The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-16 00:00:00

Brent

As
r for
e pa'
gland
were

press

°Um,

,lutiOn
n wit'.
g dOO3.
of the
;ed by
I Bee
) last
xi !Ale!

such
picl; of
Csso9
'Mons
ti CsBo
the
ion or

iir W.
of the

^n WI
I that
e back

Lion 81
)f very
Nitta,
prey°,
reconv
aw the
a Less

Ma"
,n, but
ye that
cacti, U
being
a could

.overn•

to the

OD, AS

ind Os

) Woof

BILL.
.eterred

om the
Ileteeyt

seyersi
ptiou
a of the
Moe:
•eseated
of the

.om tl3O
nal go'

for :to

est serge
or ab'
good or
epresev
r depcv
bility, I°
referred
the el:
lccurro
ointedif

x re'
Al to the
a repre
t it could
t out t°
bat !belle
mopriesl
e colouP
could
erg able
ot. Mr.
iitUtiooo

embly 51
Lo knOwe
consider.

the te, . .
ibn.'lts misapplied. It is an experimeet, and one
an can con-
h---,,,',°st a very silly or a very sanguine man e hich
lier Pate without anxiety.".
N ~Uontagne, in whose praise he
was
~soole Secretary would willingly concur sure that the
(" Hear, hear,"
•4wil Earl Grey), said—
Zt;_ee_k I cannot retrain from expre-ssing my doubts as to th
iheiat from the
hhood of eliciting good goverment for some time,
applied expressed
exercise of representative institutions. ' ZUte Parties to whom the Governor
which the
at to the success of the experiment
a..
of
them
noble,,i Earl had advised them to take; and all
t7Pqad their talent and their research in endeavours
could be
waSd out a mode in which that experimenthe
?I,ll;t_led out with the moat
that there
IC I,eithers of the Council were
safety
unanimousandtleast danger.
esrliti Only be one representative
.dy
tfor_atpheelwiohwohle.
heeY, and that that body ehould si.t a. U
~°9 were unanimous that the constitution consist of
rGovernor, o Legislative Council, and a House of As.
htebiY, although One member seemed to doubt whether
whether
lee colony was sufficiently numerous to provide in
....,-
Ih„, ii,use of A
478, for the Legisletive Council and
they were
41.11101 y. With the exception of on k_enanienous that the Legislativee
ree elective body, but appointed
by the Crown, and
Council Member,should not
red of official and n
Chief Jae,-
here ofthe office should be for lite. The . _
tie,
~
en-effluial members, and that the
. et the colony was of opinion thet the
.e,lectitvieveeporeitni. eiPle 0
oii ught to be introduced into the Legts.a
iif" and that the tenure of the office shouldnoitrbteo
the
0:b at during 'ensure. He would not enter
and
similar
e,eations of the franchise. the qtrilificatieen,
4(ters on which a report had been inad
in an ordi-
,, jetary ,r,
posite and which were included -mace ve• - •
representative
to the Noble
eyit Ith the means of carrying out a
hisre.
dispatch, in
)01.9te• On receiving the eiepetcahhoiinhcelruddinisgpat
vi.t, the Noble Secretary wrote
Leh he Express
lf and the
"j
iews of yoursemanner:—
Ise eia of opinion hthimat
6;1111e1av
sJaritv f r the following
form of the consti-
eltiee e-- our advisers, as to the
iv a representative assem-
LlyZto he established,
sho„,.,d. legislative council,
adopted,
but many of the details
153e4.p .inted by the Crown,
It the the main, be e Plan submitted in these 'lire papers may probably re-
alte 14.°d'fic3t1°13." occurred the misapprehension of
lis fettately upon thisoccu .
teo4 0 Earl of Derby's) meaning of which he had al-
Ike 1 °°4lplained. The Noble Earl,
I which ho
it. .w.otuld appear,
e„,,eat take upon himself the responsibi i y
bib,
an have taken a
11764
as Secretary of State for the Colo.
his advisers to a
tefs as a Minister and adviser of the Crown; but he
vt,br'ed the views of Sir 11. Smith and
to which no
ebin and very competent body, but o
whf?iftibility attached, and which in spitnenof the =roes
uea graced it r ' • dat this day
4111
4ratune
1842 the petitioners
from No us body. In the year .
an anomalous. and
kr the
and
„,, Cape- had asked him to lay their pteattiitoinosn be-
t.;.,'''''e Committee of the Council for
Earl in come
h:7; but he hal refused to delegate the decision upon
110,7„arlY body whatsoever. The Noble
% tl the dispatch
•""°l3 0 which he had then written,
4 r_
~
lik2a 1841 Sir George Napier transmitted
the Queen in
tou'a the inhabitants of Cape Town to _ . .
a petition
'Nei ) ngfor the establishment nen, pra i
w, Y and council. The form of governmentsthen
thus pro•
en Secretary
et s' sPesared to Lord Stanley, who wa
ordinary legis-
