e and demonstrative as
possible, and a demand made to the Volksraad to grant the redress of
the grievances complained of, and, failing reasonable concessions,
that they should rise in arms and at the same time appeal to England,
as the paramount Power, or to the other South African Governments,
to mediate and so avert civil war. It was believed, and with much
reason, that the Boers, knowing, as they then inevitably would, that
a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition had been smuggled in,
and knowing also that the sentiment of South Africa, including the
Free State, was all in favour of considerable concessions to the
Uitlanders, would have hesitated to take the initiative against
Johannesburg, and would either have yielded to the pressure of the
general South African opinion and have accepted the mediation of the
High Commissioner, or would have offered considerable reforms. The
Kruger party, it was well known, would proceed to any extreme rather
than concede anything to the Uitlanders; but at that time the
majority of the Boers were opposed to the Kruger policy of favouring
the Hollanders and Germans to the exclusion of all other Uitlanders,
and this majority would not have consented to measures calculated to
embroil them with the people who had made their country prosperous,
and even to imperil the very existence of the State, whilst an
alternative course so easy as the one presented lay open to them.

On the day following the despatch of Messrs. Leonard and Hamilton to
Capetown it was decided to send messengers to Dr. Jameson to
emphatically prohibit any movement on his part, also to explain to
him the position of affairs in Johannesburg with reference to the
flag, and above all to impress upon him the condition of
unpreparedness. Major Heany was sent by train via Kimberley, and in
order to facilitate his travelling a telegram was sent to Mr. Rhodes
in Capetown asking him to arrange for a special train, and
acquainting him with the purpose of the trip. Captain Holden was sent
on horseback across country to Pitsani. Both gentlemen carried the
most definite instructions to Dr. Jameson on no account to move. Both
gentlemen have since stated that they delivered the messages in
word and in spirit absolutely as they were given to them in
Johannesburg, and that they carried no private messages whatever from
any individual member of the Committee in any way conflicting with
the purport of the official message with wh