“it was through the influence of the Rhenish missionary at Bethany that Herr Luderitz obtained this extraordinary purchase of coast land.” The cession is dated 25th August, 1883. So Germany obtained a place in the African sun. This action on the part of Luderitz was keenly resented by British traders, for Captain Sinclair had obtained on behalf of De Pass, Spence & Co. a cession of the coast territory from Angra Pequena to Baker’s Cove from the chief of the Bondelswaarts in 1863, and for twenty years the company had enjoyed undisturbed and undisputed possession of the area. Luderitz, however, assumed proprietary rights. Germany now made another move in the game. In November 1883 the British Foreign Office was asked by the German Ambassador whether Her Majesty’s Government claimed any rights of sovereignty over Angra Pequena and adjacent territory. The reply was made that while Great Britain only laid claim to certain specified areas, any claim to sovereignty or jurisdiction by a foreign Power would “infringe their legitimate rights,” since the country north of the Orange River had been viewed as a kind of commercial dependency of Cape Colony. But this did not deter Bismarck, who had evidently resolved on a definite course of action. Accordingly he instructed the German Consul at Cape Town to announce that Herr Luderitz and his establishments were under the protection of the German Empire, and the announcement was made on April 25th, 1884. Then the Cape Government woke up. In the following month the Governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, telegraphed to the Home Government that “Ministers have decided to recommend Parliament to undertake control of the coast-line from the Orange River to Walvis Bay.” Earl Derby also seems to have been aroused about this time, for in June he announced that arrangements would be made for giving protection under the British flag to any persons, German and English, who had duly acquired concessions or established commercial enterprises on the coast-line. In the following month the Cape Parliament passed a resolution in favour of the annexation of the whole coast-line from the Orange River to the Portuguese frontier; but the matter had been too long delayed--the prize had been grasped by other hands; for before the Cape resolutions could reach England a German gunboat had appeared at Angra Pequena, the German flag had been hoisted, and a German Protectorate formally proclaimed.