surrender of the Boers. The one thing, above all
others, that struck him, and every other visitor from
England, was the profound peace that reigned from end to end
of the land.]

[Sidenote: Lord Milner's reply.]

[Sidenote: War no longer justifiable.]

"I accede to your request to bring these resolutions to the
notice of Her Majesty's Government. I think it is doubtful
whether I ought to do so, but in view of the prevailing
bitterness and excitement it is better to err, if one must err,
on the side of conciliation and fairness. And, having regard
especially to the fact that one of the resolutions is directed
against myself, I wish to avoid any appearance of a desire to
suppress its companions on account of it. But, having gone thus
far on the road of concession, I take the liberty, in no
unfriendly and polemical spirit, of asking you quite frankly what
good you think can be done by resolutions of this character? I am
not now referring to the resolution against myself. That is a
matter of very minor importance. The pith of the whole business
is in resolution number one, a resolution evidently framed with
great care by the clever men who are engineering the present
agitation in the Colony. Now, that resolution asks for two
things--a termination of the war, and the restoration of the
independence of the Republics. In desiring the termination of the
war we are all agreed, but nothing can be less conducive to the
attainment of that end than to encourage in those who are still
carrying on a hopeless resistance the idea that there is any,
even the remotest chance, of the policy of annexation being
reversed. I am not now speaking for myself. This is not a
question for me. I am simply directing your attention to the
repeatedly declared policy of Her Majesty's Government, a policy
just endorsed by an enormous majority of the nation, and not only
by the ordinary supporters of the Government, but by the bulk of
those ordinarily opposed to it. Moreover, that policy is approved
by all the great self-governing colonies of the Empire, except
this one, and in this one by something like half the white
population, and practically the whole of the native. And this
approving half of the white population, be it observed, embraces
all those who, in