which they
had never had any faith at all. There are good reasons to be assigned
for the willingness of many of the men to make appeals to the
Government: sheer hard necessity and the sufferings of those
dependent upon them were among these reasons; and it is unfair to
consider these appeals to have been due to loss of nerve.

There were among the prisoners twenty-three Englishmen, sixteen South
Africans, nine Scotchmen, six Americans, two Welshmen, one Irishman,
one Australian, one Hollander, one Bavarian, one German, one
Canadian, one Swiss, and one Turk. This variety of nationalities
should receive due consideration when questions such as for instance
that of the flag are considered. In this matter of petitions it was
not to be expected that men whose associations with the country had
been limited to a few years should experience the same depth of
feeling and bitterness of resentment as the South Africans born who
look upon the country as their native land and who view with keen
resentment the attitude of the Boers towards them in the Transvaal,
so much at variance with their attitude towards the Boers in the
neighbouring colonies. Nothing could illustrate this difference in
feeling better than the fact that of the eleven men who throughout
declined to sign petitions eight were South African born, one
Australian, one English, and one Scotch. There is nothing
discreditable to others in these figures; they simply indicate the
difference of feeling which did and indeed naturally must exist. The
South African born men consider themselves to have been robbed of a
portion of their birthright; the others have not the same reason for
thinking this.

With men of so many nationalities the position of the British
Resident would in any case have been one of difficulty, especially
after the part played by the High Commissioner. In the case of Sir
Jacobus de Wet very little satisfaction was given. What caused the
most comment and annoyance among the prisoners was that official
representatives of other countries appeared to have unusual
facilities offered them to visit the subjects of their Government--at
least, they could command the ordinary courtesies--whereas in the
case of the British Agent nothing of this sort existed. Frequently he
was observed standing outside the gaol in the worst of weather
without shelter, patiently waiting until the gaoler would deem fit to
see him. In the meantime that official would stroll through