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

- the term misapplied. It is an experiment, and ono which
none but a very silly or a verb saaguine man can con-
template without anxiety."
Montague, in whose praise he was sure that the
Noble Secretary would willingly concur (" Hear, hear,"
from Earl Grey), said—
" I ceonot retrain from expressing my doubts as to the
likelihood of eliciting good government for some
st least from the exercise of repr-sentative ;nstitutions."
All the parties to whom the Governor applied expressed
doubts as to the success of the experiment which the
Noble Earl had advised them to take; and all of them
employed their talent and their research in eedeavours
to find oat a mode in which that experiment could be
carried out with the most safety and the least danger.
The members of the Council were unanimous that there
should only be one representative body for the whole
,710 fly, and that that body should sit et Cape Town.
They were unanimous that the constitution consist of
a Governor, a Legislative Council, arid a House of As-
sembly, although one member se. used to doubt whether
the ci,lony was sufficiently numerous to provide mem-
bers for the Legislative Council and the Hons., of As-
sembly. With the exception of one Member, they were
also unanimous that the Legislative Council should not
be an elective body, but appointed by the Crown, and
formed of official and nen-offitrial members, and that the
tenure of the office should be for life. The Chief Jus-
tice of the colony was of opinion that the elective prin-
ciple ought to be introduced into the Legislative Conn-
cif. and that the tenure of the office should not be for
Life but during pleasure. He would not enter into the
questions of the franchise. the qualification, and similar
Matters on which a report had been made to the Noble
Secretary opposite and which were included in an ordi-
tlance with the means of carrying out a representative
quern. On receiving the dispatch including this re•
port, the Noble Secretary wrote another dispatch, in
Which he expressed himself in the following manner:—
"1 am of opinion that the views of yourself and the
majority tf our advisers, as to the form of the consti-
tution to be established, namely. a representative assem-
bly and legistative council, app doted by the Crown,
Should, in the main. be adopted, but many of the details
of the plan submitted in these papers may probably re-
Suite medificstern."
Immediately upon this occurred the misapprehension of
bis (the Earl of Derby's) ineardrig of whicia he had al-
ready complained. The Noble Earl, it would appear,
did not take upon himself the responsibility which he
ought to have taken as Secretary of State for the Colo.
Idea, and as a Minister and adviser of the Crown; but he
referred the views of Sir H. Smith and his advisers to a
very able and very conspetsot body, but one to which no
responsibility attached, and which in spite of the names
Which graced it remained at this day an anomalous and
anonymous body. In the year 1842 the petitioners
from the Cape had asked him to lay their petition be-
fore the Committee of the Council for Plantations and
Trade; but he hal refused to delegate the decision upon
it to any body whatsoever. The Noble Earl in com-
menting on the dispatch which he had then written,
laid—

"ln 1841 Sir George Napier transmitted a petition
fromthe inhabitants of Cape Town to the Queen in
Council, praying for the establishment of en elective as-
fifthly and council. The form of government thus pro-
posed appeared to Lord Stanley, who was then Secretary,
°I State, altogether at variance with the ordinary legit,-
Wive system of British rossessions, and he consequently
decliaed advising her Majesty to refer the petition to the
Privy Council."
443' one would infer from that petition that his (the
Earl of Derby's) objection arose cut of the form and
prayer of the petition. Now, if the Noble Secretary
ad cepied out the words of his (the Earl of Derby's) dis-
Patch correctly, he would not have fallen into the mis-
representation which he had committed. His (the Earl
of Derby's) words were these:—
"I have not thought it my duty to advise the Qum
to refer to the Privy Council the petition addressed to
her Majesty iu Council, as I am aware of no reason why
any such departure should be made in the present case
from the established system on which the Executive Go.
!ernment of this kingdom and of the British colonies is
administered." The "established system" to which he
referred in that psragraph was the responsibility of
the Secretary of State for the colonies. Now the
Noble Earl, in his dispatch, had altered the phrase
"the Executive Government of this kingdom," in o the
Phrase, "ordinary legislative system of British pos.
.an
.7:sluos," and by that alteration had completely
ITged the effect of his opinion. He was con-
vinced that this misrepresentation was not intentional ;
but he could not retrain from expressing his wonder
how the Noble Earl had fallen into so very grave an
error as to the intentions of his predecessor in office.
The Noble Eirl had then taken the course which be (the
Earl of Derby) bad refused to take in 1842. He re-
ferred the matter to the Committee of Privy Council.
