Adamantia : the truth about the South African diamond fields : or, a ...

ABAl',DONMENT O}' SOVEREIGNTY. 49bell, Cornelius Kok, made a similar application for thesame land; the British Colonial Government, however,ignored both claims. The event will be furthernoticed when we come to deal with Waterboer's claimto the diamond-fields, and the seizure of them(upon tbe pretence that it was for him) by the ColonialGovernment.The Sovereignty had but a short life of just sixyears. During that period the policy of interferencewith the natives, the intervention in their continualinternecine quarrels and wars, had turned out badly.With Moshesh, especially, the paramount chief of thenumerous and formidable nation of Basuto Kafirs, veryindefinite hostilities had been waged; British troopshad. even been repulsed, if not defeated; and a verydubious sort of advantage and treaty had lately beenobtained. 1.'1lese things, no doubt, affected the BritishGovernment at home. The policy of following up andforcibly retaining the hoers as British subjects suddenlyceased, the Orange River Sovereignty was' formallyabandoned, and the Government of the country madeover to the ho61'S as a free and independent people!This act was just as arbitrary and selfish as theannexation de haute lutte had been; the will of HerMajesty's Ministers being alone studied or consulted;that of the people to be abandoned-abandoned, too,to the tender mercies of the Basutos, wholll the Britishhostilities had perhaps provoked against the whites,and for a time humbled, but certainly not conquered-never being taken into consideration at all I Underthese circumstances a great proportion of the whitesettlers protested most emphatically against the abandonment;especially many English merchants andEDigitized by Goog Ie