[Illustration: GENERAL BABINGTON. Photo Charles Knight, London.] In an intercepted letter from Mr. Schalk Burger to Mr. Steyn, dated Tautesberg, March 21, 1901, stating that the condition of the Boers at that time was becoming very serious, the Acting President said:-- "The question is, what must we, what shall we do? May we, can we, continue the struggle further? I pray the Lord day and night to give us wisdom and light hereon, and cause us not to sin against His will, but also not to fall into disbelief. If we are convinced that our last resources are exhausted, our last strength broken, we must bow down and surrender ourselves to the power of the enemy, no matter how bitter this cup may be to us. I can, however, not yet decide upon this latter course. My hope and trust is still that we shall be delivered and saved; the sacrifices of lives, prayers, and misery, are too great not to be crowned with our hopes and expectations, according to our belief. As you will see for yourself, from the correspondence between Lord Kitchener and Commandant-General Botha, there is no mention of terms which meet us in any way, therefore I keep to the decision to surrender unconditionally if this must happen, which I trust God forbid. No, let us keep our nation unsullied, to receive no favour from our enemy, that the gulf which exists through former years and this cruel war remains and still widens. 'Where there is a will there's a way,' and if we are not exiled, we can, by exerting our strength, form committees, and supported by loving gifts from Europe, again build up our country and people, to advance our language and religion, to educate our children, and to keep alive our oppressed national spirit and cause it to come to life again. This is my ideal." Many months had now elapsed since the penning of that letter, and the condition of the Boers had gone from bad to worse. Their hitherto stubborn resistance was now little more than suicidal lunacy. A rough estimate of their losses for the year, so far as could be judged, is shown in the following table:--