CHAP. 1] ORIGIN AND HISTORY 43
~ This vigorous protest induced the Duke of Buckingham
in his reply of December 9, 1867, to promise that in view
of the financial difficulties of the Colony no steps should be
taken to insist on payment in respect of the year 1868, and
the matter was for the moment shelved. But it was revived
in 1869 by a dispatch of July 2, 1869,2 in which the Governor
requested the Imperial Government to consider and adopt
some general policy with regard to the South African
territories and their administration. In reply, Lord Gran-
ville in a dispatch of December 9 2 placed before the Governor
two alternatives. He pointed out that the Governor had
been unable to induce the Legislature to bring order into
the finances of the country, while again their proposals for
financial changes had not met with his approval. The
Imperial Government were not willing to continue to bear
the cost of the military defence of the Cape, and would with-
draw one regiment in 1870-1 and another in 1871-2, leaving
one regiment only for the protection of Simon’s Bay. The
Governor was therefore asked to place before the Legislature
the alternatives of placing more power in the hands of the
Executive or of adopting the system of responsible govern-
ment.
On January 17, 1870,1 the Governor replied. He expressed
very strongly the view that the present constitution was
unsatisfactory, but he deprecated responsible government,
which he deemed to be an absolute contradiction in terms.
How could a ministry responsible to its own constituencies
render obedience to the permanent power ? The issue
between them might be shirked or postponed, but it must
come. Responsible government he had always held to be
applicable only to communities fast advancing to fitness for
absolute independence, and he thought that the course of
events in British North America, Australia, New Zealand,
and Jamaica had gone very far to establish that view. He
looked upon the country as entirely unsuited for indepen-
dence, and he could not satisfy himself of the justice or
* Parl. Pap., H. C. 181, 1870, p. 13. * Thbid., p. 14.
* Ibid., p. 15. * Ibid., pp. 17, 18 seq.
