o tie his hands, and so, brother, the thing is simply war and
nothing else. He said we had gone too far, and help from oversea was
positively promised, only unanimity of opinion must reign here or we
could neither expect nor obtain assistance. Brother, the old man and his
Hollander dogs talk very easily about the thing; but what shall we do,
because if one speaks against it one is simply a rebel? So I remain
dumb.

'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is peace
and Queen. Those are the politics they talk. I have nothing more to say
here, but I can tell you a good deal. Brother, old Reitz says
Chamberlain will have a great surprise one of these days, and the
burghers must sleep with one eye open.

'It is rumoured here that our military officers work day and night to
send old Victoria an ultimatum before she is ready.'

'On the stoep it is nothing but war, but in the Raad everything is
peace.' No wonder the British overtures were in vain.

CHAPTER V

THE NEGOTIATIONS FOR PEACE

This is not an attempt to write the history of the war, which I have
done elsewhere, but only to touch upon those various points upon which
attempts have been made to mislead continental and American opinion. I
will endeavour to treat each of these subjects in turn, not in the
spirit of a lawyer preparing a brief, but with an honest endeavour to
depict the matter as it is, even when I venture to differ from the
action either of the British Government or of the generals in the field.
In this chapter I will deal with the question of making peace, and
examine how far the British are to blame for not having brought those
negotiations which have twice been opened to a successful conclusion.

The outset of the war saw the Boers aggressive and victorious. They
flocked into British territory, drove the small forces opposed to them
into entrenched positions, and held them there at Ladysmith, Kimberley,
and Mafeking. At the same time they drove back at Colenso and at
Magersfontein the forces which were sent to relieve these places. During
this long period of their predominance from October 1899 to February
1900, there was no word of peace. On the contrary, every yard of British
territory which was occupied was instantly annexed either by the
Transvaal or by the Orange Free State. This is admitted and beyond
dispute. What becomes then of the theory of a defensive war, and what
can they urge against the justice which a