Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:06:52.884Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Natal, The Cape and the Indian Ocean, 1846–1880

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 January 2009

B. A. Le Cordeur
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Attempts to promote closer relations among the states of Southern Africa in the third quarter of the nineteenth century were thwarted inter alia by intense rivalry between the two British coastal colonies, Natal and the Cape. The sources of this struggle have usually been sought in the strenuous efforts made by each colony to monopolize the transit trade to the interior and in their attempts to develop in the hinterland those markets which the metropolitan countries of Europe did not offer them. But Natal's geographical situation tempted her also to seek economic salvation in the Indian Ocean. At various stages of the colony's history, Natal's businessmen and politicians showed considerable interest in the commercial potential of the region, in its labour resources, and in the creation of steamship and telegraphic lines of communication through the Ocean to the East and Europe. These, it was believed, would not only be of economic advantage to Natal but would also afford her greater independence in many ways from the older-established and far wealthier sister colony. Yet these conflicting ambitions and policies—particularly the commercial connexions of each colony with Mauritius—did much to exacerbate relations between them. Both in 1866 and in 1876, proposals merely for a free trade treaty in each other's produce were easily defeated. The divergence of interests and sympathies between the two colonies, so evident at the National Convention in 1909, stemmed from a great variety of sources—political, economic, geographical and others. Their rivalry had a long history, but was seldom so pronounced as in the earliest years of their relationship.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of African History , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , July 1966 , pp. 247 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Notably by de Kiewiet, C. W., British Colonial Policy and the South African Republics, 1848–72 (London, 1929);Google ScholarThe Imperial Factor in South Africa (Cambridge, 1937);Google Scholar and A History of South Africa–Social and Economic (Oxford, 1950).Google Scholar

2 See, for example, Fage, J. D., An Atlas of African History (London, 1958), 25–8;Google ScholarCambridge History of the British Empire, viii (Cambridge, 1963), chap. I.Google Scholar

3 Toussaint, A. and Adolphe, H., Bibliography of Mauritius, 1502–1954 (Port Louis, 1956), vii;Google ScholarPridham, C., An Historical, Political and Statistical Account of Mauritius and its Dependencies (London, 1849), 251.Google Scholar

4 Barter, C., The Dorp and the Veld (London, 1852), 3.Google Scholar

5 Bitensky, M. F., ‘The economic development of Natal, 1843–85’ (M.A. thesis, University of London, 1955), 5.Google Scholar

6 G. H. 633/249.Google Scholar

7 Immelman, R. F. M., Men of Good Hope, 1804–1954 (Cape Town, 1955), 99.Google Scholar

8 Colenso, J. W., Ten Weeks in Natal (Cambridge, 1855), 7–8.Google Scholar

9 E.C. 3, p. 15;Google ScholarMurray, M., Union-Castle Chronicle, 1853–1953 (London, 1953), 12, 20.Google Scholar

10 G.H. 638, p. 95.Google Scholar

11 See, for example, G.H. 326/45 and L. C. A. and Knowles, C. M., The Economic Development of the British Overseas Empire, III, (London, 1936), 292;Google ScholarNatal Mercury, 15 November 1854.Google Scholar

12 Immelman, op. cit. 71–82, 138–9;Google ScholarHerrman, L., A History of the Jews in South Africa from the Earliest Times to 1895 (Johannesburg, 1935), 124, 209 et seq.;Google Scholar G.H. 23/25, Darling to Newcastle, 23 February 1854;Google ScholarBunbury, C. F. J., Journal of a Residence at the Cape of Good Hope (London, 1848), 246.Google Scholar

13 Barter, op. cit. 236–7.Google Scholar

14 Zuid-Afrikaan, 16 August 1849: J. Bower to Editor.Google Scholar

15 Shepstone Papers, Cato, G. C. to Shepstone, H., 7 February 1868.Google Scholar

16 Natal Colonist, 22 August 1873.Google Scholar

17 Natal Witness, 9 June 1865.Google Scholar

18 Times of Natal, 2 May 1874.Google Scholar

19 G.H. 280, pp. 89–97.Google Scholar

20 For example, Cape Ho. of Ass. Debs., 1854, 22;Google ScholarCape Leg. Co. Debs., 1854, 67.Google Scholar

21 Cape Argus, 27 January 1876.Google Scholar

22 Graham's Town Journal, 1 January 1861;Google ScholarAdv. & Mail, 16 January 1861.Google Scholar

23 G.H. 343, Elton to Pine, 13 July 1874.Google Scholar

24 G.H. 637/108; E. C. 9, p. 362.Google Scholar

25 E.C. 9, pp. 446–8; G. H. 637/236 and 249; G. H. 280, Wolseley to Carnarvon, 24 June 1875; Natal Mercury, 9 November 1875.Google Scholar

26 Ibid. 18 January 1876.

27 Ibid. 18 March and 2 December 1876; cf. G.H. 23/33, Barkly to Carnarvon, 10 February and 26 December 1876, 19 March 1877.Google Scholar

28 CHBE, vii, part 1, 77, 349; see N.G.G. 6 et seq.Google Scholar

29 Goodricke Papers, II, 342.Google Scholar

30 Fleming Papers, John Fleming to his brother, 27 April 1853. Cf. Hattersley, A. F., ‘Inter-colony migration in early Victorian times’, S.A.J. of Econ. xxiv, 4 (1956), 282.Google Scholar

