There maybe trouble ahead...
1.
1836 started with something of a minor scandal for Melbourne’s Whig government. The occupation of Queen Adelaide Province, east of the South African Cape Colony by British forces had come to a terrible end amidst rumours of murder, rape and corruption. During the 6th Frontier War of 1834, the latest in a series of brushfire wars with the native Xhosa tribes, the punitive expedition under the command of Cape Governor Sir Benjamin D’Urban sent to pacify the region failed in its mission, stalemated by the Xhosa’s superior numbers and local knowledge. However determined to secure the safety of British subjects further to the west, D’Urban retained a series of outposts in the region. From these redoubts, ‘magistrates’ retained a complicated hierarchy with the various native chieftains, playing them off against each other and raiding settlements unwilling to pay taxes. Having granted the magistrates total power, and with Queen Adelaide Province far from a
de jure Crown Colony, soon enough supplies of British flintlocks were being sold off, massive bribes being accepted and massacres being carried out by Xhosa and British administrators alike.
Before long the Colonial Secretary, Lord Glenelg (as well as the press) had caught wind of events in Southern Africa and ordered D’Urban to take hold of the situation. D’Urban, popular with both the British and Boer settlers, defended his actions, seeing the chaotic ‘buffer province’ as a better alternative than yet another war. He also sighted his jurisdiction and refused to budge, much to the anger of Westminster. Glenelg nonetheless was also Secretary for War and soon pulled rank as it were, ordering all British troops out of Queen Adelaide Province, which quickly neutered the whole governing system. Glenelg was not finished. An immediate inquiry into the Governor and his practices began and would finally see him removed from office in May 1837, much to the distress of the colonial population, in particular the Boers who were already beginning their ‘Great Trek’ out of British territory.
Colonial and Foreign affairs in general dominated much of the coming year for the government, with mixed results. In Central Asia, a diplomatic mission led by Colonel Stoddart was sent to the Emirate of Bukhara, to discuss with their leader Emir Nasrullah Khan the possibility of ending slavery in his country, and of course to bring Bukhara into the British sphere of influence. Although Lord Melbourne was unwilling to provoke the Russians over the region overtly, he saw the envoy as a gentle enough approach. Similarly, far away in the South Pacific, French interests in the New Zealand islands were being warded off. Despite the areas limited value, its proximity to Australia (at this time still believed to possibly hold an inland sea and lush hinterland) led to the local British agent, James Busby signing a pact of friendship with the Maori tribes, effectively turning the islands into a British protectorate.
In early February further French interests were curbed far closer to home. The nascent state of Belgium, although on the verge of being recognised by a Dutch nation and government quite unwilling and unable to suppress it’s rebellious southern provinces, was becoming a target for malicious foreign powers. Prussia, still fearful of a resurgent France, was beginning to weigh up the possibility of intervening in the conflict on the side of the Netherlands with its awesome military might, in order to retain the powerful buffer state as a whole. The Austrians were similarly inclined, with Metternich even proposing a possible return to the pro-Napoleonic era, with Belgium a province of the Hapsburg Empire. King Louis-Philippe and his formidable, if ancient Foreign Minister Talleyrand finally entered the fray in early 1836, calling for peace. They proposed the partition of Belgium.
Talleyrand's Plan
The more loyal Flemish lands in the north would be retained by King William of Orange, the Duchy of Luxembourg with its large German-speaking population would be annexed to West-Prussia and a small free state around Antwerp would be set up, under British supervision. This would leave a large central region consisting of Wallonia and Brussels, naturally to be handed over to Paris and the Francophile minority within the Belgian revolutionary movement. Despite the concessions made towards Westminster, Melbourne was wary of French territorial expansion, particularly so soon after Napoleon and the fall of the Bourbons. As such, knowing the Prussians to be similarly suspicious of the plan, he and Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston, somewhat recklessly jumped at a request for a defensive alliance with Brussels. France now found itself isolated from the only other nation truly supportive of Belgian secession. Prussia and Austria, and even Holland too were shocked by the move. Suddenly the affair was over, thanks to unilateral diplomacy. Although talk of Prussian forces preparing to back up a Dutch invasion were rumoured, the Dutch themselves had no stomach to carry on the war, let alone with Britain also involved, their East Indian colonies vulnerable to the Royal Navy in particular. Finally on February 15th, Amsterdam called a truce and would recognise Belgium officially two years later at the Treaty of London.
Although the Europeans grumbled, at home Whig popularity had never been higher since the Reform Act in 1832. Unfortunately for Melbourne events in Asia soon dampened British cheer. In March, the Shah Muhammad of Persia banished his British advisors from Tehran with little in the way of explanation. In the coming weeks it soon became clear however. In retaliation for the Bukhara mission, which the Russians viewed as an invasion of their dominion, they had launched a political counter-attack. As quickly as the British left Persia, Russians arrived to take their place, along with muskets, cannon, munitions and gold. The Tsar’s roubles had quite literally bought out Westminster’s influence in Tehran. The government soon came under attack, particularly by the reactionary Ultra Tories, led by the Duke of Wellington. They criticised Lord Palmerston’s foreign policy as slap-dash; not only had he managed to alienate most of the Continental Powers, but he had failed to protect vital British interests in the Middle East from their geopolitical nemesis. The attacks failed to let up as Colonel Stoddart returned to British India in late April empty handed, having been thoroughly rebuffed by the Emir of Bukhara, barely escaping with his head. Russian mischief was once more suspected and Palmerston once more blamed for the embarrassing defeats.
The Duke of Wellington and Lord Palmerston
Hoping to regain some prestige, in May Palmerston (quite independently of Melbourne) looked into the growing unrest in the Caucasus, the Russian Empire’s newest territory. Subjected constantly to Cossack raids and repressed for their Moslem faith and native tongues, the Turkic tribes of the region were on the verge of revolt. The Ottoman Sultan was keen to see the Russians pay dearly for their new lands and secretly began to send weapons over the border. Palmerston intended to do likewise and with a grandiose imagination he would become to be known by, he hoped to create an independent Caucasian state, to act as a buffer between the Russians and the Ottomans. However Melbourne and the rest of the Cabinet could hardly be kept in the dark for long, and fearful of antagonising the Tsar with such belligerent behaviour, a vote quickly sunk the idea. The unsupported Caucasian revolt was crushed over the course of June and July.