HC Deb 19 November 1852 vol 123 cc249-54
LORD JOHN RUSSELL

Sir, the right hon. Gentleman the Secretary of State for the Colonies stated, at the commencement of the Session, that no recent information had been received from the Cape of Good Hope; but that he expected to receive information of a favourable nature, and gave us hopes of a termination of hostilities. I perceive that more information has since been received, and no doubt despatches have been received by the Colonial Secretary. I therefore venture to ask the right hon. Gentleman what is the nature of those despatches, and how far they support the hopes he held out to the House? I perceive, likewise, by the intelligence from the Cape, that some dissatisfaction has been caused by the non-arrival of the Constitution; and if it be convenient to the right hon. Gentleman, it would be desirable if he could now make an explanation regarding it.

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

Sir, in an- swer to the first part of the question of the noble Lord, I am very happy to be able to say that the recent intelligence from the Cape has very much, if not entirely, confirmed the favourable view I held out at the commencement of the Session, and to which the noble Lord has just referred. Perhaps I cannot better put the House in possession of the extent to which the information is really favourable than by reading a few words from the despatch of General Cathcart conveying the intelligence:— I might now almost report that the war is at an end; but, although characterised as a war, it has been, in fact, a rebellion. A war may be terminated by the surrender or capitulation of the hostile sovereign or chief, who answers for his people, but in the suppression of a rebellion the refractory subjects of the ruling Power must all be chastised and subdued. This has nearly been accomplished, and military occupation must keep them in subjection; but as it is difficult to define the origin or nature of this war, if it be considered as a war, so it is difficult to define the time when peace may be considered to be restored. In confirmation of that report of General Cathcart I may mention that Macomo, one of the principal chiefs, has been expelled from the Waterklooff, and though he has not yet surrendered, he has been driven to the Amatola mountains, with Colonel Eyre in pursuit of him. The Hottentot leader Uithalder, is, I believe, still in the Amatolas, where his followers are reduced to a very few in number, and that he is in a difficult position, though the latest accounts do not refer to him in any particular manner. I hope this intelligence will be satisfactory to the House, and that the House will see that I was not too sanguine in my recent anticipations. I shall proceed now to answer the second part of the noble Lord's question respecting the dissatisfaction which he says is felt at the Cape in consequence of the non-arrival of the Constitution. I feel that this question is one of interest both in this House and in the Colony, and I hope the House will indulge me if, in answering the question, I enter into some explanation as to the conduct which the Government has pursued, and their reasons for that conduct. Up to this time Her Majesty's Government have not thought it to be their duty to confirm the Constitution; but I beg to add when I say that, that I feel extreme regret that they felt themselves obliged to take that course. I think the conduct of the Government in the last Session, with regard to New Zealand and Australia, proves that we have no indisposition to trust our colonists with the power of Self-government to which Englishmen are accustomed, and to which they have a right to look. On the contrary, they are most anxious to see the principle extended; and with regard to the Cape of Good Hope, I most distinctly admit that the faith of the Imperial Government has been so strongly pledged to grant free representative institutions to that Colony, that the question of granting those institutions must be only regarded as one of time. The House, however, at the same time must admit that, considering the particular position of the Cape Colony at this time, and the great changes that have taken place in the state of that Colony since the free Constitution was proposed and decided upon, it is a case in which it is the duty of the Government to exercise great caution and deliberation. We might, no doubt, have caught a passing cheer from this House by coming down last July and stating that the Constitution, from the state of that Colony, should be at once conceded; but, irrespective of other considerations to which I must hereafter briefly advert, we found that in the Constitution which came over from the Cape last July, the important question of the franchise was surrounded with new and unexpected difficulties. The House is aware that the Constitution ordinance was sent out by Earl Grey, and that the Council at the Cape Was called upon to decide on that Ordinance. The House is also aware that when the Council at the Cape took that Ordinance into consideration last February, an Amendment was moved and carried very much raising the proposed franchise. Of this the House is aware; but the House is not aware that subsequent to the passing of that Ordinance of the Council, it was discovered, from the opinion of the Attorney General of the Cape of Good Hope, that the franchise sent out by Earl Grey in the Constitution ordinance, instead of being, as it was supposed to be, a very liberal, comprehensive, and widely-extended franchise, restricted in fact the elective franchise more than the Amendment that was carried. When the question of the Constitution was discussed by the Council at the Cape, it was proposed that every person occupying property of the value of 25l. for twelve months should have the franchise. A secession from the Council took place, and the four seceding Members drew up a plan of Constitution. In their plan of a Constitution it was laid down again that there should be a property franchise of 25l.; and in illustration of the light in which the franchise was viewed at the Cape, they stated that it was intended to extend the franchise to every coloured man at the Cape that was neither a vagrant, a pauper, nor a criminal. It was intended for a very extensive franchise—-it was regarded universally at the Cape as a very extended franchise, and that the object of it was to embrace the coloured