interference. Merriman vigorously supported Molteno in rejecting Lord Carnarvon's ill-considered attempt to enforce a Confederation on the various stated of southern Africa. The Colonial Office eventually overthrew the elected Cape Government in 1878, and forced the Fengu-Gcaleka, Anglo-Zulu and First Boer Wars, before the Confederation scheme finally failed as predicted. Merriman's shock at the actions of the Colonial Office developed into lasting anti-imperialist sentiments. Opposition and isolation (1879–1890) Merriman swiftly became the leading opponent of Sir John Gordon Sprigg, the new pro-imperialist Cape Prime Minister appointed by the Colonial Office. Now a leader of the liberals, Merriman led the attacks on Sprigg's "Bantu policy" and the discriminatory Disarmament Act, which led to the outbreak of the Basuto Gun War. The Sprigg government also provoked the Basotho Gun War, which it was unable to conclude. As the Governor's appointee, Sprigg had little local support, and when governor Sir Henry Bartle Frere was recalled to London for misconduct, his government fell. After the fall of the Sprigg government, the volatile Merriman was not backed as the new Prime Minister, even though he had led the opposition, and the "safe" Thomas Charles Scanlen was elevated to the position instead. Merriman later served in the Scanlen ministry from 1881 to 1884, his private secretary in this time being Henry Latham Currey, the son of an old friend. It was during his time in the Scanlen Ministry that Merriman rashly criticised the leader of the powerful Afrikaner Bond party, Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr, accusing him of accentuating racial divisions and famously dubbing him "the mole" for his work behind the scenes of parliament. While Merriman bore no personal animosity against him, Hofmeyr went on to topple the Scanlen government (reportedly because it opposed the Boers seizing Bechuanaland), and took decades to fully forgive Merriman. This grievance cost Merriman's career dearly, and blocked him from becoming Prime Minister on several occasions in the coming years. From 1884 until 1890 he operated as a renegade liberal critic of the Upington and the second Sprigg ministry, politically isolated except for his friends JW Sauer and James Molteno. Cecil Rhodes (1890–1898) He was appointed Treasurer-General in Cecil Rhodes's government from 1890 to 1893, but he resigned when the 1893 "Logan Scandal" revealed the degree of corruption in Rhodes's business dealings, and then ended his relationship with Rhodes entirely after the Jameson Raid in December 1895. Merriman chaired the Cape Commission