Van Vollenhoven resigned over indivisibility of colonial authority, not racism toward Diagne

Evidence

It was assumed at the time that Van Vollenhoven left office out of pique at the appointment of an African, the Senegalese deputy to Parliament, Blaise Diagne, to head the new recruiting effort. In fact, Van Vollenhoven quit his post because he did not believe that the governor general could share the powers and prerogatives of office with anyone else, white or black, within the colonial administration. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 624