In mid-March Wood reopened the offensive. He intended to relieve the towns under siege, but was ordered by William Gladstone's Cabinet to make peace. Wood wrote to his wife that the treaty would make him "the best abused man in England for a time" but thought it his duty to obey the government's orders. Wolseley (who thought the treaty "infamous" and "ignominious") and other officers thought he should have resigned his commission rather than sign it. Wolseley never forgave him for not avenging Colley, and he was criticised by Colley's biographer William Butler. He had to travel to Pretoria, and was injured on the way when the horses of his carriage bolted. He negotiated peace on 21 March 1881. He was offered but declined, the Governorship of Natal. In April 1881 he was appointed to a commission of inquiry into all matters relating to the future settlement of the Transvaal Territory, and put in a dissenting opinion about the boundaries.