THE TWENTY-SECOND WAR : THE ZULU WAR. 43 



THE TWENTY-SECOND WAR: THE ZULU WAR. 



1878. 



In 1878 England was engaged in a strange enterprise in South Africa, 

 for she deliberately, and of malice aforethought, compassed the sub- 

 jugation of the brave Zulu people. England embarked in an 

 aggressive War, in which failure was not to be thought of, but in 

 which the greater the success, the greater the disgrace. 



Surely every true-born Englishman must feel that this Zulu War 

 was a stain on the honor of England. 



The War was the direct result of the " spirited foreign policy " of 

 Lord Beaconsfield's Government, and, as a few facts will be necessary, 

 I will endeavour to be just to both sides. 



The founder of the Zulu dynasty was a sanguinary despot named 

 Chaka, and his successor to the Throne was Dingaan, the terror of the 

 Boers, and he was succeeded by his son Cetywayo, whose military 

 system was undoubtedly a cruel one, based on the exercise of 

 arbitrary military power. 



When the Transvaal was annexed to England (referred to in 

 the last War), Cetywayo expected that England would have 

 arranged the frontier disputes, which had been for many years a 

 bitter source of contention with the Boers. 



Unfortunately, Sir Theophilus Shepstone, after his appointment as 

 Administrator of the Transvaal, supported the Boer claim, and to 

 this circumstance and subsequent complications the Zulu War must 

 be attributed. 



The disputed territory referred to, lay to the eastward of Zululand, 

 and early in 1878 Sir Henry Bulwer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, 

 appointed Mr. Shepstone and the late Colonel Durnford to enquire 

 into the respective claims of the two States, and this Commission met 

 at Rorke's Drift the Delegates from the Transvaal and of the Zulu 

 King. 



The report of the Commission was submitted to Sir Bartle Frere, 

 who had been sent out to the Cape as High Commissioner, with full 

 powers, but Sir Bartle Frere did not give his award till December, 

 1878, exactly six months after the decision of the Joint Commission 

 was known ; and when Sir Bartle Frere gave his award, instead of it 

 being a Message of Peace, it was a Declaration of War — for it was 

 accompanied by an ultimatum. 



The ultimatum contained several demands, (r) That Cetywayo 

 should surrender Sirayo, a powerful Chief, and his two sons, who 



