ABSTRACT
The name of Sir Bartle Frere is intimately connected with the annexation of the Transvaal. The Cape Colony was an important link in the system of imperial defences. The paramount justification for imperial intervention was to reconcile the self-government of the Europeans with the protection of the natives. Therein lay the justification and also the failure of British policy; for it suffered its principal damage between the Scylla and Charybdis of oppugnant native and European interests. The conduct of the new Government was forcibly an imperial responsibility. For want of regular and loyal officials the duty of maintaining order in the Transvaal became finally the unhappy responsibility of British regiments. The Bank has always been as much a political as a banking institution. Considering the necessarily slow resumption of tax payments the transfer of nearly a third of the imperial grant to a banking institution was most unwise.
