ry,
when Bulgarians are concerned, or when the subject is one that piques
the morbid curiosity, or is the rage of the moment, and the subject of
addresses from great and eloquent speakers. But we can sit still, and
let such massacres as these take place, when we have but to hold up our
hand to stop them. When occasionally the veil is lifted a little, and
the public hears of "fresh fighting in Zululand;" a question is asked
in the House; Mr. Courtney, as usual, has no information, but generally
discredits the report, and it is put aside as "probably not true." I
am well aware that of the few who read these words, many will discredit
them, or say that they are written for some object, or for party
purposes. But it is not the case; they are written in the interest of
the truth, and in the somewhat faint hope that they may awaken a portion
of the public, however small, to a knowledge of our responsibilities
to the unfortunate Zulus. For try to get rid of it as we may, those
responsibilities rest upon our shoulders. When we conquered the Zulu
nation and sent away the Zulu king, we undertook, morally at any rate,
to provide for the future good government of the country; otherwise, the
Zulu war was unjust indeed. If we continue to fail, as we have hitherto,
to carry out our responsibilities as a humane and Christian nation ought
to do, our lapse from what is right will certainly recoil upon our own
heads, and, in the stern lessons of future troubles and disasters, we
shall learn that Providence with the nation, as with the individual,
makes a neglected duty its own avenger. We have sown the wind, let us be
careful lest we reap the whirlwind.
It is very clear that things cannot remain in their present condition.
If they do, it is probable that the Resident will sooner or later
be assassinated; not from any personal motives, but as a political
necessity, and some second Chaka will rise up and found a new Zulu
dynasty, sweeping away our artificial chiefs and divisions like cobwebs.
This idea seems to have penetrated into Lord Kimberley's official mind,
since in his despatch of instructions to Sir H. Bulwer, written in
February last, he says, "Probably if the chiefs are left to themselves
after a period more or less prolonged of war and anarchy, some man will
raise himself to the position of supreme chief." The prospect of war and
anarchy in Zululand does not, however, trouble Lord Kimberley at all; in
fact, the whole despatch is
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