MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs have Her Majesty's Government notified to any foreign Powers the annexation of the Transvaal and of the Orange River Colony by Great Britain; and has this annexation been recognised by any foreign Power; if not, what steps do Her Majesty's Government propose to take in order to secure such recognition.
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Viscount CRANBORNE,) RochesterThe annexations have not been notified to any foreign Powers. The precedents have been examined, and it has not been found that such notification is necessary, or that recognition of the fact of annexation by foreign Powers is dependent on formal diplomatic notice.