ss to
General Nieuwouwdt, ordering him to come to me with all speed, and to
bring about four hundred and fifty of his men with him. Meanwhile,
General Badenhorst received instructions from me to get all his
scattered commandos together.[109]

Before there had been time for these orders to be carried out I
received, on March 28th, a letter from President Steyn, giving me the
following information:

Mr. S.W. Burger, Vice-States President of the South African Republic,
had written to President Steyn, saying that he was at Kroonstad, and
that he wished to meet the Government of the Orange Free State. He also
said that a copy of the correspondence between the Governments of the
Queen of the Netherlands and of the King of England had been sent to him
by Lord Kitchener.

From this correspondence it appeared that the Netherlands Government
(considering the condition of affairs to be exceptional, in that the
Boers who were still fighting were unable to negotiate either with the
British Government or with the Deputation in Europe) felt justified in
offering to act as an intermediary. In this capacity they were prepared
to ask the Deputation if they were willing--supposing that a safe
conduct could be obtained from England--to go to South Africa, and
discuss matters with the Boers, in order to be able subsequently to
return to Europe, empowered to conclude a Treaty of Peace, which would
be binding both in South Africa and in Europe.

Lord Lansdowne, in the name of the British Government, replied that his
Government highly appreciated the humane intentions of the Government of
the Netherlands, but that they had made up their minds to abide by their
former decision, and not to accept any foreign intervention. Further,
that the Deputation could, if they wished, address a request for a safe
conduct to the British Government, but that the matter could not be
decided in England, until the precise nature of the request, and the
grounds on which it was preferred, were fully understood.

Lord Lansdowne also said that the British Government was not quite clear
as to whether the Deputation still retained any influence over the Boer
leaders in South Africa; that they thought that the power to negotiate
for the Orange Free State lay with President Steyn, and, for the
Transvaal, with President Burger; and that they considered that the most
satisfactory arrangement would be for the leaders of the Boers to
negotiate directly with the Comman