THE DIAMOND FIELDS. 145 



Lanyon with a view to enquire whether criminal 

 proceedings against Arnott were contemplated. 

 His reply to my question was in the affirmative ; 

 he attributed delay simply to the non-arrival of 

 necessary documents hourly expected. I can't 

 explain this, but confine narration to facts. Per- 

 sonally, I was entirely disinterested in all Griqua- 

 land properties or affairs, but I shall never regret 

 having been able to give information to the Com- 

 mission which went far to expose this gigantic 

 swindle. 



As a natural consequence, the Orange Free State 

 rights had to be acknowledged, and after some 

 delay the Imperial Government purchased these 

 for 90,000 down and a promise of an additional 

 15,000 at some future time to aid in railway con- 

 struction. The cheap and nasty Gladstonian 

 policy in Griqualand in the end turned out an 

 extravagantly costly business. From first to last 

 it is computed by competent judges to have cost 

 in mere money a loss of about two millions, in- 

 clusive of nearly "500,000 for the Griqua war 

 charges, about six hundred human lives, and the 

 loss of all confidence in the honesty of the British 

 Government Hush money has been annually 



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