



Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Christine P. Travers and the
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[Transcriber's note: Obvious printer's errors have been corrected, all
other inconsistencies are as in the original. The author's spelling has
been maintained.]




[Illustration: _The Signatories to the Peace Treaty on behalf of the South
African Republic._]

[Illustration: _The Signatories to the Peace Treaty on behalf of the
Orange Free State._]




ARMY HEADQUARTERS, SOUTH AFRICA.

PRETORIA. 4th March, 1902.


Your Honour,

By direction of His Majesty's Government, I have the honour to forward
enclosed copy of an Aide-Memoire communicated by the Netherland Minister
to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, together with his reply
thereto.

      I have the honour to be,
  Your Honour's Obedient Servant,

                         [Signature of Kitchener.]

                                          General.

                   Commanding-in-Chief, South Africa.


  To
      His Honour,
          Mr. Schalk Burger.

_Facsimile of the letter from Lord Kitchener upon which the Peace
Negotiations were entered into._




THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

  _Between the Governments of the South African Republic
  and the Orange Free State, and the Representatives
  of the British Government, which terminated
  in the Peace concluded at Vereeniging
  on the 31st May, 1902_


BY

REV. J. D. KESTELL

_Secretary to the Orange Free State Government_


AND

D. E. VAN VELDEN

_Secretary to the Government of the South African Republic_


TRANSLATED AND PUBLISHED BY

D. E. VAN VELDEN




_WITH PHOTOS AND FACSIMILES OF ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS_




  LONDON
  RICHARD CLAY & SONS, LTD., BRUNSWICK STREET, S.E.
  1912


  RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED
  BRUNSWICK ST., STAMFORD ST., S.E., AND
  BUNGAY SUFFOLK




CONTENTS


                                                                  Page

  PREFACE                                                           ix

  Introduction by S. W. Burger, M.L.A., Acting State President
  of the Late South African Republic                              xiii

  TRANSLATOR'S NOTE                                                xix


  CHAPTER I
  Preliminary Correspondence                                         1


  CHAPTER II
  Proceedings at Klerksdorp                                         18


  CHAPTER III
  First Negotiations at Pretoria                                    33


  CHAPTER IV
  Vereeniging                                                       46


  CHAPTER V
  Further Negotiations at Pretoria                                  98


  CHAPTER VI
  Vereeniging and Peace                                            138


  APPENDIX--The Middelburg Proposals                               210




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


  The Signatories to the Peace Treaty on behalf of the South
  African Republic.                                     _Frontispiece_

  The Signatories to the Peace Treaty on behalf of the Orange Free
  State.                                                _Frontispiece_

  Facsimile of the letter from Lord Kitchener upon which
  the Peace Negotiations were entered into         _Facing Title page_

                                                         _Facing page_

  Facsimile of the copy of the reply from the Government
  of the South African Republic to Lord Kitchener's letter
  dated 4th March, 1902                                              6

  Facsimile of Safe Conduct granted by Lord Kitchener               44

  Facsimile of the Oath subscribed to at Vereeniging by
  the Delegates of the South African Republic                       46

  Facsimile of the Oath subscribed to at Vereeniging by
  the Delegates of the Orange Free State                            46

  Facsimile of a page of the Peace Proposals as submitted by the
  British Representatives and amended by the Boer Representatives.
  The alterations are in the handwriting of Generals Smuts and
  Hertzog                                                          112

  Facsimile of a page of the Peace Proposals as submitted
  by the British Representatives and amended by the Boer
  Representatives. The alterations are in the handwriting of
  General Smuts and Mr. Advocate N. J. de Wet                      117

  Facsimile of the original proposal by Commandant H. P. J.
  Pretorius, seconded by General Chris. Botha, to accept the
  British Peace Proposals                                          202

  Facsimile of the document on which the voting on the proposal
  by Commandant H. P. J. Pretorius, seconded by General Chris.
  Botha, to accept the British Peace Proposals was recorded        206




PREFACE


The want has been repeatedly expressed of an official publication of
the Minutes of the Negotiations which led to the Peace concluded at
Vereeniging on May 31, 1902, events which have hitherto been a closed
page in the history of the Boer War. As the Republics had ceased to
exist, the question arose: Who could publish such Minutes? It is true
that some very incomplete Minutes appeared in General de Wet's book,
but although they were in all probability reliable, yet they had not
the seal of an official document.

The only way in which the want could be met appeared to be for the
Secretaries, who had been appointed by the two Republican Governments
to minute the Negotiations, to publish those Minutes after they had
been read and approved of as authentic by persons competent to do so.

This is what has been done by this publication, which places the
reader in possession of all the correspondence leading up to the
Negotiations, exact reports of what was said and done, not only at
Vereeniging, but also previously at Klerksdorp, and, finally, all the
Negotiations which took place at Pretoria between the two Republican
Governments and the British Government, represented by Lord Kitchener
and Lord Milner.

We, however, were not satisfied to publish this record, which we had
most carefully taken down, merely on our own authority. We felt that,
if only this and nothing more were done, the world would after all
have only our word to rely upon, and that, although the record thus
published would always serve as a highly reliable book of reference,
it would lack the authority of a document properly authenticated by a
body competent to do so.

In order, therefore, to obtain this desirable seal of authenticity to
our record, we submitted our manuscript to President Steyn, Acting
President Burger, the Chairman of the Meeting of Representatives of
the People at Vereeniging (General C. F. Beyers), Generals Botha and
Smuts for the South African Republic, and Generals de Wet and Hertzog
for the Orange Free State, with the result that they all found our
record to be a true and correct account of the Peace Negotiations.

So this book sees the light with their _imprimatur_, and we therefore
publish it with the greatest confidence.

The Reader's attention is drawn to the following particulars:--

     In respect of the speeches made by the members of the Republican
     Governments at Klerksdorp, and the speeches delivered later at
     Vereeniging by them and by the Delegates from the various
     Commandos, the reports are almost _verbatim_. The addresses of
     the Presidents and principal Generals especially were transcribed
     from the stenographic notes of D. E. van Velden, and revised by
     J. D. Kestell.

     This completeness does not extend to what is published of the
     _First_ Conference between the two Republican Governments and
     Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, because no Secretaries were
     admitted to that Conference. Lord Kitchener had expressed the
     desire that no official notes should be taken, as the parties
     would first confer informally. What was discussed, however, has
     not been lost, for an account of what took place at this
     Conference was taken down by J. D. Kestell from the dictation of
     General Hertzog immediately after the conference was over, and
     revised by President Steyn and Mr. W. J. C. Brebner (Acting
     Government Secretary, Orange Free State), and appears in this
     book.

     With reference to the _Second_ Conference, however, we were
     present, and what is given is a _verbatim_ account of the
     discussion.

Of some official documents in our possession, reproductions or
facsimiles are given in the hope that the reader will find them of
interest.

                                        J. D. K.
                                        D. E. v. V.

  _