to the same place, who, though a person of better character, was totally unfit for the office.

The Petition read.

Lord Milton, in moving that it be printed, said he was sorry to learn that an improved system of government at the Cape was to be postponed until slavery should be abolished.

Sir George Murray wished the House to analyse the composition of society at the Cape. The number of females was 55,000, males 64,000; from those deduct the Slaves, the Dutch, the Hottentots, and the persons under age; and the number of British colonists capable of exercising the elective franchise would be found exceedingly small.

Mr. Hume observed, that persons of Dutch descent, resident at the Cape, were as much British subjects as any men could be born in any colony.

Petition to be printed.

Hans. Parl. Debates, N.S., vol. 24, p. 1005.

THE EMANCIPATION OF THE SLAVES.
3 & 4 W. IV. cap. 73.

No. 23. An Act for the Abolition of Slavery throughout the
British Colonies; for promoting the Industry of the
manumitted Slaves; and for compensating the Persons
hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves.

[On 28th August 1833 the bill for setting free the slaves in the British dominions received the royal assent. Slavery was to cease at a certain date,—in the Cape Colony the 1st of December 1834 was the date fixed. Slaves over six years of age had to pass through a transition stage, a period of apprenticeship. The British Parliament voted a sum of £20,000,000 to compensate the owners for the loss of their slaves throughout the Empire. There were 39,021 slaves in the Colony when the Act came into force, for which the owners were offered £3,041,290, 6s. od. A number of special Justices of the Peace were sent out from England and others were appointed in the country to assist in carrying out the Act. Vide C. of G. Hope Ord., No. 1 of 1835.]

APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE FOR 1835. [3 Dec. 1834.]
No. 5, 1834.

No. 24. Ordinance.-Enacted by the GOVERNOR OF THE CAPE
OF GOOD HOPE, with the advice and consent of the
LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL thereof.

For applying a Sum not exceeding £40,590, 1s. 8d., to the
Contingent Services of the Year 1835.

WHEREAS the Contingent Expenditure required for the Service of the Year 1835, is estimated to amount to the Sum of £40,590, Is. 8d. Be it therefore enacted by the Governor

1

of the Cape of Good Hope, with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, that a Sum not exceeding £40,590, Is. 8d. be charged upon the Revenue for the Contingent Services of the Year 1835, and applied in the manner set forth in the Schedule hereunto annexed. [Schedule follows here.] P.R.O., C.O. 50/1.

THE EASTERN DISTRICTS GOVERNMENT.

[19 Feb. 1836.]

No. 25. Grant for the Erection of the Eastern Districts of the Cape of Good Hope into a Distinct Government. WILLIAM the Fourth by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender

of the Faith, To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting.

WHEREAS by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster the twenty-third day of October in the fourth year of Our Reign We did constitute and appoint Our trusty and well-beloved Sir Benjamin D'Urban Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, MajorGeneral of Our Forces, to be Our Governor and Commander-inChief in and over Our Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa with its Territories and Dependencies as also of the Castle and all Forts and Garrisons erected or established within the said Settlement, Territories and Dependencies for and during Our Pleasure;

And Whereas We have deemed it expedient that the Eastern Districts of Our said Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope should be erected for certain purposes into a distinct and separate Government to be administered in manner hereinafter mentioned;

Now therefore We do hereby declare Our Will to be and by these Presents do constitute and appoint that the Districts of Albany, Somerset, Uitenhage and Graaff Reynet within the said Settlement shall henceforth constitute and become a distinct and separate Government to be administered in Our name and on Our behalf by a Lieutenant-Governor to be by Us for that purpose appointed by Warrant under Our Royal Sign Manual and Signet, to be countersigned by one of Our Principal Secretaries of State and in the event of the death or absence or incapacity of any such Lieutenant-Governor as aforesaid then and in every such case Our Will and Pleasure is that the said Office shall be administered provisionally

by some person to be for that purpose appointed by the Governor and Commander-in-Chief or by the Officer for the time being administering the Government of the said Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope by a Commission to be for that purpose issued under the Public Seal of the said Settlement, which provisional appointment shall continue in force until Our Pleasure shall be known and no longer;

And we do hereby give and grant to such LieutenantGovernor for the time being, or to such person as may be provisionally appointed to administer the Government of the said Districts of Albany, Somerset, Uitenhage and Graaff Reynet as aforesaid, all such powers and authorities within such Districts as by the said recited Letters Patent of the twenty-third day of October in the fourth year of Our Reign are granted to and vested in the said Sir Benjamin D'Urban as Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the said Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope; Subject nevertheless to all such Rules and Regulations as shall be made and established by such Instructions as hereinafter are mentioned for the practicable and convenient exercise of such power and authority;

