290 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II 
control, refused to concert measures, and instead appointed 
a member of the Government to take full and sole charge 
of the war, while they made appointments and carried out 
the control of the forces independently of the Governor : 
the Governor at last decided to dismiss them from office, 
which he did on February 2, 1878, and his action was upheld 
by the fact that the new Ministry under Mr. Sprigg sustained 
an attack on the Governor in the House of Assembly, and 
were successful by a substantial majority, after which 
matters proceeded smoothly.! It will be seen here that the 
Governor clearly acted, as the Secretary of State suggested 
in approving his action, as an Imperial officer, the High 
Commissioner for South Africa, entrusted with the duty of 
considering the matter from the point of view of the whole 
of the country, and the Ministry should, in the opinion of the 
Secretary of State, in view of this fact have been prepared 
to yield to his judgement in the matter. In this case the 
difficulty was disposed of, but not very satisfactorily, by 
the fact that the matter resulted like a dismissal on mere 
internal grounds, the Governor finding new ministers to 
support his action : but the fact seems to be clear that 
the Molteno Ministry acted unwisely : if they thought that 
the Imperial officer was going too far their right and duty 
was to appeal to the Imperial Government against him, not 
to take the grave responsibility of compelling the Governor 
to dismiss them from office at a time when the action might 
have been fraught with the gravest dangers to the State. 
In 1880 Mr. Todd? thus laid down the constitutional 
doctrine in the case: ‘In all such cases the responsibility 
of the local ministers to the local Parliament would naturally 
be limited. They would be responsible for the advice they 
gave, but could not strictly be held accountable for their 
advice not having prevailed,” and he proceeded to quote 
the following definition of the situation from a dispatch 2 
Y Parl. Pap., C. 2079, 2100. Cf. Molteno, Sir John Molteno, ii. 300-401, 
* Parliamentary Government in the British Colonies,* p. 590. 
* See Canada Sess. Pap., 1876, No. 116, p. 82, See also Parl. Pap., 
0. 1248, p. 7.