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But, with the introduction of Responsible Government and
development of European towns, commerce, industries, institutions,
etc., Native Affairs received a gradually diminishing amount of
attention on the part of the European community. As the Europeans
progressed and became more engrossed in their own affairs,
necessity for safeguarding purely Native interests seemed to recede
further into the background. This was, to some extent, due to
Members of the Legislative Assembly being invariably elected by a
purely European electorate. When, as a result of the Boer War,
severe financial depression came about, and Parliament was
compelled to raise money, the Poll Tax Act was passed, though
without being specially referred to the Natives. Theoretically there
was no necessity for reference, for they were represented by
Members of both Houses. The fault was not really attributable to the
Government, still less to the colonists, but was rather one of the
inevitable results of Responsible Government, and especially of
Western Civilization, of which such Government was a natural
outcome. In the Constitution Act,[352] elaborate provision was made
for the protection of European interests, but no other than general
provision on behalf of the Natives. That the action taken in respect of
the latter was indefinite, was owing to their being barbarians, and in a
very backward state of civilization. Nothing, therefore, was more
natural than that the pendulum should eventually swing unduly in
favour of the Europeans. As, however, the grant of Responsible
Government came from the Imperial Government, such Government
cannot be absolved from a share of the blame for the one-sided—and
perhaps, for the time being, necessarily one-sided—tendencies
inherent in the Constitution Act.
The specific grievances date, for the most part, from this granting of
Responsible Government. Prior to that time, the Natives were under
the immediate control of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, or officers who
managed their affairs on more or less similar lines. On such regime,
all still look back with affection and gratitude. But the seeds of friction
and discord were nevertheless latent, only time being needed for
them to develop into actual antagonism.
Apart from the system of Responsible Government, another
disturbing cause was the immigration of Europeans and Indians. This
had gone on steadily before 1893 and since. These increases,
combined with a greatly-augmented Native population, seriously
affected the conditions of living and, on account of the keener
struggle for existence in a changing environment, the easy-going and
comparatively indolent Native was obliged to go more and more to
the wall.
It was, therefore, impossible to prevent the impression gaining
ground, especially in later times, with an accelerated spreading of
enlightenment, that the Natives were being discriminated against and,
with such impression, accentuated by the sinister Ethiopian
propaganda disseminated throughout the country since 1892, loss of
confidence in the white man's rule became inevitable.
That Natives arrived at the conclusion that they were being
discriminated against must be taken as fact. Dinuzulu's interview with
the Governor proves that he personally had arrived at the same
conclusion. Instances of like views will be found throughout the
Evidence given before the Native Affairs Commission. We are not
prepared to deny that this view is to a large extent correct, though
cannot go the length of condemning Natal Native policy in such
unmeasured terms as some are inclined to do. The clashing that
occurred seems to have arisen more out of the innate character of
Western Civilization than out of specific injustice, repression or
inordinate self-seeking on the part of the colonists.
When once a people begins to feel that it is accorded no particularly
definite status in the country, that its welfare is of no special concern
to the rulers, except as a means to the latter's material advancement,
that its members, in short, are pariahs in what, but a few years
before, was their own country, then the time is not far distant when
they may be expected to make a bid for liberty. It is beside the
question to set about to defend the principles of any policy when such
impression is abroad and the country in a ferment; if people believe
they are being down-trodden, the belief, justifiable or not, is what has
to be reckoned with. In Natal, it was a fact that many Natives believed
themselves to be a down-trodden race, and it was this general fact
which seems to us to have been a main underlying cause of their
rebelliousness. But, whilst being a cause, one thing must be borne
clearly in mind. The insurrection was partial, not universal. Had
various Natal governments shown no regard whatever for the
people's interests and welfare, and been content merely to exploit
them for the benefit of the white race, no one will deny that such
feelings of hatred would have been engendered as to have caused
the rising to be far more extensive and formidable than it was. That
there should have been warfare at all is bad enough, but it is at least
fair to Natal to remember that the great mass of the people did not
feel that provocation, sufficient for taking up arms, had been given.