31 Dr Charles Johnston Papers, Winter to Johnston, 29 March 1862.Google Scholar

32 24 February 1873.Google Scholar

33 Natal Mercury, 12 September 1874.Google Scholar

34 Ibid. 3 April 1875; 4 February and 6 May 1878.

35 Letter quoted by Natal Colonist, 2 January 1879.Google Scholar

36 25 October 1861. Cf. Eastern Province Herald, 9 February 1864.Google Scholar

37 N.G.G. 2/92.Google Scholar

38 Hattersley, A. F., The Natalians (Pietermaritzburg, 1940), 19. Cf. Fleming Papers, Fleming to his father, 25 April 1846; Natal Patriot, 7 April 1848.Google Scholar

39 Bitensky, op. cit. 32, 163.Google Scholar

40 N.G.G. 6/294.Google Scholar

41 Bitensky, op. cit. 221 et seq. In 1865, Natal provided about 28 % of the Cape's sugar imports; in 1870, 60%; in 1875, 58%; and, in 1881, 47%.Google Scholar

42 Eastern Province Herald, 18 March 1859.Google Scholar

43 Graham's Town Journal, 30 August 1862.Google Scholar

44 For example, ‘Natal Mercury Trade Circular’: see Natal Mercury, 3 April 1875.Google Scholar

45 G.H. 332/56; Southey Papers, Erskine to Southey, 27 August 1866; Eastern Province Herald, 14 September 1866; Cape Argus, 6 October 1866.Google Scholar

46 Quoted in Natal Colonist, 3 October 1876; G.H. 352.Google Scholar

47 Cape Argus, 21 July 1877.Google Scholar

48 N.S.B. 10, 20 and 30.Google Scholar

49 CHBE, vii, part I, 343.Google Scholar

50 B.P.P, 122 (1847), 215.Google Scholar

51 B.P.P. 123 (1849), 446.Google Scholar

52 Adu. & Mail, 26 January and 8 May 1861. Cf. N.P.P. 238 (Natal Select Committee); G.H. 274/63; G.H. 23/28, Wynard to Newcastle, 14 September and 18 December 1861.Google Scholar

53 Southey Papers, Barrow to Southey, 4 February 1862; Murray, op. cit. 26–7.Google Scholar

54 Eastern Province Herald, 17 December 1864.Google Scholar

55 Cape Argus, 6 March 1866; Murray, op. cit. 37–8.Google Scholar

56 Southey Papers, Erskine to Southey, 7 June, 10 August, 10 October 1866.Google Scholar

57 N.P.P. 249, Cf. G.H. 16/18.Google Scholar

58 Murray, op. cit. 31.Google Scholar

59 G.H. 17/73; Adv. & Mail, 19 February 1868; Murray, op. cit. 40.Google Scholar

60 12 November 1870.Google Scholar

61 N.P.P. 108. Kimberley to Keate, 10 January 1872.Google Scholar

62 See, for example, report in Natal Mercury, 26 March 1872; also 4 April 1872; G.H. 279, p. 100.Google Scholar

63 G.H. 23/31, Barkly to Kimberley, 19 August 1872.Google Scholar

64 Graham's Town Journal, 7 February 1873; G.H. 279, p. 273; G.H. 21/30 (enclosure).Google Scholar

65 G.H. 279, pp. 286–8.Google Scholar

66 G.H. 280, pp. 135–41.Google Scholar

67 Natal Mercury, 9 December 1873 (Extra), 24 January 1874; E.C. 9, p. 247.Google Scholar

68 Cf. Cape Argus, 7 January 1873; G.H. 23/32, Barkly to Secretary of State, 22 July 1873, 11 December 1874;Google ScholarMurray, op. cit. 75.Google Scholar

69 Murray, op. cit. 68 et seq.Google Scholar

70 For example, Times of Natal, 26 July 1878.Google Scholar

71 Reported in Cape Argus, 8 and 22 February 1870.Google Scholar

72 G.H. 333/76; G.H. 637/107.Google Scholar

73 G.H. 25, Carnarvon to Bulwer, 22 September 1876.Google Scholar

74 Cape Argus, 28 December 1876, 14 June 1877.Google Scholar

75 Cape Argus, 27 May 1876.Google Scholar

76 G.H. 1/75, Hicks Beach to Frere, 21 March 1878.Google Scholar

77 Annual report of Cape Chamber of Commerce: Cape Argus, 29 March 1877.Google Scholar

78 Ibid. 14 June 1877.

79 Merriman Papers, J. X. Merriman to British Agent, Zanzibar, 11 April 1878 (and reply, 10 May 1878); President of Egyptian Telegraphs to Merriman, 6 June 1878.Google Scholar

80 See G.H. 23/34, Frere to Hicks Beach, 20 and 30 April 1878 (and enclosures).Google Scholar

81 G.H. 1/75 and 77, Hicks Beach to Frere, 21 March and 1 November 1878.Google Scholar

82 See his wife's account of their tour of the Indian Ocean in 1878: Pender, R., No Telegraph; or, a Trip to our Unconnected Colonies, 1878 (London, 1879).Google Scholar

83 G.H. 23/35, Frere to Hicks Beach, 27 May 1879; G.H. 1/79–80, Hicks Beach to Frere, 29 May and 1 July 1879; Cape Argus, 26 May 1879.Google Scholar

84 Ibid. May–June 1879 passim (Ho. of Ass. Debates).

85 Natal Colonist, 5 July 1879.Google Scholar