The incident closed with the payment and acceptance, in 1876, of the price agreed upon. But the Africanders of the Free State had the feeling at the time—and it never ceased to rankle in their breasts—that they had been made the victims of sharp practice; that the diamond-bearing territory had been rushed into the possession of the British and made a crown colony without giving them a fair opportunity to prove their claim to it; and that, while the price offered and paid was a tacit recognition of the validity of their claim, it was so infinitesimal in proportion to the rights conveyed as to imply that in British practice not only is possession nine points in ten of the law but that it also justifies the holder in keeping back nine parts out of ten of the value. Nor was this the only British grievance complained of at this time by the Free State. The project of uniting the two republics for greater strength and mutual safety had been vetoed for no apparent reason than to keep them weak so that they might the sooner become willing to re-enter the British dominions in South Africa. And the British High Commissioner at the Cape had taken the vanquished Basutos and their territory under imperial protection at the moment when the victorious Free State was about to reduce them to permanent submission, and to extend its territory to the sea—again interposing the arm of Great Britain to prevent the strengthening of the republic by its proposed acquisition of Basutoland and the gaining of a seaport at the mouth of the St. John River. Nevertheless, the Orange Free State accepted the situation philosophically and, outwardly, continued on friendly terms with the British government until the outbreak of war between that power and the Africanders of the Transvaal in 1899. CHAPTER X. THIRD CONTACT OF AFRICANDER AND BRITON—IN THE TRANSVAAL. The aggressive policy of the British, which had served to widen and deepen the breach between them and the Africanders of the Free State, was felt in the Transvaal Republic, also, and led to an open rupture in 1880. It will be necessary to trace somewhat carefully the conditions and events which brought on that conflict. The Africanders who had settled beyond the Vaal River were of a ruder sort than their brethren of the Orange River district. Moreover, the reckless, unprincipled, and even criminal classes were attracted to the Transvaal from various parts of South Africa, seeking freedom from the restraints experienced under the stricter government prevailing in the British colonies. These occasioned much scandal, and provoked many conflicts with the Kaffirs by their lawlessness and violence along the border and in the wilder districts of the territory.