“That Matyana was enticed to an interview, as stated by the Bishop, and was induced to come unarmed, under the belief that it was a friendly meeting, such as he had already had with Mr. Shepstone, for the purpose of discussing the accusations against him and the question of his return to his location.
“That Matyana, though very suspicious and unwilling, came there in good faith; and that the accusations against him—of meditating the assassination of Mr. Shepstone and his party, of a prearranged plan and signal for the purpose, and of carrying concealed arms to the meeting—which are made in Mr. J. Shepstone’s statements, are entirely without foundation.
“That Mr. Shepstone at that time held no magisterial position, but was simply the commander of a small armed force charged with the execution of a warrant; and that the manner in which he proposed to effect the seizure, viz. at a supposed friendly meeting, was known to and sanctioned by, if not the Government, at least the immediate representative of the Government and Mr. Shepstone’s superior, Dr. Kelly, the resident magistrate of the district.
“That Mr. Shepstone did not attempt to shoot Matyana, as described by the Bishop, but fired into the air after the attempt to seize Matyana had failed, and in consequence of the attempt made almost simultaneously by some of Matyana’s men to reach the huts and seize the arms of Mr. Shepstone’s men.
“The concealment of the gun,” he continues, “and the fact that a number of Matyana’s men were killed in the pursuit, is not disputed by Mr. Shepstone.
“I confess that I have had the greatest difficulty in forming my opinion on this latter point, and especially as to whether Mr. Shepstone fired into the air as he states. The weight of direct evidence adduced at the inquiry lay altogether on the other side.”[51]
Colonel Colley then proceeds to give the considerations by which he has been influenced in coming to a conclusion directly opposed to the side on which, as he himself says, lay the weight of direct evidence. These considerations were threefold. The first is an opinion of his own, considerably at variance with most people’s experience, namely, that a story handed down by oral tradition “crystallises into an accepted form,” by which he explains away the fact that so many witnesses told the same story, and one which stood the test of cross-examination, without any important variations.
The second consideration was even more singular, namely, that allowance must be made on Mr. John Shepstone’s side for the greater ability with which the Bishop conducted his case; and the third lay in the statement that “Mr. J. W. Shepstone is a man of known courage, and a noted sportsman and shot,” and “was not likely to have missed” Matyana if he had fired at him; “and, if driven to fire into the crowd in self-defence, it is more probable that he would have shot one of the men on the right.” The Bishop’s opponents from the very first persistently put forward the notion that he had “brought a charge against Mr. J. W. Shepstone,” and this was countenanced by the Government when they threw upon him the serious task of prosecuting before a Court of Enquiry, whereas in point of fact the real question at issue was not whether or no a certain shot was actually fired, but whether, on a certain occasion, a Government official had acted in a treacherous manner towards a native chief, thereby giving reason for the excuse of fear on the part of Langalibalele, treated as a false pretence by the court, some members of which were fully aware of the facts, and the prosecutor himself the official concerned. And, further, whether the said facts had been concealed by high Government officers, and denied by them repeatedly to their superiors in England.
On the former questions Colonel Colley’s report leaves no doubt, and Lord Carnarvon’s comments upon it are of a very decided nature. After signifying his acceptance of the decision as a “sound and just conclusion,” and complimenting Colonel Colley on the “able and conscientious manner in which” he “has acquitted himself of an arduous and delicate task,” he continues: “On the other hand, I must, even after the lapse of so many years, record my disapprobation of the artifices by which it is admitted Matyana was entrapped into the meeting with a view to his forcible arrest. Such underhand manœuvres are opposed to the morality of a civilised administration; they lower English rule in the eyes of the natives; and they even defeat their own object, as is abundantly illustrated by the present case.”
Mr. J. W. Shepstone, however, was a subordinate officer, and if his mode of executing the warrant was approved by the superior authorities in the colony, the blame which may attach to the transaction must be borne by them at least in equal proportion.