296 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [part 11 
that the natives were or were not probably guilty, and in time 
of apparently profound peace in South Africa the execution 
of twelve natives by a sentence of a court martial seemed 
a strange step. The error of the Governor about the 
prerogative of mercy was a curious one, though none of his 
ministers evidently saw it. But it is hard to defend the 
action of the Natal Government, because they must have 
recognized that the Imperial Government had a strong right 
to intervene, if they thought fit, since there were Imperial 
forces in the Colony serving the important purpose of keeping 
the Colony quiet, and available for any emergency if the 
Colonial forces had suffered a serious defeat. To resign and 
plunge the Government of Natal into the weakness of an 
interregnum, or rather to leave the Governor without any 
effective Ministry, for there was no chance then of an 
alternative Ministry—was an action which cannot be felt to 
be other than ill-advised and precipitate, and it throws doubt 
on the arguments in favour of the granting of self-govern- 
ment to the Colony in 1893. At the very least, they should 
have communicated with the Imperial Government setting 
out their views, and have waited for a reply before they pub- 
lished to the world the dispute between the Governments. 
In 1907 a different example occurred: in that year, in 
view of the hopeless differences with the Government of the 
United States regarding the rights of American fishermen in 
the waters of Newfoundland, it was agreed to submit the 
questions at issue to the arbitrament of the Hague Tribunal. 
In the meantime a modus vivendi was necessary, but the 
local Government would not consent to it, and it was found 
necessary to override the Government by an Order in Council 
issued under an Act of 1819, which was of course thirteen 
years before the Government of Newfoundland was formally 
constituted on a representative basis. The action was strong 
but necessary. It was received with great indignation in 
the Colony, and his opponents taunted the Premier and said 
he should resign: but Sir Robert Bond maintained that 
resignation was not the proper attitude for a Colonial Govern- 
ment, but submission so far as was absolutely inevitable,