The delay in the sending of this message is attributed to the field telegraphs not being connected with Bloemfontein on Tuesday evening.
Wherever Lord Roberts' dispatch was read, his reference to the "late" President Steyn and the "late" executive was immediately fastened upon as highly significant.
Overtures for peace had been made, by Presidents Kruger and Steyn, some days before the occupation of Bloemfontein, but the terms were not such as England would entertain, and the burghers were promptly informed by Lord Salisbury, that his Government would consider no conditions looking to the independence of the South African Republic or the Orange Free State, This reply caused bitter disappointment to the South African Presidents, and President Kruger cabled the following characteristic message:
"PRETORIA, March 13, 1900.
"The burghers will only cease fighting with death. Our forces are returning in good order to our first line of defense on our own soil. The Natal campaign was longer in our favor than we expected.
"The British will never reach Pretoria. The burghers, Steyn, Joubert and myself, as well as all others, are united. There are no differences. God help us."
The War Solely Defensive
Presidents Kruger and Steyn addressed to Lord Salisbury the following proposition:
"BLOEMFONTEIN, March 5th.
"The blood and the tears of thousands who have suffered by this war, and the prospect of all moral and economic ruin, wherewith South Africa is now threatened, make it necessary for both belligerents to ask themselves dispassionately and as in the sight of the triune God for what they are fighting, and whether the aim of each justifies all this appalling misery and devastation.