DIAMOND MINES OF SOUTH AFRICA 233
tion
was decided. The Cape Colony was appealed to, and Sir Henry Barkly, the
governor, in the early part of March, 1871, visited the diggings and
the President of the Free State, to endeavor to arrange matters
between the miners, the Free State, and the natives who claimed that
the territory was not in the Free State limits.
At
Cawoods Hope, a settlement on the river, twelve miles from Pniel as the
crow flies, the Free State had gathered a commando to enforce their
demands. The diggers at once organized themselves into a military body
and prepared to make a vigorous resistance. The Boer commando, however,
kept within the territory they occupied. The contending parties finally
agreed to submit the matter to a commission, and the English flag was
hoisted at Kimberley, November 7, 1871. The commando of one thousand
men was kept in the field until the arrival of the Cape Colony police,
when upon demand of the governor, backed by his threat that he would
not proceed with the arbitration otherwise, the president of the Free
State dispersed them. Great Britain finally paid the Orange Free State
£90,000 in 1877, in settlement of whatever rights that government may
have had in the premises.
There
had been another attempt to impose a tax upon the miners. This was for
twenty-five per cent, of the value of the finds, and was made by the
missionaries among the native tribes. This demand was also resisted
and could not be enforced. In 1871, therefore, the territory west, from
east of Platberg on the Vaal, to Ramah on the Orange river, passed
under the jurisdiction and government of the Cape Colony.
