And on the same day Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphed:—
"No. 1. Your telegram of January 6, No. 2. It would be most inexpedient to send troops to Mafeking at this moment, and there is not the slightest necessity for such a step, as there is no danger from Kimberley Volunteer Corps or from Mafeking. I have sent De Wet with ultimatum this morning to Johannesburg, and believe arms will be laid down unconditionally. I understand in such case Jameson and all prisoners will be handed over to me. Prospect now very hopeful if no injudicious steps are taken. Please leave matter in my hands."
It is unnecessarily humiliating to dwell further on the astute manner in which Mr. Kruger played with the British Government while he kept Jameson and his party in durance vile, and in the agonies of mental suspense—or to dilate upon the treacherous means he employed to induce the Reformers and the town to lay down their arms. The British Agent distinctly promised that "not one among you shall lose his personal liberty for a single hour," and further declared "that the British Government could not possibly allow such a thing."
Yet the British Government calmly looked on while the Reform leaders were arrested and kept in Pretoria Gaol, at the mercy of a fiend in human shape named Du Plessis, whose atrocious conduct and character eventually caused him to be reported to the High Commissioner.
As an example of the way prisoners were treated, Mrs. Lionel Phillips may again be quoted:—
"It is well known," she writes, "that one of Jameson's troopers on the way down, falling ill, was taken prisoner by some Boers, and kept at their farmhouse some days. He was tied up, and forced to submit to all sorts of ill-treatment, being given dirty water to drink, for instance, when half-dying of thirst. But his captor's wife had compassion on him, and at the end of several days, to his surprise, he was told that he was to be allowed to go free. The Boers gave him his horse, mounted him, and informed him the one condition they made was that he was to ride away as fast as he could. He naturally obeyed, and as he galloped off had several bullets put into him, poor fellow. That is a very favourite and well-known method of Transvaal Boer assassination. It gives them the pretext that a prisoner had been trying to escape."
Mrs. Phillips relates also the horrible experiences of her husband, who was one of the Uitlanders conspicuous in the Reform movement.
"Lionel (her husband), George Farrar, Colonel Rhodes, and J. H. Hammond were put into one cell, twelve feet square, without windows, and were locked up there the first three nights for thirteen hours. Then the prison doctor insisted on more space being allotted to them, and the door, which communicated with a courtyard twenty feet square, was left open at night. This was the space in which they were permitted to take exercise. They were not allowed to associate with their fellows at first. In January, in Pretoria, the heat is intense, quite semi-tropical indeed, the temperature varying from 90 to 105 degrees in the shade. As the weather happened to be at its hottest, the sufferings of these men were awful. The cells, hitherto devoted to the use of Kaffirs, swarmed with vermin and smelt horribly; while to increase their miseries, if that were possible, one of their number was suffering from dysentery, and no conveniences of any kind were supplied. With these facts in mind, any attempt to describe what the prisoners underwent would be superfluous. Add to all these hardships their mental sufferings, and then judge of their state."
