erred to Natal on
the termination of the war.

As High Commissioner, Lord Milner was bound to prevent the grant of
any terms to the Boers inconsistent with the future maintenance of
British supremacy in South Africa, now re-established at so great a
cost. As the representative man of the British in South Africa, he
was no less bound to see that the terms of surrender contained no
concessions to the separatist aspirations of the Boer people
calculated to form an obstacle to the future administrative union of
the South African colonies. With this two-fold responsibility laid
upon him, it is not surprising that his view both of what might be
conceded safely to the Boer leaders, and of how it might be conceded,
was somewhat different from that of the Commander-in-Chief. That the
Boers themselves were conscious of being likely to get more favourable
terms from Lord Kitchener than from the High Commissioner, is apparent
from the anxiety which they displayed to deal exclusively with the
former. In this object, however, they were entirely unsuccessful,
since the Home Government indicated from the first their desire that
Lord Milner should be present at the meetings for negotiation; and in
the end the terms of surrender were drafted by him with the assistance
of Sir Richard Solomon, the legal adviser to the Transvaal
Administration.

[Sidenote: The peace negotiations.]

The actual circumstances in which the Vereeniging negotiations
originated were these. Early in the year 1902, when, as we have seen,
the ultimate success of the military operations directed by Lord
Kitchener was assured, the Netherlands Government communicated their
readiness to mediate between the British Government and the
Governments of the South African Republic and the Orange Free State,
with a view to the termination of hostilities. To this offer the
British Government replied that, while they were sincerely desirous of
terminating the war, the only persons whom they could recognise as
competent to negotiate for peace were the leaders of the Boer forces
in the field. Lord Kitchener was directed, however, to forward a copy
of the correspondence between the British and Netherlands Governments
to the Boer leaders. In acknowledging this communication Mr. Schalk
Burger, as acting President of the South African Republic, informed
Lord Kitchener that he was prepared to treat for peace, but that
before doing so he wished to see President Steyn. He, therefore, a