Star.
London, England, 1827-06-09 00:00:00

!lived under.* despotism as complete as that of Turkey..
This was their state at the time of preparing the Peti-
tion, although he believed orders had subsequently
been sent out to make some small alterations. There
was a Governor, who held supreme authority, with a
Council and with Judges remeweable at. his pleasure;
and the lives arid fortunes orate colonists were subject
to the sic veto of these Judges. He adduced these cir-
cumstances to shev that their only chance to obtain'
redress of the grievances under which they laboured,
was by Petition to this House, and on that account the
House was doubly bound to attend to them. The chief
grievance of which they complained was the changes
which bad been made in the currency. He *quid not de-
tain them by entering into explanations upon this sub•
Lett; but if Members read thePetition,they would see that
it complained only of substantial evils, that it was cau-
tiously and temperately worded, and that it avoided all
pantlinality. The name of Lord C. Somerset, was not
Hen mentioned by these 1,600 Petitioners, who coo-
, pribended, he might safely •say, nearly the whole in-
habitancy of the Cape of Good Hope. It was impossi-
ble to converse with any person who had returned home
from the Cape of Good . Hope, without teeing that it
laboured under the calamity of a bad Government.— •
.Whether this was the fault of the Colonial Department,
or of the Government at the Cape, he would not under-
take to say, for he would not indulge in any personal
*tacks, but for fifteen years this unfortunate colony
bad been in the situation he had described. As rT
-motion was soon to be made on the subject by another
Honourable Member he would not eater upon details;
►ut he could not avoid mentioning one spec,fic evil. A
paper currency had been put upon them at the rate of
,ts.6d.the donee ,which was subsequently reduced to Is.6d.
He did not charge this as an instance of corruption,
but of gross and inexcusable ignorance. When the Go-
vernment wanted 500,000 dollars, for the purpose of
building new barracks, they issued new paper to this
amount, and thus depreciated the old. He ventured to
say that there was no banker's clerk in London but must
be aware of the folly and absurdity of this conduct.—
The.petition complained that there was no check upon
the Government, Ito free press, and that the power of
Government wasexercised with tyranny. The petition
complained of the progressive increase of taxes, and sala-
ries, and p:nsions. It was unquestiopehly the duty of the
House to investigate the subject. He trusted that the
Noble Lord now at the bead of the Colonial Department
would examine and correct these abuies. From what he
had seen of that Noble Lord in this House, he had the
greatest confi +eine in him, and he did not hesitate to
say that the change which had taken place in the Colo-
nial D .pertment was,, of all the changes, that which
save him the greatestaatisfaction. The only true remedy,
he believed, was to give the colony something of a free
form of government. 'lbis was the only security against
oppression. Let them raise their own taxes and manage
their own affairs. In a recent instance a printer had
been sent away for re-publishing a paragraph from a
London Journal. Why trial by jury should not be ap-
plicable to this colony he professed he did not know.—
The only reason why this colony was in a state of so
much worse than the others, was, that it had a worse
government than any of them.
Mr. W. HORTON admitted the respectability of the
petitioners, and that their statements were worthy of the
consideration of the House. But he must enter his pro-
test against the idea that nothing had yet been done, and
that the present was the only time %viten a hope could
be entertained of any improveinent. This was not jus-
tice. It was impossible when a Colony was first con-
quered, to introduce British Institutions all at once.—
But in 1822, a Commission was appointed, intended to
be a Meliorating Commission, not in consequence of
complaints, but before any complaints were received.—
He had himself moved for the appointment of this
Commission. The Hon. Member had said that there
was something peculiar in the situation of the Cape of
Good Hope. Vas he not aware that the Mauritius,
-Ceylon, Berbice, Van Dieman's Land, and New South
Wales, and several ether of our Colonies, were in pre..
cisely the same situation ? He referred to the documents
'on the Table to shew that the situation of the Cape of
Good Hope hid been attentively considered. He had
also in his possession a letter from General Bird, who,
if he were to be described as an enemy to liberty, would
now be so described for the first time, and which ex-
pressly stated that the Colony was not fit for Repre-
sentative Government, or for Trial by Jury. He denied
that there was no check upon the power' of the Go-
vernor, for no regulation could be put in force without
teeing recorded and submitted to that House. And,
taking care that the administration of justice should be
pure, he would ask if there could be a more convenient
form of Government, than that which consisted of a
Governor, with a Council, every member of which had
the right of protest, and whose regulations with or
.without such protest were constantly submitted to the
revision of that House? He thought this a good system
of Government, till the time should arrive when it might
be possible to introduce a better. But if public opinion,
if the opinion of that House, and of its individual Mem-
bers, were ee be a check upon the authority of the Go.
vernors,he thought they ought also to be a check upon the
unfounded complaints of the Colonists. As to the com-
plaints of taxation, did they never hear of such com-
plaints addressed to that House by the people of Eng-
land? And with respect to the currency, the complaints
originated in ignorance ; for he was persuaded that fix-
ing the standard of currency at the Cape was a most
beneficial measure. In this respect again the Colonists
only complained—some of the people of this country
complained, from whom they constantly heard that the
fluctuations of the currency during the last twenty years
had been the cause of every evil. He would not tres-
pass upon the time of the House by entering into de-
tails. The papers were upon the table, and he was
convinced that at the proper time he should be able
to convince the House that no negligence had been
shewn by Government. He would now beg leave
to refer to another subject, on account of misre-
presentations which had gone abroad, and which, though
of no importance here, Here of great importance in the
Colonies. He did not allude to anything which had
taken place in that House, but to the conduct of a gal-
lant General, who addressed a letter to him, and in
doing se, he had, he thought, adopted a most incon-
venient course. It would have been much better if the
gallant General had approached this House by Petition,
so as to have afforded the opportunity of fair discussion.
In the letter he had mentioned, Sir R. Donkin bad
complained of him (Mr. W. Horton) for stating that he
had offered to prefer charges and afterwards withdrawn
them. This was not what he had stated. He stated,
truly that a letter from Sir R. Donkin had been re-
ceived by Lind Bathurst, alleging that he could make
disclosures respecting the conduct of Lord C. Somerset,
which would be the means of covering him with ruin.