ZULULAND.

[To TEE EDITOR OF TER " SPECTATOR."] Sin,—From the short reference to the condition of Zululand made during the last fortnight in the Spectator, it appears that

you contemplate what has taken place there with equanimity. You seem to be opposed to a British annexation of the country, or even an extension over part of it of the Reserve, and you accept without dissatisfaction the Boer occupation. May I

venture, on the strength of having lived some years in South Africa, to point out exactly what has been the result of British intervention in Zululand?

We originally fought the Zulu war partly in defence of Natal, partly in defence of the Transvaal, and partly to deliver the Zulu people from the arbitrary rule of Cetewayo. To the Trans- vaal Boers a few years ago both Cetewayo and Sekukuni were a real danger. With the annexation of that country we took over the quarrels of the Beers; and at enormous expense we disposed of both the hostile native Kings. Thanks to us, the Boers are now in possession not only of their own country, but also of that which belonged to Sekukuni and Cetewayo. Sekukuni's country has long ago been divided up into Dutch farms, and his people dispersed ; so I will not dilate upon what cannot now be undone,

—though, but for the British Government, it never would have been done. Cetewayo's country is only in process of being over-

run, and there is yet a chance of its being arrested. By our con- duct in the past we are solemnly and imperatively bound to pro- vide a just and effective government for the Zulus. We destroyed the one they had chosen for themselves,—namely, that of Cete- wayo, which, though it may have been arbitrary, secured to them peace, internal and external. Recognising the fact that in civilisation and political education this fine people were

only infants, we provided them with a substitute for the despotism which we had overthrown in the shape of an oligar-

chical government of their own chieftains. At the instance of party pressure, and in defiance of consistency and the most solemn pledges, we changed this government for a diluted form of the old rule of Cetewayo. The result of our original invasion, and then of the bitter civil war caused by the successive govern.

ments we set up only to be knocked down, has been so to divide and enfeeble the Zulus, that they are compelled to make any terms they can with the Boers, who are now occupying their country. We have destroyed them and their country, only to hand them over to the Boers, to whom, until we inter-

fered, they were a standing menace. I think the Boers get more than their fair share of abuse in England, and I do not mean to say anything against them ; but we know what Boer government of natives, whether it be right or

wrong, means. The Boer regards the native as a hope- lessly inferior being, without a soul, incapable of possess- ing property or any of the privileges of civilisation. It is absurd to suppose that the Zulus would voluntarily choose such rulers. No one can be imposed upon by the empty farce

of crowning the boy Dinizulu. It bears no analogy whatever to the crowning of Panda in 1837, and it simply means that the moulding of Zululand into a Dutch province is to be done gradually and diplomatically.

The only justice which we can do the Zulus—and very tardy justice it will be—is to annex their country and govern it as we do Natal. There will be no fear, as you seem to think, of further

frontier disturbances, because we shall then be separated from the Portuguese settlements only by the Amatongas and the

Swazies. As to the former there is nothing to fear ; and the latter are most warmly disposed towards us, and wish for a British Resident. Every single person who has a local and

practical knowledge of the subject says that annexation is not only just and necessary, but expedient. Accession of territory in this case does not mean an increase of responsibility and expense. By our own acts we are saddled with the former ; we have already incurred the latter.

It is ludicrous, on the one hand, to see Mr. Dillwyn and his friends writing to Lord Derby as if the poor Zulus had been initi- ated into all the arts of political organisation, and would give free and independent votes for English, Dutch, or Native. They were conquered by us, and expected us to rule them. If we had left them completely alone, the strongest chief would have fought

his way into the position of Cetewayo. On the other hand, it

is pitiable that the Aborigines' Protection Society, which pro- fesses such solicitude for native tribes, especially when they are

in conflict with South African colonists, should sit quietly by and allow the Imperial Government to commit the crime—for it is nothing less—of persisting in an attitude towards the Zulus which has already plunged them into misery, and which is now relegating them to servitude under a foreign Power which they