relief, and now it was rather unreasonable to suppose that they
should relieve their reliever. Indeed, they had an entirely
exaggerated idea of the strength of the force which he was
bringing, and received the news of his capture with incredulity.
When it became confirmed they rose, but in a halfhearted fashion
which was not due to want of courage, but to the difficulties of
their position. On the one hand, the British Government disowned
Jameson entirely, and did all it could to discourage the rising; on
the other, the President had the raiders in his keeping at
Pretoria, and let it be understood that their fate depended upon
the behaviour of the Uitlanders. They were led to believe that
Jameson would be shot unless they laid down their arms, though, as
a matter of fact, Jameson and his people had surrendered upon a
promise of quarter. So skillfully did Kruger use his hostages that
he succeeded, with the help of the British Commissioner, in getting
the thousands of excited Johannesburgers to lay down their arms
without bloodshed. Completely out-manoeuvred by the astute old
President, the leaders of the reform movement used all their
influence in the direction of peace, thinking that a general
amnesty would follow; but the moment that they and their people
were helpless the detectives and armed burghers occupied the town,
and sixty of their number were hurried to Pretoria Gaol.

To the raiders themselves the President behaved with great
generosity. Perhaps he could not find it in his heart to be harsh
to the men who had managed to put him in the right and won for him
the sympathy of the world. His own illiberal and oppressive
treatment of the newcomers was forgotten in the face of this
illegal inroad of filibusters. The true issues were so obscured by
this intrusion that it has taken years to clear them, and perhaps