itish
Government, because the great question raised in the correspondence
last April between us and the British Government turned on the
independence, and now after having consulted the people we come and
say: "We are prepared to abandon the independence, and we define to
what extent." And now, as General Smuts has said, that is exactly the
basis that we lay down here in our proposal.

Lord MILNER: You say you abandon the independence as far as foreign
relations are concerned?

General HERTZOG: Yes, but you must understand that this is only a
basis, which we shall more fully specify later.

General SMUTS: The independence is abandoned as far as foreign
relations are concerned, and with reference to the internal
government, that is placed under the supervision of the British
Government, so that the effect of these two clauses is: That the
independence is abandoned and that the two Republics cannot after that
be considered as sovereign States.

Lord MILNER: I understand very well that they would not then be
sovereign States, but my mind is not clear enough to be able to say
what they would virtually be.

Lord KITCHENER: They would be a new kind of "International Animal."

General SMUTS: As history teaches us, it has happened before that
questions were solved by compromises. And this draft proposal is as
near as we can come to colonial government.

Lord KITCHENER: Do you accept the annexations?

General SMUTS: Not formally, but I do not understand that this
proposal would be in conflict with the annexation proclamations.

Lord KITCHENER: I fear that my mind is not clear enough to understand
this. There will have to be two Governments in one State. And how do
you propose that the government should be carried on?

General SMUTS: A fuller explanation would have to be given to the word
_supervision_; and I thought that this was exactly the point which
could be further discussed, and on which we could negotiate.

Lord MILNER: I shall certainly not depart from a clear basis to accept
a vague basis.

Lord KITCHENER: I feel convinced that your proposal could never be
carried out in the practical government of a country.

Chief Commandant DE WET: I am also of opinion that our proposal is not
developed, just as little as the Middelburg proposals. This was
clearly intimated by Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner when those
proposals were made; and they were only considered as a basis on which
we could negotiate, so that t