634 



SOUTH AFRICA. 



peace and reconciliation to accept a general sur- 

 render on the lines of that offer with modifica- 

 tions in detail to be mutually agreed upon. The 

 Boer leaders then asked to be allowed to consult 

 the Boer authorities in Europe or to have these 

 deputize one of their number to go to South Af- 

 rica to assist in the peace conference. Lord Kitch- 

 ener returned a categorical refusal to this demand, 

 and a message was sent from London that nego- 

 tiations had better terminate at once if the Boers 

 did not intend to make serious proposals. The 

 delegates announced that they had no power to 

 accept peace on the basis of the surrender of the 

 independence of the republics, and asked for an 

 armistice to enable them to obtain authority from 

 the burghers. Lord Kitchener refused to grant an 

 armistice, but undertook not to molest burghers 

 while actually holding any meetings necessary for 

 securing the authority required by the delegates. 

 The delegates left Pretoria on April 19 to con- 

 sult the burghers in the field, with the under- 

 standing that the British authorities would not 

 treat with them further unless they had full pow- 

 ers, to which President Steyn took exception. 

 The commandos in the field elected delegates. 



A national convention of 160 Boer representa- 

 tives, all prominent burghers, met at Vereenigung 

 on May 15, and gave the peace delegates power 

 to negotiate subject to ratification by the con- 

 vention. The convention commissioned Louis 

 Botha, Christian de Wet, Judge Hertzog, Delarey, 

 and Smuts to negotiate on the basis of surrender 

 of independence in foreign relations, self-govern- 

 ment under British supervision, and surrender of 

 part of the territories. Lord Milner and Lord 

 Kitchener refused to negotiate on this basis, and 

 proposed to draw up a document to be submitted 

 to the convention for a simple affirmative or nega- 

 tive vote. The Boer commissioners at Pretoria 

 and the British High Commissioner and command- 

 er-in-chief arranged on May 21 the terms to be 

 submitted to the Boer convention, but it was not 

 till May 28 that the British Government finally 

 communicated the exact terms it was willing to 

 offer, and these were finally accepted by the con- 

 vention on May 30. Schalk W. Burger, F. W. 

 Reitz, Lucas Meyer, Krogh, J. H. Delarey, and 

 Louis Botha, as delegates of the South African Re- 

 public, and M. T. Steyn, C. R. de Wet, J. B. M. 

 Hertzog, J. Brebner, and C. Olivier, as Free State 

 delegates, went to Pretoria and signed the treaty 

 of peace on May 31, which they were authorized 

 to do by resolution of the convention, explaining 

 that the reduced and dwindling numbers of Boers 

 in the field, and consideration for the 20,000 deport- 

 ed prisoners of war and the dying inmates of the 

 concentration camps, which threatened the ex- 

 termination of the whole race, compelled them to 

 surrender their national independence. The terms 

 of peace were substantially those that Lord Kitch- 

 ener had offered to Gen. Botha at Middelburg. 

 The burghers in the field were to hand over all 

 arms and ammunition and acknowledge British 

 sovereignty. Those outside the limits of the 

 Transvaal and the Orange River Colony were to 

 be brought back to their homes on acknowledg- 

 ing allegiance to the King, and all prisoners of 

 war were to be repatrioted on the same terms, in- 

 cluding leaders doomed to perpetual proscription 

 by the proclamation of Aug. 7, 1901. Burghers 

 surrendering or returning were not to be deprived 

 of their personal liberty or their property. No 

 proceedings, civil or criminal, would be taken 

 against any of them for acts in connection with 

 the war, except certain acts contrary to the iisages 

 of war that had been notified by the British com- 

 mander-in-chief to the Boer generals, which would 



be tried by court-martial immediately after the 

 close of hostilities. The Dutch language will 

 be taught in public schools of the Transvaal and 

 the Orange River Colony where the parents of 

 the children desire it, and will be allowed in 

 courts of law when necessary for the better and 

 more effectual administration of justice. The 

 possession of rifles will be allowed in the Transvaal 

 and Orange River Colony to persons requiring 

 them for their protection on taking out a license 

 according to law. Military administration in the 

 Transvaal and Orange River Colony will at the 

 earliest possible date be succeeded by civil gov- 

 ernment, and, as soon as circumstances permit, 

 representative institutions, leading up to self- 

 government, will be introduced. The question of 

 granting franchise to the natives will not be de- 

 cided until after the introduction of self-govern- 

 ment. No special tax will be imposed on landed 

 property in the Transvaal and Orange River Col- 

 ony to defray the expenses of the war. As soon 

 as conditions permit, a commission, on which the 

 local inhabitants will be represented, will be ap- 

 pointed in each district of the Transvaal and 

 Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a 

 magistrate or other official, for the purpose of as- 

 sisting the restoration of the people to their homes 

 and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are 

 unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, 

 and the necessary amount of seed, stock, imple- 

 ments, etc., indispensable to the resumption of 

 their normal occupations. The Imperial Govern- 

 ment will place at the disposal of these commis- 

 sions 3,000,000 for the above purposes, and will 

 allow all notes issued under the law of 1900 of the 

 South African Republic and all receipts given by 

 officers in the field of the late republics, if found 

 by a judicial commission to be appointed by the 

 Imperial Government Commission to have been 

 duly issued in return for valuable considerations, 

 to be received by the commissions as evidence of 

 war losses suffered by the persons to whom they 

 were originally given. 



In addition to .the free grant of 3,000,000, the 

 Imperial Government will be prepared to make 

 advances on loan for the same purposes free of in- 

 terest for two years, and afterward repayable 

 over a period of years with 3 per cent, interest. 

 No foreigner or rebel will be entitled to the bene- 

 fit of this clause. 



With regard to the Cape Colonists and Natal- 

 ians who had been in rebellion Lord Milner read 

 a statement on behalf of the Imperial Government 

 that they would be left to be dealt with by the 

 colonial governments according to their laws, and 

 the Irish and other British subjects who had 

 fought with the Boers would be subject to trial 

 under the law of that part of the British Empire 

 to which they belong. He also stated the views 

 indicated by the Cape Government as to the terms 

 to be granted to Cape Colonists in the field or 

 such as had surrendered since April 12, 1901. 

 With regard to the rank and file, on giving up 

 their arms, they should sign a document acknowl- 

 edging themselves guilty of high treason; their 

 punishment would be, provided they had not been 

 guilty of murder or acts contrary to the usages of 

 war, 'that they should not be entitled during their 

 lives to vote at any parliamentary or local elec- 

 tion. Justices of the peace, field-cornets, or other 

 colonial officials and all Cape Colonists who had 

 been commandants of rebel or burgher forces 

 would be tried for high treason, but in no case 

 should the death penalty be inflicted. The opin- 

 ion communicated by the Natal Government was 

 that rebels should be dealt with according to the 

 law of the land. 



