1872, Sir Anthony Musgrave, K.C.M.G.
1873, Sir Benjamin Pine, K.C.M.G.
1875, Major-General Sir Garnet Wolseley, B.C.
1875, Sir Henry E. Bulwer, K.C.M.G.
1880, General Sir Garnet Wolseley, G.C.B.
1880, Major-General Sir G. Pomeroy Colley.
1881, Brig.-General Sir H. Evelyn Wood.
1881, Lieut.-Colonel C. B. H. Mitchell, C.M.G.
1882, Sir Henry E. Bulwer, K.C.M.G.
1885, Sir Charles B. H. Mitchell, K.C.M.G.
1886, Sir Arthur E. Havelock, K.C.M.G.
1889, Sir Charles Mitchell, K.C.M.G.
1893, Sir W. F. Hely-Hutchinson, G.C.M.G.
An Uprising Threatened
Under the régime of Sir Benjamin Pine occurred one of those native wars which illustrate at once the precarious tenure of peace with savage tribes and the danger of a Governor falling between the two stools of a weak white population demanding protection against the serried masses of native races and a Colonial Office controlled, to some extent, by missionary and religious influences with sympathies wider than their statecraft or knowledge. Langalibalele, Chief of the Hlubis in Natal—a tribe which was great and powerful in the days preceding Tshaka—had gradually strengthened his people in numbers and in training until he thought himself able to defy the Natal Government, and to send his young men into neighboring communities to purchase guns and ammunition in defiance of the regulations of the Colony. Messages were in vain sent from Pietermaritzburg demanding an account of the matter and his presence at the capital. Finally, a small party of volunteers was sent to compel his obedience, and met with the usual preliminary repulse. Then upon a thread seemed to hang the peace of South Africa. Langalibalele was known to be held in high respect by Kaffir tribes from the Caledon to the Fish River, and it was afterwards proved that he really had tried to effect a general rising. Prompt measures were taken, however, by all the Governments—even those of the Republics offering aid—and the Chief was surrounded by a large force of Natal and Cape Mounted Police, captured, tried by a special Court and sentenced to imprisonment for life. Meantime the influence of Bishop Colenso and the Aborigines Protection Society had made the Colonial Office doubtful of the justice of these steps. The Governor was recalled, sentences were commuted, and compensation was given from the Imperial Treasury to a tribe which had suffered through expressing sympathy with the rebels.
Gen. Wolseley Arrives in State
The coming of Sir Garnet Wolseley, in 1875, amid much glitter of state and ceremony, marked the attempt of Lord Carnarvon to promote the federation of the Colonies; and the despatch of the same distinguished soldier, in 1880, was an effort to gather up the threads of military organization after the reverses and successes of the Zulu War. The death of Sir George Pomeroy Colley at Majuba Hill and the accession of Sir Evelyn Wood, with instructions to make peace with the Transvaal, are landmarks in the annals of the whole region; while the coming of Sir Walter Hely-Hutchinson in 1893, with extended powers as Governor of Natal and Zululand, marks the grant of complete responsible government to this miniature Colonial India, twenty years after it had been given to Cape Colony, and nearly fifty years after Canada had received it. Government of Natal Under this constitution there is now a Legislative Council of eleven members, nominated by the Governor-in-Council and appointed for ten years, and a Legislative Assembly of thirty-seven members, elected by popular constituencies—mainly white—for four years. The Ministry holds office by the same Parliamentary tenure as do all British Governments under free institutions, and, since 1893, the Prime Ministers have been Sir John Robinson, K.C.M.G., who held office until 1897; the Right Hon. Harry Escombe, P.C., who succeeded him and participated in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee; Sir Henry Binns, K.C.M.G., who died in 1899; and the present occupant of the position, Lieut.-Colonel Albert Henry Hime, C.M.G. The franchise of the Colony is liberal, and every European who is a British subject and possesses real property worth $250, occupies such property at an annual rental of not less than $50, or is in receipt of an income of $480 and upwards, can vote. He must, however, have resided in the Colony for three years. Natives are entitled to vote under the same conditions after seven years' voluntary exemption from the action of the special native laws and the tribal system.
One of the curious conditions of Natal, and which entitles the Colony to consideration as a sort of miniature India, has been elsewhere casually referred to. It was thought, at first, that in a country which combined tropical vegetation with a healthful climate and with a great reserve force of natives for local labor, immense development of production might be possible. Coffee, sugar, arrowroot, cotton and tea were all found to thrive in its fruitful soil. But European workers did not come in any number, and it was soon found that the natives would not work with the least bit of persistence or dependence. In this difficult situation planters and capitalists turned to the Eastern Empire, and coolies were engaged under contract for a term of years. And, when their term was up, these hired immigrants, as a rule, showed no desire to return, and settled down for good in a land which seemed to their minds greatly superior to the one they had left. Naturally, too, Indian traders followed, and, in time, a small but steady stream of immigrants flowed in from India, and through their cheap mode of living soon captured the bulk of retailing trade in the country, while also doing most of the cheaper labor. Of this class of settlers, now nearly equal in numbers to the white population, there were 17,000 in 1879, 41,000 in 1891 and 53,000 in 1898. They do not, through taxes, add greatly to the revenues of the country, or in any sense to its military strength, but they do add appreciably to its productive and industrial capabilities.
FIRST SERIOUS BOER-BRITISH BATTLE, MAJUBA HILL, 1881.
In which the Boers defeated the English and gained internal independence.