THE CAPE CONSTITUTION.
Is seems that Earl Grey kept his promise to the House of Peers, in the matter of a constitution for the Cape colony, more strictly and promptly than was expected of him. But it seems also that if be do not keep a stern eye on his Colonial subordinates at the Cape, they will nullify his honest promptitude and again blacken his character.
What has happened is this. The draught of a constitution, sent out by Earl Grey to be filled up in its local details, proved liberal enough to satisfy the peace-desiring colonists ; who declared with acclamations that they gratefully accepted it, and would wish it instantly passed by the Legislative Council, and sent home for the Queen's ratification. But the Colonial officials saw that the con- stitution would not suit their purpose, and they resolved either to mar it or to obstruct its early completion.
Soon after the ordinances embodying the constitution arrived at the Cape, a journal known as "the Government organ" testily de- clared, that in respect of the franchise they " far outstepped the emergency," and complained that the Imperial Government should have sent out any ordinances at all, before the present Council had carried through and finished the Caffre war ! But at all events, full time ought to be given to the colonists and the Council to dis- cuss and weigh what had been sent. A letter was also published in a Graham's Town journal, which revealed that a portion of the officials, who desire the removal of the seat of government from Cape Town to Graham's Town, were bent on obstruction and de- ley, in hopes of " bringing matters to a head," and compelling the removal simply as an escape from the embarrassments of the hos- tile factions of Cape Town.
At least a month's delay was got by the pretended necessity of sending the ordinances to and fro between Cape Town and King William's Town, for Sir Harry Smith's instructions; and when the ordinances at last came before the Legislative Council, a loose sug- gestion in Lord Grey's despatch was dishonestly put forward as the groundwork of indete discussions, difficulties, and further delays.
The suffrage qualification proposed by Earl Grey was the one suggested by Attorney-General Porter, which so much pleased the colonists—the occupation of a house worth 251. Lord Grey's de- spatch expressly stated that there was no ground of objection to this franchise on the score of the proportion of inhabitants whom it would admit. But he somewhat objected to the machinery of registration ; and, referring to the liberal analogy of the Irish act of 1850, he proposed that registration should be done away with, and that the fact of being assessed under the Road Ordinance or by the Municipalities should determine the possession of the vote. It turns out, that this suggestion, intended not to limit but to simplify the franchise in its working, would in fact curtail it, in the Cape colony, to the extent of four-fifths of those who under occupation-qualification would form the constituency. Yet this suggestion of Earl Grey was adopted by the Government party as an amendment which they were asked to carry oat ! It is fortunate that the policy of delay and obstruction, and that of treachery, afford the means of counteracting each other. The Co- lonial Secretary at the Cape had already gained five weeks of delay before the bill came before the Council ; and just before the mail started he had got a further barefaced postponement of the mea- sure for two months. This last manceuvre affords her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies the opportunity to put in his stern corrective hand.
It seems probable that Lord Grey at least has no intention to quit the Russell Ministry in its distress. With the prospect of continuance, it behoves him to protect himself from his own subordinates. If he do not stir, he will find himself under a dark imputation: the Colonial officials must either be seeking their own selfish ends in spite of him, or they must be calculating to gain them through his secret aid.
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