



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.

  _Pretoria,
       October, 1908._




INTRODUCTION


DEAR READER,

In connection with the publication, by the Rev. J. D. Kestell and Mr.
D. E. van Velden, of the official minutes of the Peace Negotiations
(together with the official correspondence relating thereto) between
the British Government and the Governments of the Orange Free State
and the South African Republic, which terminated in the Peace
concluded at Vereeniging on May 31, 1902, I do not wish in this
introduction to enter into details, but merely to confine my remarks
to the great responsibility which rested upon us and to the question,
"Was it necessary to conclude Peace?"

If it was a task of supreme importance to decide to enter upon the
struggle which had been waged, if it was an arduous and difficult duty
to carry on the struggle, it was much harder and more difficult to
foresee what the result of that struggle would be, and still harder
and more difficult to decide to give it up. With how much hope, fear,
and anxiety was not the end looked forward to! And when the end came,
what did it not cost us to persuade the head to do what the heart
refused to perform? What was realised of that hope for which there had
been such a struggle, for which so much had been suffered, so much
endured, so much sacrificed--the Reader will find in this book. He
will also find in it the correspondence which led up to, and was
carried on during, the Peace Negotiations; the proceedings at our
meetings at Klerksdorp, Pretoria, and Vereeniging; the opinions,
views, and grounds upon which the leaders of the people acted, in so
far as those were expressed. You will not, however, find here the
struggle that took place at Vereeniging within every Delegate between
the heart and the head; the intense effort which it cost us to bring
ourselves to acknowledge to our powerful enemy that we had been
overpowered, exhausted, and were unable to continue the struggle any
longer; to acknowledge to ourselves and posterity that our sacrifices,
the blood and tears that had been shed, the indescribable anxiety for
wife and children, the suffering and death of the thousands of
innocent women and children, the awful evils which had fallen to the
lot of the rebels, had been all in vain; that we were about to lose
all for which we had suffered and sacrificed. All this, I say, you do
not find recorded here, but you may read it in the grey hairs of the
Delegates to Vereeniging and of our people, in the deep wrinkles on
their faces, and in the expression on the countenance of every
Boer--that expression which cannot conceal what the soul had to
endure. We had already sacrificed much, yet, in spite of all, the hope
had inseparably clung to us that no sacrifice, no privation, no loss
would be in vain. There at Vereeniging, however, we had to surrender
what was dearest to us, we had to stand at the open grave of the two
Republics, and we had to say with bowed heads: "We had not hoped,
expected, willed for this, but--Thy will be done!"

We are asked: "Why did you make peace? Why did you not persevere? Was
there no hope? Had the last resources been exhausted, and was all your
strength spent?" To these questions I must emphatically reply "Yes";
there was no means that had not been resorted to, no strength, no
reasonable hope left. As rational beings we could see no grounds upon
which to continue the struggle with any hope of success. It was,
however, not the arms of the enemy which directly compelled us to
surrender, but another sword which they had stretched out over
us--namely, the sword of hunger and nakedness, and, what weighed most
heavily of all, the awful mortality amongst our women and children in
the Concentration Camps. I, as Acting State President, upon whom great
responsibility rested, was convinced that it was time for us to
conclude peace, not for the sake of ourselves, the leaders, but for
the sake of the People, who were so faithful, in order to preserve the
root that still remained, and in order not to allow our nation to be
entirely exterminated; out of the ruins of our country to endeavour
later on to develop a South African nationality, to build up the
nation again, and to preserve the unity of the People. It was our
conviction that the further prosecution of the war would mean the
destruction of our national existence. Whether that conviction was
correct or not, we confidently leave to the judgment of posterity.

Allow me also a reply to the question: "Why did we not conclude peace
sooner?" A question which by some is even put reproachfully. My answer
is that, as we fought for the retention of our Fatherland and our
National honour, we, as men, could not give up the struggle before we
had convincing proof that we had persevered and resisted to the
uttermost. That proof was thrust upon us at Vereeniging, and now every
one who defended his Fatherland to the last can bear his fate with an
easy conscience, and the world is convinced with us that we fought to
the bitter end. With all our disappointments we had further to
experience that Great Britain, in addition to the tremendous forces
with which her mighty Empire supplied, also availed herself of natives
and other unjustifiable means. I wish merely to mention this.

At Vereeniging we began by looking up prayerfully to God, Who decides
the destinies of men and nations, and became convinced that it was the
right time to make peace, and that we were on the right road by
concluding the Treaty of Vereeniging. My closing words at Vereeniging
were: "Comrades, we stand beside the grave of both Republics, but not
at the grave of our People. We have laid down our arms and concluded
the struggle which has brought death, misery, and destruction. But now
we have to enter upon another struggle, much greater and much nobler.
It will be our duty to labour with vigour and sacrifice at the
rebuilding of our nation. Therein lies a great work before us.
Although our former functions have now lapsed, our calling and duty
still remain. The People who have looked up to us and remained so
faithful to the end will continue to look up to us, and rightly expect
assistance and advice under the altered circumstances. Let it always
be our aim to serve our People."

Have subsequent events not proved that our view was correct?

Peace! How was it received?

I think the answer must be: "With deep disappointment." The victors
did not exult. Was it perhaps because they involuntarily felt that
from the time when they, principally upon distorted representations,
unjustifiably interfered with the affairs of the South African
Republic, up to the Conference at Vereeniging, they had achieved no
honour? Our People, especially the women and daughters in the
Concentration Camps, were deeply dismayed. I have never seen a more
impressive and sadder scene than the sight of the 4,000 women and
children in the Merebank Concentration Camp, Natal, when I informed
them that we had concluded peace, by which we had had to sacrifice our
country. The question: "Is it for _this_ that I sacrificed my husband,
my son, my child?"--which resounded in my ears from the lips of the
weep