DIAMONDS.GOLD.AND BRITISHIMPERIALISM
exercise great latitude,
subject to supervision
from London
that varied
with the energy and personality
of the colonial secretary.
Insofar as British politicians gave a thought to the future of South Africa,
they placed it in the same category as Canada-a
region dominated
by
white settlers of foreign and British origin who had joined to form a federal
British dominion
in 1867. Following that precedent, the British colonies
and Afrikaner
republics in South Africa, from the Cape to the Limpopo
and perhaps beyond, should amalgamate
in a self-governing, white-con-
trolled state under the Crown. Such a state should be strong enough to keep
internal law and order and to incorporate
the African communities;
the
Royal Navy would protect it from foreign aggression; British merchants
would dominate its foreign trade; and the British government would con-
trol its foreign political relations. Also, some politicians
would add, the
British government should have a say in its treatment of its African inhabi-
tants.
How was this to be achieved? One way was to give the Cape Colony self-
government and have it engross the other states in the region. That method
was tried. The Cape Colony acquired responsible government in 1872, but