Jenkins says that Halifax at this point had recognised that he was beaten, largely because he could not overcome Churchill's resolve but crucially, perhaps, because he could see that Chamberlain had moved away from him and was firmly on Churchill's side. With the Mussolini option firmly rejected, the war cabinet turned to the remaining mediation question of an approach to the United States and Halifax showed them a telegram received from General Jan Smuts in South Africa, which effectively endorsed a message received earlier from Sir Robert Menzies in Australia. The gist of it was that the Dominions wanted to tell the US government that they were going to fight on even if they had to do it alone. They wanted nothing for themselves and were only concerned with the defence of world liberty against Nazi domination. The question for America was would they help or would they stand aside and take no action in defence of the rights of man?