HISTORY OF THE MATABELE REVOLT.*
IN the course of his preface Mr. Selons confesses that his book on the last Matabele War has been written under the influence of strong emotions, and indeed there is plenty of evidence in his pages of the fact. It was written, as he says, in the midst of all the horrors of a native rebellion, by one who saw with his own eyes the wrecks of his brother-colonists' homes, and with his own hands collected the ghastly relics of murdered women and children for Christian burial. Hence, he admits, he may have sometimes made " too little allowance for the black man smarting under what he perhaps had some reason to consider the arrogance and injustice of his white conquerors." It is not for injustice to the native, however, that the author has to blame himself. Taking all things into consideration, it seems to us that he has presented the native point of view very fairly. The injustice that he does is rather to the English public. The paramount emotion under which he writes is that of indignation against certain not over-scrupulous critics in this country who have chosen to represent the Matabele War as a wanton massacre of harmless black men, and Mr. Selous and his friends as cowards and murderers. The author really ought to know that this opinion is not likely to be held by English people in general and that there is no need for him to stand upon his defence. It was certainly a hard fate that changed Mr. Selons from a hunter of wild beasts to a hunter of men, and has drawn from him this pitiful narrative of bloodshed and revenge, instead of a book of natural history. Nevertheless, he should not be so sensitive ; nor, because a few, and not very respected, voices are heard to shriek " Murder ! " should he forget the appreciation and sympathy which he has himself always met with in this country. His resentment is no doubt pardonable, but it goes far to spoil what would otherwise be a very interesting and well-written book. The fault is not in him or in the majority of the individual settlers, but in the Com- pany which by its oppressive policy towards the natives and by its mismanagement made the Rebellion possible. We do not object to the bloodshed during the war, which was unavoidable, but to the system of forced labour which preceded the war.
As to the causes that led to the Rebellion, Mr. Selma is, how- ever, disposed to find fault) with fortune rather than with the administration of the Chartered Company. " The Rebellion," he says, " was not the spontaneous act of the mass of the people goaded to desperation by an insupportable tyranny. It was a drama into which they were surprised, and in many cases dragged against their better judgment, by a few leading spirits, who planned and carried out the first murder, and utilised the Makalaka Umlimo as a prophet." There were causes of discontent, as the author admits. The cattle question seems to have been mismanaged from the first. At the close of the first Matabele War a large portion of the cattle were confiscated at once, but at least ninety thousand were left in charge of the natives, who were warned all the time that the Company would take the rest as it required them. Also they were told that only the King's cattle were subject to this confiscation, and that none belonging to private owners should be interfered with. The arrangement was made under the belief that nearly all the cattle in Matabeleland belonged to the King, whereas it has since been found that a great proportion of the animals were the property of the chief Indunas and others. The result was that the periodical requisition of cattle led to end- less disputes as to the original ownership of the animals claimed before the war. No doubt injustice was often done, especially to small owners, and although the question was settled, and long before the revolt, by a compromise, it was an injustice which continued to rankle. The labour regulations, were naturally irksome to a people entirely unused to that form of constraint. Nor were they made less irksome by the petty tyranny of the native police, who showed far less consideration for their fellow-countrymen than did their white officers. In short, a certain amount of discontent was inevitable, though, in our author's opinion, it was never strong enough actually to induce the population to rebel against their conquerors. To this general feeling one must add the more pronounced unrest of some of the unconquered Matabele warriors. Not all the troops of Lobengula had felt
• Sunshine and Storm in Rhodesia. By F. C. Selons. London : Rowland Ward.
the strength of the white man ; a large number had never met him in fight, and still were ignorant of their own weakness against his arms. To these men, who had never really been subjected to the Company's rule, there came an opportunity of revolt not to be resisted. The withdrawal of the Chartered forces, and the disaster which befel the same forces in the Transvaal Raid, deprived the settlers, they believed, of all their fighting strength. To utilise the despised Makalaka Umlimo as a means of preaching a general war, and to compromise the whole country by a series of murders carried out simultaneously, was a task well within the reach of their savage diplomacy. And for reasons already indicated, the country, as a rule, responded to their call. There were exceptions to this rule, and it is noteworthy in the case of the black police themselves, that nearly all who had served over a year remained faithful to their salt.
It was only the fact that the scattered bands of revolted natives failed to combine, that saved the scanty forces of the colonists from complete annihilation at the beginning of the outbreak. At the same time, of course, towards the end of the campaign their desultory and scattered method of warfare made it the more difficult to subdue them.
Reading this narrative of the struggle, it is difficult not to feel pride in the heroic self-defence of our fellow. countrymen. For there can be alleged nothing against them more serious than that they killed and gave no quarter.
With the exception of a very few culprits, who were hung or shot after being taken almost red - handed, they killed only on the battlefield. It was not easy to give quarter, even though the wish might have been there. Mr. Selons frankly admits that the will was wanting too. People who live at home in ease and security should not dare to criticise. We know what effect was produced upon our soldiers by the scene of the Cawnpore massacre. And what must have been the feelings of a Rhodesian settler, whose own wife and children stood in hourly danger of the same fate, when he came across the ruined homestead and mutilated bodies of a friend's family? The spirit and courage displayed by the colonists was admirable, and the rapidity with which they combined and organised their defence does their leaders the greatest credit. As long as a country contains men like Mr. George Grey and his scouts, not to mention others who took an even more prominent part in the war, it need never despair of its future. As we have said above, what the country needs to be ashamed of is not the putting down of the Rebellion but the previous native policy of the Company. At one time, indeed, the situation in Matabeleland seemed almost as desperate as, to use the author's words, it was " curious ":—
" In Bulawayo there were some 1,500 white men, women, and children, all of whom, although they were able to visit their houses in different parts of the town by day, had to seek safety within the laager at nights, and were not allowed to leave it before seven o'clock in the morning. At this time the whole of Matabeleland, with the exception of Bulawayo and the hiagers of Gwelo and Belingwe, was absolutely in the hands of the Kafirs, although, apparently by orders of the Umlimo, the main road to the south had not been closed. A large impi lay at Mr. Crewe's farm, Redbank, on the Khami river, about twelve miles to the west of the town, besides which some thousands of rebels, amongst whom it was said was Lo Bengula's eldest son, Inyamanda, were camped all along the Umgnza, considerable numbers of them being actually within three miles of Bulawayo, whilst other two large impis had taken up their quarters amongst the Elibaini Hills, and in the neighbourhood of Intaba Induna, there being altogether not less than 10,000 hostile natives spread out in a semi circle from the west to the north-east of the town Besides these impis to the north and west, there were others encamped within the edge of the Matopo Hills. These latter, however, although they blocked the Tali road, never approached Bulawayo."
Happily the impis did not combine, nor did they, for some inexplicable reason—the author suggests that it was left open for the white man's flight—block the road to the south ; and this double failure contributed largely to the ultimate safety of the defenders of Bulawayo.
The author bears a warm testimony to the gallantry and devotion of the Boer settlers in Matabeleland. Indeed, they proved themselves more than once to be the most useful soldiers and the most skilful generals in the campaign. His remarks upon the future of Boer and English Colonies in Rhodesia deserve attention, and every-one will share his hope that the two peoples who fought side by side so un- elfishly in the time of trouble should continue to dwell together in unity in the time of peace. Mr. Selous seems to entertain no apprehension as to the possibility of another native rising, and gives very sufficient reasons for his con- fidence.
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