ercules Robinson might urge, in so far as Dr. Jameson's affair
is concerned, that he could not be expected to suspect a deception
such as was practised upon him; yet it does seem extraordinary that,
being in Pretoria for the purpose of negotiating for the disposal of
Dr. Jameson and his comrades, he should not have taken steps to
ascertain what there was to be said on their behalf, especially as on
his own showing it was for the greater part of the time a question of
life and death for the leaders of the force. It is even more
difficult to understand why no effort should have been made to
communicate with the Reformers. The High Commissioner was thoroughly
well aware of the negotiations between them and the Government on
January 1. He had received communications by telegraph from the
Reformers before he left Capetown; he came up avowedly to settle
their business; he negotiated on their behalf and induced them to
disarm; he witnessed their arrest and confinement in gaol; yet not
only did he not visit them himself, nor send an accredited member of
his staff to inquire into their case and conditions, but Sir Jacobus
de Wet alleges that he actually, in deference to the wish of the
President, desired the British Agent not to hold any communication
whatever with the prisoners during his (Sir Hercules Robinson's)
stay in Pretoria. Truly we have had many examples of President
Kruger's audacity, and of the success of it; but nothing to equal
this. That he demanded from Sir Hercules Robinson information as to
the objects of the Flying Squadron and the movements of British
troops in British territory, and succeeded in getting it, was a
triumph; but surely not on a par with that of desiring the High
Commissioner not to hold communication with the British subjects whom
he, as the official representative of their sovereign, had travelled
a thousand miles to disarm, and on whose behalf--ostensibly--he was
there to negotiate.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARREST AND TRIAL OF THE REFORMERS.

About half of the members of the Reform Committee were arrested and
taken through to Pretoria on the night of the 9th. Others were
arrested at various times during the evening and night, were detained
in the lock-up at Johannesburg as ordinary felons, and escorted to
the Pretoria gaol on the following morning. The scene on their
arrival at Pretoria railway station and during their march to the
gaol was not creditable to the Boers. A howling mob surrou