Seven point Boer proposal rejected On 9 April 1902, with safe passage guaranteed by the British, the Boer leadership met at
Klerksdorp,
Transvaal. Present were
Marthinus Steyn, Free State president and
Schalk Burger acting Transvaal president with the Boer generals
Louis Botha,
Jan Smuts,
Christiaan de Wet and
Koos de la Rey and they would discuss the progress of the war and whether negotiations should be opened with the British. On 12 April, a ten-man Boer delegation went to
Melrose House in
Pretoria and met General
Kitchener bringing with them a seven-point proposal for a treaty of friendship. Their position was to return to a pre-war status-quo for the republics with certain changes such as a commercial union with the British colonies, votes for
uitlanders, equal languages in schools and an amnesty. The debate was heated, split between the Transvaalers who wanted an end to the war as living conditions for the Boer civilians in the Transvaal were becoming desperate with splits developing in the Boer population there, while the Free Staters wished to continue the war. A compromise was reached and the generals returned to Pretoria on 19 May with a proposal that the republics remain independent, with foreign relations and self-government under British control, cede control of
Swaziland and relinquish control of the
Witwatersrand goldfields.
Boers and British debate The terms were rejected by Kitchener and Milner with the two of them disagreeing on the direction of the future, with the former seeking reconciliation and the latter seeking humiliation. The debate between the Boer generals and British delegation would continue for days. The British made concessions which included the Cape rebels only being disenfranchised for five years. The issue of black enfranchisement was settled, when
Joseph Chamberlain's argument before the war for black people's political rights to be considered at the end of the war was ignored in the interest of reconciliation, and Smuts was able to include a clause that the argument for black enfranchisement would be decided when self-government was realised for the Transvaal and Free State. As to the contentious issue of British and Boer war debt and promissory notes, Botha wanted £3 million while the British offered £1 million, with Milner angry at the idea of paying for Boer promissory notes, but Kitchener agreed seeing Botha's viewpoint that it would strengthen the latter in negotiating the terms with his delegates. The Orange River and the Transvaal colonies would first be administered by a British military administration, then by civilians and then at some point in the future via self-government.
Peace Treaty On 27 May 1902, the British Cabinet met to discuss the final terms of the treaty and on 28 May in Pretoria, the Boers were presented with the terms and given three days to make a decision of which the answer required was either yes or no. Sixty Boer delegates met in Vereeniging to debate the terms of the treaty and a heated debate developed between the Transvaalers and Free Staters, with Botha and Smuts arguing in favour while Marthinus Steyn argued against it. Being ill, he would resign as Free State president after the first day of debate and advised Christiaan de Wet that, if the Transvaalers agreed to the treaty, he should too, as the Free State could not continue the war on their own. At around 2 pm on 31 May 1902 a vote was called and 54 delegates voted yes to the terms of the treaty, only 6 voted no. On the same day the Boer leaders returned to Kitchener at Melrose House in Pretoria and the peace treaty was signed. Although the treaty is named after the town of
Vereeniging in Transvaal, where the peace negotiations took place, the document was actually signed at
Melrose House in
Pretoria. == Terms of the settlement ==