income than this amount 
 (70). 
 
 A class of Members will thus be secured, who will 
 legislate more for their country's good than for the 
 honour of re-election, and who, being possessed of a 
 certain independence of position, will not easily be 
 led to barter popular applause for public advantage. 
 
 And your Memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever 
 pray, &c. 
 
 Dated, Nov., 1850.
 
 198 
 
 WILL THE PROPOSED SCHEMES FOR 
 A NEW CONSTITUTION AFFORD A 
 BALANCE OF POWER? 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 [ Conclusion of the Series.] 
 
 OUR present position is very similar to our Parade 
 on one of the public auction days. We do not mean 
 that our Government is like that of the Roman 
 Empire, in the time of Didius Julianus, to be sold to 
 the highest bidder : but that, in our desire for a new 
 Constitution, there is as much excitement, as much 
 hazard, as much rival competition as in the disposal of 
 any article of interest on our public mart. A, B, and 
 C would each have the Constitution : but each would 
 have it at his own rate, and with his own views, each 
 is eager in his bidding", each may wish that there 
 was no bidder but himself. But fortunately for the 
 public weal there is : there is competition of party, 
 there is the excitement of rival interests ; but be 
 the result what it may, in our contemplated change, 
 as in the auction, there is much hazard ; and when 
 we get our barg-ain, and look closely and without 
 excitement at it, there may be much secret dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 It may be well, therefore, as a close to our papers 
 
 f( ON THE NECESSITY OF A BALANCE OF POWER," that 
 
 we fairly ask, what do we expect from the new Con- 
 stitution ? We will suppose that the general wish, if 
 the wish be general, for a new Constitution at this
 
 199 
 
 present juncture, is (f the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number." But what does this mean ? For 
 these broad assertions sound well ; but when analyzed 
 and defined^ and brought to a practical and individual 
 bearing-^ they are as ungraspable as quicksilver, which 
 is weighty and sparkling- in its mass, but if separated 
 runs off into numberless and intractable vag-aries. If, 
 therefore, our aim be " the greatest happiness of the 
 greatest number" let us ask how will our new Constitu- 
 tion, when looked at in detail, thus work for the 
 g-erieral gx>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, 
 <e We accepted our offices on the understanding- that 
 we were to be remunerated by such and such salaries, 
 and in the heig-ht of political contention all parties 
 agreed that that understanding- was a sacred compact 
 not to be violated." But they will be answered by the 
 Democrats, " Oh no, you had a fair warning- in the 
 Cape Town Mail, which denies your version of the 
 c understanding-' and ' sacred compact 7 and clearly 
 proves that it was an open question to be entrusted to 
 our opinions, and judg-ments." If the article to which 
 we have referred is not intended for such a purpose, 
 it is childish. 
 
 Nor is it unworthy of remark that other papers in 
 the same interest have more timidly supported the 
 same dishonest proposal. The Observer and the 
 Advertiser have already sung- anticipatory paeans on 
 the withdrawal of Government support from Ecclesi- 
 astical Establishments in this Colony. The example 
 of the Canada Parliament has been gleefully quoted j 
 and we have been told that the day is not far distant
 
 221 
 
 when the Churches of this Colony will be emancipated 
 from Government protection. 
 
 It is thus clear that the Colonists will be asked to 
 break the pledge given by implication to the ministers 
 of different religious communities in the Colony, as 
 well as to the civil servants. It is not, however, 
 believed that such proposals will be accepted by the 
 people of the Colony, however congenial they may be 
 to the feeling's of some of the Cape Town Municipal 
 Commissioners, and the conductors of the democratic 
 press. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOE. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, December 27, 1850. 
 
 THE manner in which the approaching- change in 
 the Government in the Colony will affect certain 
 classes of individuals is deserving- of attention while 
 the method in which that chang-e is to be effected is 
 under consideration. Last week, we took occasion to 
 refer to the threat of deprivation of salaries which has 
 been made against the civil servants of the Colonial 
 Government, and is repeated in rather coarse terms in 
 last Saturday's Mail. To that question it is needless 
 to revert, because the party which has made the 
 threat is inconsiderable in numbers and influence. 
 The question of Government support to religious 
 establishments in the Colony is of greater importance, 
 because if the several ministers of the different 
 religious communities receiving aid from the Govern- 
 ment seem likely to be left dependent upon the 
 annual votes of the Legislature which it is proposed
 
 222 
 
 to establish, it is impossible to exaggerate the public 
 mischief and continued bitterness of feeling 1 which is 
 almost certain to arise. 
 
 It should also be well considered that the parties 
 interested in this question we allude to the congre- 
 gations for whose benefit these stipends are paid are 
 in general little able to protect themselves. If, on the 
 occurrence of vacancies, official salaries in the civil 
 departments are unreasonably reduced, the injury and 
 inconvenience will be confined to the transaction of 
 public business, and the collection and expenditure of 
 the public revenue. And for such inconvenience the 
 public will in due time find a remedy, by consenting 
 to pay such salaries as will secure the services of 
 competent men. But if we discontinue the salaries 
 and offices of the ministers of religion, the poor, the 
 ignorant, and the vicious will be the first suiferers, and 
 the whole community will feel the effects in the spread 
 of poverty, ignorance, and crime. 
 
 A disposition has been manifested by some public 
 writers in Cape Town, whose opinions are, no doubt, 
 shared by some Colonists, to contend for the abolition 
 and discontinuance of those votes of the Legislature 
 by which pecuniary provision has hitherto been secured 
 to the ministers of certain Churches. This is a question 
 which will, of course, come under the consideration of 
 the Cape Parliament: and should the Parliament 
 decide, as in the much-quoted case of Canada, that 
 Government support is to be withdrawn from the 
 Churches, that decision must be unquestionably held 
 binding. We have no desire to conceal our opinions 
 upon the question which has been so much, so often,
 
 223 
 
 and so vehemently debated. We should look upon 
 the contemplated measure as a very grievous calamity. 
 We believe the promotion of religion to be an object 
 to which a portion of the public funds, in all countries, 
 may, under certain conditions and circumstances, be 
 properly and advantageously applied j and, as regards 
 Colonies, we will express our own views in the 
 emphatic words of Mr. E. G. Wakefield, because 
 that gentleman's opinions are believed to carry 
 considerable weight with the party in this Colony, 
 most likely to be violent in opposing grants for 
 ecclesiastical purposes. 
 
 (( Imagine for a moment that, like Penn or Balti- 
 more, you had undertaken to found a nation. Think 
 of the greatness of the responsibility : figure to yourself 
 how ardent would be your desire to sow the finest seed, 
 to plant the most healthy offsets, to build with the 
 soundest materials. Is there any effort or sacrifice 
 you would be unwilling to make for the purpose of 
 giving to your first emigration a character of honour, 
 virtue, and refinement ? Now, go on to suppose that 
 in planning your colonization, you had by some strange 
 oversight omitted all provisions for religion in the 
 Colony ; and that accordingly, as would surely be the 
 case, you found amongst religious people of all classes, 
 but especially amongst the higher classes, and 
 amongst the better sort of women of every class, a 
 strong repugnance to have anything to do with you. 
 If you had made no provisions for religion in your 
 Colony, and if people here only cared enough about 
 you to find that out, your scheme would be vituperated 
 by religious men, who are numerous j by religious
 
 224: 
 
 women, who are very numerous ; and by the clergy of 
 all denominations, who are immensely powerful : you 
 would have to take what you could get in the way of 
 emigration. Your labouring- classes of emigTants 
 would be composed of paupers, vagabonds, and sluts ; 
 your middle class, of broken-down tradesmen, over- 
 reachers, semi-swindlers and needy adventurers, to- 
 gether with a few miserable wives, and a good many 
 mistresses ; your higher order of emigrants would be 
 men of desperate fortunes, flying from debt and 
 bedevilment, and young reprobates spurned or coaxed 
 into banishment by relatives wishing them dead. You 
 would sow bad seed, plant sorry offsets, build with 
 rotten materials : your Colony would be disg'usting." 
 
 These remarks having reference to an infant Colony, 
 are equally applicable to a Colony of maturer growth, 
 and to none more than that in which we dwell, 
 because here the congregations are poor and scattered, 
 and little able to afford their ministers such support as 
 would ensure a constant supply of men of superior 
 talent, learning, and piety, as public teachers of 
 religion. 
 
 This, which is true in some measure of the recog- 
 nized Churches of England, Scotland, and Rome, and 
 of the Wesleyan community, is especially true of the 
 Dutch Reformed Church. Some aid may be expected 
 from the former four religious societies and communi- 
 ties in Europe ; but the ministers of the latter must 
 depend entirely upon the voluntary contributions of 
 their flocks, if deprived of Government aid : and the 
 Dutch Reformed Church will become what Mr. 
 Wakefield tells us the Churches of Rome and
 
 225 
 
 England were in Canada, even before the insufficient 
 support formerly granted to them was withdrawn" a 
 starved Church." 
 
 Further than this, we do not propose at present to 
 pursue the general question, because there is now no 
 Legislature to deal with it. In the new Parliament it 
 will, no doubt, be keenly debated, and we shall then 
 be found ready to afford such support as we are 
 capable of giving to the promoters of views, the 
 adoption of which we believe to be of the utmost 
 importance to the public weal. But there is one 
 question which we hope to see entirely withdrawn 
 from the interference of the Parliament, namely, 
 the salaries at present granted, and by implication 
 guaranteed, to the present Ministers of the supported 
 Churches. In the words of the Government Com- 
 missioners, we desire 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." 
 
 The justice of this principle has been acknowledged 
 by the Canadian Parliament, who, in voting the 
 appropriation of the Clergy Reserves to secular 
 purposes, have resolved (( to respect the rights of the 
 present incumbents." In expressing* a hope that the 
 rights of present Incumbents in this Colony will be 
 secured by the instrument establishing the new form 
 of government, we are simply advocating a measure 
 which will certainly prevent much bitterness of feeling 
 and very grievous injustice. 
 
 For, from the tone of the articles which have 
 recently appeared in the Advertiser and the Observer., 
 
 Q
 
 226 
 
 and of the extracts adopted by our contemporaries from 
 the British Banner and the Nonconformist 5 we 
 entertain some doubt whether then 1 strong' feeling- in 
 favour of the voluntary principle may not lead them, 
 after thus feeling" their way, openly to advocate the 
 same breach of public faith towards the Ministers of 
 religion which the Cape Town Mail has proposed with 
 regard to the civil servants. The resolution of the 
 Canadian Parliament to respect the rig-hts of present 
 Incumbents is only considered a wise one by the 
 Nonconformist, on the narrow ground that "it deprives 
 the Home Government of all excuse for refusing* their 
 consent to the secularization of the ecclesiastical 
 endowments of the Colony f and this sentiment is 
 taken over by the Observer without a sing-le qualifying- 
 remark. It is, therefore, scarcely uncharitable to 
 presume that a similar withdrawal of Government 
 support, without a similar reservation, is contemplated 
 by that paper and its adherents ; and it is the duty of 
 the Colonists to check this apparently growing- tendency, 
 and to provide in sufficient time ag-ainst the threatened 
 act of injustice. 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS ON THE CONSTI- 
 TUTION. 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 SIR, In resuming' the subject of my last letter, I 
 have now to observe that the receipt of the Com- 
 mittee's report and of Earl Grey's despatch which 
 transmitted it, led to the completion of the previously
 
 227^ 
 
 dismembered Legislative Council; but which was 
 speedily dismembered a second time. Hence a com- 
 mission was issued by the Governor to the remaining 
 members to complete the work, which the four who 
 retired so discreditably abandoned. 
 
 This commission brought forth what is now called 
 the Government Draft of a Constitution for the Colony. 
 
 One cannot but be struck at first sight with the 
 difference between the construction of the Upper 
 Chamber, as adopted in this draft, and for which the 
 four members of the Executive all voted, and that 
 which those officers recommended, conjointly with the 
 judges, in the minutes and memoranda presented to 
 the Council by the Governor. That their opinions on 
 that point have undergone no change, I believe to be 
 an absolute certainty ; but then their position had 
 most materially changed. On the first occasion, they 
 were required to record their opinions, as individuals ; 
 on the second, as Her Majesty's servants, they were 
 constrained, to obey the commands of the Secretary of 
 State, in such manner as they mig'ht think best calcu- 
 lated to meet that Minister's views. What the real 
 views of that Minister were, must remain a subject 
 for conjecture. But it is quite evident that, at the 
 time the Letters Patent were issued, they materially 
 differed from those he had publicly expressed through- 
 out the previous course of his administration of the 
 Colonial department. The probability is that like 
 the chartering of the Neptune for conveying convicts 
 to the Cape, without waiting to know the wishes ol 
 the Colonists, for which he had asked some pressing 
 emergency induced His Lordship to seek relief in a 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 
 
 hasty mark of parental indulgence, without an imme- 
 diate conception of the danger to which it would 
 expose the child: while there can be no doubt this 
 promise of self-g*overnment will be subject to the 
 condition that the Colony shall provide for the expenses 
 of its military defences. 
 
 Sir W. Denison, in writing to Earl Grey under 
 date 15th August, 1848, referring to the elements of 
 which society is composed in Yan Diemen's Land, 
 remarks, " That it can hardly be subject of surprise 
 that so few are found who rise above the g'eneral level, 
 or that thpse few owe more to the possession of a cer- 
 tain oratorical facility, than to their power of mind 
 and the justness of the opinions which they advocate." 
 fc It is usual to assume that Colonies are offshoots from 
 the parent stock, containing in themselves the germs of 
 all the elements of which society in the mother-country 
 is composed, but this can only be said of any Colony 
 with many reservations." u There is an essentially 
 democratic spirit which actuates the large mass of 
 the community." 
 
 This Governor also remarks, in a despatch of the 
 9th February, 1850, on the difficulty in Yan Diemen's 
 Land of finding persons properly qualified to act as 
 representatives, and the consequent risk, when qualified 
 persons are unwilling to serve, of the business of legisla- 
 tion falling into the hands of persons in no way qualified 
 to perform it ; and observes that the measure before the 
 last sitting of Parliament for introducing the principle 
 of popular representation into New South Wales, by 
 the addition of elective members to the Legislative 
 Council, will no doubt be thankfully acknowledged by
 
 229 
 
 the inhabitants of Van Diemen's Land. He had before 
 said the principles of this constitution t( are fully 
 appreciated and approved by the inhabitants." 
 
 This constitution consisted of a singie Chamber, com- 
 posed of thirty-six members, twelve of whom were to 
 be nominated by the Government, and twenty-four 
 elected by the people. 
 
 Sir H. E. F. Young 1 , whose opinions will carry 
 weig-ht at least with our friends in the Eastern Pro- 
 vince, in a despatch to Earl Grey, of the 17th 
 December, 1849, encloses certain resolutions passed by 
 the Legislative Council of South Australia, two days 
 before, on the subject of the intended constitution to 
 be g'ranted by Parliament. By these, it was resolved, 
 that the Legislative Council should consist of a Go- 
 vernor and two Chambers, the Upper of which to be 
 composed of members all nominated by Her Majesty, 
 and that the six chief officers of the Government, if not 
 nominated for the Upper House, should be, ex qfficio 
 members of the Lower. 
 
