On December 5th, 1877, two indunas came from Cetshwayo to the Bishop of Natal with a request that he would put the Zulu claim in writing, to be sent to Sir H. Bulwer and the Queen. The same indunas, a few days later, with Umfunzi and ’Nkisimane—messengers from Cetshwayo—appointed, before a notary public, Dr. Walter Smith and Mr. F. E. Colenso to be “diplomatic agents” for Cetshwayo, “who should communicate on his behalf in the English language, and, when needful, in writing,” and especially to “treat with the British Government on the boundary question” (2000, p. 58);[75] which appointment, however, Sir H. Bulwer and Sir T. Shepstone refused to recognise; and the former, having proposed the Border Commission before receiving notice of this appointment—though the Commissioners had not yet started from ’Maritzburg—did not feel it advisable, as “no such appointment had been made by the Zulu king,”[76] to communicate to Messrs. Smith and Colenso Lord Carnarvon’s despatch (January 21st, 1878), which said:
“I request that you will inform Mr. Smith and Mr. Colenso that the desire of Her Majesty’s Government in this matter is that the boundary question shall be fully and fairly discussed, and a just arrangement arrived at, and that you will refer them to Sir T. Shepstone, to whom has been committed the duty of negotiating on the subject.”[77]
Meanwhile, however, Sir T. Shepstone’s “negotiations” had proved unsuccessful, and Sir Henry Bulwer writes to Sir Bartle Frere (2000, p. 68): “It seems but too clear, from all that has now happened, that the prospect of a settlement of the question by direct negotiations between the Government of the Transvaal and the Zulu king is at an end. The feeling against the Boers on the part of the Zulu king and people is too bitter, and they are now scarcely less angry against the new Government of the Transvaal than they were against the old Government.” He then suggests arbitration as a way by which the Zulu king “can escape the alternative of war, by which he can obtain justice, and by which, at the same time, he can avoid direct negotiations with the Government of a people whom he dislikes and distrusts.”
The diplomatic agents were never recognised by the colonial authorities, or allowed to exercise their functions; but a visit which Mr. Colenso paid to the Zulu king in connection with the appointment is worth recording for the sake of the glimpse it gives of Cetshwayo’s habits and daily life, as told by a disinterested eye-witness.
The king, it appears, whom so many have delighted to represent as a corpulent unwieldy savage, to whom movement must be a painful exertion, was in the habit of taking a daily constitutional of about six miles out and back. Mr. Colenso observed that this was his regular habit, and during his stay at the royal kraal he daily saw Cetshwayo start, and could trace his course over the hills by the great white shield carried before him as the emblem of kingship.
On his return the king regularly underwent a process of ablution at the hands of his attendants, who poured vessels of water over him, and rubbed the royal person down with a species of soft stone. This performance over, Cetshwayo ascended his throne or chair of state, upon which he remained, hearing causes, and trying cases amongst his people, until the shades of evening fell, before which time he did not break his fast.
This description, of the accuracy of which there can be no question, gives a picture of a simple, moderate, and useful kingly existence, very different from the idea commonly received of a savage monarch, wallowing in sloth and coarse luxury, and using the power which he holds over his fellow-creatures only for the gratification of every evil or selfish human passion. Cetshwayo ruled his people well according to his lights: let us hope that, now we have wrested his kingdom from him, our government may prove a more beneficent one.