§ Mr. Hindleywished to ask a question of the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, respecting some recent proceedings in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope. Had any accounts reached the Government with respect to an attack which, it had been stated in the public papers, had been made by the boers, from Natal, on the natives in or near the boundary of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope? and also, whether the Governor had left Cape Town for the frontier in consequence of this?
Mr. Hopereplied, that no report of an official character from the Governor had reached the Colonial Office, giving an account of the proceedings alluded to. He must state, however, that, from what he had seen in the public papers, it appeared to him that a wrong impression had gone abroad as to the facts of the case. From the facts that had reached him, it appeared that the collision did not take place within the boundary of the Colony of the Cape. The Griquas, upon whom the attack had been made, were an independent tribe living beyond the Cape; and therefore not within the limits of the jurisdiction of the British Government. A number of missionaries had settled with the Griquas, as with an independent nation, and the attack made upon Phillipolis, the capital of that country, did not appear to have been made by persons from Natal; for the places were 300 miles distant from each other. The boers who had made the attack were those who, since the abolition of slavery in the Colony, had emigrated to the north of the boundary of the Cape; and it did not appear that there was any connexion between 476 them and the boers at Natal. The conflict had taken place before the Colonial Government could interfere to prevent it. At present there was a considerable force at the Cape, and this had been increased since 1842, by a regiment of cavalry 500 strong; and no doubt Sir P. Maitland would take proper steps to protect the Griquas against further attack; but it should be remembered that they were not Her Majesty's subjects.
§ Mr. Hindleyasked whether the right of sovereignty was claimed by this country over the boers?
Mr. Hopereplied, most unquestionably. The boers who had emigrated, had always been regarded by Her Majesty's Government as subjects of the British Crown. Steps had been taken long ago at Natal for this purpose, and a Lieutenant-Governor had been appointed to govern that place.