COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE (in KHAKI), GLOUCESTER REGIMENT.
Photo by Gregory & Co., London.
On the evening of Jameson's surrender (Thursday), Sir Hercules Robinson (Lord Rosmead), left the Cape for the scene of the disturbance. The train he travelled by met with an accident; he was infirm—his nerves were shaken. The President refused to be interviewed on the Sabbath, and the result of his journey was a single meeting with Mr. Kruger, but the British Resident, Sir Jacobus de Wet, and Sir Sidney Shippard, were deputed to address and pacify the perturbed multitude in Johannesburg. The Uitlanders, they promised, should get their just rights—that her Majesty's Government would ensure—but they must first give up their arms: the fate of Jameson depended on it! The Reform leaders at this time knew nothing of the terms of the surrender, and the guarantee given by Commandant Cronjé, or, perhaps, they knew too well what Cronjé's guarantees were likely to be worth; and much against their better judgment, believing that their rights would be secured and the safety of Jameson effected, they eventually consented to disarmament.
As we know, the conspirators had been short of arms—they had about 2500 guns in all. When these were given up the Boers were dissatisfied. They had reason to believe that some 20,000 guns were to be supplied as part of the scheme, and suspected that the Reformers were concealing the existence of many weapons. The word of honour of the leaders produced no effect, and energetic search through floors and in the mines was carried on for some months afterwards.
Of course, this disarmament immediately threw the Reformers into the clutches of the Pretoria Government. The authorities made haste to issue warrants for the arrest of sixty-four of the most prominent men of the movement; this in spite of the assurance made to the British agent that "not a hair of their heads should be touched"! Mrs. Phillips has reason to speak very bitterly of the mismanagement of the High Commissioner on this occasion. Having done his gruesome work, she says, "he returned to Cape Town, leaving Johannesburg absolutely at the mercy of the Boers. He actually effected the disarmament of this large town without making one single condition for its safety, and from that day the most signal acts of tyranny and injustice were committed over and over again by the Boer Oligarchy, and there was no one to say them nay. This was a critical event for English supremacy in South Africa, this final act of supreme weakness and folly! Many of her most loyal subjects from that moment have wavered on the brink, and some have gone over to the side of the Africander Bond. It is such actions as these which estrange the Colonists, and which give a little reality to the bondsman's dream of a United South Africa under a Republican flag."
For the benefit of those who may not be acquainted with the negotiations which brought about this unfortunate disarmament, it may be as well to repeat some of the correspondence that passed between Sir Hercules Robinson and Mr. Chamberlain at this critical period.
Sir Hercules Robinson, Pretoria, to Mr. Chamberlain.
(Telegraphic. Received 1.8 a.m., 6th January 1896.)
"5th January, No. 3. Arrived here last night. Position of affairs very critical. On side of Government of South African Republic and of Orange Free State there is a desire to show moderation, but Boers show tendency to get out of hand and to demand execution of Jameson. I am told that Government of South African Republic will demand disarmament of Johannesburg as a condition precedent to negotiations. Their military preparations are now practically complete, and Johannesburg, if besieged, could not hold out, as they are short of water and coal. On side of Johannesburg leaders desire to be moderate, but men make safety of Jameson and concession of items in manifesto issued conditions precedent to disarmament. If these are refused, they assert they will elect their own leaders and fight it out in their own way. As the matter now stands, I see great difficulty in avoiding civil war, but I will do my best, and telegraph result of my official interview to-morrow. It is said that President of South African Republic intends to make some demands with respect to Article No. 4 of the London Convention of 1884."