Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and
its cause--Their decision on the Keate award question--The Montsoia
difficulty--The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the
Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's dissent
from the report of the Commission--Signing of the Convention--Burial of
the Union Jack--The native side of the question--Interview between
the Commissioners and the native chiefs--Their opinion of the
surrender--Objections of the Boer Volksraad to the Convention--Mr.
Gladstone temporises--The ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr.
Hudson, the British Resident--The Boer festival--The results of
the Convention--The larger issue of the matter--Its effect on the
Transvaal--Its moral aspects--Its effect on the native mind._
When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through
the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to
vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already
briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end by
force of arms: and I now propose to follow the course of the diplomatic
negotiations entered into by the Ministry with the same object.
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