Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1879. THE ZULU WAR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5446, 29 July 1879, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. TUESDAY, JULY 20, 1879. THE ZULU WAR.

Oxe singular feature of the Zulu war is that, until lately, very little of the cau.so of the trouble was known, even in Kngland. "When information was sought iv the House oi Commons the answers givon by Ministers were of the vrtgueiso, and indicated merely that Cetewayo had refused to comply with some of the demands of the Governor of Capo Colony, and these demands were tlie outcome of a territorial dispute. England did not like the war, but concluded that it was a necessity, and passively assented to the necessary expenditure; but the arrival of late Home papers show that a great change in public opinion hau taken place, consequent on fuller information being at last obtained. Tlie whole cause of the war is shown in lengthy correspondence between the authorities at the Cape and the Home Government, dating from the beginning of 1877 to tlie outbreak of hostilities, this correspondence having been published in the form of a Parliamentary blue-book. A perusal of the various summaries of the documents published by the English papers is not calculated to raise our national pride — rather should we blush for the injustice •perpetrated in England's name by those who had the management of affairs at the Cape. The land-greed, of white men, and. "the action of the Cape Government on behalf of those white men, are at the bottom of the unfortunate business, and we find that England has been forced to spend her best blood an cl millions of money to perpetrate a wrong done by Europeans to savages. What laaalccs the action of those responsible for ike war more inexplicable, if not more blameworthy, is that these few private Europeans on whose behalf we have plunged into a savage war are not Englishmen, but Dutch Boers of a type little superior to tho savages whom they dispossessed of their lands. It is more than ten years since the Boers began to settle on lands beyond the boundaries of the Transvaal, and within the territory of the Zulu King. This illegal and forcible occupation led to frequent disputes., and a state of petty warfare, consisting of individual attacks and reprisals, prevailed for sonic years. Fn 1877 a general war appeared imminent, and as a war upon our borders might have proved disastrous to us, it seems to have been thought best to annex the Transvaal, and to take the Boors under British protection. A Royal Commission was then appointed to inquire into the merits of the dispute between the Zulus and the Boers, and in July, 1878, the commissionora presented a report to tho Governor, Sir Burtle Erere, which is stated to have been '■ entirely in favor of tho Zulus/ It should be said that the .Zulus possessed .such faith in the fairness of the British, that after the annexation of the Transvaal they ceased from all nets of hostility, and patiently awaited the issue. Had justice been done, we should never have had a Zulu war, but in all probability would have had a powerful ally in Oetewayo. But, in the very face of the report of tho Royal Commission, one. of Lho most wrongful decisions ever ]u.'onounu;u }jy British rulers asrainst a savage and presumably helpless nation, w r ;iy ji.ri'ived at by iSir Bartle Frerc and hi;-; advisers. The proclamation containing the words of the Governor read like a grim satire, which would not surprise one if witnessed in a prefessed burlesque in a theatre, but which rightly caused a feeling of righteous indignation against Sir Bartle Frere to rise in the minds of Englishmen when it became known. This proclamation decreed that the £ulu King was to

have sovereignty over the disputed territory, but that the Boers were to remain in the undisturbed possession of their stolen land) and, furthermore, a British Kcaiderit WAS appointed to see that this iniquitous decision cf the strong hand was carried out in all its glaring dishonesty. A writer in the Forin'u/htly Review thus puts the decision of Sir IM'tlo Frere : — " The lands were to belong to the Zulus, but the people to whom they did not beldiig we've to retain them ; and a British Resident Was to keep watch and ward lest the wrongful possessors should suffer molestation from the lawful owneiV But even this drying injustice did not at first rouse, the Zulus, to revolt; Tjhe'y strive a^ain. and" Again to get justice, and their honest and rhanly struggles against the decision of an, uiijusb .fidgc caused theni td be. pdiiifcesd -is' turbulent and dangerous savages, and their indignant and not always judicious protests were seized up,oii as , e'^ciises , for Further Wroiigs inflicted by the Cape Government, until at last the wronged and cheated nation rose as pne man to avenge tlieiiiaelvea dn their dospoilers! . It is ho wonder that when these disgraceful revelations we made, public feeling was so aroused in England that the Government, after all their repeated justifications of Sirßavtle Frere, wei;e obliged td supersede himj for that is tlie sending out of Sir Garnet Wtilseley practically nie'ans. Everything, According to tlie, Ministry; Had bteeii (Mie iii .tile most satisfactory manner— a few British regiments were cut to pieces, and we allowed a foreign Prince to be murdered in an . anibiiscAde, bill; these were little mistakes which inevitably occurred when Great Britain engaged in a war, urged the special pleaders of Sir Bartle Freve und Lord Chelmsfdrd h>. tlie U.6us© of 'GoiHiiidiis. Tkere was no reason for a change- of leaders — the war was virtually over— the next massacre of our troops was a mistake on the part of the Zulus, which they no doubt regretted John Bull's* patience was well nigh 6xhrt.uster.lv T"hS long-promised iMid long-delayed blue-book? shattered tlie last remnant of his patieiic'e, find he would no Idng'e'r be denied. Singularly enough, concurrently with the publication of the dauiiiing evidence •Against isir Bartle Frere, the Home Government discovered that his presence was urgently needed in Cape Town. Equally singular and fortunate was it that Sir Garnet Wolseley— of course purely accidentally — happened to be in England at the time. Fortunately, too, he was quite prepared to go out at an hour's notice, though of course no such suggestion had ever been breathed to him. The chapter of fortuitous accidents was completed by the departure of a steamer for the Cape at exactly tile right moment. But, though the gross blunders in the conduct of the war may be in some measure retrieved — though by the slaughter of thousands of enemies we may avenge the culpable negligence of our commanders — though we may teach tlie Zulu King to fear the edge of England's sword — we cannot undo the wrong inllicted by us as a nation through those whom we placed in authority. Unjust though the war may be, we must, now that we have entered upon it, pursue it to its bitter end, and make tho proud Cetewayo learn and confess our might. "We may regret the necessity, but unless we subdue the Zulus there will never be peace at the Cape. Clemency to a savage mind is incomprehensible, and is misread as weakness. We must show ourselves strong ; but after we have proved ouv strength to the satisfaction and to the dismay of our enemies, shall we not then do what we can to repair the wrong '] We cannot undo the past, but wo can in some measure atone for that past. May the efforts of those iv power at Home be directed to repairing the injustice inflicted by their agents, that the slain of tlie Zulu war may, if not entirely wiped off the escutcheon of Britain, yet appear faint — that histoiy, while it records a grievous wrong, may also record an act of tardy j ustice.