Part 195

"In 1811 the first Kafir war was brought on by the depredations of those warlike natives on the Boers of the eastern frontier; a war to the knife ensued, the Kafirs were driven to the other side of the Great Fish River, and military posts were formed along the border. A second war, however, broke out in 1818, when the Kafirs invading the colony drove the farmers completely out of the country west of the Great Fish River, penetrating as far as Uitenhage. But the Kafirs could not stand against the guns of the colonists, and the second war terminated in the advance of an overwhelming force into Kafirland, and the annexation of a large slice of territory, east of the Great Fish River, to the colony. … For a third time, in 1835, a horde of about 10,000 fighting men of the Kafirs spread fire and slaughter and pillage over the eastern districts, a war which led, as the previous ones had done, to a more extended invasion of Kafraria by the British troops, and the subjugation of the tribes east of the Kei river. … A fourth great Kafir war in 1846, provoked by the daring raids of these hostile tribes and their bold invasions of the colony was also followed up by farther encroachments on Kafir territory, and in 1847 a proclamation was issued extending the frontier to the Orange river on the north and to the Keiskamma river in the east, British sovereignty being then also declared over the territory extending from the latter river eastward to the Kei, though this space was at first reserved for occupation by the Kafirs and named British Kafraria. But peace was restored only for a brief time; in 1857 a fresh Kafir rebellion had broken out, and for two years subsequently a sort of guerilla warfare was maintained along the eastern frontier, involving great losses of life and destruction of property. In 1863 this last Kafir war was brought to a conclusion, and British Kafraria was placed under the rule of European functionaries and incorporated with the colony. In 1868 the Basutos [or Eastern Bechuanas], who occupy the territory about the head of the Orange river, between its tributary the Caledon and the summits of the Drakenberg range, and who had lived under a semi-protectorate of the British since 1848, were proclaimed British subjects. … Subsequently large portions of formerly independent Kafraria between the Kei river and the southern border of Natal have passed under the government of the Cape."

_Hellwald-Johnston, Africa (Stanford's Compendium), chapter 23._

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1867-1871. Discovery of Diamonds. Annexation of Griqualand west to Cape Colony.

See GRIQUAS.

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1877-1879. The Zulu War.

