The Executive Council at Pretoria has pardoned all the
sixty or so prisoners condemned to minor sentences for their. share in the Johannesburg insurrection, on condition of their paying their fines, £2,000 each, and remaining liable, if they break the peace, to banishment by decree. The four prisoners originally condemned to death will also, it is stated, be released at once, though their fines will be far heavier and their banishment probably immediate. This lenity is said to be due to President Kruger himself, and irritates the German party in Pretoria ; but it has averted an industrial crisis, and produced a strong expression of gratitude through. out South Africa. President Kruger is entitled to credit for his moderation, and undoubtedly wins in the controversy, but he still displays a kind of humorous vindictiveness. He has only whipped the little dogs, he says, and he is sorry to do that, but next time he will catch the big dog, Mr. Cecil Rhodes, "for he bites." Mr. Rhodes, on his side, has reached Bulawayo safe, has been received with enthusiastic loyalty, has occupied Government House, and is planning, as managing director of the Chartered Company, a rapid exten- sion of the railway. The Rhodesians evidently believe in him entirely, and we should not wonder if Mr. Kruger found in the end that biting hard things hurts the teeth. Mean- while Mr. Kruger is coming to England, not of course to arrange anything either with Great Britain or Germany, but to repair his health, injured by the strain put upon it by the Raid. The decent lies of diplomacy are not confined to Europe.
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