strange determination, for the British crown had ruled the country for
eight years and recently given it a regular new constitution. Moreover,
whereas the farmers beyond the Vaal were nearly all of pure Boer stock,
those in the Orange River Sovereignty were mixed with English settlers,
and from their proximity to the Colony were much less averse to the
British connection. In fact, a large part of them--though it is not now
easy to discover the exact proportion--warmly resisted the proposal of
the British government to retire, and independence had to be forced on
them against their will. In Cape Colony, too, and among the
missionaries, there was a strong repugnance to the policy of withdrawal.
The authorities of the Colony and the Colonial Office at home were,
however, inexorable. They saw no use in keeping territories which were
costly because they had to be defended against native raids, and from
which little benefit was then expected. Hardly any notice had been taken
in Britain of the Sand River convention, which the Conservative ministry
of that day had approved, and when, at the instance of delegates sent
home by those who, in the Orange River territory, desired to remain
subject to the British crown, a motion was made in the House of Commons
asking the Queen to reconsider the renunciation of her sovereignty over
that territory, the motion found no support and had to be withdrawn.
Parliament, indeed, went so far as to vote forty-eight thousand pounds
by way of compensation, in order to get rid of this large territory and
a great number of attached subjects. So little did Englishmen then care
for that South African dominion which they have subsequently become so
eager to develop and extend.

By the convention signed at Bloemfontein on February 23, 1854, the
British government "guaranteed the future independence of the country
and its government," and its inhabitants were "declared, to all intents
and purposes, a free and independent people." No slavery or trade in
slaves was to be permitted north of the Orange River. The Orange River
government was to be free to purchase ammunition in the British
colonies, and liberal privileges in connection with import duties were
to be granted to it.

These two conventions of 1852 and 1854 are epochs of supreme importance
in South African history, for they mark the first establishment of
non-British independent states, whose relations with the British
colonies were thereafter to