1:11a1 Committee made a report on the proposed esta-
blishment of a representative Legislature in the Cape
trf G"°d Elope, anti that report was subsequently
Aaanstnitted by the Noble Earl to that colony. He
l'i.tould not trouble their Lordahips by going through
e different opinions of the Members of the Legisla-
tive Council on that report. Suffice it to say, that they
atTred at once upon their own responbility on a choand-
eettien entirely novel in its character, and which
"Ibsen contemplated by the able gentleman who had
entnin—Yed te, much talent and research to the devising of
f to diminish any danger which might a .true
Calm s 0 unexpected a change. The Legislative Court-
hwas not tC, be nominated by the Crown, but was
l one into which tee elective principle not only en-
F 4 but predominated entirely ; and a novel scheme
Iva* also proposed by which the votes in such elections
t ere, to be taken. Option ought to have been given
a 2 ins Governor and his Council whether such
constitution should be accepted or not ; but not
Only did the Noble Secretary for the Colonies wave his
oven opinion upon it, but he sent with the report a legal
doe
ti t ha arisen en t
twhheicehxii:t
ce othfe force of law, and which
and a House of Assernblv
elecnive, with this , both of which were to
be
a new Legislative Council
to be president exception, that the chief justice was
of the Le gislative Council by virtue of
his office, Hie then told the governor of the colony that
he must immediately proceed to cause the prel urinary
Work which might be required to be performed, with a
'tiew to the preparation of the necessary ordinances. He
then proceeded as follows:
" The various details of the machinery of the elections,
the definition of the franchise of the electors, both for
the Assembly and the Legislative Council, and many
Cher
particulars which will readily occur to you, are all
byhieels on which the necessary provisions will be made
ordinance, and not by letters patent, and as to which,
the refore, you may, with a view to expenditure, prepare
/It. °nee the matter to be embodied in the ordinance,
Without waiting for the arrival of the letters patent
themselves, though, of course, until they reach you the
alu
ÜbJect cannot be brought under the consideration of the
gigiative Council."
?‘", when this document arrived in the colony, it took
t" Parties by surprise. It was a new system, introduced
Y those who knew nothing of the country, and in oppo-
ifittloreeilio to the views of those who had the largest local in-
ee.
Additional difficulties were thrown in the
a'neY of carrying it into execution by the strange position
nw,blob the colony was placed at the time of its ar
In the interim, between 1846 and 1848, circum-
-,Pes bad occurred which produc, d a lamentable state
j~talugs in the colony, on which he did not mean to en-
-irge at present, further than to say that the Anti Con
en-
vi Association had started into erstence. No one
could condemn more strongly than he did the violent
I.llheasures of that association. Their violence deprived
the association of the countenance of many persons in
otl3 Country, who thought that they had just ground
beteeotoplaint, and who would have been ready,
i they been less violent, to press upon Parliament
1s
te justice and righteousness of their complaint. He
that a great and grievous error bad been cool
bitted on that point by her Majesty's Government.
The error on this occasion met with a grievous punish-
?lent• of which the example would be followed not only
to the colony of the Cape, but also in all our other colo-
nies. The spirit of resistance had been evoked in a just
cause, and bad been carried to such an extent that, after
Is rain resistance on the part of the Crown, its authority
had been rejected and lowered in thnedceovloennyh,oastnidlitineost
re,
Cuhic leetitons, but threats and menaces, a
ecnomdipreeicieteddhimagafisirnst,t the Governor on the spot,
and afterwards the Govern-
Ment at home, to succumb. To such an extent had the
resistance been carried that by dint of violence the Le-
gislative Council was dissolved. This Anti-Convict As-
relation dad subsequently led to a political organization
in the colony, which now turned its views to other ob-
jects; and thus, when the dispatch from the Colonial
beforetary came out, calling to
upon the Governor
trefer to the constitution contained in the et-
-1
ers patent to the Legislative Council as then
aonstituted, he was compelled to write back home that
he had no such Council, and that for a year or more
no legislative body had existed in the colony—diat
ever y advance of money had been illegally
every step which had been taken by the Colonial Go-
vernment was null and void, and that it was only mi.
made—that
eessity which had compelled him to assume the absolute
despotism which he then wielded, and which he wielded
Only because no one in the colony would assist or advise
What course, then, did the Governor take? He
found that to fill up the Legislative Council with the
nominees of the Crown would be an absolute impossibi-
lity, or that, if he should succeed in filling it up, he
could only do it by taking them from one part of the
Population—a measure which would give rise to jealousy
and alienation between the English and Dutch popula-
tion. What, then, did the governor do? On receiving
his instructions from the home Government, it was ne-
cessary
tnat he should reform his Council. He referred
the question to a body consisting, in the towns, of the
municipalities, and, in the country, of the several district
boend boards, for the purpose of ascertaining who would
most desirable persons, in the opinion of
~,these
tchoelonists, to form a portion of his own Council.
