SINCE the first edition was printed, the question has again been discussed in the House of Commons, when the Government proposed an amendment to the effect that compensation, in money or land, in British territory should be offered to Mankoroane and Montsioa. If we grant the petition of the Chiefs, and allow the Transvaal Government to restore order in the disturbed districts, the course proposed by Mr. Gladstone would be quite unnecessary, as sufficient land would be beaconed off and reserved for the Chiefs and their followers as native locations. Sir William Owen Lanyon, when predicting this anarchy, pointed out that there was land in abundance for a fair population of whites without disturbing the natives. If the jurisdiction of the Transvaal Government were again extended over the district, they would guarantee the Chiefs the possession of their lands, and prevent any more of these intertribal wars. All we require to do to settle the disturbances and restore peace and tranquillity in the district, is to carry out the advice of Sir William Owen Lanyon, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and Sir Charles Warren. These three gentlemen were all personally acquainted with the Chiefs and the territory, and they have all declared that it is necessary to place the territory under the rule of a civilised government. Unfor A tunately Sir Michael Hicks Beach refused permission to take over the district when both the native chiefs and the Griqualand Government were desirous of doing so. Now, since Griqualand has been annexed to the Cape, and the Cape Government refuses to have anything to do with the territory, our wisest course would be to modify the first Article of the Pretoria Convention, and restore the old boundary of the Transvaal, by this means the policy proposed by the three gentlemen best acquainted with the facts of the case can be carried out, and the territory and the tribes be again brought under the control of a civilized state. Unfortunately in 1881 we took the advice of a Commission, the members of which knew nothing about either the district or its inhabitants. Now that the anarchy has occurred, which our Colonial Governors had previously predicted, the question for Lord Derby and the Government to settle is whether they intend to maintain the anarchy, or allow the Transvaal Government to interfere and establish peace and order. In the Appendix will be found the Sand River Convention, the Pretoria Convention, and the resolution of the Volksraad provisionally ratifying the Pretoria Convention. FENWICK, WEST DULWICH, S.E. May 31st, 1883. |