The peace negotiations between the governments of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State Part 19

His Majesty's Government will place at the disposal of these Commissions a sum of three million pounds sterling for the above purposes, and will allow all notes, issued under Law No. 1 of 1900 of the GOVERNMENT of the SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC, and all receipts, given by the officers in the field of the late Republics or under their orders, to be presented to a JUDICIAL COMMISSION, which will be appointed by the Government, and if such notes and receipts are found by this Commission to have been duly issued in return for valuable consideration, they will be received by the first-named Commissions as evidence of War losses suffered by the persons to whom they were originally given. In addition to the above-named free grant of three million pounds, His Majesty's Government will be prepared to make advances as loans for the same purposes, free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years with 3 per cent. interest. No foreigner or rebel will be ent.i.tled to the benefit of this Clause."

Lord MILNER: In submitting this communication to the Commission, we are instructed to add that if this opportunity of concluding an honourable peace is not availed of within a time to be fixed by us, the Conference will be considered at an end, and that His Majesty's Government will not in any way be bound by the present terms. In order that there may be no misunderstanding with reference to these terms, I have made a copy of the doc.u.ment and of Lord Kitchener's telegram, with the additions and alterations made by His Majesty's Government with a memorandum of what I have now said.

A discussion followed over the time that would be required to consider the matter at Vereeniging, and it was agreed that General Botha would propose a time-limit before the Committee left Pretoria that day.

This was done later on, and the time was fixed for Sat.u.r.day evening, May 31, 1902, at the latest.

General Botha asked whether there would be any objection to the Delegates deleting some clause or other from the proposal now submitted by the British Government?

Lord MILNER: There can be no alteration. There must simply be a reply of "yes" or "no."

General Botha thought that they had the right to alter one or more of the clauses, because the burghers in the field had the right to surrender unconditionally.

Lord Milner said that the burghers could naturally do so. But the doc.u.ment from the British Government could not be altered.

THE COLONIAL REBELS.

Privately, much discussion had already taken place in the interests of the Colonials who had fought on the Republican side, and an informal conversation now followed on this subject.

Lord Milner communicated what the British Government intended to do with these Colonists, which intention appears from the following doc.u.ment which he read:--

"HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT must place it on record that the treatment of CAPE and NATAL Colonials who have been in Rebellion, and who now surrender, will, if they return to their Colonies, be determined by the Colonial Governments and in accordance with the Laws of the Colonies, and that any BRITISH Subjects who have joined the Enemy will be liable to trial under the Law of that part of the BRITISH EMPIRE to which they belong.

"HIS MAJESTY'S GOVERNMENT are informed by the Cape Government that the following are their views as to the terms which should be granted to BRITISH Subjects of the Cape Colony who are now in the Field or who have surrendered or have been captured since April 12, 1901. With regard to Rank and File, that they should all upon surrender after giving up their Arms sign a doc.u.ment before the Resident Magistrate of the District in which surrender takes place acknowledging themselves guilty of High Treason, and that the Punishment to be awarded to them, provided they shall not have been guilty of Murder or other acts contrary to the usages of Civilised Warfare, should be that they shall not be ent.i.tled for life to be registered as Voters or to vote at any Parliamentary, Divisional Council, or Munic.i.p.al Election.

"With reference to Justices of the Peace, and Field Cornets of the Cape Colony and all other persons holding an Official Position under the Government of the Cape Colony, or who may occupy the Position of Commandant of Rebel or Burgher Forces, they should be tried for High Treason before the ordinary Court of the Country or such special Courts as may be hereafter const.i.tuted by Law, the Punishments for their Offence to be left to the discretion of the Court, with this proviso, that in no case shall the penalty of Death be inflicted.

"The NATAL Government are of opinion that Rebels should be dealt with according to the Law of the Colony."

The Conference then broke up. The secretaries, a.s.sisted by Advocates N. J. de Wet and Igns. S. Ferreira immediately commenced with the task of making copies and translations of the proposals of the British Government for the use of the Meeting of the Delegates at Vereeniging.

This work occupied them till the evening.

At 9 o'clock p.m. the Commission left for Vereeniging by special train.

CHAPTER VI.

VEREENIGING AND PEACE.

MINUTES

_of the meeting of the Special Delegates at Vereeniging, South African Republic, on Thursday, May 29, 1902, and following days_.

The Meeting commenced at 9 a.m., and, at the request of the Chairman, was opened with Prayer by the Rev. J. D. Kestell.

Having declared the Meeting open, the Chairman requested the Commission, which had been delegated to negotiate with Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, to report on what they had done.

The acting State President S. W. Burger, on rising to do so, first requested the Secretary of the Meeting (Mr. D. E. van Velden) to read the following report of the COMMISSION:--

_Pretoria, May 28, 1902._

_To the Governments of the Orange Free State and South African Republic._

GENTLEMEN,

In accordance with the instructions received by us from the two Governments, we proceeded to Pretoria to negotiate with the British Representatives on the question of peace, and have the honour to report as follows:--

Our meetings with the British Authorities lasted from Monday, May 19, till Wednesday, May 28, and the delay was princ.i.p.ally due to the long time required for cable correspondence with the British Government.

At first we made a proposal[5] in which we tried to establish a restricted independence by the surrender of a portion of our territory as a basis of negotiation. Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, however, decidedly refused to negotiate on that basis, and informed us that if that proposal were cabled to the British Government, it would be detrimental to the negotiations.

[Footnote 5: See p. 98.]

At the same time we were informed that, as had already been intimated to both Governments, the British Government were prepared to negotiate only on the basis of the Middelburg proposals, subject to alterations as to details.

In order to prepare this proposal in a final form, Lord Milner requested the a.s.sistance of some members of our Committee, to which we acceded, with the understanding that the a.s.sistance of these members of the Commission would be rendered without prejudice.

As the result of the labours of this Sub-Committee, Lord Milner submitted a draft proposal, in which we insisted in the incorporation of a new clause, which was embodied therein (Clause No. 11). The draft proposal which is attached to this[6] was then cabled to the British Government, and was altered by them and communicated to us in a final form. This final proposal is attached hereto.[7]

[Footnote 6: See p. 116.]

[Footnote 7: See p. 133.]

We were informed on behalf of the British Government that this proposal could not be further altered, but must be accepted or rejected in its entirety by the Delegates of both Republics. At the same time, we were informed that this acceptance or rejection must take place within a definite time.

We thereupon informed Lord Kitchener that this final decision would be communicated to him by next Sat.u.r.day evening at the latest.

During the formal negotiations some informal discussions also took place with reference to the British subjects in the Cape Colony and Natal who had fought on our side. As the result of these informal discussions, we received a communication from the British Government which we attach hereto.[8]

[Footnote 8: See p. 136.]

We have, &c.,

(Signed)

LOUIS BOTHA, C. R. DE WET, J. H. DE LA REY, J. B. M. HERTZOG, J. C. s.m.u.tS.

Acting President S. W. BURGER said: If some point or other in the doc.u.ments that have just been read to you is not clear, one or other of the members of the Commission will give the necessary explanations.

You will observe that the Commission tried to negotiate more or less in the spirit of this meeting. The Representatives of the British Government declared that they could not negotiate on any other basis than the surrender of the independence. We have now before us a doc.u.ment upon which the British Government thinks peace can be concluded. The question before us now is: how must we set to work? I think there are three courses open to us upon which we must decide before Sat.u.r.day evening. The three courses are:--

(1) To continue the struggle. Is this possible for us under the circ.u.mstances in which we find ourselves; what are the prospects; and what will the consequences be? This we must consider.