Ps Governor stated to the Noble Lord that it was his
intention to be guided by the lists sent in to him, and to
elovetrfinover,sgentlemenwas, from those lists. The result of the
that no very large proportion of
the_ inhabitantse or ratepayers tendered their services,
?I,oce
0_ out of 4,560 ratepayers, only 1,298 took the trou-
DElO2_ !cording their votes in favour of the candidates.
fit" °I these gentlemen were returned by a lar e ma'o-
Y 1 but it struck the Governor that three g t of the
five gentlemen selected were from the division out of the
entiemefl selected were from the division of Cat e
"o, and that one of the others (Sir A. Stockenstromp)
?Mt not represent the feelings of the English population,
returned from of the gentlemen at Cape Town, If the
appointed the five gentlemen who had been
members
from the greatest number of places all five
.urnibers of the Legislative Council would have been re-
t ned by the local influence of Cape Town. Here arose
another difficulty which he (the Earl of Derby) had fore-
z:irel3B4:3(-I—viz., the paramount influence of the
.more
Probably also the mere weal by division of
aCbalpee4uuwenne,ewoiavoerwethle able to exercise very consider-
the Astrorn;L•ogeguiserlature. It was indeed ad-
taitted.by
el,Pir. Porter, that under

any system of election it was doubtful whether
there would be found in the cieiptry:diiitricts
_per-
sons who were willing to undertake the expense of
residing at Cape Town, and whether consequently the
country districts would not be compelled to select per-
sons for their representatives who resided at Cspe Town.
The Governor, in pursuance of his pledge, selected the
four gentlemen who stood highest upon the returns, but
intead of selecting the gentleman who stood fifth upon
the list, he added to these four a gentleman to represent
the eastern districts. From that time the four gentle-
men who thus represented the influence of Cape Town
acted as an organized opposition to the Governor, and
divided together upon all subjects which arose in the
new Council. He agreed with the Noble Earl in the
mistaken opinion which these gentlemen had formed of
the functions of the Council. One of their duties was
the framing of the ordinance which was to be submitted
to the Crown relative to the constitution of a representa-

tive Legislature for the colony. But they thought fit to
consid, r themselves not as ordinary representatives, sit-
ting by virtue of a precept issued by the Governor, not
as the representatives of the electors, such electors not
being in tact constituted by the law, and having no
pretence for giving a vote. They regarded themselves,
in short, not as a representative body, but as a consti•
tuent body, who were brought together to frame a con-
stitution, and nothing more. The Council assembled
en the 6th of September, and they made some pro-
gress in framing the new constitution. With regard to
the number of electors, their qualification, the con-
stitution of the two Houses, the seat of Government
being fixed at Cape Town, the payment of a daily allow-
ance of expenses to each member, the exclusion from
the representative body of all officers connected with the
Government, there wag perfect unanimity of opinion.
