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loss and to confusion, and what was the estimate of Mr. Molteno made by his contemporaries? We will take the verdict from a journal of the day which said :

No session has been more fruitful in good works than 1874. It has been the very first year in which the new system of responsible government has been brought fairly to trial. Responsible government has proved a success beyond all question at the Cape of Good Hope, as it has done wherever it has been attempted elsewhere among a free and high-minded people. And first as to the Premier. As somebody said about Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons, We are all proud of him.' He has his faults, and we have never shrunk from telling him about them, as we mean to do once more presently. But he is honest as the day, he is above even the suspicion of trickery or unfairness of any sort whatsoever ; he is the very embodiment of common sense—and a very considerably large embodiment it is ; he is personally independent and broadly intelligent, and altogether as capital a representative of a burly, rough-and-ready, and thoroughly patriotic colonial as any Colony in the Empire could desire to see at the head of its affairs ; but just on account of the very strong development of all these robust virtues, there are corresponding defects. At the very head of his defective offences we shall state the fact that he is entirely incapable of understanding a joke, which considering that he is not a Scotchman is somewhat marvellous. Next he is constitutionally incapable of appreciating any of the fine lines of constitutional principle which are constantly arising from session to session. And lastly, he has an impetuosity of temper which, without his being himself in the least degree aware of it, has got him into trouble oftener than once during the session that is now over.

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There is no doubt that Mr. Molteno was the leading figure of the Parliament and of the country. We have seen how fearful the members were, one and all, that they might lose his services and be unable to replace him. This session had accomplished a vast amount of good for the country. It was unfortunately the last in which the country was to be left to the management of its own affairs free from that disastrous interference from afar which was soon to bring such calamities upon South Africa.

All was fair, yet soon a cloud was to arise, a small one, but yet of the type heralding violent disturbances. It was at the end of this year that Lord Carnarvon's first great public act in connection with South Africa took effect, and it was the Langalibalele affair which afforded him an excuse for interference. Of this more anon.

Mr. Porter had issued a farewell address to the electors of Cape Town and had proceeded to Europe. Mr. Lynar, who had been his close friend before he left Ireland and had come out with him and been associated with him ever since, had died. This blow coupled with failing health determined Mr. Porter to make a change. The expression of regret was universal and deep-felt. No man had ever been more beloved by a whole country, and more worthily ; to Mr. Molteno his loss was much more than it would have been to most men. Mr. Molteno did not readily make friends; he was by nature reserved and self-reliant, and did not feel that strong, gregarious feeling which belongs to most weaker mortals. Reliance on himself had been a necessity for him through his whole lifetime, but he had yielded to the charm of Mr. Porter's character; they had been friends from the first days of the Colonial Parliament, and such a friend was invaluable. His departure came as a severe blow. In this session, likewise, Sir Christoffel Brand owing to failing health had been compelled to resign the Speakership. He and Mr. Molteno had always been friends, as had his son the late President Brand, and their friendship also was lifelong. As Speaker of the Parliament since its foundation he had given dignity, decorum, and freedom to its deliberations. Of the older men who had done doughty deeds in the Parliament of the fifties and sixties, Mr. Solomon and the Ayliffs were now almost the only survivors. There had been no serious or organised opposition to the Government, but Mr. Solomon had taken occasion to show his power both to the Ministry and to the House, and Mr. Sprigg had been making bids for parliamentary influence.

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CHAPTER XI

LORD CARNARVON AND LANGALIBALELE. 1875

Langalibalele Outbreak-Mr. Molteno assists Natal-Bishop Colenso's Agitation-Letter of Protest-High-handed action of Lord Carnarvon-Excitement in Natal-Despatches-Mr. Molteno meets Lord Carnarvon's Wishes -Constitutional Question-Debate in Parliament-Existence of Ministry at Stake--Letter of Mr. Froude-New Houses of Parliament-Congratulations on success of Responsible Government -Work of Session of 1875New System of Accounts-Extension of Colonial Boundaries-Annexation of Roast Beef and Plum Pudding Islands-Walfisch Bay-Transkei Native Policy-Lord Carnarvon approves Native Policy.

