Never was a high matter of state decided in
so democratic a fashion.
Up to that period the Boer leaders had made a succession of
tentative suggestions, each of which had been put aside by the
British Government. Their first had been that they should merely
concede those points which had been at issue at the beginning of
the war. This was set aside. The second was that they should be
allowed to consult their friends in Europe. This also was refused.
The next was that an armistice should be granted, but again Lord
Kitchener was obdurate. A definite period was suggested within
which the burghers should make their final choice between surrender
and a war which must finally exterminate them as a people. It was
tacitly understood, if not definitely promised, that the conditions
which the British Government would be prepared to grant would not
differ much in essentials from those which had been refused by the
Boers a twelvemonth before, after the Middelburg interview.
On May 15th the Boer conference opened at Vereeniging. Sixty-four
delegates from the commandos met with the military and political
chiefs of the late republics, the whole amounting to 150 persons. A
more singular gathering has not met in our time. There was Botha,
the young lawyer, who had found himself by a strange turn of fate
commanding a victorious army in a great war. De Wet was there, with
his grim mouth and sun-browned face; De la Rey, also, with the
grizzled beard and the strong aquiline features. There, too, were
the politicians, the grey-bearded, genial Reitz, a little graver
than when he looked upon 'the whole matter as an immense joke,' and
the unfortunate Steyn, stumbling and groping, a broken and ruined
man. The burly Lucas Meyer, smart young Smuts fresh from the siege
of Ookiep, Beyers from the north, Kemp the dashing cavalry leader,
Muller the hero of many fights - all these with many others of their
sun-blackened, gaunt, hard-featured comrades were grouped within
the great tent of Vereeniging. The discussions were heated and
prolonged. But the logic of facts was inexorable, and the cold
still voice of common-sense had more power than all the ravings of
enthusiasts. The vote showed that the great majority of the
delegates were in favour of surrender upon the terms offered by the
British Government. On May 31st this resolution was notified to
Lord Kitchener, and at half-past ten of the same night the
delegates arrived at Pretoria and set their names to the treaty of
peace. After two years seven and a half months of hostilities the
Dutch republics had acquiesced in their own destruction, and the
whole of South Africa, from Cape Town to the Zambesi, had been
added to the British Empire. The great struggle had cost us twenty
thousand lives and a hundred thousand stricken men, with two
hundred millions of money; but, apart from a peaceful South Africa,
it had won for us a national resuscitation of spirit and a closer
union with our great Colonies which could in no other way have been
attained. We had hoped that we were a solid empire when we engaged
in the struggle, hut we knew that we were when we emerged from it.
In that change lies an ample recompense for all the blood and
treasure spent.
The following were in brief the terms of surrender: -
1. That the burghers lay down their arms and acknowledge themselves
subjects of Edward VII.
2. That all prisoners taking the oath of allegiance be returned.
3. That their liberty and property be inviolate.
4. That an amnesty be granted - save in special cases.
5. That the Dutch language be allowed in schools and law-courts.
6. That rifles be allowed if registered.
7. That self-government be granted as soon as possible.
8. That no franchise be granted for natives until after
self-government.
9. That no special land tax be levied.
10. That the people be helped to reoccupy the farms.
11. That 3,000,000 pounds be given to help the farmers.
12. That the rebels be disfranchised and their leaders tried, on
condition that no death penalty be inflicted.
These terms were practically the same as those which had been
refused by Botha in March 1901. Thirteen months of useless warfare
had left the situation as it was.
It had been a war of surprises, but the surprises have unhappily
been hitherto invariably unpleasant ones. Now at last the balance
swung the other way, for in all the long paradoxical history of
South African strife there is nothing more wonderful than the way
in which these two sturdy and unemotional races clasped hands the
instant that the fight was done. The fact is in itself a final
answer to the ill-natured critics of the Continent. Men do not so
easily grasp a hand which is reddened with the blood of women and
children. From all parts as the commandos came in there was welcome
news of the fraternisation between them and the soldiers; while the
Boer leaders, as loyal to their new ties as they had been to their
old ones, exerted themselves to promote good feeling among their
people. A few weeks seemed to do more to lessen racial bitterness
than some of us had hoped for in as many years. One can but pray
that it will last.
The surrenders amounted in all to twenty thousand men, and showed
that in all parts of the seat of war the enemy had more men in the
field than we had imagined, a fact which may take the sting out of
several of our later mishaps.
