k.

No. These difficulties were not insuperable; but there was one
difficulty which _was_ insuperable--the present spirit of the nation.
When a spirit, be it what it might, inspired or ruled a man, then that
man would submit to no other sway. The spirit that now ruled the
burghers was a spirit that was driving them over to the enemy. Against
that spirit it was impossible to contend. General De la Rey had said
that, if the proposal now before the meeting were to be shown to the
burghers, they would at once accept it--that was the sort of spirit that
was in them, and one must take it into consideration, for he was
convinced that it presented an insurmountable obstacle to the
continuation of the war.

The meeting was then closed with prayer.

[Footnote 113: See page 363 _et seq._]

[Footnote 114: See page 379 _et seq._]

[Footnote 115: See page 391 _et seq._]

[Footnote 116: See page 395 _et seq._]

[Footnote 117: The Boer form of this proverb is: Half an egg is better
than an empty shell.]

[Footnote 118: The head fastened to the knee.]

[Footnote 119: Having two legs fastened together.]

FRIDAY, MAY 30TH, 1902.

After the preliminary prayer had been offered, Vice-President Burger
said that before beginning the business of the day, it was his sad duty
to inform the meeting that the President of the Orange Free State had
been obliged to resign, on account of serious illness. President Steyn
had been compelled, in order to obtain medical assistance, to put
himself in the hands of the enemy. He had further to communicate that
Commander-in-Chief de Wet had been appointed Vice-President of the
Orange Free State. He wished to express his deep sympathy with the
representatives in the severe loss which they had sustained. President
Steyn, he said, had been a rock and pillar to their great cause.

Vice-President de Wet having thanked the Vice-President of the South
African Republic for his kind and sympathetic words, Mr. J. Naude (the
representative of Pretoria, and of General Kemp's flying columns) put
some questions with regard to the colonists who had been fighting on the
Boer side. These questions were answered by General Smuts. Mr. Naude
then asked if the delegates were expected to come to any decision about
independence.

General Botha replied that the Governments had informed Lords Kitchener
and Milner that they were not in a condition to decide that
question--that it was a matter for the nation to settle