CHAPTER XIV 



THE COUNTRY 



IF 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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