The incidents here given illustrating the methods of this delectable individual were all witnessed by the Reformers.  The account of Du Plessis may serve the purpose of showing the methods practised under a Government whose officials are appointed whenever possible from the family circle and not because of fitness.  It is more especially designed to show the character of the man in whose hands the prisoners were placed with almost absolute discretion; the man who enjoys the privilege of discussing with his relative President Kruger, at any hour at which he may choose to visit the Presidency, the treatment to be accorded to his victims; the man who is retained in his position in spite of repeated exposures by his superiors, and who is credited with exercising very considerable influence with Mr. Kruger; but, above all, the man in whose charge remain up to the present time{37} the two Reformers, Messrs. Sampson and Davies, who declined to sign any petition, and concerning whom Du Plessis stated openly:  ’Wait until the others have gone, and if the Government leave them in my hands, I’ll make them ready to sign anything.’  Sufficient has been said concerning this individual to warrant the description publicly given of him by Colonel Rhodes{38}—­’A brutal and inhuman wretch!’ Like most bullies the man is also a coward.  When he witnessed the outburst of feeling among the prisoners in consequence of the death of their comrade, he would not venture into the precincts of the gaol for two days, until assured that the men had again become capable of self-control.

So much for the details of gaol life.

In the meantime sympathy with the prisoners began to take practical form, and the unanimity of feeling on their behalf throughout South Africa, which was quite unexpected and which greatly embarrassed the Boer Government, tended to bring matters to a head.  Mr. Rose Innes, who had so generously and constantly exerted himself in Pretoria in order to obtain some amelioration of the condition of the prisoners, and who had in his official capacity as watching the case for the Imperial Government made a very strong report to the Colonial Office, did not content himself with these exertions.  Upon his return to Capetown he suggested and organized the getting up of a monster petition to the President and Executive, urging upon them in the interests of the peace of South Africa to release the imprisoned men.  The petitions were to represent the views of every town and village in South Africa, and were to be presented by the mayors or municipal heads of the communities.  In this movement Mr. Rose Innes was most ably seconded by Mr. Edmund Garrett, the editor of the Cape Times, and other prominent men.  A movement of this nature naturally excited considerable attention in Pretoria; but the success of it was wholly unexpected.  The President and his party had played to the South African gallery, and they had not yet realized that they had in any way overdone the theatrical part.