As before mentioned, the Cape legislature of 1872 broke faith with Sir Henry Barkly, who was thereupon accused by his imperial masters of having failed to keep the parliament in hand. The violation of pledges and promises has been a prominent characteristic of the policies alike of the Cape parliament and of the colonial office, and in both cases it has been prolific of evil consequences.

Sir Henry Barkly, owing to the unstable and vacillating policy of the Cape parliament, found himself on the horns of a dilemma. The imperial government taunted him with having shown a want of diplomatic tact in dealing with the colonial legislature, while the latter repudiated the charge which Sir Henry Barkly brought against the legislative assembly, i.e., that of having broken faith with him. Nay, the two honorable houses went even further, they vowed and declared that they had never done or said anything to warrant his sending to the secretary of state for the colonies the dispatches that he had sent. Here was a gordian knot for a governor to loose. What was he to do? He could neither report upon the colonial secretary, nor tell the parliament what he thought of the latter functionary’s action; he virtually exclaimed: “A plague upon both your houses, I’ll go to the Fields again myself.” So he made up his mind to order the government coachman to inspan the traveling wagons, the panels of which, by the way, were ornamented with the royal arms painted by a Cape artist, whose idea of the lion and the unicorn was sublimely humorous—the lion having too much skull by half, and the horn of the unicorn being as crooked as a ram’s, or a satyr’s. His excellency told his executive, that it was as plain as the Cape flats that British rule could not be administered in the diamond fields by commissioners and law courts, and that he was about to proceed to the Fields in order to see how the British flag was to be kept flying over the diamond-digging community. But Sir Henry had been soundly abused by press and public, both in the colony and Griqualand West. The idea then prevailed at Capetown that the diggers would think no more of chopping off a governor’s head than they would of decapitating a domestic fowl. On the Fields there was universal dissatisfaction, the commissioners all the while remaining with virtually “no work to do.” The holders of claims at Klipdrift had had to pay surveyors’ expenses which they had never calculated upon having to pay, and also to meet other demands which they regarded as extortionate, if not almost fraudulent. There were transfer dues, stamp duties and such like, to be enacted in the not far distant future, and the aspect of affairs was not cheering. The Free State was wrathful and indignant, and the Boers there were threatening vengeance. The Dutch on the Fields complained loudly and bitterly of having to pay taxes to British extortioners and being forced to submit to law and order, and declared that the British embrace was too ursine a hug for their comfort.

Under these circumstances Sir Henry Barkly did not feel quite sure that his personal appearance on the Fields would not be made the occasion for an outbreak. Still go he must, and in order to ascertain how far he was risking his life he remained at a farm outside the camp on the first night of his arrival. The next morning, long before the breakfast hour, he saw scores of vehicles and horsemen coming over the hill leading to the homestead. It was an anxious moment. But there was the ring of the true British metal in the cheers of the horsemen as they neared the farm, and Sir Henry was soon convinced that his second visit was destined to prove even more acceptable to the Griqualanders than his first had been. The gubernatorial equipage, with Sir Henry and his adjutant, was soon on the move, and as the Fields bore in sight he could see Bulfontein and Du Toit’s Pan in holiday dress. There was bunting flying from every flag-post, and the margin of the mines was crowded with people, white and black. He was cheered all the way from his entry into the Fields until he reached his quarters in Kimberley; flags floated over his head, and triumphal arches spanned the roadways. On the day of his arrival he held a levee which was well attended, and he took care to have it generally known that he would receive as many deputations as liked to come to him to ventilate their grievances. Of grievances there were enough and to spare, in fact there was nobody without one, either real or imaginary. First and foremost of all was the land grievance. Legitimate claimants and land jobbers jostled each other without mercy and with scant courtesy. The diggers insisted that they had not been and were not protected as it was alleged they had been told they were to be. Diamond thieves, they asserted, were more pestilent than ever, having grown bolder and more unscrupulous, and the digging population suggested that if they had shown more regard for the protection of their own property than loyalty to the government diamond stealing would have been considerably diminished. The trading community also manifested extreme dissatisfaction, owing to the manner in which government contracts were given out, the belief prevailing amongst many that a system of favoritism if not of jobbery was in existence. The natural result of these real or alleged grievances was that the local government was in decidedly bad odor with the population generally.

