osperity, and
public freedom throughout South Africa." In supporting this
resolution, Sir James Rose Innes said:

[Footnote 210: A suburb of Capetown.]

"This question of permanent peace is the key-stone of the whole
matter, because, I take it, we none of us want to see another war
of this kind. We do not want to see the misery and the suffering
and the loss which a war of this kind entails. We do not want to
see our sandy plains drenched with the best blood of England
again, fighting against white men in this country. We do not want
to see the flower of colonial manhood shot down on the plains of
the Orange Free State and the Karroo, and neither do we want to
see brave men, born in South Africa, dying in heaps, dying for
what we know is a hopeless ideal. Therefore we say, 'In Heaven's
name give us peace! Have a settlement, but make no settlement
which shall not be calculated, as far as human foresight can
provide, to secure a permanent peace.'"

These were strong words, and their significance was heightened by the
well-known independence of Sir James Innes's political outlook.

[Sidenote: Lord Milner at Bloemfontein.]

A fortnight later Lord Milner declared his mind on the same question.
Both the occasion and the speech are of special interest. The High
Commissioner had just returned from a fortnight at the front. On March
19th he left Capetown in company with Sir Richard Solomon for the
north-eastern districts of the Colony, which, having rebelled in
November, had just been reduced to order by General Brabant and the
"Colonial Division," when the Free State invaders had been drawn off
by Lord Roberts's advance. After a week in the Colony, Lord Milner
travelled on by rail to Bloemfontein, which he reached on the 27th. It
was a stimulating and suggestive moment. He was now the guest of the
British Commander-in-Chief at the Presidency, where, just ten months
ago, as the guest of President Steyn, he had met Paul Krueger for the
first time. The little Free State capital, then wrapped in its
accustomed quietude, was now filled with the tumultuous presence of a
great army. But, complete as was the revolution accomplished by Lord
Roberts's advance, there were signs that the Boer was dying hard, even
if he were not coming to life again. On the 30th a disquieting
engagement was fought at Karree Siding, and on the 31st de Wet dealt
his second shrewd