The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-09-27 00:00:00

THE ZULU WAR.

THE CAPTURE OF CETYWAYO.

THE FUTURE GOVERNMENT OF ZULU-
LAND.
The following telegrams from General Sir G. J. Wolseley
the Secretary 1 Sat e for War, which have been received by
way of Madeira, have been sent from the War Office for
publication :

ULUNDI, Amust 29. No. 13.—Cetywayo was cap-
tured yesterday in heart of Ngome Forest by patrol
under command of Major Marter, King's Dragoon
Guards. Ersebubs has submitted, and is in my camp.
All the important Zulu chiefs have now made their
submissions. I shall hold meetings of Great Chiefs on
the Ist or 2nd of September, when I shall announce
division of Zululand, and names of the chiefs who
are to hold independent chieftainship in the several
districts, and these will then sign the terms on which
they agree to hold their chieftainship. I hope to leave
this on the sth of September for Transvaal, when all
the troops will withdraw from Zululand with the ex-
ception of a small column engaged in pacification of
country to north-west, where the semi-independent
chiefs of Maculusi district have not submitted, I
have two officials of Natal Government to represent
the British power, one in the north and one in the
south of Zululand. They will have no executive or
administrative functions, but will be the eyes and ears
of the Government; they will have temporarily a
small bodyguard of Natal natives. Health of troops
good.

ULUNDI, Sept. 1. No. 14.—1 have received your
despatch of the 24th of July, communicating her
Majesty's gracious message of congratulations upon
the victory of Ulundi, and her desire to be informed of
the condition of the wounded. Her Majesty's message
has been conveyed to the troops; the wounded officers
and men are doing well; they are all most grateful
for her Majesty's gracious inquiries.

'ULUNDI, Sept. I.—Most satisfactory meeting of
chiefs to-day, when six, including the chief John
Dunn, signed the following terms ; the six other chiefs
selected for territories were absent, having mistaken
the day for the meeting; they will arrive shortly :
"1. I will observe and respect whatever boundaries shall
be assigned to my territory by the British Government
through the Resident of the division in which my territory is
situated.

"2. I will not permit the existence of the Zulu military
system or the existence of any military system of
organization whatever In my territory, and I wit pro-
claim and make it a rule that all men shall be allowed to
marry when they choose and as they choose, according to
the good ancient customs of my people, known and followed
in the days preceding the establishment by Chaka of the sys-
tem known as the military system; and I will allow and bn-
courage all men Rya:lg within my territory to go and come
freely for peaceful purposes, and to work In Natal and the
Transvaal and elsewhere for themselves or for hire.

"3. I will not Import or allow to be Imported into my
territory by any peison, upon any pretext or for any object
whatever, any arms or ammunition from any part what
-
!mover, or any goods or merchandise by the seacoast of Zulu-
land, without the express sanction of the Resident of the
divikion in which my territory is situated; and I will not
encourage or promote, or take part in, or countenance in
any way whatever, the importation in any other part of
Zululand of arms or ammunition from any part whatever, or
goods or merchandise by the seacoast of Zululand, without
such sanctfon; and I will confiscate and hand over to the
Natal Government all arms and ammunition, and good, and
merchandise, se imported into my territory, and lvwill
punish by fine or by other sufficient punishment any person
guilty of or concerned in any such unsauctioned importa-
tion, and any person found possessing arms or ammunition,
or goods or merchandise, knowingly obtained thereby.

"4. I will not allow the life of any of my people to be taken
for any cause, except after sentence passed tn a Council of the
Chief Men of my territory, and after fair and impartial trial
in my presence, and. al tcr the hearing of witnesses; and I
will not tolerate the employment of witch doctors, or the
practice known as smelling out, or any practices of witch-
craft.

"5. The surrender of persons fugitive in my territory from
justice, when demanded by the Government of any British
colony, territory, or province, in the interests oi justice,
shall be readily and promptly made to such Government;
and the escape into my territory of persona accused or con-
victed of offences against British laws shall be prevented by
all possible means, and every exertion shall be made to
seize and deliver up such persons to British authority.

6. I will not make war upon any chief or chiefs, or people,
without the sanction of the British Government through
the Resident of the Division in which my territory is
situated.

7. The succession to the chieftainship of my territory
shall be according to the ancient laws and customs of my
people, and the nomination of each successor shall be sub.
ject to the approval of the British Government.

8. I will not sell, or in any way alienate or permit or
counteract any sale or alienate of any pert ol the land in my
territory.

_
"9. I will permit all people residing in my territory to
there remain, upon the conditions that they recognise my
authority as chief, and any persons not wishing to recognise
my authority, and desiring to quit my territory, I will
permit to quit and to pass unmolested elsewhere.

"10. In all cases of dispute in which British subjects are
involved I will appeal to and abide by the decision of the
British Resident of Division in which my territory is
situated. In all cases where accusations of offence of crime
committed in my territory are brought against British sub-
jects, or against my people in relation to British subjects, I
will hold no trial and pass no sentence except with the ap-
proval of such British Residents.

11. In all matters not included within these terms, con-
ditions, and limitations, and in all cases provided for
herein, and in all cases when there may be doubt or uncer-
tainty as to the laws, rules, or stipulations applicable tg
matters to be dealt with, I will govern, order, and decide,
in accordance with ancient law and usage of my people."

