366 
THE WITWATERSRAND AND 
Transvaal government was evidently prepared for the invasion. 
Jameson and his troopers were captured with all their docu- 
ments and even the key to their cipher dispatches. The Johan- 
nesburgers laid down their arms, and most of the reform com- 
mittee were arrested. At their trial, in April, four of the leaders,* 
including Mr Hammond, pleaded guilt}”, on advice of counsel, to 
higli treason, and the remainder pleaded guilty to lese majeste,t 
excepting Mr Curtis, who was detained by illness in Cape Town. 
His trial was postponed. The leaders were condemned to death 
on April 28, hut the next day their sentence Avas reduced to 
fifteen years’ imprisonment. The rank and file of the reform 
committee were given terms of imprisonment ranging from a few 
months to a couple of years. For some weeks no further miti- 
gation of sentence was announced, and during this interval the 
government took occasion to imhlish telegrams and mai)S cap- 
tured from Jameson’s party, showing hoAV delil)erate had been 
the ])lot to de})rive the repul)lic of its inde))endence. Sucli of 
tlie mass of the reformers as signed a petition for mercy Avere 
then discliarged, on payment of a fine of £2,000 each. Tavo of 
them only, both Englishmen, refused to sign any appeal for 
clemency, and these gentlemen, Avhose attitude seems to most 
jAeople a mistaken one, still remain in jail, so far as I am informed. 
Early in June the leaders also Avere released, on payment of the 
heavy fine of £25,000 each. They Avere given permission to re- 
main in the Transvaal on condition of signing a pledge not to 
meddle in the affairs of the republic. This Colonel Frank Rhodes 
refused to do, and he Avas jn’omptly escorted to the border. Mr 
Curtis, when sufficiently recovered from a very dangerous illness, 
])resented himself in July for trial, but refused to plead guilty. 
The government, hoAvever, declined to j)roceed against him under 
plea of not guilty, evidently because it Avas loath to reopen the 
Avhole disagreeable question. I understand that Mr Curtis has 
contributed £2,000, the amount his comrades Avere fined, to the 
charities of the TransA'aal, not caring to take pecuniary advantage 
of his exceptional position. ^ 
The surrender of Dr Jameson and his officers to the British 
*Mr Charles Leonard, one of the five leaders, left the country before the arrest of 
the reform committee. The other leaders were Messrs George Farrar, Lionel Phillips, 
and Frank Rhodes. 
tThe prisoners understood that there was an understanding between their counsel 
and the prosecution that the plea of guilty would be followed by a mild sentence. This 
arrangement is wholly denied by the prosecution and, according to Reuter, by counsel 
for the defense. 1 have not been able to ascertain the origin of the misunderstanding. 
A trial would have resulted in much ill-feeling, and it is as well that it was avoided. 
