either accept or reject or ignore, as they might decide later on.  In plain English, the Committee were as free after the negotiations as they had been before.  They gave no undertaking to abstain from hostile action; they simply received the offer of the Government.  Whether they complied with those conditions as a matter of cold-blooded selfish policy, whether they simply selected an easy way out of a difficult position, or whether they complied with the conditions solely because they were not in a position to do anything else, it is open to every man to decide for himself; but it does not seem fair, in face of the fact that they were not able to do anything else, to impute the worst motives of all for the course which they eventually took.

On the return of the deputation to Johannesburg a report of what had taken place was given to a full meeting of the Reform Committee.  Divers opinions were expressed as to what was the right course to take, but eventually all were agreed that, as the first duty of the Committee was undoubtedly to protect the town and the unarmed section of the community, as they could not afford to send a single man out of the place, as there was no reason to suppose that Dr. Jameson required or would welcome any assistance, and as it seemed certain that he would be stopped by the High Commissioner’s proclamation and turned back, it would be nothing short of criminal madness to adopt any aggressive measures at that stage.

It does not appear to have occurred to many of the hostile critics of the Reform Committee to consider what might have happened when they are judging what actually took place.  Dr. Jameson had invaded the country with less than 500 men.  It must be clear from this that it was not his intention to conquer the Transvaal.  It must have been and indeed it was his idea that it would be impossible for the Imperial Government to stand passively by and witness the struggle between its own subjects preferring legitimate and moderate claims and a corrupt and incompetent Boer Government.  Intervention of one sort or another he certainly expected—­either material help in the shape of British troops, or the intervention of the High Commissioner to effect a peaceful settlement.  By the false step which evoked the High Commissioner’s proclamation he had forfeited all claim to the support on which he reckoned.  It was reasonable to suppose therefore that, on the receipt of the proclamation ordering him to return and calling on all British subjects to abstain from assisting him, he would realize the consequences of his mistake.  He would also learn from the Reform Committee’s messengers (that is, assuming that he did not know it already) that the Johannesburg people neither required nor wished for his intervention, and he would elect to leave the country in accordance with the High Commissioner’s mandate rather than continue a course which, with the opposition of the British Government added to