'Sunburned, with a pleasant, fattish face of a German type, and wearing an imperial,' says one who rode beside him.

Judging from the sounds of mirth heard by those without, the two leaders seem to have soon got upon amiable terms, and there was hope that a definite settlement might spring from their interview.

From the beginning Lord Kitchener explained that the continued independence of the two republics was an impossibility.

But on every other point the British Government was prepared to go great lengths in order to satisfy and conciliate the burghers.
On March 7th Lord Kitchener wrote to Botha from Pretoria, recapitulating the points which he had advanced.

The terms offered were certainly as far as, and indeed rather further than, the general sentiment of the Empire would have gone.