It is announced in the Cape mails of 26th December
that Lord Carnarvon's despatch announcing that the Conference would be held in London has been published. The Colonial Secretary believes that delegates in immediate communication with Her Majesty's Govern- ment will be able to decide many questions which otherwise would linger on, and to report satisfactorily to the Governments and Legislatures they represent. No Colony or State would be bound by their decision till its own Parliament had voted. "But lam not without hope that such a basis of general agreement would be arrived at as to satisfy the several Legislatures that it is both safe and desirable to confederate, on terms not very dissimilar from those adopted by the provinces which now constitute the great Dominion of Canada." The receipt of this despatch had given great satisfaction to the colony, and it is probable, but not cer- tain, that Mr. Molteno's Government will make no further oppo- sition. The next great difficulty will be to represent Griqualand without prejudging the claim of the Orange Free State, if it enters the Confederation, to include that territory within its orders.
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