dent to our common humanity. The indomitable spirit, however, of free British settlers, overcame the natural impediments which are incidental to the foundation of all new colonies, as well as the artificial difficulties with which this was peculiarly assailed. The immigrants have realized the truth of the celebrated apophthegm of the sage of Verulam, one of the earliest writers on emigration, who wisely observed at the very birth of English colonization, "Planting of countries is like planting of trees, for you must make account to lose twenty years, and expect your recompence in the end." The prescribed period, the twenty years, have now passed over the labours of the first British settlers, and the foundation they laid is firmly established; the recompence is now ready to be reaped by all, and has already been gathered by many of the foremost. The only drawbacks to the complete success of the immigration of 1820 are, the scarcity of labour and the unhappy perseverance in a vicious system of border policy, which, there is every reason to conclude, a stern necessity will cause to be speedily abandoned in favour of one more consonant with justice between man and man, without respect to colour or to kindred.

PORTRAIT OF JOHAN VAN RIEBECK,
Founder and First Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope.
(From his Portrait in the Town Hall at Cape Town.)

PART THE SECOND.

SECTION 1.

GOVERNMENT.

The

THE Cape of Good Hope is a crown colony. Its affairs are administered by a Governor and a Lieutenant-Governor. former has a salary of £5300, and has his seat at Cape Town, the extreme end of this large colony-an inconvenient distance from the frontier, where alone, except in times of war with Europe and America, any external danger is to be apprehended. The residence of the latter is fixed at Graham's Town, in the

district of Albany; and the value of his appointment is £1500

a-year.

The Governor is further assisted by an executive and a legislative council, holding their sittings also at Cape Town. The members of the executive council enjoy their appointments by virtue of office, and are five in number, exclusive of his excellency the Governor. They consist of the secretary to government, the auditor-general, the treasurer and accountantgeneral, and the collector of customs. The legislative council is composed of the members of the executive and five unofficial persons-viz., two merchants, one sheep-farmer, one wine-grower, and one advocate. At the installation of the unofficial members, they were, of course, recommended by the Governor for the approval of the crown, and are now only removable on proof of bad behaviour, or absence from the colony. The members of both councils, who sit together, are entitled "honourables." The proceedings of the legislative body are carried on with open doors, the public being admitted by tickets issued by the members, an indulgence readily conceded to applicants, and a reporter regularly attends the session, so that the proceedings find their way into the public prints of the day.

There is but little like popular representation, or the principles of British freedom, in the constitution of either of these bodies. The very tenure by which the members of the legislative council hold their seats appears somewhat uncertain and insecure, it having been attempted in 1838 at the mere suggestion of the late Colonial Minister, Lord John Russell, to be changed and made subservient to the pleasure of the crown, and to the will of the Governor, although fortunately without

success.

The unofficial members, particularly oue, appear, however, desirous to fulfil their duties to the colony, but are trammeled by the Governor and his official supporters.

The Eastern Province, in particular, is totally unrepresented in these councils, not a single member being returned by or connected with the frontier and country districts. Exclusive of the Governor and three others who have made one or more hurried tours through the colony, seven out of the eleven members have never visited the eastern portions of the colony, nor have any of

them any direct interest in common with its population, on whose behalf" they are called upon to legislate." The Honourable Mr. Advocate Cloete is the only individual of the council to whom the eastern districts and their people are personally known. It must, however, in fairness be stated in this place, that, on the first establishment of the legislative council in 1836, a gentleman of the district of Utenhay, the late Frederick Korsten, Esq., was nominated to the honour of representing his frontier fellow colonists, much to their gratification; but advance of years and infirmities forced him to decline the flattering distinction, and no other person from the Eastern Province has since been selected.

As a check upon the conduct of the executive, the legislative council of the Cape is perfectly inefficient, and it has the further mischievous effect of diverting the eyes of the colonists from the real authors of mischief whenever perpetrated, and shifting the responsibility of misgovernment from the right shoulders to those of the councillors themselves; but in truth it is out of their power to apply a remedy. It is no wonder, therefore, that the unofficial members, though among the most respectable of our citizens, and though greatly esteemed in private life, should be extensively unpopular; nor is it surprising that the title of honourable affixed to their legislatorial rank should not have a corresponding meaning in the minds of those whose interests they should be in a situation to advance, and whose good opinion they are entitled to enjoy.

To remedy the evils of such a system, equally unsatisfactory to the governed as to governor, a Representative Assembly has long been demanded by an immense majority of the Dutch and English inhabitants, both of the Eastern and Western Provinces. This boon has hitherto been denied to their importunities, first on the plea that the Cape was a slave colony, and then that the people were not themselves "ripe enough for self-government." The total abolition of slavery, in 1830, has, however, long since silenced the principal objection, and the spirited and efficient proceedings of the municipalities*, established in most of the dis

The privileges of creating municipal boards in the towns and villages of the colony was granted by a colonial ordinance on the 15th August, 1836, under Sir Benjamin D'Urban, to whom the colony

tricts of the colony, have successfully neutralised the other absurd idea, for delaying to concede or rather to restore to British subjects their natural and unalienable right of being the guardians of their own purses and the managers of their own affairs, in as far as is consistent with the general interests of the empire.

It appears indeed somewhat strange, that by the mere circumstance of sailing from under the national standard, which British emigrants see floating in the breeze on the Tower of London as they pass down the Thames, and which same banner they find upon the castle at Cape Town, or on the fort at Port Elizabeth, they should have forfeited the proudest privileges of their birth, and that by this simple act the struggles of their ancestors, and the blood of their countrymen, shed to cement British freedom, should be no longer of value to them-that the charter wrested from John at Runimede-the contest under James, and the conflict with Charles to establish national liberty-the Revolution of 1688, and the Reform Bill of 1830, are events, in as far as they are concerned, as if they had never been, while the only crime they have committed, but by which they are completely disfranchised, is that of having removed with the knowledge and tacit consent of the Government from one portion of the empire to another. It is high time that such an injury should be redressed. The Cape of Good Hope, with upwards of 200,000 souls, is stigmatised by the refusal of a representative assembly, while Newfoundland, with only 100,000, enjoys all the privileges of representation and responsible government*.

owes the introduction of the legislative council, considered as a great boon to liberty, on its first establishment, being an approach, as was then hoped, to further concessions.

"The happy prospect of prosperity to be enjoyed by the Cape, which fills my heart with pleasure, and has animated me in my task, is a subject of disquiet to many persons, by their fears of such a colony obtaining early independence. They apprehend that the very strength which we shall create by the policy I recommend will be turned against ourselves. Upon such a principle, however, every father might fear to lose his son upon reaching maturity, or at marriage, and from that apprehension neglect his nurture, as unquestionably weakness of body and mind would prevent his departure from home."Political View of the Northern and Eastern Districts of the Cape of Good Hope, by Baron G. K. Van Hoggendorp, Grand Pensionary of Holland.

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