 Sir H. Young- observes, in his despatch, that he- 
 thinks this form of government an improvement on the 
 early form of government for the Colonies, by securing 1 
 in the Lower House the constant presence and sen-ice 
 of the heads of the chief public departments. He says ; 
 it is evident that the more popular the form of the 
 Colonial Government the more expedient it is to gnard 
 ag-ainst the public confusion and embarrassments which 
 would result from the local Government being- unre- 
 presented in the Lower House, arising- from the 
 rejection of the principal officers of Government by the 
 popular electors.
 
 230 
 
 Mr. Labouchere, a member of the Privy Council, 
 and one of the Committee of Trade and Plantations 
 confessed, as late as March last, to have derived great 
 satisfaction from the intelligence which had reached 
 the Government from the Australian Colonies, which 
 * expressed so much unanimity that it was impossible to 
 doubt that upon the whole the measure proposed by 
 the Government had been welcomed by the Colony. 
 He stated that Sir George Grey and Sir George 
 Gibbs, the two most distinguished men England ever 
 sent to the Colonies, were of opinion that materials did 
 not exist for two Chambers ; and that men in Aus- 
 tralia of the most popular views and principles, and 
 who had no abstract dislike to two Chambers, have 
 come to the conclusion that two Chambers, at present, 
 are not advisable. 
 
 Sir Harry Smith, in his despatch of the 26th Octo- 
 ber, 1849, says, "It seems agreed that the legislature 
 should consist of a Governor (with an Executive 
 Council), a Legislative Council, the members of which 
 should be appointed by the Crown, and an Assembly 
 elected by the people. That the general principles 
 guiding the legislation of the Colony are adopted from 
 the despatch of the Secretary of State in 1827, when 
 transmitting a charter of justice for the Colony, viz. 
 that of a general approximation of the Colonial law to 
 that of England. His Excellency suggests that the 
 qualification of voters for the Lower House should be 
 the ownership of fixed property worth 10 per annum, 
 or the occupancy of the same of the annual value of 
 15 ; and that for members, the ownership of unen- 
 cumbered fixed property of the value of 500, or f
 
 231 
 
 encumbered worth 1000, otherwise, a clear annual 
 income of 200, resulting- from professional pursuits 
 or public service." 
 
 We will now take a concise review of the character 
 and circumstances of the population of the Colony for 
 which it is proposed to introduce a form of Govern- 
 ment very nearly resembling" a pure democracy* 
 
 It should be remembered that about forty-five years 
 ago, when Great Britain last took possession of the 
 Cape, it had been previously subject to an arbitrary 
 and very corrupt system of government, and that, too, 
 at a time when slavery existed here under the sanction 
 of the law. This state of thing's must necessarily have 
 had its effects in the formation of the habits and cha- 
 racter of the population, both Dutch and English, 
 who, or their descendants, form the great bulk of the 
 population at the present day j and there still remain 
 traces of the discontent which the subsequent emanci- 
 pation of the slaves occasioned, independently of the 
 just grounds of complaint at the manner in which that 
 measure was carried out at the Cape. 
 
 From 1806 to 1825, Great Britain ruled the Colony 
 to use the words of the late Mr. "VVilberforce Bird 
 by " the absolute government of one," and from thence 
 to 1834 by a Governor and official Council j but, at 
 the latter period, the first step in the direction of popu- 
 lar legislation was taken by the introduction of a 
 Council partly composed of inhabitants nominated by 
 the Governor, which, by giving a voice, though not a 
 vote, to the people, opened a door for the expression of 
 public opinion, through the unofficial Members, on all 
 subjects brought before the legislature.
 
 But in later years, besides the 1 mgering murmurs 
 respecting the emancipation of the slaves, the mis- 
 management of our border policy has been a source of 
 wide-spread discontent, especially among 1 many of the 
 Dutch inhabitants of the frontier districts, and which 
 has been, undoubtedly, encouraged and exasperated by 
 their correspondents in Cape Town, and their organ, 
 the Zuid Afrikaan newspaper. If any of your 
 readers doubt this, I refer them to the evidence in the 
 columns of the Commercial Advertiser, at the time 
 when it characterized the gentleman connected with 
 that paper by the distinguishing epithet of "Fire- 
 brand." Hence it was that an important section of the 
 Dutch population of the remoter country districts 
 trekked beyond the boundary, and who, to a great 
 extent, have thrown off their allegiance to the Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 To these considerations, it should be added that 
 more than one-half of the population consists of eman- 
 cipated slaves and other free persons of colour, whilst 
 the whites comprise individuals of English, Dutch, 
 German, French, and Portuguese extraction, of which 
 the English form but a small proportion. Of this 
 heterogeneous mass, but a small number of the whites 
 can be fairly said to have acquired a sufficient degTee 
 of intelligence to qualify them for the responsible 
 duties of legislation. It was, in all probability, this 
 singular feature in the population of the Colony and 
 which distinguishes it from most, and, I believe, all the 
 other Colonies of the Crown, which induced the mem- 
 bers of the Executive to extend the franchise to the 
 more advanced portion of the coloured races, to afford
 
 233 
 
 to them the means of guarding- against that species of 
 " class legislation" which those who affect to repudiate 
 that principle might possibly resort to for their oppr s- 
 sion, and of which Sir Andries Stockenstrom's con- 
 stituents have betrayed their fears in their memorial 
 to the Governor, but more distinctly at their meeting' 
 at Philipton, on the 25th October. 
 
 In the meantime, education has not been without its 
 influence on the inhabitants of the principal towns : 
 but in the country districts, which contain the great 
 bulk of the population, very thinly scattered over a 
 vast extent of country which has never yet been visited 
 by the schoolmaster, insurmountable obstacles are at 
 present opposed to educational improvement among 
 the agricultural classes. Then the mode in which 
 many landholders acquire their title to their farms 
 opposes a formidable barrier to the progress of these 
 nominal proprietors in the march of civilization, and 
 consequently to the prosperity of the rural districts. 
 The Boers, who occupy the bulk of the land, and who, 
 as Mr. Montag'u has justly observed, are also the pea- 
 santry of the soil, purchase their farms, very many of 
 them, without capital, by mortgaging them to the 
 seller, and therefore are without the means of im- 
 proving them. The most they are generally able to 
 accomplish, by the personal labour of themselves and 
 their families, with the aid of such labourers as they 
 can afford to pay for, since they lost their slaves, is to 
 raise sufficient produce to pay the interest on the 
 morto-ao-es and afford a rude subsistence to their 
 
 o O 
 
 household. AVhilst the total want of all means of
 
 234 
 
 education amongst this portion of the proprietors of 
 the soil in whose houses a book is rarely, if ever, seen, 
 save the old family Bible has, unhappily, occasioned 
 each generation to sink below its progenitors in civi- 
 lization and intellio-ence. 
 
 <3 
 
 In this state of things, it is proposed to introduce 
 into this Colony, where the community are so utterly 
 unprepared for its reception, and without any prepara- 
 tory steps, a system of legislation professedly based on 
 the principles of the British Constitution ! 
 
 The peerag'e, which there forms the safeguard ag'ainst 
 encroachments of the monarch on the one hand, and 
 the democratic branch on the other, is the growth of 
 
 f C 
 
 centuries. For this element of that admirable consti- 
 tution, to which the greatness of the country is mainly 
 to be attributed, it is proposed to substitute at the Cape 
 a Council, the members of which are to be elected by 
 all but universal suffrage 5 the effect of which must 
 necessarily be, that the Members of both Houses, 
 being- returned by the same constituency, will conjointly 
 assail and embarrass the Government by the double 
 force of a two-fold democratical influence. 
 
 It is true, that the sixteen peers of Scotland and the 
 twenty-eight Irish peers who sit in the House of 
 Lords are elected, but then they are elected by the 
 nobility of their respective countries; afid although 
 Irish noblemen, being- regarded as commoners of Great 
 
 / O O 
 
 Britain, may be returned as members of the House of 
 Commons, they must renounce their rig'ht of voting- 
 for the Irish representative peers before they can take 
 their seats in the Lower House. Their case, there-
 
 235 
 
 fore, forms no parallel to the principle soug'ht to be 
 enforced in the formation of an Upper Chamber at the 
 Cape. 
 
 These ; Sir, are some of the very important points 
 which demand the most serious and unprejudiced con- 
 sideration before any changes in our Legislature are 
 decided on, not only by the Colonists generally, but 
 by all those who possess a stake in the country, or 
 who may be enabled to exercise any influence in 
 deciding' on them. 
 
 A LOOKER ON. 
 
 SIR A. STOCKENSTROM has had an ovation at Graaff- 
 Reinet, and has explained his opinions and principles 
 to the inhabitants in a Dutch speech and an English 
 letter. The latter has been published ; the former 
 suppressed. In his letter, he says, " the 25 franchise 
 is of official origin, it is therefore entitled to official 
 support j and any official attempt to divide the com- 
 munity on that point can only indicate a dishonest 
 stratagem to retard or frustrate representative insti- 
 tutions altogether." 
 
 The 25 franchise for the Lower House was, indeed, 
 proposed and supported by official members of the late 
 Council, and any attempt on their part to create a 
 division on the subject now would certainly be incon- 
 sistent. No such attempt has, however, been made. 
 
 But the Advertiser explains the allusion. "It is 
 improper," says our contemporary, ({ that public officers 
 of such rank under the Government, as for instance, 
 the Civil Commissioner of Swellendam, should be
 
 236 
 
 engaged in this opposition." Improper ! Why ? Is 
 Sir A. Stockenstrom, who is a Government pensioner, 
 to be allowed the free expression of his opinion, and is 
 the same privilege to be denied to Mr. Southey, who 
 is a very large landed proprietor in the Graaff-Reinet 
 district ? When it suits their purpose, the writers and 
 speakers of the democratic party are not unaccustomed 
 broadly to assert that a large body of the civil servants 
 are with them, and to denounce the tyranny which, as 
 they allege, interferes with the free expression of opinion. 
 
 But it is urged that the members of the Executive 
 Government " the highest in the land, must bow to 
 their convictions before the authority of their Chief;" 
 and that a fortiori the Civil Commissioner of Swel- 
 lendham should be obliged to submit to the same 
 dictation. 
 
 If this were true which it is not it would have 
 nothing to do with the matter, because neither the 
 "Chief" nor the "Executive Government" have pro- 
 nounced any decision on the question. It is notorious 
 that the official members went into Council utterly 
 unfettered on any question relating to the Constitution, 
 even by previous consultation among themselves ; and 
 that their acts were not the acts of the Government as 
 a body, but of themselves as individuals. 
 
 But suppose it were otherwise, how could this affect 
 Mr. Southey ? He is not a member of the Executive 
 Council, and therefore is not bound by the decisions 
 of the majority of that body. This is the doctrine 
 contended for by the official members in Council, and 
 afterwards in their letter to the Governor ; and it has 
 evidently no bearing on Mr. Southey's case.
 
 237 
 
 There are two or three other points in the Graaff- 
 Reinet address to Sir A. Stockenstrom and his reply, 
 which are worthy of notice. 
 
 For example, when the subscribers to the address 
 revive the old fallacy of the seceders, by speaking- of 
 the framing- of a constitution for the Colony, "for 
 which object you were solely elected by your con- 
 stituents/' we are tempted to ask for an explanation 
 of the petitions about canteens, pounds, and a stipend 
 for a Roman Catholic clergy man ; one signed by 32and 
 another by 111 inhabitants of Graaff-Reinet, and both 
 presented to the Council by Sir A. Stockenstrom. We 
 are also reminded of the case of the Glen Lynden 
 petitioners, who were assured by the Baronet that he 
 would obtain justice for them before he left the Council, 
 and whose petition he accordingly presented. 
 
 As to the 25 franchise for the Lower House, 
 although it is quite true that some difference of opinion 
 prevails upon that question in the country districts, it 
 cannot be too carefully borne in mind that the main 
 point of difference is that which relates to the consti- 
 tution of the Upper House, and that the proposal of 
 the 25 franchise for the electors of this House was not 
 of " official origin" but, on the contrary, was opposed 
 by several officials. 
 
 We observe that Sir A. Stockenstrom announces 
 his intention of going- to England, but without allusion 
 to the disreputable deceptions which have been prac- 
 tised upon the public in connexion with that subject, 
 arid to which he does not deny having 1 been a party ; 
 and as pomposity and bombast are no sufficient answer
 
 238 
 
 on such a subject, a distinct denial is the only course 
 which will satisfy the public in this matter. 
 
 We do not imagine that Sir A. Stockenstrom's party 
 will gain much by this demonstration. He was met 
 at a little distance from the village by some thirty or 
 forty inhabitants : and though it is quite true, as 
 observed by a correspondent of the Advertiser, that the 
 powder used for the salutes was (t wasted," we are 
 informed the expenditure was not very great. The 
 attempt at an instrumental performance on the occasion 
 was more melancholy than musical and the Baronet, 
 who must have remembered former rejoicing's at 
 Graaff-Reinet, must have felt humbled at his position, 
 thoug'h he, of course, speaks of the " more than usual 
 kindness" of his reception. The address commented 
 upon above was presented by a crowd collected to 
 attend an auction, Sir Andries reversing* the usual 
 order of things, by waiting upon them at the auction 
 room to receive it. Ten names out of the ninety-two 
 who signed are selected for publication ; and the Zuid 
 Afrihaan, relying on such evidence, glories at the 
 discomfiture of another movement at Graaff-Reinet, 
 which (unless that paper's means of acquiring* correct 
 information from the country are very limited), the 
 writer must know to be promoted by all the more 
 influential English proprietors of the place, repre- 
 senting property to the amount of not less than 
 100,000. 
 
 If our contemporaries can produce nothing better 
 than " the glorious reception of Sir A. Stockenstrom 
 at Graaff-Reinet," as a specimen of the approval of
 
 239 
 
 their principles by the country Colonists, they will find 
 it safer to avoid the subject. 
 
 THE Cape Town Mail has stumbled upon some 
 statistics in a Yankee Almanac, by which he pro- 
 poses to prove that by the establishment of free institu- 
 tions here (C transfer dues, auction dues, stamps, road 
 rates in short every tax of every description, except 
 only the duties upon imports might be dispensed 
 with." Such promises are not unusual on the part of 
 those who, not guided by any honest political principle 
 are bidding- for public favour on the eve of a gTeat 
 political chang-e : but as it is certain that the gTant 
 of Representative Institutions to the Colony will be 
 accompanied by some heavy expenses hitherto borne 
 by the Imperial Government, we may fairly ask in 
 what manner is the proposed reduction of expenditure 
 from 274,000 to 50,000 per annum to be effected? 
 
 Our contemporary has his answer ready : 
 
 " By the reduction of official salaries : knock it 
 off the wag^es of your Flunkeys : pay your Governor 
 500 a-year, your Secretary 150, and let your 
 Attorney-General live on fees, and you will be not 
 only g-overned, but well governed, at 50,000 a-year." 
 
 Not to dwell upon the circumstance that our con- 
 temporary's own figures show that under the same 
 system in America the civil expenditure has, between 
 1776 and 1847, increased from Qd to Is 3%d per 
 head of the population, so that the economical policy 
 of the proposal may be doubted, all we desire is to 
 .strip the question of the mystification in which our
 
 240 
 
 contemporary's array of figures and tables has involved 
 it ; and to leave the public to judge whether, under an 
 executive composed of officers paid at the rates 
 proposed, they would be either well governed or 
 governed at all, whether either England or the 
 Colony would supply competent men to fill the high 
 offices of state for remuneration which the chief clerk 
 in a merchant's office would refuse to accept. 
 
