"We beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 23rd. In reply, we beg to state that, in terms of the letter, we are unable to comply with your request, as long as your Excellency addresses us as insurgents, and insinuates that we, the leaders, are wickedly misleading a lot of ignorant men. It is nearly hopeless for us to attempt to find the proper words for reply; but before the Lord we would not be justified if we did not avail ourselves of this, perhaps the last, opportunity of speaking to you as the representative of her Majesty the Queen and people of England, for whom we feel deep respect. We must emphatically repeat, we are willing to comply with any wishes of the Imperial Government tending to the consolidation and confederation of South Africa; and, in order to make this offer from our side as clear and unequivocal as possible,--although we have explained this point fully in all our documents, and especially in paragraphs 36 to 38 of our first proclamation,--we declare that we would be satisfied with a rescinding of the annexation and restoration of the South African Republic under a protectorate of her Majesty the Queen, so that once a year the British Flag shall be hoisted, all in strict accordance with the above-mentioned clauses of our first proclamation. If your Excellency resolves to reject this, we have only to submit to our fate; but the Lord will provide." Sir George Colley started on the 24th of January from Newcastle for the border. The road from Newcastle to Laing's Nek runs up a precipitous hill for three miles, and thence leads down the steep mountain of Skheyns Hoogte. The movement of the column was slow and laborious, the roads, if roads they could be called, were almost impassable owing to great ruts, mud-holes deep enough to bury a waggon up to the bed-planks, with boulders and other impediments thrown in. Here, as Laing's Nek is so prominent a feature in our history, it may be well to give Mr. Carter's concise description of the geographical nature of the position:--