This testimony is manifestly in favour of successive governments not
having been quite so callous as some have endeavoured to make
out. Of course, the comparatively few who actually armed—between
10,000 and 12,000—wished to organize a general insurrection or
rebellion; of that there is abundant evidence; and such plan might
have succeeded had the rising not been sternly met and speedily
repressed. The malcontents, knowing that the effects of European
rule were felt as more or less oppressive by the majority of their
kinsmen—just as the majority would, in time, have regarded as
oppressive the rule of the highest type of British or any other rulers
that could possibly have been selected—and knowing that the poll tax
had still further embittered their race against European rule,
calculated that the time was ripe for general rebellion. They reckoned
that far greater numbers would have joined than actually did. But they
were disappointed. They failed to allow sufficiently for the inertia of
those who, though not particularly enamoured of European rule, saw
nothing to be gained, and much to be lost, by resort to arms. Even
Dinuzulu, in spite of his promise, and after exerting his influence on
Sigananda, Mehlokazulu and others, failed at the critical moment to
afford active support. The fact is that the Natal Government had not
become altogether intolerable, except to such recognized renegades
as Bambata. In every State of the world, numbers of malcontents are
ever ready to rise against any government that happens to be in
power. Natal was no exception to the rule. And when her day of trial
came, she had perforce to depend on the loyalty of the remainder of
the people, and the strength of her own right hand. If the
management of the Native races by Natal was worse than is here
made out, how comes it that her entire Native population throughout
the Boer War, which began but six, and ended four, years before the
Rebellion, was as consistently loyal as it was throughout that
protracted war; that Dinuzulu assisted as he did with scouts and
levies (though not for the purpose of actual fighting); that, so far from
wanting to rebel, the Chiefs offered their services, which, however,
could not be accepted on the ground that the war was 'a white man's
war'—and all this notwithstanding that the Colony had been invaded,
and one of its principal towns besieged by the enemy for upwards of
three months? Clearly, Natal's rule had not, at that time, become so
unbearable as to cause the people to prefer a regime set up by
Dinuzulu, or some other Zulu despot.
Under the circumstances, we come to the conclusion that the
fundamental cause was the introduction and imposition on the
aborigines of a type of civilization radically different from their own.
The Government, first Imperial, latterly Colonial, was necessarily the
instrument whereby such civilization was introduced and imposed.
Responsibility for all that occurred must, therefore, be thrown, as it
was thrown by Natives, on the Government, even the breaking down
of their social system through the unremitting effects of Missionary
teaching, the undermining of the tribal system by European
landlordism, the innumerable deleterious effects caused by degraded
or dishonest classes of Europeans, and in other ways.
This establishment and promotion of Western Civilization operated in
various ways on the Natives: (a) restrictions were imposed on former
conditions or modes of life; (b) indiscriminate licence was extended to
various sections, as well as to Europeans, whilst, at the same time,
(c) obligations to conform to the new conditions of life were enforced.
Let us consider some of the principal causes of discontent that
sprang from this action.
Under (a): Natives were prohibited from undergoing military service,
or joining in various military occupations, which, as shown in Chapter
IV., took up a very large portion of their time; they were precluded
from leading the nomadic life customary with them for ages; individual
kraalheads were restricted, by the setting up of a system of freehold
tenure by Europeans, from going to live where they wished, and
many of the old and recognized thoroughfares were closed by the
fences put up; polygamy became more difficult because of the hut
tax, and there was prescription in respect of lobolo claims; the
national Feast of the First-Fruits, as well as other feasts and social
gatherings, were either stopped, or interfered with, not, however,
without good reason; Chiefs' powers of criminal and civil jurisdiction
were circumscribed, as also the control exercised by heads of
families over their wives and children; diviners were prohibited from
practising their calling; restrictions were imposed on hunting game,
cutting wood, or making gardens in forests; and Natives were unable
to enter towns, except when clad in European dress.
Under (b): Too many Chiefs were appointed, a number of these not
being entitled by hereditary rank or position to the posts; usurpation
by some European landlords of several of the functions of Chiefs, or
otherwise imposing restrictions on their authority; making consent by
all girls to marriage obligatory; permitting boys and girls to break
away from their parents or guardians, in order to be converted or
educated; creating undue facilities for women to obtain divorce, or
break away from their homes to lead immoral lives, etc.; exaction of
excessive rents by various European landlords; excessive charges by
certain lawyers; too many Native herbalists allowed to practise, a
large proportion being unqualified and unscrupulous; usury by certain
Europeans, especially lawyers, farmers, and other employers of
labour.
Under (c): In a Christian community, with children being converted to
Christianity and educated, parents were obliged in various ways to
adapt themselves more and more to the changing conditions, even
though themselves against being converted or educated on European
lines. Enlightenment, religious and secular, accentuated by Ethiopian
propaganda, infused a spirit of equality in the people. This, in a
polygamistic environment, was destructive of marital and parental
authority, besides undermining the authority, privileges and prestige
of every Chief in the country. In the case of Dinuzulu, such influences
would have been particularly acute and rapid.
