BISHOP COLENSO BLESSING THE ZULUS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 144, 18 June 1879, Page 4

BISHOP COLENSO BLESSING THE ZULUS.

On the fast day appoint3d by the authorities in South Africa (March 17), Bishop Colenßo, whose views in favor of the Zulus were well-known, preached a sermon which caused extraordinary indignajiipn at Natal. Hia tost was from the Prophet Micah ;— " And what doth the Lord requite ofjtbee,, but to dojustly, and to love mercy^ and to walk, humbly with thy God ?" He said that be u wo'uld npt prbstUate; hk sicreo*; office by preaching peae§ * when theijel was none, by hiding sfngthey were bond (6 confess, and, telling tliedr of faults which were, not the real burdens which were weighing them dc>*fu. ' H, e would not dare to provoke the Most High. God with such cowardly delinquency io. duly, such base hypocrisy. He warned them that if they bad come there merely in the terms of the official proclamation, to sik that " God in His mercy may prevent any serious disasters from coming upon us, and for BUCC6SB to our erma against tha common enemy," their worship would be a profane and impious mockery. Had we done justly in the past ? What colonist doubted the cause of the war? The annexation of the Transvaal, where the English went by steahh in the night and deprived the Boers of their rights. , DM not the Secretary of State declare in the House of Lords on April 23, 1877, that as to the supposed annexation of the Transvaal the language of the Special Commissioner has been greatly exaggerated, when the. territory had already been annexed by an authority, which he himself had issued previously? The Nemesis of that act was the Zola difficulty. At great length the Bishop pointed oat how for the last 14 years, in his opinion,; Tiffr DOt don ® J asi| y pr lo ? ad me F<>7. : _ Did, we not immediately we croieod the border lay apO n th* Zulus tHe terrible sconrge of war ? Had we not

already killed 5000 human beings and plundered 10,000 head of cattle! Truly we bad loat many precious lives, but were there no relatives mourning their dead in Zululand ? Had we not heard the wail which had gone up in all parts of the land for thoae who bed bravely and nobly died in repelling the invader and fighting for their king and fatherland ? Should we slay 10,000 more to avenge the losses of Isandulu ! Alas, that an English statesman could find no nobler words than to speak of wiping out a stain. Was it really meant that the stain on your name was to be wiped out with the blood of a brave and loyal people ? " The Bishop then went on to say that the Zulu King had, as was well known sued at our hands for peace. It might be from other motives that he had done so, but for his own part he trusted and believed that the King was sincere m hia expressions of grief and regret for the war. He seemed to have said, " This war is all a dreadful mistake—a horrible nightmare. Is it possible that I am fighting with my English father, wilh whom I have lived all along in unbroken friendly intercourse ? I have no wish whatever to do so. My young men did wrong in crossing at Borke's Drift. I ordered them not to cross ; and when I struck I struck in self-defence, and, as before, in my own and my father's time, so over since that bloody day, the Zulus have never invaded Natal. As Englishmen, speak the word, that no more blood be shed ; left the war be brought to an end, and give only such terms aa I and my people can accept." We were bound to meet the Zulu King on the way when he came with a prayer

for peace, to propose from our higher and stronger position such terms aa it would be within his power to accept; and having done this, to leave the rest to God. Reiterating in his peroration the substance of his whole sermon, the Bishop said:— "lf after this solemn day we will not do this— we, our kings, and princes, and prophets, and priests — will not do what the Lord requires of us, will not do justly and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God ; if we go oa killing and plundering those who have never seriously harmed us, or threatened to harm us, until we make war upon them— treating his message of peace with contempt and neglect, even with ridicule, ascribing it falsely to the promptings of men in our midst, judging unfairly, and misrepresenting the Zulu King, both in the colony and in words sent to England—if we will do these things, then indeed there will be reason to fear that some further great calamity may yet fall on us, and perhaps overwhelm us— by the assegia, famine, or pestilence." Some correspondence has taken place between the Lord High Commissioner and Bishop Colenso as to an assertion of the latter that Cetewayo built no military kraals at all. Sir I Bartle Frere points out a number of facts known to Bishop Colenso, but ignored by him, and says, " How, with facts forming the staple of Sir T. Shepstone's lettee before you, you can rely on & single expression to prove that Cetewayo's intentions are not hostile, \ I am at a losa to conceive." > ThV Bishop re-affirms his conviction r thas, the kraal as to which the discussion arose was built without any hostile intent.