of
the enemy. Whom can I send to care for those whose natural protectors
are already prisoners of war? These families are thus thrown upon us,
and we must care for them. As long as we had plenty of food, the enemy
gladly received our families into their Camps, but now that they are
in want, and they (the enemy) can do something for them, their
kindness has come to an end. What shall we now do with these families?
That is the great difficulty.

It is stated that we do not rely on help through the medium of the
Deputation in Europe, but when the enemy refuses to let the Members
of the Deputation come out to see us, it is at once said that that is
a proof that the Deputation are doing something to our advantage.
Reliance is thus placed upon the Deputation, because they can only
tell us that there is hope of intervention. The Deputation have
already been in Europe for more than two years, and our State
President is there too, and up to this day the Deputation have not yet
succeeded in getting itself acknowledged by any other Power than the
Netherlands Government. They were accredited by us to all the Powers,
but it appears that they did not consider it advisable to hand in
their credentials to any Power except to Holland, naturally because
they were given to understand that they would not be acknowledged.
Now, if a Power refuses to acknowledge our Deputation, what help can
we as a nation expect from such a Power? There is another point.
Before President Kruger left us we received letters from the
Deputation, from which it clearly appeared that they could do nothing
for us, and in which they informed us that they would return and land
in Delagoa Bay. The Government, however, in consultation with
President Steyn, who was with us then, decided to ask the Deputation
not to return, even though they could effect nothing, because, if they
came back, it would be a death blow to our people, who were always
still expecting something good from the efforts of the Deputation. I
say these things, so that the people may not be misled. In my opinion,
we have nothing else than the sympathy of the European nations, and
than that we shall get nothing else, but that will not save us. A year
ago we were in communication with the Deputation, and all they could
then tell us was that we should persevere, on the ground of all the
personal and material sacrifices which had already been made, until
all means of resistance were exhausted. Well, we h