Some prominence has been given to the cases of those prisoners who were unable for physical or other special reasons to withstand the strain; and it should therefore be made equally clear that in many cases the men regarded with contemptuous amusement the cat and mouse policy and the stage-managed magnanimity displayed towards them.  They were perfectly well able and willing to endure the sentence passed upon them, and they were not misled by Boer promises in 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 the yard, making remarks to his subordinates