A remarkable letter from Piet de Wet to his brother
Christian, dated Lindley, January 11th, has been published at Bloemfontein. Though for a long time back he had realised the necessity of submission in the struggle, he had always done his duty in the field, he charged the guns at Schiet- makaar with Prinsloo, and only surrendered when convinced that the struggle was hopeless. When he saw Steyn and his brother carrying on a guerilla warfare, he obtained leave to come to the Free State to persuade the men to lay down their arms, "as no Free State Government then existed against which I could commit treason." He continues :—" Which is the better for the Republics—to continue the straggle and run the risk of total ruin as a nation, or to submit? Do you think that any nation is so mad as to have thousands of men killed and spend millions of money, and then to give us the Republics and the capital necessary to govern them?" The best thing now was to be loyal to the new Govern- ment, and try t) get responsible government. "As soon as the finances allow of its being done we shall govern the country virtually ourselves, have our children properly educated, and save the people as a nation." The extreme partisans of the Boers will doubtless call Piet de Wet a rene- gade; for ourselves, we see nothing in this appeal which cannot be reconciled with the highest patriotism. It should be added that Piet de Wet, who is described bythe Manchester Guard&In's correspondent as " a typical Boer " and " patently sincere," speaks handsomely of Lord Kitchener's attitude, and fully credits the account of the shooting of the peace envoy.
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