, horrible though they were, did not influence his decision.
Did he but see the chance of finally securing freedom for the nation, he
would put all such considerations on one side, and go on fighting till
death. No; it was not the horror of the situation which influenced him;
there was something that weighed upon his heart yet more heavily--it was
_the holding of that meeting at Vereeniging_. He reproached no one.
Every one had acted with the best intentions. Nevertheless that meeting
was a fatal error; it would give them their death blow. For what had it
produced--a statement from the lips of the Commandant-General himself
that the condition of the country was hopeless. If there were yet any
burghers whose courage was not gone, would they not be utterly
disheartened when they heard what their leaders had said at that
meeting? That was the saddest thought of all. He could understand that
those burghers who had already lost heart should be leaving the
commandos, but now those who had never yet been disheartened would
become so. But notwithstanding all this, it was difficult to feel
certain which was the right course to pursue--to give up the war or to
continue it. He could only suggest that those who were now in doubt on
the matter should support the line of action which, before their doubt
began, had appeared to them to be best.

Mr. L.J. Meijer (a member of the Government of the South African
Republic) then gave some account of the devastation of that part of the
country which lay to the north of the Eastern Railway, and on the
further side of the Sabi River. (This report coincided with those
already given by the delegates.) He went on to say that as they were all
in the dark, and could not see the road they were travelling along, they
must take reason and conscience for their guide. They had already lost
much: let them not lose everything. And what could they hope to gain by
continuing the struggle? To do so might be to throw away their last
chance of peace. What would their progeny say of them if they were to
persist in the struggle and thus lose everything they had possessed?
They would say, "Our forefathers were brave, but they had no brains."
Whereas, if they were to stop the war, their progeny would say, "Our
forefathers did not fight for their own glory." He pointed out that
however little the British proposal contained of what they desired, it
nevertheless promised them representative government. In the past he