In the meantime other things had been happening.  Messrs. Thomas R. Dodd and Clement Davies Webb had been arrested under the Public Meetings Act for having organized an illegal meeting in the Market Square, Johannesburg, for the purpose of presenting the petition to the British Vice-Consul.  They were released upon bail of L1,000 each.  Whether this was a fair example of the judicial perspective in the Transvaal, or whether it was a concession to the feelings of the Boers it is impossible to say, nor does it much matter.  The fact is that for the crime of killing a British subject the bail was L200; and for the crime of objecting to it the bail was L1,000.  This action only added fuel to the fire and a public meeting was immediately convened to be held in a circus building known as the Amphitheatre.  Meetings are permitted under the Act provided they are held in an enclosed building.  The object of the meeting was to record a protest against the arrest of Messrs. Dodd and Webb.  A great many of the more ardent among the British subjects were of opinion that the time for protests and petitions was past, and they would not attend the meeting.  A great many others feeling that it was more or less a formality leading to nothing else, did not trouble to attend.  Not one of those who did attend had the least suspicion of any organized opposition.  The following dispatch from the High Commissioner to the Secretary of State for the Colonies sufficiently describes the sequel:—­

  GOVERNMENT HOUSE, CAPE TOWN,
                April 5, 1899.

SIR,—­I have the honour to forward herewith the certified and attested copies of affidavits which form an enclosure to Mr. Wyberg’s letter, transmitted to you in my dispatch of the 28th March, but which did not reach me in time to catch the last mail steamer.

From these affidavits, the number of which and the manner in which they confirm one another seem to me to leave no doubt of their general trustworthiness, it appears: 

1.  That early on the morning of Saturday, the 14th January, the foremen in charge of the various camps along the Main Reef Road were instructed to tell a certain number of their workmen to be at the Amphitheatre in Johannesburg at 2 p.m., where they would be addressed by an official of the Public Works Department, Mr. P.J.  Malan (Hoofd van Afdeeling Wegen).

2.  That the affair had been planned beforehand, and that Acting Road Inspector Papenfus and others systematically visited the various camps on that morning in order to beat up recruits, and that inquiry was made in some cases to ensure that the persons sent should be ‘treu,’ i.e., Boer or Afrikander workmen who might be expected to take the side of the Government.  The Russian workmen were not asked to go.

3.  That the men were paid two hours earlier than usual, and that those men who were ordered to go were told, if they could not get Government carts, they should hire and recover afterwards.