subsequently, while the Army was advancing upon the Transvaal,
considerable progress was made in the work of clearing the Colony of
the republican invaders and re-establishing British authority in the
districts in which the Dutch had risen in rebellion. In the course of
these operations a large number of rebels had fallen into the hands of
the Imperial military authorities, and it was the question of the
treatment of these colonial rebels that was destined to bring Mr.
Schreiner into direct conflict with those of his ministers who still
held the opinions of the Bond.

[Sidenote: The punishment of rebels.]

In the middle of April Lord Milner had received from Mr. Chamberlain a
despatch containing a preliminary statement of the opinion of the Home
Government upon the two questions of the compensation of loyalists and
the punishment of rebels, and on April 14th he requested his ministers
to give formal expression to their views upon the subjects to which
Mr. Chamberlain had drawn his attention. A fortnight later Lord Milner
reported to the Home Government the conclusions at which Mr. Schreiner
and his fellow-ministers had arrived. Trial by jury for persons
indicted for high treason must be abandoned, since it would be
impossible for the Crown to obtain the necessary convictions, and a
special tribunal must be established by statute. As regards the nature
of the punishment to be inflicted upon the rebels, Mr. Schreiner
wrote:

"Ministers submit that the ends of justice would be served by the
selection of a certain limited number of the principal offenders,
whose trials would mark the magnitude of their offence and whose
punishment, if found guilty, would act as a deterrent. For the
remainder, ministers believe that the interests both of sound
policy and of public morality would be served if Her Gracious
Majesty were moved to issue, as an act of grace, a Proclamation
of amnesty under which, upon giving proper security for their
good behaviour, all persons chargeable with high treason, except
those held for trial, might be enlarged and allowed to return to
their avocations."[223]

[Footnote 223: Cd. 264.]

The substance of the Ministers' Minutes containing these conclusions,
and the arguments by which they were supported--notably an appeal to
the "Canadian precedent"--were telegraphed to the Home Government, and
on May 4th Mr. Chamberlain replied, also by t