§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The EARL of SELBORNE)made a statement to the House with reference to President Kruger's reply to the Dispatches of the Secretary of State for the Colonies. He said: Her Majesty's Government received on Saturday by tele- 1706 graph the substance of President Kruger's reply to their invitation. It is rather lengthy, and its full effect cannot be fairly appreciated without reference to the Dispatch in extenso and to the correspondence which preceded it. The most important point is that the President says:—
Referring to your request for a definite reply to the invitation, he feels confident you will recognise and appreciate the difficulty of his position, and it appears to him to be the wiser course not to press the question of his proceeding to England any further at present, but to leave it an open matter, more especially in view of the approaching Session of Volksraad of South African Republic in May. The desirability of his presence, at least for a portion of the Session, at Pretoria, when important measures will have to be considered by the Legislature, is apparent, and it is his confident hope that, by patience and tact on both sides, the peaceful and satisfactory solution of matters will be attained.Under these circumstances Her Majesty's Government have for the present reluctantly withdrawn their invitation to the President to come to England, and they have telegraphed to Sir H. Robinson their wish that, as soon as Sir Graham Bower has returned, and if the then state of affairs in Matabeleland permits, he should pay a short visit to this country to confer with Her Majesty's Government and receive the instructions which will be necessary for his guidance in the further negotiations which may be decided upon. The whole of the correspondence is being prepared for publication, and I expect to be able to lay it upon the Table in the course of the present week.