Zulu King in England. What some papers had to say!!

Posts : 1857 Join date : 2009-03-25

VISIT OF THE EX-ZULU KING TO BRAYTON. - The 'Liverpool Post' says:

CETEWAYO and suite left Cape Town on Thursday afternoon on board the Union Company's steamship 'Arab' for this country, so that in all probability the dethroned King will set foot on English soil in about three weeks. The fact that he is to be the guest of SIR WILFRID LAWSON during a portion of his visit to England is suggestive. Unless CETEWAYO has been belied to an even greater extent than is supposed, he has neither been an ardent teetotaller nor a particularly humane and peaceful king, but he has been dethroned, as many people believe very wrongly, and SIR WILFRID is ready to befriend him in his distress. It may be safely predicted that when the Border baronet comes to champion CETEWAYO's cause in the House of commons, he will not evoke Tory cheers.

So CETEWAYO has really seen the Queen, and sat or stood in the Royal presence. Poor fellow; his is a very pitiable case. However opinions may differ - and i know they do differ very widely - about the justice or otherwise of the Zulu War, surely no Englishman can have pleasure in reading day by day of this prisoner King, a stranger in a strange land, being watched and followed and photographed and talked about as though he were some interesting animal "just arrived and now on view." Surely when the ex-monarch entered the presence of that lady whom we all esteem, on Monday morning, her Majesty felt some compassion for the unfortunate captive.

CETEWAYO appears to be good tempered, easily managed, and willing to be reasoned with. He committed no offence save that of defending his native land with all his might and main, and doing his best to keep the land of the Zuluz out of the hands of strangers and foreigners.
My hope is that this unhappy sable King may soon be permitted to return to his country and his people.

THE STATE OF ZULULAND.

A correspondent in Natal, writing on March 4 says: -

" I have been all through Zululand, and it makes me shudder to think of the misery now endured by these once happy people. They dare not complain, as they would at once be 'eaten up' by their kinglets or killed. The mass of people would soon be put an end to this miserable state of things, but they fear to offend the English Government. What can the people think when England looks quietly on while her puppets kill large numbers of people from sheer bloodthirstiness? I shall never forget my visit to Zululand, and shall never care to go there again, as things are now."

Frere had a lot to answer for.

Guest

Bravo 24th

When you know that what happened in Zululand after the return of the king, with the book ofLaband, we really understand that the colonial wars, it's really a shame for their instigators ...

Cheers

Pascal

24th, seems that opinion has long been sympathetic towards Cetshwayo - a man who did nothing wrong but defend his own sovereign territory from a foreign invader.
Do you have the date that this article was published in the Liverpool Post?

THE MARYPORT ADVERTISER AND WEEKLY NEWS, Friday, July 21, 1882, ASPATRIA AND DISTRICT

Guest

Yes the English found Cetewayo so friendly and this war so unfair that the Prime Minister was quickly replaced...

The courage of the Zulu was even used by political opponents of Prime Minister...

Cheers

Pascal