The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs

by Percy Fitzpatrick

On Monday morning Mr. S.W. Jameson (a brother of Dr. Jameson, who, although suffering acutely from rheumatic fever, insisted on taking his share of the work and worry during the days that followed) received a telegram addressed to Dr. Wolff, in his care. The latter being away on Monday Mr. Jameson translated the telegram and showed it at once to as many of his comrades as he could find. It was from Dr. Jameson, despatched from Pitsani at 9.5 a.m. on Sunday, and ran as follows: 'Meet me as arranged before you left on Tuesday night which will enable us to decide which is best destination. Make Advocate Leonard speak—make cutting to-night without fail.'

Every effort was made to find Dr. Wolff, but he—in common with others—believing that there would be no move for a week, was away. This telegram was, to say the least of it, disquieting. It showed, so it was thought, that as late as Sunday morning Dr. Jameson could not have received the countermands by Messrs. Heany and Holden, and it indicated that it must have been a near thing stopping him before he actually crossed the border. As a matter of fact Major Heany reached Dr. Jameson at noon on Sunday; but Capt. Holden had arrived the night before.

Shortly after noon Mr. Abe Bailey received and showed to others a telegram purporting to come from 'Godolphin,' Capetown, to the following effect: 'The veterinary surgeon says the horses are now all right; he started with them last night; will reach you on Wednesday; he says he can back himself for seven hundred.' By the light of subsequent events the telegram is easily interpreted, but as Mr. Bailey said he could not even guess who 'Godolphin' might be, the message remained a puzzle. That it had some reference to Dr. Jameson was at once guessed, indeed Mr. Bailey would not have shown it to others concerned in the movement did he not himself think so. The importance and significance of the message entirely depended upon who 'Godolphin' was, and it afterwards transpired that the sender was Dr. Rutherfoord Harris, who states that he took the first and safest means of conveying the news that Dr. Jameson had actually started in spite of all. Mysterious and unintelligible as it was the telegram caused the greatest uneasiness among the few who saw it, for it seemed to show that an unknown someone in Capetown was under the impression that Dr. Jameson had started. The Reformers however still rejected the idea that he would do anything so mad and preposterous, and above all they were convinced that had he started they would not be left to gather the fact from the ambiguous phrases of an unknown person.

All doubts however were set at rest when between four and half-past four on Monday afternoon Mr. A.L. Lawley came hurriedly into the room where several of the leaders were met, saying, 'It is all up, boys. He has started in spite of everything. Read this!' and at the same time throwing on the table the following telegram from Mafeking: 'The contractor has started on the earthworks with seven hundred boys; hopes to reach terminus on Wednesday.'

The Reformers realized perfectly well the full significance of Dr. Jameson's action; they realized that even if he succeeded in reaching Johannesburg, he, by taking the initiative, seriously impaired the justice of the Uitlanders' cause—indeed, put them hopelessly in the wrong. Apart from the moral or political aspects of the question there was the fact that, either through mistake or by fatuous impulse, Dr. Jameson had plunged them into a crisis for which as he knew they were insufficiently provided and prepared, and at the same time destroyed the one chance—the one certainty—on which they had always counted for arms and ammunition; by starting first he knocked out the foundation of the whole scheme—he made the taking of the Pretoria arsenal impossible. For a few minutes it was hoped that the chance of taking the arsenal still remained; but while discussion was still proceeding and several of those present were protesting that the news could not be true (among them Mr. S.W. Jameson, who stoutly maintained that his brother would never start in defiance of his pledges), authentic news of the invasion was received from the Government offices; and this was supplemented a few minutes later by the information that the Government had known it at an early hour in the morning, and that Pretoria was then full of armed burghers. The position then appeared fairly desperate.

It is worth noting that even when Dr. Jameson decided to start in opposition to the Committee's wishes it was not deemed necessary to treat them with the candour which they were entitled to expect from a comrade. It is well known that Dr. Jameson never had 700 men, and that he started with less than 500, and yet the Reformers were led to understand from the telegrams above quoted that he was starting with 700, and not 800 as last promised. They were at first under the impression that the 700 men did not include the Bechuanaland Border Police who were to join him after starting, so that it was still thought that he had over 800 men.