 That the expenditure of the Colony has increased 
 since 1846 is very true : but so far from proving " the 
 mismanagement to which its affairs have been so long* 
 subjected," this proves the activity and energy with 
 which its affairs have been conducted, its resources 
 developed, and its population increased by a judicious 
 immigration. These things are not to be done without 
 some expenditure of money ; but it is an expenditure 
 for w T hich the tax-payers are amply repaid, by the 
 improvement of property and the development of the 
 elements of public wealth. 
 
 Our contemporary has himself, in another part of 
 the same paper, quoted an instance exactly in point 
 the increase in the value of property in Port Elizabeth, 
 which has really arisen mainly from the opening- of the 
 Zuurberg road, which causes a larg-e quantity of the 
 produce of the interior divisions to be brought by a 
 direct route into Port Elizabeth for export. The 
 inhabitants of Algoa Bay will scarcely gTumble at the 
 expenditure which has been attended with such happy 
 results for them : and the}^ may perhaps doubt whether 
 that expenditure would ever have taken place under a 
 Governor with 250, and a Secretary with 200 a-year. 
 
 Combined with the opening of the Zuurberg road,
 
 241 
 
 the other causes mentioned by our contemporary 
 the increase in value and quantity of the export of 
 wool, the abundant harvest, and the introduction of 
 emigrants have doubtless contributed to increase the 
 value of property at Port Elizabeth and elsewhere ; 
 but we can scarcely concur in the inference of the 
 Mail, that none of these causes would "have been 
 of any effect if there had existed a general sense 
 of the insecurity of property, arising- out of political 
 disturbances, or out of apprehensions connected with 
 the new form of Government." We cannot concur in 
 the inference thus intended to be drawn, because all 
 the causes above named had produced a great effect 
 before the commencement of political excitement ; 
 that effect -was checked by the political excitement 
 caused by the proceeding's of the democratic party in 
 September last, though it may be convenient to our 
 contemporary and his friends to blink the fact, and 
 though the temporary check has been removed in con- 
 sequence of the growing 1 certainty (arising 1 out of the 
 facilities which we have afforded for the free expression 
 of opinion), that the property and intelligence of the 
 Colony are clearly opposed to the threatened democracy, 
 and have, by making 1 these feeling's known, taken the 
 proper means of securing for themselves a due 
 representation in the future Parliament.
 
 242 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, January 3, 1850. 
 
 KAFFIR WAR. 
 
 THE imminent peril to which the Colony is now again 
 exposed, owing to the inroads of savage barbarians, 
 makes all other subjects, for the time, of secondary 
 importance. Under the head of "Frontier Intelli- 
 gence " will be found the fullest particulars we have 
 been able to collect from various sources of information, 
 relative to the late disastrous occurrences. There can 
 no longer be any doubt that a bloody, and probably 
 a protracted war has commenced ; that the Kaffirs 
 have proved themselves totally unworthy of the philan- 
 thropic efforts which have, during the last two years, 
 been made for their civilization : and that the utmost 
 efforts of all the Colonists in their several stations, are 
 urgently required for the defence of their common 
 country. 
 
 At such a moment it seems wise to abstain from 
 comment or discussion of any abstract questions 
 relative to the general principles of border policy. 
 Thus far, at least, all classes of the Colonists have 
 implicit confidence in Sir H. Smith, that all that 
 a brave, experienced, and distinguished soldier can 
 do for the Colony in this emergency, will be done by 
 him. 
 
 Our readers will observe that the Frontier districts 
 have been placed under Martial Law, and their 
 inhabitants required to enrol themselves under their 
 respective Field-cornets, &c. It is also understood
 
 243 
 
 that Hottentot levies will be raised to co-operate with 
 the troops in the same manner,, and on the same terms, 
 as during- the last war. 
 
 It is to be feared that the want of a local force 
 which the Governor has constantly endeavoured to 
 establish (whether in the form of militia, rural police, 
 or volunteer corps) will now be severely felt. We can 
 only rest in hope that the commencement of this 
 contest, is not to be taken as a fair augury of its 
 probable progress. 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that the Commissariat on 
 all parts of the Frontier is well supplied with provisions 
 of every kind. 
 
 We have made arrangements for obtaining- the 
 fullest information from the immediate scene of hos- 
 tilities, and shall publish, in Extras, the most important 
 news which may arrive by each post between our 
 reg-ular issues. 
 
 THE season at which we have arrived sug-g-ests the 
 duty of looking- back, and taking- a review of the 
 events of the past year. In another column will be 
 found a resume of the principal occurrences of Colonial 
 interest during- that period. The same varieties of 
 joy and sorrow, of failure and success, which mark 
 each period in the history of all individuals and com- 
 munities are here observable j but, on the whole, the 
 prospect suggested by this retrospect is cheering-, and 
 we enter upon the year 1851 with g-ood hopes for the 
 future. 
 
 In offering- to our readers the customary congratu-
 
 244 
 
 lations on the commencement of a new year, we felici- 
 tate them also on the opening" and establishment of a 
 new era. For the first time, perhaps, in the history 
 of the Colony a sound, healthy public opinion is making- 
 itself sensibly felt throughout the community. Under 
 the legislative institutions which have lately passed 
 away, and which were only suited for the protection, 
 so to speak, of an exotic society not yet naturalised in 
 the soil to which it had been transplanted, the growth 
 of public opinion could be but slow, and its expression 
 but rare. Circumstances of mixed g'ood and evil have 
 rudely broken down the fabric of those institutions, and 
 it is now, on all hands, agreed that before the close of 
 the present year the Cape Colonists must have the 
 manag-ement of their own affairs, their own legislation 
 in their own hands. 
 
 In the abrupt transition from such a constitution as 
 that under which the Government of this Colony has 
 hitherto been conducted to one based on the principle 
 of popular representation, it was not unnatural that 
 some men should be found desirous of carrying* out 
 their theories of liberalism and republicanism to an 
 extent of which the most enthusiastic Chartist in the 
 mother-country never dreamed. This is a phenomenon 
 which would probably have been observed in any 
 community similarly circumstanced to our own. That 
 such theories should, for a time, have met with appa- 
 rently g-eneral acceptation is a circumstance more 
 remarkable and exceptional. 
 
 With the causes of this apparent success of the 
 democratic party our readers are familiar. At the 
 period when the question of the form of the Constitution
 
 245 
 
 was first debated, the leaders of that party had at their 
 command nearly the whole of the Colonial Press, and 
 a powerful provincial organization. By the unscru- 
 pulous use of those engines they hoped to intimidate 
 into silence the large body which here, as in every 
 society, believed democracy to be inconsistent with 
 good government and security of property. This body 
 had scarcely any means of making its sentiments 
 known, in the Western Province absolutely none. 
 The democrats were thus enabled to make it appear 
 that they represented the universal voice of the people j 
 and for a time there was some danger that their 
 manoeuvres might be crowned with success. 
 
 That danger has well nigh passed away. It is now 
 clearly understood that the inhabitants are not even 
 numerically in favour of the seceders' Constitution ; 
 and that the intelligence and property of the Colony 
 are decidedly opposed to the dangerous doctrines on 
 which that document is founded. 
 
 For the distinct expression of this opinion, the 
 merchants of Cape Town are, in the first instance, 
 deserving of credit. It is not easy to exaggerate the 
 debt which the Colony owes them. Occupied, as might 
 be supposed, with the duties of their important calling, 
 they have yet during the struggles of the last two 
 years been ever found arrayed on the side of good 
 government, order, and protection of property. When 
 the Colony was threatened with the curse of convictism, 
 they were the first to stand forward in opposition to 
 that hateful measure. While the danger was immi- 
 nent, their time and resources were always at the 
 command of their fellow-citizens. When the Governor
 
 246 
 
 had conceded all that it was in his power to grant, 
 all that a reasonable public could ask, when the 
 dang-er was in effect over, then, and not tiJl then, they 
 retired from the conflict. In the outrageous measures 
 of a party who strove to make the anti-convict move- 
 ment a stepping-stone to political power, they refused 
 to join. When the leaders of that party placed them- 
 selves at the head of another movement for the purpose 
 of bringing- the Colony under the tyranny of a knot of 
 democrats, the merchants of Cape Town were the first 
 to protest against the scheme. 
 
 For this they have incurred the odium of the 
 democratic Press ; which, however, while loading 1 them 
 with epithets of the coarsest abuse, feels no scruple in 
 deriving- a comfortable income from their subscriptions 
 and advertisements. This it was, we presume, that led 
 to the establishment of the Exchange Gazette ; and 
 now that another medium for advertisements is supplied, 
 and the merchants have sufficient accommodation in 
 this respect without resorting' to the democratic organs, 
 it is satisfactory to know that some of the leading- 
 mercantile houses have wholly withdrawn their support 
 from those papers, thereby setting- a wholesome 
 example, which all who have the well-being* of the 
 Colony at heart would do well to follow. 
 
 The protest of the Cape Town merchants against the 
 Chartist principles of the seceders' Constitution was 
 echoed by a large and influential body throughout the 
 Colony. No sooner had this paper been established 
 than it became publicly known that in every district 
 where the democratic leaders had previously proclaimed 
 themselves triumphant, there was a considerable body
 
 24? 
 
 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 j 
 and thus, as we have said, a healthy public opinion has 
 been established in the Colony, which will assuredly 
 defeat and annihilate their democratic schemes. 
 
 Thus much for the past : one word for the future. 
 Before many months are gone, the question about the 
 form of legislature will be decided, and the business of 
 legislation will be at length resumed. When that 
 time comes, we shall be at our post, ready to do battle, 
 as best we may, on behalf of those principles for which 
 we have already contended. We shall advocate 
 measures, no matter from what quarter they proceed, 
 which seem to us best calculated to promote the best 
 interests of the Colony, moral and religious, the security 
 of property, the due observance of the public faith, and 
 the maintenance of the character and prosperity of the 
 entire Colony. 
 
 THE account of the Graaff-Reinet demonstration, 
 which we have extracted from the Graham's Town
 
 248 
 
 Journal, fully bears out the statement contained in 
 our article on the subject last week. It is really 
 lamentable that a gentleman in Sir A. Stockenstrom's 
 position should lend himself to such deception as this 
 and others with which his name has been recently 
 connected. 
 
 Of this he may rest assured, that unless he explains 
 the impositions which have been practised upon the 
 public relative to his proceeding's and intentions, his 
 visit to England will do little g"ood even to his own 
 party. He will find that our history of his practices 
 has preceded him. These three thing's remain unex- 
 plained. First, that it was stated, on his behalf, he 
 waited for documents from the country : second, that 
 it was similarly stated that his infirm health alone 
 prohibited his immediate departure : third, that it was 
 announced that he would not leave the Colony till he 
 received letters from Mr. Fairbairn. Of these three 
 statements two must be false ', and if Sir A. Stocken- 
 strom expects to be well received by honourable men 
 in England, he must disconnect himself with the 
 imposture before he leaves the Colony. 
 
 GRAAFF-REINET-A DEMONSTRATION. 
 
 THE following- article from the Graham's Town 
 Journal, of the 20th December, relative to the Graaff- 
 Reinet demonstration fully confirms our article of last 
 week on this subject : 
 
 The Cape Post of Tuesday last, broug'ht the (to 
 some) welcome intelligence that Sir A. Stockenstrom 
 would arrive here on Thursday. The old ultra party
 
 249 
 
 of the A. C. A., immediately set to work to make it 
 publicly known, and to induce persons to ride some 
 miles to meet him, in consequence of which he was 
 escorted into town on the evening- mentioned by some 
 thirty individuals on horseback, and four or five more 
 in vehicles of different orders, and safely deposited in 
 apartments previously provided for the occasion. The 
 arrival was announced by a discharg-e of fire-arms 
 from the premises of a few of his personal friends, and 
 similar tokens of rejoicing 1 by a few black boys peram- 
 bulating 1 the streets, and firing 1 off their muskets in 
 different places. It is said to have been expected, that 
 this example would have been g-enerally followed it 
 being" the usual mode of welcoming- friends or great 
 men ; but if so, there was a disappointment, for it would 
 not take, and after much praiseworthy exertion on the 
 part of those employed to g-et the steam up, this part 
 of the play ceased. The public were, however, in a 
 measure compensated by the more pleasing 1 sounds of 
 music, produced by the remains of the Graaff-Reinet 
 band, consisting 1 of an old drum, with a cracked fife 
 and tin-kettle accompaniment, issuing* at first from the 
 neighbourhood of the "the Lion's" quarters, and after- 
 wards parading 1 the streets, and gladdening- the hearts 
 of " the party." This continued for some two hours, 
 when, it is said, the musicians were scared to 
 their homes by the gliost of Jacob Dormell appear- 
 ing 1 , and demanding 1 to know why his instruments 
 were so " misused." This may only have been imagina- 
 tion over excited by the occasion and the wine. Some 
 disappointment was expressed, however, at the want 
 of variety in the musical selections, the whole two
 
 250 
 
 hours being- occupied in playing- but one tune, and 
 that a cross between a Polka and "jump Jim Crow;" 
 but this is said to have been occasioned, not so much 
 by bad selection, as a want of musical talent in the 
 players thoug-h there are some ill-natured people 
 who say that no more suitable selection could have 
 been made for such an occasion. As all thing's must, 
 however, end, so did this tune, and the g-ood folks 
 were allowed a little repose, preparatory to the exer- 
 tions of the following- day, on the morning- of which 
 the leaders were seen hurrying- about the streets, some 
 on foot, and some on horseback, notifying- to " the 
 people" that a public meeting- would be held at 3 p. M. 
 to agree on, and present an address to Sir Andries. 
 The meeting- was to be in Mr. S. Meintjes' auction 
 rooms. 3 P. M. arrived, with but a very limited 
 g-athering- at the rooms, notwithstanding- all the exer- 
 tion made, and it was feared that the whole would be 
 a failure, when, however, a new dodg-e was resorted 
 to. It is customary here, when a public sale is to be 
 held, to announce it by sending- a boy throug-h the 
 streets ringing- a bell, and this mode of collecting- an 
 audience was adopted. Shortly afterwards, persons 
 who usually look out for barg-ains at public sales were 
 seen wending- their way towards the (( auction rooms." 
 Later in the afternoon, when some sixty persons of all 
 sorts and sizes had been g-ot tog-ether, Sir Andries 
 was driven to the scene of action in a sort of caravan 
 drawn by a pair of horses. On his arrival at (i the 
 rooms," the proceeding's commenced, but as all was in 
 Dutch, I, who do not understand it, was not much 
 edified. Sir A. spoke for about an hour, and sold
 
 251 
 
 many a better bargain than they had been in the 
 habit of purchasing- there myself for one, in listening 
 for upwards of an hour to a parcel of gibberish I 
 scarcely understood a word of. At the close of the 
 last act, Sir A. returned to his lodgings in the same 
 vehicle, but drawn by a different species of animal 
 for the sake of variation. 
 
 Sir Andries left on Saturday morning for Maastrom, 
 to make arrangement for the gTand Jinale to come off 
 in February next. 
 
