means sanguine in tone. He showed that Confederation had long been contemplated by all parties at the Cape as well as by the Home Government. The fact that the present was a time of transition seemed to him to prove rather than to disprove the necessity of constituting some strong central authority. Cape Colony could not, he said, remain like a snail in its shell. Unless timely and large measures were taken, the troubles which would first attack Natal and the Transvaal would soon touch Cape Colony. Discussing the proposal that the Imperial Government should be left in control of the frontier districts, he said that Cape Colony would have to pay most of the cost, and have no power to prevent Imperial blundering. Natal and the Transvaal, he thought, would favour Confederation, as the first would, under such a scheme get responsible government, and the latter the practical independence it claimed. Whatever the result of the Conference might be, it was simply decent to consider the proposals of the Home Government. The grounds on which Mr. Sprigg's proposal was opposed were many and various. To go into Conference would virtually, it was urged, be to admit the principle of Confederation, and no one could say what influence Sir Bartle Frere's personal charm, and the allurements of honours in the gift of the home Government, might have on the delegates. Cape Colony did not want Confederation; it could provide for its own affairs well enough. Natal was settled on a wrong principle. The Transvaal was wrongly annexed. No one could say how the new arrangement in Zululand would work. Let the Crown remain responsible for its own blunders. After a languid debate of four days, Mr. Sprigg, seeing that he could reckon on too small a majority to justify the adoption of Confederation, withdrew his resolutions.

After the despatches explanatory of the failure of the scheme had reached England, Sir Bartle Frere was informed by telegraph that he was recalled. He had been kept in office, he was told, only to further Confederation; and as there was no hope of this being carried into effect, and he was, on other matters, not in accord with Government, it would be unfair to him and to Government to maintain him in his position. In reply Sir Bartle Frere argued that on the various pending questions he had given effect to the wishes of Government, and that there was no want of accord. The slights put on him by Government, he contended, had weakened his authority in the colony, and to this he attributed in part the failure of Confederation. We have already said that the Boer delegates in Cape Colony had made great efforts to defeat the

scheme.

The fierce controversies which attended the whole course of Sir Bartle Frere's administration marked its close. While the party of which the Cape Argus may be recognised as the organ regarded his recall as the necessary condition for a safer and juster policy in South Africa, crowded and enthusiastic meetings in most of the towns condemned the step taken by the Home Government, applauded

the policy which led to the Zulu War, and spoke of the departing Governor as the saviour of South Africa. Even his political opponents joined in the testimony to his personal courtesy and the purity of his aims. General Clifford assumed charge of the Government till Sir G. Strahan arrived to act as administrator. Sir Hercules Robinson, who had been appointed to succeed as Governor, did not arrive within the year.

The budget statement of Cape Colony made in June was of a singularly encouraging kind. The revenue of the current year was estimated at 2,509,216., that is to say, 200,000l. in excess even of the sanguine forecast of the previous year. The flourishing condition of the customs revenue justified, Mr. Sprigg said, a great scheme of railway extension. Accordingly a project for connecting the existing lines and extending them to the northern border, at an estimated cost of nearly seven and a half millions, was brought forward. But the measure, encountering opposition both in principle and detail, was withdrawn. Notwithstanding the failure of the Ministry as regards its railway and confederation policy, it secured adequate majorities wherever the question of confidence was brought forward, as it repeatedly was, by the Opposition.

The long-pending controversy as to the future status of Griqualand West (the Diamond Fields) was brought to a close in 1880. There had been within the province a good deal of opposition to the proposed annexation to Cape Colony; but the change, nevertheless, was finally carried into effect. The yield of diamonds was satisfactory, and there was much speculation in "claims.” A great robbery from the Post Office at Cape Town of diamonds which were awaiting despatch to England caused much excitement for some weeks.

Acts were passed in the Cape Legislature, authorising the detention as Imperial prisoners of Cetewayo and Sakakuni. Those who sympathised with the fallen fortunes of the Zulu prince made many representations as to the unnecessary strictness of the confinement in which he was kept. Orders on the subject were sent from England, and he was allowed as free access of friends and as much personal liberty as were consistent with his safe custody.

The repudiation by the Dean of Grahamstown of the authority of his Bishop caused much excitement and controversy in the Church of South Africa. Indeed, as to the precise status of the Church itself, and its relation to the Anglican Church in England, there was much difference of ecclesiastical opinion. The Bishop of Cape Town, as Metropolitan, opposed the pretensions of the Dean, but the Court decided in his favour.

A British Commissioner had been for some time stationed at Walwich Bay, to prevent the importation of arms and to watch colonial interests generally. A Resident had also been sent to Damaraland to use his influence with the chief of that tribe; but it was decided that neither Damaraland nor Namaqualand should be

1880.] South Africa.-Cape Colony. Free State. Zululand. [345

in any sense annexed. In August war (arising as usual from cattle thefts) broke out between the Damaras and Namaquas. The Resident was recalled, and though urgent representations were made on behalf of the German missionary traders in that country, the Cape Government decided to concern itself with nothing that occurred outside the small tract round the British settlement at Walwich Bay.

The sufferings of a party of Boers who had "trekked" from the Transvaal towards the West Coast excited much interest in Cape Colony, and a small expedition was despatched from Walwich Bay for the relief of the survivors.

The Orange Free State was disturbed by a threatened outbreak of civil war in the Barolong country, a native territory enclosed within the State. The Basuto war, too, troubled it; for many Basutos dwelt within the State. The burghers were believed to have sold arms and horses freely to the insurgents; but the Government of the State maintained a neutrality benevolent to the colonists, allowing, as we have seen, the colonial troops to march through their territory. Later on, the Dutch people of the State were intensely excited by the movement in the Transvaal, and the position of the English residents became very painful.

