18 AUGUST 1900, Page 1

Two other items of South African news must be recorded.

The first, which is good news indeed, is that the Elands River garrison was not captured after all, is still holding out, and probably will be able to continue to do so. The other is that the trial of the ringleaders in the Pretoria plot has begun. On Friday the Morning Post's second edition con- tained an account of the opening of the Court-Martial on Hans Cordua, formerly a Lieutenant of the Staats Artillery. The prisoner first pleaded guilty, but that plea was after. wards withdrawn. The chief witness was an informer named Dutoit, a former Lieutenant in the State police and a Dutch Afrikander by birth. He had apparently been in the plot himself, though he protested to the contrary. It should be remembered by those who feel inclined to sym- pathise with Cordua that the charge against him is of breaking his parole. If he is found guilty of that after fair trial, he is deserving of little pity. A more detestable crime than breaking a parole to plot murder cannot be imagined. A man gives his parole voluntarily, and every dictate of honour and conscience compels him to keep it.