The neighboring states had complained that guns and gunpowder were supplied to natives, and a deputation defending the system of supplying the natives with guns and gunpowder waited upon his excellency, who said that his attention had been called to the fact that more guns were supplied to natives than had been entered at the customs, where the duty was £1 per barrel, a fact which he could not understand. The deputation, however, explained it by the open ports, where no custom-houses were established, further asking Sir Henry to consider the number of small vessels which visited these ports from the Natal and Cape ports. The guns sold here were supplied to the dealers by the merchants, and the former paid the duty, although a large portion of it was lost to the government. The natives at that time came here more for the sake of getting guns than for money, and the deputation urged a sufficient amount of labor to work the diamondiferous soil could not be obtained if the supplying of guns to natives were prohibited. It was further pointed out to his excellency that the natives would even then continue to get guns from runners (smugglers), and that natives in the possession of the assegai, their national weapon, were more dangerous than when armed with guns. After hearing all the evidence and going into the question fully, Sir Henry Barkly decided that the gun trade must not be interfered with, and this opinion Governor Southey afterward endorsed.^[57]

Sir Henry Barkly promised that British title should be immediately given to legitimate land claimants, that contracts for government supplies should be called for by public tender, and that all real grievances should be removed. Protection was promised to the diggers, and so his excellency became very popular indeed, a banquet followed by a ball was given to him at Kimberley on September 12th, 1872, and both were completely successful. The late Dr. Robertson, formerly of Fauresmith, O. F. S., filled the chair at the banquet and introduced Sir Henry Barkly to his entertainers in admirable style. The doctor’s speech in introducing the toast, “the health of Sir Henry Barkly, her Majesty’s high commissioner in South Africa and governor of the Cape Colony,” was couched in elegant and appropriate language, and his excellency’s reply was received with enthusiastic applause. He told the assembled guests that up to the time of his present visit he had had but a slight conception of the importance of the diamond fields, and had found them to be of such a character that he realized the fact that they could not be governed by three commissioners. The wealth, intelligence and numbers of this community must have something better in the shape of government. To think of governing them from Capetown was out of the question, and as he found they were entitled to a government of their own he would take care that they should have it. The Fields should be a crown colony with a lieutenant governor and a legislature on the same model and as liberal as that of Natal, and this he would bring about as quickly as the preliminaries could be arranged. The ball over, Sir Henry paid a visit to Barkly where he held another levee, and there also a banquet was given him. The streets were decorated with flags, and triumphal arches which formed a complete roofing all through the main street. Here, also, the gubernatorial promises gladdened the hearts of the populace, especially those which referred to the land titles. At the banquet, which was given in the main hall of the Barkly club, it was endeavored to get a pledge from his excellency that Barkly should be the seat of government, but the attempt was a vain one, his excellency contenting himself by saying that they had the high court there and all the government offices, and that he would not forget the old proverb: “Be sure you are off with the old love before you are on with the new.” In a very short time after this, however, the high court and the government offices were removed to Kimberley, and the seat of government established there.

On his excellency leaving the Fields to return home, he had additional proof of the loyalty which animated the great bulk of the diamond field people. He was escorted to Alexanderfontein by at least a thousand persons, and he expressed his gratification at the reception he had met with there, and gave it as his opinion that her Majesty had no more loyal people in her empire than in the diamond fields of South Africa.

The special mission of Sir Henry Barkly to South Africa was to reform the constitution of the Cape Colony by the introduction of responsible government. That colony had become troublesome to the imperial government, inasmuch as the old régime parliament which had full control over the government purse strings refused to pass the taxing measures necessary for the administration of the affairs of the country, and unfortunately for Sir Henry Barkly his executive was too much divided for him to move with reasonable expectation of success. The colonial secretary, Mr. Southey, was firmly opposed to the introduction of the measure into the parliament then assembled, as the country had never been consulted on the question, which he held ought not to be forced. That honorable gentleman held to the doctrine as laid down by John Stuart Mill, that before responsible government is introduced into a country the people must ask for it, and when it was decided by a majority to introduce it the colonial secretary entered his solemn protest on the minutes on constitutional grounds. This was awkward, but Sir Henry Barkly received imperial instructions that it must be introduced into the parliament, and that he must get it passed. Sir Henry Barkly knew that if he should fail he would be recalled in disgrace, and accordingly did introduce it in 1873 at an early session and managed to force it through the legislature, but when he called upon the Hon. Mr. Southey to take office, that gentleman flatly refused to do so. He would not attempt to form a ministry, and he would not take office either as premier or in any other capacity. It now became necessary for his excellency to consider what should be done with the Hon. Mr. Southey, and he was offered the lieutenant governorship of Griqualand West with an adequate salary, and the recommendation to take with him his long-tried confidential clerk in the colonial office, Mr. John Blades Currey. Mr. Southey accepted the appointment, and the inhabitants of Griqualand West, especially the old colonists residing on the Fields, received the intimation with extreme satisfaction, for Mr. Southey enjoyed the confidence of both East and West. On the lieutenant governor’s arrival here, on January 9th, 1873, he was received with manifestations of great joy. The people went out in great numbers to welcome him at Alexanderfontein; triumphal arches were erected; bands of music preceded the procession into the towns; a display of fireworks and an illumination were amongst the tokens of rejoicing, and he was entertained at a banquet in the Theatre Royal, which was crowded to excess.