In Natal there was some agitation for the grant of responsible government on the expiration of the term of the existing constitution. But the Home Government decided that it would be premature to confer it. Speaking generally, the colony was peaceful and prosperous.

The first year of Sir Garnet Wolseley's settlement of Zululand passed quietly. The chiefs appointed by him showed a disposition to conform to the advice of the Resident; and the only disquiet that existed was due to fraudulent representations made by native traders from Natal as to the intentions of the Government. Ordinary crime was almost unknown. The chiefs abstained from "killing," but not wholly from "eating up" the property of persons who disobeyed their orders. In all the districts except that of John Dunn the missionaries returned and reoccupied their old stations. Even Dunn made arrangements for receiving some Norwegian missionaries in place of the "worthless" German ones, whom he excluded. A great many people came in from Natal to see their friends in Zululand, and there was a wholesale emigration of labourers from Zululand to Natal, who returned to their homes with ample earnings. Trade was as brisk as ever, but towards the end of the year there was serious scarcity in the tracts traversed by our forces during the war, due, of course, to the consumption of crops and the disturbance of sowing operations.

A melancholy and romantic interest attached to the pilgrimage made by the Empress Eugenie to the spot where her son the Prince Imperial fell a year before. On the anniversary of his death a requiem mass was said close to the spot, and the Empress spent the night in prayer there.

CHAPTER IX.

NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA.

I. THE UNITED STATES.

Ar the close of the year 1879, there was a possibility that the high-handed conduct of Governor Garcelon in the State of Maine would lead to serious excitement throughout the country. This possibility was removed by the Democrats, who had been defeated at the polls in Maine, submitting to their victorious opponents taking possession of the State Government. Owing to the settlement of this question, the preparation for the Presidential election was unaffected by the consideration that an electoral fraud which had been successfully achieved in Maine by the Democrats resembled, if it did not counterbalance, the alleged electoral frauds which the Republicans had committed in Florida at the Presidential election of 1876.

As is usual when a President of the United States is elected, the choice of one was the principal event of the year, and occupied the chief part of the attention and time of the people. A new proposal was presented for their consideration, that of electing General Grant to the Presidency for the third time. This desire on the part of the friends of General Grant was not shared by all the members of the Republican party, while many opposed it as an innovation on the unwritten rules which had governed the election of Presidents from the day that Washington declined reelection for the third time. Owing to the energy and determination of General Grant's friends, a large number of delegates was elected with the declared intention of nominating him at the Republican Convention which met at Chicago in June. Mr. Senator Conkling was the leader of the movement for nominating General Grant, and he displayed much skill and little scruple in organising what many deemed certain victory.

The other Republican candidates who had each a considerable following and ardent admirers were Senator Blaine, of Maine, Mr. John Sherman, of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Senator Edmunds, of Vermont, Mr. E. B. Washburne, of Illinois, Senator Windom, of Minnesota. It was confidently expected by Senators Conkling, Logan, and Cameron that the number of delegates appointed by the several States to vote for General Grant was so large that his nomination was beyond all question. Their calculation was upset by an occurrence shortly after the meeting of the Convention at Chicago. This was the rejection of what is styled the "unit rule," meaning that, if the majority of delegates from a State are in favour of a particular candidate, the minority shall unite with the majority and allow all the votes of the State to be recorded for the one candidate. If this rule had been in force,

there would have been no doubt about the nomination of General Grant; however, the Convention having rejected the unit rule, the delegates from each State were free to exercise their individual discretion, and the issue became uncertain. The first ballot was taken on June 7, that is, the fifth day after the meeting of the Convention. The result was that General Grant received 304 votes, Mr. Blaine 284, Mr. Sherman 93, Mr. Washburne 30, Mr. Edmunds 34, and Mr. Windom 10. This order was maintained, with trifling variations, during thirty-three successive ballotings. At twenty-seven of these ballotings General Garfield, of Ohio, who had nominated Mr. Secretary Sherman, received sometimes one vote and sometimes two. At the thirty-fourth ballot he received 17, at the thirty-fifth 50, and at the thirty-sixth and last he received 399, being a majority of all the votes; accordingly, he was nominated the candidate of the Republican party for the Presidency. General Arthur, of New York, was nominated the candidate of that party for the Vice-Presidency.

The "platform" or declaration of principles set forth at Chicago, and upon which the Republican party based an appeal to elect their candidates, contained few points of novelty or special interest. It began with a recital and a glorification of what the party had done or took credit for accomplishing during the last twenty years; setting forth how it had emancipated the slaves, increased the railway mileage, added to the foreign trade, diminished the public burdens, and reduced the public debt. In the future the party undertook to labour against the appropriation of money to support sectarian schools, to abolish the practice of polygamy, and to regulate and restrain the immigration of the Chinese. The party praised the conduct of Mr. Hayes while President, deplored the fact that the Democrats were inspired with a lust for office, and that the South remained "solid" on the side of their opponents. Before the platform containing these declarations was adopted, it was proposed by Mr. Barker, of Massachusetts, to add the following resolution :-"The Republican party, adhering to the principles affirmed by its last National Convention of respect for the Constitutional rules governing appointments to office, adopts the declaration of President Hayes that the reform in the Civil Service shall be thorough, radical, and complete. To that end it demands the co-operation of the legislative with the executive departments of the Government, and that Congress shall so legislate that fitness, ascertained by proper practical tests, shall admit to the public service." This resolution was accepted by the Convention after a long discussion on a clause that the tenure of office should be during good behaviour, the addition of that clause being rejected. During the discussion, Mr. Flannigan, a delegate from Texas who had once been Lieutenant-Governor of that State, made a statement which excited much notice at the time, and which deserves to be preserved as a candid avowal of sentiments which generally prevail, but which are commonly concealed. He said that Texas