all sentences (save the mark) passed on persons convicted of murder or outrage were to be carried out. Articles VI. to IX. provided for compensation for direct losses to be paid by the British Government, if the Government of the Transvaal should be unable to pay, the amount of the claims adjudged due to be added to the debt due to her Majesty's Government. Provisions were made for the appointment of a subcommission to assess the damage, and defining their powers.

I may state that the sub-commission subsequently sat in Pretoria, and their cheeseparing economy and disregard of what were considered to be just claims, excited the liveliest dissatisfaction and disapprobation of the injured loyalists.

By Articles X. and XI. provisions were made for the finances of the new State, in accordance with the report of the Royal Commission. Articles XII. to XVI. provided for the protection of the loyalists and natives, and especially the reaffirmation of the clause about slavery in the Sand River Convention. Articles XVII. and XVIII. defined the functions of the British Resident he was to look after the graves of such of her Majesty's forces as had died in the Transvaal; to act as a Chargé-d'Affaires and Consul-General; to report to the High Commissioner of South Africa as to the working of any laws with reference to natives; to report to the Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-treatment of natives, or attempts to incite them to rebellion; to use his influence with the natives in favour of law and order; and to take such steps for their protection as were consistent with the laws of the land. As regarded natives on the border, he was to report to the High Commissioner and the

Transvaal Government any encroachments made by Transvaal residents upon the land of such natives, and in the case of any disagreement between him and the Transvaal Government, the decision of the suzerain was to be final. He was to be the medium of communication with native chiefs outside the Transvaal, and, subject to the High Commissioner, he was to control the conclusion of treaties with them. He was to arbitrate in any disputes between natives outside the border and Transvaal residents submitted to him, and he was to be the medium of communication between the Transvaal Government and foreign powers.

Article XIX. contained a stipulation binding the Transvaal Government to adhere to the boundaries laid down by the Convention, and to do its utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making encroach

ments.

Article XX. provided for the strict limitation of Transvaal titles to the area circumscribed by the boundaries laid down by the Convention, and for the compensation of persons injured by the boundaries being so fixed. Where the boundary-line excluded land granted by native chiefs to the former Transvaal Government, the British Resident was to use his influence to recover compensation from the natives.

Articles XXI. and XXII. provided for a Native Location Commission, to consist of one person to be chosen by the President of the State, of the Resident or some person deputed by him, and of a third person to be chosen by both, to mark out locations for the native tribes living in the Transvaal.

Articles XXIII. and XXIV. provided for the release of Sekkukuni-a concession to sentiment at home, and a grievous thing for the chief, as after-events

proved-and for the recognition of the independence of Swasi-land.

Article XXV. provided for most favoured nation treatment of England with regard to commerce, and Articles XXVI. and XXVII. established the right of Europeans to equal rights with the Boers.

By Article XXVIII. persons who entered the country during the English rule were to be exempt from compulsory military service on registering their names with the British Resident.

The remaining Articles contained provisions for the extradition of criminals, the payment of debts in currency, and the validity of licences and grants of land issued or made by the British Government.

The last Article but one, XXXII., provided that the Convention should be null and void unless ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad within three months, and the XXXIIIrd and concluding Article stipulated that thereupon all British troops should evacuate the country, and the munitions of war agreed to be delivered up should be handed over.

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CHAPTER XVI.

FROM THE SIGNING OF THE CONVENTION TO ITS

RATIFICATION.

Mr. White taken up by the Conservatives-The loyalists vituperatedMr. Gladstone's language-Meeting in Willis's Rooms-Mr. Courtney and his connection with the Boers-Mr. Donald Currie and the South African Association-Mr. Gladstone thinks the peace saved us from other blood-guiltiness-His letter to the loyalists-Mr. White's reply-No answer made by Mr. Gladstone―The debate in the Lords-The debate in the Commons-The Leeds speechThe Guildhall speech-Meeting of the Boer Volksraad-Condemnation of the Convention-Demand for modifications-Temporary firmness of the Government-Lord Kimberley's reservations— Ratification of the Convention.

ON my arrival in England I found Mr. White and his co-delegate had definitely placed their cause in the hands of the Conservative party. Mr. White was hot with the sense of the wrongs done to him and his English fellow-subjects; and being thoroughly unused to the conditions of political society in England, I gave him a strong caution before he left Natal not to allow himself to be entangled in the meshes of party politics. At first he adhered to my advice. He waited a whole week for Lord Kimberley. At the end of the week he secured an interview, but when he had poured out the story of the wrongs of the loyalists, the only satis faction he got from the Colonial Secretary was the chilling remark, "Mr. White, you are too pronounced."

Mr. White said he thereupon told Lord Kimberley that he would be pronounced if he had lost his property and sat by the death-bed of men who had fought for England, and whose relatives had been abandoned; and, then, turning on his heel, he left the office in disgust, and went to Lord Salisbury, the leader of the Opposition, who took his cause up heartily. At first I was disposed to blame Mr. White for his precipitancy, but when I discovered how the Liberal press and the keener politicians of their party were vilifying the loyalists, I felt that he could not have done otherwise. The epithets showered upon the loyalists were of the choicest nature, and to see the manner in which they were rated and the Boers praised, one would have imagined that the latter had been assisting us, and the former had been in arms against us. Even Mr. Gladstone himself, who had executed his last volte-face, and had been followed with scrupulous obedience by his party, descended to the language of Billingsgate, and stigmatized the unfortunate English in the Transvaal as "interested contractors and land-jobbers."1

The day after my return a great meeting was held at Willis's Rooms, under the auspices of the Conservative party, and a series of meetings followed in different parts of the country at which Mr. White and Mr. Zietsman addressed the public. Previous to the meeting at Willis's Rooms I had an interview with Mr. White, and among other things I told him that Mr. Walker, who had been a prisoner in Heidelberg, had told our committee that while he was there Bok, the Secretary of the Boer Triumvirate, showed him a letter from Mr. Courtney, who was a subordinate In his speech on the motion of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach in the House of Commons.

1