THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE CAPE. [From the Times, January 12.]

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 640, 2 June 1852, Page 3

THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE CAPE. [From the Times, January 12.]

As there seems some reason to hope that the long feud between the colony of the Cape and the Colonial Office is drawing to a close, and that while the prospects of the war on the frontier grow darker and darker, (he period of internal anarchy is approaching towards its conclusion, it may not he superfluous to review these singular transactions and to examine the merits of the principal actors in them, before dismissing them to take their place among the records of the past. We are the more tempted to do this because we have been accused by a Ministerial cotemporary of dealing out scanty justice to the noble Secretary of Slate for the Colonies. Jt would be unjust to Lord Grey to attribute to him the whole responsibility of the CaflVe war. The system of territorial aggression in which it originated was undoubtedly bequeathed to him by his predecessors, and he is merely a 100-apt proficient in a bad school: but while his predecessors advanced the frontier by comparatively moderate stages, Lord Grey caricatured and exaggerated (heir most fatal errors, and actually permitted Sir Harry Smith to double the extent of the British possessions in Southern Africa. It was in vain that in 1848 Sir William Alolcsworlh denounced this unwise step, and clearly predicted the waste of blood and treasure which must follow it. Lord Grey was infallible and inexorable, and having lamely acquiesced in his policy, we arc now, in Ihe fullness of lime, beginning to reap the hanesl of disaster and disgrace whicli he has sown. Turning from (ho military part of the question to Ihe vi\il, we ma) mention that Lord Grey

on his accession lo office, pledged as lie was (o a liberal treatment of our colonies, found the claim of the Cape to an Elective Legislature in debate between the colony and the Colonial Otlice. By way, we suppose, of redeeming these pledges, he established in the Cape in 1847, not an elective assembly, but a nominated council, composed partly of official and partly of noi - official members, in such proportions as to insuie a majority in case of any unlooked-for display of independence on the part of the legislators not ( in the pay of Government. This body, the very i personification of all that is most hateful in the { eyes of (lie colonies, very ill received at the Cape, and in the course of the year 1848 fell into such utter contempt and detestation that the Colonial Executive preferred to dispense with the service of a Legislature altogether rather than avail itself of the odious and useless instrument which ] had been provided. Thus was the machine of Government thrown out of gear because the Colonial Minister chose to practice in office the very tactics which he had been the foremost lo denounce in Opposition ; and thus commenced that anarchy at the Cape which has been perpetuated without intermission for four years, in spite of the most templing opportunities for putling an end lo it. We will not dwell on Ihe convict troubles of 1848, except lo remark how completely the lesson seems lo have been thrown away, and lo lament that our present policy to Australia, as it has already produced the same combination, will probably end in the same humiliation ; ami that when that event occurs, it will probably be endured by the English public with the same stoical placidity. For two years after the abeyance of the nominated Legislative Council, Loid Grey left the Cape virtually without any Legislature at aalandl — and the taxes were collected, appropriated and spent, without any lawful authority. At length, in the Spring of 1830, rightly deeming this interregnum had lasted long enough, he advised ITcr Majesty to grant a constitution lo the Cape. Her Majesty did grant accordingly a very short constitution, comprised in a little more than a page of Parliamentary printing — a morceau which Sieyes would have improvised before breakfast, but which cost the Solons of the Colonial Office nearly two years of painful incubation : this constitution granted two elective chambers, and delegated to the existing Legislative Council the powers requisite to bring these Chambers into existence, and of provisional legislation till that task should be completed. The difficulty which the Colonial Government felt itself under, was, how lo rccal to life Ihe defunct Legislature in order lo effect these ncccs- j sary purposes. It was then thought necessary that Ihe new constitution should be brought into effect by persons possessing Ihe confidence of the public, and no such persons could be induced lo accept the questionable honour of a seal in such a body. Under these circumstances Sir Harry Smith had recourse to the expedient of j converting his nomination into a popular election, and undertook lo appoint the four persons receiving the greatest number of >otes from the people lo Ihe vacant seals. Four members having been appointed in pursuance of this agreement, the Government proposed to the Council so re-consti luted to pass a number of laws — son c of them of great importance — in anticipation of the functions of the coming parliament. Against this the four quasi-elective members argued, and with great justice, that they were sent by the people to bring the elective Legislature into operation, not to abridge its powers or to foreslal its duties ; and, finding themselves outvoted by (he official majority, resigned their seats, with the almost unanimous approbation of their constituents. Whether this was a politic step, and whether il would not have been wiser to have submitted to this infliction, may reasonably be doubled ; but il can as little be questioned that lo have done so would have been contrary lo the purpose for which they Avere elected. The whole transaction appears lo have been a manoeuvre of the officials at the Cape lo prevent the new constitution from coming into operation ; and in this it completely succeeded — for Sir H. Smith reported himself as unable as before lo fill up his council with respectable names. We apprehend thai under these circumstances the duly of the Colonial Minister was clear : he ought not lo have allowed his measures to be counterplotted by colonial officials, nor to have countenanced the obvious bad faith of obtaining from a small and provisional body, not possessing the confidence of the public, legislation on local matters of importance, in fraud of the powers delegated lo Ihe future parliament. If the people of the Cape were not to be trusted with their own concerns, why give them an elective parliament? And, if they were so to be trusted, why filch from their jurisdiction mailers in which its exercise was most desired? A rebuke to the meddling. officials, and an assurance thai the constitution should be carried out in good faith, would have set everything right , but, instead of this easy and manly course, Lord Grey had recourse to the almost incredible expedient of giving lo the council, so mutilated, the powers, oilier than constituent, which at first were delegated to the whole — thus admitting that it was impossible respcclably to Jill up the places of the four elective members, and evincing a determination to legislate in defiance of the opinion of a whole community lo which he had granted self-government. This new council was declared illegal, as a derogation from the foimer grant, by SirFilzroy Kelly, and other eminent lawyers ; and Lord Grey, though fortified by the opmiou of the Chancellor, did not venture lo carry it into execution. At this lime ihcCaffre war was raging, and he was earnestly entreated lo put an end to put an end to the internal discord of the Cape, and give the colonists a local Legislature by embodying the whole constitution in an Act of Parliament, which would at once have put an end to all legal questions and have given the colonists without delay that sell -government which seemed so often within their reach, but which had so often eluded their grasp. To this wise and conciliatory course, also, Lord Grey could not be brought. He was in possession of all Ihe requisite information, but he preferred to frame two ordinances, lo be submitted to the mock Legislature at the Cape, lo bo passed by them, sen I home for Her Majesty's assent, and then sent back to the colony. The arrival of these ordinances in the colony is just announced, and though there is no disposition on the. part of Ihe public to alter a single word of them, the Local Legislature, under the inspiration of the anti-liberal officials, seems in no hurry to pass them into a law, — and when they have been passed, those laws must make a voyage lo Eng land and back before the preparations for calling the Cape Parliament together can be entered upon. We have nothing lo say against the constitution — which AYe keb'eve to be, from pome inevplicable caprice, far more liberal than that granted by the same minister to the more advanced and populous settlements in AustraliaBut we would ask any candid person who has attentively perused the preceding narrative, whether the polity of Lord Giey has not been lo perpetuate internal anarchy and discontent at the Cape? He began by giving Ihe colony a constitution which il haled and despised, and which public opinion would not allow to work at all; he left Ihe Cape wilhout a Legislature lor (wo years, and when he ga\e a constitution more

