One of the leaders of the South African rebellion, Captain
Fourie, was shot at dawn last Sunday. At his trial he bitterly reproached the British for their conduct in South Africa, and, while courageously disdaining to ask for mercy for himself, pleaded for his younger brother, who bad been under his influence. Lieutenant Fourie's sentence of death was com- muted to five years' imprisonment. One admires the courage of Captain Fourie at his trial, just as one admires the bravery and eloquence of Robert Emmet, without, however, thinking that the rebellion of either was anything but an ill-planned, futile, and murderous adventure. The answer to the small amount of discontent in South Africa is the entire satisfaction and loyalty of the vast majority of the Dutch, who believe, with General Botha, that British rule means liberty, and that German rule would mean tyranny.
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