Astonished that Council should hesitate to fulfil the engagement which we understood was made by President with you, and confirmed by the Queen, on the faith of which you secured disarmament of Johannesburg.  Any delay will produce worst impression here, and may lead to serious consequences.  I have already promised that all the leaders shall be brought to trial immediately; but it would be absurd to try the rank and file, who only obeyed orders which they could not refuse.  If desired we may however engage to bring to England all who are not domiciled in South Africa; but we cannot undertake to bring all the rank and file to trial, for that would make a farce of the whole proceedings, and is contrary to the practice of all civilized Governments.  As regards a pledge that they shall be punished, the President will see on consideration that although a Government can order a prosecution, it cannot in any free country compel a conviction.  You may remind him that the murderers of Major Elliott, who were tried in the Transvaal in 1881, were acquitted by a jury of burghers.  Compare also the treatment by us of Stellaland and other freebooters.

The result of this communication was that the President drew in his horns and agreed that if the prisoners were deported to England he would be satisfied to let the British Government decide which of them should be prosecuted.

The success of his diplomatic methods had whetted his appetite, it would appear.  He was not content with the conditional surrender of Dr. Jameson, nor—­having suppressed the fact that it was conditional—­with having used him for the purpose of disarming Johannesburg; but, having achieved both purposes, Mr. Kruger was still desirous of keeping him in hand.  This however was a length to which the British Government did not see fit to go; but there is no evidence in the correspondence which has passed tending to show that even then Sir Hercules Robinson perceived how he was being made use of and played with by the President.

On the night of the 9th and the morning of the 10th, the members of the Reform Committee to the number of about sixty were arrested and lodged in gaol; and from this moment the High Commissioner appears to have erased them from the tablets of his memory.  On January 14 he telegraphed to Mr. Chamberlain as follows: 

I have received a letter from Government of South African Republic, stating that, in their opinion, every reason exists for assuming that the complications at Johannesburg are approaching to an end, and that there need be no longer any fear of further bloodshed.  The President of the South African Republic and Executive Council tender to me the warmest thanks of the Government of the South African Republic for the assistance I have been able to render in preventing further bloodshed, and their congratulations on the manner in which my object in coming has been fulfilled.  They tender also their cordial acknowledgment of the services