must cease to exist. For the
sparing of the Orange Free State there might, I think, be a fair
argument, but they had put themselves out of court by annexing every
foot of British territory which they could lay their hands upon. For the
sparing of the Transvaal there could be no possible reason. Had that
State been reconstituted we should instantly have been faced once more
with the Franchise question, the Uitlander question, the corrupt
oligarchy, the anti-British conspiracy, and everything which we had
spent so much blood and money to set right. The desperate situation from
which the British power was only just emerging was so fresh in our minds
that we could not feel justified in leaving the possibility--indeed the
certainty--of its recurrence to our children. Remember, you who judge
us, that we had done all this before. Once before within our own
memories we had patched up an inconclusive peace, and left these people
the power to hurt us. And what had come of it? Eternal trouble ending in
a great war which strained the resources of the Empire. Could we be
asked to do the same again? Would any nation on earth have done the same
again? From the day of the signing of peace we should know that we had
an implacable and formidable foe to the north of us, nursing his wrath
and preparing his strength for the day when he might strike us at an
advantage. Our colonies would lie ever in the shadow of its menace. Who
can blame us for deciding that the job should be done now in such a way
that it should never, so far as we could help it, need to be done once
more?

Such was the end of the first negotiations for peace. The war was
resumed, and in time the second capital of the Boers was taken and
President Kruger withdrew to Europe, leaving South Africa in the welter
to which he had reduced it. Then, for the second time, negotiations for
peace were opened on the initiative of General Botha, which led to a
meeting upon February 28, 1901, between Kitchener and Botha. Kitchener
had already explained that for the reasons given above the restoration
of independence was impossible, and the negotiations were carried
through on that understanding. Here is Lord Kitchener's own account of
the interview and of the points at issue:

[_Telegram._] 'Pretoria: March 1, 1901, 2.20 P.M.

'_28th February._--I have had a long interview with Botha, who showed
very good feeling and seemed anxious to bring about peace. He asked f