nders would prepare their revolt, and that should Dr. Jameson's
services be needed, Johannesburg, with 9000 armed men and a fair
equipment of machine guns and cannon, would be prepared to
co-operate: at that time it seemed no difficult matter to seize the
fort and magazines at Pretoria for the time being. It was in course
of repair, and in charge merely of a hundred men, most of whom could
be relied on to be asleep or off duty after nine o'clock at night.
The plan of seizing the fort, capturing the ammunition, and clearing
it off so as to enforce their views without bloodshed seemed
perfectly feasible, and Dr. Jameson readily agreed to lend himself
to the scheme for giving such "moral support" as was required by the
Uitlander Reformers. Of their part in the affair it is difficult to
speak impartially. It appears on the surface that they induced this
man, for no personal motive either of financial gain or political
power, to lend himself willingly to be the tool of the aggrieved
Uitlanders, who, when the time came, were too vacillating between
their fear of the Republic and the desire for their own individual
good, to support the person whom they had chosen for their champion,
and who so disinterestedly was prepared to risk both life and
position in their service! It was decided, however, that the
Reformers should arrange a revolution, which would have the effect
of forcing the hands of the Transvaal Government. The High
Commissioner, as they imagined, would come on the scene as a final
arbitrator. Dr. Jameson's troops, who had acted so effectively in
the Matabele campaign, were to be kept at Pitsani on the Bechuana
border, in order if necessary to come at a given signal to the
rescue of the Uitlanders. The idea was not without precedent. Sir
Henry Loch, two years before, in dread of a Johannesburg rising, had
considered the advisability of placing troops on the border.

So as to justify his action to the directors of the Chartered
Company and the Imperial authorities, the following undated letter
was sent to Dr. Jameson, Mafeking:--

"DEAR SIR,--The position of matters in this State has become so
critical, that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a
conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is
scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history;
suffice it to say, that the position of thousands of Englishmen, and
others, is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not