suite 1 to ils requirements, allowed his own ollicials (o defeat ils introduction ; then he attempted to shelve it by creating a Legislature worse in every respect than his original conception, which was too bad to work at all ; and when the illegality of this scheme was demonstrated, and longer delay was impossible, he look the tardiest and most dilatory means at his disposal to bring the constitution into effect. Every expedient was resorted to by the Colonial Oilice to prevent Parliament from pronouncing an opinion on the Cape constitution or the Caflre war during tho last Session. These Fabian tactics have prevailed, and Go> eminent must meet Parliament with the constitution slill unsettled and the war raging with more disastrous fury than ever : but these questions arc not separate. An early and giacious grant of the constitution would have been our most potent auxiliary. It would have supplied that moral force which is all-important; - it would have united the colonists as one man against the enemy ; it would have supplied us with sound local opinions as material for our judgment, instead of leaving us at the mercy of bombastic bulletins, lull of fabulous successes and imaginary triumphs. How heavy is the responsibility of that Minister who first involves us in war, and then by a series of captious and capricious manoeuvres deprives us of that assistance most necessary to insure ils success.

Another Indian officer lias been cashiered for drunkenness. The unfortunate officer is Lieut. Charles Henry Middleton, of the Bth Madias Light Cavalry, who was tried on four charges ; first, of being drunk on duty; secondly, of endeavouiing to intimidate a Cornet of his own regiment, and thereby prevent his "seeking proper redress" for an insult ; thirdly, of breaking his an e^t, and fourthly of beating a mess servant for not giving him brandy. The Court found him guilty of the fh'st, third, and fourth charges, and sentenced him to be cashiered, but added a recommendation to mercy, principally on the ground of his debilitated health at the time when he was overcome by liquor. The Commandcv-in-Chief rejects the recommendation on tho ground of Lieutenant Middleton's " intemperate habits," and confirms the sentence.

British and Irish Steam-packet Company. — The usual half-yearly meeting of the British and Irish Steam -packet Conrpany was held yesterday at the offices, Eden-quay, -when a dividend at the rate of 4 per cent, on the paid-up capital was declared, The directors state in their report that although to comply with the provisions of the recent Steam M.v me Act will call for a comparatively large outlay at the first, yet the directors consider that the money will be well expended, being persuaded of the justness of the law which rendeib it imperative on the owners of steam-ship-ping to nirike all fitting and practicable provision for the safety of those on board their vessels.