HC Deb 10 February 1881 vol 258 cc487-9
SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL

asked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether Her Majesty's Government will now offer to the Boers of the Transvaal the terms which they consider to be just, instead of enforcing unconditional submission before their terms are announced; and, whether the Government still believe that the Supplementary Estimate presented to Parliament will cover all the expense to be actually incurred up to the end of the financial year, and will not allow the Colonial authorities to raise money on post-dated bills as they did in the former African War?

MR. GLADSTONE

Sir, I may answer first, perhaps, the latter part of this Question. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Colonies informs me that the Supplementary Estimate which will be laid upon the Table will cover all the expenses to be incurred in connection with the rising in the Transvaal up to the end of the financial year. The last part of the Question refers to the powers of the Colonial authorities. Those powers are not under our control. The Colony enjoys responsible government, and the Home Government does not interfere in any case of this kind.

SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL

explained that he referred to the Transvaal and the instructions given to Sir George Colley.

MR. GLADSTONE

Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will send me a memorandum of the circumstance to which he refers. I understood the Question referred to the Cape Colony. With regard to the most important part of the Question, I have nothing to add. It is— Whether Her Majesty's Government will now offer to the Boers of the Transvaal the terms which they consider to be just, instead of enforcing unconditional submission before their terms arc announced? We really have nothing to add to the communication already made, But I think it may be convenient that I should re-state to the House one of two important communications, and that I should make known to the House the substance of the other. On the 26th January, Lord Kimberley telegraphed to Sir Hercules Robinson as follows:— I have received the following telegram from President Brand:—' Is it not possible to offer to the people of the Transvaal, through the High Commissioner, Sir H. Robinson, who is now in Cape Town, certain terms and conditions provided they ceased from armed opposition, making it clear to them how this is to be understood?' I have to instruct you to inform President Brand that if armed opposition should at once cease, Her Majesty's Government would thereupon endeavour to frame such a scheme as, in their belief, would satisfy all enlightened friends of the Transvaal community. Since that time, in answer to a telegram from Sir George Colley, stating that President Brand urged him to state the nature of the scheme mentioned in the previous telegram, and to guarantee that the Boers should not be treated as rebels if they submitted, Sir George Colley received an instruction of which I shall give the substance. On the 8th instant, from the Cape, he was instructed to inform President Brand that Her Majesty's Government will be ready to give all reasonable guarantees as to the treatment of the Boers after submission, if they desist from armed opposition, and that the scheme will be framed with a view to the permanently friendly settlement of the difficulty; to which he was to add that Her Majesty's Government-would be glad if President Brand would communicate to the leaders of the Boers this as well as the former message. It appears not to be quite certain whether President Brand had conveyed, in the regular and official manner, the communication previously made to him. These are the instructions issued by Lord Kimberley, and Her Majesty's Government do not think, in the present condition of affairs, that they can make any addition to thorn.