141:elae, altogether at variance with the o
tle‘Vatem of British eoseessions, and he consequently.
l's;eil advising her Majesty to refer the petition to the
At Y COUheil"
44 one would infer from that petition that his (the
payer herby's) objection arose out of the form and
1441:" of the petition. Nov, if the Noble Secretary,.s.
tepres correctlY,
lettejibPied nUt the words of his (the Earl of Derby s)m(l%._
he would not have fallen into the Of ti ettuation which he had committed. His (the Earl
ii T*Pare) words were these:-
10
r:fattve not thought it my duty to advise the Qaeen
er to the Privy Council the petition addresnsewd.tyo
m_ .
Y °P lay in Council. as, lam aware of no reaso who
ets„,:aeli departure should be made in the present .
'reran the established system on which the Executive Go-
itd...tit of this kingdom and of the British colonies ise
4tqle:uistered" The "established system" to which he
the 4ed in that paragraph was the responsibility t
Ilohieeeretary of State for the colonies. Now the '414 t,4rl, in his dispatch, had altered th,e,
Kr_ kazecutive Government of this kingdom, . into. tolls!
%re, : ordinwry legislative system of British p
^g th:ns, and by that alteration had completely
aged the effect of his opinion. He was con
b,ech, that this of
was not intentional ;
11,7_ a could not retrain from expressing
error
the Noble Earl had fallen into so very grave an
his wonder
it°l',43 to the intentions of his predecessor in
toinioble Earl had then taken the course which (thebeere.
tail
LierhY ) had refused to take in 1842. H
Council.
4(nthe matter to the Committee of Privyesta.
blist;_,jelutnittee made a report on the pro a
would
itt jil"' and
Of 0,7,0ci1t of a representative Legislature inPhosstrehe Cape
su quently
that report was -
He
by the Noble Earl to that cologny&ough
'ua,;littneut trouble their Lordships by Vine Legisla-
tive 00,nrenit opinions of the Members of the
•atereu -telt Qa that report. Suffice it to say, that theya cone
stitutiona- once
"Pen their own responbility
heyee been a n.----1 novel in its character,
who had
gtoPloverc °nletaPlitted by the able gentle
and wonhnich had
crue
teeth ' -'-' so much talent and research to the devising of
40.3 to diminish y danger which might a
n.
ti
rso Unexpected "-change. The Legislative Cou
la was Ilea, hat to be noaminated by the Crown, but was.
Reed
te t;•"° int° which the elective principle not only ene 51 but Predotains,ted entirely ; and a novel sch Fin
RN ea Proposed by which the votes in such elections.
te la be taken• Option ought to have been given
the •
11 Governor and his Council whether such
tteicastitution should be accepted or not ; but not
DAY did the Noble Secretary for the Colonies wave his
d " ()pinion upon it, but he sent with the report a legal
cell% •
allth eat, which had all the force of few,. and which
AN
itt4,hised the existence of a new Legislative Council
elt, . gouse of Assemble, both of which were to be
to be e+ with this exception, that the chief justice was
kiemPretideet of the Legislative Council by virtue of
ht le'ec• as then told the governor of the colony that
-hi •
Nett, , immediately proceed to cause the_ prel:minary
4 which might be required to be performed, with
_a
to,
.4,4 "le preparation of the necessary ordinances. He
4 ,Proeeeded us f, Bowe:—
Ille d' I): various details cf the machinery of the elections,
the rcaition of the franchise of the electors, both for
etit4sbeerah4 and the Legislative Council, and many
Vhli
eeParticulars which will readily occur to you, are all
,rd's OU which the necessary provisions will be made
thstor,l'auce, and not by letters patent, and as to which,
At aceo 'e, you may, with a view to expenditure, preparenee
t'With ,Tho matter to ba embodied in the ordinance,
:.1:-`,w4itiag for the arrival of the letters p
youf
the
leujo%.l es, though, of course, until they reach -a'the
Wseee, -- eannot be brought under the consideration o
w`elative Council." -
VI, wt.
„...:.en this document arrived in the colony,. it took
d in oppo-
bY iii-e';'ea 1,,Y surprise. It was a new system, introduced
sitieh-'9 woo knew nothing of the country, an
, kete,„„ Jews or those who.
the
thrown in
•(Sy of "' Additional difficulties were
11)1.
' t°
the
v. " had the largest local. in-
et. earrvie • •
i by the strange .
14 -uiph c -g it into execut.on
time of its ate
elem. - tee colony was placed at the position
