Through Shot and Flame Part 25

"2. Dismantling of all forts belonging to the State.

"3. Arbitration in future disagreements between the contracting parties, the arbitrators to be chosen by both parties, in equal numbers from their subjects. With a final arbitrator to be chosen by the appointed arbitrators.

"4. Equal rights in regard to education in both the English and Dutch languages.

"5. Mutual amnesty."

Messrs. Krogh, L. Jacobsz, Judge Hertzog, and Commandant-General Louis Botha then addressed the meeting.

Shortly after General Botha had concluded his speech, General Wilson came to the tent and brought a message from Lord Kitchener saying that he was willing to meet the Governments at Pretoria. General Wilson also stated that arrangements would be immediately made for the railway journey, and that the Presidents and their Executives could start for Pretoria in the evening.

CHAPTER II

A CONFERENCE WITH LORD KITCHENER AND LORD MILNER

At six o'clock in the morning on the 12th of April the Governments arrived at Pretoria in two separate trains.

The Transvaal Government were quartered in the house of Mr. C. Rooth, adjoining that in which Lord Kitchener lived, while the members of the Free State Government were taken to the residence of Mr. Philippe in Arcadia.

Nothing could surpa.s.s the friendliness of the English. Their hospitality left nothing to be desired, and the considerateness of those who had the difficult task to perform was admirable.

Yet with all these signs of politeness, one could not help thinking of what that same nation had done to our wives and children. The English spread for our Governments a table with a menu as good as their commissariat could supply, and at the same moment there were pining away on desolated farms the women and children whose houses they had burnt over their heads.

One thing that impressed me very strongly was the strong desire which the English could not conceal that Peace should be restored. They made no secret of it. This will become more plain in this chapter, when the telegrams exchanged between our Governments and that of the British come to be read.

But what sort of Peace?

It soon became clear from conversations that we had with Major Leggett and other officers, that it was a Peace based upon British conditions.

The English officers gave us to understand that it was taken for granted by them that we were now going to negotiate with a Conqueror. The annexation of the two Republics was regarded as an established, irrevocable fact. They constantly spoke of the Orange River Colony. Then they lost no time in informing us shortly after our arrival that Civil Government had been partly restored in the Transvaal, and that since the beginning of the month the High Court at Pretoria had been reopened.

They also asked what our leading men would consider the best way in which the farms in the two States could be rebuilt and restocked.

President Steyn and General de Wet answered very curtly, and it became plain to the English officers that it was better not to hold such conversations with the leaders of our people.

With the exception of this, all went smoothly, and were it not that one could always under the garb of politeness perceive an enemy, who had destroyed our country, then certainly we might have looked back upon our stay at Klerksdorp and Pretoria with the pleasantest recollections.

We had not long been in the house in which we were to stay before a message came from Lord Kitchener, that he desired to meet the Governments. A hasty breakfast was eaten, and then the President and General de Wet entered Lord Kitchener's carriage, and the other members of the Executive the carts provided for that purpose, and were conveyed to the house of the Commander-in-Chief. Conducted into a large hall, we found the Transvaalers there already. Lord Kitchener stood on the other side of the hall, and came forward to meet President Steyn. He shook hands with him, as also with the other members of the Government.

Then he stood erect in the att.i.tude of a soldier, and a little general conversation followed. After some moments Lord Kitchener said that the work which had brought the Governments to Pretoria should be commenced, and expressed it as his opinion that, as the negotiations were at first to be conducted in an informal manner, the secretaries should retire.

Thereupon these gentlemen left the hall, the doors were closed, everybody sat down at the table, and Lord Kitchener asked who was to begin.

President Steyn answered that Lord Kitchener should. Thereupon Lord Kitchener began. He spoke in the tone of a person who had a grievance.

He wished, he said, to say something concerning what he had been reported as having said in June 1901, when he had negotiated with General Louis Botha. In connection with those negotiations, he declared that he had been misrepresented, wrong motives having been imputed to him. It had been said, for instance, that he had contemplated the destruction of the Boers. He could, however, give the a.s.surance that no such thing had ever been his intention. Those who said so greatly misrepresented him. Whether what he said was aimed at General Botha, n.o.body can say--he mentioned no names. He spoke, however, in the tone of a person who considered that he had been unfairly treated. "But," he suddenly said, "that is past. I only say this because no official minutes are being kept, everything must take place informally and in a friendly manner.... I understand that you have something to propose.

This can be done now."

Acting President S. W. Burger then introduced the question. He said that both the Governments had drawn up a proposal at Klerksdorp, and he then proceeded to read the proposal article by article. State-Secretary F. W.

Reitz acted as interpreter between the two parties.

Then President Steyn spoke. He thanked Lord Kitchener for the readiness with which he had consented to meet the Governments, and gave the a.s.surance that they were earnestly desirous that the war should cease.

