The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public AffairsFitzpatrick, Percy
History
The Transvaal from Within: A Private Record of Public Affairs
Fitzpatrick, Percy
Jameson's Raid, 1895-1896; Transvaal (South Africa) -- Politics and government -- 1880-1910
Throughout the troubles which followed the invasion it was not the
personal suffering or loss which fell to the lot of the Johannesburg
people that touched them so nearly as the taunts which were unjustly
levelled at them for not rendering assistance to Dr. Jameson. The
terms, 'cowards,' 'poltroons,' and 'traitors,' and the name of
'Judasburg,' absolutely undeserved as they were known to be, rankled
in the hearts of all, and it was only by the exercise of much
self-denial and restraint that it was possible for men to remain
silent during the period preceding Dr. Jameson's trial. Extremely
bitter feeling was roused by the tacit approval given to these
censures by the officers of the invading force, for their continued
silence was naturally construed to be tacit approval. 'Not once,'
said one of the Reformers, 'has a single member of Dr. Jameson's
party come forward and stated that the imputations on the Reformers
were undeserved; yet we gave them the benefit of every doubt, and
tried throughout to screen them, whilst all the time the Doctor and
at least three of his companions knew that they had started to "make
their own flotation." That is not cricket.'
It has been urged on behalf of Dr. Jameson that he could not have
been asked to state prior to his trial that he never expected or
arranged for help from Johannesburg--that his case was already a
sufficiently difficult one without embarrassing it with other
people's affairs. Yet it was noted in Johannesburg that, when a
report was circulated to the effect that he had started the invasion
on the instructions of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, he and another officer of
his force wrote jointly to the English papers to say that there was
no truth whatever in the statement. The consequences of taking upon
himself the responsibility for initiative in this way, while he
had yet to undergo his trial, were far more serious than would have
followed a simple statement to the effect that injustice was being
done to the Rand community in the charges of cowardice laid against
it. It was felt then, and the feeling has not in any way abated,
that Dr. Jameson regarded the fate and interests of the people of
Johannesburg with indifference, looking upon them merely as pawns
in a game that he was playing. It was only Mr. Rhodes who took an
opportunity to say that 'the Johannesburg people are not cowards;
they were rushed.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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