A load of racist nonsense if you ask me.
" The true causes of the Zulu, as of the Afghan war, are neglect of neighbourly duties and responsibilities, incumbent on a rich, civilized and powerful nation, towards poor barbarous tribes on its borders. We have allowed a noble people, capable of rapid and permanent advancement in civilization, to grow in numbers, whilst they festered in barbarism, till they became a serious danger to us. We have shut our eyes and turned our backs on their wants and defects, left them as much as possible to themselves, endeavoured to see and know as little of them, and to let them see and know as little of us as was possible, and then we are surprised to find that they have grown into a danger, only to be averted by war.”
" No competent judge, as far as I can learn, now doubts Cetywayo's policy to have inflicted even more atrocious damage on Natal in the year just passed, than he and his uncle had inflicted before, by the hands of men many of whom are still living and active members of the late Zulu army.
" These facts seem to me to prove that I did not over-estimate the Zulu danger; let me add a few words in answer to the counter charge of rashness, in that I under-estimated it, and allowed Lord Chelmsford to attempt the task with an insufficient force.
" In answer to this, I will only ask Mr. Gladstone to ponder one more unquestionable fact. An unexpected disaster, caused in Lord
Chelmsford's absence by disregard of his orders, entailed a delay of five months and serious discouragement to us, and added enormously to the military prestige of the enemy.
Nevertheless, as soon as he was enabled to resume the offensive, Lord Chelmsford, moving on the same line as that he first adopted, in eight marches from the scene of the former disaster, with a column of about 6000 Europeans, completely defeated the Zulu army annihilated their military system.
" Will any one, with this unquestionable fact before him, say?
I was rash in what I asked Lord Chelmsford to attempt in January with about 6600 English soldiers, commanded by officers like Wood and Redvers Buller, Pearson and Glyn?
" But it is said by some people, ' Cetywayo did not intend to use his army for purposes of war;' others say, ' the war might have been postponed.'
" Few, probably, now go so far as to maintain that Cetywayo kept up his army in the interests of peace.' He had formally and repeatedly announced his desire to shed blood, and there was no one within reach, beyond his own dominions, whose blood he could shed, save English subjects or their protected allies.
" He had enrolled every able-bodied male in his kingdom into his army, and trained that army into a most perfect machine of destruction.
"Would Mr. Gladstone believe any civilized monarch on the earth, if he said that such a universal enrolment and training of the whole male population was not intended to be used for any Military purpose?
Source: Afghanistan and South Africa; a letter to the Right Hon. W.E. Gladstone, M.P., regarding portions of his Midlothian speeches
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Capt. J. Waddy 1st Btn 13th (Somerset Regiment.
Captain C.C. Cole 80th Staffordshire Regiment.
(Isandula Collection)
