58 A COLONY IN THE MAKING chap. 



Let us take now the action of Mr. Harcourt and his 

 sympathisers. They disagreed with the verdict, and 

 with the considerations that moved the jury who found 

 that verdict. They might have taken two courses ; 

 either on some technical grounds they might have 

 annulled the trial and had another, or else they might 

 have decided that the settlers were unfit to have any 

 share in the administration of justice and have done 

 away for a time with trial by jury. For either decision, 

 although extreme, it would have been possible to find 

 some justification. Neither course, however, was taken 

 but a man who was found innocent in a court of justice 

 was condemned out of hand on evidence which he had 

 no opportunity of hearing, and awarded a heavier 

 sentence than he would have incurred if he had been 

 legally condemned. How does this accord with the 

 British sense of justice or the maxim that " every man 

 is innocent till he is proved guilty " ? The hypocrisy 

 of the action of the Colonial Office is brought out in 

 the reason assigned for Mr. Cole's deportation, 

 namely, that his presence was a menace to the peace 

 of the Protectorate. Mr. Harcourt must have known 

 very well that Mr. Cole was one of the most popular, 

 if not actually the most popular, settler with the native 

 population. If it had been possible to utilise his 

 advice and good offices, the muddle effected over the 

 movement of the Masai would almost certainly have 

 been averted. Mr. Cole was well- or ill-advised 

 enough to accept quietly the punishment imposed 

 upon him. Possibly the fact that he was in poor 

 health at the time had much to do with his decision ; 

 but it is to be hoped that the Home authorities will 

 not be led on by this acquiescence to repeat the 

 experiment. If there is one thing more than another 



