Mr. Knight to Mr. Uhl.
Cape Town, February 5, 1896. (Received March 5.)
Sir: I have the honor to wait upon you with the following information in connection with the recent political crisis in the South African Republic:
Acting on your telegraphic instructions dated January 18 and 19, I proceeded to Pretoria, accompanied by Mr. Lindley, a barrister of the Supreme Court of the United States, and at present occupying the position of general manager of the Equitable Life Assurance of New York in Cape Town, together with my private secretary, to attend to the secretarial duties of my mission, and for the purpose of sending him across the border with cables if necessary. Leaving Cape Town on the 21st January, I reached Pretoria, the seat of government of the South African Republic, on the afternoon of the 24th. Having advised Mr. Manion, consular agent at Johannesburg, of my departure, I expected to find him at Pretoria on my arrival, but such not being the case, I telegraphed to him and requested, should he have any information for me, to meet me at Pretoria. I then called upon the arrested American citizens, when, at an informal meeting, the various phases of the situation were discussed. It was then decided that, after I had had an interview with Mr. J. H. Hammond at the gaol a meeting of all American citizens then resident in Pretoria should be held at the Pretoria Club at noon on the following day. I also called upon Sir Jacobus de Wet, the British resident at Pretoria, to whose good offices I am in many ways indebted. The meeting was duly held on the 25th, Mr. Manion having arrived at Pretoria in the morning. From the accompanying minutes you will perceive that it was the unanimous desire of the meeting that the cablegrams which I had the honor to send you on the 25th should be dispatched, and to which I still wait your reply.
Together with Mr. Lindley I made a formal call upon his honor the President on Monday. The President’s reception was very affable, but he would not enter into any discussion on the question of the arrests of the reform committee. Our main purpose in calling upon his honor was to inform him officially that the United States Government was very much concerned regarding the case of Mr. Hammond. General Joubert was, however, more communicative, but he seemed to be quite unable to dissociate the reform committee from the Jameson raid. Among the best and most enlightened Boers there was a great deal of sympathy for the reform committee, but the Jameson raid has spoiled everything and engendered an amount of feeling and indignation in the minds of the Boers that is likely to prejudice the result of proceedings taken against the reform committee.
I think it desirable to lay before you my conclusions regarding the [Page 573] attitude taken up by the members of the reform committee during the agitation in Johannesburg, ascertained from the members of the committee and other influential people both in Pretoria and Johannesburg, which you will see puts a very different complexion on the whole business to that which the voice of rumor has spread throughout the world.
From all that I have heard I am fully convinced that nobody could have been more genuinely astonished at Jameson’s inroad than the leaders of the reform committee themselves. They were so unprepared for any such move that they had no guns or warlike material in their possession. When there was no further doubt of the incursion they hastily got out of the customs some 2,000 rifles with which to protect themselves against their own rabble, as they were afraid that rioting would begin in Johannesburg, it being for the safety of the city against its own mob and not for war against the Boers that the different corps were enrolled and armed. The letter found on the battlefield at Doornkop, of which so much has been made by certain newspapers, was not sent by the reform committee, but a copy of a draft letter drawn up to be sent to Jameson in the event of certain contingencies (which never happened), found its way somehow to the Doctor entirely without the knowledge of the committee. The whole matter on the part of the reform committee was a game of bounce which promised to have a happy outcome until Jameson’s precipitate act in crossing the border exploded everything.
The attitude of the Government toward the prisoners, while strict, is not harsh, and those detained in goal have nothing to complain of but the lack of liberty. It is reported in this morning’s paper that the South African correspondent of the New York World has cabled to his paper “that the Boers mobbed the reform prisoners, who were obliged to run to escape being torn to pieces, and that an American supposed to be Hammond was trampled under foot.” This report is exaggerated. One of the reform committee, Captain Mein, was kicked and ill-treated, and it was the opinion of those marched to prison that had the march lasted five minutes longer their lives would have been taken. Sir Jacobus de Wet assured them of their liberty if they would lay down their arms and disband the various corps, but this he did without the authority of the Government of the South African Republic.
I waited in Pretoria until, in the opinion of the American prisoners and citizens, I had done all in my power for their benefit, and after a visit to Johannesburg to ascertain the feeling of the American colony there, returned to Cape Town.
It was the unanimous opinion of the arrested Americans that the United States should cooperate with Great Britain for their benefit, as no access to the Transvaal is obtainable except through British territory.
It is with a feeling of diffidence and deep regret that I have to report the attitude taken up during my stay at Pretoria by Mr. Manion, the consular agent at Johannesburg. It appears that owing to your having cabled to him direct in relation to the American prisoners, he felt justified in ignoring my position as acting consul and your chief representative for South Africa. He even took upon himself to dispatch cablegrams to yourself, the purport of which are quite unknown either to the American prisoners or myself. It has been my desire all through to act in conjunction with Mr. Manion, as his position in Johannesburg during the trouble might have been of great service to me in deciding what was best to be done under the circumstances, but from the beginning [Page 574] he has taken upon himself to act independently of myself, and in a great measure of the American citizens also. Being only acting consul, I refrained from suspending him, though his conduct fully justified such a proceeding, and I was requested to do so by the arrested American citizens, with two exceptions.
It was a source of pleasure to me, under the unpleasant relations existing between Mr. Manion and myself, to receive the unsolicited expressions of the entire approval of my views and policy in relation to themselves, and also their absolute confidence in my discretion, and the trust that I would continue to act upon their behalf and represent their interests, set forth in a letter from the arrested Americans, a copy of which is attached hereto.
Before leaving Pretoria I placed my services entirely at their disposal in the event of their at any time deciding that my presence at Pretoria or elsewhere would be of use to them.
The preliminary examination of the prisoners was commenced at Pretoria on the 3d instant, the American prisoners being represented by counsel. I will watch the proceedings very closely and in event of any fresh developments likely to be prejudicial to the prisoners will immediately cable you.
I trust the petition addressed to you by the American citizens for a fully empowered diplomat will receive your careful consideration, as it is felt by the American colony that such an appointment will be of material benefit to the prisoners in safeguarding their property.
As I have just returned to Cape Town, and the mail leaves to-day, I am not able to send a detailed account of affairs. I have asked Mr. Lindley to prepare a statement, which will be forwarded in due course.
I have, etc.,