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Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.

His Recall

page 125

His Recall.

Without waiting to receive the approval of the Colonial Office, he opened the Parliament of Cape Colony in 1859 with a speech in which he advised that that body should take steps to bring about the federation of the South African States. This was the final straw that broke the endurance of the long-suffering Colonial Office. On May 5 a despatch had been sent to him expressing dissatisfaction, with his proceedings, but it must have been received too late to arrest him. On June 4, as soon as the tenor of the Governor's speech was known in London, he was peremptorily recalled. He was treated with high consideration. The Secretary of State, whether Lytton or Carnarvon, but more probably Carnarvon, acknowledged "the large and comprehensive nature of" his views; he even admitted the "fairness" of the High Commissioner. But he was plainly informed that he was "committed to a policy of which" Her Majesty's Government "disapproved on a subject of the first importance." The steps he had taken would "have to be retraced."

The blow was by no means a clap of thunder in a clear sky. Ominous muttering preceded the explosion. Rumours of his probable recall had been for months floating on the wings of many winds. They had not escaped his ears. In a despatch that would have been pathetic, if it had not been pitiful, he again struck a chord that he had harped on during his first term in New Zealand, and told the Secretary of State how he was worn with anxiety and broken down with toil. If to such vexations and labours were to be added misconstruction and distrust at the Colonial Office, his situation would be rendered untenable. Above all, if her Majesty's Government were dissatisfied with his administration to the point that they had meditated his recall, as his enemies in the Colony rumoured, then he hoped that they would treat him as English gentlemen are wont to be treated, and say plainly what they designed.

We are reminded of the querulous tone of the State-papers written by English statesmen who enjoyed the page 126questionable distinction of serving the virgin Queen. Burleigh, Walsingham, and Davison are continually deploring their lot in having to carry out the behests of a capricious and intractable woman. Alone in them, of all English State-papers, the note of personal feeling constantly recurs, and alone in the despatches of Grey, of all British Governors, is the same chord struck. Like them too, and like another Grey, not perhaps greater or less high-handed, Lord Grey of Wilton, what he had to dread was deposition or recall. Governors have been recalled for a variety of reasons. They have been recalled because they were too old or too young, because they were too meddlesome or too slothful, because they offended the immigrants or alienated the natives, because they were Pharisaical or were immoral, because they made war or failed to make peace. Grey was recalled because he was a King Stork, and chiefly because he was endeavouring to bring about a federation in South Africa that would prove inimical to the interests of the Empire. All his other offences, strongly though they were condemned at the time, could have been forgiven; they were over and done with. In relation to federation he was active for mischief, and if his mischievous activity were not checked, there was no saying what the incorrigible meddler, who believed that he was ruler of South Africa, would be tempted to do.

The nominal author of his recall was Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton, but the real author of it Grey believed to be the young Earl of Carnarvon, the Under-Secretary who governed the department in the absence of his chief through ill-health consequent on a nervous break-down. Grey himself, inspiring Mr. Rees, gives an animated account of the manner in which the recall was effected. As an act of more than ordinary gravity, it had to receive the approval of the Cabinet and the final sanction of the Queen in Council. In Grey's belief, the Queen resisted the decision, and the Earl of Derby, returning from Windsor, where the meeting of the Privy Council was held, confided to Clerk Greville the expression of page 127his apprehensions: "I fear, we have done a bad day's work in recalling Grey.''

Just so did it appear in South Africa. Addresses of regret poured in upon the disgraced Governor from all quarters; Dutch leaders, Kafir and Zulu chiefs, and English missionaries, including the heroic Livingstone,, voiced their sincere sorrow that so sympathetic a Governor was leaving them, and leaving them under a cloud. Never before, it was rightly felt, had such a Governor been vouchsafed to South Africa. The injunction of the Colonial Minister was, however, imperative; a few written words, at a distance of 5,000 miles, were as potent as the stroke of a sword; believing the decision to be final, the popular Governor broke up his home and prepared to take his departure. We can imagine his melancholy reflections on the miserable Homeward voyage. He was going Home to disgrace.

Happily, it proved to be far otherwise. His sun had not yet set. He was still on Sunium's heights. His deposition was a boomerang that recoiled on his authors. The returning steamer was boarded off Southampton by a reporter, who brought the thrice-welcome news that the Ministry which had recalled him had been driven from office, and that he was to be reinstated in the governorship of the Cape. A condemned criminal to whom the news of a reprieve has been brought could hardly feel greater joy than the deposed Governor must have felt. He could now afford to take the matter jovially. Meeting a New Zealand ex-official (Walter Mantell, once Protector of the Aborigines), he told him that he only wanted a holiday and took steps to obtain it. Long afterwards, when he saw the significance of the event in the light of later happenings, he spoke of it as "a great fall." He had then taken it to heart; he never took it to head.

The cold reception by the Colonial Office after his return from New Zealand in 1854 had been offset by the enthusiastic greeting he received from the undergraduates of Oxford. His condemnation by the page 128same department was now virtually reversed by the University of Cambridge. In company with Mr. Gladstone, he was granted the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Young England admired the large views and bold spirit of the Governor, who was a man after its own heart; it was indifferent to the alleged errors of his policy.