Dr. Jameson surrendered at 9.30 a.m. on Thursday.  The High Commissioner did not leave Capetown until 9 p.m. the same day.  There had therefore been ample time for the Government to intimate to him their opinion that matters had been satisfactorily settled and that they did not need his services any longer, had they held such an opinion.  As a matter of fact, that was by no means their opinion.  They considered that they had yet to deal with 20,000 armed men in Johannesburg, and that they had to do that, if possible, without provoking a civil war, which would inevitably result in the long-run to their disadvantage, however great their success might be over the Johannesburg people in the meantime.  They not only allowed the High Commissioner to proceed to Pretoria on the understanding originally effected, but they took steps to remind the Reform Committee on several occasions that they were expected to adhere to the arrangement entered into.  And such was the position when the High Commissioner arrived on the night of Saturday, the 4th.

Sir Hercules Robinson proceeded direct to Pretoria, but did not transact any business until Monday, abstaining, in deference to the feelings of the Boers, from any discussion of business matters on the Sabbath.  On Sunday, however, he received information from the Reform Committee as to the arrangements entered into with the Government.  He was also informed that threats had been made by persons who without doubt were speaking the mind of the Government, that if any trouble should take place with Johannesburg Dr. Jameson and probably many of his comrades would be shot.  It was not stated that the Transvaal Government or authorities would officially countenance any such act or would authorize it even as the result of a trial; but the statement which was made by everyone from the President downward was that, in the event of any fighting in Johannesburg, the burghers would be so much enraged and so beyond control that the prisoners who had caused all the trouble would inevitably be shot.  It is a part of Boer diplomacy to make as much use as possible of every weapon that comes to hand without too great a regard for the decencies of government as they occur to the minds of every civilized people, and it is not at all unusual to find the President proclaiming at one moment that some course must be taken to prevent disaster, for the reason that he cannot be answerable for his burghers in their excited state, and at another moment indignantly repudiating the suggestion that they would be guilty of any step that could be considered unworthy of the most civilized of peoples.  In fact such exhibitions were repeatedly given by him at a later stage when dealing with the Reform prisoners.