 As a full account of the doings here, with the usual 
 embellishments, is to appear in the Commercial Adver- 
 tiser, and some other of "the people's periodicals," 
 you must be satisfied with this short narration, which 
 even I should not have sent you, had I not felt that 
 you would be anxious to hear of the progress of one 
 in whom so much interest is taken by " the people ;" 
 and that you would be gratified to learn, that so large 
 a number as sixty persons, in a district containing only 
 about ten or twelve thousand inhabitants, had been 
 got together to do homage to him, although not much 
 more than a week's notice had been received of his 
 intention to visit this place, for the purpose of getting 
 up a demonstration. I do verily believe, if we had 
 had another week's time, we should have got at least 
 sixty-five or seventy people to have shewn themselves ; 
 for entre nous, Mr. Editor, several of " the leaders" 
 are directors of the Bank and Municipal Commis- 
 sioners, and it is astonishing how much influence that 
 gives them in this small place, particularly the former j 
 for when a poor devil wants a bill discounted, and 
 can't get it without signing- the pledge, why he must
 
 252 
 
 just sign it, and as it is pretty generally understood 
 that } T OU must f< do as I do/' or the bill won't pass, it 
 is just show your face, and sign the address. 
 
 It was a grand mistake of the Cape Townites, first 
 to notify that Sir Andries would go via Swellendam 
 and George and then to send him off this way, with- 
 out delaying a week or two to give us notice. They 
 ought to have known beforehand that Swellendam 
 and George way wouldn't do, there being a strong 
 Conservative party at the former, and all Conserva- 
 tives at the latter, and therefore might have given us 
 timely notice. 
 
 Soon after Sir Andries left, we had a report that 
 the Kaffirs had carried off all his cattle, and on the 
 intelligence reaching the Baronet, it is said, he ex- 
 claimed, " Oh ! save me from my friends !" 
 
 P. S. I forgot to tell you, that out of the sixty 
 who attended the meeting in the auction rooms, there 
 were not more than six English, and only one or two 
 of them thorough-bred. Communicated. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOE. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, January 10, 1851. 
 
 THE fullest intelligence which has reached Cape 
 Town relative to the state of the Frontier has been 
 given in extra numbers, and in another part of this 
 day's paper. The season for comment seems scarcely 
 yet to have arrived. 
 
 There is one point, however, which cannot fail to 
 strike every reader, namely, how completely the 
 local authorities in Kaffraria have been taken by sur-
 
 253 
 
 prise. We do not make this remark by way of cen- 
 sure on officers who have on many occasions displayed 
 great ability, but in illustration of the character of 
 the enemy with whom we have to deal. It is a fact 
 that our best officers have been completely outwitted 
 by this horde of savages, who have been secretly pre- 
 paring 1 for Avar at the very time when it was believed 
 that they were beginning to profit by the lessons of 
 civilization which their former conquerors were striving 
 to teach them. 
 
 The result of this has been that the opinion is 
 rapidly gaining strength that peace is only to be 
 purchased by the extermination of our treacherous 
 neighbours. On this point we refrain, for the present, 
 from pronouncing any judgement ; but we trust that 
 past events will convince the military authorities on 
 the frontier that they have to deal with a subtle enemy, 
 who possesses means greater and more complete than 
 has been hitherto supposed of acquiring* information 
 as to our strength or weakness, and the progress of 
 events within the Colony. 
 
 Of how long standing we are to consider the trea- 
 chery of the Kaffir police is still uncertain. It is 
 possible that they may have been giving information 
 to their countrymen for a considerable period. The 
 Kaffir servants would also report the alarm and panic 
 which had seized the colonists along the Frontier. 
 From one source or another, it is clear that the Kaffirs 
 have the means of obtaining pretty accurate intelli- 
 gence of the state of affairs in the Colony. 
 
 And it will be for the colonists to consider whether 
 this circumstance does not in itself sufficiently account
 
 254 
 
 for the outbreak of war at this period. The Kaffirs 
 are aware that the force at Sir H. Smith's command 
 is now much smaller than at the termination of the 
 last war. They must have known also that the police, 
 on whom great reliance was placed by the Govern- 
 ment, would desert on the commencement of hostili- 
 ties, thereby bringing' to them a gTeat increase of 
 strength and seriously reducing- the colonial force ; 
 they knew, further, that the alarm from which the 
 Frontier farmers were suffering' would prevent their 
 making 1 any immediate and combined movement ; and 
 they did not know to what extent the Governor and 
 the troops would receive assistance from the Colonial 
 public. 
 
 For the last two years the Kaffirs, who cannot be 
 supposed to understand the diplomatic character of 
 our political contentions, and who believe that opposi- 
 tion means war, and that political contest is not easily 
 distinguishable from physical strife, have beheld the 
 Government and the people in declared opposition. 
 The accounts of hostile demonstrations on the part 
 of the Colonists which have doubtless reached Kaf- 
 fraria may, not unnaturally, have led the Kaffirs to 
 believe that men who threatened and attempted to 
 starve the troops in 1848 and 1849 would not be very 
 zealous to co-operate with them in 1850 and 1851 j 
 that those who had loaded the Governor and his 
 immediate supporters with the most scurrilous abuse 
 one day, would not be anxious to aid him against 
 another enemy on the next. 
 
 Unfortunately, at the head of the anti-g-overnment 
 movement, which has been progressing- with sufficient
 
 255 
 
 virulence for the last two years, are some whose names 
 are familiar to the Kaffirs as men of influence and weight 
 
 ?D 
 
 in the Colony, and what is of more importance, of influ- 
 ence and weight in Kaffraria. Seeing- such men at 
 open war, as they would deem it, with the Governor, 
 and naturally concluding- that he would receive little 
 assistance from any one whom these men could influ- 
 ence, the Kaffirs sagaciously chose for their insurrection 
 a time when they saw the colonists divided among-st 
 themselves. Perhaps one of the lessons we may learn 
 from the Kaffir war of 1851 may be to conduct our 
 future political discussions with more of decency, and 
 less of that kind of personal hostility and bitterness 
 towards the hig-hest in authority, which may raise in 
 the minds of our savag-e neighbours a reasonable doubt 
 of our displaying- a true feeling- of unity and brother- 
 hood in time of dang-er. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, January 17, 1851. 
 
 OUR columns are still filled, and appear likely to 
 continue so, with facts and rumours from the Frontier, 
 and reports of the efforts made at this end of the Colony 
 to send succour to the suffering 1 colonists in the East. 
 The contest will probably be long- and severe, and 
 whatever force, of whatever kind, the Colony can sup- 
 ply will need to be broug-ht into the field. Under 
 these circumstances, the tone of recent letters from 
 Graham's Town and other places on the Eastern 
 Frontier is painfully discouraging-.
 
 256 
 
 Our correspondents state that the Burghers are apa- 
 thetic, and show no inclination to join in the war, in 
 compliance with the Governor's emphatic invitations. 
 Such of them as have not abandoned their homes will, 
 if need be, defend them against invading- Kaffirs, but 
 the}' exhibit no disposition to march into Kaffirland and 
 co-operate with the troops. 
 
 The same accounts confirm the reported spread of 
 disaffection among the coloured colonists. While 
 Major-General Somerset is offering a free pardon to such 
 of the Kat River Hottentots as will return to allegiance, 
 and declaring his belief that they have only been in- 
 duced to join Hermanns by threats and intimidation, the 
 Hottentots continue to join the Kaffir chief j the colonists 
 on the spot are busily preparing- for defence, and openly 
 express their apprehensions that all the coloured colo- 
 nists on the Frontier will go over to the enemy. 
 
 Finally, the distressing intellig-ence from Line Drift 
 cannot fail, if followed by no worse consequences, to 
 increase the prevailing alarm. If the desertion of the 
 small party of the Cape Mounted Rifles at that post is 
 to be taken as an indication of the general feeling of 
 the men of the Corps, it is the most disastrous event 
 that ever occurred in Kaffraria. This, however, we 
 do not believe. Sir Harry Smith was faithfully guarded 
 by the men of the Cape Corps, on his march from Fort 
 Cox to King William's Town, when their desertion 
 would have ensured an immediate triumph to the 
 enemy ; so that there is no reason to doubt the general 
 fidelity of the men. Moreover the defection of the 
 Kat River Hottentots, and the apathy of the Burghers, 
 is sufficient for us to digest for one week.
 
 That these unfavourable features in the present aspect 
 of affairs, are, in a great measure, to be attributed to 
 the political contests which have agitated the Colony 
 for the last two years, we entertain no manner of doubt. 
 No community least of all a community in which 
 much ignorance and lack of the means of acquiring' 
 accurate information prevails can be systematically 
 arrayed ag-ainst its government for so long- a period 
 without hazard. In England, Chartists may rave, and 
 Socialists blaspheme ag-ainst the fundamental laws of 
 society, without much danger of the infection of their 
 pestilent doctrines spreading" far among- the masses of 
 the people j for there truth also is universally diffused, 
 and fictions are exposed as soon as uttered. But it 
 has not been so here. When, week after week, the 
 minds of the country Colonists were poisoned with 
 venomous libels ag-ainst the Government of the Colony 
 and of the mother-country : when the Governor was 
 denounced one day as a butcher, sneered at on another 
 as a canting- hypocrite, and lampooned on the third as 
 a buffoon: when his principal advisers were branded 
 as malignant liars and secret traitors to the Colony : 
 when England was held up to scorn as the would-be 
 oppressor of weak communities : there was no one here 
 to raise a warning- voice, or point out to the Colonists 
 the precipice they were approaching-. We have said 
 verily believing' it that the Kaffirs have been encou- 
 rag-ed to their present outbreak by witnessing- the dis- 
 union which prevailed within the Colony, promoted and 
 fomented by men, the influence of whose names is very 
 great among- them. " We hear on g-ood authority," 
 says the Frontier Times of the 7th, " that this man 
 
 s
 
 258 
 
 (Hermanns) declares that the white men are DIVIDED, 
 and therefore can be OVERCOME." This sentiment is, 
 no doubt, shared by the other chiefs in Kaffirland ; and 
 we are, with much reluctance, compelled to add, that 
 they have not reckoned altogether unreasonably. 
 Where there would once have been unanimity and cor- 
 diality, we now witness, to say the least of it, much 
 hesitation. The Burghers are not hastening- to the 
 
 o o 
 
 assistance of the Government they have been taught 
 for two years to abuse. The Hottentots of the Kat 
 River, or Stockenstrom Settlement naturally more 
 unreasoning than the colonists of European descent 
 are improving upon the lesson and joining* the enemy. 
 And for much of this we do believe the Colony has to 
 thank the leaders of a party who, while striving* by 
 unscrupulous and factious means to raise themselves to 
 political eminence and power, have unwittingly encou- 
 raged our enemies beyond the border, by displaying to 
 them a scene of too real disunion within it. 
 
 SIR HARRY SMITH is in Kafir-aria with a force of 
 barely 3000 men, distributed among* the military 
 posts in that country and on the eastern frontier; 
 and he has deliberately taken upon himself the task, 
 by which alone he is now convinced that the safety 
 of the Colony can be ensured, of eradicating* the 
 Gaika Kaffirs from their mountain fastness. For 
 the purpose of aiding him in this difficult but neces- 
 sary work, the authorities in Cape Town have been 
 instructed to raise volunteer corps in the Western 
 Districts, and have acted so promptly on these instruc-
 
 259 
 
 tion that, in a very short time, an efficient force of 
 3000 volunteers from those districts will be placed at 
 the Governor's disposal. Major-General Somerset is, 
 in the mean time, using- his best exertions to raise a 
 similar force in the Eastern Division ; and, notwith- 
 standing- some discouraging- appearances, it may be 
 hoped that he will succeed so far as to provide for the 
 protection of the frontier, while the Commander-in- 
 Chief acts upon the offensive. But, as the force at 
 Sir Harry's command will be but small, considering- 
 the work he has to do, after due provision has been 
 made for protecting- the frontier and military posts, 
 he has instructed the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal 
 to send down a force of 3000 Zoolahs, to march 
 upon the rear of the Gaikas while he attacks them 
 in front. 
 
 This measure is attacked in an article of unusual 
 earnestness by our contemporary, the Commercial 
 Advertiser, who after denouncing- it, in the words of 
 Lord Chatham, as "unconstitutional, inhuman, and 
 unchristian," proceeds further to question its polic} r as 
 reg'ards success in the conduct of the war. 
 
 A consideration of the danger by which the Colony 
 is threatened, of the difficulty of the task which Sir 
 Harry Smith has undertaken, and of the insufficiency 
 of the force under his command for its accomplish- 
 ment, might, we think, have weighed with our con- 
 temporary to prevent his writing- intemperately (in a 
 manner calculated to impede the increase of that 
 force), on a subject with reg-ard to which we are con- 
 strained to say and to prove that he has shewn himself 
 extremely ignorant. 
 
 e O 
 
 O M
 
 Perhaps our contemporary will condescend, at some 
 future opportunity, to explain why it is unconstitu- 
 tional, inhuman, unchristian, or even impolitic to raise 
 Zoolah levies at Natal, and highly meritorious and 
 politic to raise Hottentot levies for the same purpose at 
 the Cape. The only reason at present vouchsafed is 
 the quotation of a precedent in no way parallel to the 
 present case. 
 
 If it he said we disparage the brave men who are 
 feeing- enrolled for the defence of the Colony, and to 
 whom the gTatitude of all -Colonists is due, by classing 
 the Zoolahs with them, we answer that we class all 
 with the British soldier. The Hottentot is not 
 perhaps so civilized as the soldier, or the Zoolah so 
 well instructed as the Hottentot, but, for the time, 
 we avail ourselves of the services of all alike for the 
 common defence of the Colony. 
 
 But when the Advertiser speaks of " barbarians" 
 and (C brute beasts" and (f savages" and of C( the bar- 
 barian who has not chosen to submit to the duties and 
 to claim the rights of civilized life," he exposes his 
 utter ignorance of the whole merits of the question. 
 Is this writer aware that the men concerning whom 
 he thus mildly expresses himself are living in unre- 
 pining subjection to British authority, in peaceful 
 occupation of Colonial lands in Natal ? and that they 
 last year cheerfully contributed, in the form of a hut 
 tax, nearly 10,000 to the Natal revenue? that in 
 each location in which they dwell, a British magistrate 
 resides securely among them ? that they readily 
 submit themselves to this jurisdiction, and to the 
 instruction of missionaries ? that they possess Colonial
 
 261 
 
 property, and are fast acquiring- a correct perception 
 of its duties and its rig-hts ? If he do know these 
 thing's, should he have written of them as he has 
 done ? and if he do not, should he have written 
 at all? 
 
 "Let all/' says the Advertiser, "who in South 
 Africa enjoy British privileges, and in return for 
 British privileges are bound to the duties of English- 
 men, let these rise at the Governor's demand, en massej 
 for that Avork of blood." Well : the Natal Zoolahs 
 are British subjects, enjoying- British privileg-es. Why, 
 then, is it unconstitutional to employ them as auxi- 
 liaries ag:ainst the Kaffirs ? 
 
