Vereeniging Conference.
The conference of Boer leaders held at Vereeniging in May 1902, at which the terms of surrender were discussed and finally accepted. The terms provided for the immediate laying down of arms by the Boer commandos, the acknowledgment of the King as their lawful sovereign, the return of the Boer prisoners as soon as practicable, freedom of surrendered burghers from all judicial proceedings except for acts contrary to the usages of war, the use of the Dutch language in the schools, if demanded, and in the law courts when necessary, and the establishment in due course of representative government. The British Government further agreed to provide £3,000,000 as a free gift, towards the re-settlement of the country, and a loan of unstated amount, on easy terms, for the same purpose.
Vernacular Press Act.
An Act passed in India in 1878 to control native newspapers publishing seditious libels. It gave the Government power to make the editor of a native newspaper enter into a bond not to print seditious matter, and also authorized the seizure of plant in the event of non-compliance with the terms of the bond. The Act was repealed in 1882.
Verona, Congress of.
A Congress of the Powers held in 1822, to consider the situation in Spain. It resulted in the armed intervention of France in the following year.
Veronese Vespers.
A rising at Verona in 1797, during the French occupation. It was promptly put down, but not before the Veronese had murdered four hundred French sick and wounded, lying in the hospitals of the town.
Versailles, Treaty of.
A treaty signed in 1783 between Great Britain on the one hand, and Spain, France and the United States on the other, at the conclusion of the American War of Independence. France retained Tobago, and Spain, Florida and Minorca, but all other conquests were restored on both sides. As between Great Britain and the United States, this treaty simply confirmed the provisions of the Treaty of Peace of 1782.