Besides the inconveniences involved, the spectacle of a rapidly-
disintegrating and decaying tribalism was always before the people,
and, with this, the vanishing of cherished national ideals, traditions,
beliefs, folklore, etc.
Other permanent obligations were the having to pay various taxes,
rents, and other charges; to carry passes; to register births and
deaths; the census-taking, 1904.
Under the same head, may be included other causes which were but
inevitable where two such races lived together in the same country:
Interference by certain Europeans with Native women and girls;
communication of human and stock diseases formerly unknown, e.g.
leprosy, small-pox, bubonic plague, consumption,—lung-sickness,
rinderpest, East Coast Fever.[353]
Among miscellaneous causes were: Laying off large numbers of
farms in Zululand for the occupation of Europeans; the inconsiderate
manner in which the police, especially Native police, behaved
towards Natives; punishment and removal of Chiefs without proper
trial; obligation to work on roads and public works (isibalo);
impoverishment of the people through the effects of locusts,
rinderpest, East Coast Fever, etc.; introduction of indentured Indians,
thereby supplanting Native labour. Of these, the laying off of farms in
Zululand was far the most important.
The alienating of land in Zululand to Europeans has always been
regarded by the royal house as a serious menace. Although liberal
grants were made to mission societies and to the Boers, it was never
intended that Europeans should obtain holdings in the heart of the
country, as they did shortly before the Rebellion, and thereby break
up the nation by subjecting individuals to the payment of rent, as in
Natal. It will, therefore, be understood that the laying off of farms
along the coast and elsewhere for sugar planting, etc., would have
been deeply though silently resented by Dinuzulu as nominal head of
the people.
In addition to the foregoing, the semi-educated class of Natives,
known as Kolwas, had complaints, but as the people affected were
comparatively few, there is no necessity for specifying them, except
to point out that the charging of rents on mission reserves, and
difficulties in obtaining (a) the franchise, (b) exemption in respect of
certain children, (c) firearms, and (d) European liquor, were regarded
by some as indications of being distrusted or unreasonably
discriminated against.
As the root-cause of the Rebellion was, briefly, the attempt made to
impose the European character and civilization on the Native races,
the various causes above given were of a merely subsidiary or
contributory nature. Hence it is unfair to charge Natal governments
with failing to circumvent what, in the nature of the circumstances,
was largely unavoidable, just as many similar causes now and for
long existing in other parts of South Africa are more or less
unavoidable.
When, however, through the operation of the foregoing causes, the
people felt disposed to take up arms, other things were required
before they would act, among these, what may be called the inciting
cause. This, of course, was the poll tax. This is what tended to bring
about combination. It gave the Natives heart, or ubudoda (manliness)
as they called it. It was precisely what they needed, in their loose,
disintegrated state. And so, curiously enough, the poll tax played
exactly the same part among them that a similar tax did in the Wat
Tyler Rebellion in England in 1381, and as the 'greased cartridges'
did in the Indian Mutiny of 1857. It is a mistake to speak of the poll tax
as having caused the Rebellion; it was merely a contributory cause,
and not among the most important of those that have been cited.
The principal motive of the Rebellion would appear to be the one
indicated on pp. 506, 507. But there was also a general desire by the
people for a form of government more in harmony with their national
and individual aspirations. Reference should also be made to
Ethiopian propaganda, especially the political cry "Africa for the
Africans," the text of many an address shortly before the Insurrection.
It was perpetually put forward, no doubt, in order to furnish people
with a motive for opposing or counteracting European domination and
alleged oppression. The cry was heard, not only in Natal, but
throughout South Africa. Natives were told that the Europeans had
forfeited the right to rule, and that it and the country had accordingly
reverted once more to the Black House. There were yet other
inducements, viz.: the Baqulusi having succeeded in massacring the
commando at Holkrantz, thereby lowering the prestige of the
Europeans in the eyes of Natives; the lessons of the Boer War, such
as the guerilla tactics that were practised; and the contempt by
Natives for Europeans, owing to the familiar manner in which many
had been treated by British troops. There is no doubt that these
motives also powerfully influenced the people.
Among the occasions may be mentioned: Withdrawal of Imperial
troops from Natal; inability of the Germans to suppress the rising in
Damaraland (West Africa); sense of superiority felt by Natives
through being much more numerous than the colonists; palpable
growth of Dinuzulu's influence; general decay of the authority of
Chiefs, kraal-owners,[354] etc.; increase of hooliganism and
lawlessness; belief that such fastnesses as Nkandhla were
impregnable; belief that they (Natives) were impervious to bullets;
belief, engendered by the widely-spread pig-fowl-killing order, that the
time had arrived when the white race must be driven out or
exterminated.