48, circum-
Step, Ia the interim, between 1846
andlB
state
ef th,(4l had occurred which produced
a lamentableq
pan to ens
larg 1444 in the celony, on which he did not
No one
Nete4: Present, further than to say th:at them Anti• Con
%hid acciation had started into existence.
deprived
tgasse,"elna more strongly than he did the violent
the „Z" at* that association. Their violence
,_
this 013elittion of the countenance of many personsti-
just ground
14 ,°,,„"itrY, who thought that they had eedeeePlaint, and who would have been ready,t
'the i'LleY been less violent, to press upon Parliamen
He
felt IhBtlee and righteousness of their complaint. kilted agr - and grievous error had been corn
Thi;': °h thaetEtt point by her Mujesty's Government.
grievous punish-
tae On tote occasion met with a
ih t-4,'‘eoef
ivihich the example would.se
inbe followed not only
lall our other colo-
hie% Tae yof the Cape, but a
Oa% spirit of resistance had been evoked in a just
a,extent that, after
le, !', knd had been carried to such as h4(1111 reaistanee on the pert of the Crown,._
its authority
hostilities,
peti .heen rejected and lowered in the colony. and not
baetlechiss but threats and menaces, and even
n the spot,
peh's, aeon
directed against the Governor 0-
b, 'eh tompelled him first, and afterwards
-seat .
e. . at nome, to suceutnb. To such an extent h. Le-
c_Nstance been carried that by dint of violencethe.t As,
the G,_o_vdetrhne-
!ltl.te Council was dissolved. This Anti-Convict
Italeiation had subsequently led to a political organizationo,.
h,s.ile colony, which now turned its views to other D
tqrat_tii; and thus, when the dispatch from the Colonial
ary came, out, calling upon the Governer
lit
04 :Patent to the Legislative Council as then
Ilq 4ht`toted, he was compelled to write back home that
ik, fad no such Council, and that for a year or more
shct.letive body had existed in the colony—that
ire, Advance of money had been illegally made—that
1417 ate which had been taken by the Colonial Go-
as4;itil, eat was null and void, and that it was only Tie-
de: 3' which had compelled him to assume the absolute
Oeit'eistet which he then wielded, and which he wielded
it ji; because no one in the colony would assist or advise
feu
_, What course, then, did the Governor take? He
l- 4, 41 that to fill up the Legislative Council with the
ookmimed of the Crown would be an absolute impossibi-
iar that, if he should succeed in filling it up, he
Pob,i Only do it by taking them from one part of the
sad stion—a measure which would give rime to jealousy
14ti,,
lalienation between the English and Dutch popula-
,: What, then, did the governor do? On receiving
000 41struetions from the home Government, it was ne-
ttl's/I that he should reform his Council. He referred
e 0„, clueation to a body consisting, in the towns, of the
toolelPialities, and, in the country, of the several district
be '4 boards, for the purpose of ascertaining who would
the
the most desirable persons, in the opinion
Th caleuiets, to form a portion of hie own Council.
of
illta Gavernor stated to the Noble Lord that it was his
toentien to be guided by the lists sent in to him, and to
Goate five gentlemen from those lists. The result of the
tveetwe'a notice was, that no very large proportion of
ne.°e inhabitants or ratepayers tendered their services,
, out of 4,560 ratepayers, only 1,298 took the trou-
otur of these gentlemen were returned I.;l:iuf recording their votes in favour of tho candidates.
by a large majo-
-41,Y; but it struck the Governor that three out of the
Town s Rentlernen Selected were from the division of Cape
d_,, and that one of the others (Sir A. Stockenstrom)
but
not represent the feelings of the English population,
Gl5 of hwas the
11t
the vie gentlemen at Cape Town. If the
resur d appointed the five gentlemen who had been
et,sahn:a trona the greatest number of places all five
1,._ !s of the Legislative Council would have been re-
::_roed by the heed influence of Capp Town. Here arose
eaeother ii.ffieulty which ho (the Earl of Derby) had fore-
,tiani ill 1842 —vie., the paramount influence of the more
ean:',"us avid Probably also the more weal.hy division of
shk, i , o were B 0 0
Pe A OVIO w h bl t exerciee a very consider-
tailviebiuence over the Legislature. It was indeed ad-
the Attortley-Qeaeraledr. racer, thst under