IN the early part of 1874, Earl Carnarvon had succeeded to the Secretaryship of the Colonies in succession to Lord Kimberley. The latter had had the great satisfaction of seeing his policy of non-interference in the internal concerns of the Cape Colony amply rewarded. In the matter of responsible government he had said the choice lay with the Colony itself if they decided with Sir Philip Wodehouse to strengthen the Executive he would endeavour to work with the Colony on those lines, but if they preferred responsible government, he would do his best to make that a success. The Colony under Mr. Molteno's guidance and leadership chose the latter, and we have seen what rapid progress it was now making, and what new life and vigour had been introduced into the government of the country. Lord Kimberley had exercised the same wise discretion in the case of the great petition from the east for separation from the west and had advised the petitioners to apply to the local Parliament. This thorny question which had divided the Colony into two hostile camps for many years, and had at one time completely paralysed the legislation of the

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country, had now entirely disappeared and the Colony had become one united country never to be separated. Lord Carnarvon had, however, come into power, and, in the words of Mr. Froude, regarded himself and his friends as empire makers, while their opponents were the empire breakers. The lease of life which they now enjoyed was to be used in making so much empire that no iconoclastic efforts on the part of their opponents on their return to power would be capable of destroying the good work. But their lease of life might be short and therefore no time was to be lost. A very noble purpose, more noble in its conception than wise in its execution. England's empire was not made in a 'cast-iron hurry,' to use an American expression, and, as we shall see, nothing was gained by England and terrible were the losses to South Africa caused by departing from the well-known ways of solid and steady progress which had hitherto been followed, and attempting to mould unwilling communities into an artificial union.

It cannot be too clearly pointed out how successfully the Cape Colony was coping with all its difficulties, and solving those intricate problems of race amalgamation and the proper relation of the white races to the coloured ones, when the interference of Lord Carnarvon led to the opening up of old sores and to wars with the natives, war with the Transvaal,---indeed, to all the troubles of a political character with which South Africa has been since that period so grievously afflicted.

We have already referred to the part the Cape Colony took in the capture of Langalibalele and the effective and sympathetic aid which it gave to the sister colony of Natal, and for which it received the thanks of the Government and the Legislature of that Colony. The chief was tried by a court constituted ad hoc, and presided over by the Governor

See p. 229.

as supreme chief of the natives of Natal. It was necessary to try him and punish him, but the common law and the ordinary courts were not cognisant of any offence for which he could be tried. He was sentenced to banishment for life, and his son Mahlambule for five years, while his tribe was dispersed. It would have been dangerous to keep him in Natal, as he could not have been properly guarded or isolated from his people. There was a precedent for putting recalcitrant and dangerous chiefs on Robben Island, a small island in Table Bay. Macomo, the greatest general known to the natives, who took and held possession of the Eastern portion of the Colony for three years in spite of all attempts to eject him, until expelled by Sir G. Cathcart, had lived and died in exile there. Umbala, the most crafty and politic of Kaffir chiefs, together with others, was kept there for a time until pardoned. Lynch, whose inspiration sustained the enthusiasm of the Hlambis when they conquered the Gaikas with great slaughter and drove them out of their country, had perished in his attempt to escape from the island. Langalibalele was of higher rank than all these. It seemed natural to place him here where the most effective means could be adopted to prevent him regaining his country. The Natal Government in consequence asked for the further aid of the Cape Government. Mr. Molteno thought secure custody of the chief a matter of so much consequence to the peace of the whole of South Africa that he agreed to ask the Cape Parliament to pass an Act legalising Langalibalele's reception and detention on Robben Island.

For this purpose he introduced an Act, known as Act No. 3 of 1874, and said that in the common interests of South Africa they were bound to help in this matter, in which their own tranquillity was involved. Mr. Solomon opposed on the ground that the trial was highly irregular, and further said we were interfering in other people's business. Mr. Molteno said we could not examine

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