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.

Sir Bartle Frere was intending to go to Bloemfontein, in the

Orange Free State, to visit President Brand, with whom he was on
cordial terms, and with whom he wished to talk over his plans for the
Transvaal; but instructions came from Sir Michael Hicks-