'Which is better for the Republics,' he asked, 'to continue the struggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation, or to submit?
Could we for a moment think of taking back the country if it were offered to us, with thousands of people to be supported by a Government which has not a farthing ?...

Put passionate feeling aside for a moment and use common-sense, and you will then agree with me that the best thing for the people and the country is to give in, to be loyal to the new government, and to get responsible government...Should the war continue a few months longer the nation will become so poor that they will be the working class in the country, and disappear as a nation in the future...

The British are convinced that they have conquered the land and its people, and consider the matter ended, and they only try to treat magnanimously those who are continuing the struggle in order to prevent unnecessary bloodshed.' Such were the sentiments of those of the burghers who were in favour of peace.

Their eyes had been opened and their bitterness was transferred from the British Government to those individual Britons who, partly from idealism and partly from party passion, had encouraged them to their undoing.

But their attempt to convey their feelings to their countrymen in the field ended in tragedy.