The continued agitation for Responsible Government threatens the very foundations of order in this Colony. While we do not deny the virtues of self-rule in mature societies, the Cape is yet a frontier land surrounded by barbarous tribes and dependent upon the protecting arm of the Empire. Those who cry loudest for independence would do well to remember that it was British capital, British law, and British arms that raised this settlement from a mere victualling station. Let cooler heads prevail, lest we exchange the steady hand of Her Majesty’s Government for the caprice of local demagogues.
We must not forget the stern lessons of our own recent history. Scarcely two decades have passed since the Xhosa wars laid waste to the eastern districts, and only the swift intervention of Imperial regiments restored peace to the borders. What assurance have we that a ministry drawn from the fractious cliques of Cape Town—be they Dutch burghers nursing ancient grudges or English speculators chasing quick fortunes—could command the loyalty of the native levies or summon the disciplined force required to hold the line against Xhosa impis or Griqua raiders? The Empire’s governors, answerable to the Queen and Parliament, bring impartiality born of distance; local politicians would soon bend to the passions of the hour, favouring one race against another or sacrificing frontier security for votes in the wine districts.
Moreover, the commercial prosperity we now enjoy rests upon the credit of the British Treasury and the confidence of London merchants. Responsible Government, with its inevitable experiments in tariffs and native policy, risks alarming those very investors whose capital has irrigated our vineyards, driven our railways into the interior, and transformed Port Elizabeth and Cape Town into thriving entrepôts. Are we to hazard all this for the dubious privilege of quarrelling among ourselves in a Legislative Assembly dominated by orators more skilled in rhetoric than in administration?
Let us therefore reject these siren calls to premature liberty. The path to fuller self-government lies not in hasty severance from the Mother Country, but in the steady development of character and institutions under her guiding influence. When the Colony has outgrown its infancy—when its boundaries are secure, its population more homogeneous, and its people schooled in the sober responsibilities of power—then, and only then, may such aspirations be entertained without peril. Until that day, loyalty to the Crown remains the surest shield of our prosperity and the truest guarantee of ordered progress.
William Foster Grahamstown, 1871
