§ MR. R. FOWLERsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether Sir Philip Wodehouse, the Governor of the Cape Colony, has carried out the instructions of the Duke of Buckingham (approved by Lord Granville) to prohibit the supply of ammunition to the Boers of the Transvaal Republic; whether his attention has been called to the suppression by the Dutch authorities of the Trans-vaal "Argus," the newspaper which has exposed the slave-trading practices of the Boers; and, when he will publish the Correspondence relative to the enslavement of Kaffir children?
§ MR. MONSELL, in reply, said, there was a clause in the treaty made with the Trans-vaal Republic in 1852, permitting arms and ammunition to be sold to the inhabitants of that republic, and prohibiting the sale of arms and ammunition to the Kaffirs. In consequence of the utter failure of our remonstrances with the Trans-vaal Republic as to the organized system of slavery carried on there, it was determined not to act any longer upon the provisions of that unjust clause. Sir Philip Wodehouse had to consider what was the most effectual way of accomplishing this object. On account of the restoration of peace between the Basutos and the Orange River Free State, the prohibition of the introduction of arms and ammunition in 1343 the Orange Hirer Free State was done away with. Under those circumstances it would have been impossible to prevent arms and ammunition going from the Orange River Tree State into the Transvaal Republic, and it was thought that it would be better to abrogate the clause and get rid of its injustice by allowing both parties, the Kaffirs and the inhabitants of the Trans-vaal Republic, equally to purchase, without limit or check, arms and ammunition. Both of those parties had, therefore, been put on an equal footing in that respect. With regard to the alleged suppression by the Dutch authorities of the Trans-vaal Argus, the Colonial Office had no information on the matter, and, of course, it was impossible for them to interfere in it. The Papers to which the hon. Member referred at the end of his Question would, he (Mr. Monsell) thought, be ready for presentation in about a fortnight.