The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-03-30
SOUTH AFRICA IS AROUSED.
COLONIAL SECRETARY STOPS EXE-
CITION OF NEGRO MURDERERS.
Natal Cabinet Resigns in PrOtest-Home
Governments Action Denounced
Hint That There Was Fear OF Native
Uprising n Sentences Were Carried Out.
.Spccfa, Gable De,pdteh TO THE sun.

Special Gable De,pdteh 10 THE sun.
LONDON, March 29.-The Government OF
Natal resigned to-day on account OF a differ
ence with the Colon ial Office over the sem
fencing of twelve natives arrested during a
recent outbreak. The twelve had been
convicted of murder and sentenced to be
hanged. The Colonial Cabinet affirmed the
sentence, and the Prime Minister. c. j.
Smythe, refused to postpone the execution
after tomorrow.
Sir Henry Edward McCallum. the Gov
ernor of the colony, thereupon interviewed
and granted the condemned men a reprieve
by letters patent. The Earl OF Elgin Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies, cabled an
Endorsement of the Governors action, and
on receipt Of his message the Cabinet re-
signed.
The action Of the Colonial Secretary has
raised q storm of protest in the Conserva-
tive papers, clubs and political circles. IL
is denounced as a grave blunder and a
violation of constitutional usage which is
fraught with the gravest possibilities OF
disaster.
From the principal centres of South
Africa come dispatches recording the in
dignation, not of Natal alone, but OF all
the colonies. the feeling being comparable
to thai which would prevail among the
whites of the Southern States il the Govern
ment at Washington should forbid the
execution of negro murderers convicted
after due trial.
The circumstances leading TO the trouble
were as follows: A party Of police were
engaged on February s in collecting the
native poll tax at Byrne, a tow in the
Richmond district Of Natal. They were
ambushed by forty natives and a sub
inspector and a trooper we're killed. Twenty
natives were arrested and court -martialled
Twelve Of them were sentenced to be shot
bv the court, which was composed OF militia
officers. The prisoners were legally repre-
septed. The sentences were confirmed
by the Governor in council. The opponents
of the executions contend that the offence
WAS committed before martial law was
proclaimed and that, therefore, the prison.
ers ought to nave been tried by a civil
court.
The Marquis Of Lansdowne QUESTION: d
the Earl of Elgin on the subject in the House
OF Lords. The Colonial Secretary after
stating the facts disavowed want OF sym
pathy with the colony, but said that the
execution of twelve men sentenced by a
| court martial was a serious matter, and
in view of a possible demand for the ser
vices of British troops in the colony he
considered il has duty to ask for further
information.
The matter was brought up in the House
of Commons by questions put to Under
Colonial Secretary Churchill. He was care
| full to repudiate an u~nwarrantable presump-
ton implied in the afternoon newspapers
that he was the author of the order sus-
pending the executions. such an order,
| he said, could only be issued by the head
of the Colonial Office. He somewhat elab-
| Grated the Colonial Secretary's reply in the
House of Lords. referring more particularly
to the possibility of a native rising in Natal,
but he could not give further information.
He added that he hoped to know more OF
the matter tomorrow.
Several members Of the opposition hotly
attacked the Governments action. The
House broke up in some disorder.
1t is noteworthy that the present agita-
ton affords each side Of the controversy
| opportunity to accuse the other OF invoking
the spirit which lost Great Britain her
| American colonies. Neither is slow to
| avail itself of the chance. The antrim
perialists, whose attacks for the moment
are focused on Viscount Miner, accuse
| him of estranging the Dutch %oolonials and
| the Beers by methods akin to those made
famous in American history, while the
| imperialists similarly denounce the Gov
ernment's unwarrantable and veNatious
interference with colonial rights.