"'Urgent. You should inform the Johannesburg people that I consider, that if they lay down their arms, they will be acting loyally and honourably, and that if they do not comply with my request, they forfeit all claim to sympathy from her Majesty's Government, and from British subjects throughout the world, as the lives of Jameson and prisoners are practically in their hands.' "On this, and the assurance given in the Executive Council resolution, we laid down our arms on January 6th, 7th and 8th; on the 9th we were arrested, and have since been under arrest at Pretoria, a period of three and a half months. "We admit responsibility for the action taken by us. We frankly avowed it at the time of the negotiations with the Government, when we were informed that the services of the High Commissioner had been accepted with a view to a peaceful settlement. "We submit that we kept faith in every detail in the arrangement with the Government; that we did all that was humanly possible to protect both the State and Dr. Jameson from the consequences of his action; that we have committed no breach of the law which was not known to the Government at the time that the earnest consideration of our grievances was promised. "We can only now lay the bare facts before the Court, and submit to the judgment that may be passed upon us. (Signed) LIONEL PHILLIPS. FRANCIS RHODES. GEORGE FARRAR. "PRETORIA, _April 24, 1896_." "I entirely concur with the above statement. (Signed) JOHN HAYS HAMMOND. "PRETORIA, _April 27, 1896_." AFTER DOORNKOP The account given by Sir John Willoughby serves to explain the doings of the Jameson troops. We all know how the raiders were surrounded by the Boers, who had ample time to lay an excellent trap for them, and how, after a plucky charge, they were forced to surrender. Before surrendering, however, Dr. Jameson obtained from Commandant Cronje, of Potchefstroom notoriety, a guarantee that the lives of the force would be spared. During this exciting period, when the failure of Jameson became known, the consternation that prevailed in Johannesburg was terrible. Panic-stricken women and children fled to the railway stations, and the Cornish miners scrambled with them for places in the departing trains. In the heat of January the poor refugees started off provisionless, leaving all their worldly goods behind them, their one care to be far away from the horrors that might take place in a besieged town. In the train they were packed like herrings in carriages or in cattle trucks, that would barely accommodate them. In addition to these miseries an awful accident took place on the Natal line, when a train loaded with refugees ran off the rails. Thirty-eight women and children were killed.