(iii) Replies to Criticisms.
The way in which the campaign was conducted was sharply criticized
by persons in England and elsewhere, chiefly from two points of view,
viz. the disparity in losses sustained, and the rigour with which the
rebels were dealt with. Now, it is one of the principal objects of a
commander to prevent unnecessary loss to his side, and no part of
his plans to make sacrifices merely because heavy punishment is
being meted out to the enemy. The greater the injury inflicted, with
the least loss to himself, is one of the highest marks of generalship,
particularly where his opponent vastly exceeds him in numbers. As, in
every military school, one finds it approved to strike effective blows at
the enemy's morale, under what circumstances can this be better
done than when he is driven to finding himself out-generalled at every
point, and losing more men than his adversary? What, more than
cheaply-achieved successes, is better calculated to depress the
exuberant spirits of barbarous rebels and sooner bring about their
surrender? Justifiable or unjustifiable, rebellion should, in the
interests of the community, be stamped out and stamped out
thoroughly.
The losses of European troops in various Native wars in South Africa,
particularly in recent times, have almost always been greater than
those sustained by Natal in 1906, relatively to the personnel
engaged.[355] When it is considered that the casualties sustained by
the enemy totalled only about 2,300 in a four-month's campaign, with
upwards of 9,000 European troops and some 6,000 Native loyalists
engaged, it will be seen that the losses were proportionately less
severe than in other South African Native wars.
The disparity in losses was accounted for primarily by the insurgents
being in an unorganized condition. It is inevitable that, where hordes
of more or less disorganized barbarians attack properly-trained
troops, armed with modern weapons, mortality among the former will
be far greater than among the latter. One thing, however, is quite
clear. Had the O.C. Troops not dealt with the situation in a prompt
and resolute manner, but afforded opportunities to the rebels to
augment their forces, the proportion of casualties would have been
even more striking than it was.
Most of the criticism in question came as usual from a few noisy
people in England, who quite forgot the absurdly few casualties that
were sustained by the Imperial troops in the Zulu War, as compared
with the number of Zulus who were killed; nor did they remember that
Pretorius, at the famous battle of Blood River, had three men
wounded (including himself), as against 3,000 Zulus killed. It is one of
the ironies of life that persons wholly ignorant, or almost wholly
ignorant, of local conditions, succeeded in getting many to attend to
and believe their clamour. Such incidents as the cold-blooded attack
on the Police at Mpanza were glazed over or forgotten by these
zealots, whose chief glory consisted in traducing the motives and
actions of their own kin to the best of their ability. Everything the
savages did was right, everything that those of their own race did was
wrong, wrong, not because of any inherent defect, but wrong just
because they are white and not black. All murders, mutilations of
corpses, looting, incendiarism and terrorization of loyalists were
condoned. It occurred not to these 'judges' to study the facts. If the
rebels did anything that wore the appearance of wrong-doing, the act
was justified by asserting (wholly regardless of the facts) that the act
was but a consequence of the commission of some greater wrong.
No act was isolated and considered on its own merits. If Bambata
waylaid 150 Police along a difficult road, firing a broadside into a
twenty-men advanced guard at a distance of five yards, in the dark,
before outbreak of hostility of any kind, the act was justified by the
fact that the ringleader had been deposed from his chieftainship by
the Government, and because he was but protesting against the
imposition of a poll tax of £1 per head. If the reasons why Bambata
was deposed, or the circumstances under which the poll tax was
levied, had been advanced, other excuses would have been found,
and attempts made to justify at every point, with an ardour born of
such as had not actually lived in the country and had nothing to lose.
The unbridled resentment and public defiance exhibited at
Mapumulo, Umzinto, Nkandhla, Pietermaritzburg and Durban
magistracies—at each of which places the Natives vastly
outnumbered the civil authorities then present; the audacity of the
murders of Hunt and Armstrong; and the still cooler attack at Mpanza,
—with isolated, cold-blooded murders, such as Stainbank, Veal,
Walters, Powell and Sangreid, accompanied by horrible mutilation
(where this was possible),—were all these exhibitions of barbarity to
have no effect whatever on the troops, most of whom had been born
and bred in the country, and knew the place of the Native in the
community?
Natal was being governed in accordance with Native law. Such
condition naturally conferred on the higher race a position of privilege
and ascendancy, whilst maintaining the Natives in a social system
inherited from a far-off past. This eminence had, in the course of two
generations, become settled or habitual. The Natives recognized it
and had accommodated themselves thereto. When, therefore, the
foregoing incidents occurred, they were rightly regarded as serious.
