THE CAREER AND RECALL OF SIR BARTLE FRERE. UNFORTUNATE EFFECT IN
SOUTH AFRICA OF PARTY SPIRIT IN POLITICS AT HOME. DEATH OF SIR
BARTLE FRERE. THE GREAT PRINCIPLES OF BRITISH GOVERNMENT AND LAW.
HOPE FOR SOUTH AFRICA IF THESE ARE MAINTAINED AND OBSERVED. WORDS
OF MR. GLADSTONE ON THE COLONIZING SPIRIT OF ENGLISHMEN.
The case of Sir Bartle Frere illustrates forcibly the inexpediency of
allowing our party differences at home to sow the seeds of discord in a
distant Colony, and the apparent injustices to which such action may
give rise.
While in England Sir Bartle Frere was being censured and vilified, in
South Africa an overwhelming majority of the colonists, of whatever race
or origin, were declaring, in unmistakable terms, that he had gained
their warmest approbation and admiration. Town after town and village
after village poured in addresses and resolutions in different forms,
agreeing in enthusiastic commendation of him as the one man who had
grasped the many threads of the South African tangle, and was handling
them so as to promise a solution in accordance with the interests of all
the many and various races which inhabited it.
"In our opinion," one of these resolutions (from Cradock) says, "his
Excellency, Sir Bartle Frere, is one of the best Governors, if not the
best Governor, this Colony has ever had, and the disasters which have
taken place since he has held office, are not due to any fault of his,
but to a shameful mismanagement of public affairs before he came to the
Colony, and the state of chaos and utter confusion in which he had the
misfortune to find everything on his arrival; and we are therefore of
opinion that the thanks of every loyal colonist are due to his
Excellency for the herculean efforts he has since made under the most
trying circumstances to South Africa...."[19]
Another, from Kimberley says:--"It has been a source of much pain to us
that your Excellency's policy and proceedings should have been so
misunderstood and misrepresented.... The time, we hope, is not far
distant when the wisdom of your Excellency's native policy and action
will be as fully recognized and appreciated by the whole British nation
as it is by the colonists of South Africa."[20]
At Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, a public meeting was held
(April 24th), which resolved that:--
"This meeting reprobates most strongly the action of a certain section
of the English and Colonial Press for censuring, without sufficient
knowledge of local affairs, the policy and conduct of Sir B. Frere; and
it desires not only to express its sympathy with Sir B. Frere and its
confidence in his policy, but also to go so far as to congratulate most
heartily Her Majesty the Queen, the Home Government, and ourselves, on
possessing such a true, considerate, and faithful servant as his
Excellency the High Commissioner."
A public dinner also was given to Sir B. Frere at Pretoria, at which his
health was drunk with the greatest enthusiasm; there was a public
holiday, and other rejoicings.