But these four gentlemen were defeated by the official
members and the unofficial members from the eastern
districts upon some very important questions, namely,
whether .the qualification for a member for the Legisla-
tive Council should be the same as for a member of the
House of Assembly; whether the two Houses should be
elected for the same period; and whether the Upper
House should be elect-d by the entire colony, acting
as one constituency. Upon these .points he thought
these gentlemen wrong; for if the Legislative Council
were returned by the same body, subject to the same
influences, and animated by the same popular passions
as the members of the Lower House, tney would be
a mere repetition of the House of Assembly. Being
defeated, however, on these questions, these four
gentlemen declared their intention not to legis-
late on any subject except the establishment of a new
Legislature, and to leave all the businecs of the colony
in a state of contusion. This decision left the Governor
in a state of some embarrassment, end he took a course
which, although condemned by the Noble Earl (Grey),
he (the Earl of Derby) thought him warranted in
taking. He had no Legislative Council legally consti-
tuted, and for this reason, that by the letters patent
constituting it the Legislative Council was to consist of
not leis than 10 or more than 12 Members, six of whom
were to be nominated members. By the resignation of
four out of the six unofficial members the Legislative
Council was left with only eight members, and was
theref ire not a legally constituted body, and had neither
instructions nor powers to act. Bat the Governor deter-
mined to refer to the other eight members the report of
the Committee of Privy Council for Plautatioris and
Trade, and the duty of framing a representative consti-
tution for the colony. These remaining members of the
Council proceeded to execute their duties, and they
transmitted to the Secretary of S _ate the draught of a
constitution which might haie been passed by the
Crown, and which would have put an end to the confu-
sion in the colony. He did not say that the draught
cons itution was perfect, but it furnished a basis for le•
gislation, with the details filled in by the persons must
conversant with the affairs of the colony. But a'ter the
proceedings of the Committee of the Council the
Governer felt that the difficulties in the way
of representative government were mere 'formid-
able than had been anticipated. In the first place,
the overwhelming ieflaeace of Cape Town upon
the constitution of the Legislative Council was manifest.
In the next place, the granting of representative insti-
tutions bad evoked a desire for a separation between the
eastern and western portion of the colony, on the ground
that the eastern portions, which were British,, would be
over b erne by the influence of the Dutch in the west, thus
introduoing another of those differences which ho (the
Earl of Derby) had pointed out in 1842. The Governor
said he could not refrain from expressing the opinion,
that there was some probability that under a Legislature
purely elective the c Toured classes, who constituted
three-fifths of the population, would be compelled to en-
ter into contracts for a lengthened period, and, by means
of vagrant laws, with severe punishments and penalties,
would be reduced to a state of virtual slavery. Under
these circumstances the Governor reiterated his opinion,
that for the protection of the coloured classes the Leg s-
lative Council should be nominated by the Crown, and
should nut be elective. The Secretary to Government
concurred in that opinion, and so did the Treasurer-
General. The Attorney-General said, that although it
was desirable to establish a nominated Council, yet that,
atter the expectations that had been held out, it would
be hardly safe to withdraw thr proposal of an elective
upper house, and that the principle of election must be
agreed to. fie (the Earl of Derby) held, that any dan-
ger and any hazard ought to be preferred to the disgrace
of violating the pledges held out by the Government.
The Noble Earl (Earl Grey) disapproved of the course
taken by the Goveruor. He said—
•' With regard to the course taken by yourself in con-
sequence of the difficulty in which you were placed by
the resignati al of the four members who retired from
the Legislative Council, I cannot convey to you the
final judgment of her Majesty's Government is the ab-
sence of the fuller information which I am led to ex-
pect; but I must not conceal from you that I am alto-
gether unable to understand, from that which . has
already reached me, your reasons for having considered
it necessary to interrupt the sittings of the Legislative
Council on account of the resignation of four of its
Members. What was the obstacle to your making new
appointments, or proceeding with the remaining Mem-
bers to consider and to pass the ordinance for completing
the constitution—though it seems to have been con-
sidered insurmountable by your Executive Council as
well as by yourself—l am entirely at a loss to con-

jecture."
rile Governor's answer to the rebuke that he might
have proceeded with the remaining Members, who
formed a qu Turn, was that trie Legislative Council was
not a legal body it it did not consist of at least ten
slumbers, six of whom should be persons nominated
by the Governor, and that the Noble Earl had mistaken
the numbers necessary to term a quorum when there
was a complete Council of ten for the Members suf-
ficient to constitute a legislative body. With regard to
the suggestion that ho might have filled up the
vacancies by new nominations, he said that he could not
have done so without reviving those differences and
those jealousies between the Dutch and English inhabi-
tants of the colony which had so formidaely increased
of late. The Governor added—
" If it be your wish that I should proceed to business
with the present Council, censideti. g it competent to
legelite, I shall do so. Ie on the ceetrary, Sou should
instruct me to complete the Council by new nominations,
I will tike that step so as to give as little dissetisfaction
as possible But I cannot but think that, with the in-
formatien now before your Lordship, it will he practi-
c dile and preferable to proveie fer the introduction of
representative institutions by some instrument to be
issued in Eiglaed, whenever that measure can be intro-
duced with a prospect of benefit to the colony."