 There is little doubt that 10,000 of these men could 
 be broug-ht into the field if required j and from the 
 influence which Mr. Shepstone, the Diplomatic Ag-ent 
 at Natal, possesses over them, there is as little doubt 
 that they would render g-ood service. As to our not 
 knowing- what feuds exist between the natives located 
 in Natal and the Gaikas, or what peculiar tie can bind 
 them to us strong-er than that which now exists 
 between Sir Harry Smith and the T'Slambies, we are 
 tempted to imag-ine that our contemporary must have 
 been dreaming- when he raised such questions. They 
 have their Colonial lands to return to. They have 
 fled from their chiefs, and placed themselves volun- 
 tarily under British protection as British subjects ; 
 and they are, moreover, of kindred race with the 
 Fing-oes, the most bitter enemies of the Kaffirs. 
 No principle whatsoever whether of Christianity, 
 humanity, or policy has yet been shewn w r hy the 
 services of these men should not be made available
 
 262 
 
 for the defence of the Colony. It is true that it is the 
 Cape Colony and not Natal their country which is 
 attacked ; but one cannot suffer without dang-er to 
 the other, and if Natal were attacked, the troops in 
 the Colony would be sent to its defence. It is lament- 
 able, no doubt, that the necessity should have arisen 
 for calling* them from their peaceful occupations to 
 take part in the hostile operations in Kaffraria ; but 
 the present position of affairs does not admit of senti- 
 mentalities. 
 
 SINCE writing 1 the above, our attention has been 
 called to a correspondence republished from a Par- 
 liamentary Blue Book in the Advertiser of Wednesday 
 last, the object of which appears to be to make use of 
 the respected name of Sir P. Maitland, in order to 
 arraign the policy of the present Governor's measures, 
 in calling- in the aid of the Zoolahs from Natal. The 
 whole of the correspondence referred to is relative to 
 " friendly or neutral tribes bordering 1 on the scene of 
 war," and therefore presents no parallel to the present 
 case. Sir P. Maitland did employ Kaffirs who had 
 been British subjects, and were living 1 under British 
 protection within the Colony, during 1 the last war; 
 and Sir H. Smith is doing 1 no more in employing- 
 these Zoolahs, who are also British subjects. It is 
 much to be regretted that at a moment like this, these 
 continued attempts should be made to deceive the 
 people, and thereby to weaken the Government.
 
 263 
 
 The article in the Advertiser noticed above as 
 having- for its object to deprive the responsible de- 
 fender of the Colony of the assistance which; after 
 due consideration, he has thought it proper to require 
 from Natal, has been followed up by articles in the 
 Observer of Tuesday, and the Advertiser of Wed- 
 nesday, having- apparently for their object to induce 
 the Burg-hers to deny their assistance also. It is hard 
 to believe that at a moment like the present, any 
 Colonist would wilfully raise difficulties in the Gover- 
 nor's way ; it is hard to imagine that the spite of a 
 defeated party can be so strong- as to induce its 
 members to advocate a course directly calculated to 
 produce the utter ruin of their country ; yet upon any 
 other supposition the present series of papers is wholly 
 unintelligible. 
 
 It has been shewn that the writer of these malig- 
 nant attacks upon every successive measure originating- 
 with the Commander-in-Chief, while pretending- to 
 advocate the principle that all British subjects in.South 
 Africa should combine to repel the treacherous enemy 
 on our borders, has endeavoured to raise a prejudice 
 against the Governor on the ground that he has called 
 in the aid of British subjects from Natal. Not content 
 with this, he now endeavours to check what disposition 
 there may be among- the Burghers to forg-et artificial 
 political differences in a moment of common peril : to- 
 morrow we may expect equally cog-ent reasons why 
 the Hottentots should not be called away from their 
 labour or repose, to fig-ht the battle of the Colony. 
 
 The regular military force which Sir Harry Smith 
 can bring- into the field is notoriously insufficient for
 
 204 
 
 the work that must be accomplished. He has there- 
 fore called in the * aid of the Burghers ; and, mindful 
 of the fact that this force, though always effective, is 
 occasionally capricious, has done precisely what in 
 every former war they have required their Governors 
 to do. He has invited them to move upon such parts 
 of the country be}-ond the border, as may be deemed 
 most advantag-eously open to attack, under officers of 
 their own selection, and to carry on the war in the 
 manner which may seem to themselves most effectual. 
 For this reason we are told that his acts " seem any- 
 thing- else than the work of a cool, deliberate and res- 
 ponsible mind, the Burghers are warned to reject the 
 bribe now offered to enter Kaffirland," and are told 
 that they will be " honoured for its rejection." 
 
 Honoured ! At a moment when utter ruin is immi- 
 nently threatening- the Colony. When the energies of 
 one of Britain's bravest Commanders are taxed, and 
 that not lightly, for the Colony's defence, shall any 
 Colonist shall any man owing- allegiance to the Bri- 
 tish Crown be honoured who would hold back an arm 
 from the common defence ? Rather let eternal disgrace 
 and dishonour be the lot of those who would give 
 
 o 
 
 strength to our enemies at this crisis by withholding 
 aid from our brave defenders ! 
 
 It is in defence of their own property that the 
 Burghers are asked to move : yet the Governor with a 
 sensitive regard for their peculiar feelings has asked 
 them to move free from all military restraint, subject 
 to no regulations but their own, whether with regard 
 to their mode of warfare, or with regard to the distri- 
 bution of spoil.
 
 265 
 
 We always understood that this was what was urged 
 and impressed upon the military authorities in every 
 previous war, as the only satisfactory way of employ- 
 ing- the Burg-her forces, and that such a system alone 
 would render almost unnecessary any other steps for 
 the defence of the Frontier. We were always told, 
 (( Ah ! the Boers would soon settle it. You would 
 have no more Kaffir wars if you would let the Burg-hers 
 fig-lit it out their own way V 
 
 Well all this has been done. In the most g-eneral 
 terms, without restriction of any kind whatever, the 
 Burg-hers have been invited to take part in the war, 
 u subject only to g'eneral instructions as to where their 
 operations can be carried on in the most effectual man- 
 ner ;" and what is the result ? One result we trust 
 will be, that they will obey the call like loyal men. 
 But one certainly is, that the officer on whose exertions 
 the safety of the Colony mainly depends, is assailed 
 with the most intemperate abuse by a press so hostile 
 to everything- bearing- the hateful name of Government, 
 that it would be discontented in the millennium : and 
 that the Colonists are enjoined to sit idly by, encou- 
 rag-ing- their savag-e neig-hbours to war ag-ainst British 
 sovereignty, and fig-ht for the recovery of their former 
 independence, and of the lands annexed to the Colony, 
 after last war. 
 
 And, as if fearino- that this almost treasonable ex- 
 
 f O 
 
 hortation, the climax of a long- career of seditious 
 preaching-, will not avail to deprive the Governor of all 
 aid from the Colony, the writer proceeds to belabour 
 the frontier Colonists, whose all, whose very existence 
 is at stake, with hard names and abusive epithets.
 
 266 
 
 " They will be a parcel of banditti/' " a gang- of cattle 
 plunderers/' " an irregular army of banditti/' " a body 
 without restraint or discipline/' " a body of e letter -of- 
 marque' men/' and they will commit " unchecked slaugh- 
 ter/' and " unbridled ravage/' if they listen to the call 
 of duty, and refuse to be deterred from acting in defence 
 of their perilled country. What ! (( The free citizens 
 of this land/' the u good men " at whose table, for- 
 sooth, British officers would be unworthy guests in 
 time of peace, are they so little to be depended upon 
 as this 1 We believe that, acting under the present 
 proclamation, they will do good service, as they have 
 done good service heretofore. But those who think 
 otherwise those few very few it is hoped who 
 sympathise with the recent attempt to create disunion 
 where all should be united, and to strengthen the 
 enemies by weakening* the defenders of the Colony, 
 should at least tell us upon which horn of the dilemma 
 into which their intemperate zeal in the cause of dis- 
 loyalty has hurried them, they choose to be impaled. 
 If, as we believe, the frontier farmers are the good, 
 trusty, loyal men they are represented to be when it 
 suits the purpose of a disloyal press to cajole them into 
 inactivity, where is the fear of unbridled ravage and 
 unchecked slaughter now assigned as a reason why 
 they should not obey the dictates of loyalty and duty? 
 They are not bound to take cattle, under this procla- 
 mation, they may go into the enemy's country and 
 fight without a thought of booty ; and this is what 
 those who disapprove of the so-called bribe should urge 
 them to do. If, on the other hand, they are the gang 
 of banditti, which on another occasion it is convenient
 
 267 
 
 to represent them, why trust them with the defence of 
 the frontier, or promise them honour and esteem as 
 the reward for supineness and treachery ? 
 
 What amount of deleterious influence the mischie- 
 vous productions we have noticed may be likely to 
 exercise we cannot tell : we hope and anticipate that 
 it will be but small : for in exact proportion to the 
 loyal feeling 1 of the people of this Colony will be their 
 rejection of the org'ans which prostitute themselves for 
 the propagation of incipient treason in this our hour 
 of dang m er. 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 SIR, On the third of this month an event took place 
 in Swellendam, sufficient to make every man of feeling*, 
 who witnessed the scene, blush for its authors. I 
 allude to the reception of, and the dinner given to, Sir 
 A. Stockenstrom. A few days earlier, and it would 
 have been simply ridiculous to have witnessed the pro- 
 ceeding's of that day. Sir A. Stockenstrom was escorted 
 into Swellendam by a party of men and boys, about 
 sixty in number, consisting 1 of mechanics' apprentices, 
 and Mr. Barry's clerks, and a few Dutch farmers, col- 
 lected tog-ether by that indefatigable little man in the 
 cause of radicalism, the soi-disant Dr. White, and 
 headed by Mr. Barry, who would, I believe, if the 
 truth were known, have wished himself a better office. 
 The escort safely conducted their representative into 
 Swellendam, to the no small chagrin, I should imagine, 
 of Mr. Reitz, who all this time was left completely in 
 the back-ground a mere satellite of the great luminary;
 
 208 
 
 and after breaking- through the municipal regulations 
 (of which no notice, of course, was taken) by firing- 
 guns in the village, they proceeded to Dr. White's 
 house, where a dinner was provided for the occasion, 
 got up by subscription tickets, varying from 2s Qd to 
 10^ each. Why there should be a difference in the 
 entrance charge, I am at a loss to know, unless it be 
 that the fare near the person of the honoured guest 
 was of a more delicate description than was to be found 
 elsewhere, and that those who wished to procure a place 
 most near the honourable Baronet had to pay most. 
 As the dinner progressed, merriment increased, which 
 was kept up until a late hour. 
 
 These proceedings would, as I have said, at an earlier 
 date have been simply ridiculous ; but carried on at a 
 time when our brethren on the Frontier were being 
 cruelly and barbarously murdered by the inhuman 
 savage of the w r oods, their houses and lands devoted 
 to the rapacity of those sons of rapine and plunder, 
 the post of that day bringing further intelligence of the 
 fall of more of our best and bravest soldiers, together 
 with our Governor's critical position, at such a moment 
 as this publicly to carry on feasting and revelling is 
 sufficient to shock the minds of all feeling men, is 
 contrary to every precept of morality, every feeling of 
 humanity, every sentiment of honour. Such acts, and 
 the originators of them, demand the most decisive 
 indignation. 
 
 A CULTIVATOR OF PROPRIETY.
 
 2C9 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 Cape Town, Jan. 14, 1851. 
 
 SIR, Is it not surprising- to see the merchants and 
 inhabitants of Cape Town and its vicinity, the Cape 
 Town Municipality, the Committees of the Commercial 
 Exchange and Chamber of Commerce, all so slack 
 and dilatory in coming- forward to assist their fellow- 
 countrymen now in peril on the Fronter ? Had they 
 come forward with 500 to raise a volunteer corps, 
 say 500 men, and presented them to Government, 
 free of all expense, it would have done them honour, 
 and shewn to their fellow-countrymen that they are 
 willing 1 to assist them in their distress. But no^ 
 nothing- is done, or doing-. The merchants and inhabit- 
 ants, to their disgrace, were liberal with their names 
 and purses to starve the army and navy in the unfor- 
 tunate Anti-Convict cause, but now to save the lives 
 of their countrymen and their families, they are still 
 and motionless. Merchants ! come forward and assist 
 your frontier friends. All of you are more or less 
 interested in their cause. 
 
 I fear, Mr. .Editor, that the leaders of the Anti- 
 Convict party, and the late Members of the Legislative 
 Council, have been indirectly the cause of this savag-e 
 war, by breeding- discontent throug-hout the Colony 
 among- the coloured classes. Time will shew, Mr. 
 Editor, who are the leaders and encourag-ers of the Kat 
 River Hottentots to revolt and rebel ag-ainst the British 
 Government. Eng-lishmen ! now is your time to come 
 forward and assist your fellow-countrymen. 
 
 AN ENGLISHMAN.
 
 270 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, January 14th, 1851. 
 
 IT is understood that Mr. Meintjes, of Graaff-Reinet, 
 has made a communication to the Governor to the 
 effect that a considerable body of Boers is ready to 
 take the field, well-armed and mounted, provided they 
 are allowed to carry on the war " in their own way," 
 under the command of Sir Andries Stockenstrom, 
 who is to be entirely independent of the Commander- 
 in-Chief. This proposal will be rather startling 1 to some 
 writers in Cape Town, who are already scandalized at 
 the amount of licence accorded to the Boers by the 
 Governor's proclamation : but as it is scarcely possible 
 that any sane man could seriously make such a proposi- 
 tion with any idea of its being- accepted, we are inclined 
 to think that this move is simply a " dodge" g-ot up 
 by Sir A. Stockenstrom's friends to furnish him with 
 an excuse for remaining* in the Colony. " The docu- 
 ments from the country" have at length arrived ; the 
 Baronet's private affairs are believed to be settled : 
 Maastrom has been abandoned ; Mr. Fairbairn's first 
 letter may be expected in the Bosphorus. All excuse 
 for further delay has been removed : when lo ! forth 
 step the people of Port Elizabeth, followed closely by 
 Mr. Meintjes' Graaff-Reinetters, and occupy the g*ap. 
 
 The people of Port Elizabeth are sure that Sir A. 
 Stockenstrom " Avill feel at once that he has a mission 
 of leadership to the Frontier at such a time ;" and Sir 
 A. Stockenstrom, in reply, assures the people of Port 
 Elizabeth as follows : " Already am I eng-ag-ed in the 
 service of the public, and preparing- for the special
 
 271 
 
 mission for which I have been retained ; but my desti- 
 nation can at any time be altered by that public," &c. 
 
 The people of Graaff-Reinet (if the statement above 
 noticed is correct), have played rather a better card 
 than the people of Port Elizabeth for, in supplying Sir 
 A. Stockenstrom with a reason why he should not yet 
 sail for England, they have also discovered a ground 
 why they should not march to the Frontier. They will 
 not move unless led by Sir A. Stockenstrom, with 
 powers independent of the Commander-in-Chief. 
 
 The loyalty of these GraafF-Reinet burghers is, to 
 say the least of it, of a very quiescent character. They 
 do not refuse to serve, but they will only serve under 
 impossible conditions. The Observer of Tuesday last 
 contains a goodly list of their " demands." They must 
 be "found in everything," "guaranteed rations for 
 their wives arid families where required," they "in- 
 sist" upon being' " guaranteed against the interference 
 of military commanders," they " have a most weighty 
 objection against going out at all." " From Somerset," 
 adds the writer, "I learn that the Boers of Z wager's 
 Hoek will not stir ; they say that they will only go if 
 they are paid for their many and heavy sacrifices." 
 " The Camdebo burghers are here to present themselves, 
 but I am told they refuse to go out." Similar accounts 
 are received from other parts of the country. And 
 what wonder when disaffection of two years' growth, 
 cunningly grafted upon national antipathies which a 
 community of interests for half a century has proved 
 insufficient to remove, is fomented in the org*ans of 
 rebellion which are still suffered to envenom the political 
 atmosphere of the Colony ?
 
