SOUTH AFRICA. 



6 IT 



allowed in courts of law. The franchise would 

 not be given to Kaffirs until the new colonies had 

 representative government. Dutch church prop- 

 erty would remain untouched, as well as public 

 trusts and orphan funds. No war-tax would be 

 imposed on farmers. Lord Kitchener answered 

 some questions more explicitly in a letter which 

 was submitted to Sir Alfred Milner and after- 

 ward to Mr. Chamberlain, both of whom rejected 

 some of the terms that he wished to oil'er in order 

 to bring the war to an end. The proposal to 

 amnesty Cape and Natal rebels and only to dis- 

 franchise them Sir Alfred Milner objected to as 

 likely to have a deplorable effect in those colonies. 

 The rebels would not be compelled to return to 

 the colonies, but if they did they would be liable 

 to be dealt with under the laws, which in Cape 

 Colony were specifically passed to meet the cir- 

 cumstances arising out of this war and greatly 

 mitigate the ordinary penalties of rebellion. Pris- 

 oners of war in St. Helena, Ceylon, India, Ber- 

 muda, and elsewhere would be returned, if burgh- 

 ers or colonists, as soon as transport could be 

 conveniently arranged, but Mr. Chamberlain 

 would not consent to the returning of foreigners 

 to South Africa. Military administration would 

 cease and at the earliest practicable date be re- 

 placed by civil administration consisting of a 

 governor and an executive council composed of 

 a certain number of official members to whom a 

 nominated unofficial element would from the first 

 be added. A high court would be constituted 

 immediately which would be independent of the 

 executive. The Imperial Government desired to 

 introduce a representative- element as soon as cir- 

 cumstances permitted, and ultimately to concede 

 to the new colonies the privilege of self-govern- 

 ment. Lord Kitchener proposed that debts of the 

 state should be paid, even if contracted during 

 hostilities, to the extent of the value received and 

 up to the limit of 1,000,000, and he thought 

 that the British Government would be willing to 

 assist farmers who had suffered loss by the de- 

 struction of farms or the capture of stock. The 

 Secretary of State was willing to put aside 

 1,000,000 to repay burghers and Uitlanders 

 whose goods had been commandeered before an- 

 nexation or forcibly taken afterward, but not to 

 compensate any who had withheld their goods 

 from the British to furnish them to the Boers; 

 he would not consent to a grant to enable farm- 

 ers to begin operations, but was willing to con- 

 sider the question of loaning them money for the 

 purpose of repairing injuries sustained by the de- 

 struction of buildings or losses of stock, but on 

 condition of their taking the oath of allegiance, 

 which would apply also to the privilege of having 

 firearms. As to the Kaffirs, the franchise should 

 always be so restricted as to insure white predom- 

 inance, but their legal position must be similar 

 to that which they hold in Cape Colony. Sir 

 Alfred Milner desired, and Lord Kitchener more 

 strongly, to have the Imperial Government prom- 

 ise money to the Boers whose farms had been 

 destroyed as a free grant, not a loan. The exact 

 terms of peace were presented to Gen. Botha on 

 March 7, and on March 16 he replied that he 

 could not recommend them to his Government 

 and that his Government and chief officers agreed 

 with him that they were unacceptable. Mr. Cham- 

 berlain sent instructions to Lord Kitchener not 

 to reopen negotiations, and if he received any 

 further suggestions from Botha or the other lead- 

 ers not to reply, but to forward them, lest the 

 Boers should be led to suppose that terms more 

 favorable to them would be considered. 



Gen. Botha in his interview with Lord Kitch- 



ener complained of the aimed Kaffirs in the: Brit- 

 ish camps who committed atrocities, and the 

 British general admitted that IK; employed Kaf- 

 firs as scouts. The ill-treatment <>\ I'.oci families, 

 during their removal to refuge eamjis lie attributed 

 to lack of transport, and promised that where 

 transport was not available they should not be 

 removed. The families must be removed because 

 every farm was a store for burghers, and he .-aw 

 no other way of ending the war, arid Kallirs must 

 be employed as scouts because the British were 

 unfamiliar with the country. The Basutos were 

 from the beginning of the war courted and threat- 

 ened by both belligerents, not to induce them to 

 join in the fighting, for both told them that it 

 must be a white man's war, but because they 

 were accustomed to supply mealies to the Free 

 State Boers and to work on their farms in har- 

 vest-time, and because they had many cattle and 

 excellent horses. The Paramount Chief Lerothodi 

 and Jonathan Molapo remained loyal to the 

 British, for which reason Jonathan's brother Joel 

 and the enemies of the Paramount Chief were 

 partizans of the Boers. The Resident Commis- 

 sioner armed a force to defend the border when 

 the Boers had the British besieged in Wepener. 

 The Boers gave arms to their Basuto friends, and 

 the Basutos fell to fighting among themselves. 

 Mocheko's revolt was quickly suppressed by 

 Lerothodi, but Jonathan Molapo and his allies, 

 partly armed with rifles, were not easily over- 

 come. The pro-Boer chiefs openly supplied horses, 

 cattle, and harvesters to the Boers and the loyal 

 chiefs did the same thing secretly. When the 

 British army was greatly in need of remounts 

 10,000 Basuto ponies were purchased. More were 

 obtained later in exchange for breeding cattle 

 taken from the Boers. 



Sir Alfred Milner went to Pretoria in March 

 to take charge of the civil administration of the 

 Transvaal. Mr. Fiddes was appointed Secretary; 

 Patrick Duncan, Comptroller of the Treasury; 

 Richard Solomon, Attorney-General; Sir Godfrey 

 Lagden, Commissioner of Native Affairs; Mr. 

 Wybergh, Commissioner of Mines; Mr. Rose- 

 Innes, Commissioner of Public Works. Gen. 

 Baden-Powell arrived in South Africa at the same 

 time to take command of the South African con- 

 stabulary, which was intended to replace the mili- 

 tary in the settled districts. Lord Kitchener 

 agreed to allow a few workmen to return to the 

 Rand on condition that they should receive no 

 more than 5s. a day, the pay of the colonial and 

 imperial soldiers. This offer attracted none of 

 the Uitlanders, but when it was arranged that 

 the rest of their wages should be paid to their 

 families at the seaports there was no difficulty 

 in getting the number who were allowed to re- 

 turn, 15 to each mine that was permitted to be 

 reopened, 3 mines, and eventually 7, working 50 

 stamps each. The first men who returned to 

 Johannesburg were enlisted in the mine guard, as 

 mining operations could not begin regularly with- 

 out native labor. Such labor was afterward ob- 

 tained in the northern Transvaal. The enlistment 

 of all miners in the Rand rifles was made com- 

 pulsory. 



The civil administration of justice was for- 

 mally inaugurated by the High Commissioner. 

 Resident magistrates were appointed with powers 

 to impose punishments up to three months' im- 

 prisonment, or in the case of natives 12 lashes, 

 and to adjudicate in civil cases up to the limit 

 of 100 in actions for debt or land titles and 

 500 on commercial paper. Special criminal 

 courts for Pretoria and Johannesburg could sen- 

 tence offenders to prison for twelve months or 



