ded to turn a civilian
and commercial nation into a military power.

In spite of the optimistic pronouncements of Mr. Fischer and the absurd
forecasts of Dr. Leyds the power of the Boers was really broken, and
they had come in with the genuine intention of surrender. In a race with
such individuality it was not enough that the government should form its
conclusion. It was necessary for them to persuade their burghers that
the game was really up, and that they had no choice but to throw down
their well-worn rifles and their ill-filled bandoliers. For this purpose
a long series of negotiations had to be entered into which put a strain
upon the complacency of the authorities in South Africa and upon the
patience of the attentive public at home. Their ultimate success
shows that this complacency and this patience were eminently the right
attitude to adopt.

On March 23rd the Transvaal representatives were despatched to Kroonstad
for the purpose of opening up the matter with Steyn and De Wet.
Messengers were sent to communicate with these two leaders, but had they
been British columns instead of fellow-countrymen they could not have
found greater difficulty in running them to earth. At last, however,
at the end of the month the message was conveyed, and resulted in the
appearance of De Wet, De la Rey, and Steyn at the British outposts at
Klerksdorp. The other delegates had come north again from Kroonstad, and
all were united in the same small town, which, by a whimsical fate,
had suddenly become the centre both for the making of peace and for the
prosecution of the war, with the eyes of the whole world fixed upon
its insignificant litter of houses. On April 11th, after repeated
conferences, both parties moved on to Pretoria, and the most sceptical
observers began to confess that there was something in the negotiations
after all. After conferring with Lord Kitchener the Boer leaders upon
April 18th left Pretoria again and rode out to the commandos to explain
the situation to them. The result of this mission was that two delegates
were chosen from each body in the field, who assembled at Vereeniging
upon May 15th for the purpose of settling the question by vote. 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 t