An executive was created consisting of four members, viz.: the lieutenant governor, the secretary to government (Mr. Currey), the crown prosecutor (Mr. J. C. Thompson), and the treasurer general (the late Mr. R. W. H. Giddy). No constitution was proclaimed for some time after Mr. Southey’s arrival, and the Fields were governed by the lieutenant governor and his executive, legal enactments being made by means of proclamations. One of Mr. Richard Southey’s first proclamations, issued on Feb. 5th, 1873, almost immediately on his arrival, and which pleased the diggers very much, was one to restrain the jumping of claims. Previous to this, a claim in any one of the mines, which might be worth thousands of pounds, if left by its owner unworked for three days, could be legally seized by any man who could prove this neglect; but the proclamation containing the letters patent declaring the colony of Griqualand West a crown colony was not promulgated until the July 16th, 1873, when Klipdrift was rechristened Barkly and the “Colesberg Kopje” Kimberley. The new names were given in honor of the then secretary of state for the colonies, Lord Kimberley, and of Sir Henry Barkly. They were created electoral divisions, the third consisting of the outlying or agricultural districts, being grouped together under the name of Hay, in honor of Lieut. Governor Hay, who was the first to unfurl the British flag over the Diamond Fields. The chief town of the last-named division was Griquatown, in which the Griqua chief Waterboer resided.

The constitution was, however, not received with anything like unanimous approval. The boundaries fixed were disputed by the neighboring States, and the enfranchisement and representation was by no means in accordance with the promises made by Sir Henry Barkly, inasmuch as it was not according to the Natal model. The legislative council was constituted on the deadlock principle, consisting as it did of eight members, four nominated by the general government and four elected by the voters, the lieutenant governor being president and having the casting vote. The governor had a power to veto in the first place, and the Queen in the second. At first it was said that no one would consent to be put into nomination for the four seats to be filled by the votes of the people. However, when the time of the elections came round, the seats were hotly contested. The council was first convened in 1873, but did not meet for business until January, 1874, when the elective members were Messrs. Green and Dr. Graham for Kimberley, Mr. Advocate Davison for Barkly, and Mr. David Arnott, the agent for Waterboer, to represent the electoral division of Hay. The first ordinance, viz. for the better regulation of diggings and mines, was promulgated on the 30th of the month named. The government and legislature for some time worked very well, but then a lack of cordiality among the members of the government themselves in the executive manifested itself, and there was as well no lack of revolutionary agitators to stir up the people to rebel against the government from the outside. Among the agitators were one or more generally accepted as Fenians, and several foreigners; the former with a hatred of British rule were bent on creating disturbances. They were joined by men who, although owning themselves British subjects, had party and personal ends to serve, dearer to them than their reverence for the crown. Leagues were formed and meetings were held, where sedition was loudly and plainly talked, mass meetings were convened on the market place, and the governor roundly abused. The lieutenant governor offered to receive deputations and to discuss matters, provided that the deputations should be composed of men who were known to be in the habit of conducting themselves in a becoming manner. But the agitators wanted their followers to come in large bodies, and this the lieutenant governor decided not to permit. The members of the league assembled armed for drill, and assumed a most warlike and threatening attitude. The lieutenant governor urged the necessity of the presence of a small body of her Majesty’s troops, and pointed out that moral force, the only force at his command, had no influence upon the men who, led by a clever and excitable digger named Aylward, were plotting against law and order. No attention whatever was paid to the suggestion of the lieutenant governor by the executive of the Cape Colony. There were no definite grievances brought forward by the men under arms, who were mere puppets in the hands of the riotously inclined wire-pullers. There were grievances, however, of a grave nature, and the non-fulfilment of promises respecting the land titles was the greatest of all. It is only right, however, to mention that the majority of the white population, aliens as well as British subjects, were thoroughly satisfied with Mr. Southey’s rule; and he had, during the time he was at the head of the government, done all in his power to make the people happy and prosperous, while the foundations of law and order had been so far as possible “both well and truly laid.” The social state of the Fields was excellent, and Government House was so thoroughly well-conducted that it led society with a genial and assuring hand. Balls and parties, indoor and outdoor pastimes and pleasures, afforded the recreation which the busy population required, and life in the Fields was generally pleasant and seemly.

