made by His Majesty's Government relative to the termination of the
existing hostilities, and of its communication that this proposal must
be accepted or rejected without alteration. It deplores the fact that
His Majesty's Government has absolutely refused to negotiate with the
Governments of the Republics on the basis of their independence, or to
permit their Governments to communicate with their Deputation. Our
People have, indeed, always been of opinion that not only on the
ground of Right, but also of the great material and personal
sacrifices made for their independence, they had a well-founded claim
to that Independence.

"This Meeting has seriously weighed the condition of their Country and
People, and has specially noted the following facts:--

"1. That the Military policy followed by the British Military
Authorities has led to the entire devastation of the territory of both
the Republics with the burning of farms and villages, the destruction
of all means of subsistence, and the exhaustion of all sources
necessary for the support of our families, for the existence of our
troops, and for the continuation of the war.

"2. That the placing of our captured families in the Concentration
Camps has led to an unheard-of condition of suffering and disease, so
that in a comparatively short time about 20,000 of our dear ones have
perished in those camps, and the horrible prospect has arisen that by
the continuance of the war our entire race may in that way die out.

"3. That the Kaffir tribes within and without the boundaries of the
territory of both Republics have almost all been armed, and have taken
part in the struggle against us, and, by perpetrating murders and
committing all kinds of atrocities, have brought about an impossible
state of affairs in many districts of both the Republics, as has only
been recently proved in the Vrijheid district, where on a single
occasion 56 burghers were murdered and mutilated in an awful manner.

"4. That by the proclamations of the enemy to which they have already
begun to give effect the burghers who are still fighting are menaced
with the loss of all their movable and immovable property, and thus
with entire material ruin.

"5. That through the circumstances of the war it has long ago become
impossible for us to retain the many thousands of prisoners of war
taken by our forces, and that we can thus do comparatively little
damage to the British Forces while the burghers who