DIAMONDS.GOLD.AND BRITISHIMPERIALISM
would support confederation under British auspices, which was foolish
because that would have amounted to political suicide by Burgers.
Rebuffed by the Cape colonial government and, so he thought, deceived
by the president of the Transvaal, Carnarvon convened a conference in
London after trying to conciliate President Brand of the Orange Free State
by granting him ninety thousand pounds' compensation for the loss of the
diamond fields. The conference achieved nothing significant. The Cape
and the Transvaal were not represented; Shepstone, a nonelected official,
represented Natal; and President Brand was present to make sure that
confederation was not discussed.
Foiled in diplomacy, Carnarvon resorted to more dramatic methods.
Using propaganda to exploit missionary charges that the Transvaal prac-
ticed slavery,the concerns of British merchants, traders, and bankers about
the security of their investments in the Transvaal, and reports about the
Pedi defeat of a Transvaal commando,
Carnarvon entrusted Shepstone
with the task of annexing the republic, preferably with the consent of its
Afrikaner citizens. In January 1877, Shepstone entered the Transvaal with
a small police escort and settled in Pretoria. There he played a skillful