He also wished, he said, to make an explanation, and this was with respect to a misunderstanding which the British Government was apparently labouring under in regard to the position of the Deputation in Europe, in relation to the burghers in South Africa. From the correspondence of Lord Lansdowne with the Dutch Government, it seemed as if the Government of His British Majesty were in doubt as to whether the Deputation in Europe still represented the Boers in the field. That they still represented the Boers President Steyn declared was most certainly the case. They still enjoyed the fullest confidence of both Governments.

Coming to the matter at issue, the President said that the Governments and the People were very desirous that Peace should be restored. But the Peace that was to be restored should be a lasting one, and that was why the proposals were of the nature the Governments had proposed. They had come there to attain no other object than that for which the People had fought until this moment.

Here Lord Kitchener interrupted President Steyn with a question which seemed to express great astonishment. He drew up his shoulders, threw his head forward to one side, and asked, "Must I understand from what you say that you wish to retain your Independence?"

_President Steyn._ Yes, the people must not be reduced to such a condition as to lose their self-respect, and be placed in such a position that they will feel themselves degraded in the eyes of the British.

_Lord Kitchener._ But that could not be; it is impossible for a people that has fought as the Boers have done to lose their self-respect; and it is just as impossible for Englishmen to regard them with contempt.

What I would advise you is, that you should submit to the British flag, and should now take the opportunity to obtain the best terms in regard to self-government and other matters.

_President Steyn._ I would like to know from Your Excellency what sort of self-government it would be? Would it be like that in the Cape Colony?

_Lord Kitchener._ Yes, precisely so.

_President Steyn._ I thank Your Excellency. I put the question merely for information.

Lord Kitchener then proceeded to say that one should bear in mind the British Colonists. "The Colonists," he said, "were proud of their own nationality. If anyone, for instance, asked a Colonist in Australia whether he was an Englishman, then his answer would be 'No, I am an Australian.' And yet such a man felt himself to be one with the British nation, and was proud of being a British subject."

President Steyn then said that this comparison would not hold. In the case of English Colonies one had to do with communities which from the beginning had grown up under the British flag, with all the limitations connected therewith. The Colonists had not possessed anything which they had had to surrender, and having had nothing to lose they would have nothing to complain about. In the case of the Boers it was quite different. The Africanders in the two Republics were an independent people. And if that independence were taken away from them they would immediately feel themselves degraded, and a grievance would arise which would necessarily lead to a condition of things similar to that in Ireland. The conditions in Ireland had arisen mainly from the fact that Ireland was a conquered country.

Lord Kitchener replied that Ireland could not serve as a parallel, seeing that it had never had self-government.

To this President Steyn replied that the Irish had self-government, and that in a measure that had never yet been granted to any Colony, seeing that they were represented in the Imperial Parliament. Their power also in this respect was so great that the Irish vote, under a strong man like Parnell, could turn the scale in a Parliamentary question in one way or another.

Lord Kitchener then said that he was himself an Irishman, and therefore better able to judge in regard to Irish affairs. He proceeded to say that what was contemplated by the British Government was self-government for the Boers, preceded by military rule for a certain period. That this military rule as a preliminary measure was indispensable at the commencement of Peace for the establishment and maintenance of law and order; that as soon as this period had elapsed self-government would be subst.i.tuted for it, and then the Boers could annul any measure or law made by the military authorities. He remarked, however, that he felt sure that much that was good would be called into being by the military government, which they would not desire afterwards to rescind. But the People would have it in their power to decide in every case.

A desultory discussion followed now, and Lord Kitchener urged that the Governments should make a proposal in accordance with what he had suggested; and both the Presidents replied that the Governments, according to the const.i.tutions of the Republics, were not qualified to make any proposal whereby the Independence of the Republics should be touched.

When Lord Kitchener saw that he could make no progress he moved about impatiently in his chair, and said,--again with the same gesture as before: that if the Governments wished he would telegraph their proposal to his Government, but he could guess--he did not know officially what they would do in England, what he said was merely his own opinion,--but he could guess what the answer would be.

The Presidents then expressed their desire that Lord Kitchener should send the proposal that had been made by them; but he thought that it was not desirable to transmit it in the form in which it had been laid before him. He thought it could be drafted in a more acceptable form.

Thereupon he took a pencil and roughly drafted the preamble of a telegram. He read it aloud, and asked whether anybody wished to make any remark upon it, in order to make the telegram still more acceptable; and whether they wished to appoint anyone for this purpose. Mr. Reitz was nominated, and the preamble of Lord Kitchener with the points of the proposal (modified, as will be observed) was thus drawn up, approved of by all, and, on the adjournment of the meeting, forwarded to the British Government.

FROM LORD KITCHENER TO SECRETARY OF STATE.

"PRETORIA, _12th April 1902_.

"... The Boer Representatives wish to lay before His Majesty's Government that they have an earnest desire for peace, and that they have consequently decided to ask the British Government to end hostilities and to enter into an agreement of peace with them. They are prepared to enter into an agreement by which, in their opinion, all future wars between them and the British Government in South Africa will be prevented. They consider this object may be attained by providing for the following points:--

"1. Franchise.

"2. Equal rights for Dutch and English languages in educational matters.

"3. Customs Union.