Before five o'clock messengers had been sent out in all directions to call together those who had interested themselves in the movement, or as many of them as possible, for several prominent men knowing only of the steps taken to prevent any movement on the part of Dr. Jameson, were not at hand. As many as possible however gathered together, and it was decided to take instant steps to put the town in a state of defence. In order that the subsequent actions and attitude of the Reform Committee may be properly understood it is necessary to explain somewhat fully the position of affairs on this Monday evening.

As soon as it was realized that the news was beyond all doubt true the bitterest censure was expressed upon Dr. Jameson's action, and it was at first stated by many that either Dr. Jameson or Mr. Rhodes or both had deliberately and for the furtherance of their personal aims disregarded in treacherous and heartless fashion all their agreements. Soon however a calmer view was taken, and a consideration of all the circumstances induced the Reformers to believe that Dr. Jameson had started in good faith, but under some misapprehension. They recalled the various reports that had been in circulation in the press about conflicts between the Boers and Uitlanders at the Simmer and Jack and Jumpers mines, the reported arrest of Mr. Lionel Phillips and the demand of £80,000 bail—rumours which had been treated by those on the spot as too ridiculous to gain credence anywhere, but which they nevertheless thought might have reached Dr. Jameson in such guise as to induce him to take the step which he had taken. It was assumed that the telegrams sent from Johannesburg and Capetown to stop him had not reached him, and that Messrs. Heany and Holden had also failed to catch him before he started. Opinions however were still divided as to whether he had simply lost patience and come in regardless of all consequences, or had been really misled and had dashed in to the assistance of Johannesburg. The position was at best one of horrible uncertainty, and divided as the Committee were in their opinions as to his motive they could only give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that there was behind his action no personal aim and no deliberate disregard of his undertakings. In order to realize the perplexity of the position it must be understood that only the few who happened to meet on Sunday and Monday morning knew of the telegrams which had passed during the previous twenty-four hours, many did not know of them until Pretoria prison gave them time to compare notes; to some they may be news even now. There was no time to argue then!

Knowing the poorness of the equipment of Johannesburg and the unpreparedness of the place and its inhabitants the more logical and cold-blooded course would have been to repudiate Dr. Jameson instantly and to have left him to his fate; but against this was firstly, the fact publicly admitted that he had remained on the border by arrangement with the leaders in order to help them should the necessity arise; next, that if he gave heed to the reports which were being circulated he might have thought that the necessity had arisen; and finally, that the leaders had taken such steps in the smuggling in of arms and the arming of men as would warrant the Boers, and indeed anybody else, in associating them with Dr. Jameson, so that they might confidently expect to be attacked as accomplices before the true facts could become known. They realized quite well that they had a big responsibility to the unarmed population of Johannesburg, and it was with the object of fulfilling that obligation that they decided to arm as many men as possible and to fortify and defend the place if attacked, but, in view of the impossibility of aggressive measures being successful, to take no initiative against the Boers. It would in any case have been entirely useless to suggest the repudiation of Dr. Jameson at that moment. The Johannesburg people would never have listened to such a suggestion, nor could anyone have been found to make it.

In view of the fact that the Reform Committee have been charged with the crime of plunging the country into civil war with a miserable equipment of less than 3,000 rifles, it is only fair to give some heed to the conditions as they were at the time and to consider whether any other course would have been practicable, and if practicable, whether it would have been in the interests of any considerable section of the community. To the Committee the course to be taken seemed perfectly clear. They determined to defend and hold the town. They threw off all disguise, got in all the arms they possibly could, organized the various military corps, and made arrangements for the maintenance of order in the town and on the mines. Throughout Monday night all were engaged in getting in arms and ammunition and doing all that could be done to enable the town to hold its own against possible attack.