in South Africa, as president. The views of the British government regarding South Africa were thus diametrically opposite to what they had been less than twenty years before, with the exception that now as then the principal object was to save expense.
The intention of Lord Carnarvon was unquestionably good, and there were few thinking men in South Africa who were not in favour of the union of the disjointed sections of the country, but the time was singularly inopportune for such a conference as was proposed, and the very manner in which it was brought forward gave offence to the party in power in the colony. It was inopportune, because the Orange Free State was then irritated by the loss of territory, and certainly would not take part in any discussion if a representative of Griqualand West was admitted. The South African Republic was also irritated by the staggering blow it had received when its south-western districts were declared by the Keate award not to belong to it, and would not take part in any movement that might end in the loss of its independence. It was in favour of union certainly, but union under the republican flag, which the English colonies would resist to the last. Mr. Pieter Jacobus Joubert, who was acting as president during the absence of Mr. Burgers in Europe, put the case of his state clearly when on the 7th of June 1875 he wrote to Sir Henry Barkly enquiring whether the sending of a delegate by the South African Republic would be regarded as equivalent to an acknowledgment of the Keate award.
The colonial ministry objected to the proposed conference because they thought it should originate in South Africa, not in England, and they were annoyed that a delegate had been named to represent the eastern province. The prime minister represented the whole colony, they said, not a part of it only. And as if to strengthen their view of the matter, the old separatist
