s
not to be in any sense official. He would be ostensibly travelling
for his health, which was always set up by a voyage. He was
interested in extending to South Africa Miss Rye's benevolent plans
of emigration to Canada; in the treatment of a Kaffir chief called
Langalibalele; and in the disputes which had arisen from the
annexation of the Diamond Fields. Thus there were reasons for his
trip enough and to spare. He would, it was thought, be more likely
to obtain accurate information if the principal purpose of his visit
were kept in the background.

--
*Table Talk of Shirley, p. 142.
--

There was one great and fundamental difference between the case of
Canada and the case of South Africa. Canada had itself asked for
federation, and Parliament simply gave effect to the wish of the
Canadians. Opinion in South Africa was notoriously divided, and the
centre of opposition was at Cape Town. Natal had not yet obtained a
full measure of self-government, and the lieutenant-Governor, Sir
Benjamin Pine, had excited indignation among all friends of the
natives by arbitrary imprisonment, after a mock trial, of a Kaffir
chief. Lord Carnarvon had carefully to consider this case, and also
to decide whether the mixed Constitution of Natal, which would not
work, should be reformed or annulled. A still more serious
difficulty was connected with the Diamond Fields, officially known
as Griqualand West. The ownership of this district had been disputed
between the Orange Free State and a native chief called Nicholas
Waterboer. In 1872 Lord Kimberley, as Secretary of State for the
Colonies, had purchased it from Waterboer at a price ludicrously
small in proportion to its value, and it had since been annexed to
the British dominions by the Governor, Sir Henry Barkly. Waterboer,
who knew nothing about the value of money, was satisfied. The Orange
State vehemently protested, and President Brand denounced the annexation
as a breach of faith. Not only, he said, were the Diamond
Fields within the limits of his Republic; the agreement between
Waterboer and the Secretary of State was itself a breach of the
Orange River Convention, by which Great Britain undertook not to
negotiate with any native chief north of the River Vaal. Lord
Kimberley paid no heed to Brand's remonstrances. He denied
altogether the validity of the Dutch claim, and he would not hear of
arbitration. By the time that Lord Carnarvon came into office
thousands of British settl