population; but the franchise sent out by Earl Grey, instead of being a property qualification of 25l., required the occupation of buildings of the value of 25l. Last February the Council discussed the question on the Understanding that it was an extended franchise; and it was only after the Amendment was proposed and carried, that on the construction of the Attorney General at the Cape, it appeared that it was not so liberal a franchise as was supposed. The Attorney General was called on to put his opinion in writing, and he did put the opinion in writing, that it was a very limited, instead of a very extended, franchise. The House will perceive that the Government thus found themselves placed in an unexpected difficulty; they had three questions regarding the franchise before them—the original franchise, the amended franchise as altered by the Council, and the Attorney General's construction of Earl Grey's franchise, differing from the others. Looking to the extent of the population at the Cape, and the peculiar state of the Colony, I very naturally inquired for some statistical information under these circumstances. I naturally inquired what would be the effect of the franchise on the population, and I found there was no statistical information in existence. I found no person could tell me how many persons would be admitted to the franchise under the various denominations, and with regard even to the population the greatest difference of opinion existed. I wrote, therefore, to Lieutenant-Governor Darling for information, and from him I have received an answer, dated the 9th of October last. He says— Your observations With respect to the 252. franchise are undoubtedly just. I believe that the limitation which the Attorney General, when called upon for his written opinion by me, assigned to that franchise, is not generally received, or by any means known, in the colony. But it is the view which, if words have any meaning at all, must have been attached to it by all who have paid any attention to the language of the clause. So inaccurate is our statistical information, so various the tendency of that which I obtain from individuals, that I cannot as yet come to any satisfactory conclusion as to which franchise would, upon the whole, admit the greatest number of the labouring population. This state of things involves us in considerable difficulty. We have further to consider the character of the population at the Cape, and here, again, we have no statistical knowledge; but I observe, from an approximation to it, that if the population were divided into six parts, it would be found that one-sixth were British, two-sixths Dutch, and three-sixths, or one-half of the whole, coloured people. Since it was determined to grant this Constitution, a considerable number of those coloured people were in arms against the Crown. Under these circumstances we must exercise the greatest caution in deciding the important preliminary step of the settlement of the franchise. We must either alter the Ordinance so as to bring it back to the original property qualification, or confirm Earl Grey's plan, which would be, in fact, a delusion on the Colony, or adopt the Amendment. We, therefore, experience considerable difficulty in establishing free institutions in a Colony where there are various races and a large body of people. I think the House will admit that this ground alone affords sufficient reason for hesitation on the part of the Government; but, in addition to this, I must beg the House will recollect that, by the occurrence of late affairs at the Cape, most important questions have arisen, and wait for discussion, with regard to the future government of that Colony. We shall have to decide whether the Orange territory shall be retained; we shall have also to decide as to the eastern boundary of the Cape, as to the whole state of the Government, and as to whether the Colony shall be divided into two Governments, On this subject I thought it to be my duty to communicate with the Governor of the Colony, and I have only received an answer by the late mail. The House will recollect that every one of those questions bears closely on the question as to the shape in which the Constitution should be granted. I have further to remind the House that the Governor of the Colony is engaged in prosecuting the war; and I have the authority of the noble Lord himself in 1851, when referring to Sir Harry Smith, that while the Governor is employed in performing his duties as a general, it is impossible for him, as Governor, to assist in bringing the Constitution into operation. For these reasons, and as the Governor has not sent the report which Earl Grey called for, we thought it our duty to pause for further information; but I beg distinctly to say that we are prepared to grant a free Constitution to the Cape Colony as soon as we think it can be done with a due regard to the interests of the Colony and our duty to the Crown.

LORD JOHN RUSSELL

After the statement just made by the right hon. Baronet, I feel it necessary to ask some further questions. The first question I have to ask is, whether that opinion which he has stated with regard to Earl Grey's proposed Ordnance has been given only by the Attorney General of the Cape, or whether that opinion has been confirmed by the law officers of the Crown in this country; secondly, whether there was not reserved in the Ordinance sent out to the Cape a power to alter the original Ordinance, or the Ordinance that came from the Cape after the Constitution had been received here; and, lastly, whether, in the present state of affairs, the right hon. Gentleman has any objection to lay the papers relating to the Constitution before the House?

SIR JOHN PAKINGTON

Sir, my answer to the first question of the noble Lord is, that I have not taken the formal opinion of the law officers of the Crown, but I have submitted the question to the highest law authority in the country, who states he has no reasonable doubt that that is the proper construction of the clause. In reply to the second question, the Ordinance does, I admit, contain that power; but I think the explanation I have given must show the noble Lord that until we have more statistical information, and are better prepared for the whole policy we should adopt, it would not be well to exorcise that power. In answer to the third question, I have no objection to lay the papers on the table.