he proposals which
Sir George Colley had sent to them. They felt justified in
construing the Boer answer as leaving the way open to the
appointment of commissioners, according to the telegram previously
seen and approved by your Majesty. They were anxious to keep the
question moving in this direction, and under the extreme urgency
of the circumstances as to time, they have despatched a telegram
to Sir Evelyn Wood accordingly. Mr. Gladstone has always urged,
and still feels, that the proposal of the Boers for the
appointment of commissioners was fortunate on this among other
grounds, that it involved a recognition of your Majesty's _de
facto_ authority in the Transvaal.

_March 12._--The cabinet determined, in order to obviate
misapprehension or suspicion, to desire Sir E. Wood to inform the
government from what quarter the suggestion of an armistice
actually proceeded. They agreed that the proper persons to be
appointed as commissioners were Sir H. Robinson, Sir E. Wood, and
Mr. De Villiers, chief justice of the Cape; together with Mr.
Brand of the Free State as _amicus curiae_, should he be willing to
lend his good offices in the spirit in which he has hitherto
acted. The cabinet then considered fully the terms of the
communication to be made to the Boers by Sir E. Wood. In this,
which is matter of extreme urgency, they prescribe a time for the
reply of the Boers not later than the 18th; renew the promise of
amnesty; require the dispersion of the Boers to their own homes;
and state the general outlines of the permanent arrangement which
they would propose for the territory.... The cabinet believe that
in requiring the dispersion of the Boers to their homes, they will
have made the necessary provision for the vindication of your
Majesty's authority, so as to open the way for considering terms
of pacific settlement.

On March 22, under instructions from home, the general concluded an
agreement for peace. The Boers made some preliminary requests to which the
government declined to assent. Their proposal that the commission should
be joint was rejected; its members were named exclusively by the crown.
They agreed to withdraw from the Nek and disperse to their homes; we
agreed not to occupy the Nek, and not to follow them up with troops,
though General Roberts with a large force had sailed for the Cape