§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTasked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether it is true that the Basutos have rejected the terms of peace, that au Africander Ministry is about to be installed in Cape Town, that a repudiation of British sovereignty is imminent in consequence of the general disgust at the Transvaal Peace, that the governor, Sir Hercules Robinson, is now 1,000 miles away in the Transvaal, and that a Colonist of influence is on his way to England with claims against the Home Goverment to the amount of £5,000,000 from loyal Colonists who are being driven out of the Transvaal; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will state what steps they propose taking to preserve British sovereignty and the ten million pounds' worth of yearly trade between this Country and South Africa?
MR. GRANT DUFFWe have not heard that the Basutos have rejected the terms of peace, nor have we any news from Basutoland. The new Cape Ministry seems a very fairly representative one, so far as we can judge from the lists which have appeared. A repudiation of British sovereignty is not imminent. Sir Hercules Robinson is, I should think, quite 1,000 miles from Cape Town, though in constant telegraphic communication with that place. He is not in the Transvaal, but in Natal. We have heard nothing of the influential Colonist; and I should regret that any Colonist, influential or otherwise, had embarked upon what could hardly be described as "a wise man's errand." In reply to the hon. Member's sixth and 177 last Question, I would say that it will be my duty to answer it pretty fully when the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Gloucestershire (Sir Michael Hicks-Beach) makes his intended Motion; but that to do so now, even in the most cursory manner, would oblige me to tax the patience of the House to an altogether intolerable extent.