 272 
 
 When the Advertiser endeavoured to throw difficul- 
 ties in the Governor's way, by inventing- reasons why 
 the Natal Zoolahs should not be employed as auxili- 
 aries, the writer was perhaps only g'uilty of the not 
 uncommon fault of writing- about what he did not 
 understand ; he either thought, or intended his readers 
 to think, that some tribe of savages beyond the 
 boundary, probably Panda's Zoolahs, was to be em- 
 ployed. But the articles which have since appeared in 
 the same paper, and the Observer, do not admit even of 
 this clumsy excuse. The Observer of the 14th, openly 
 endeavoured to persuade the Boers to refuse their aid, 
 threatening- them with eternal disgrace, if they obeyed 
 the Governor's Proclamation. The Advertiser of the 
 13th attempted to frighten the Burghers from leaving 
 their homes ; the same paper of the 18th, tries to make 
 the farmers discontented with what they have always 
 asked for, and now obtained, permission to carry on 
 the war " in their own way." Finally, the Observer of 
 the 21st, questions the power of the Governor to con- 
 fiscate the property of rebels taken in arms against the 
 Crown, and after carping in the usual style, at every 
 successive sentence of the last Proclamation, attempts 
 to throw upon Sir Harry Smith the responsibility of the 
 disloyalty of the Kat River Hottentots, whose patrons 
 have been for the last two years assiduously assailing 
 the Governor and his advisers, and sowing the seeds of 
 a goodly crop of treason among the coloured inhabit- 
 ants of the Frontier. 
 
 No one denies the hardships under which the Boers 
 will suffer if they should be induced to answer the call 
 made upon their loyalty. In all ages men have been
 
 273 
 
 found ready to undergo such hardships for the salvation 
 of their country, and we trust it will be found so here. 
 It is also true, that the commando system is attended 
 with many evils ; but it must, in common candour, be 
 admitted, that those evils are not chargeable upon the 
 Governor. More than two years ago, in a time of pro- 
 found peace, Sir Harry Smith proposed to the Legislative 
 Council, a Bill which would have provided for such an 
 exigency as the present an efficient force of militia, well 
 equipped, armed, and officered, and entitled to pay, 
 rations, &c. thus ensuring to the Burghers compliance 
 with all their reasonable demands. Petitions, however, 
 poured in from all parts of the Colony, especially from 
 the East; and the feeling against the Bill was so 
 strong, that the Governor was induced to withdraw it. 
 That law was expressly proposed to obviate the evils of 
 the commando system ; but the Burg'hers would not 
 hear of it ; and when reminded, that if they refused 
 the new law, they must be prepared to go out on com- 
 mando, they acquiesced, A similar warning was 
 repeated in Lord Grey's dispatch on the same subject, 
 read openly in the Legislative Council. " It will be 
 incumbent on the Colonists," says his Lordship, " to 
 provide, in some way or other, for their own security 
 against their barbarous neighbours : and they must 
 consider themselves as warned, that if they should suffer 
 the loss of lives or property, from the want of adequate 
 precaution, the responsibility will rest with themselves 
 alone." 
 
 The exigency has now arrived ; during three years 
 of peace, the Colonists have neglected to make the 
 needful provision, though perpetually urged by the 
 
 T
 
 274 
 
 Governor to do so. This is to be lamented ; but in- 
 activity will not mend the matter, nor will the Colony 
 be benefited, if the Boers should be persuaded to 
 charge their Governor with the responsibility of their 
 own supineness. 
 
 WHO is to be Commander-in-Chief Sir Harry Smith, 
 or Sir Andries Stockenstrom, or the Editor of the 
 Advertiser ? for each of the two latter seems to aspire 
 to the office, and it is doubtful how the matter mig-ht 
 
 7 c? 
 
 go if it were to be decided by popular election. But, 
 fortunately for the Colony, it is a fact, however dis- 
 tasteful to some parties, that Sir H. Smith is Com- 
 mander-in-Chief, and that the prosecution of the present 
 war must be entrusted to his military genius and 
 experience. 
 
 Such being the case, would it not be wise, nay, is it 
 not the duty of all good subjects to support him to the 
 best of their ability, and of those whose military 
 services are required to render ready obedience to his 
 commands ? Is not this the duty of all alike, however 
 they may doubt the policy of some of the measures 
 which Sir H. Smith as Governor may have adopted 
 relative to the Frontier, and which measures they may 
 suppose have brought about the present war ? 
 
 Yet we find a party in Cape Town, possessing, it is 
 feared, some influence in the country, anxiously en- 
 deavouring to obstruct the measures of the Comman- 
 der-in-Chief, by bringing odium upon him when he 
 invokes the aid of a native force, by endeavouring to 
 persuade the Burg'hers whom he has called out, to
 
 875 
 
 remain in sullen disobedience at their homes, and by 
 hinting- to the Hottentots that if they volunteer, their 
 reward will be a stick of tobacco and forgetfulness. 
 
 It will not have escaped the notice of the public, 
 that since the commencement of the present war certain 
 Cape Town newspapers, known to be generally hostile 
 to the Government, have almost confined their com- 
 ments on current events to personal vituperation of 
 Sir H. Smith. He would not yield to their dictation 
 on the Convict and Constitution questions j and now 
 their hour of vengeance has come : what matter if in 
 striking upon the obnoxious Governor they inflict a 
 blow on their perilled country ! 
 
 Thus, if a Kaffir chief who has been living within 
 the Colony for years turns rebel, " it yet remains to be 
 examined what cause of discontent has been given him 
 by the local authorities :" and we are told with a sneer, 
 of the " treachery" of Hermanns, " as it is now 
 called" Again, " the other districts know, that since 
 the last war the authorities have succeeded in quar- 
 relling with not the Kaffirs alone, but numerous other 
 people who before were friendly." If the enemy 
 receives a check, it is (( happily through means alto- 
 gether independent of either of His Excellency's recent 
 measures in respect of the aid which he thought that 
 he needed." The Governor's Proclamations " are 
 judged to have been issued when the extent of the 
 dang'er first pressed itself on His Excellency's mind, 
 without that regard of consequences which is expected 
 of the responsible administrator of the Government." 
 When the Kat Kiver Hottentots revolt, we are told 
 (< the cause of the defection is in the acts of the au- 
 
 T 2
 
 276 
 
 thorities of this Colony." Then, again, " the rise of 
 Hermanns, the discontent of the Tambookies, the 
 feeling's of the Farmers who border on Tambookieland, 
 the nature of our late rule in Kaffraria, the change of 
 sentiments on Moshesh's part, since, in 1846, he wished 
 to be the ally and friend of Sir P. Maitland, all these 
 will he proper causes of inquiry hereafter. And it is 
 possible that men will then be permitted to consider, 
 without charges of disloyalty, that if the influence of 
 the British Government in South Africa is now utterly 
 at stake, it has become so from causes for which the 
 Colonists are not to blame, the natives not much to be 
 condemned, or of which the Home Government scarcely 
 had knowledge but which are due almost exclusively 
 to the local administrators of the Queen's authority in 
 these regions." 
 
 If Sir Harry expels a tribe of rebel Kaffirs from the 
 Colony, after their chief and about 100 of their 
 number have been slain in open fight, (( His Excel- 
 lency's legal power to do this by proclamation, how- 
 ever truly the parties may be afterwards proved to 
 deserve the punishment, after investigation by a Court 
 of Justice, depends upon the tenure of the land they 
 used to occupy." If " the Fing'oes are loyal and 
 devoted to us," it is " because they think we shall not 
 treat them so ill as the Kaffirs are likely to do." 
 <{ The successive stages of revulsion in the feelings of 
 some of the coloured classes in the District of Fort 
 Beaufort, must soon be matter of examination. These 
 people were loyal three years since. They hate us 
 now. Why ?" WHY ! because during those three 
 years, they have seen the men whom, since the foun-
 
 277 
 
 dation of their settlement, they have unfortunately 
 been taught to honour and respect, engaged day after 
 day in hitter hostility to the Government, ag'ainst 
 which improving- on the lesson they have now ar- 
 rayed themselves in arms. 
 
 The reputation of Sir Harry Smith is not to he 
 tarnished by such attacks as those which we have 
 noticed ; but meantime, they are doing- serious injury 
 to the Colony. It is within our own knowledge, that 
 men have refused to volunteer, on the ground that 
 " Sir Harry Smith had got into the mess, and mig-ht 
 g-et out his own way." How far such writing- as has 
 recently disgraced the columns of the Advertiser and 
 the Observer, is likely to encourag-e such feeling-s, and 
 how far the org-ans which afford that encourag-ement 
 are deserving- of support, are questions which the 
 public must decide : and this decision involves the 
 honour or the everlasting- disgrace of that public. 
 
 This also should be remembered : that as the mis- 
 chief can only be continued by the public support 
 accorded to its org-ans, as the people of this Colony, 
 taken as a body, will not refuse to perform their duty 
 as loyal men and faithful subjects of the British Crown, 
 unless their minds are poisoned by the treasonable 
 miasma and moral pestilence which these messeng-ers 
 of discord are spreading among- us if when the battle 
 has been fought and won, as won it will be by British 
 valour in the end, despite all the difficulties raised by 
 factious Anti-English discontent, the voice of sorrow 
 should be heard in many a desolated home, whence 
 the flocks and herds and the ripe corn, once the sub- 
 sistence of a prosperous family shall have been swept
 
 278 
 
 away, when the widow shall bewail her husband, and 
 the orphans their father, and the bereaved parents the 
 sons whom they have lost, it is not upon Sir Harry 
 Smith that the blame must rest, but upon those who, 
 in all the bitterness of disappointed sedition, strove at 
 the commencement of the contest to deprive him of the 
 force with the aid of which he might have saved the 
 Colony, and crushed our enemies at a blow. 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 Cape Town, Jan. 16, 1851. 
 
 SIR, In common with every LOYAL Colonist, Dutch 
 and English, who has heard of or read that atrocious 
 article, published in the Observer of the 14th inst., I 
 was thoroughly disgusted and indignant at the bare- 
 faced impudence and inhuman attempt of the ra- 
 dical Anti-Government Editor to thwart and render 
 nugatory the measures and efforts of Her Majesty's 
 representative to save the Colony from destruction. 
 
 Every man has a perfect right to have and to hold 
 what opinion he pleases on the policy of the Governor 
 but this I say, that any man who, in such fearful 
 times, as the present, when the lives of thousands of 
 our fellow-subjects are hanging by a thread when 
 the absolute ruin of the Colony must be the result of 
 defeat, I say, that any man who promulgates opinions 
 tending to deter one single individual, be he black or 
 white, from joining the forces which are about to take 
 the field against our savage enemies, should be held 
 up to the execration of mankind, as a traitor to his 
 country.
 
 279 
 
 If this be deserved in the case of an individual, how 
 much more so is it in the Editor of a public journal, 
 who vomits forth to the world opinions which in effect 
 deter, if not prevent, our notoriously gallant country- 
 men from joining- the British standard ? 
 
 The Dutch Boers have ever proved themselves brave 
 and gallant men, ever ready to respond to the call of 
 Government, risking life and property freely, willingly, 
 and cheerfully, in defence of the land of their birth, 
 men who are, of all others, best able to cope with and 
 conquer " irreclaimable?' savages. 
 
 If on the present melancholy occasion these fine 
 fellows refuse to aid their fellow Colonists, it can only 
 be attributed to that Anti- Government party who for 
 the last two years have been disseminating disloyal 
 principles and generating hostile feelings to Her 
 Majesty's rule and government throughout the length 
 and breadth of the land. Has this Editor ever heard 
 that 1600 Dutch Boers left 5000 Zoolahs dead on the 
 field in their action with Dingaan at Natal ? If he 
 has not heard of that hard fought battle, let him 
 enquire, and he will find it is a fact : and being a fact, 
 where can the Governor find men so well calculated to 
 bring the present war to a speedy and satisfactory 
 conclusion; and yet such men are to be prevented 
 from taking any part in the defence of the Colony by 
 the namby-pamby effusions of a democratic young man, 
 the would-be organ of a Red Republican party. I 
 wish his Excellency would proclaim Martial Law in 
 the Western Districts, and order all bachelors from 
 the age of seventeen to fifty to be sent to the seat of 
 war, no substitute to be allowed, and appoint me to
 
 280 
 
 collect and organize those gentlemen. I would in- 
 stantly lay hold of the Editor of the Observer, put a 
 musket in his hand, and embark him in the first vessel ; 
 I would give special orders to place the precocious 
 young- Editor in the front rank at every fight, to shew 
 him the mangled bodies of his fellow Colonists, their 
 houses burnt, their property swept away, their wives 
 widows, their children fatherless, and, if he was fortu- 
 nate enough to escape with his life, I would say to 
 him Now go, Sir, and resume your editorial occupa- 
 tion, and profit by your experience. 
 
 SALUS POPULI SUPREMA LEX. 
 
 THE SWELLENDAM DINNER. 
 
 To the Editor of the Cape Monitor. 
 
 Swellendam, 18th Jan. 1851. 
 
 SIB, With all public dinners to public men that I 
 have fallen in with, each party wishing to testify by 
 that means his approval, pays a uniform rate; but 
 such has not been the case in this instance. There 
 appears to have been a sort of subscription list, some 
 giving 10s and downwards to Is 6d. This was sup- 
 posed to pay for the dinner, except champagne : which, 
 it is said, was given by Mr. Barry's young men, in 
 addition to their subscription of 10s each. It was in 
 fact a subscription dinner, g-ot up by three or four 
 individuals who invited parties to attend, and to sub- 
 scribe to it according to their means and inclinations. 
 I hear one Government schoolmaster was admitted 
 free, but I don't know many more.
 
 281 
 
 Having been favoured with a correct copy of the 
 entirely new farce of " Raising- the Wind," privately 
 performed previous to the Dinner, I enclose it for your 
 criticism, and to do what you like with. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 EABELAIS. 
 
 THE CAPE MONITOR. 
 
 Cape Town, Friday, January 31, 1851. 
 
 IT is an unfortunate coincidence, if it is no more, 
 that the leading 1 organ of the democratic party in time 
 of peace, should have become the leading- organ of a 
 disaffected party in the time of war. The contentions 
 of the last two years have done their work in inciting 
 the Kaffirs to an outbreak. There is no want of evi- 
 dence to shew that our savag-e enemies have com- 
 menced the present war under the idea that the 
 Colonists are divided amongst themselves; and the 
 manner in which the English have been sing-led out 
 for attack, shews which party they think most hostile 
 to themselves, and more easily to be overcome. 
 
 The present inactivity of the Burg-hers cannot fail 
 to strengthen this opinion. Even supposing the recent 
 articles in the Advertiser to have been written with 
 the best intentions, which it requires more charity 
 than we can boast of to believe, their effect in 
 inducing the Boers to u sit still," cannot but increase 
 the confidence of the enemy, and encourage greater 
 numbers of the coloured population to join them : and 
 the war which might, perhaps, have been brought to a
 
 282 
 
 termination at once, will thus be protracted, and the 
 ruin of many families insured. 
 