ULUNDI, Sept. 2, No. 15.—Cetewayo passed through
this camp two days since on his downward journey,
under escort. Meeting of Great Chiefs held yesterchby
was entirely satipfactory. Clark's Column marched
this morning for Natal. I shall leave this for Utrecht
on 4th inst. News from Villiers to 25th August; he
had advanced without opposition, and proposed visit-
ing some chiefs at junction of White Umvolosi and
Pongolo rivers, who had not yet submitted. Baker
Russell encamped Zinguni Neck on 28th; Umsihe had
surrendered to him, and asked to be allowed to join
him against other Makulusi tribes who had not sub-
mitted: with exemption of this small north-western
corner, peace is now thoroughly established in Zululand.
L3rd Gifford leaves for England next mail, with
despatches.

A Reuter's telegram dated Cape Town, Sept. 2, says :
Cetewayo will embark at Port Durnford for Cape
Town.
Colonel Clarke's column is now returning from the
Umvoloai bush.

General Sir Garnet Wolseley is expected to arrive
at Utrecht on the 6th instant.

A few Zulus in the north and west still proving
hostile, Colonel Baker Russell, with his Zulu allies,
continues to operate in the disaffected districts.

The Times on Tuesday had a leader commenting upon the
terms proposed by Sir Garnet Wolseley for the future go-
vernment of Zululand, and accepted by the Zulu chiefs. We
make the following extract therefrom
. . "In order fully to understand their import
they should be read in connexion with the accounts,
transmitted to this country a few months ago, of the
condition of Zululand under Cetywayo's rule. We
need not go for an effective contrast to the im-
passioned rhetoric of Sir Bartle Frere's earlier de-
spatches; it is sufficient to take the simpler and not
less authentic narratives of missionaries who were
stationed in the country and described its condition,
if not with absolute impartiality, at least without any
direct political bias or purpose. It is important to
make this comparison in order to see that the war,
which we should gladly have avoided if it had been
possible to do so, is not unlikely to be productive of
fermanent and beneficial results. Nearly every clause
or the terms proposed by Sir Garnet Wolseley and ac-
cepted by the Zulu chiefs points to some portion of
Cetywayo's system which was at once oppressive to his
subjects itnd menacing to his neighbours. The second
clause finally extinguishes the organization which
made of the whole male population of Zululand that
army of celibate, man-destroying gladiators which
so powerfully affected the imagination of Sir
Bartle Frere. No military system is to exist in
future, and the Zulus are to be allowed to marry
when and as they choose. Moreover, by the next
clause the importation of arms and ammunition is
forbidden, save under the sanction of the British
Resident of the district; so that if any ambitious
chief were to try to restore the offensive strength
of his people, full warning would be given before
the mischief could grow to a head. The wisdom
and necessity of these provisions aro manifest with-
out further elucidation. We know how Cetywayo
made of his people a nation of warriors; we know,
too, the cruelty and oppression whereby his end
was accomplished, and we have learnt to our
cost how effective for warfare in a savage and im-
penetrable country his organization had become.
If the second and third clauses of Sir Garnet Wolseley's
terms are loyally fulfilled, the barbarous system of
Chaka and Cetywayo will be extinguished for ever.
The fourth clause is not less important in its mode of
dealing with the civil and social organization of
the country, It is abundantly evident that in
Cetywayo's time the life of no man in Zululand
was safe, unless he submitted himself, without a
murmur to the arbitrary will of the King. Cety-
wayo, indeed, had pledged himself at his corona-
tion that no Zulu should be killed without open
trial and opportunity of defending himself againet
his accusers. But this pledge was repeatedly.
broken, according to the testimony of resident mis-
sionaries, and the military power of the King enabled
him te despatch by an impi' any of his subjects who
had offended him, or whom he suspeated of resistance
to his will. No sooner were the coronation ceremonies
over than the impis ' were sent out to kill Zulus
suspected of conversion to et ristianity, witches were
'smelt out' and murdered, old men were killed be-
cause they would not attend at the King's kraal,
girls because they would not marry old men, and all
the cruelties which Catywayo had promised to abandon
in consideration of British sanction and support were
revived and practised with greater severity than had
ever before been known. These facts are well authen-
ticated and beyond dispute: even if we hesitate to
admit that they justified our interference, we may
at any rate congratulate ourselves that the result
of our interference has been to extinguish the bar-
barons and inhuman rule under which such practices
were possible. The war has cost us much, and we
still hold that it might have been avoided. The quick
collapse of Cetywayo's power gives the measure of his
real strength, and it is now impossible to think that he
was ever so powerful for offensive purposes as he was
at one time represented to be. But it is, at any rate,
some satisfaction to reflect that we have put an end
for ever to a system of government which must always
have been a scandal and might at any moment have be-
come a menace to the civilization established on its
borders . " ....

A NEW USE FOR CABRIEB FIGEONS.—Two O the
pigeons uged by the Trinity Corporation for communi-
cation between the lightships and the shore arrived at
Harwich on Wednesday raorn!ng from the Sunk with
a cipher message marked on their wings denoting that
a vessel was in distress in the vicinity of the lightship.
The lifeboat Springwell put off to render aid. A
heavy south-west gale had been blowing throughout
the night, and the water was extremely rough in the
North Sea. This is the first occasion on which the
pigeons have been of service in this way. The mes-
sages were marked 44 very urgent,"