_March 13, 1902_.

YOUR HONOUR,

I beg to acknowledge the receipt of Your Honour's letter of the 10th
March, and to inform Your Honour that I shall be pleased to allow the
safe conduct you ask for.

I shall be obliged if Your Honour would inform me of the number you
propose to bring with you, and that you will send in to Balmoral a day
in advance, so that an officer whom I shall designate for the purpose
may meet Your Honour and see that all proper arrangements are made for
your reception.

I shall order my troops immediately to withdraw from the neighbourhood
in which Your Honour now is, and inform them of the safe conduct that
is hereby given to Your Honour.

I have the honour to be,
Your Honour's obedient servant,
KITCHENER, _General,
Commanding-in-Chief South Africa_.

TO HIS HONOUR, MR. S. W. BURGER.

Before making use of the opportunity thus obtained of meeting
President Steyn, the Government of the South African Republic
considered it necessary to ascertain where President Steyn with his
Government was, so that he might be informed that the Transvaal
Government, under safe conduct from Lord Kitchener, was _en route_ to
meet him and his Government. In the following letter Acting-President
Burger requested Lord Kitchener to transmit the following telegram to
President Steyn:--

_To His Excellency_ LORD KITCHENER, _Commander-in-Chief of the
British Troops, Pretoria_.

GOVERNMENT LAGER,
IN THE VELD, S.A.R.,
_March 17, 1902_.

YOUR EXCELLENCY,

I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency's
letter of the 13th inst.

I thank Your Excellency for consenting to our travelling through Your
Excellency's lines, and also for the order given to your troops to
immediately withdraw from the neighbourhood where I at present am, and
for the notice given them of the safe conduct extended to us.

In order to obviate delay I respectfully request Your Excellency to
transmit the enclosed telegram to President Steyn, and to put me in
possession of His Honour's reply thereto, on receipt of which I shall
immediately inform Your Excellency a day in advance, as requested by
you, of the time when we shall arrive at Balmoral.

Pending the receipt of Your Excell