THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
An event occurred which disturbed the loyalty of this colony. The home government felt considerable difficulty in dealing with its convicts, and, among other places, the Cape of Good Hope was selected for experiment in the establishment of convict colonisation. The inhabitants resisted with the greatest determination; and the haughty manner in which Earl Grey, the colonial minister, bore himself, exasperated the colonists, and inflamed their animosity against the proposed measure. Public meetings were called, in which the ministers of religion took a very prominent part; and it was resolved neither to sell to the government nor the convicts. The ship having arrived which bore the unwelcome freight, every form of opposition previously determined upon was put into execution, and the government was at last compelled to give up its purpose, and the convict-ship was ordered away to Van Diemen’s Land. The Colonial-office had long projected making the Cape a penal colony, and it was supposed that political convicts would not be objected to. The colonists believed that this was merely the plan of insinuating the thin edge of the wedge, which would ensure the whole being driven home. John Mitchell was among the convicts; that gentleman having suffered at Bermuda from the climate, the government desired in mercy to place him in one more salubrious for persons afflicted with pulmonary disease. The colonists of the Cape were willing to receive him as a settler, but not as a convict, and expressed themselves concerning him in terms of sympathy and respect. The plan of the government to make it a place for political prisoners, was as unsuccessful as the project of making it a general penal settlement: and in the end the people of the Cape obtained, by their obstinacy and energy, a complete victory over the Colonial-office.
The contest in the parent country between the principles of protection and free-trade affected the political and social condition of the West Indies. Jamaica, being the principal colony, its example had a beneficial or baneful influence upon all the other West-Indian colonies. The Governor of Jamaica, Sir Charles Grey, was very unpopular, and his instructions from the Colonial-office were neither wise nor conciliatory. Those instructions, however, being necessarily made in the free-trade spirit then ascendant in the British legislature, would hardly have pleased the planters, however well intended or judiciously ordered. In that particular, the suaviter in modo would never have compensated for the fortiter in re. The new Assembly was hostile to the governor, and its votes showed its hostility, especially in reference to the supplies. Throughout the year, this state of things continued. The negro population sympathised with the government, and boasted of their willingness to turn out and fight for the queen. The parish of St. Ann elected a black representative. Agitation of almost every kind that could afflict a West-Indian colony prevailed in Jamaica. The other colonies in that region were generally discontented, although in most the crop of sugar was good; in some however it failed, increasing the dissatisfaction which the prevalence of free-trade opinions in England created. At Antigua and St. Kitts the chief cause of complaint was the want of rain. In Demerara, the political aspect of affairs was more favourable to the government—the combined Court, which had refused the taxes, having, by a small majority, retraced their steps, and effected an understanding with the governor, which facilitated his administration.