This is one of the reasons why the shooting down of the rebels was
occasionally as severe as it was, though not on nearly so large a
scale as has been supposed.
There remains another and, perhaps, the chief explanation. The
spectacle of a subject, lower and uncivilized race rising against its
conquerors and lawful masters, with whom it had lived at peace for
many years, could not fail to evoke the best energies of the latter to
maintain its prestige, though to have to do this in the face of the odds
possibly becoming one to ten, demanded the greatest energy, and a
drawing on all available resources. It was not a time for half-
measures. Rebellion had broken out. Rebellion by subjects, so long
in a state of subjection, was expected to be capable of rapidly
infecting the entire mass, unless sternly repressed. The possibility of
universal massacres of women and children arose before the calmest
minds. Such wanton butchery had taken place in the Matabele
Rebellion in 1896, the Matabeles being, as is well known, off-shoots
of the Zulus. It was a fire that had started, and in a country covered
with long, dry grass. If allowed to spread, it would soon have given
rise to winds that would have swept it still further along in every
direction. Once out of control of their Chiefs, as many were known to
have got, others would have followed the example. The best way of
pandering to such condition was to have dealt leniently, patiently and
mercifully with every transgressor. But, with the elemental forces of
human fury let loose, Dinuzulu, as rebel or as loyalist, would have
been unable to control or to check them; he was largely a figurehead.
Nor, as has already been pointed out, were the ordinary Chiefs able
to control. It, therefore, behoved the Government to deal with the
situation promptly, and with the same severity that any wise man
would be expected to use towards a fire threatening to destroy his
house and all his belongings. That is why the ablest soldiers were
employed. That is why McKenzie was placed in supreme command,
and that is why he, almost in spite of himself, became the exponent of
a drastic policy—the policy of necessity. The Government was
manifestly under every obligation to protect the people, not less
Native loyalists than members of its own and other European and
Asiatic races. After all, there is such a law as that of self-preservation.
That is what mainly warranted these undoubtedly severe, but
unavoidable measures. And yet the troops were exceedingly well-
disposed to the Zulu race as a whole. Satisfactory relations exist to-
day between the Natives and the colonists, and will long continue to
exist, unless petty, misguided policies be brought into practice.
The severity of the punishment during actual hostilities, or rather until
such moment as it appeared certain the Rebellion had been "got
under," received the fullest approval of every loyalist Native.[356] Nor
was their commendation other than sincere. It was spontaneously
and repeatedly, though, of course, cautiously expressed. There were,
indeed, isolated actions which did not meet with such or anybody
else's approval. The commission of irregularities in the circumstances
depicted, under a general licence to stamp out rebellion at the earliest
moment—a rebellion started by the Natives themselves—was only to
be expected, just as they occur and are rightly condemned in every
war.
It may be pointed out here that, on leaving Zululand, after witnessing
the operations for several weeks, Major-General Stephenson
expressed his satisfaction with the way in which they had been
conducted, and also testified to "the gallantry displayed by the men,
and to the readiness with which they fought their way through the
scrub."
Since the Rebellion came to an end, Natal has made special
endeavours to remove all reasonable and remediable complaints. Her
efforts to improve the relations between the two races, especially by
appointing a sympathetic Council for Native Affairs, as well as Native
Commissioners, have met with success, so that restoration of mutual
confidence and good feeling on a satisfactory basis is rapidly
becoming an accomplished fact.[357]
The arrest of Dinuzulu and his subsequent removal to the Transvaal
have completely put an end to the unrest that existed both before and
after the disturbances. Zululand and Natal are in a more peaceful
state now than they have been at any time since Dinuzulu came back
from St. Helena.
It is generally allowed that, after a man has been tried and punished,
he is entitled to enjoy once more all the rights of citizenship, but the
circumstances connected with Dinuzulu being what they are, we
cannot but consider the haste with which he was appointed one of the
Presidents of the newly-formed South African Native Congress as
somewhat unseemly and unwise.
(iv) Remarks concerning Native policy.
Now that there has been time for sober reflection, the one great fact
that seems to emerge, after reviewing the situation in its many
aspects, is the inadequacy of organic connection between the
Europeans and the Natives. As it is, the needs of the people as a
nation are apparently insufficiently expressed. The half-educated
Natives, especially if they be those who have, or appear to have,
turned their backs on the modes of life of their parents and ancestors,
are the ones who succeed most in catching the eye of the European
public. The masses, to whom in fact they belong, remain in the
meantime practically inarticulate; they are, as Milton might have
called them, but 'blind mouths.' Their wants and necessities, from
their own peculiar points of view, are given expression to by no one.
