THE TRUE STORY OF THE NATAL EXECUTIONS.

Evening Star, Issue 12883, 4 August 1906, Page 7

THE TRUE STORY OF THE NATAL EXECUTIONS.

Tho Bishop of Liverpool recently received from Natal, and published in the ' Liverpool Courier,' a communication from the Rev. A. J. Fryer, the iucumbent of Richmond, Natal, who ministered in their last hours to the natives who were executed. This gentleman is uot personally known to the .Bishop o£ Liverpool. The letter is as follows :

"The Vicarage, Richmond, Natal, "Aprd 2y, 1906.

"My Lord Bishop of Liverpool,—An unknown correspondent has sent to me a copy of the 'Liverpool Echo' of April 5, containing a summary of an address delivered by Dr Aked in Pembroke Chapel. Misstatements, made in the nauio of religion, and widely circulated in the Press, may do considerable barm both to the cau o of Cbriistianity and to that good understanding which holds the various parts of the Empire together. I will simply assure your lordship of facts. "1. The trouble with the natives here did not begin with the poll tax, which only brought it to a head. For years p;ist the younger natives have been out of hand and restles; and the evidence given at various trials has shown conclusively that if tho present outbreak had not happened we should have been confronted with much more serious difficulties in the near future.

"2. Tho poll tax was not imposed in order to make the natives work. It was the last resource oi a Government at its wit's end to overtike a serous deficit, and to make provision for the year's expenditure. The older natives, upon whom the hut tax falls, have openly expressed their pleasure that since their young men refuse nowadays to take their share of the family burdens they ihocld be made by the Government to do so.

"3. With regard to the executions here j of April 1, certain chiefs and tribesmen ! were ordered to be present,. as it is well known here that in many cases where executions have bean curried out in the usual pri- ; rate fashion, the relatives have refused to ! believe that the extreme penalty has been exacted, v.ith great detriment to the pras- | tige of the Government. ' "4. The clergyman concerned, whom Dr • Aked describes ;is ' cur enough to obey tho instructions that had been g.ven to him,' was myself, who, in my capacity a3 vicar of this parish, felt it my duty not to allow any baptised persons to pass to meet their God with tin upon their con- , science, nor uncomiorted by the message of God's love. Accordingly, when the sen- ■ tence was confirmed, 1 went to these poor ; fellows in the gaol, where I reie.ved every from the police, and from a very sympathetic interpreter, whose services I requested, as I do not know tho native language sufficiently well lor such an emergency. 1 humbly thank Almighty God, who so helped my inefficiency that the poor fellows, with tears in their eyes, conies&ed to God their sin and the justice of their sentence, so that I was able to assure them oi God'-s forgiveness to repentant sinners. " At tho request of the natives I was present in the courthouse when sentence was pronounced, to 'strengthen' them. Afterwards, without interpreter. 1 prayed with them in their cells, and left them" after an expression of gratitude and a unanimous request that I would accompany them ' down there.' At tho last moment we s-aid together the Lord's Prayer and the Collect for Light, closing with these words: 'Be not afraid, my children. If you have really cleansed your hearts by repentance ami faith you shall this day look upon the face of God.' They repl.ed with one voice: 'We shall see Him, teacher.' 'Go in peace, children.' 'Rest in peace, father.' Within a minute they had gone to look upon God's face. I can only express my humble giatitude to Almighty God for ; trengthening me for the terrible task from which I shrank, and also my admiration for the excellent spirit in which the police and all concerned earned out what was to them a terrible duty, but a duty. " My lord, if Dr Aked hoped with all his heart and soul that thes«; poor natives died 'despising the clergyman, and despising his religion, and despising his God,' I trust that those to whom he oi peals will not be so misled by him, and that he himself may End mercy for the terr.ble words of which, I trust hi ignorance, he has been guilty. "5. To add one further wcrd of explanation as to the natives, whom 1 have studied for sixteen years. Pcoph in England cannot realise that we live in a state of topsyturveydom. In England windows are barred for fear of burglaTS, and store rooms oio locked for fear of tho peculations of servants. We neither lock our house at night, nor have we bars or shutters to our windows ; and I have never locked a room or a cupboard in my house from any fear of the dishonesty of servants. The honesty and trustworthiness of the native, when trusted, are extraordinary, and probably unparalleled elsewhere. On the other hand, he is a savage, whose sensual and passionate instincts are at present checked only by a 6ense of the right of property enforced under their own system by no penalty less than death. The only protection for the virtue and honor of our own women is in the prestige of our race and in tho fear of condign punishment. That prestige and that fear must be maintained, until the influences of civilisation, and, above all, the purifying influence of Christianity, have raised our natives to a far higher plane. "Respectfully requesting your fatherly biasing, and the prayers of yourself and of your people for Natal in this time of perplexity, I am, my lord bishop, your faithful and obedient servant,

"Algbbnon J. Fbtee."