r always offered the olive branch and sought to establish
harmony. That however was all over, and let the Government now take
the first steps if they were in earnest.

Mr. Marais reported the whole of this conversation to the Executive
Council and, upon his making use of the expression 'olive branch,'
the President exclaimed excitedly, 'What are they talking about? What
is an olive branch?' When this was explained to him he nodded and
said, 'Yes, that is what we will do,' and Mr. Wolmarans another
member of the Executive exclaimed, 'Go back to the Johannesburg
people and tell them that we have already offered the olive branch by
voluntarily withdrawing our police from the town in order to avoid
conflict, thus leaving them in entire possession. It is for them to
say whether they will accept it.'

The meeting at which Messrs. Marais and Malan were commissioned to
negotiate with the Johannesburg people was, with the exception of
General Smit (then dying and since dead), attended by every member of
the Executive Council, and there is no truth in the suggestion made
on behalf of the Government that it was an informal meeting of a few
men who were not acting on behalf of the State, nor is there any
justification for the statement made by Judge Ameshof in the
witness-box that Messrs. Marais and Malan were not officially
authorized to negotiate with the Reform Committee.

Messrs. Marais and Malan met the Reform Committee in the general
committee-room, and both gentlemen addressed the meeting several
times, going fully into the grievances complained of by the
Uitlanders and explaining very fully the position of the Government
and their attitude during the meeting of the Executive Council which
they had been called upon to attend. They stated that they had been
sent by a full meeting of the Executive to ask the Reform Committee
to send a deputation to Pretoria in order to meet a Commission to
be appointed by Government with a view to effecting a peaceful
settlement and the redress of grievances; that the Commission would
consist of Chief Justice Kotze, Judge Ameshof, and another, probably
a member of the Executive Council; that the Government were willing
to consider and redress the grievances, and were, above all things,
anxious to avoid conflict with their own subjects.

Then came the much-quoted expression: 'We come in fact to offer you
the olive branch; it is for you to say if you will take it; if you
are sincere in your