President Steyn. Your Excellency surely cannot be in earnest in putting this question?
Lord Milner (in a tone of annoyance). Yes, certainly.
President Steyn. How can the prisoners-of-war be consulted?—they are civilly dead. To mention one practical difficulty: suppose the prisoners should decide that the war should be continued, and the burghers on commando that it should not—what then?—
Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner, seeing the absurdity, laughed aloud. They quite agreed with President Steyn, and admitted that the difficulty raised by him was to the point.
Lord Kitchener, however, wished to call attention to the word "excluding" in the answer of the British Government. He put it that the words "excluding Independence" rendered a discussion, as to Dependence or Independence, superfluous. The question should now be discussed as if Independence were finally excluded; and assuming this, such proposals should be made as it was thought would be acceptable as well for the Boers as for the British Government.
President Steyn then pointed out again that it was beyond the power of the Government to do so. They had no right to make a proposal that even assumed the exclusion of Independence.
Lord Kitchener and Lord Milner here again agreed with the President. Both said at the same time, "We agree—we agree."
Meanwhile it had been urged several times that Lord Kitchener should request his Government to make such proposals as might be regarded as some kind of compensation, and which could, as such, be laid before the People, in case the question of surrendering their Independence were laid before them.
Now this may look as if the Governments were already convinced that our cause was a hopeless one, and that they, being themselves not qualified to surrender the Independence, were only waiting for the decision of the People thereupon. But I know well that the majority at least of the men there did not think so, and that they felt convinced that, if they appealed to the People, the People would with one accord say, "We will retain our Independence, and if England does not agree to this, then we shall go on with the war."
The Representatives of the English Government would not, however, be persuaded that the British Government should make any proposals, and after much discussion Lord Milner said that it appeared to him that they had come to a "Dead-lock."