shows that he and Sir Thomas Upington, the
Attorney-General of Cape Colony, were on a visit to Johannesburg on
December 27, and heard it publicly stated that Dr. Jameson with 800
men was on the border for the purpose of invading the Transvaal.
Mr. Faure testifies that he learned this from a very prominent Free
State Dutchman. Among others, one would suppose that the Transvaal
Government must also have heard something of it.

Dr. Veale, a well-known Pretoria doctor, states that at daybreak on
Thursday, January 2, Commandant Hendrik Schoeman called on him to
secure his professional attendance for a member of his family who was
very ill. The Commandant said that he had been sent out on Monday to
watch the invading force and to ascertain their numbers, and also
stated that he had been following the troop with others for a
considerable time and that he was sure Jameson had not 800 but
between 450 and 500, as he had repeatedly counted them; that the
force was being delayed by small parties drawing it into useless
fighting and so losing time; that he himself had been obliged to come
on ahead, having been recalled on account of his wife's serious
illness, but that it made little difference as there were others to
take his place, and they had arranged not to tackle Jameson until
they had drawn him among the kopjes at Doornkop, where it would be
quite impossible for him ever to get through. This statement it
should be noted was made in Pretoria some hours before the Jameson
force surrendered at Doornkop.

So certain do the Boers appear to have been, and so confident of
their ability to carry out their plans, that they stated to a
reporter of the Government newspaper that they intended to stop
Jameson at Rietspruit (Doornkop), and this statement was published in
a Johannesburg paper on the morning of January 1, but was of course
regarded as mere gossip of a piece with that which flooded the
newspapers at the time. It is only right to add that there were
numbers of other announcements at the same time which by no means
agreed with this one, and it is stated that the editor was as much
surprised as the public to find that he had been right.

In reviewing the whole of the circumstances of the raid, not the most
biased and most interested of persons can withhold a tribute of
admiration to the President's presence of mind, skill, and courage in
dealing with circumstances wholly without precedent; and in quiet
moments, when recalli