CHAPTER XIV 
THE COUNTRY 
F I may borrow an illustration from old rowing days, 
the Government of the Protectorate reminds me of 
a strong but ragged eight-oar crew. Individually they 
are a fair lot, but stroke does not know his own mind and 
looks a good deal out of the boat, so the men behind him 
cannot get together. Naturally the boat rolls and has 
not much pace on and the men growl at each other. Worst 
of all, the coach is too far away to see properly the crew’s 
work, yet is constantly shouting contradictory orders 
to stroke, whose one aim seems not to be to win a race so 
much as to avoid an upset. The crew, too, has a pretty 
good German boat to race against. 
The simple truth is this wonderfully promising land 
has been ruled and is still ruled after no settled policy. 
Philanthropists tried their hands, diplomats and soldiers 
all had their turn, but a consistent policy based on a study 
of the country, its native populations and its resources 
there never has been. One man tries one thing, he is 
recalled and his opponent given an innings. Commis- 
sioners and acting commissioners have been allowed to 
do what they wanted, whether it was or whether it was 
not consistent with the acts of their predecessors. No 
one, I think, has more wisely and temperately written 
a history of British rule in Uganda and East Africa 
than J. W. Gregory in his quite admirably lucid volume, 
“The Foundation of British East Africa” (page 243). 
I did not see Professor Gregory’s book until I had 
written this chapter, but his summing up of the situa- 
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