No one seems to have courage enough to champion their cause and
to defend a system of life which, if evolution means anything
whatever, must be of intrinsic value, from the mere fact that it exists
after the countless generations the people have lived in the land. And
yet the Natives, even the uncivilized masses, are, in the fullest sense
of the words, British subjects, and, as such, entitled to at least the
elementary rights of such subjects. Surely, among these rights (as
with all European governments) is the ability to live in accordance
with a system sanctioned probably by thousands of years of
continuous usage,—the great, natural system of Africa.
Under the form of administration established for the Natives,
numerous Magistrates have been appointed in various localities,
whilst at least twice as many police stations have also been set up.
The Police, however, were unwisely detached from the Magistrates;
the unwisdom lay in the fact that the action was taken much too soon.
This, in the main, with head offices in Pietermaritzburg, is the
machinery for bringing the Chiefs and ordinary Native public into
touch with the Government. Aided in subsidiary ways by Missionaries,
teachers and other agencies, this is what has aimed at establishing a
healthy organic connection between the one race and the other. Was
it, is it, sufficient? So long as the great majority of Natives live under
the tribal system, many of whose peculiar laws and customs have
been embodied in a Code, given the force of law by Parliament, it
does not seem that the link between the two people is as strong and
effective as it ought to be. If the tribal system is to succeed, it should
be given a chance. That chance, it would appear, should be to revive
and encourage such unobjectionable and salutary forms of control as
were customary under the old system. For
"Nature is made better by no mean
But Nature makes that mean."
It is absurd to suppose that Magistrates and Police, Missionaries or
educationists, the whole varying in their methods as their
idiosyncrasies, can so dovetail into a more or less normal system of
Native life as to supply such influences, necessary under the system,
which Chiefs, assisted by councils and with extensive judicial and
administrative functions, were formerly able to afford. In the first
place, they have not the time to give that close, expert attention to
purely Native matters, social and domestic, which Chiefs and their
councils were able to do. In the second, supposing them to have the
requisite knowledge, which it is safe to say is very far indeed from
being the case, they have not the inclination. Their inclinations are in
the direction of their own racial affairs, and rightly so. Thus, the
Natives experience a need, a need which no Magistrates, Policemen,
Missionaries or teachers are able to supply, even though further
assisted by the Secretary for Native Affairs, Native High Court, or
Supreme Chief. In consequence of an insufficiently intimate
supervision of a thousand and one questions of interior economy,
social and domestic, grievances of all descriptions arise and exist for
months and years before they are removed. Such state of affairs is by
no means peculiar to Natal, one finds it prevailing throughout South
Africa, and apparently wherever else in the world a white race
presides over the destinies of a coloured one.
The lesson here, then, not only for Natal but the Union of South
Africa, seems to be just this. If the tribal system is to exist, and there
are a thousand reasons why it should, it should be permitted to
nourish and comfort the people more than it does. It should be
recognized as a good,—to be maintained and reinforced, although in
time doomed to be supplanted by something else,—not as an evil to
be suppressed by European, i.e. alien agency, at the earliest possible
date.
If the proposal above referred to be gone into, it would, we believe,
be found to involve Europeans and Natives living, to a great extent, in
separate and clearly-defined areas (always allowing for reasonable
exceptions), each with substantially their own organization and
controlling machinery, and each developing along lines that accord
with common sense and are, at the same time, in harmony with the
law of nature. It would also be found that the peoples would be firmly
linked together from the mere fact of their independent existences
being formally recognized for all purposes, say, in the Constitution
itself. In that way and probably in that alone is it possible for such
alarming relative positions between white and black, as one sees
between Negroes and Europeans in America, to be avoided in South
Africa, temporarily and possibly permanently. It would be just as well,
too, to bear in mind that the ratio between white and black, so far
from being about seven to one, as in the United States, is about one
to four.[358] Hence it is not unlikely that the letting loose of such forces
as are now operating with so much harm in North America will, before
long, bring on a crisis of altogether exceptional severity in South
Africa. With the ever-increasing European education we are giving
the people, coupled with countless opportunities of increasing their
material prosperity, it follows that only lapse of time is necessary for
all sorts of demands to be put forward more or less justly, and this by
a race that is being compelled against their natural instincts to take
on the European character. They will, of course, demand the
franchise and press for admission to all grades of the civil service, the
bench, and the bar; show cause why existing restrictions in regard to
firearms, passes, liquor, etc., etc. shall be removed; and so forth. And
so the movement of independence, once the people have fairly
broken away from the simple, strong and wholesome restraints of
their own systems of life, will go on increasing in volume and intensity,
until visions of Hayti and Liberia begin to rise before European
imagination.
