d by European Powers. The truth of what I say was proved when
the meetings to elect delegates for this meeting were held. I was
present at several of those meetings, and at each one of them the
burghers insisted that we should try to get into communication with
our Deputation. Why should they have done that if there was no hope of
intervention? That hope dwindled away when we noticed that there was
no ground for it. It is thus plain that we did not commence the war
with faith in God alone. A further proof of this is that we hoped and
expected much from what our comrades in the Cape Colony would
accomplish. That hope has also vanished, now that General Smuts has
declared that we must not expect much from the Cape Colony, and that
there will be no general rising there.

Another reason why I am in favour of peace is because our commandos
have been much weakened. From 50,000 men our number has fallen to
15,000, and that number is fast decreasing. Another reason is the
scarcity of foodstuffs. Last year this scarcity was also spoken of,
but that was nonsense. Now it is only too true. You can now ride from
Vereeniging to Piet Relief, and only here and there will you come
across a few cattle. I may say that you will see scarcely any cattle.
Then we must think of the suffering of the women and children still
with us, and especially of those in the Concentration Camps.

If we decide to continue, many of the 15,000 men still under arms will
be lost to us, and our numbers will decrease month by month. Many say
we may not so trample on the blood already shed as to make peace by
surrendering our independence, but that for the sake of that blood we
must continue the struggle. This is a serious matter, and I hope that
I shall never be guilty of trampling on such costly blood. But there
is something more costly than the blood which has already been shed,
and about which we can do nothing now, and that is the blood of
burghers and of women and children which will still have to be shed if
we decide to continue. And that blood will be given for a cause,
which, so far as human beings can see, is hopeless. That is a much
more serious matter to me. If we continue the war, we become the cause
of still more widows and orphans who will have no one to care for
them.

I did not intend to speak on the religious side of the question, but
it has been touched upon, and for that reason I also wish to say
something upon it. It is difficult for us to