THE KIKUYU 



57 



ease and so glibly order the affairs of better men, I 

 would submit the following arguments. 



The police and Law Courts exist to maintain the 

 law of the land. In any old-established country they 

 have the ability and power to do the same. While 

 they have this power and ability it is the duty of 

 every citizen to leave the maintenance of law and 

 order to them. But in undeveloped countries, and 

 in special circumstances, the Law Courts and the 

 police are powerless to administer justice. In such 

 circumstances it is not human nature, nor is it right 

 and proper, that citizens should sit still and allow 

 lawlessness to run riot and the efforts of honest toil to 

 become fruitless. In every savage country it has been 

 proved that up to a certain point it is absolutely 

 necessary for settlers in certain cases to take the law 

 into their own hands for the protection of themselves 

 and their property. Among such cases the case of 

 cattle theft has always been pre-eminent. 



Among the tribes of British East Africa, and more 

 especially among the Kikuyu themselves, the penalty 

 for a stock thief caught red-handed is death ; conse- 

 quently, when the penalty is inflicted by a white man, 

 no sense of injury or injustice is felt. It is such 

 considerations as these that moved, and I submit 

 not unreasonably, the jury in considering their 

 verdict. 



One thing is certain, and that is that practically 

 every settler in the country was in agreement with 

 the verdict ; further that had destiny called out Mr. 

 Harcourt and his colleagues to East Africa instead of 

 guiding their steps to the Front Bench, in all human 

 probability they too would have been in complete 

 concurrence. 



