But how should we surrender? Unconditionally? That was what the warrior would wish. He would have wished to receive no favour from the enemy; he would have wished to listen to no terms from his adversary. He would have wished to say to his enemy, "I can do no more; there is my sword! Do with me now what you will!"
But this could not be. THERE WERE THE PEOPLE!
What would become of the People if their leaders, in order to gratify their own military sentiment, surrendered unconditionally? "No!" said the leaders of the People, "we cannot do this." Here it was that I learned to respect General L. Botha, and with him other Generals, more than ever before. They sacrificed themselves, at the last moment, once more for the People. Repeatedly at the meeting at Vereeniging, and previously at Klerksdorp, the interests of the People had been referred to, especially by General Botha. Repeatedly, too, the colonists who had fought along with us had been mentioned, and it had been shown that if we accepted the terms of the English, then the People would retain possession of their personal liberty, and would eventually obtain self-government; and the colonists, although deprived of the franchise, would remain free. For the sake, therefore, of the People, the chiefs sacrificed their military pride; and in order to be able to provide for their kith and kin, and to be able to some extent to heal their wounds, they said, "We shall not surrender unconditionally; we shall advise the Delegates to adopt the proposal of the enemy."
Now there were a considerable number of Delegates that still desired to continue the war. They were principally Free Staters, but there were also Transvaalers who were unwilling to give up the struggle, just as there were also some from the Free State who could no longer persist. The disposition of these was, at all events, to persist until the discussions were closed, and if it then became evident that there were so many who voted against the continuance of the struggle that it would be impossible for them to carry on the war alone, then to say, "You who are for yielding force us also to surrender. We are driven to it." Thus, they thought, the whole world would see who the men were who, at the last gathering of the Africander nation, had endured unto the end.