y, 1880, Froude delivered two lectures to the Philosophical
Society of Edinburgh, in which his view of South African policy is
with perfect clearness set forth. He condemns the annexation of the
Transvaal, and the Zulu war. He expresses a wish that Lord
Carnarvon, who had resigned two years before, could be permanent
Secretary for the Colonies. "I would give back the Transvaal to the
Dutch," he said. Again, in even more emphatic language, "The
Transvaal, in spite of prejudices about the British flag, I still
hope that we shall return to its lawful owners."* What is more
surprising, he recommended that Zululand should be restored to
Cetewayo, or Cetewayo to Zululand. He had predicted in 1875 that
Cetewayo would prove a troublesome person, and few men had less of
the sentiment which used to be associated with Exeter Hall. The
restoration of Cetewayo, when it came was disastrous both to himself
and to others. Frere understood the Zulus better than Froude or
Colenso. The surrender of the Transvaal, which was a good deal
nearer than Froude thought, was at least successful for a time, a
longer time than Froude's own life. He did not share Gladstone's
ignorance of its value; he knew it to be rich in minerals,
especially in gold. But he knew also that Carnarvon had been
deceived about the willingness of the inhabitants to become British
subjects, and he sympathised with their independence. It illustrates
his own fairness and detachment of mind that he should have taken so
strong and so unpopular a line when the Boers were generally
supposed in England to have acquiesced in the loss of their liberties,
and when his hero Sir Garnet Wolseley, to whom he dedicated his English
in Ireland, had declared that the Vaal would run back to the Drakensberg
before the British flag ceased to wave over Pretoria.

--
* Two Lectures on South Africa, pp. 80, 81, 85.
--

Froude's South African policy was to work with the Dutch, and keep
the natives in their places. He had no personal interest in the
question. It was through Lord Carnarvon that he came in contact with
South Africa at all, and there were few statesmen with whom he more
thoroughly agreed. When Disraeli came for the second time into
office, and for the first time into power, Froude was well pleased.

In 1875, after his legal disqualification had been removed, he was
again invited to become a candidate for Parliament. But he did not
really know to which party he belonged.

"Fo