visited London, and seen Lord Carnarvon himself.

--
* Short Studies, vol. iii. p. 537.
+ 90,000 lbs.
--

At the end of 1874 Froude returned to England, and reported to Lord
Carnarvon what he had observed. The Colonial Secretary, just, but
punctilious, was unwilling to reverse Lord Kimberley's policy, and
Froude discovered that party politics, to which he traced all our
woes, had much less to do with administration than he imagined.
Under the influence of Bishop Colenso, an intrepid friend of the
natives, Lord Carnarvon had already interfered on behalf of
Langalibalele, but that only involved overruling the Government of
Natal. After mature consideration he wrote a despatch to Sir Henry
Barkly in which stress was laid upon the importance of arranging all
differences with the Orange State. Then he proceeded to the subject
of Federation, which was always in his mind and at his heart. Here
he unfortunately failed to make allowance for the sensitive pride of
Colonial statesmen. He proposed the assemblage of a Federal
Conference at Cape Town, at which Froude would represent the Colonial
Office. For Cape Colony he suggested the names of the Prime
Minister, Molteno, and of Paterson, who led the Opposition.

In June, 1875, Froude went back to South Africa, this time as an
acknowledged emissary of the Government, but by ill luck his
arrival coincided with the receipt of the despatch. The effect of
this document was prodigious. Molteno considered that he had been
personally insulted. The Legislative Assembly was defiant, and
greeted the recital of Carnarvon's words with ironical laughter. A
Ministerial Minute, signed by Molteno and his colleagues, protested
against the Colonial Secretary's intrusion, and especially against
his rather ill advised reference to a proposed separation of the
eastern from the western provinces of the Cape. It was a fact that
Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, where there were very few Dutch,
considered that they paid proportionately too much towards the
colonial revenues, and desired separate treatment. But the people of
Cape Town strongly objected, and it was unwise for the Secretary of
State to take a side in local politics. Froude found his position by
no means agreeable. Molteno, though never discourteous, received him
coldly, and objected to his making speeches. The Governor, who liked
to be good friends with his Ministers, gave him no encouragement.
The House of Assembly, after proposing to c