"At this time [1877] besides the three English Colonies of Cape Town, Natal, and the lately formed Griqualand, there were two independent Dutch Republics,—the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal. Much of the white population even of the English Provinces was Dutch, and a still larger proportion consisted of reclaimed or half-reclaimed natives. Thus … there lay behind all disputes the question which invariably attends frontier settlements—the treatment of the native population. This difficulty had become prominent in the year 1873 and 1874, when the fear of treachery on the part of a chief of the name of Langalibalele located in Natal had driven the European inhabitants to unjustifiable violence. The tribe over which the chief had ruled had been scattered and driven from its territory, the chief himself brought to trial, and on most insufficient evidence sentenced to transportation. It was the persuasion that he was intriguing with external tribes which had excited the unreasoning fear of the colonists. For beyond the frontier there lay the Zulus, a remarkable nation, organised entirely upon a military system, and forming a great standing army under the despotic rule of their King Cetchwayo. Along the frontier of Natal the English preserved friendly relations with this threatening chief. But the Dutch Boers of the Transvaal, harsh and arbitrary in their treatment of natives, had already involved themselves in a war with a neighbouring potentate of the name of Secocoeni, and had got into disputes with Cetchwayo, which threatened to bring upon the European Colonies an indiscriminate assault." Lord Carnarvon thought it practicable to cure the troubles in South Africa by a confederation of the colonies. "The difficulty of the situation was so obvious to the Colonial Minister that he had chosen as High Commissioner a man whose experience and energy he could thoroughly trust. Unfortunately in Sir Bartle Frere he had selected a man not only of great ability, but one who carried self-reliance and imperialist views to an extreme. … The danger caused by the reckless conduct of the Boers upon the frontier, and their proved incapacity to resist their native enemies, had made it a matter of the last importance that they should join the proposed Confederation, and thus be at once restrained and assisted by the central power. Sir Theophilus Shepstone had been charged with the duty of bringing the Transvaal Republic to consent to an arrangement of this sort. … Unable to persuade the Boers to accept his suggestions for an amicable arrangement, he proceeded, in virtue of powers intrusted to him, to declare the Republic annexed, and to take over the government. This high-handed act brought with it, as some of its critics in the House of Commons had prophesied, disastrous difficulties. {2965} Not only were the Boers themselves almost as a matter of course disaffected, but they handed over to the Imperial Government all their difficulties and hostilities. They were involved in disputes with both their barbarous neighbours. … In 1875 they had made demands upon Cetchwayo, the most important of which was a rectification of frontier largely in their own favour. … Commissioners were appointed in 1878 to inquire into the rights of the case. … The Commissioners arrived at a unanimous decision against the Dutch claims. … But before the Treaty could be carried out it required ratification from the High Commissioner, and it came back from his hands clogged with formidable conditions. … While … he accepted the boundary report, he determined to make it an opportunity for the destruction of Cetchwayo's power. In December a Special Commission was despatched to meet the Zulu Envoys to explain the award, but at the same time to demand corresponding guarantees from the King. When these were unfolded they appeared to be the abolition of his military system and the substitution of a system of tribal regiments approved by the British Government, the acceptance of a British Resident by whose advice he was to act, the protection of missionaries, and the payment of certain fines for irregularities committed by his subjects. These claims were thrown into the form of an ultimatum, and Cetchwayo was given thirty days to decide. … It was to be submission or war. It proved to be war. Sir Bartle Frere had already prepared for this contingency; he had detained in South Africa the troops which should have returned to England, and had applied to the Home Government for more. … Lord Chelmsford was appointed to the command of the troops upon the frontier, and on the 12th, the very day on which the time allowed for the acceptance of the ultimatum expired, the frontier was crossed. The invasion was directed towards Ulundi, the Zulu capital. … The first step across the frontier produced a terrible disaster. The troops under the immediate command of Lord Chelmsford encamped at Isandlana without any of the ordinary precautions, and in a bad position. … In this unprotected situation Lord Chelmsford, while himself advancing to reconnoitre, left two battalions of the 24th with some native allies under Colonel Pulleine, who were subsequently joined by a body of 3,000 natives and a few Europeans under Colonel Durnford. The forces left in the camp were suddenly assaulted by the Zulus in overwhelming numbers and entirely destroyed [January 22, 1879]. It was only the magnificent defence by Chard and Bromhead of the post and hospital at Rorke's Drift which prevented the victorious savages from pouring into Natal. Lord Chelmsford on returning from his advance hurried from the fearful scene of slaughter back to the frontier. For the moment all was panic; an immediate irruption of the enemy was expected. But when it was found that Colonel Wood to the west could hold his own though only with much rough fighting, and that Colonel Pearson, towards the mouth of the river, after a successful battle had occupied and held Ekowe, confidence was re-established. But the troops in Ekowe were cut off from all communication except by means of heliographic signals, and the interest of the war was for a while centred upon the beleaguered garrison. With extreme caution, in spite of the clamorous criticism levelled against him, Lord Chelmsford refused to move to its rescue till fully reinforced. Towards the end of March however it was known that the provisions were running low, and on the 29th an army of 6,000 men again crossed the frontier. On this occasion there was no lack of precaution. … As they approached the fortress, they were assaulted at Gingilovo, their strong formation proved efficient against the wild bravery of their assailants, a complete victory was won, and the garrison at Ekowe rescued. A day or two earlier an even more reckless assault upon Colonel Wood's camp at Kambula was encountered with the same success. But for the re-establishment of the English prestige it was thought necessary to undertake a fresh invasion of the country. … Several attempts at peace had been made on the part of the Zulus. But their ambassadors were never, in the opinion of the English generals, sufficiently accredited to allow negotiations to be opened. Yet it would appear that Cetchwayo was really desirous of peace, according to his own account even the assault at Isandlana was an accident, and the two last great battles were the result of local efforts. At length in July properly authorised envoys came to the camp. Terms of submission were dictated to them, but as they were not at once accepted a final battle was fought resulting completely in favour of the English, who then occupied and burnt Ulundi, the Zulu capital. … Sir Garnet Wolseley was … again sent out with full powers to effect a settlement. His first business was to capture the King. When this was done he proceeded to divide Zululand into thirteen districts, each under a separate chief; the military system was destroyed; the people were disarmed and no importation of arms allowed; a Resident was to decide disputes in which British subjects were involved. The reception of missionaries against the will of the people was not however insisted on."