He (the Earl of Darby) thought teat the Governor
might have obviated the difficulty that had arisen by
refusing to accept the tendered resignation of the four
members of the Legislative Council.—(" Hear, hear,"
from Earl GREY.) The Noble Earl cheered him, but
that was a suggestion which he did not find in any pr.-
ti,,n 01 the dispatches of the Noble Earl. The Nubia
Earl on receiving this answer sent out a dispatch. in
which he said that it did nut alter his views, but that as
the resignations were accepted, he insisted that the Go-
vernor should go on well his diminished Council, and
proceed to frame a new legislative constitution, and in
the meantime to perform all the functions of a legisla-
ture, and he transmitted fresh instructions to continue
the Legislative Council with six official members only.
The former instructions set forth that " the Legislative
Council should consist of not less than ten persons.
But the fresh instructions declared the meaning of these
former instructions to be, that the governor might carry
on the government with a Legislative Council not ex-
ceeding six in number, although they might all be official
members. The Noble Earl added:—" When the season
returns for taking into consideration the constitutional
ordinances, it is provided by these instructions that
the Council should be reconstituted on its former
basis." To show the pertinacity with which the Noble
Earl adhered to his own views, it was proposed
that the
Chief should be the President of the
enac
a enactment.
Legislative Council. This was provided in the letters
patent, and it was not competent to dual with that with-
onß, uptratyheinwghtohlaet
oCouncil
fresh
signed
13d that 1 PPOllltment, ot
fh
t e the
Crown Legislative
wu l d
rescind
it being, in their opinion, in-
consistent with the functions of the Chief Justice to
Preside over that assembly.
They, therefore, prayed
that ,he letters patent might be rescinded. " No," said
the Noble Earl; "it would be very awkward to make
an alteration in the letters patent." He agreed
with the Noble Earl in this
been i opinion' but then they
ought
ought not to have ss I -
in ue- in the first instance.
The Noble Earl said, the first place, that tea meant
six, and that with six members the Legislative Council
might proceed to discharge its functions; but he held an
opinion, signed by three names entitled to respect, Sir
F. Kelly, Mr. Walpole, and Mr. K'uyon, declaring that
such a reduction in the number was illegal,
and beyond
the powers that the Crown possessed, and that the
Crown having granted a constitution to the Cape, it
cooed not be restricted or restrained so as to exclude from
the Legislative Council all those who were not nominees
under the Crown. He was not competent to discuss the
legal que-tion, but be should be followed by a legal
authority in that House whose opinion was entitled to still
more respect than that of the gentlemen he bad named.
The Governor pointed out, with reason, a course which
be thought would be satisfactory to the colony, namely,
the final and early adjudication of this question by the
authority and intervention of Parliament. He regretted
to say that after what had occurred be believed there was
little chance of such a constitution bang acceptable to the
colony. To an Act of the Imperial Legislature all sec-
tions of the community would defer, and that alone would
solve the problem that bad threatened the whole fretnework
of the colony with dissolution, more especially if a pow,r
were reserved by the Legislature, so to be constituted by
a majority, to alter and amend the institutions, which, in
the first instance, should be granted with the authority
of Parliament. Such a provision the Legislature had
introduced into the Act of last session relative to
Auvrelie, and it was most important that this subject
.11,..uiti not be long hang tp to kin,lie fres'). latk:Ln .;_.
ties. He might have hesitated to grant so large a
measure of representative government us that now pro-

pssed to be granted to the colony. But he would say
that, as such a proposal had been made on such ',high
.authority, and as it had obtained the sanction of the
colony, and the implied sanction of the Crowe, any
danger or risk was to be encountered rather than not
fulfil those expectations. He called upon their Lord-
ships to interpose by their authority between the
scheme of the dissenting members on the one hand
and that of the official members of the Legislative
Council on the other. With the opinions of the Go-
vernor and of each individual member of the Legisla-
tive Council—with all the authority and information
they could desire—the labours devolving upon such a
Committee need not necessarily be of long duration.