 It will be easy, when this result has been brought 
 about, to shift the blame to the shoulders of the Govern- 
 ment. Already the Advertiser has hinted that the 
 real cause of the war is to be found in land disputes 
 between the Governor and the natives, and that it is, 
 therefore, the Governor, and not the Colony that is at 
 issue with the Kaffirs. The Colonists have been told 
 how these amiable savages fight only for rights 
 wrested from them by the injustice of an oppressive 
 Government. The country agents of the democratic 
 party, who are apt to allow their zeal to outrun their 
 discretion, have spoken more plainly on this subject, 
 and have not scrupled to tell the Burghers that the 
 present dispute is between the Kaffirs and the Govern- 
 ment about land, and is one in which they are no way 
 concerned. 
 
 The Burghers are thus induced, even in those dis- 
 tricts in which Martial Law has been proclaimed, to 
 withhold their aid from the Governor : at the same 
 time machinations are being employed, as will presently 
 be shewn, to obstruct the enrolment of Hottentots ; 
 and Sir Harry Smith has been assailed, in language 
 of most bitter abuse, for calling in the aid of native 
 auxiliaries. 
 
 If a tree is to be judged by its fruits, it is fair to 
 judge of the intention with which these things are 
 written from their necessary effects. Sir Harry 
 Smith cannot drive the Gaikas from the Amatolas 
 without an overwhelming force. Such a force, if the 
 manoeuvres of the Advertiser and its supporters are
 
 283 
 
 successful, he will not obtain. The war will be pro- 
 tracted : much of the expense will be thrown upon the 
 Colony : fresh taxes will be required : and the tax- 
 payers will be told that this burden has been caused 
 by the mismanagement of the Government. 
 
 Something 1 of the same kind has, in fact, occurred 
 already. The Cape Town Mail, of last Saturday, after 
 expressing- its unbounded faith in Sir. H. Smith's 
 military powers, thus concludes : ({ He will, it is 
 believed, be able to subdue the enemy, and that 
 speedily and thoroughly. But whether he will be 
 afterwards able to establish a system of Frontier 
 policy that will not lead, ultimately, to other outbreaks 
 of the same kind, is a question which few persons in 
 the Colony would venture to answer in the affirma- 
 tive." Perhaps it will be impossible to establish such 
 a system after the termination of the present war, 
 which both parties have declared to be a war of exter- 
 mination. But what is the fact ? After the conclu- 
 sion of the war of 1846, Sir H. Smith did establish a 
 system of Frontier policy, which g-ave unbounded 
 satisfaction to the Frontier Colonists, and which will 
 be found, on examination, to have been admirably 
 devised for the g-overnment and civilization of the 
 native tribes. After three years of uninterrupted 
 peace beyond the border, and uninterrupted contention 
 within it, the Kaffirs rise in arms, openly declaring- 
 that " the white men are divided, and may, therefore, 
 be overcome j" they are joined by a number of coloured 
 Colonists, whose patrons have, during- these three 
 years, taug-ht them to resist the Government on every 
 occasion : the Boers are encouraged, by the same
 
 284 
 
 Anti-Government leaders, to refuse assistance, and the 
 result is proclaimed as a failure of Sir H. Smith's 
 policy. 
 
 Who can tell that the Kaffirs ever would have risen 
 but for the disunion they have witnessed within the 
 Colony ? Who can tell that they would not be sub- 
 dued in a month but for the inactivity of the Boers ? 
 Who cannot see how the prolongation of the war may 
 be made to strengthen the hands of a party who do 
 not scruple to charge upon the Governor the conse- 
 quences of their own evil acts ? 
 
 If the Colonists fall under the domination of that 
 party it will not be without due warning-. The events 
 of the last two years have sufficiently illustrated their 
 principles : to increase their ill-gotten influence they 
 do not scruple now to adopt a course which will effect 
 the ruin of hundreds of the Colonists. Their country 
 is at stake, but the interests of their party are pre- 
 ferred. From this the Colonists may judge what is 
 likely to be their course if they should obtain un- 
 limited power, having already unlimited disposition 
 for evil. 
 
 SIB A. STOCKENSTROM has published in the Cape 
 Town Mail) a letter addressed to " the local corres- 
 ponding Committee of the Colonial Reform Society," 
 giving an account of his recent progress through the 
 Colony. From this " report," which, of course, is not 
 the least favourable that might have been written, it 
 would appear that the Baronet has been singularly 
 unfortunate. He left Cape Town on the 21st Novem-
 
 285 
 
 ber, and " was obliged to postpone his visit to Stellen- 
 bosch and the Paarl," so that he can report no demon- 
 strations at those places. He " reached Tulbagh late 
 on the 22nd, and left it early on the 23rd/' so that 
 his e( unexpected arrival and speedy departure afforded 
 no time " for a demonstration there. At Worcester, 
 it was projected to invite him to a public dinner, if the 
 day of his arrival had not been Sunday, and if he 
 had not been obliged to depart on the Monday. He 
 (( reached Beaufort unexpected on the 30th ; few of 
 the leading- men of the place being at home." In the 
 town of Somerset, resolutions had been passed con- 
 demnatory of the proceeding's of the democratic party, 
 but in the rural parts of the same district some inha- 
 bitants were found ec signing- addresses of a directly 
 opposite character." At Uitenhage he attended a 
 public dinner, and remarks, that though contrary 
 demonstrations have been made, there can be no doubt 
 of the majority in that district being in his favour. 
 Being pressed for time, he was obliged to pass rapidly 
 through Caledon in the middle of the day, on Sunday, 
 the 5th, only resting his horses for a couple of hours. 
 He reached Riversdale too late in the evening, and 
 left too early next morning to see any one. " Such, 
 then," adds the Baronet triumphantly, " has been the 
 feeling exhibited towards me throughout the greatest 
 part of the Colony, as the known deputy of the Com- 
 mittee, and one of the advocates of the cause which we 
 are trying to promote ! ! !" 
 
 It would be unjust, however, to deny that at one or 
 two' places as, for instance, at Graaff-Keinet and 
 Swellendam demonstrations were made, with the
 
 280 
 
 total failure of which, as expressions of public senti- 
 ment, though the most unscrupulous means were em- 
 ployed, the readers of the Monitor are tolerably well 
 acquainted : and though they were scarcely commen- 
 surate with the high expectations entertained for him, 
 for at Graaff-Reinet, we are told, his friends report 
 that he is shortly to be appointed Governor, with 
 Mr. Fairbairn as Secretary to Government, the de- 
 mocratic press have not failed to make the most of 
 them. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that the very places at 
 which Sir A. Stockenstrom was most enthusiastically 
 received, are those at which the worst spirit has been 
 recently displayed. At Graaff-Reinet, the story that 
 the present war is a land quarrel between the Govern- 
 ment and the Kaffirs, appears to have originated with 
 a relative or friend of the Baronet ; and the result is, 
 that about eighty men who had been enrolled expressly 
 for service on the Frontier, if required, refused to 
 move, on the ground that they never intended to go 
 beyond the town of Graaff-Reinet. This useless body 
 having been disbanded, the Civil Commissioner pro- 
 ceeded, under the Governor's Proclamation of martial 
 law, to collect a Burgher contingent by ballot, and by 
 this means enrolled about 200 men, white and coloured, 
 who, however, the next day refused to move unless 
 their unconscionable a demands/' noticed in our last, 
 were first satisfied ; and the end is, that Graaff-Reinet, 
 which received Sir A. Stockenstrom " with great 
 enthusiasm," has furnished no aid to Sir Harry 
 Smith. 
 
 At Swellendam, a number of Hottentots have been
 
 987 
 
 raised for service on the frontier ; but we are informed 
 that difficulties have lately been raised, with which the 
 family of one of the democratic leaders is said to be 
 connected, and by which several men belonging- to the 
 Zuurbrak missionary institution have been deterred 
 from joining 1 by threats of imprisonment ! 
 
 Having' left behind him such loyal dispositions at 
 Graaff-Reinet and Swellendam, Sir A. Stockenstrom 
 arrived at Cape Town on the evening- of the 6th inst., 
 and his influence was soon felt. The intellig-ence of 
 the Kaffir outbreak had preceded him, and on its arrival 
 the Advertiser had written as follows : f( At the pre- 
 sent time of peril and alarm, inquiry into causes, 
 blame, or recommendation will be of no avail. The 
 Colony is to unite for mutual protection ag-ainst a 
 declared enemy. The Governor's position . . . must 
 be an object of sympathy to all." " All classes of the 
 colonists should, in this time of trial, support and en- 
 courag-e each other. The Governor and the Govern- 
 ment are entitled to the active co-operation of all who 
 acknowledg-e a duty to the society in which they live. 
 The Governor personally is entitled to sympathy." 
 
 The last extract is from the Advertiser of the 4th 
 instant ; but on the Cth, Sir A. Stockenstrom returned, 
 and the tone immediately chang-ed. On the 8th 
 appeared an apology for the Zwag-er's Hoek farmers, 
 who refused to turn out, and for the Kat River Hot- 
 tentots; on the llth, the ig-norant tirade about the 
 Zoolah auxiliaries j on the 14th, the Observer, which 
 is now to all intents and purposes supplementary to 
 the Advertiser, published that disgTaceful attempt to 
 foment disaffection among- the Burghers, which excited
 
 288 
 
 the unanimous indignation of all loyal men. The same 
 course has, our readers are aware, been since followed 
 up hy hoth papers in every successive issue. 
 
 The influence of Sir A. Stockenstrom over the re- 
 sponsible Editor of these two newspapers is well known 
 to the public here, who are, therefore, in a position to 
 judge how far that influence may explain the change 
 of sentiment just noticed j and it will be allowed to be 
 a coincidence significant and worthy of remark at the 
 present moment, that where disaffection has existed, 
 Sir A. Stockenstrom has generally been popular ; and 
 his name has been quoted though, of course, without 
 his authority as a supporter of the disaffection. 
 
 When Pretorius incited the Orange River Boers to 
 rebellion, it was to Sir A. Stockenstrom that he resorted 
 for advice j and it was by the use of Sir A. Stocken- 
 strom's name that he collected his band of traitors. 
 
 When Zacharias Pretorius meditated an attack on 
 the Tambookies of Klaas Smiths River, it was to Sir 
 A. Stockenstrom that he went for aid. When the 
 Griquas require advice how most effectually to evade 
 their engagements with the Government, it is to Sir 
 A. Stockenstrom they resort for counsel. 
 
 When such complainants come before Sir A. Stocken- 
 strom, he commiserates their forlorn condition, but 
 tells them they must go to the Secretary of State, as, 
 in his present private position, he can do nothing- for 
 them. And while thus commanding, whether deservedly 
 or otherwise, the implicit confidence of all opponents 
 of the Government, he is receiving a pension of 700 
 per annum from the Colony in which his name is thus 
 continually used to foment disaffection and discontent.
 
 MEMORIALS ON THE CONSTITUTION. 
 
 WE have lately from time to time received copies of 
 the additional petitions and memorials on the subject of 
 the proposed new Constitution, which are given below, 
 but to which, in consequence of the space necessarily 
 occupied in our last few numbers by Frontier affairs, 
 we have been unable to give earlier insertion. 
 
 We have to add that these petitions represent the 
 sentiments of persons interested in a very large extent 
 of landed property in the several districts from which 
 they emanate, and are all numerously and respectably 
 signed. 
 
 KNYSNA AND PLETTENBEKG'S BAT. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir HENKY GEORGE 
 WAKELYN SMITH, K.G.C.B., Governor and Com- 
 mander-in-Chief of the Settlement of the Cape of 
 Good Hope, Her Majesty's High Commissioner, 
 &c. &c. 
 
 We, the undersig'ned, landed proprietors and road- 
 rate payers in the wards of the Knysna and Pletten- 
 berg's Bay, feel ourselves called on to come forward to 
 address your Excellency in the present political emer- 
 gency. 
 
 We beg to assure your Excellency of our firm and 
 unaltered attachment to the person of our most gracious 
 Sovereign the Queen, and our faith in the wisdom of 
 Parliament, and our belief in your Excellency's deter- 
 mination to do everything in your power towards the 
 well-being and prosperity of the Colony. 
 
 u
 
 290 
 
 We are attached to the glorious and free institutions 
 of our mother-country, and wish to see the same insti- 
 tutions established in this portion of our gTacious Queen's 
 dominions, so far as our circumstances will allow. 
 
 We deeply regret that so much disunion should 
 have existed in the Legislative Council; on the subject 
 of carrying- on the Government pending- the formation 
 and approval of a Constitution, and that any party in 
 the State should desire to force your Excellency to 
 appropriate and expend the Colonial money in a man- 
 ner not according- with the law and usage of a free 
 state : and that at a time when we hoped for order, 
 quiet and regularity, after a violent agitation and fer- 
 mentation of the public mind. 
 
 We thank your Excellency for saving- us from con- 
 fusion, by having- of late carried on the Civil govern- 
 ment in such trying circumstances, though we regret 
 the illegality of such a wise step. 
 
 In conclusion, we thank your Excellency for the 
 measure you have adopted to obtain a report on the 
 Constitution from the members of the Council assembled 
 as Commissioners, and to express our cordial assent to 
 that most reasonable, temperate and statesmanlike 
 report ; and to assure your Excellency of our approval 
 of the principles thereof generally, which, we think, 
 with a few slight modifications, will be found perfectly 
 acceptable to the people here and to the Parliament in 
 Great Britain.
 
 291 
 GEOKGE. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir HENRY GEORGE 
 WAKELYN SMITH, Bart., K.G.C.B., Governor 
 and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good 
 Hope, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY, 
 
 We, the undersigned, landowners and other inhabit- 
 ants of Georg-e, deem it indispensably necessary at the 
 present time to convey to your Excellency our admira- 
 tion of the just and prudent course you have adopted 
 under the difficulties and embarrassments which have 
 attended you in the discharge of the duties of your high 
 and important office, especially during' the last eighteen 
 months of your administration, trials, indeed, which 
 have never fallen to the lot of any of your Excellency's 
 predecessors since the Colony first became a dependency 
 of the British Crown. 
 
 We should fail in our duty if we omitted to express 
 our approbation of the statesmanlike measures which 
 have of late years emanated from the Government; 
 and unimportant as our testimony may be, we feel 
 bound to record our opinion of the ability, zeal, and 
 faithfulness of your Excellency's principal advisers, 
 whose untiring- labours have tended in no small degree 
 to advance the prosperity and to increase the con- 
 venience, comfort and happiness of all classes of the 
 people confided by her most gracious Majesty to your 
 paternal care. 
 
