The four leaders of the insurgent party in Johannes- burg
were released on Thursday, the Executive Council of
the Transvaal having commuted their sentences of fifteen }ears' imprisonment into a fine of £25,000 each. In the event of non-payment the sentences will revive, while if the condemned bb ould intrigue in politics, even after the pay- ment of their fines, they will be liable to banishment for life. The astute President of the Transvaal has in this way acquired for the Treasury a sum of £216,000, which will pay for many Maxima, has silenced all prominent British opponents of the Boer oligarchy, and has obtained a reputation for self-control and merciful dealing with rebels. He triumphs, in fact, all along the line, and will probably now devote himself with renewed energy to his two great objects, the acquisition of a port under his own dominion, and the destruction of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who is to him a kind of bogey. We do not remember so complete a defeat of a British party anywhere, and regard the in- cessant paeans to its leader's ability as uttered in contempt of all visible facts. To be crashed in the field, to be defeated in council, to lose reputation, and to forfeit great sums of money, these are feats surely to which even the incom- petent are equal. " I could have done that," said the Austrian Emperor deposed for incapacity, when he heard of the loss of Lombardy.
