4 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
jeopardizing the safety of the whole empire. That Lord Grey had. 
this under consideration appears certain, and it was he who de¬ 
cided to limit the empire’s responsibilities on the sub-continent.^^ 
By the Sand River Convention of January 17, 1852, and the Bloem¬ 
fontein Convention, two years later, the Boer settlements beyond 
the Vaal and those between the Orange and the Vaal respectively 
were cut adrift.^^ These agreements laid the foundations for the 
future republics. White South Africa became divided. 
Hardly had this policy been adopted before protesting voices, 
were heard.^^ The year of the latter of the two conventions wit¬ 
nessed the appearance of Sir George Grey as governor of the Cape 
and high commissioner for South Africa. Although still a young 
man, he had already served with distinction as governor of South 
Australia and of New Zealand.^® In the latter colony he faced a 
native problem bearing some similarity to that of South Africa 
and had perceived serious danger in having foreign powers estab¬ 
lished in the neighborhood of a weak British colony.^® Independ¬ 
ent Boer republics might, indeed, likewise become potential rivals, 
or enemies of Britain, while a union of all the white communities 
besides precluding this, would also enhance their safety. 
Soon the able and energetic, but also proud and imperious, pro- 
consul actively championed unification. In 1856 he inquired 
whether the government ‘ ‘ might not be disposed to retrace the step 
which led to the abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty ’ ’; 
and he advocated ‘‘a united South Africa under the British flag”.^^ 
Although Henry Labouchere, then colonial secretary, declined ta 
discuss the question Grey persisted in his efforts and received some 
encouragement both in South Africa and, later, from the home 
government. The Volksraad of the Orange Free State passed a 
^2 Hansard, 3rd series, CXXXIII, cols. 72, 77. 
For the texts of these documents see “Reports on the Cape of Good Hope” in British 
Parliamentary Papers, hereafter cited P. P. 1853—54, Vol. Ill, Part I, pp. 36, 37; and 
Eybers, Constitutional Documents, pp. 281-285, 357-359. 
Inhabitants of the Orange River Sovereignty protested against the abandonment of 
the territory. Whether these protests represened the -wishes of the majority is, of course, 
difficult to ascertain. See P.P. 1853—54, Vol. Ill, Pt. II, pp. 8—18, 21. 
No adequate biography of this remarkable man has yet been written. The two we 
have, G. C. Henderson, Sir George Grey, Pioneer of Empire in Southern Lands (Lon¬ 
don, 1907), and W. L. Rees and L. Rees, The Life and Times of Sir George Grey (2 
vols., London, 1892), leave much to be desired. 
Grey urged in vain the annexation of various groups of islands in the South Pacific- 
to forestall action of any other European power. Rees and Rees, Sir George Grey, I,, 
pp. 128-132. 
Henderson, Sir George Grey, p. 168. ^ 
