12. All disputes in which a missionary or European (e.g. trader or traveller) is concerned, shall be heard by the king in public, and in presence of the Resident.
13. No sentence of expulsion from Zululand shall be carried out until it has been approved by the Resident.
N.B.—Ten days more were allowed for compliance with the above demands (4-13).
The Natal Colonist, August 21st, 1879, condenses the opinions of Sir B. Pine upon the ultimatum—from his article in “The Contemporary Review,” June, 1879—thus:
“He thinks the depriving Messrs. Smith and Deighton of their handkerchiefs and pipes hardly a matter deserving of a place in such a document; that the Sihayo and Umbilini affairs were more serious, but that ‘full reparation ... might have been obtained by friendly negotiations.’ He does not attach to the promises alleged to have been made by Cetshwayo ‘the force of a treaty which we were bound to see executed.’ And while approving of a British Resident being placed in the Zulu country, he frankly recalls the fact that ‘Cetshwayo has himself, on more than one occasion, requested such an arrangement.’ ‘At the same time,’ he adds, ‘I think that the powers proposed to be invested in this officer are more than are necessary or expedient, and I would especially refer to those relating to the protection of missionaries. Christianity ought not to be enforced at the point of the sword.’ In reference to Cetshwayo’s alleged coronation promises, we may note in passing that Sir B. Pine is careful to point out that one chief reason for his sanctioning that expedition was ‘out of deference to Mr. Shepstone’s judgment;’ and that it was expressly stipulated by the High Commissioner that no British troops should accompany Mr. Shepstone, ‘so that Her Majesty’s Government might not be compromised in the matter.’ With such a stipulation it is amazing that anyone should still contend that Cetshwayo entered into engagements so solemn as to call for invasion of his country to punish the breach of them.”
And the Special Correspondent of The Cape Argus writes: “As regards the alleged coronation engagements, Dunn affirms that no undertaking was made by, or even asked from, Cetshwayo. In the act of coronation, Mr. (now Sir T.) Shepstone gave to the king a piece of paternal counsel, and the conditions were in reality nothing more than recommendations urged upon his acceptance by the Special Commissioner.
“Lord Kimberley, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies at the time of Sir T. Shepstone’s installation of Cetshwayo, spoke upon this subject in the House of Lords;” which The Daily News, March 26th, 1879, reports as follows:
“With respect to the so-called coronation promises, nothing had more astonished him in these papers than to learn that these promises were supposed to constitute an engagement between us and the Zulu nation. He happened to have had some concern in that matter; and if he had supposed that Sir T. Shepstone, in asking for these promises from Cetshwayo, had rendered us responsible to the Zulu nation to see that they were enforced, he would not have lost a mail in disavowing any such responsibility. He was supported in the view which he took by the late Colonial Secretary (Lord Carnarvon). The fact was that these were friendly assurances, given in response to friendly advice, and constituted no engagement. But Sir B. Frere put these ‘coronation promises’ in the foreground.” Sir M. Hicks-Beach, also, says (2144, p. 1): “It is obvious that the position of Sir T. Shepstone in this matter was that of a friendly counsellor, giving advice to the king as to the good government of the country.”
The demands which we have recorded were delivered to the Zulu envoys, who were not allowed to discuss or comment upon them, on the ground that the Commission had no authority for that purpose. The envoys, indeed, appeared seriously concerned by their import. They denied that the coronation stipulations had ever been disregarded, and said that they could not understand why the Zulu army should be disbanded; the army was a national custom with them as with the English. They also asked for an extension of time, and considered that on such important matters no specified time should have been fixed; the reply to which request was that the time was considered ample.
Sir B. Frere, in his covering despatch to the Secretary of State, remarks that the “enclosed extracts from demi-official letters,” from the Hon. Mr. Brownlee and the Hon. Mr. Littleton, “give an outline of the proceedings, and show that the messages were carefully delivered, well explained, and thoroughly understood, copies of the English text with Zulu translations being given to the Zulu envoys.” On turning to “the enclosed extracts,” however, we do not find in them a single word of the sort from either gentleman, while the extract from Mr. Littleton’s letter consists of not a dozen lines describing the spot where the meeting took place, and in which the writer’s opinions are limited to these: “they (the Zulus) seemed to take the award very quietly,” but “were evidently disturbed” by the ultimatum, and “Mr. Shepstone seemed to me to manage very well.” The young gentleman could not well say any more, as he did not know a word of Zulu; but one is puzzled to know how Sir B. Frere draws his deductions from either extract. How far the opinions of the other honourable gentleman are to be depended upon, may be gathered from the following assertion made by him some months after the Boundary Commissioners had deliberately decided that the Boers had no claim whatever to the disputed territory, but that it would be expedient to allow them to retain the Utrecht district.