History of the Zulu war and its origin

by Frances Ellen Colenso

It was a well-known fact that the fighting-men of the Zulu nation were with their army, and that the only occupants of the kraals to be raided were the women, children, and the infirm and other non-combatants; therefore the General’s following remark, “I am satisfied that the more the Zulu nation at large feels the strain brought upon them by the war, the more anxious will they be to see it brought to an end,” was of a highly Christian, wise, and soldierly nature, hardly to be matched by anything attributed to the Zulu monarch himself.

Sir Henry Bulwer’s replies were temperate but decided. He pointed out that the statement contained in Lord Chelmsford’s despatch to the Secretary of State for War, implying that the Governor’s interference had (or might have) seriously interfered with the relief of Etshowe, was erroneous; Etshowe having been relieved on the 3rd of April, five days before Sir Henry even heard of the order for the Natal natives to make raids. To the General himself he observes that his interference had been limited to approval of the action of the district commander, who declined to employ his force in a manner contrary to the express stipulations under which they were raised, and concludes: “The views of this Government are very strongly against the employment, under the present circumstances, of the native levies or native population along the border in making raids into the Zulu country, as being, in the opinion of the Government, calculated to invite retaliation, and also as being demoralising to the natives engaged in raiding” (ibid. p. 55).

The Lieut.-Governor’s views were that these native levies “were called out expressly and solely for service in the colony, and for the defence of the colony, and were placed under the colonial district commanders for that purpose only,” and that no authority had been given to employ these native levies “on any service in the Zulu country” (ibid. p. 54).

And it seems that raids along the border had been ordered after the relief of Etshowe was effected.

Sir H. Bulwer writes, 16th April, that he had received, on the 7th, a copy of a military telegram written after the relief of Etshowe, showing that the General had “ordered raids to be made across the border wherever feasible,” and, on the following day, a copy of a memorandum, written from Etshowe by Colonel Crealock, the Assistant Military Secretary, and addressed to the officer commanding at the Lower Tugela, and, among other things, it contained the following instruction: “Send word up to the frontier to raid across the river wherever the river permits.” And the same evening he heard of the native levies having been required to cross (ibid. p. 53).

The question of the employment of the native levies in making raids across the border was referred by the Lieut.-Governor to the Executive Council of Natal, which, on the 23rd April, expressed itself as “strongly opposed to the employment, in making raids into the Zulu country, of the native levies, who ... have been called out for the defence of the colony only.” But, in view of the Lieut.-General’s strongly-expressed opinions, the Council felt there was no alternative but that the General “should have the power of so employing the native levies on the border. At the same time, the Council desires ... to record emphatically its objections to the course proposed, and to such employment of the levies.”—(P. P. [C. 2367] p. 132).

This decision of the Executive Council was communicated to the General on April 25th by the Lieut.-Governor, with the remark: “Your Excellency will therefore have the power to employ the native levies across the border in the way named by you, should you think it imperatively necessary for military reasons. Your Excellency will not fail to perceive, however, that such employment of the native levies is against the decided opinion of this colony as to its inexpediency” (ibid. p. 133).

On the 20th May raids were again made into Zululand from three different points, under Major Twentyman’s command. One party crossed at the Elibomvu Drift, and burnt fifteen kraals and large quantities of grain; another burnt three kraals and captured a large herd of cattle; and the third burnt two kraals, and then, seeing the Zulus assembling in force, beat a hurried retreat across the Tugela.—(P. P. [C. 2374] p. 91).

Sir Henry Bulwer, on the 24th May, writes to the High Commissioner: “Major-General the Hon. H. H. Clifford, commanding the base of operations ... was wholly unaware that any such raid was being organised by Major Twentyman, who, I believe, acted under general instructions received from head-quarters.... The views of the Government of Natal on the subject of these raids, your Excellency is already acquainted with. The material advantage to be gained by the work of destruction or of plunder of Zulu property can be at the best but trifling and insignificant, and on every other account I fear our action will prove positively injurious to us, to our interests, and to our cause. We are absolutely provoking retaliation. Already, I am informed, since the raid reported in these papers took place, some native huts on the Natal side of the Tugela have been burned by Zulus; and to what extent this work of revenge and retaliation may be carried, with what losses of property, and even of life, inflicted on our border natives, it is impossible to say.... What result we have gained to justify even the risk of such retaliation against us, and of such a sacrifice to our own native population, I know not” (ibid. pp. 89, 90).

The fears of the Lieutenant-Governor were in some measure realised on the 25th June, when he writes: “A raid was made by two bodies of Zulus, numbering, it is estimated, about 1000, into the Tugela Valley, below the Krans Kop in this colony. The Zulus destroyed several kraals, and carried off a number of cattle. I regret to say also that several of our Natal natives, including women, were killed, and some women and children carried off.”