JOHANNESBURG FROM THE NORTH.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
"I attribute our failure to reach Johannesburg in a great measure to loss of time from the following causes:—
"1. The delay occasioned by the demonstration in front of Krugersdorp, which had been assigned as the place of junction with the Johannesburg force.
"2. The non-arrival of that force at Krugersdorp, or of the guides to the Krugersdorp-Johannesburg section of the road, as previously promised by Johannesburg.
"3. The delay consequent on moving to the firing of the supposed Johannesburg column just before dark on Wednesday evening.
"I append (1) a sketch-map of the route from Pitsani to Krugersdorp marked A. This distance (154 miles) was covered in just under seventy hours, the horses having been off-saddled ten times. The 169 miles between Pitsani and Doornkop occupied eighty-six hours, during seventeen of which the men were engaged with the Boers, and were practically without food or water, having had their last meal at 8 a.m. on the morning of the 1st January at Van Oudtshoorn's, seventeen miles from Krugersdorp."
(The report concludes with a list of officers engaged in the expedition.)
It will be noted that Sir John Willoughby does not attribute his failure to the bungling of his employés that is said to have taken place. The man that was despatched to cut the telegraph wires failed to do so, with the result that the Boers were provided with the news of the invasion eight hours before the Reform leaders were aware of it; while another man, whose business it was to wrench away the rails between Johannesburg and Krugersdorp, and thus interrupt communication from Pretoria, was reposing in a clubhouse hopelessly drunk, while the train he should have intercepted carried ammunition for use against the invaders.
In order to present a fair picture of the situation, it must be admitted that many of the statements in this report were emphatically contradicted by the Reformers, notably the opening paragraphs, which scarcely tally with the fact that on the 28th (the day referred to) Dr. Jameson received the letters from the Reformers telling him not to start.