A TRIAL OF BOER REBELS IN NATAL.
[TO THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—The following extract from a private letter written by a resident in Zululand may interest your readers.—I am, "Eshowe, Zululand.
We have been rather excited here over the trial of two Dutch- men for treason. The Attorney-General of Natal prosecuted,— very fairly, I thought. The Court was made up of three local Magistrates. The presiding Magistrate came from Nongorna, up in the North. Most of the witnesses for the prosecution were natives employed on the accused's farm. They gave their evi- dence through an interpreter, intelligently and truthfully, I thought; at least counsel for the defence could not shake it at all. The witnesses for the defence were mostly Zululand Boers. They all assumed an air of stolidity which would have shamed the veriest rustic. They admitted knowing there was a war, and that was about all. Did they talk about it ? Very seldom Had they any sentiments against the British Government ? Had no sentiments about the matter at all, and so on. I must gay they gave one the impression of being utter humbugs; and, indeed, the commandant of police told me that they were most of them rank rebels as bad as the prisoner, only that he had been unable to hold his tongue. In the end the elder prisoner was fined .2100 or six months, his son -£.50. They paid up cheerfully, relieved apparently to get off so lightly. Physically they were flue men, but dirty in the extreme."
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