The Bronze Medallion Commemorating the Visit of Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain to Bloemfontein, South Africa from 3rd to 9th February 1903, which was in response to Boer concerns over the Treaty of Vereeniging which had been signed on 21st May 1902 and had ceased hostilities during the Boer War, and was an attempt at unification. Medallion Commemorating the Visit of Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain to Bloemfontein, South Africa in February 1903, bronze, measuring 39 mm in diameter. Condition: Good Very Fine. When General’s Botha , de la Rey, and de Wet visited London in August 1902 for the realisation of the Treaty of Vereeniging on 21st May 1902, which was intended to form the framework within which South Africa was to be reconstructed, there they met Joseph Chamberlain, the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, on 5th September 1902 in an attempt to have him moderate the terms. Though he declined, the concerns they expressed left Chamberlain less than comfortable with the belief that he was fully au fait with the political realities facing Great Britain and its Empire in the aftermath of a disastrous war. Contrary to the expressed opinions of many at home, therefore, he decided to visit and appraise the status quo himself. He arrived at Durban aboard the cruiser H.M.S. Good Hope on 26th December 1902, and was met in Natal with great pomp and ceremony, and after visiting various key locations, arrived at Bloemfontein where he remained from 3rd to 9th February 1903, where he then had a serious discussion, with the British Government being accused of having reneged on a number of its promises from the previous year, but having averted a potential political crisis, then returned to England, not fully confirmed that his ‘Imperialist’ vision would work despite attempting to unify the various peoples.
