is answer would be, 'No,
I am an Australian.' And yet such a man felt himself to be one with
the British nation, and was proud to call himself a British subject."

President Steyn then said that this comparison would not hold. In the
case of British Colonies one had to do with communities which from
the beginning had grown up under the British flag, with all the
limitations attached thereto. These Colonies had not possessed
anything which they had had to surrender, and having had nothing to
lose they could have nothing to complain of. In the case of the Boers
it was quite different. The Africanders in the two Republics were an
independent people. And if that independence were taken away from them
they would immediately feel themselves humiliated, and a grievance
would arise which would necessarily lead to a situation similar to
that now existing in Ireland, which situation was mainly due to the
fact that Ireland was a conquered country.

Lord Kitchener replied that Ireland could not serve as a parallel,
seeing that it had never had self-government.

To this President Steyn replied that the Irish had self-government,
and that in a measure that had never yet been granted to any Colony,
seeing that they were represented in the Imperial Parliament. Their
power also in this respect was so great that the Irish vote, under a
strong man like Parnell, could turn the scale in a Parliamentary
question one way or another.

Lord Kitchener then said that he was himself an Irishman, and
therefore better able to judge in regard to Irish affairs. He
proceeded to say that what was contemplated by the British Government
was self-government for the Boers, preceded by military rule for a
certain period; that this military rule as a preliminary measure was
indispensable at the commencement of Peace for the establishment and
maintenance of law and order; that as soon as this period had elapsed
self-government would be substituted for it, and that then the Boers
could annul any measure or law made by the military authorities. He
remarked, however, that he felt sure that much that was good would be
introduced by the military government, which they would not desire
afterwards to rescind. But the People would have it in their power to
decide in every case.

A desultory discussion followed now, and Lord Kitchener urged that
the Governments should make a proposal in accordance with what he had
suggested; and both the Presidents replied that t