History of Cape Colony From 1870 To 1899 - Failed Attempt at Confederation

Failed Attempt At Confederation

An earlier plan by Sir George Grey for a federation of all the various colonies in South Africa had been rejected by the home authorities in 1858 as not being viable. Later, the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, secretary of state for the colonies, having successfully federated Canada, drew up a new plan to impose the same system of confederation on the (very different) states of Southern Africa. This region, seen as vital for the security of the Empire, was only partially under British control. Confederating the various states under British rule was seen as the best way of peacefully establishing British control and ending the autonomy of the remaining independent states. The imposition of a federation upon Southern Africa was, however, doomed to failure and led to resentment across the region (culminating disastrously in the Anglo-Zulu War, the First Boer War and other conflicts).

There was little local enthusiasm for the confederation project. Prominent Cape politicians, while acknowledging the success of the Confederation model in Canada, questioned its suitability for Southern Africa. They also criticised the timing of the scheme as particularly unfortunate – coming when the different states of southern Africa were still unstable and simmering after the last bout of British imperial expansion. The Cape Prime Minister John Molteno correctly warned that a lop-sided confederation would cause instability and resentment, and advised full union as a better model for Southern Africa - but only at a later date, once it was economically viable and tensions had died down. The colonial government in the Cape Colony had recently been replaced by responsible government, and the newly-elected Parliament of the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Town, under the liberal Molteno-Merriman ministry, also resented the perceived high-handed manner in which Lord Carnarvon presented his proposals from afar without an understanding of local affairs. The Cape Parliament suspected Carnarvon of attempting to use the Cape to oppress the region's states and bring on a war with the neighbouring Xhosa Chiefs. A resolution was passed in the Cape Parliament on 11 June 1875 that stated that any scheme in favour of confederation must originate from locally, within Southern Africa itself, and not be imposed by London.

Lord Carnarvon responded by sending the distinguished historian James Anthony Froude to southern Africa, with orders to discretely push for confederation, test popular opinion about it and report all information directly back to Carnarvon. However, the general public in South Africa saw him as a representative of the British government and local suspicion of his agenda ensured that his trip was not a success; in fact he entirely failed to induce Southern Africans to adopt Lord Carnarvon's confederation system.
The Molteno Unification Plan (1877), put forward by the Cape government as a more feasible unitary alternative to confederation, largely anticipated the final act of Union in 1909. A crucial difference was that the Cape’s constitution and multiracial franchise were to be extended to the other states of the union. These smaller states would gradually accede to the much larger Cape Colony through a system of treaties, whilst gaining elected seats in the Cape parliament. The entire process would be locally driven, with Britain’s role restricted to policing any set backs. While subsequently acknowledged to be more viable, this model was rejected at the time by London.
Lord Carnarvon, still bent on imposing confederation on Southern Africa, now appointed his political ally Sir Bartle Frere as governor of Cape Colony and high commissioner of South Africa. Frere was appointed on the understanding that he would work to enforce Carnarvon's confederation plan and, in return, he could then become the first British governor of a united southern African confederation.

Serious African insurrections began soon afterwards, in Zululand and on the Xhosa frontier of the Cape Colony. In 1876, the British had annexed Fingoland, the Idutywa reserve and other Xhosa lands, on the understanding that the Cape government should take them over and provide for their government, however there was a serious rebellion by the Gcalekas and the Gaikas and a considerable force of imperial and colonial troops was required in order to put down the uprising. The war was subsequently known as the Ninth Xhosa War and the famous Xhosa chief, Sandile, lost his life during its course. After the war ended, the Transkei (the territory of the Gcaleka tribe, who were led by Sarhili "Kreli"), was annexed by the British.

Frere’s dissolving of the newly-elected Cape Parliament removed any constitutional obstructions to the colonial office's confederation plan, but was overshadowed by the increasingly support of discontented South Africans for the Zulu leader Cetshwayo. Frere impressed upon the Colonial Office his belief that Cetshwayo's army had to be eliminated, an idea that was generally accepted until Frere sent Cetshwayo a provocative and impossible ultimatum in December 1878 and the home government began to realize the problems inherent in a native war. Cetshwayo was unable to comply with Frere's ultimatum-even if he had wanted to; Frere ordered Lord Chelmsford to invade Zululand, and so the Anglo-Zulu War began. Fourteen days later the disaster of Isandlwana was reported, and the House of Commons demanded that Frere be recalled. Beaconsfield supported him, however, and in a strange compromise he was censured but allowed to stay on. The Zulu trouble, and disaffection brewing in the Transvaal, reacted upon each other most disastrously. The delay in giving the country a constitution afforded a pretext for agitation to the discontented Boers, a rapidly increasing minority, while the reverse at Isandlwana had lowered British prestige. On his return to Cape Town, Frere found that his achievement had been eclipsed—first by 1 June 1879 death of Napoleon Eugene, Prince Imperial in Zululand, and then by the news that the government of the Transvaal and Natal, together with the high commissionership in the eastern part of South Africa, had been transferred from him to Sir Garnet Wolseley. Meanwhile, Boer resentment had boiled over and full-blown rebellion broke out in the Transvaal, leading to the First Boer War(1880-1881) and the independence of the Boer republics.

While the war was being fought, Lord Carnarvon resigned his position in the British cabinet and his scheme for confederation was abandoned.

Lord Carnarvon had failed to appreciate the geo-political differences between Canada and Southern Africa, and how inappropriate a Canadian-style confederation was for the Southern African political landscape. The timing of the scheme was also inauspicious, as at the time the relations between the different states of Southern Africa was still fragile after the previous wave of British imperial expansion.

A new wave of discontent spread amongst the different Xhosa tribes on the colonial frontier, and there was another uprising in Basutoland under Moirosi after the Gaika-Galeka War. The Xhosa under Moirosi were put down with severe fighting by a colonial force, but their defeat notwithstanding, the Basutos remained restless and aggressive for several years. In 1880, the British colonial authorities attempted to extend the Peace Preservation Act of 1878 to Basutoland, attempting a general disarmament of the Basutos. Further fighting followed the proclamation, which did not have a conclusive end, although peace was declared in December 1882. The imperial government took over Basutoland as a crown colony, on the understanding that Cape Colony should contribute £18,000 annually for administrative purposes. The authorities of the Colony were glad to be relieved in 1884 of the administration of the Transkei, whose administration had already cost them more than £3,000,000.

Sir Bartle Frere had been recalled in 1880 to face charges of misconduct, by the 1st Earl of Kimberley (secretary of state for the colonies). He was succeeded by Sir Hercules Robinson. Griqualand West, which included most of the diamond fields, also became an incorporated portion of Cape Colony.