ave gone. We represent, not only ourselves, but also the thousands
who are dead, and have made the last sacrifice for their people, the
prisoners of war scattered all over the world, and the women and
children who are dying out by thousands in the Concentration Camps of
the enemy; we represent the blood and the tears of an entire nation.

They all call upon us, from the prisoner-of-war camps, from the
Concentration Camps, from the grave, from the field, and from the womb
of the future, to decide wisely and to avoid all measures which may
lead to the decadence and extermination of the Africander people, and
thus frustrate the objects for which they made all their sacrifices.
Hitherto we have not continued the struggle aimlessly. We did not
fight merely to be shot. We commenced the struggle, and continued it
to this moment, because we wished to maintain our independence, and
were prepared to sacrifice everything for it. But we may not sacrifice
the Africander people for that independence. As soon as we are
convinced that, humanly speaking, there is no reasonable chance to
retain our independence as Republics, it clearly becomes our duty to
stop the struggle in order that we may not perhaps sacrifice our
people and our future for a mere idea, which cannot be realised. What
reasonable chance is there still to retain our independence? We have
now fought for almost three years without a break. Without deceiving
ourselves we can say that we have exerted all our powers and employed
every means to further our cause. We have given thousands of lives, we
have sacrificed all our earthly goods; our cherished country is one
continuous desert; more than 20,000 women and children have already
died in the Concentration Camps of the enemy. Has all this brought us
nearer to our independence? On the contrary, we are getting ever
further from it, and the longer we continue, the greater will be the
gap between us and the object for which we have fought. The manner in
which the enemy has carried on this war and still carries it on has
reduced us to a condition of exhaustion which will ultimately make the
continuance of the war a physical impossibility. If no deliverance
comes from elsewhere, we must certainly succumb. When a year ago I, on
behalf of my Government, communicated our condition to His Honour
President Kruger in Europe, he expressed the opinion that, with a view
to the situation in the Cape Colony, and to the feelings of the
Europ