To a Cape Town shopkeeper it loomed as large as Table Mountain.

The attitude of Molteno's Ministry, on the other hand, seemed as ominous to him as it seemed obvious to the Colonists.

He thought it fatal to the unity of the Empire, and amounting to absolute independence.

He did not understand the people with whom he had to deal.

Most of them were as loyal subjects as himself, and never contemplated for a moment secession from the Empire.