A discussion regarding terms of peace took place between Lord Kitchener and General Botha on 28 March 1901, but nothing came of it; the gradual wearing down of the Boers went on, and by the end of May they had lost prac tically all their artillery (apart from guns buried in the earth). On 12 July the Free State government and some important papers were captured at Reitz, and President Steyn himself made a narrow escape. On 7 August Kitchener issued a proclamation calling for the surrender of the Boers by 15 September, on pain of the perpetual banishment of the leaders, and of the property of the others being charged with the cost of maintenance of their families in British hands. The Transvaal and Free State leaders had been discussing the advisa bility of giving in, but President Kruger, from Europe, urged them to continue fighting until their independence was secured. Renewed ac tivity on the part of Botha, De Wet and other Boer leaders followed, and the British met with one or two rather serious mishaps. By the end of the year 1901 there had been put out of action some 53,000 Boers, of whom 40,000 were in concentration camps or were kept in custody in Saint Helena, Ceylon, India, Bermuda or elsewhere. After some great "drives') organ ized by Kitchener and carried out in the early part of 1902, which resulted in the surrender of many burghers, and which owed their suc cess largely to the blockhouse system, nego tiations for peace were at last entered on (23 March), though military operations were not suspended. The Boer leaders were granted facilities for meeting and discussing matters among themselves and with the different com mandoes, and after this had gone on for some time, on 15 May a conference of Boer repre sentatives met at Vereeniging to consider terms of surrender. Among those present were Botha, Beyers, Smuts, De Wet and Delarsy. It was not until the last day of the month, however, that peace was absolutely secured, the surrender being signed at Pretoria by Lords Kitchener and Milner and the chief civil and military represen tatives of the Boers, and the war thus brought to an end. After over two-and-a-half years' war the whole of South Africa, from Cape Town to the Zambesi, had been added to the British Empire. The main points agreed upon
were: that the Boer forces would immediately lay down their arms and hand over all guns, rifles and munitions of war; that burghers in the field outside the Transvaal and Orange River Colony, and all prisoners of war outside South Africa, on declaring their acceptance of the position of subjects of Edward VII, should be brought back to their homes as soon as transport could be provided and their means of subsistence secured; that no proceedings civil or criminal should be taken against burghers so surrendering or returning, for acts done in con nection with the war, unless as regards acts contrary to the usages of war; the Dutch lan guage to be taught in public schools where parents desire it, and to be allowed in courts of law; the possession of rifles t9 be allowed to persons requiring them for Rrotection, on taking out a license; military ademistration to be succeeded as soon as possible by civil ad ministration, and ultimately representative in stitutions and self-government ; a sum equal to $15,000,000 to be granted for the purpose of assisting in the restoration of the people to their homes, besides advances on loan free of interest for two years. These terms were practically the same as those rejected by Botha 13 months earlier.
In this struggle there had been engaged on the British side at one time or another, or sent to the seat of war as reinforcements, from the outbreak of war until the conclusion of peace, 448,435 men of all arms, including 228,171 regu lars, 45,566 militia, 35,520 yeomanry, 19,856 volunteers, 7,273 South African constabulary, 18,229 regular troops from India, 29,000 colonial contingents, 52,414 raised in South Africa. Of these 518 officers and 5,255 men were killed, 1,851 officers and 20,978 men were wounded, 554 officers and 15,617 men died of wounds or dis ease. How many men the Boers had in the field from first to last, including the rebels be longing to Cape Colony and Natal, will probably never be known. The number has been esti mated by competent authorities at 60,000 to 65,000. The Boer casualties have never been definitely ascertained.