to rise and hurl himself
across the Natal frontier. But I, having just returned from my native
country, have been able to report to the Government at Pietermaritzburg
that there is not the slightest symptom of disloyalty, not the idea of
lifting a finger against the white subjects of the great and good Queen.

There is among the Chiefs and Indunas of my people an almost universal
hope that the Imperial arms will be victorious, and that a Government
which, by its inhumanity and relentless injustice, and apparent
inability to see that the native has any rights a white man should
respect, has forfeited its place among the civilised Governments of the
earth, and should therefore be deprived of powers so scandalously
abused--formerly by slavery, and in later years by disallowing the
native to buy land, and utterly neglecting his intellectual and
spiritual needs. There are wrongs to be redressed, and we Zulus believe
that England will be more willing to redress them than any other Power.
There is still much to be done in the way of educating and civilizing
the mass of the Zulu nation. We Chiefs of that nation have observed that
wherever England has gone there the Missionary and teacher follow, and
that there exists sympathy between the authority of Her Majesty and the
forces that labour for civilization and Christianity. We Zulus have not
yet forgotten what we owe to the late Bishop Colenso's lifelong
advocacy, or to Lady Florence Dixie's kindly interest. These are things
that are more than fear of England's might, that keep our people quiet
outside and loyal inside. This is not a passive loyalty with us.
Speaking for almost all my fellow-countrymen in Zululand, I believe if a
great emergency arises in the course of this history-making war, in
which England might find it necessary to put their loyalty to the test,
they would respond with readiness and enthusiasm equal to that when they
fought under King Cetewayo against Lord Chelmsford's army. Again
assuring you that the Zulu people are turning deaf ears to Boer
promises, as well as threats, I remain, with the most earnest hope for
the ultimate triumph of General Buller--who fought my King for half a
year. Your humble and most obedient servant,

M'PLAANK,

Son of Maguende, brother of Cetewayo."

There is unhappily a tendency among persons living for any length of
time among heathen people, to think and speak with a certain contempt
for those people, at whose m