clear understanding of what the Xhosa intended (if they intended anything at all). Despite what Gaika had promised when his son had been returned to him, his tribesmen had continued almost without let to cross the Keiskama to hunt, and of late had begun crossing the Fish again, so that the frontier settlers were once more reporting cattle losses. Fort Willshire had had to request reinforcements, and twice Colonel Somerset had travelled to Graham’s Town to judge the situation for himself. Hervey found he could bear the absence easily.
General Bourke on the other hand, when he returned from St Helena in the middle of October, Hervey found to be a straightforward man, but much preoccupied with administration and the business of accounts. Hervey was sorry for him. It was clear that the War Office had set him the most stringent economies, and that his future depended on them. Hervey wished never for general rank if it meant being an actuary in a red coat.
Colonel Somerset had no difficulty persuading General Bourke that the Xhosa would soon make war on the colony. Or rather, he had no difficulty persuading him of the possibility – and, as the frontier defences stood, of the unfavourable outcome. So persuaded, it was the general’s duty to alert the lieutenant-governor to the danger, and to set in hand the appropriate measures.
Hervey was not persuaded, however. Or rather, Edward Fairbrother was not, and it was Fairbrother’s opinion for which he had the greater regard. They had indeed become firm friends, and Hervey had arranged for him to exchange on to full pay as supernumerary captain in the Mounted Rifles.
Throughout November memoranda had travelled backwards and forwards like petitions in the Court of Chancery: Hervey to Bourke, Bourke to Somerset, Somerset to Bourke, Bourke to Somervile, Somervile to Hervey, Hervey to Somervile, Somervile to Bourke. Until in the end the lieutenant-governor felt himself thoroughly apprised of both the arguments and the plaintiffs, and that a colonial council was the appropriate means of resolving the dispute.
‘I thought it better to hold the council here rather than in chancellery,’ he said as General Bourke took the coffee cup from the tray which the khitmagar held ready at the door of the residence’s library. ‘I have asked Colonel Hervey to attend, and I beg you would forgive me if it is amiss, for if the troop of cavalry is to return to England not so very long from now, and he with it, I would have him give as much an account there of our deliberations as possible.’
‘Eminently reasonable, Sir Eyre,’ said Bourke, unperturbed. ‘As I informed you, there will be no need of a lieutenant-colonel in the Rifles once they are formed into independent companies. I myself would not have wished it, but the state of the military accounts …’ He shook his head.
‘And I have asked, too, Captain Fairbrother. I believe it would be apt if he were to hear our deliberations, since I might wish him for an interpreter at a later date.’
The general’s countenance remained the same: if the lieutenant-governor could be accommodating in the matter of military economies, then he himself could overlook an irregularity of military protocol. ‘It is your prerogative, Lieutenant-Governor. You will not, I imagine, be asking for their opinion on military matters on which I should be obliged to give mine on a par.’
‘No, indeed, certainly not! Only their opinion of the peril we face. Yours is the military opinion on which I must act.’
The show of mild dismay was effective: the general nodded. ‘Of course.’ He drained his cup and took another.
Somervile now sought to be confidential. ‘You are aware, are you not, of all the changes in government?’ (On the sudden death of the prime minister in August there had been comings and goings.)
‘I may not be. Huskisson has War and the Colonies, as I understand.’
‘You understand right.’ The former President of the Board of Trade was now Secretary of State for the War and Colonial Department. ‘Palmerston remains at the War Office, and Anglesey at the Ordnance.’
‘And has Peel returned?’
‘No. It is Lansdowne who has the Home department.’ ‘Capital.’ General Bourke was of the opinion that no good would come of things as long as Peel and those like him were opposed to giving the Catholics their relief. ‘He’d stand in the last ditch outside Dublin.’
Somervile half smiled. ‘Ah yes, Catholic Emancipation. Which reminds me, the amendment to the Slave Ordnance…’
General Bourke looked at him intently, and not a little suspiciously.
‘I take note of your memorandum,’ said the lieutenant-governor.
‘You mean you will delay its promulgation?’
‘If we conclude this morning that action is necessary then I fear I have no alternative.’
Bourke looked satisfied. ‘It is, of course, a civil judgement, but the military consequences are of concern to me. We should have to call out the burghers of Graaff Reinet and Uitenhage first, and they’re among the biggest slave owners. It wouldn’t do to embitter them now.’
Somervile nodded, reluctantly: it was a damnable thing to play with men’s liberty like this – and, for that matter, to play false with the burghers so.
The khansamah appeared. ‘The council is assembled, sahib.’
Somervile smiled his thank-you. ‘Well, General, shall we to our council of …
An hour they sat in council. They heard the reports from the frontier landdrosts, which the colonial secretary had collected, all of which spoke of intolerable levels of predation. Colonel Somerset, as commandant of the frontier, gave his military assessment: without calling out the auxiliaries there was nothing more that could be done with the forces at his disposal.
‘A good deal of the present trouble is undoubtedly brought upon by the character of the settlers come from England and Ireland in recent years. They have no very great disposition to industry and no inclination to exert themselves. Indeed, at times it appears their chief object is to oppose or render odious all authority of any kind, to magnify all their difficulties, and even to sow the seeds of their discontent further afield.’
There was much nodding among the dozen or so officials round the table.
‘Does anyone wish to add anything in this regard?’ asked Somervile, glancing about the assembly.
Fairbrother, sitting not at the table itself but behind Hervey, rose.
Colonel Somerset looked astonished. His mouth opened in protest.
But he was too slow. ‘Proceed, sir,’ said Somervile.
‘Sir Eyre, gentlemen,’ began Fairbrother, nodding to the seniors with an exemplary show of respect. ‘All that we have heard – even this ill disposition and magnification on the part of the settlers – cannot account for what is perfectly clearly a significant irruption by the Xhosa. I remain of the opinion that the Zulu are the true cause of the turbulence. They press in from the north-east of the Xhosa’s territory, and the Xhosa in their turn are displaced towards the south-west and over the frontier. In other words the trespassing and the reiving is to all intents and purposes a Zulu peril.’
Colonel Somerset struck the table. ‘Sir Eyre, we have heard all this before, in Colonel Hervey’s memoranda. It is most improper for this … officer’ (he appeared to force himself to say it) ‘to address the council in this way.’
Somervile looked at General Bourke. He had a mind that since this was not a matter of
The general shook his head.
Somervile replied with considerable balm. ‘Colonel, I do agree with you that we have read extensively of these views, but the benefit of hearing them in council is that all may hear equally, and a proper record of deliberations may be made.
With a bow, Colonel Somerset – for the time being at least – conceded.
‘Carry on, if you please, Captain Fairbrother,’ said Eyre Somervile, concealing a smile of satisfaction.
‘Thank you, Sir Eyre. I know the following to have been placed before you already, but while Captain Hervey was received by Gaika I was able to speak with some of the Xhosa elders. I believe that Gaika and the other Xhosa chiefs could be persuaded to resist the Zulu if they are given military assistance. By all I know, this King Shaka will not give up his predations. At best he will push the Xhosa from their land, and they will come across the frontier and make war with the colony. But at worst Shaka will defeat them, or persuade them to an alliance, and then we shall be obliged to fight both Xhosa and Zulu.’
