EUROPE AND AFRICA
In 1880 war broke out again in Namaqualand. Great
Britain refused to interfere, recalling Palgrave from the
Trans-Garieb district and Major Musgrove from Herero-
land to Walfish Bay, on the ground that it “had been de-
cided from the very first that no attempt to employ any
other kind of force [than moral suasion] should be made.”
To Germany’s reiterated request for protection for the mis-
sions, the Foreign Office replied that Germans in Nama-
qualand would receive the same protection as British sub-
jects, but the British Government would “not be responsible
for what might take place outside of British territory, which
only included (north of the Orange River) Walfish Bay
and a very small portion of country surrounding it.” The
German Government declared it was out of the question
for it to afford direct protection to the German missionaries
and traders in that district then; and so the matter rested.
On February 7, 1883, Count Herbert Bismarck called
upon Sir Julian Pauncefote and asked if England would
give protection to a Bremen merchant who was about to
set up a factory on the Southwest Coast of Africa. If not,
or if Great Britain did not have jurisdiction there, the
German Government would do its best to extend “the same
measure of protection there as they extend to their subjects
in remote parts of the world,” but “without having the least
design to establish any footing in South Africa.” The or-
ganization of the British Government in those days was
such as to impede seriously the conduct of all diplomatic
relations affecting colonial affairs. The Foreign Office
could not act without first consulting the Colonial Office;
and the Colonial Office had adopted the policy of always
consulting the colonial authorities of the self-governing
colonies on all questions affecting their interests. Usually
almost interminable delays resulted from this system; but
in this instance Lord Granville, with the concurrence of
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