On Saturday last Dr. Krause was convicted of an attempt
to incite to murder Mr. Douglas Forster, and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The prisoner, who had been First Public Prosecutor under Mr. Kriiger's Government, came into notice at the time of Lord Roberts's entry into Johannes- burg, when he took a leading part in banding over the town to the British.. Coming to Europe on a written parole in July, 1900, lie made London his headquarters in April, 1901, and in several letters addressed to Cornelius Broeksma—who was subsequently executed at Johannesburg under martial law for high treason—Dr. Krause intimated that Mr. Douglas Forster should be " got out of the way," " shot dead in some lawful way, or otherwise put out of the way" by "our people." Dr. Krause was originally accused of high treason with a view to his being extradited to South Africa, but this charge was dropped and he was charged at the Central Criminal Court with incitement to murder. As, however, it could not be proved that his letters, which had been seized by the British authorities in Johannesburg, had reached or influenced Broeksma, the ultimate charge was that of the misdemeanour at common law of attempting to incite to murder. The defence, conducted with singular ability by Mr. Rufus Isaacs, was that the letters merely suggested that Mr. Forster should be tried by a Boer Court-Martial. The jury were unable to place this construction upon them, and the Lord Chief Justice, who tried the case with the most scrupulous impartiality—Dr. Krause himself after his conviction ad- niitted that be bad been fairly tried—declared that they could have found no other vardict.
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