Thus, the price of our precipitate destruction of Native modes of life,
or rather callousness in not subserving these modes to the best of
our ability, not by way of amusement or sentiment, but because
imperatively necessary for the welfare of the State and the interests
of the Natives themselves, is that our own character, traditions, creed,
language, etc., will ultimately be undermined and displaced by those
of the people. As it is, they are ever laughing at our supreme and
obviously suicidal folly. We are, in fact, not competing with the
coloured races at all in the way races are supposed to do, and do, in
accordance with the theory of evolution, we are rather carefully and
continually loading the dice against ourselves. The inevitable result of
not permitting free-play to the principle of natural selection will be
that, from their greatly preponderating numbers, if for no other
reason, they will ultimately survive, whilst the European community
will cease as such to exist. No other result apparently can flow from a
wanton ignoring of, or running counter to, the immutable principles of
nature. Let us but continue as we are doing, to suppress and
eradicate the habits, customs, languages, traditions, ideals, etc., etc.,
of the people, and our ultimate expulsion or absorption by the Bantu
races who, in our present ascendancy, we so much neglect, will
follow as surely as day follows night. And many are already beginning
to see this.
It cannot too often be called to mind that our Natives differ vastly from
the Negroes in America through having social systems, creeds,
traditions and ideals of their own, all many, many generations old.
Why does not the State use these precious assets more than it does?
Why are they wilfully allowed to die out, through disuse or being
ridiculed and defamed, far more rapidly than they need? As they are
congenital, for what reason did the Creator endow the people with
these various propensities, if not for some eminently necessary
purpose? May man with impunity run counter to and thwart such
purpose? Surely no one will contend that Nature must be undone
because the people are so plastic as to be capable apparently of
assuming the European character in all its attractiveness and
defectiveness, as if that were the greatest and final effort of social
evolution. Our motive should be to act in accordance with the desires
of the majority of the people, and not to impose this or that restriction
or condition mainly because, in our limited vision, it appears to be
right.
One cannot but see how strongly the case of Dinuzulu supports these
views. It shows that the people were in favour of his being appointed,
with the assistance of a council or other advisory body, to protect their
interests. They knew they were acting wrongly in dealing with him in
1906, but, in the absence of any other national representative, i.e.
one of their own flesh and blood, it seemed there was no other
course left. Zulus look at the world's affairs in the concrete. To do so
in the abstract, as so common amongst ourselves, is foreign to their
nature. That is why want of organic connection between their race
and that of the white man takes the form of a request for the
appointment of a person to act as intermediary, one to whom they
can go with their troubles, and one who would lay these before the
Government for favourable consideration.
What Dinuzulu himself said about this to the Governor has been
briefly noticed. He also observed: "The Natives of India are governed
and treated in a correct manner, and according to the law. The Boers,
who have recently been at war with the British Government, have
also been settled down ... but we who were subdued ... before the
Boers and these people I refer to,[359] are not treated in the same
manner as they have been treated. The laws are not the same. We
cannot help feeling that we Zulu people have been discriminated
against.... We are people who have no representatives in the affairs
of the country, no one to speak for us,[360] and the laws of the country
simply come over us by surprise.... We are all of us in the country like
my fingers, each one has his own authority, and does what he thinks
right in his own district.... We feel that, whilst we should own
obedience and allegiance to the Government ... there should yet be
somebody amongst us who represents the people."[361]
When the Native Affairs Commission met the local Chiefs and
headmen at Vryheid in January, 1907, the first speaker said: "I would
ask the Commission this: Of whom are they making the inquiry as to
what the Zulu people as a whole feel; who is that spokesman? Where
is he? Where is he who is the eyes and ears of the Zulu nation, the
guardian of the people?" Another Chief said: "Why is it the Governor
puts such questions, as the Commission has itself put, to mere
blades of grass? Where is our guardian? Where is that guardian that
should have been given to us by the Governor?... The Government
does not rule us with its right, but with its left, hand.... When a State is
conquered, there always remains, according to our ideas, some
representative or another who carries on the government of the
conquered people.... The King will continue to be at a loss as to
exactly what we feel, because His Majesty has failed to appoint
somebody in a way that we are accustomed to to represent our
interests."
Others said: "The whole Zulu people are unanimous as to the need of
some person to voice their feelings." "Formerly Cetshwayo used to
conduct negotiations, etc., with Sir Theophilus Shepstone. Who was
in his (Cetshwayo's) place now?... Dinuzulu was their great induna,
and nothing had occurred between the Natives and him which should
cause them to pass by him and affiliate themselves to the
Government." "They were all in a state of dispersion; sheep without a
shepherd."
