A curious little debate occurred on Tuesday in the Lords
about the instructions sent by the Government to Sir Bartle Frere. Lord Cadogan recently explained that the instructions compelled the High Commissioner to abstain from annexation, and from arrangements not previously sanctioned from home,— that is, that the instructions from home were merely negative in- structions. Sir Stafford Northcote, however, on Monday affirmed that positive instructions had gone out, and Lord Granville wanted to know what the discrepancy meant. Earl Cadogan ex- plained that on March 20th Sir Bartle Frere had been told that Cetewayo must admit a Resident into Zululand, and that he must disband his army ; and these were positive instructions. An- other despatch had also been sent to Sir Bartle on April 10th, but this, said the Earl, did not add to the instructions of April 20th. Lord Granville, for all that, wanted to know whether Sir Bartle Frere could act without referring home, and was at last told by Lord Beaconsfield that the High Commis- sioner "was sufficiently acquainted with the general policy of Government upon the vital grounds of peace to act for himself." That means, if precedent may be trusted, that the Government have publicly instructed Sir B. Frere to await orders from home ; that they have privately told him to do as he likes ; that he will do as he likes, whether or no ; and that whatever he does will be accepted,—which is a pleasant prospect for the people of Eng- land, whose purses are virtually handed over to Sir Bartle Frere, to deplete as much as he pleases, without control either from Parliament, or from his immediate superiors.
