the proclamation was to burden the British resources by an
enormous crowd of women and children who were kept and fed in refugee
camps, while their fathers and husbands continued in most cases to
fight.

This allusion to the peace movement among the burghers may serve as
an introduction to the attempt made by Lord Kitchener, at the end of
February 1901, to bring the war to a close by negotiation. Throughout
its course the fortitude of Great Britain and of the Empire had never
for an instant weakened, but her conscience had always been sensitive
at the sight of the ruin which had befallen so large a portion of South
Africa, and any settlement would have been eagerly hailed which would
insure that the work done had not been wasted, and would not need to
be done again. A peace on any other terms would simply shift upon the
shoulders of our descendants those burdens which we were not manly
enough to bear ourselves. There had arisen, as has been said, a
considerable peace movement among the burghers of the refugee camps and
also among the prisoners of war. It was hoped that some reflection of
this might be found among the leaders of the people. To find out if this
were so Lord Kitchener, at the end of February, sent a verbal message to
Louis Botha, and on the 27th of that month the Boer general rode with an
escort of Hussars into Middelburg. 'Sunburned, with a pleasant, fattish
face of a German type, and wearing an imperial,' says one who rode
beside him. Judging from the sounds of mirth heard by those without, the
two leaders seem to have soon got upon amiable terms, and there was hope
that a definite settlement might spring from their interview. From the
beginning Lord Kitchener explained that the continued independence of
the two republics was an impossibility. But on every other point the
British Government was prepared to go great lengths in order to satisfy
and conciliate the burghers.

On March 7th Lord Kitchener wrote to Botha from Pretoria, recapitulating
the points which he had advanced. The terms offered were certainly as
far as, and indeed rather further than, the general sentiment of the
Empire would have gone. If the Boers laid down their arms there was to
be a complete amnesty, which was apparently to extend to rebels also so
long as they did not return to Cape Colony or Natal. Self-government was
promised after a necessary interval, during which the two States should
be administered as Crown colonies. Law co