whelming," since "thousands of British subjects [were being] kept perrna-
nently in the position of helots."44
The Cape colonial government tried desperately to ward off a conflict.
Although Milner decided to meet Kruger, however, he did so only to
demand that he should give the vote to all Uitlanders who had lived in the
republic for five years, and he broke off the discussion when Kruger was
unwilling to go that far. In a final effort, Smuts agreed to accept Milner's
conference demands,
provided that Britain would refrain from further
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