on August 12. In them the Joint
Commission was put aside, and the proposal was made that the Boer
Government should accede to the franchise proposals of Sir Alfred Milner
on condition that the British Government withdrew or dropped her claim
to a suzerainty, agreed to arbitration by a British and South African
tribunal, and promised never again to interfere in the internal affairs
of the Republic. To this Great Britain answered that she would agree to
such arbitration; that she hoped never again to have occasion to
interfere for the protection of her own subjects, but that with the
grant of the franchise all occasion for such interference would pass
away; and, finally, that she would never consent to abandon her position
as suzerain power. Mr. Chamberlain's despatch ended by reminding the
Government of the Transvaal that there were other matters of dispute
open between the two Governments apart from the franchise, and that it
would be as well to have them settled at the same time. By these he
meant such questions as the position of the native races and the
treatment of Anglo-Indians.

For a moment there seemed now to be a fair prospect of peace. There was
no very great gap between the two parties, and had the negotiations
been really _bona fide_ it seems incredible that it could not be
bridged. But the Transvaal was secure now of the alliance of the Orange
Free State; it believed that the Colony was ripe for rebellion; and it
knew that with 60,000 cavalry and 100 guns it was infinitely the
strongest military power in Africa. One cannot read the negotiations
without being convinced that they were never meant to succeed, and the
party which did not mean them to succeed was the party which prepared
all the time for war. De Villiers, a friendly critic, says of the
Transvaal Government: 'Throughout the negotiations they have always been
wriggling to prevent a clear and precise decision.' Surely the sequel
showed clearly enough why this was so. Their military hand was stronger
than their political one, and it was with that that they desired to play
the game. It would not do, therefore, to get the negotiations into such
a stage that a peaceful solution should become inevitable. What was the
use of all those rifles and cannon if the pen were after all to effect a
compromise? 'The only thing that we are afraid of,' wrote young
Blignant, 'is that Chamberlain with his admitted fitfulness of temper
should cheat us out of our war an