_J. F. Bright, History of England, period 4, pages 545-550._

ALSO IN: _F. E. Colenso and E. Durnford, History of the Zulu War._

_A. Wilmot, History of the Zulu War._

_C. J. Norris-Newman, In Zululand with the British._

_C. Vijn, Cetswayo's Dutchman._

SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1885-1893. British acquisition of Matabeleland or Zambesia. Dominion of the British South Africa Company. War with King Lobengula.

"The Boers, ever on the lookout for new lands into which to trek, had long ago fixed their eyes on the country north of the Limpopo, known generally as Matabeleland, ruled over by Lobengula, the son of the chief of the Matabeles. … The reports of Mauch, Baines, and others, of the rich gold mines contained in this territory, were well known. … Other travellers and sportsmen, Mohr, Oates, Selous, gave the most favourable accounts not only of the gold of the country, but of the suitability of a large portion of the high plateau known as Mashonaland for European settlement and agricultural operations. When Sir Charles Warren was in Bechuanaland in 1885, several of his officers made journeys to Matabeleland, and their reports all tended to show the desirability of taking possession of that country; indeed Sir Charles was assured that Lobengula would welcome a British alliance as a protection against the Boers, of whose designs he was afraid. … {2966} As a result of Sir Charles Warren's mission to Bechuanaland, and of the reports furnished by the agents he sent into Matabeleland, the attention of adventurers and prospectors was more and more drawn towards the latter country. The Portuguese … had been electrified into activity by the events of the past two years. That the attention of the British Government was directed to Matabeleland even in 1887 is evident from a protest in August of that year, on the part of Lord Salisbury, against an official Portuguese map claiming a section of that country as within the Portuguese sphere. Lord Salisbury then clearly stated that no pretensions of Portugal to Matabeleland could be recognised, and that the Zambesi should be regarded as the natural northern limit of British South Africa. The British Prime Minister reminded the Portuguese Government that according to the Berlin Act no claim to territory in Central Africa could be recognised that was not supported by effective occupation. The Portuguese Government maintained (it must be admitted with justice) that this applied only to the coast, but Lord Salisbury stood firmly to his position. … Germans, Boers, Portuguese, were all ready to lay their hands on the country claimed by Lobengula. England stepped in and took it out of their hands; and at the worst she can only be accused of obeying the law of the universe, 'Might is Right.' By the end of 1887 the attempts of the Transvaal Boers to obtain a hold over Matabeleland had reached a crisis. It became evident that no time was to be lost if England was to secure the Zambesi as the northern limit of extension of her South African possessions. Lobengula himself was harassed and anxious as to the designs of the Boers on the one hand, and the doings of the Portuguese on the north of his territory on the other. In the Rev. J. Smith Moffat, Assistant Commissioner in Bechuanaland, England had a trusty agent who had formerly been a missionary for many years in Matabeleland, and had great influence with Lobengula. Under the circumstances, it does not seem to have been difficult for Mr. Moffat to persuade the King to put an end to his troubles by placing himself under the protection of Great Britain. On 21st March 1888, Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of Cape Colony, and Her Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa, was able to inform the Home Government that on the previous 11th February Lobengula had appended his mark to a brief document which secured to England supremacy in Matabeleland over all her rivals. … The publication of the treaty was, as might be expected, followed by reclamations both on the part of the Transvaal and of Portugal. Before the British hold was firmly established over the country attempts were made by large parties of Boers to trek into Matabeleland. … Individual Boers as well, it must be said, as individual Englishmen at the kraal of Lobengula, attempted to poison the mind of the latter against the British. But the King remained throughout faithful to his engagements. Indeed, it was not Lobengula himself who gave any cause for anxiety during the initial stage of the English occupation. He is, no doubt, a powerful chief, but even he is obliged to defer to the wishes of his 'indunas' and his army. … Lobengula himself kept a firm hand over his warriors, but even he was at times apprehensive that they might burst beyond all control. Happily this trying initial period passed without disaster. … No sooner was the treaty signed than Lobengula was besieged for concessions of land, the main object of which was to obtain the gold with which the country was said to abound, especially in the east, in Mashonaland." The principal competitors for what was looked upon as the great prize were two syndicates of capitalists, which finally became amalgamated, in 1889, under the skilful diplomacy of Mr. Cecil J. Rhodes, forming the great British South Africa Company, about which much has been heard in recent years. "The principal field of the operations of the British South Africa Company was defined in the charter to be 'the region of South Africa lying immediately to the north of British Bechuanaland, and to the north and west of the South African Republic, and to the west of the Portuguese dominions.' The Company was also empowered to acquire any further concessions, if approved of by 'Our Secretary of State.' … The Company was empowered to act as the representative of the Imperial Government, without, however, obtaining any assistance from the Government to bear the expense of the administration. … The capital of the Company was a million sterling. It is not easy to define the relations of the Chartered Company to the various other companies which had mining interests in the country. In itself it was not a consolidation of the interests of those companies. Its functions were to administer the country and to work the concessions on behalf of the Concessionaires, in return for which it was to retain fifty per cent. of the profits. … When the British South African Company was prepared to enter into active occupation of the territories which they were authorised to exploit, they had on the one hand the impis of Lobengula eager to wash their spears in white blood; on the south the Boers of the Transvaal, embittered at being prevented from trekking to the north of the Limpopo, and on the east and on the north-east the Portuguese trying to raise a wall of claims and historical pretensions against the tide of English energy. … An agreement was concluded between England and Portugal in August 1890, by which the eastern limits of the South Africa Company's claims were fixed, and the course of the unknown Sabi River, from north to south, was taken as a boundary. But this did not satisfy either Portugal or the Company, and the treaty was never ratified. … A new agreement [was] signed on the 11th June 1891, under which Portugal can hardly be said to have fared so well as she would have done under the one repudiated by the Cortes in the previous year. The boundary between the British Company's territories was drawn farther east than in the previous treaty. The line starting from the Zambesi near Zumbo runs in a general south-east direction to a point where the Mazoe River is cut by the 33rd degree of east longitude. The boundary then runs in a generally south direction to the junction of the Lunde and the Sabi, where it strikes south-west to the north-east corner of the South African Republic, on the Limpopo. In tracing the frontier along the slope of the plateau, the Portuguese sphere was not allowed to come farther west than 32° 30' East of Greenwich, nor the British sphere east of 33° East. A slight deflection westwards was made so as to include Massi Kessi in the Portuguese sphere. … According to the terms of the arrangement, the navigation of the Zambesi and the Shiré was declared free to all nations."

