s therefore for the nation principally that we must consult. No one
sits here to represent this or that commando. One and all, we represent
the African nation, and not only those members of it which are now in
the field, but also those who rest beneath the soil, and those yet
unborn, who shall succeed us.

"No! We do not only represent our burghers on commando, the troops over
which we are placed in command; we represent also the thousands who have
passed away, after making the last sacrifice for their country; the
prisoners scattered all the world over; the women and children dying by
the thousand in the prison camps of the enemy; we represent the blood
and the tears of the whole African nation. From the prisons, the camps,
the graves, the veldt, and from the womb of the future, that nation
cries out to us to make a wise decision now, to take no step which might
lead to the downfall or even to the extermination of their race, and
thus make all their sacrifices of no avail. Our struggle, up to the
present, has not been an aimless one. We have not been fighting in mere
desperation. We began this strife, and we have continued it, because we
wanted to maintain our independence and were prepared to sacrifice
everything for it. But we must not sacrifice the African nation itself
upon the altar of independence. So soon as we are convinced that our
chance of maintaining our autonomous position as Republics is, humanly
speaking, at an end, it becomes our clear duty to desist from our
efforts. We must not run the risk of sacrificing our nation and its
future to a mere idea which can no longer be realized.

"And ought we not to be convinced that independence is now irretrievably
lost? We have been fighting without cessation for nearly three years. It
is no exaggeration to say that during that period we have been employing
all the strength and all the means which we possess, in the furtherance
of our cause. We have sacrificed thousands of lives; we have lost all
our earthly goods; our dear country is become one continuous desert;
more than twenty thousand of our women and children have perished in the
camps of the enemy. And has this brought us independence? Just the
reverse; it is receding further and further from us every day. The
longer we fight, the greater will be the distance between us and the aim
for which we are fighting.

"The manner in which the enemy has been conducting, and still continues
to conduct, this war, has