El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-11-02

between two Independent states, but
was an agreement whereby the queen
as sovereign grantvd certain rights of
self-government to the Transvaal while
retaining her suzerainty.
Mr.. Chamberlain rejected these pro-
posals and put forward fresh proposals,
making larger demands than ever.
drew its proposals and asked tbat
Great Britain drop its fresh proposals
and go back to the original proposals.
The Transvaal government protested
itself ready to accept those proposals.
On September % Mr.. Chamberlain
sent this reply, breaking off negotia-
lions and foreshadowing an ultimatum:
THE imperial government are now
compelled to consider the situation
afresh and formulate proposals for
final settlement of the Issues which
have been created in South Africa by
the policy constantly followed for
many years by the government of the
vaal.
'They will commu nicate the result
of their deliberations in a later dis
patch.''
During the present summer the
Beers actually granted all OF Eng
lands original contentious. They
have passed law reducing the term of
to seven years. The hitch in the
negotiations has been partly the ques-
ton of suzerainty, partly the British
determination to have joint British
Boer inquiry into the workings of the
franchise, partly the British refusal to
submit the other disagreements to i'm
partial arbitration.
The rupture came about in this man.
ner:
On August 81 the Beers having been
assured by the British agent at Pre-
toria, Mr.. Greene, and by Sir Alfred
Milner that the proposals they SUBJ
mitted would in no way affect the stat
US of their case aud would in prob
ability be accepted, sent the following
proportions:
That they would reduce the resi-
dence for enfranchisement to five years
aud institute all the electoral and re-
presentation reforms asked by Britain
on condition ~ that Great Britain
should promise to not interfere again
~ that nothing more should be said
about ''suzerainty:" (3) that all matters
in dispute should be submitted to erbi-
tration.
That is, the Beers were willing to
run the risk of being reduced to q
minority in their own republic provid
ed that the integrity of the republic
should be thus guaranteed.
The Beers had been stunned by the
British rejection of their proposals of
August 81. Mr.. Greene had told them
that those proposals would probably be
accepted. He recommended them to
Sir Alfred sMilner in an official note
for acceptance by the British govern
ment. During the latter part of Au-
gust and throughout September Great
Britain pressed preparations for war in
South Africa. After Mr.. Chamber
lain sent his ultimatum, on September
%, these preparations were pushed
with vigor, and Mr.. Chamberlain and
other members of the government
made war speeches.
The Beers decided that the last
hope of peace was gone. They waited
for Mr.. Chamberlain's promised ulti-
matum until October 9. Then they
sent him an ultimatum demanding an
agreement to impartial arbitration and
the cessation of the campaign of mill
tary investment of the Transvsal.
Mr.. Cham berlain's ultimstum, en-
bodying the final proposals of the
British government which the Trans
vaal must accept or 60 to war. was
going over the wires to South Africa
while the Boer ultimatum was on Its
way to London. It has never been
published. There is up to the present
time no trustworthy information as to
it's contents.-HoustonP Post.
c,,, no Tr..L g.