sent an army of nearly 300,000 men into the field, lost more than 20,000 of them in killed and wounded, with nearly 70,000 returned home sick or otherwise disabled, and assumed a heavy increase of taxation to extend over many years to come, it might have been supposed that the victors by this time would accept nothing but absolute, unconditional surrender; but better counsels prevailed. The desire for peace had become so intense that the English government wisely decided to offer the most liberal terms rather than invite any further prolonging of the tremendously costly contest.

These terms, accepted by the Boer leaders on May 31st, provide, first, for the laying down of arms and acknowledgment of the English sovereignty; second, for the return to South Africa of all Boer prisoners of war who accept the terms of peace; third, guarantee the personal liberty and property rights of these returned prisoners; fourth, guarantee that no civil or criminal proceedings will be taken against any Boers for acts committed during the war, except such as are declared in court martial to be contrary to the usages of war; fifth, guarantee the teaching of the Dutch language where the parents desire it, and also allow its use in courts of law; sixth, guarantee to the Boers the right of possessing rifles on taking out a license; seventh, promise a civil government to succeed military government at the earliest possible date, and "so soon as circumstances permit, representative institutions leading up to self-government will be introduced;" eighth, postpone the question of the franchise for natives until after self-government is introduced; ninth, guarantee that no special tax will be imposed on Boer landed property to defray expenses of the war; tenth, promise the appointment of a commission, on which the Boers shall be represented, to assist in restoring the people to their homes, supplying food and shelter, seed, stock, imple

ments, etc., to the extent of $15,000,000 to be given outright by the British government; and it is agreed to recognize notes issued by the South African republic, and other evidence of war losses, when presented to the commission with proper evidence that they represent goods actually furnished or losses sustained. In addition, the English government promises, over and above the $15,000,000, to make loans free of interest for two years, and thereafter for a period of years at 3 per cent., for these same purposes; although, naturally, "no foreigner or rebel will be entitled to benefit under this clause." It is provided also, with reference to British subjects in Cape Colony who had joined the Boer forces, that the rank and file shall be considered guilty of high treason, the punishment to be permanent disfranchisement; those higher in rank to have their punishment determined upon trial, "with the proviso that in no case shall the penalty of death be inflicted," unless, of course, any are found guilty of murder. Rebels in Natal, it is provided, are to be dealt with "according to the laws of that colony."

These terms, inspired in part no doubt by the British king's intense desire to have peace concluded before his coronation, is likewise a tacit recognition of the valor of the defeated Boers, and their undoubted ability to prolong the struggle for many costly months to come, if harsher conditions were imposed. In the broader aspect of the matter, the conciliatory attitude of the British government is evidence of wise statesmanship, looking towards harmony for the future rather than revenge for the past. Without it, peace in South Africa would have meant simply iron suppression on one side and submission with sullen hatred on the other, perhaps for decades; with it, there is hope for an early wearing away of the bitterness of war and friendly reunion of races for mutual welfare and progress. Such

an expectation seems the more firmly grounded when a fighter like DeWet, for so long the most determined "irreconcilable" of them all, not only accepts the terms but exhibits the spirit shown in his circular letter to his adjutants, sent out from Bloemfontein, June 16th, in which he says:

"Let me tell you that you and I and every burgher can win the hearts of the new government by our future conduct, and of this conduct I am not in the least doubtful."

The Man
Who Did It

From the standpoint of American public interest, at least, the central figure in the foreign situation, coronation splendors to the contrary notwithstanding, is not King Edward, but the masterful "organizer of victory" in South Africa. Lord Kitchener's genius is of the kind which has been aptly described as "capacity for hard work," and the solid merits of this quality of character have rarely been more convincingly illustrated than in the history of his career. It has been said that Kitchener is not a great battle general, being easily exceeded by Roberts in that respect; but in the planning and carrying out of comprehensive military movements on a vast scale, in the face of complex conditions and immense difficulties, he has few if any equals in British military annals. Neither Roberts nor Kitchener have the remarkable combination of qualities General Grant possessed-brilliant generalship in battle, with equally brilliant capacity for organization and persistent following up of a campaign; but the wise judgment of the British government in placing both officers in the field conjointly brought together most effectively these two essential elements of military success. In other words, Roberts and Kitchener were to the campaign in South Africa what Grant was to the war for the union, and in both cases success came at last by the persistent hammering which, little by little, wears resistance down to the vanishing point.

sure.

Lord Kitchener's rise to fame has been slow but He gained his first experience with alien races in an engineering survey of Palestine and as military consul in Asia Minor. As a part of his equipment he learned the languages of the people with whom he had to deal, and continued this when, later on, he entered the military service in Egypt. Here his intimate knowledge of native languages and customs, combined with untiring energy and resourcefulness, brought him in due time into chief command. This was in 1892, and for the next four years Kitchener devoted every effort to the organization of a campaign against the Mahdi and his savage horde of dervishes who had taken Khartoum and were menacing British dominion throughout the whole region of the upper Nile. So perfect in all its details was the vast military machine Kitchener fitted together during this time that, when it finally moved into action, its impact was irresistible. By 1898 Khartoum was retaken and during the following year the remnants of the Mahdi's followers were driven into the deserts, scattered far and wide, and the power of the dervishes utterly broken. This was the service that made Kitchener the man of the immediate future on the military side of British foreign policy.

In the South African war, although the leadership was in the hands of Roberts, the preliminary organizing and outlining of the campaign had been done by Kitchener, so that when the great army was ready to start for the relief of Kimberly it moved with the precision of clockwork, and so rapidly that in less than four months the British flag had been carried through to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria. The hardest work of all, however, came after Lord Roberts returned to England in December, 1900; and from that time on Kitchener was the guiding power in a campaign of innumerable difficulties and frequent disheartening

setbacks. In his effort to corner the wary Boers, he built chain after chain of blockhouses, connected by hundreds of miles of barbed wire meshes, only to have them forced again and again by the Boer commandoes, driving herds of cattle ahead of them to break through these barricades. But, little by little, the field of operations was so reduced that the Boers not actually captured had practically nothing left worth fighting for, and wisely accepted the present terms rather than invite ultimate annihilation. To bring about the present result needed precisely the Kitchener type of generalship, and it was England's good fortune just at the critical time to have the man for the deed. Parliament has voted him a grant of £50,000, and in all probability he will before long become the head of the British army.

Protective Tendencies in England

The enormous financial burden of the Boer war, exceeding even the cost of the peninsula campaign against Napoleon in 1813-1814, has forced the British government to extraordinary revenue measures, and perhaps opened the way for the permanent return of a protective policy. At any rate, it has brought about England's first serious departure from the free trade traditions of the last half century. The chancellor of the exchequer, Sir Michael Hicks Beach, on April 14th presented his budget for the coming year, showing estimated expenditures, including war charges, of about £193,000,000 and estimated revenues of less than £148,000,000, leaving a deficit of £45,000,000. This, in accordance with his proposition, it has been decided to meet in part by various new taxes and customs and a loan of £32,000,000. The new revenues consist of a tax of one penny on dividend warrants, an increase in the tax on checks from one penny to twopence, an increase of one penny on the