ernments should be asked in the
first place to thank His Majesty the King of England and Her Majesty the
Queen of the Netherlands, through Lord Kitchener, for the efforts which
(as appears from the correspondence between the said Governments) they
have made to set on foot negotiations for peace; and, in the second
place, to express to them the regret of this meeting that His Majesty's
Government has not accepted the proposal of Her Majesty's Government
that the representatives of the two Republics now in Europe (who still
enjoy the full confidence of their fellow-countrymen) should be allowed
to return home, and also that Lord Kitchener has declined a similar
request addressed to him by the Governments of the two Republics."

This proposal was seconded by Commandant Flemming, and carried.

After another proposal, made by H.J. Bosman, and seconded by J.L.
Grobler, had been rejected, the correspondence referred to above came
under discussion.

The first speaker was Mr. P.R. Viljoen, who spoke as follows:

"We can apply to our own country those words of Scripture, 'The place
whereon thou standest is holy ground.' The soil on which we are now
standing, wet as it is with the blood and tears of our forefathers and
also of the many who have fallen in this present struggle, may well be
regarded as 'holy ground.'

"That we should ever have to surrender this country is a horrible
thought. Yet it must be faced. It is certain at least that many
districts must be abandoned, for the enemy is doing his utmost to
collect us together at a few isolated places, where he will be able to
concentrate his forces upon us.

"From the reports which we have received it appears that the state of
affairs in the Orange Free State is still hopeful. Not so in the
Transvaal. There our prospects are of the gloomiest.

"My opinion is that we must endeavour to bring this war to an end. If
there was the least chance of our being able to maintain our
independence, we would still fight on, and not even the bitterest
sufferings would appear unendurable. But have we any such chance?--that
is the question which we have got to answer.

"We know nothing, it will be said, of the present state of affairs in
Europe, for the report from our deputation, which has just been read in
your presence, is six months old. Nevertheless, if anything favourable
to us had occurred since then, we must have heard of it by now.

"It is evident that we must endeavour to obt