The Treaty of Vereeniging
by Michael Enright, IB Diploma 2005
The Treaty of Vereeniging was the treaty that officially ended the Boer War. The Treaty of Vereeniging was a result of the Vereeniging Peace Conference.
The Vereeniging Peace Conference:
Peace began to seem attainable in the early weeks of 1902. In January of that year the Queen of the Netherlands even offered to mediate between Britain and the Bores; however, the British Government declined her offer. Though that specific resolution did not work, it opened the door to consideration of peace agreements.
The British felt that it would be customary for the Boers to just admit defeat and give in “like other beaten people” but they did not. Instead, on April 26, 1902, the British sent two officers with a safe conduct pass to Boer General Jan Christian Smuts. The pass allowed him to travel to Vereeniging by rail or sea for peace talks between British and Boer leaders.
In the course of the conference, the Boers offered what Kruger would not offer at the beginning of the war. Things like reasonable voting rights for the uitlanders and equality of English and Afrikaans languages; however, the Boers still retained too much desire for national independence making the terms of this agreement unrealistic.
The Boers would have to give up their national independence so they said that before they were to do that it would be necessary to consult commandos and Boer prisoners; however, the British and Boers agreed that only the commandos would be consulted since it was uncertain what the prisoners would want and they did not want them to say that they wanted the war to continue.
The Boers called thirty delegates from the Transvaal and thirty from the Orange Free State to participate in a large conference at Vereeniging to discuss terms of peace. The two groups of delegates met in May and the meeting seemed to be doomed to deadlock from the beginning as the Transvaal commandos wanted to end the war and the Orange Free State forces were resolved to continue the war to victory to ensure their independence. The Orange Free State votes ultimately were cancelled in the conference because Smuts alluded to the fact that, by law, a delegate must be “plenipotentiary” meaning he had power to vote for what he thought best and not be a “mouthpiece” for those who had elected them. The conference pressed on and delegates still hoped to retain some modified independence despite the situation. However, the British maintained the idea that the Boers would have to admit defeat and give up their independence.
The British then offered the Boers generous terms, which included nearly all of the things that the Boers wanted except for their independence. Their conditions stated that first; “rebels” would not be punished except for losing their voting rights for life. Second, Boers were to lay down their arms and “abstain from any further opposition to the authority of His Majesty King Edward VII….” Britain also offered to require that Afrikaans language be taught in school if demanded, and that rifles would be available by license to those who needed them for protection. Moreover Britain offered to pay 3,000,000 pounds to rebuild the conquered state. Finally, the terms were accepted under the impression that a liberal government would soon control Britain and allow a constitution for the Transvaal.