It is sometimes forgotten that the King not only embodies the authority of his vast realm in his position, but must concentrate in his own person a natural strength of pride in his Empire so great as to be far beyond the possibility of a reflection upon its patriotism. He would hardly be human in his qualities if the most intense patriotic pride in the unity and power of his realms was not the first and strongest instinct of his nature. But this in passing. Lord Salisbury illustrated the attitude of both the Sovereign and his Ministers when speaking at the Albert Hall, London, on May 7th, during the pending negotiations: "I only wish to guard against misapprehension which I think I have seen, to the effect that the willingness we have shown to listen to all that may be said to us is a proof that we have retreated or receded from our former position and are willing to recognize that the rights we claimed are no longer valid. There is no ground for such an assertion. We cannot afford after such terrible sacrifice, not only of treasure but of men, after the exertions, unexampled in our history, that we have made--we cannot afford to submit to the idea that we are to allow things to slide back into a position where it will be in the power of our enemy again, when the opportunity suits him and the chance is favourable to him, to renew again the issue that we have fought this last three years." TERMINATION OF THE WAR Meanwhile the negotiations were proceeding. At first the Boer delegates proposed that the two Republics should merely concede what had been demanded before the outbreak of the war. When this was refused, even as a matter for consideration, and they were referred to previous statements as to terms, the request was made that some of the leaders be allowed to consult their friends in Europe, or at least to have one of the European refugee leaders come over and assist them in their decision. To this Lord Kitchener gave an instant veto, and intimated that unless their proposals were to be serious the negotiations had better drop. Then they asked for an armistice in order to consult the burghers in the field, but Lord Kitchener would not stop military operations a moment further than to allow the delegates to hold meetings of their Commandos. But in that event they were to return to Pretoria armed with full powers to conclude peace--if they returned at all. As a result of this decision the leading officers of the Boer forces met their respective Commandos, and delegates were duly appointed to a total number of one hundred and fifty. These met on May 16th at Vereeniging and spent a couple of weeks in discussion, in obtaining absolutely final terms for acceptance or rejection from the British authorities, and in presenting these again to the Commandos. The opponents of peace during these preliminaries were generally believed to include Mr. Steyn and Commandants Wessels, Muller, Celliers and Herzog, while Generals Delarey