And if it should, happen that the consideration of this
subject should add a week or a fortnight to a session, the
close of which was so much desired by him as well
as their Lordships, ho believed that a small portion
of the time of Parliament would be well bestowed by
conferring it upon this distant colony—torn by intestine
convulsions and distracted by external war—weakened as
it was by the disinclination of the colonists to stand by
the Crown, towards which they were rendered disaffeced
by these disputes. If their Lordships could strengthen
the authority which had been hitherto cordially recog-
nized by the colony—if they could strengthen the hands
of the Government by adopting or amending the
scheme of the Government for conferring the represen-
tative institutions on which the colonists had set their
hearts—if they could invite the colonists to engage cor-
dially •in the defence of a territory which was the native
home of many of them, and the adopted home of all, if by a
slight delay they could secure the results which would tol-
low from such an invaluable interposition of their autho-
rity as would restore peaco to the colony and that friendly
communication between the authority of the Govern-
ment at home and the inhabitants of the colony—then
he asked for no party triumph.—(" Hear, hear," from
Earl Grey.) He did not say he was not desirous that
his motion should he adopted by their Lordships, but he
urged their Lordships to adopt it, not because he desired
to gain a triumph or to inflict a censure upon the Noble
Earl, but because he was anxious to see the friendly as-
sistance and co-operation of Parliament tendered to the
Government for the purpose of strengthening their
hands, and that in the only manner that would be sa-
tisfactory to the colony and to the well-working of those
institutions which they all desired to see maintained in
the colonies. He had now to move for the appointment
of a Select Committee, and to state that the objt ct he
had in view, was that with the least possible loss of
time a Bill should be passed during the present Parlia-
ment which should settle at once and for a lengthened
period this most difficult and complicated subject.
Lord LYNDHURST rose, but was interrupted by—
Earl GREY, who rose at the same time, and claimed
to address the House immediately, as a matter of usage
after the speech of the Noble Earl.
A short altercation ensued, the Duke of Richmond
rising to urge Lord Lyndhurst not to abandon his inten-
tion, and the Marquis of Clauricarde, as was understood,
to move the adjournment of the debate. At length
Earl GREY proceeded. He confessed he was sur-
prised, after the long and able speech of the Noble
Earl, that after having occupied their Lordships' atten-
tion for nearly an hour and a halt, he should at length,
in a very few sentences, dispose of that which seemed to
him the most difficult part of the subject. The reasons
in favour of the motion with which he had conclud-d.
The Noble Lord's review of the subject would oblige
him, too, to allude to past transactions. There were
one or two points to which it would be now necessary
for him to refer. First, with regard to his dis-
patch of 1832, he said it was not meant as a refu-
sal of representative institutions to the Cape of
Good Hope. Now, so far from that, it was not only
a refusal, but it was as strong an opinion as a Secretary
of State could express, that however desirable it might
ultimately be to establish representative institutions at
the Cape of Good Hope, the time for making that
change had not yet arrived. Then the Noble Earl said
that his (Earl Grey's) dispatch to Sir Henry Pottinger
was meant to imply that a conclusion had been come to
on the subject by the Cabinet, and only counselling him
as to how and when the alteration was to take place. He
could only say that such was by no means the intention
of his dispatch, even if the wording of it could bear that
interpretation, which he could not find that it did. The
Noble Lord, too, had spoken of this dispatch as if ad-
dressed to the colony, which in that case would be a
prelude to the absolute introduction of free institutions.
Now, the fact was, that Sir Henry Pottinger, most
properly, laid it before his Executive Council, but..
until February last he was not aware that it had been
seen by any other human being. It was forwarded
alone for the consideration of parties there, and did
not at all pretend to lay down as a matter defini-
tively settled, whether representsdve institutions ought
to be introduced or not. If the Noble Lord would
refer to the opinion of Mr. Montague, he would find it
stated that though it was expedient to give representa-
tive institutions to the Cape of Good Hope, yet it was a
critical and anxious experiment, and that opinion was
founded alone upon the state of things which prevailed
in the colony. He said there was no transition step be-
tween the centralisation of power and representadve go- :
vernment. A transition state of government had indeed
been established there about fifteen years ago, but it had
failed to conciliate public opinion, or to acquire public
confidence—it had practically failed; and therefore,
having gone so far, there was no other haltiug-place be-
tween that and representative institutions. And when
Sir H. Smith, the successor of Sir H. Pottinger, found
that those opinions wore entertained by all the principal
members of his Government, and that there was evi-
dently a great public feeling in favour of a change, he
did make known to the colonists by the medium of a
public answer to a request, that having been re-
quested by the Sect etary of State to ascertain whe-
ther representative institutions might not be estab-
lished at the ,Cape, he had come to the opinion that
such a change might be usefully made, and had so
reported. It then came to be a question how the repre-
sentative system could be established with least danger,
and with the greatest possible chance of success.