Armed malcontents were now drilled in the public squares, and wherever they thought their proceedings would be most exasperating to the government and the loyal portion of the community.^[58] This was kept up during the early part of 1875. Arms were imported from all directions and concealed in stores and licensed liquor shops, and in the month of April of that year the mob were led into open rebellion, the occasion chosen for the outbreak being the seizure of arms by the magistrate and police of Kimberley, and the arrest of the man on whose premises they were discovered. A body of armed men marched down to the magistrate’s office and demanded the release of the prisoner, the court-house being surrounded and an attack threatened should their demand be refused. A black flag to be hoisted on the edge of the Kimberley mine was to be the signal for the revolters to fire upon the court-house and government offices. The Kimberley prison was to be leveled to the ground, when, as the rebels calculated, the liberated prisoners would instantly swell their ranks and help to overthrow the government. The lieutenant governor refused to make any terms whatever with men under arms and ordered them to give up their weapons to the government. This they refused to do. The authorities were not, however, to be driven from the position they had assumed. A number of loyal inhabitants volunteered to assist the government, and the prison was guarded by these assisted by some of the police. Greatly to their credit the Germans then came forward almost to a man and joined the volunteers. Mr. James Anthony Froude, “the eminent historian,” as he is called, had paid a visit to South Africa at the instance of the Earl of Carnarvon, then secretary for the Colonies, to report on the chances of federating the whole of the Colonies and States under the British flag, and that gentleman, with his characteristic mental twist, took a most distorted view of everything he saw, and instead of supporting the lieutenant governor disparaged him, and actually held a conference with the rebel leaders. This conference did not take place in the presence of any of the authorities, and the insurgents declared at the time that their course of conduct had secured Mr. Froude’s^[59] approval. This was before they broke out in actual revolt. A quotation from Mr. Froude’s writings, which appears in a book of which one of the most bitter opponents of the government is the author, strengthens the belief that Mr. Froude actually did encourage the rebels, whether intentionally or not. The passage is as follows: “The English government in taking up Waterboer’s cause, have distinctly broken a treaty which they renewed before in a most solemn manner, and the colonial office, it is painfully evident to me, has been duped by an ingenious conspiracy.”

The “ingenious conspiracy” was one of those flights of imagination in which the eminent historian occasionally indulges with most mischievous results to the colonies that he has visited and attempted to describe. There was no such thing as an “ingenious conspiracy to delude the colonial office,” as may be gathered from the facts before stated respecting the action of Sir Philip Wodehouse in the matter of the wrong done Waterboer by the Boers of the Free State. The chieftainship of Andreas Waterboer, the father of Nicholas, was confirmed by the British government before Nicholas was born, as is shown in the earlier portions of these pages. This is wandering from the subject of the revolt, but the necessity for this digression will be manifest to the reader.

The rebels had calculated that no magistrate would be found with sufficient courage to sit on the bench and try the arrested prisoner while the court-house was surrounded by men armed with guns and revolvers ready to fire at a given signal. They were mistaken, however, for the late Mr. Advocate Gray, then president magistrate of Du Toit’s Pan, took his seat on the bench, and then the Fenian leader, sword in hand, ordered the man appointed (one Albany Paddon^[60]) to hoist the flag, which was accordingly done. There was no firing, though one gun was accidentally discharged. Some of the leaders began to reflect and came forward and entered into bail bonds for the prisoner. The rebels did not then, however, put down their arms. It was only after the high commissioner had threatened to send troops that they consented to do so. Colonel Crossman, who had been sent out as royal commissioner in Oct. 1875, to make inquiries and report, after taking evidence absolved the government of all blame. Then when the mischief had been done troops were sent up at an expense of £20,000, under the command of Sir Arthur Cunningham. Beyond showing that the imperial government were determined to uphold law and order, the troops did nothing but manœuvre in the market place, encamp at Barkly and attend balls and banquets given in their honor, as well as to fête the Diamond Fields horse, who had shortly before so gallantly fought under Sir Arthur in the war on the northeastern frontier, driving Kreli out of the country and bringing his tribe into subjection. The real grievance—and one destined to produce dire consequences upon the province—the delay in giving out titles and settling the land, had as yet found no remedy. Not even the chief Waterboer had been settled with, and Mankoroane, the chief of the Bechuanas, harassed on all sides by the Boers, had called upon the British government for protection, offering to make over his territory and people to the queen, as Waterboer had done before him. He, like Waterboer, had always been loyal to the British rule, and to use his own words: “I have always been true to the queen, have protected her people when they were in danger from the Boers, and now when my people are being crushed out of existence by the Boers the queen ought to protect me and my people.” The lieutenant governor was of the same opinion, and he suggested to the high commissioner that in justice and in policy the British government could not do better than annex Bechuanaland. His excellency further pointed out that to leave this fine country open was to pave the way for future troubles—which it has done. The high commissioner encouraged the scheme. Mankoroane and his councillors with a number of his people came down to Kimberley, if I recollect rightly, at the very time of Mr. Froude’s visit, and long conferences then took place between the chief and his advisers, and the lieutenant governor and his, the old chief being ultimately given to understand that he and his people and country were to be taken over, as Mr. Southey said, with the knowledge and consent of the high commissioner. This was another of the promises made only to be broken; and to prove beyond question that all the troubles predicted have come about, it is only necessary to allude to recent historical events culminating in Sir Charles Warren’s expedition to Bechuanaland. Mr. Southey had from the time of his taking office persistently requested the high commissioner to get the land question settled, and had sent warning after warning that delay in giving out the titles was fraught with the greatest possible danger. But the high commissioner was in the hands of the secretary of the colonies in the first place, and in the second his excellency had not mastered the situation. Then those who fomented discontent and disturbance had circulated, among other infamous slanders, that the lieutenant governor and the secretary to government were men bent on land-jobbing in their own interest and in the interest of their friends and political adherents.

