as a
Hollander who, having sworn an oath of neutrality, afterwards despatched
a letter to a Dutch newspaper without submitting it to a censor, in
which he made libellous attacks upon the British Army. He was tried for
the offence and sentenced to a fine of 100_l._, his imprisonment being
remitted. In the course of the trial he called a number of witnesses for
the purpose of supporting his charges against the troops, and it is on
their evidence that Mr. Stead dilates under the characteristic headline
given above.

Mr. Stead begins his indictment by a paragraph which speaks for itself:
'It is a cant cry with many persons, by no means confined to those who
have advocated the war, that the British Army has spent two years in the
South African Republics without a single case of impropriety being
proved against a single soldier. I should be very glad to believe it;
but there is Rudyard Kipling's familiar saying that Tommy Atkins is no
plaster saint, but a single man in barracks, or, in this case, a single
man in camp, remarkably like other human beings. We all know him at
home. There is not one father of a family in the House or on the London
Press who would allow his servant girl to remain out all night on a
public common in England in time of profound peace in the company of a
score of soldiers. If he did, he would feel that he had exposed the girl
to the loss of her character. This is not merely admitted, but acted
upon by all decent people who live in garrison towns or in the
neighbourhood of barracks. Why, then, should they suppose that when the
same men are released from all the restraints of civilisation, and sent
forth to burn, destroy, and loot at their own sweet will and pleasure,
they will suddenly undergo so complete a transformation as to
scrupulously respect the wives and daughters of the enemy? It is very
unpopular to say this, and I already hear in advance the shrieks of
execration of those who will declare that I am calumniating the gallant
soldiers who are spending their lives in the defence of the interests of
the Empire. But I do not say a word against our soldiers. I only say
that they are men.'

He adds:

'It is an unpleasant fact, but it has got to be faced like other facts.
No war can be conducted--and this war has not been conducted--without
exposing multitudes of women, married and single, to the worst
extremities of outrage. It is an inevitable incident of war. It is one
of the normal phenomena