_J S. Keltie, The Partition of Africa, chapter 18._

{2967}

By the spring of 1893 the British South Africa Company had fairly laid hands upon its great dominion of Zambesia. Matabele was swarming with searchers for gold; a railroad from the port of Beira, through Portuguese territory, was in progress: a town at Fort Salisbury was rising. Lobengula, the Matabele king, repented speedily of his treaty and repudiated the construction put on it by the English. Quarrels arose over the Mashonas, whom the Matabeles held in slavery and whom the new lords of the country protected. Both parties showed impatience for war, and it was not long in breaking out. The first shots were exchanged early in October; before the end of the year the British were complete masters of the country, and Lobengula had fled from his lost kingdom, to die, it is said, during the flight. There were two pitched battles, in which the natives suffered terribly. They obtained revenge in one instance, only, by cutting off a party of thirty men, not one of whom survived.

SOUTH AFRICA: End--------

SOUTH AFRICA COMPANY, The British.

See AFRICA: A. D. 1884-1891, and SOUTH AFRICA: A. D. 1885-1893.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

See AUSTRALIA: A. D. 1800-1840.

SOUTH CAROLINA: Start--------

SOUTH CAROLINA: The aboriginal in:habitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY, CHEROKEES, MUSKHOGEAN FAMILY, SHAWANESE, TIMUQUANAN FAMILY.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1520. The coast explored by Vasquez de Ayllon and called Chicora.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1519-1525.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1562-1563. The short-lived Huguenot colony on Broad River.

See FLORIDA: A. D. 1562-1563.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1629. Embraced in the Carolina grant to Sir Robert Heath.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1629.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1663-1670. The grant to Monk, Clarendon, Shaftesbury, and others. The first settlement.

See NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1663-1670.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1669-1693. Locke's Constitution and its failure.

See NORTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1669-1693.

SOUTH CAROLINA: A. D. 1670-1696. The founding of Charleston. The growth of the Colony.