In the session of 1875 the high commissioner, despite his previously issued reassuring proclamation to the effect that no private rights should be disturbed, sent up a land ordinance drafted in Capetown, and requested the lieutenant governor to introduce it to the legislative council and get it passed into law. This the lieutenant governor respectfully but firmly refused to do. By the draft ordinance a land court was to be created, and a judge appointed to decide upon the claims of every one, no matter whether his claims were disputed or not. Even Waterboer himself, from whom the government had derived all their territorial rights, was to be forced into court and pay the expenses himself, to prove that his private properties, farms, etc., belonged to him. The judge was, moreover, to have power to reduce the size of farms, and in no case to permit one to be given out of more than 6,000 acres in extent. The lieutenant governor held that by allowing this ordinance to pass into the statute book the government would be abrogating its especial function, which was to protect those who could produce unimpeachable titles, whether obtained by grant, purchase or other legitimate means. The cost of going to law to obtain them they, he said, ought not to be compelled to incur. The law courts ought not, he maintained, to be called upon to deal with any land claims excepting such as were in dispute. The executive government could deal with the undisputed claims, exchange British for existing titles, etc., thus saving expenditure and delay, while the high court was quite sufficient to deal with disputed claims.

The high commissioner paid no heed to the lieutenant governor’s remonstrance, but came from Capetown to the diamond fields and introduced the draft ordinance into the council himself, while presiding, as he was empowered to do, when in the province. The popularly elected members at first declared that they would not vote for the measure; nor would they even take their seats; which course, had it been adhered to by them, would have effectually prevented the measure being carried, as no business could be transacted unless two of the elected members were in their seats. The high commissioner, however, by the free use of his powerful influence, led the elected members to alter their determination, hinting that if they did not take their seats, a proceeding equivalent to assisting in passing the ordinance, he would dissolve the council, and every one saw that if the high commissioner could not control the council the constitution under which it was created would be abolished altogether. The members took their seats, and the ordinance was forced through and became law. The land court was established, and Mr. Advocate Stockenstrom, of the supreme court, who was then practicing at the bar of the court of the eastern districts, was appointed the judge.

Sir Henry Barkly, having forced his land bill through the council, returned to Capetown, leaving Mr. R. Southey at the head of the government.

The greatest possible disaffection toward the land court soon found expression on all sides. The editor of one of the newspapers, The Diamond News, criticised the decisions of the judge with great freedom, and amongst other remarks said that: “Judge Stockenstrom appeared to be performing his duties under instruction, and if he was not doing so he was incompetent for the office.” The editor was summoned before the court by Judge Stockenstrom, and was charged with contempt of court. He so ably defended himself that the judge withdrew the charge in a semi-apologetic manner, but that did not allay the dissatisfaction. The advocate of Waterboer, on the ground that his client had been grossly insulted by the judge, and could hope for nothing like justice in that land court, retired, with his client from the court, and refused to continue his case.

The final adjustment was intrusted to Major, now Gen. Sir Charles Warren, the land court having been abolished and the judge withdrawn. Mr. R. Southey, soon after the purchase of the farm Voornitzigt, which was sold to government for £100,000, was recalled, and that was the last of Lieut. Governor Southey in Griqualand West.