The war now dragged on its weary way. Victories and occasional defeats marked the stages of attrition by which the bravery and obstinacy of a determined foe was gradually worn down. On August 16th, 1901, Lord Kitchener issued his proclamation banishing all Boer leaders taken in arms after September 15th: three days later the Duke of Cornwall landed at Cape Town; on August 27th Lord Milner returned to take up his arduous duties. Mr. Cecil Rhodes died on March 26th, 1902, and on April 9th Boer delegates met at Klerksdorp under safe conducts from Lord Kitchener, and there Mr. Steyn, General Delary and General De Wet, and others, conferred upon the possibilities of peace. Three days later they proceeded to Pretoria and were given every facility for discussion and consultation by the British authorities. On April 18th they temporarily dispersed to consult their Commandos after being given the terms and concessions which it was decided to grant. There were supposed to be, at the most liberal computation--London _Times_ of April 25th--some 10,000 Boers in the field at this time, while the women, children and Boer residents of the refugee camps, who were being fed and cared for by the authorities, numbered 110,000. The keenest interest had been taken by the King in the course of the war during this period and in the negotiations which ensued. He had been hoping for its termination before his Coronation and, some months prior to this, on January 15th, had addressed a re-inforcement of the Grenadier Guards in rather sanguine terms: "I trust that the duties you will be called upon to perform will be less arduous than those of some of the men who have gone before you and that the war will shortly be brought to a close. But, whatever duties you may be called upon to perform, I am sure you will fulfil them efficiently and will keep up the old spirit and traditions for which the Guards are famous." His wishes, like so many entertained throughout the Empire, were not speedily realized, but it is safe to say that His Majesty would no more have unduly hurried the course of negotiations or changed their effective and final character in order to attain his natural desire for a peaceful celebration of the Coronation--as was asserted in some sensational quarters--than he would have cut his own hand off.