 Whatever difference of opinion there may be on some 
 of the subjects which have recently agitated the public 
 mind, we think that none can be found throughout the 
 
 u 2
 
 292 
 
 length and breadth of the land who can with justice 
 complain of unequitable taxation, of extravagant or 
 wasteful expenditure of public money, of insufficient 
 protection to trade and commerce, of oppressive laws, 
 or of the slightest check or hindrance to civil or reli- 
 gious liberty ; and while we cheerfully and gratefully 
 admit that advantages such as these are among- the 
 choicest that we can enjoy, we cannot refrain from 
 adding what must be fresh in the minds of all who 
 bestow attention to public concerns that a few years 
 since a large debt pressed heavily upon the Colony, 
 which has been discharged, that roads have been made 
 and improved, mountain passes, which were looked upon 
 as obstructions to intercourse and trade, that the skill, 
 the enterprise, and the resource of another century 
 could alone remove, have been opened, by which the 
 farmer is now enabled to convey his produce speedily 
 to market at trifling cost, that convicts, whose time 
 was formerly wasted in idleness, have been by whole- 
 some and salutary discipline reformed, and their labour 
 made available for public works, that commerce has 
 been fostered and greatly extended by judicious regu- 
 lations, that education and religion have been pro- 
 moted and have progressed, that the inhabitants of 
 the Orange River territory have been settled in peace 
 and contentedness, and who are now prospering under 
 a mild government, and enjoying all the advantages of 
 British protection and good laws, and for whom faith- 
 ful and zealous ministers of religion and teachers have 
 been provided, that a restless, formidable enemy on 
 our Eastern Frontier has been subdued, and may now 
 be found cultivating* and improving the soil and learn-
 
 ing- the arts, and participating- greatly in the blessing's 
 of civilized life, that a large extent of territory which 
 was formerly the scene of bloodshed and strife now 
 enjoys peace and tranquillity, and where are to be 
 found those institutions springing- up which are the 
 giory of a land, and the sure indications of an enter- 
 prising- and thriving- people, and where cities and towns 
 have been planted, which will undoubtedly raise the 
 country at no very remote period into an important 
 and thriving- settlement, that it is a fact which, we 
 presume, none will question, that within a brief period 
 the Colony has made great advances in prosperity, 
 which we ascribe, under Providence, to the success 
 which has attended the various measures promoted by 
 Government for the g-ood of the Colony. For these 
 and many other reasons which we could urge, we con- 
 ceive that your Excellency's government is entitled to 
 our confidence, and to the support of the community at 
 larg-e. 
 
 We hail as a boon, much to be valued, the liberal 
 representative institutions which have been granted by 
 her most gracious Majesty, under letters patent, dated 
 23rd May, 1850. Your Excellency's desire to give 
 full effect to the intentions of our Queen, and your 
 promptitude in completing- the Legislative Council by 
 popular election, to perfect and accelerate what had 
 been so graciously bestowed, entitle your Excellency 
 to our warmest thanks. 
 
 We cannot but view with deep concern and regret 
 the sudden and unexpected termination of the sitting's 
 of the Legislative Council, occasioned by the with- 
 drawal of four honourable members, who had been
 
 294 
 
 elected under your Excellency's notice of the 6th May 
 last; by which many excellent measures that your 
 Government had prepared have been delayed, various 
 public works of great importance to the future pros- 
 perity of the Colony suspended, and, as a natural 
 result, labourers have been thrown out of employment, 
 to the great injury of trade and to the disparagement 
 of the Colonial reputation. 
 
 We have had under our consideration the report of 
 the honourable the Commissioners appointed by your 
 Excellency for the purpose of perfecting 1 the Draft Con- 
 stitution ; and as your Excellency has been pleased to 
 invite the opinions of the Colonists thereupon, the 
 undersigned humbly submit to your notice their views 
 of some of the leading topics. 
 
 We are of opinion that the Chief Justice of the 
 Colony for the time being should not be appointed 
 President of the Legislative Council, for the very pro- 
 per reasons stated by the honourable the Commissioners 
 in their report. 
 
 We are of opinion that the dissolution of the House 
 of Assembly and the Legislative Council simultaneously 
 would defeat the ends for which a second Chamber is 
 established. 
 
 We are of opinion that the members of the Legis- 
 lative Council should not be elected for a longer period 
 than six years ; that, of the members first chosen, seven 
 should by lot vacate their seats at the end of three years, 
 and the remaining eight at the end of six years. 
 
 We are of opinion that the qualification of the 
 electors for both Houses should not be the same, but 
 that the electors for the Legislative Council should be
 
 295 
 
 persons who hold fixed property, above incumbrances, 
 to the value of 500 ; that the electors for the House 
 of Assembly should be persons who occupy fixed pro- 
 perty to the value of 25. 
 
 We are of opinion that any person who shall be qua- 
 lified to be registered as a voter for the Legislative 
 Council should be eligible to be elected as a member of 
 the same ; provided that the qualification of elector be 
 fixed at 500, as above proposed. 
 
 We are of opinion that the Members of the Legis- 
 lative Council should be increased, so as to enable each 
 electoral division to choose its own member. 
 
 We are of opinion that persons holding- offices of 
 profit should not be disqualified from voting 1 for 
 Members of the Legislature. 
 
 We are of opinion that the heads of departments 
 should be at liberty not only to sit in the Legislative 
 Council, but also to vote upon whatever question they 
 may think fit. 
 
 In conclusion, Sir, we would proffer to your Excel- 
 lency, as the representative of her Majesty, and as a 
 soldier who has often nobly fought our country^s bat- 
 tles, the assurance of our highest respect, and of our 
 unalterable attachment to our gracious and beloved 
 Queen j and we trust that your Excellency may be 
 long spared among us to enjoy the happiness of diffus- 
 ing the blessings of peace, prosperity and justice among 
 all classes of her Majesty's faithful subjects in this 
 important settlement of the British Crown. 
 
 And we humbly beg- that your Excellency will be 
 pleased to forward this address, or a copy thereof, to 
 the Rig'ht Honourable the Secretary of State for the 
 Colonies.
 
 296 
 
 WYNBERG. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir HARBY SMITH, 
 Bart. K.G.C.B., Governor and Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Cape of Good Hope, &c. &c. 
 
 The Memorial of the undersigned, inhabitants of the 
 district of Wynberg, 
 
 HUMBLY SHEWETH, 
 
 That Memorialists regret the suspension of all legis- 
 lative functions in the Council of this Colony, the con- 
 tinuance of which suspension for any lengih of time 
 they cannot but view as detrimental to the best interests 
 of the Colony. 
 
 That your Memorialists gladly avail themselves of 
 the opportunity afforded by your Excellency to the 
 Colonists for expressing- their opinion on the form of 
 legislation proposed by the Commissioners appointed 
 by your Excellency. 
 
 That, with the exception hereinafter mentioned, your 
 Memorialists approve of the form of Constitution pro- 
 posed by that Commission. 
 
 That your Memorialists cannot, however, view the 
 proposed establishment of an Upper House, to be elected 
 by the Colonists, without considerable apprehension, 
 and that your Memorialists, having- regard to the 
 danger to which the property of the Colony may be 
 exposed by sudden and violent change in the form of 
 the Government and Constitution, would suggest that 
 the Legislative Council should not be at first elected, 
 but that the members should be nominated by the 
 Crown. 
 
 That your Memorialists also believe that great in-
 
 297 
 
 convenience and embarrassment will arise from the 
 exclusion from the Legislature of the officers of the 
 Executive Government ; and your Memorialists there- 
 fore pray that some of the heads of the principal 
 executive departments may be appointed to seats in 
 the Upper House,, and that they may also be eligible 
 as members of the Lower House. 
 
 And your Memorialists will ever pray. 
 
 SWELLENDAM. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut-General Sir H. G. W. SMITH, 
 Bart., K.G.C.B., Governor, &c. &c. of the Cape 
 of Good Hope. 
 
 The Memorial of the undersigned, landowners and 
 other inhabitants of the Division of Swellendam. 
 
 RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH, 
 
 That your Memorialists regret the suspension of all 
 legislative functions in the Councils of this Colony, the 
 continuance of which suspension for any length of 
 time they cannot but view as detrimental to the best 
 interests of the country. 
 
 That your Memorialists gladly avail themselves of 
 your Excellency's invitation to the Colonists to express 
 their opinion on the proposition for a new form of Go- 
 vernment, as submitted to your Excellency by the 
 Board of Commissioners appointed for the purpose of 
 completing 1 what the late Council had beg-un ; and in 
 so doing' beg 1 leave to offer the following* remarks : 
 
 That, although your Memorialists believe that the
 
 298 
 
 form of government best suited to the present state of 
 this Colony would have been a Council composed of 
 the members of the Executive Council, with a member 
 from each district added to it, to be elected by the 
 inhabitants of that district, being- the renters or owners 
 of fixed property to the value of not less than two 
 hundred pounds (200), yet Memorialists are of opinion 
 that a Constitution based on the principles laid down 
 in the Report of the Board of Trade Commissioners 
 may be so framed as, after a little experience, to be 
 carried on with success. 
 
 That your Memorialists, however, are of opinion, that 
 the all but universal suffrage recommended by the 
 Commissioners will, if carried out, prove very injurious 
 to the Colony at larg-e, by reason of the great number 
 of persons admitted to the franchise, who, from ig-no- 
 rance, are totally unfit for exercising' that privilege in 
 a manner beneficial to themselves or to the public, and 
 among- whom the most corrupt practices mig-ht be 
 resorted to in order to secure the return of a member. 
 
 That your Memorialists are of opinion that the Upper 
 House should consist of fifteen (15) members, viz. the 
 five members of the Executive Council, ex ojficio, and 
 five from the Eastern and five from the Western Pro- 
 vinces, to be elected by a majority of votes in each 
 Province. 
 
 That your Memorialists are of opinion that no one 
 should be entitled to vote for a member of the Upper 
 House unless he be the owner or renter of fixed pro- 
 perty to the value of five hundred pounds (500) ; and 
 further, that the lowest qualification of a member of 
 that House should be the possession of one thousand
 
 299 
 
 pounds (1000) of fixed property, unencumbered., or of 
 double that amount of mixed property. 
 
 That Memorialists are of opinion that the Assembly 
 should consist of as many members as there are dis- 
 tricts, each district nominating- a member by majority 
 of votes obtained in that district, Cape Town and 
 Graham's Town each to send two members in addition 
 to those chosen in the districts. 
 
 That your Memorialists are of opinion that the lowest 
 qualification for an elector of the Assembly should be 
 the possession or occupation of fixed property of the 
 value of one hundred pounds (100), and that the 
 lowest qualification of a member should be the posses- 
 sion or occupation of fixed property of the value of 
 five hundred pounds (500) ; your Memorialists con- 
 sidering- it much easier hereafter, should it be deemed 
 expedient, to extend the franchise and qualification 
 than to curtail them. 
 
 That your Memorialists are of opinion that the dura- 
 tion of Council should not exceed three years, and that 
 the members of the Executive Government (exclusive of 
 the Governor) should be, ex officio, members of Council, 
 as from their intimate acquaintance with the details 
 and machinery of the local Government, their services 
 in the Legislative Council would be of the highest 
 importance ; whereas, your Memorialists further feel, 
 that to give them seats in either House without the 
 privileg-e of voting 1 , would be placing- them in a posi- 
 tion derogatory to the dig-nity of their offices and 
 inconsistent with the liberal, spirit of the British 
 Government. 
 
 Your Memorialists, in submitting- these remarks for
 
 300 
 
 your Excellency's consideration, beg' to assure your 
 Excellency of their respect for your person and cha- 
 racter, and to subscribe themselves, 
 
 Your Excellency's obedient servants. 
 
 CALEDON. 
 
 To His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir HENRY G. W. 
 SMITH, Bart. K.G.C.B., Governor, &c. &c. 
 
 The Memorial of the undersig-ned, landowners and 
 others, residing- in the district of Caledon, 
 
 s O f 
 
 RESPECTFULLY SHEWETH, 
 
 That your Memorialists have observed with much 
 surprise and regret the apparent dissolution of the 
 Legislative Council of this Colony, owing- to the resig-- 
 nation of four members, for which your Memorialists 
 can discover no sufficient cause. 
 
 Your Excellency having* appointed the remaining- 
 members of Council as a board of Commissioners for 
 completing- the Colonial propositions for a new form of 
 government, and having 1 called upon the Colonists to 
 express their opinions on that subject, your Memorialists 
 are anxious to state, that they and (as they must 
 conclude) all owners of fixed property in the Colony 
 are most decidedly of opinion, that if the new Consti- 
 tution is to consist of TWO ELECTIVE Chambers, (which 
 appears to have been settled in England, without 
 enquiry by Her Majesty's advisers), that the qualifi- 
 cation for Members of the Upper House should be the 
 possession of unencumbered landed property to the 
 value of not less than 2000, or double that amount 
 in moveable or mixed property ; and that the electors
 
 301 
 
 of the Upper Chamber should possess a higher qualifi- 
 cation than those of the Assembly, and that they should 
 be proprietors or renters to the value of 500. 
 
 The attention of your Memorialists has been carefully 
 directed to that portion of the Commissioners' Report 
 which bears reference to the principle of making- the 
 officers of Government non-political, and with respect 
 thereto, your Memorialists, foreseeing- the dangers and 
 confusion likely to arise from hasty and crude legisla- 
 tion in the early stages of the new Parliament, cannot 
 but express their earnest hope, that the present official 
 members of the Legislative Council may be, ex ojfficio, 
 members of the future Upper House, at least for 
 some time to come. 
 
 Your Memorialists consider to oblige the Secretary 
 to Government and the Attorney-General, or any 
 other of the official members of the present Legislative 
 Council, to speak at the call of any member of the 
 future Parliament, and at the same time to debar 
 them from the privilege of voting 1 or of proposing- any 
 measures, would be placing 1 these distinguished officers 
 of Government in a very false and invidious position, 
 as it would be exposing- them to the chances of 
 political obloquy, without rendering- their practical 
 experience and their acknowledged abilities of any 
 real service to the Colony. 
 
 With regard to the franchise generally, your Memo- 
 rialists would suggest that no person, whether white 
 or black, should have the privilege of an elector, who 
 cannot read and write in the English, or Dutch 
 languages. 
 
 Your Memorialists have been led to understand that,
 
 when the new Constitution is established, all the ex- 
 penses connected with Her Majesty's troops in this 
 Colony, and with the political arrangements on the 
 frontier, are to be defrayed by the Colonists. In that 
 case, your Memorialists consider it their duty fairly to 
 state at once, that the Colonists will have every right 
 to expect^// and unqualified control over the whole of 
 the Colonial revenues and expenditure. They w r ill con- 
 sider themselves free, also, to regulate the frontier 
 policy as they may think proper, and to make all such 
 Colonial laws as may appear to them necessary, with- 
 out any interference or restriction whatever on the part 
 of the Home Government. No Constitution, however 
 liberal it may otherwise seem, is likely to be considered 
 liberal, or even worthy of regard, by the Colonists,, 
 unless these claims are recognized and allowed. 
 
 As the Legislative Council of the Colony has unfor- 
 tunately ceased to work for a period of eighteen 
 months, and as under present circumstances it is likely 
 to continue inactive for a long* time to come, and as 
 the Colonists have already suffered, and are now 
 suffering extreme inconvenience from this unprece- 
 dented state of things, which involves the suspension 
 of all public works, and is creating much social dis- 
 quietude and political irritation throughout the country, 
 your Memorialists earnestly pray that the Legislative 
 Council may be empowered to resume without delay 
 its duties in all matters of public importance, and to 
 fulfil them until the new Constitution shall have come 
 into operation. 
 
 Having thus expressed their sentiments on some of 
 the leading features of the proposed new Constitution,
 
 . 
 
 your Memorialists respectfully pray that your Excel- 
 lency will be pleased to forward their Memorial to the 
 Bight Honourable the Secretary of State, for His 
 Lordship's consideration. 
 
 * 
 
 - 
 
 THE END. 
 
 NORMAN AND SKKEN, PRINTERS, MAIDEN I.ANF, COYEST OAKDEN.