In a speech delivered at Graaff-Reinet some time ago he has declared that the Cape Government ought not to have allowed the railway lines to be used by English troops.

Yet in a letter to President Steyn on the 8th of May, 1899, he asked him to put pressure upon "our friends in Pretoria" to adopt conciliatory measures.

Alluding to the impending Conference he writes:-- "In your position you as go-between can do endless good towards arriving at an understanding at such Conference.

I know well that there is a party who will do everything possible to prevent this." Nevertheless he also is in favour of the policy advocated by Mr.Melius de Villiers:-- "We must now play to win time.

Governments are not perpetual.