The grim, cautious method of the President was never better illustrated than by these proclamations and the concurrent actions. In no part of his diplomatic career has he better stage-managed the business than he did here. To the world at large these addresses commend themselves no doubt as reasonable and moderate, and they establish a record which will always speak for him when the chronology of events is lost; but the true worth of it all is only appreciated when one realizes that the first proclamation extending the time for disarmament, and promising amnesty to all except the leaders, was not issued until two days after the Government had satisfied themselves that the disarmament had been completed, and that it was deliberately held back until the police and burghers were in the outskirts of the town ready to pounce upon the men with whom they had been treating. It is an absolute fact that the Reform Committee-men, who had offered to effect the peaceful settlement seemingly desired by all parties, who had used every means in their power to convince the Government that disarming was being effected in a _bona fide_ and complete manner, and who had themselves supplied the Government in good faith with any documents they had showing the number of guns and the amount of ammunition which had been at the disposal of the Reform Committee, had not the remotest suspicion that an act of treachery was in contemplation, nor any hint that the Government did not regard them as amnestied by virtue of the negotiations; and it is a fact that when the proclamation of the 9th was issued the detectives were waiting at the clubs, hotels and houses to arrest the members of the Reform Committee, and that the Reformers did not know of the proclamation exempting them from the 'Forgive and Forget' until after they had been seized. On the 10th the address promised to the inhabitants of Johannesburg duly appeared. After reviewing recent events, it concluded with this appeal: