a white man would never have
been admitted in any court of law previous to the war.

In Uitenhage the same kind of thing occurred. It was sufficient for a Boer
column to pass near the farm of an Afrikander for the latter to be taken
to prison without the slightest investigation. No one knew where the fines
paid went, and certainly a good many of those which were imposed by the
commanders of the scouts and volunteer corps never reached the coffers of
the Government.

At Cradock, Somerset East, Graaf Reinet and Middelburg people were
compelled to eradicate prickly pears and do other hard labour simply
because they had remained quietly at home, according to the proclamation
issued by Sir Alfred Milner, and refused to join a volunteer corps of some
sort or other. Many magistrates, acting on instructions, forced guiltless
people to walk a four to six hours' drive under the pretence of subduing
their spirits.

One case especially was of such a flagrant nature that it illustrates how
far the malice of these so-called loyalists went and the harm which their
conduct did to the British Government. The act which I am going to relate
would never have been committed by any genuine English officer, no matter
under what provocation. There is also a detail which must be noticed: by a
strange coincidence all the victims of oppression were, with but few
exceptions, men of means, whom, therefore, it was worth while to plunder.
The story is that a certain Mr. Schoeman, a man of wealth and position
residing on Vlakteplaats, a farm in the division of Oudtshoorn, received,
on August 28th, 1901, a message through his son from the military scouts
who were stationed at De Jaeger's farm in the neighbourhood, instructing
him to hand over his horses to their care. No written order from the
Commandant was exhibited to Mr. Schoeman, either at that time or on his
request, nor was any evidence adduced at his trial later on to prove that
such an order had really been given by an officer administering martial
law in the district. Nevertheless, Mr. Schoeman obeyed the order, and on
the same afternoon sent his horses, three in number, to De Jaeger. The
scouts refused to take his horses, and told them to bring them on the
following morning, Thursday, August 29th. This Schoeman did; on coming to
the place with them he found that the scouts had left, and was obliged to
take the animals again back to his farm. On the afternoon of that same day
he received a