Chapter 39

THE END

It only remains in one short chapter to narrate the progress of the
peace negotiations, the ultimate settlement, and the final
consequences of this long-drawn war. However disheartening the
successive incidents may have been in which the Boers were able to
inflict heavy losses upon us and to renew their supplies of arms and
ammunition, it was none the less certain that their numbers were
waning and that the inevitable end was steadily approaching. With
mathematical precision the scientific soldier in Pretoria, with his
web of barbed wire radiating out over the whole country, was week by
week wearing them steadily down. And yet after the recent victory of
De la Rey and various braggadocio pronouncements from the refugees at
The Hague, it was somewhat of a surprise to the British public when it
was announced upon March 22nd that the acting Government of the
Transvaal, consisting of Messrs. Schalk Burger, Lucas Meyer, Reitz,
Jacoby, Krogh, and Van Velden had come into Middelburg and requested
to be forwarded by train to Pretoria for the purpose of discussing
terms of peace with Lord Kitchener. A thrill of hope ran through the
Empire at the news, but so doubtful did the issue seem that none of
the preparations were relaxed which would ensure a vigorous campaign
in the immediate future. In the South African as in the Peninsular
and in the Crimean wars, it may truly be said that Great Britain was
never so ready to fight as at the dawning of peace. At least two
years of failure and experience are needed 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 eminantly 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,