COLONIAL AFFAIRS.
The Cape of Good Hope.—The earliest important events of the year connected with our colonial empire occurred in the Cape settlements. During the autumn and winter of the previous year the governor, Sir Harry Smith, suppressed all indications of rebellion, deposed the chief, Sandilia, and proclaimed his mother sutee in his stead. Sandilia, however, prowled about the English borders making incursions for plunder. Sir Harry directed a column, six hundred strong, under the command of Colonel Mackinnon, to disperse the marauders. That officer committed the error so common on the part of British commanders—he marched without flanking parties, or an advanced guard, except a party of Caffre police, who of course led him into an ambuscade, at the expense of a number of officers and men killed and wounded. This success on the part of the savages led to a general rising of the tribes, especially the brave and cruel Gaikas; the English colonists lost much property and many lives. No adequate means had been adopted either by the government or colonists to guard against the deceit common among uncivilized races. Sir Harry Smith, and the troops which he commanded, were in imminent peril at Fort Cox. By the beginning of the year 1851 the Caffres had penetrated to the very heart of the colony. Sir Harry Smith escaped from Fort Cox, at the head of a flying escort, to King William’s Town, where he established his head-quarters throughout the war. On the 21st of January the first general action was fought at Fort Hare and the Fingo village of Abee. The Caffres were the assailants, and numbered about six thousand men. There were two 24-pounders in Fort Hare, and their fire drove back the aggressors, who had suffered severely during their repeated assaults. The garrison made a sortie at a moment of confusion in the Caffre ranks, caused by the havoc of the guns; the sortie was successful, but not until after a fierce conflict at close quarters. The force at Sir Harry Smith’s command was totally inadequate to suppress such an insurrection, unless, indeed, by singular good fortune, and with most severe loss. The Hottentots, encouraged by the success of the Caffres, burst into sudden rebellion, and committed numerous murders upon the settlers, as well as inflicting loss upon the armed bands of loyalists, and troops, with whom constant skirmishes were maintained. The natives in the English pay, even the Cape Mounted Rifles, deserted in great numbers, and strove earnestly to organize Caffres and Hottentots for more effective war. Colonel Somerset, now promoted to the rank of major-general, succeeded in coming upon the main force of the Hottentots with two columns of British, one six hundred and the other three hundred strong. The general committed precisely the same errors, and in the same manner, as Lord Clyde and his lieutenants in India, in the mutiny of 1857, afterwards made the English nation accustomed to expect from British officers—the stronghold of the Hottentots was so carelessly invested that they escaped, and the war, which, so far as they were concerned, might have been terminated, was consequently prolonged. In various actions which took place the Caffres and Hottentots fought well; the Fingoes, the allies of the British, fought indifferently. The English suffered from successful ambushes on the part of the enemy, and from being badly supplied with ammunition. Colonel Fordyce, who was very active, but not always successful, in command of separate columns under the orders of General Somerset, was killed, and many brave officers and men fell.
On the 31st of October a draft of a constitution for the colony, dispatched by Earl Grey, arrived at Cape Town. It was transmitted to the Cape for the approval of the legislative council, in order eventually, by the queen’s sanction, to become law. According to that document the parliament of the colony was to consist of the governor, the legislative council, and a house of assembly. The legislative council was to be elective, the members retiring by rotation at intervals of five years, until ten years had expired, when the members should hold their places in the council for ten years. The house of assembly to consist of members elected for five years. The franchise to be possessed by occupiers of tenements of the value of £25. The sessions were to be annual. The colonists received this constitution with unbounded joy, and petitioned the queen to grant this as the charter of the colony, without any reference to the legislative council then existing, in which the petition declared that the people had no confidence. The granting of a constitution to the Cape was the result of the energetic requests of the colonists, their dissatisfaction with the administration of Earl Grey in the colonial office in London, and the demands of the English House of Commons: the matter was also expedited by the enormous charges for the Caffre war upon the imperial exchequer, which the English government and parliament were anxious to escape; the readiest and safest mode of accomplishing which the House of Commons declared was by granting to the colonists self-government. Lord Derby, regretting the liberty conceded to the colonists, threw obstacles in the way of the measure, but, by a very small majority, he was defeated in the House of Lords.
The rebellion at the Cape of Good Hope was prolonged during the opening months of 1851, and finally died out from the exhaustion of the enemy, in the presence of reinforcements of British troops. As tidings of its progress arrived in England, they occasioned grave discussions in the press, and party debates in parliament.
The Cape of Good Hope alone, of all the British colonies, was a source of public anxiety during the year 1851. India, so often the field of conflict, triumph, and disaster, afforded comparatively few incidents of great public interest suited to the records of a general history. Peace, loyalty, material development, and prosperity characterised the colonial chronicle of the year.
Discovery of Gold in Australia.—In September news reached England of the discovery of gold fields at Bathurst, in New South Wales. Before the close of the year intelligence was received in England of fresh discoveries; these were in Victoria. The immediate consequence of the gold discoveries was disadvantageous to the colonies, as men of all trades and professions forsook their callings to repair to the “diggings,” and the shepherds abandoned their flocks, so that hundreds of thousands of stock were lost, or perished. The ultimate effect upon British Australia was, however, most prosperous—several of the colonies of that vast region becoming enriched with mineral wealth. Although the public announcement of the treasures contained in the mineral resources of certain of the Australian settlements was made at the period above referred to, it was known to the authorities many years previously that gold might be obtained, but, under the influence of a false policy, the fact was concealed.
Hostility of the Arabs at Aden.—The British settlement at Aden, important because of the command of the Arabian Sea, which it enabled the English to maintain, suffered this year in various ways. The station was most sickly, and the Europeans, and Bombay sepoys, in garrison, were alike exposed to heavy mortality. The Arabs resorted to violence and assassination; British officers were murdered if they strayed beyond the limits of the garrison. The crews of British merchantmen on the coast were attacked, and some wrecked mariners were massacred.
The Mohammedan populations of the British empire showed indications of intense irritability against the English, and, indeed, everywhere amongst Mohammedans, animosity to Europeans appeared to increase.