This was a very difficult and a very serious task—so dif-
ficult, indeed, that but for the still greater urgency that
drove them to the change, he confessed be should almost
have shrunk from carrying it into effect. It appeared
to him, under the circumstances, that the best course
was that the whole subject should be referred to the
Committee of the Privy Council. That Committee pre-
sented him with the united assistance of the President
of the Beard of Trade, the present Lord Cnief Justice,
Sir Edward Ryan, the Noble Lord near him, the Vice-
President of the Board of Trade, and Sir James Stevens.
But though prepared with great care, the report of this
body was nothing, until it was confirmed by her Majesty,
in Council, and first it bad to be submitted to, and ap-
proved by the Cabinet. Therefore, when the Noble Earl
said that no one was responsible for that measure, he
(Earl Grey) said that the Cabinet and the Privy Council
were as responsible for it as any other. And here he would
make a few observations on that subject. He knew that
this mode of proceeding had given great satisfaction in the
colonies, and it was adopted in the Aus-
tralian Colonies Bill. The consequence of
having a Bill thus matured was, that though
this Bdl was fur many weeks under the consider-
ation of Parliament, and though its every clause was cri-
ticised in a hostile spirit, the result was, that by large
majorities the Bill was passed by Parliament, with no
one essential modification. The Noble Earl objected,
however, to the recommendation of the elective council.
He (Earl Grey) would not argue that point now; but
still, having been formally made and announced to the
colony, it ought not now to be withdrawn, and those
measures ought to be carried into effect. He was glad
to find that the Noble Earl yielded his assent to that
view of the point; but he (Earl Grey) mast add, that be
still adhered to the report of the Committee of Council.
The original institution was, that the council was not
an independent body at all. It was so at the present
day in Jamaica, the most ancient of our colonies. It was
the mere privy council of the governor, and at this day
had not the power of originating a bill of any kind
whatever. He believed that was the universal practice
in all our colonies, up to the passing of the Canada Act,
in 1791, in which the legislative assembly was, for the
first time, put upon a very different footing. It was then
made a body of members appointed for life, and not con-
sisting chiefly of persons holding office, and, therefore,
practically independent of the Government and the people.
There was a perpetual quarrel between the Legislative
Council and the Assembly in consequence. He still
thought that having a body elected by a wide franchise,
it was well to have another body having larger powers
than the Council, to share the responsibility of leguda-
doe with the Government. At the Cape even, where
there was no Assembly, considering all circumstances, he
was persuaded that if an attempt had been made to
create one, consisting of members named by the Crown
for life, the result would have been that they would have
had a. body possessing little public confidence, and they
would have lost the services of the most useful and the
most experienced men. He must now come to the state
of things that prevailed when the letters patent of 1850
reached the colony. The Noble Lord bad referred to
the circumstances, and he was sure be, too, should be
permitted to do so. He thought that the Governor
acted for the best, but the result showed that it was un-
fortunate. The letters patent provided that the exist-
ing Council should act until writs were issued under
the new authority for a Representative Parliament.
Their wish was, and their acts tended, to place all
power into the hands of the Representative Assembly,
without check or control. The meeting of this body,
representing, to some extent, a half-civilized population,
was in itself an experiment, and not unattended with
some degree of danger. The unchecked and uncon-
trolled expenditure of the colonial revenue by such a
body would neither have been constitutional nor safe.
It would have produced a certain quarrel with the Ex-
ecutive Government. When ordinances, tending to
check this result, were prepared, four members of the
Council tendered their resignations. The Governor
should have declined to accept their resignations; bat as
they had been accepted, it was too late to go into that
question. When instructions arrived from borne, the
Governor being engaged in putting down the Kafir re-
bellion, found it impossible to sot upon them for the mo-
ment. The Governor then reported that it was desire-
ble in the meantime that he should be able to carry on
the government with a Council of six members only.
That was acceded to, and instructions were sent out to
the colony to that effect. It was the legality of these
instructions that was in dispute. They had been ap-
proved of by the law officers of the Crown, but, unfortu-
nately, in the hurry of business the dispatch was inaccu-
rately worded, and he had to some extent misappre-
hended the grounds upon which that opinion was given.
He took blame to himself to that extent, hut no farther.
With respect to the opinion of Sir F. Kelly, Mr. Walpole,
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stitution having been once granted, no power could sus-
pend that constitution but the Crown and the Imperial