Lord Milner in a
passage in the despatch[222] which covers the transmission of the
newspaper report of the People's Congress at Graaf Reinet. After
stating that in return for Mr. Schreiner's efforts to secure the
postponement of the Bond Congress, he had himself persuaded the
leaders of the Progressive party to abstain from any public
demonstration of their opinions, he writes:

[Footnote 222: Cd. 261, despatch of June 6th, 1900.]

"There was a truce of God on both sides. Then came the
'conciliation' movement, and the country was stirred from end to
end by a series of meetings much more violent and mischievous
than the regular Bond Congress would have been, though, of
course, on the same lines. The truce being thus broken, it would
have been useless--and, as a matter of fact, I did not
attempt--to restrain an expression of opinion on the other side.
Hence the long series of meetings held in British centres to
pronounce in favour of the annexation of both Republics, and to
give cordial support to the policy of Her Majesty's Government
and myself personally. On the whole, the utterances at these
meetings have been marked by a moderation totally absent in the
tone of the conciliators. But no doubt a certain number of
violent things have been said, and a certain amount of
unnecessary heat generated. I do not think, however, that those
[the loyalists] who have held these meetings, under extraordinary
provocation, are greatly to blame if this has occasionally been
the case."

That the "conciliation" movement exercised a most injurious influence
in a colony of which a considerable area was in rebellion or under
martial law, and where the majority of the inhabitants were in
sympathy with the enemy is obvious. But from the point of view of the
Afrikander nationalists it was an intelligible and effective method of
promoting the objects which they had in view. What is amazing is the
part which was played in it by Englishmen, and the confident manner in
which the promoters of the movement relied upon the political
co-operation of the friends of the Boers in the ranks of the Liberal
party in England. Every Afrikander who attended these meetings knew
that he was doing his best to arouse hatred against the Englishman and
sympathy for the Boer. The nature of the resolutions to which he gave
his adherence left him in no doubt on this