SOUTH AFRICAN WAR—TERMS OF PEACE. (Hansard, 2 June 1902)

§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY
I do not quite know what is the regular course of proceeding, but I may be guilty of disrespect to your Lordships if I did not touch on the question of the peace, which occupies the attention of us all. I have there a difficulty. The only information I can give to your Lordships is to read the terms of surrender which have been agreed upon and signed, and which, I hope, will bring the lamentable state of things in South Africa to an end. I am sorry to say they are long. I do not know if your Lordships' patience will resent my attempting to read them now, but, if it does, I can only say that they will probably be in print within the next twenty-four hours. But if I am allowed to read them, I will take leave to do so. The terms of surrender are as follows:— His Excellency General Lord Kitchener and His Excellency Lord Milner, on behalf of the British Government, and Messrs. M. T. Steyn, J. Brebner, General C. R. De Wet, General C. Olivier, and Judge J. B. M. Hertzog, acting as the Government of the Orange Free State, and Messrs. S. W. Burger, F. W. Reitz, Generals Louis Botha, J. H. Delarey, Lucas Meyer, and Krogh, acting as the Government of the South African Republic, on behalf of their respective burghers, desirous to terminate the present hostilities, agree on the following articles: Article I.—The burgher forces in the field will forthwith lay down their arms, handing over all guns, rifles, and munitions of war in their possession or under their control, and desist from any further resistance to the authority of His Majesty King Edward VII., whom they recognise as their lawful Sovereign. The manner and details of this surrender will be arranged between Lord Kitchener and Commandant General Botha, Assistant Commandant-General Delarey, and Chief Commandant De Wet. Article II.—All burghers in the field outside the limits of the Transvaal or the Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war at present outside South Africa, who are burghers, will, on duly declaring their acceptance of the position of subjects of His Majesty King Edward VII., be gradually brought back to their homes as soon as transport can be provided and their means of subsistence ensured. Article III.—The burghers so surrendering or so returning will not be deprived of their personal liberty or their property. Article IV.—No proceedings, civil or criminal, will be taken against any of the burghers surrendering or so returning, for any acts in connection with the prosecution of the war. The benefit of this clause will not extend to 1087 certain acts contrary to usages of war which have been notified by the Commander-in-Chief to the Boer generals, and which shall be tried by court-martial immediately after the close of hostilities. Article V.—The Dutch language will be taught in public schools in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony where the parents of the children desire it, and will be allowed in courts of law where necessary for the better and more effectual administration of justice. Article VI.—The possession of rifles will be allowed in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to persons requiring them for their protection on taking out a license according to law. Article VII.—Military administration in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony will, at the earliest possible date, be succeeded by civil government, and as soon as circumstances permit representative institutions leading up to self-government will be introduced. Article VIII.—The question of granting the franchise to natives will not be decided until after the introduction of self-government. Article IX.—No special tax will be imposed on landed property in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony to defray the expenses of the war. Article X.—As soon as conditions permit, a commission, on which the local inhabitants will be represented, will be appointed in each district of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, under the presidency of a magistrate or other official, for the purpose of assisting the restoration of the people to their homes, and supplying those who, owing to war losses, are unable to provide themselves with food, shelter, and the necessary amount of seed, stock, implements, etc., indispensable to the resumption of their normal occupations. His Majesty's Government will place at the disposal of these commissions a sum of £3,000,000 sterling for the above purposes, and will allow all notes issued under Law I. of 1900 of the South African Republic, and all receipts given by officers in the field of the late Republics, or under their orders, to be presented to a judicial commission which will be appointed by the Government, and if such notes and receipts are found by this commission to have been duly issued in return for valuable considerations they will be received by the first-named commissions as evidence of war losses suffered by the persons to whom they were originally given. In addition to the above-named tree grant of £3,000,000 sterling, His Majesty's Government will be prepared to make advances on loan for the same purposes, free of interest for two years, and afterwards repayable over a period of years with 3 per cent. interest. No foreigner or rebel will be entitled to the benefit of this clause. That is the close of the terms of surrender. There are some additional terms, not of such interest, which deal with questions of the treatment of rebels in the Cape Colony and Natal during the last two years, but the 1088 general tendency of them may be expressed in the last words— The Natal Government are of opinion that rebels should be dealt with according to the law of the colony.

§ LORD TWEEDMOUTH
My Lords, I had no idea when I came to the House this evening, that my two noble friends who are generally associated with me on this Bench would be absent. I speak, of course, without the authority that they would carry, for they have filled again and again many high administrative offices in the State, which I cannot claim to have done. But still I do venture to ask your Lordships to allow me, in a single sentence, to express my congratulations to His Majesty's Ministers and the country on having at length brought this long war to an end. I am sure that the first feeling in the minds of all of us is one of intense gratitude to the higher Power that this war has been brought to a close. This is no time to criticise the terms of peace, or to make any remarks upon them; it is the time only to express a fervent and, may I say, confident hope, that these terms will be so interpreted, and will be so carried out by both parties to them, both in South Africa and in this country, that a lasting pacification of South Africa may ensue, and that we may have among the most loyal subjects of the Crown those very-opponents with whom we have been struggling for the past three years. I fervently hope that all remembrances of an unpleasant character in this war will pass away, and that the only remembrances that will remain in the minds of those who have taken part in the war will be remembrances of the good deeds and the valour which the trial of war has brought out on either side. I think that, if we can secure this result, we may look forward to a future that must necessarily be full of anxiety with some confidence and content.

THE EARL OF ROSEBERY
My Lords, I hope I may be allowed, in a single sentence, to express to His Majesty's Government my hearty, unstinted, unreserved congratulations upon the announcement of peace which they have been privileged to make today, and to 1089 express the hope that today may mark the beginning of a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and commercial development throughout South Africa and the Empire.