 Finally, as a member of the Legislative Council, he chaired the 1871 "Commission on Federal Devolution" in a last-ditch attempt to split the Cape and weaken the Responsible Government movement, but the following year Molteno gained parliamentary control and became the Cape's first Prime Minister.The new Prime Minister immediately included several representatives of the Eastern Cape into his government.This, together with the rising economic prosperity of the Cape and the "Seven Circles Bill (May 1874)" finally extinguished the separatist movement.