Zululand : past and present / by H.E. Colenso.

  • Colenso, Harriette Emily, 1847-1932.
Date:
[1890]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Zululand : past and present / by H.E. Colenso. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/24
    By Miss H. E. COLENSO. [Addressed to the Members in the Memorial Hall, Wednesday, October 1,1890,] IT is just three years and a quarter since the territory now- called Zululand was finally and formally annexed to the British Empire, on the 19th May, 1887. A twelvemonth later a “rebellion” was declared to have broken out there, and by the end of a second twelvemonth—by May, 1889—the principal Zulu chiefs and headmen were in gaol, condemned by so-called English law to terms of imprisonment varying from five years to fifteen, for high treason against the Queen of England. Zulu names, I know, are a stumbling-block to English mouths, and I will only ask you to-night to make acquaint- ance with the two principal victims: Dinuzulu, now aged nearly 23, King Cetshwayo’s son, and heir to all Cetshwayo’s troubles, and Ndabuko, now 48-9, Cetshwayo’s brother—uncle, therefore, and guardian of Dinuzulu, and head of the Zulu national party. Their sentences are the heaviest, with that of another of Dinuzulu’s uncles, and, since I left them in December last, have been altered to exile on the lonely island of St. Helena. It is claimed that this is a mitigation. The proposition is of value so far as it carries an admission of dissatisfaction with the original sentences ; but while physically it may be more whole- some to be tethered on an island than locked into a cell, there are aspects from which this change is a heavy aggravation of punishment. Witness the proposal, lately renewed in South Africa, to make imprisonment over seas the punishment for stock-stealing, because likely to be “ more deterrent to the native mind than hanging would be.” These chiefs—with their companions, still in gaol in Zulu- land—are the recognised heads and leaders of the Zulu people, respected by them not only because of birth, but for brain power and governing ability. Their influence with “ many thousands ” was urged as a rPARnn fnr t.bpir hfiincr nnri- mockery of a trial. Yet it is a fact—and one on which the hostile officials especially insist—that in spite of our wanton and ruthless invasion in 1879, the Zulu people generally have always been friendly and even dutiful towards the English, these imprisoned and exiled chiefs being their guides and leaders throughout. demned to exile, before even