Although, for years, many Chiefs were opposed to being "governed"
by a Paramount Chief, such as Cetshwayo was (after his restoration),
it is remarkable how widespread this desire latterly became,
particularly in 1905 when the poll tax was imposed. That such
aspiration assumed exaggerated proportions during a time of
rebellion is not to be surprised at. The universal use by insurgents of
the "Usutu" war-cry, of the Usutu badge (tshokobezi), and of
Dinuzulu's name, only shows the need they felt for a head. As this
need existed then, is it not possible that the Rebellion was brought
about largely through the need not having been seen and satisfied in
one way or another?
And this need still exists and will continue to do so until adequate
steps have been taken to supply it. How often has it not happened in
the world's affairs that large and liberal action towards a people, so
far from making foes, has transformed them into loyal and permanent
allies. Let us, therefore, not blind ourselves too much to the fact that
our Native races, although they may have fought us in the past, stand
in as great, if not greater, need of similar consideration, though on
humbler, simpler lines, than any other corporate people.
Stress has been laid on the foregoing point because the Commission
omitted to face and deal with it with the directness obviously desired
by the Natives. And yet that a general and permanent protector of
their interests should be appointed, because, no doubt, of Ministers
for Native Affairs being movable officers, was the most important of
their requests.[362] It may be said to have come, although often
unassociated with Dinuzulu's name, from no less than 95 per cent. of
the people. The great body of Native opinion was emphatically in
favour of the existing tribal system being maintained, and steps being
taken to remove as far as possible the numerous abuses that had
crept into it.

The position of the Native races is worthy of attention from many

points of view. The dying out of many of their habits and customs,
interesting and picturesque to us, but the very life-blood of the people
themselves, is inevitable. With such disappearance, the social system
itself has begun to decay. Many persons, indeed, have for long
observed these disintegrating tendencies and proposed various
religious, political, social or economic makeshifts. That is to say, that
these tribes, hastening on as they are doing to the collapse of their
tribal organizations, have nothing else to stem the universal
undermining that is going on, always with acceleration, than the
creeds, moral code, habits, customs, social and political systems of
Western Civilization, that is, the equipment of a people differing
essentially,—physically, morally, and intellectually. It seems to occur
to no one that a State policy which resolutely and deliberately aims at
maintaining the status quo ante in a sane and judicious manner,
instead of assuming its downfall as inevitable, and forthwith setting
about in a thousand ways to make it even more ruinously rapid and
catastrophic than it would be without these reckless methods, is
worthy of serious and sober consideration. Misreading the religious,
political and other aspirations of a few half-educated Natives, many of
the dominant European race fondly believe it is along the same road
that the great inarticulate majority desire to travel. No one, of course,
is infallible, ourselves among the number, but a personal experience
of over forty years in the country, together with an intimate knowledge
of the people, does tend to convince us that such is not the general
desire,—not at present, whatever may be the case in the future,—and
has only become that of the half-educated because, the various
European administrations being what they have been and are, it
seems to them so inevitable that nothing remains but to adopt
European civilization in its entirety, and that as speedily as possible.
The doing of justice to the Natives, in the sense of eventually
conferring practically every privilege which Europeans enjoy, is to
blind oneself to the fact that the two races are congenitally separate.
Ideal justice can be said to be possible only when meted out within
the limits of a country in which the people are all of one race. Within
such environment, privileges are and should be capable of extension
to all. But when there are two or more separate races in a country,
that is not justice which extends privileges peculiar to the dominant
race to the radically-differing subject race or races. It is simply a
belief, resting on no proper foundation, that justice is being done. The
result of following it is gross injustice to the masses, and, later on, to
the dominant race itself. The situation is manifestly governed by the
idea of nationality and consanguinity. Thus, the highest justice
becomes not the concession of rights and privileges of the dominant
class, but a plain and constant recognition of the fact of nationality,
and keeping the sense of justice well in hand, instead of allowing it to
wander away to the clouds.
The spectacle of so many Natives in South Africa pressing on as they
are doing to obtain higher rights and privileges than they already
possess, and of forming a general Congress to give force to their
demands and supposed necessities, is due to nothing else than the
failure of the State to recognize the aborigines as a distinct
nationality, and as, therefore, worthy of being specifically provided for
in the Constitution to enable them to be managed on lines different
from those of the other and widely-differing race. The misdirected
energy of these 'enlightened' Natives, in the event of such provision
being made, would exert itself within its proper sphere, not in