The news from the Transvaal received this week is not
im- portant. Sir George Colley has fortified the heights above the Ingogo, to protect his advance, and is carefully studying Laing's Nek, where the Boers have concentrated in great force, but no final advance will be made until the reinforcements have reached Prospect Hill. No details of the negotiations in pro- gress have been officially published, but there is no sign of in- decision among the Boers, and the Times has affirmed twice, in the most positive way, that the Government has rejected the Boers' scheme, which is independence under a nominal Pro- tectorate, and has only agreed, if the Boors will at once release the imprisoned British garrisons and at once submit at all points, to send Commissioners to the Transvaal, to inquire into all grievances. Lord Kimberley on Monday stated in the House of Lords that it was vital to all South Africa that this unhappy war should be brought to an end, but intimated his belief that the Boers did deal in native children, though not with the consent of their Government ; declared Lord Carnarvon justified in the annexation on the information before him, though some of that information was erroneous ; and intimated that if we withdrew from the Trans- vaal, difficulties would not end, as we had centracted obligations towards native tribes which it was impossible to disregard. Reinforcements are still going out fast.
