There are other provisions in the draft which have not been the subject of discussion with you; they are for the most part a renewal of those declarations made on behalf of the Transvaal State in the Convention of Pretoria, which it is desirable (as I trust you will agree in thinking) to maintain as an assurance to all parties that there will be no withdrawal of those securities for liberty and equal treatment which your State has always professed itself ready to afford.  I would, however, refer more specifically to the 19th Article of the draft, in which it is proposed that in consideration of the discontinuance of all direct interference by this country in the government and control of the natives within the Transvaal, it should be formally declared that your Government will adopt and carry out the assurances which, with their assent and approval, were given to those natives by Her Majesty’s Commissioners.

I trust that I may soon hear from you that there is no obstacle to my informing Her Majesty’s Government that the Draft Convention can be adopted.

I have, etc.,

DERBY.

A CONVENTION CONCLUDED BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN, &C., &C., AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.

NOTE.—­The words and paragraphs bracketed or printed in italics are proposed to be inserted, those within a black line are proposed to be omitted.

[**Transcriber’s Note:  Words to be omitted are surrounded with ’=’s.**]

Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the settlement of the Transvaal Territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th of April 1881, do hereby undertake and guarantee, on behalf of Her Majesty, that from and after the 8th day of August 1881, complete self-government, subject to the suzerainty of Her Majesty, Her Heir and Successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the Transvaal Territory, upon the following terms and conditions, and subject to the following reservations and limitations:—­

Whereas the Government of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates, consisting of Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the said State.  Stephanus Johannes Du Toit, Superintendent of Education; Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented to the Queen that the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August, 1881, and ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 20th October, 1881, contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved; and that the south-western boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said state, and of the countries adjacent thereto; and whereas Her Majesty the Queen, &c., &c., has been pleased to take the said representations into consideration.  Now, therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby declared that the following articles of a new Convention—­shall when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Republic, be substituted for the Articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August, 1881; which latter, pending such ratification, shall continue in full force and effect.