Footnote 72: Lord Milner left Capetown by special train at 8.30 a.m. on Monday, May 29th, and reached Bloemfontein punctually at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Here he was met by President Steyn and various officials of the Free State; and an address of welcome was presented to him by the Mayor of Bloemfontein upon his arrival at the private house which had been provided for his accommodation during the Conference. At eleven o'clock on the following morning, Wednesday, the 31st, the High Commissioner went to the Presidency, where he was introduced by Mr. Steyn to President Krüger, Mr. Schalk Burger and Mr. Wolmarans. The first meeting of the Conference took place in the afternoon at 2.30, in the new offices of the Railway Department. In the evening a largely attended reception was given by President Steyn, at which Mr. Krüger was present for a short time and Lord Milner for about an hour. The Conference closed on the afternoon of Monday, June 5th, and Lord Milner then paid a farewell visit to President Steyn. The High Commissioner's special train left Bloemfontein on the following morning at 10.30, and reached Capetown at 6.45 on the evening of Wednesday, the 7th, where he was received by a large crowd, including three of the Cape Ministers and a number of Progressive Members of Parliament. President Steyn, who was present at the station on Tuesday morning to see the High Commissioner off, did everything possible for the comfort and convenience of his state guest during the week that he was in Bloemfontein. The proceedings of the Conference, with the High Commissioner's report upon them, are published in C. 9,404.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 73: C. 9,415.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 74: Evidence before War Commission. Cd. 1,791.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 75: See p. [319] (note 2).[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 76: Cd. 1,791.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 77: War Commission, Cd. 1,791.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 78: This was precisely the rôle played by Mafeking, only defensively, not offensively.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 79: Cd. 1,789 (War Commission).[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 80: These were the figures of the D. M. I. "Military Notes" of June, 1898; in the revised "Military Notes" of June, 1899, the estimated total of the Boer force was considerably greater—some 50,000 exclusive of colonial rebels.[Back to Main Text]
Footnote 81: All of these extracts will be found in Cd. 1,791.[Back to Main Text]