t be held responsible for it unless he has consented to it or
knew of it. I would also refer to paragraph 20:--'Mere knowledge
that a person is about to commit an offence, and even conduct
influenced by such knowledge, will not make a person responsible
for that offence, unless he does something actively to encourage
its commission.' And last of all I would refer to Army Act, section
6, page 322:--'Every person subject to Military Law who commits any
of the following offences, that is to say (_f_):--Does violence to
any person bringing provisions or supplies to the forces, or
commits any offence against the property of persons or any
inhabitant or resident in the country in which he is serving,' but
says nothing about the responsibility of a superior officer.

"We may take it therefore that Kritzinger can only be responsible
for a murder when he has given either general or special orders, or
when he knew of it beforehand, and consented to its being done.
Now, sir, what proof have we of that being so in this case?

"Let us take the first charge--the charge of shooting two natives
at Grootplaats. There can be no doubt that these natives were
spies. They came into the Boer lines unarmed, ununiformed, and with
false passes. They carried two passes, one representing them as
belonging to the 7th Dragoon Guards, and the other to the effect
that they were looking for cattle. I think if such a case came
before you, you would have no doubts about treating them as spies.
Therefore Kritzinger would not have been guilty of murder had he
shot them. I have a far stronger defence, however. The natives were
captured by Wessels. Kritzinger knew nothing about them, and when
these boys were shot he was not present, as he was at another farm
at the time. Wessels left at 10 A.M., Kritzinger arrived there
after sunset. How can he then be responsible for the shooting of
these natives when he was not at the farm? There is not a bit of
proof to show that Kritzinger gave the order about the shooting of
these boys. One of the native witnesses says that one of Wessels'
men went in the direction of Voetpad; there is no evidence that he
ever reached there. More than that, witnesses belonging to
Kritzinger's commando state that they saw nothing of Wessels, and
that they knew noth