Provided, nevertheless, and We do hereby declare Our Will and Pleasure to be that it shall be lawful for the said Sir Benjamin D'Urban or for the Officer for the time being administering the Government of the said Settlement from time to time as occasion shall require and as he shall be directed by such Instructions as aforesaid to repair to the said Eastern Districts and to assume the Government thereof in person; and during such his residence therein We do further declare Our Pleasure to be that all and every the powers and authorities in and by the said recited Letters Patent in him vested in and over the said Eastern Districts shall revive, and that during the same period or periods all and every the powers and authorities by those Presents vested in such LieutenantGovernor shall be and are hereby suspended;

Provided also, and We do further declare Our Will and Pleasure to be that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to take away, abridge or alter all or any of the powers and authorities in and by the said recited Letters Patent given to the said Sir Benjamin D'Urban_to make, enact and ordain Laws and Ordinance for the Order, Peace and good Government of Our said Settlement of the Cape of Good Hope and its Dependencies with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, but that he, the said Sir Benjamin D'Urban or the Officer for the time being administering the Government of the said Settlement, shall have, hold, exercise and enjoy such power and authority as

aforesaid of making such Laws and Ordinances as aforesaid with the advice and consent of the said Legislative Council for any part of the said Settlement, the said districts of Albany, Somerset, Uitenhage [and] Graaff Reynet included, as fully and effectually as if these Presents had not been made;

Provided also, and We hereby declare Our Will and Pleasure to be that nothing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to take away, alter or abridge the jurisdiction, powers or authorities now by Law vested in the Supreme Court of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope or in the Judges of the said Court or in the Courts of Circuit within the said Settlement or in any other Courts or Court of Justice therein or in the Judges of any such Courts or Court, but that all such Jurisdictions, powers and authorities shall continue to be exercised by such Courts and Judges respectively in as full and ample a manner as if these Presents had not been made.

And Our Will and Pleasure further is that in the execution of the powers hereby vested in the said Lieutenant-Governor for the time being or such person so provisionally appointed as aforesaid, he do in all respects conform to and obey all such Orders and instructions as shall for that purpose be addressed to him by Us in Our Privy Council or under Our Signet and Sign Manual or through one of Our Principal Secretaries of State;

And We do hereby revoke and annul so much and such parts of the said recited Letters Patent of the twenty-third day of October in the Fourth year of Our reign as may in anywise interfere with or prevent the execution of these Presents or any part thereof;

And We do hereby declare Our Will to be that for the purposes and within the meaning of these Presents the District of Beaufort shall not be considered as forming part of or as comprized within the District of Graaff Reynet.

In Witness, etc. Witness, etc. the nineteenth day of February [1836].

By Writ of Privy Seal.

P.R.O., Patent Roll, 6 W. IV. Part 12 (No. 16).

No. 26. PETITION FOR REPRESENTATIVE

GOVERNMENT.

[The following is one of several petitions of its kind sent to England from time to time. The Governor recommended that the prayer should be granted, but Lord Stanley in his reply, though not meeting the petition by an irrevocable opposition, raised so many of the old

difficulties, adding one or two new ones of his own, that the matter was dropped for a while.]

[Dispatched to England, 20 Dec. 1841.]

To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council.

THE HUMBLE PETITION OF THE INHABITANTS OF CAPE TOWN AND ITS VICINITY.

Respectfully showeth, That the inhabitants of this colony, being descended from the people of Holland, or British born subjects who have more recently settled here since the Cape became an integral portion of the British Empire, entertain an hereditary sentiment of veneration for the free institutions of the distinguished nations from which they sprang.

That the inhabitants of this colony are about 180,000 in number; that all of them are free and equal in the eye of the law; and that the whole of the landed proprietors and capitalists reside on their estates or within the colony.

That the soil, climate and geographical position of this colony are so favourable to agriculture and commerce, that the unlimited extension of both may be confidently looked for, under the industry of a people enjoying political liberty, and permitted to direct the resources of the community in accordance with the nature of the place, and the character and habits of the population, which can only be understood and appreciated by the people themselves.

That since the colony became a dependency of the British Crown, the government of the Colony has been confided to the hands of a single individual appointed by the Crown, who has more recently been assisted, first by an Executive, and subsequently by an Executive and Legislative Council, all the members of both being appointed by the Crown, all the members of the first, and a majority of the members of the second, also holding offices of trust and emolument under the Governor.

That this form of government appears to your Majesty's petitioners inadequate, under any administration, however able and well disposed, to satisfy the social wants and desires of the people, or to accommodate the requisite institutions of society to the accumulating property, and increasing intelligence and enterprise of the community.

That the inhabitants of this colony have long been deeply impressed with this conviction, and are becoming every day more uneasy, under a system of government in which they have no share; although all that they possess, or expect for themselves or their posterity, is most materially affected by its proceedings.

That at the present period, they think it unnecessary to offer any arguments to your Majesty in favour of that form of government of which your Majesty is the head, or to point