f the Intelligence
Department. Now, the use of Mr. and the description 'Intelligence
Department' make it very doubtful whether this man could be called a
member of the British Army at all. The inference is that he was a
civilian, and further, that he was a Dutch civilian. British names which
will fit E----n are not common, while the Dutch name Esselen or Enslin
is extremely so. 'I have never been to the Intelligence Department to
find out whether he really belonged to that Department,' said the
woman. She adds that E----n acted as an interpreter. Surely, then, he
must have been a Dutchman. In that case, why is his name the only name
which is disguised? Is it not a little suggestive?

The second case was that of Mrs. Gouws, whose unfortunate experience was
communicated to Pastor van Broekhuizen, and had such an effect upon him
as to cause him to declare that 30 per cent. of the women of the country
had been ruined. Mrs. Gouws certainly appears by her own account to have
been very roughly treated, though she does not assert that her assailant
went to the last extremity--or, indeed, that he did more than use coarse
terms in his conversation. The husband in his evidence says: 'I have
seen a great deal of soldiers, and they behaved well, and I could speak
well of them.' He added that a British officer had taken his wife's
deposition, and that both the Provost-Marshal and the Military Governor
were interesting themselves in the case. Though no actual assault was
committed, it is to be hoped that the man who was rude to a helpless
woman will sooner or later be identified and punished.

There remains one case, that of Mrs. Botha of Rustenburg, which, if her
account is corroborated, is as bad as it could be. The mystery of the
case lies in the fact that by her own account a British force was
encamped close by, and yet that neither she nor her husband made the
complaint which would have brought most summary punishment upon the
criminal. This could not have been from a shrinking from publicity,
since she was ready to tell the story in Court. There is not the least
indication who this solitary soldier may have been, and even the date
was unknown to the complainant. What can be done in such a case? The
President of the court-martial, with a burst of indignation which shows
that he at least does not share Mr. Stead's views upon the frequency of
such crimes in South Africa, cried: 'If such a most awful thing happened
to a woman, woul