rm Committee. The
position having been so thoroughly discussed there was no possibility
of misunderstanding; there was no division in the Committee as to the
attitude to be taken up. The deputation were to negotiate with the
Government for a peaceful settlement on the basis of the Manifesto,
accepting what they might consider to be a reasonable instalment of
the reforms demanded. They were to deal with the Government in a
conciliatory spirit and to avoid all provocation to civil strife, but
at the same time to insist upon the recognition of rights and the
redress of the grievances, to avow the association with Dr. Jameson's
forces so far as it had existed, and to include him in any settlement
that might be made. It was impossible to lay down any definite
lines on which to negotiate on behalf of Dr. Jameson, as the Reform
Committee were still in complete ignorance of his reasons for
starting; but it was considered fairer and more reasonable to assume
that he had started in good faith and that the two messengers who had
been sent to stop him had not reached him, and to act accordingly.
However awkward a predicament he had placed the Johannesburg people
in, they accepted a certain moral responsibility for him and his
actions and decided to make his safety the first consideration.

Late on Tuesday night the Collector of Customs at Johannesburg
informed members of the Reform Committee that he had received a
telegraphic despatch from the Pretoria head office notifying the
suspension of all duties on various articles of food. It will be
remembered that this relief was prayed for by the representative
bodies of mining and commerce on the Rand several weeks before the
outbreak and that the Government had replied that they were unable
during the recess to deal with the matter as the legislative power
and the power of levying and remitting duties had been taken from the
Executive by the Volksraad some time previously. It will also be
remembered that the Government acted on this hint as to the
necessities of the community in a wholly unexpected way by granting a
monopoly for the free importation of grain to a favoured individual
of their party in Pretoria. It is not wonderful therefore that the
notification conveyed by the Collector of Customs was received with
considerable derision, and the opinion was expressed that it would
have redounded more to the credit of the Government's honesty and
intelligence had they remitted the duti