A Womans Part in a Revolution | Page 9

already
handed in. The Government assert that we are not keeping our
agreement and are holding back the bulk of the guns. My husband tells
me that these are being given up as fast as possible, but that there are
not over 2,700 among the entire Uitlander population. The Reform
Committee has assured the High Commissioner that they are keeping

good faith, but that they never had more than about 2,700. The
disarmament is universally considered the first step to an amicable
settlement. The Reform Committee has sent out orders and the guns are
coming quietly in. Everybody feels a certain relief now that the strain is
eased; the members of the Committee are dropping down into all sorts
of odd places to make up for the lost sleep of the past week. Dozens are
stretched on the floor of the club rooms. Some steady-going gentlemen
of abstemious habit are unprejudiced enough to allow themselves to be
found under the tables wrapped in slumber as profound as that of
infancy.
In contrast to my feelings of yesterday I am almost joyous. But for poor
impetuous Jameson and the newly dead and wounded of Doornkop, I
could laugh again.
The women are going back to the mines. Many brave little men who
have remained in the shade to comfort their wives now step boldly to
the front and tell us what they would have done if it had really come to
a question of fighting. There is so much talk of moral courage from
these heroes, I fear it is the only kind of courage which they possess.
One gentleman, not conspicuous for his bravery during the preceding
days, gravely said to me: 'If there had been war, I wonder if I should
have had the moral courage to keep out of the fight?' I looked into his
face, and, seeing there his character, answered with dryness, 'Oh! I
suspect you would.' He was too complaisant to appreciate the sarcasm.
God made little as well as great things! I suppose we should love all
humanity, even if it be in the spirit of a collector of curios.
The protracted excitement has caused several deaths from heart failure,
and I heard of two cases of acute mania. There would doubtless have
been a far greater mortality but for the fact that Johannesburg is
populated by young and, for the most part, vigorous men and women.
I hear that Dr. Jameson answered, when asked after his first night in the
Pretoria jail if there was anything he would like to have, 'Nothing,
thank you, but flea powder.'
I sat on the verandah with Sir Sydney Shippard and Betty this evening

and watched the 'Zarps'[4] take control of the town. There was no
remonstrance on the part of the populace.
LATER.--It is rumoured that a Commando of Boers will attack the
town to-night. The place is practically defenceless; most of the men
having returned to their work and the companies being disbanded.[5]
JANUARY 9.--There is a fearful impression abroad this morning that
the Reform Committee, or at least the leaders, will be arrested. My
husband comforts me by saying the Government could not pursue such
a course after having recognised the Reform Committee and offered not
only to consider, but reform the grievances which have brought all this
trouble about. He declares that Great Britain would not allow this after
commanding her subjects to disarm and promising them her protection,
and to see that their wrongs were righted.
'It would be the worst sort of faith,' he insists.
NOON.--The situation is very strained. I can see that my husband is
trying to prepare me for his possible arrest. 'It will merely be a matter
of form.' Ah me! I can read in his grave face another truth. May God in
His mercy grant us a happy issue out of all our afflictions.
At a quarter to ten on the night of January 9, my husband, with two
dozen others of the Reform Committee, was arrested and thrown into
jail on the charge of rebellion and high treason. They had heard that
this was probable several hours earlier in the day.
The four leaders were secretly offered a safe conduct over the border,
but refused to forsake their comrades and the Cause. Leaving word
where he was to be found, and with the further stipulation that no
handcuffs were to be used in his arrest, or 'he would blow the brains out
of the first man who approached him,' my husband hastened to break
the news gently to us. I packed a tiny handbag with necessaries and
filled his pockets with cakes of chocolate; chocolate was nourishing,
and would sustain a hungry man hours, even days. We sat down hand
in hand to wait for the officer,