I / > - /Jf 
 
 V" ' r’ 5 V 
 
 
 IAa : / 'C^ 
 
 -T 
 
 UGANDA. 
 
 1 HAVE been asked by the Editor of the Imperial and 
 Asiatic Quarterly Review to write on this subject: 
 though painfully familiar with it I hesitated to do so : the 
 volcano of public sentimentality must burn itself out: the 
 people of England have passed into one of their periodical 
 paroxysms of madness : some years back there was just such 
 another about Gordon of Khartum. A wise old man in the 
 middle ages wrote as follows : “ Sine insanum vulgum facere 
 quod vult, nam vult facere quod vult.” “ Let the foolish world 
 do what it wishes, for it wishes to do what it wishes.” 
 
 In the decision of the Government of the Country 
 announced in the Times of this day November 24, 1892, 
 I hail the sign of returning common-sense, and sobriety of 
 thought. 
 
 “ It has been resolved by the Government not to inter¬ 
 fere with the evacuation of Uganda by the Imperial British 
 East Africa Company on the 31st of March, 1893, t>ut at 
 once to send out a Commissioner of their own with a 
 sufficient native escort for the purpose of reporting on the 
 actual state of affairs in Uganda, and the best means of 
 dealing with the country.” 
 
 This practically defers the final decision until after Parlia¬ 
 ment has met: it will give time to those, who with imper¬ 
 fect information have rushed into the subject, to mature 
 their knowledge : Bishops, Deans, Assistant-Masters in 
 Public Schools, leading-article-writers, country clergymen, 
 members of Chambers of Commerce, enthusiasts, fanatics : 
 many of these did not know six months ago where Uganda 
 was : a year hence, if some terrible disaster, like that of the 
 fall of Khartum, or the defeat of Majuba Hill, were the 
 ^ result of our premature occupation of this inland moun¬ 
 tainous country, they would deny all responsibility : the 
 
4 
 
 Us^anda. 
 
 policy proposed is one of the gravest problems of this 
 century ; let it be thought out, free from rodomontade, 
 bunkum, semi-religious humbug, on its merits. I shall strive 
 to maintain a cold judicial attitude in these remarks :—It is 
 not a Missionary or a Commercial question, but a National 
 one. 
 
 Let me enumerate the different motives, urged by differ¬ 
 ent individuals in Public Meetings or letters to the Press. 
 
 I. The honour of Great Britain. 
 
 II. The continuity of moral policy, 
 
 III. The suppression of the Slave-Trade and Slavery. 
 
 IV. The opening out of new markets, and a vast field to 
 British Commerce. 
 
 V. The annexation, zvith the consent of the Amative 
 Sovereign, and his Pagan and Mahometan subjects, of a 
 country half as large as Europe, healthy, fertile, suitable 
 not only for residence of Europeans as in British India, but 
 for colonisation, as in South Africa. 
 
 VI. The risk of other Powers, German, Italian, Portu¬ 
 guese, and Erench, grasping at this “ Pearl of Africa,” if 
 the British failed to lay their hands on it at once. 
 
 VII. The prospect of the cultivation of coffee, tea, 
 cotton and other tropical products ; the existence of animal 
 wealth in the form of Ivory, and of mineral wealth untold. 
 
 VIII. The awful consequence of the Briton failing at 
 this conjuncture to discharge his Imperial Mission—viz., 
 civil war, murder, massacre—such as, in the opinion of 
 H.M.’s Consul-General at Zanzibar, Sir G. Portal, the 
 world has never known the like. 
 
 IX. Eree course to the peaceful work of the Missionaries 
 of the Protestant Churches, and of the Church of Rome, 
 
 X. Protection of the Native Christian Churches, from 
 the intolerance of the. Mahometan and Pa^an. 
 
 XI. The establishment of Protestant Government, under 
 which in the opinion of one of the Missionaries who has 
 come from Uganda, the future would be very bright. 
 
 XII. The maintenance of sacred treaties, extorted from 
 
Uzctnda. S 
 
 a king-, who was one of the basest of men, who had killed 
 an English Bishop, had been nominally both a Protestant, 
 and a Roman Catholic, who was admitted to be a murderer, 
 on the ground that in the interest of the subjects of this 
 king it would be shameful to abandon them. 
 
 XIII. The occupation of the Head-waters of the Nile, 
 presenting a strategic position unequalled in the world. 
 
 XIV. The whole New Testament has been translated 
 into the language of Uganda. 
 
 XV. In the plan of the Creator of the world Africa was 
 created for the benefit, and the vile uses, of the people of 
 Europe: the Negro, being only partially removed from 
 the position of his near relation, the anthropoid ape, has 
 no right to independence, political freedom, or the use of 
 his own customs: he was placed in Africa to be cut down 
 and plundered by geographical explorers, to be debauched 
 by the importers of European and American liquors, to 
 be shot down by European Maxim guns and rifles, to be 
 encouraged to internecine tribal warfare by a liberal impor¬ 
 tation of gunpowder, and lethal weapons. 
 
 Let us calmly consider all these points, neither from the 
 fanatical semi-religious point of view, nor from the selfish 
 commercial point of view, but from the point of view of 
 experience. 
 
 I. “The honour of Great Britain.” “Scuttling” is said 
 to be “ dishonourable ” ; let us take care that we do not 
 scuttle our own ship by overloading it : in the case of a 
 European war, our position is already very insecure. Is 
 it honourable to invade with a military force and conquer 
 a Nation, which has never given us any cause of umbrage } 
 We read in Pope’s “ Homer” Achilles’ angry exclamation : 
 
 “ What cause have I to war at thy decree ? 
 
 The distant Trojans never injured me.” 
 
 The Uganda lamb has never injured the British wolf: 
 the Scotch fought the English for their own Mountains : 
 the Irish are crying out for National independence. The 
 English race, whose glory it is to have never had its towns 
 
Uganda. 
 
 occupied by a foreign force, should be merciful to the poor 
 African : what then is the real motive of this cry ? The 
 earth greed of the comfortable English middle classes ; the 
 possession of large ships-and big battalions breeds a lust 
 of annexation, a “ Jingo ” feeling—the old cry of the Roman 
 people— 
 
 “Panem et Circenses,” 
 
 and new triumphs strutting down the Sacred way. Instead 
 of attending to the sorrows and wants of their own poorer 
 classes in their great cities, the comfortable middle classes 
 are desirous to control the filthy opium-smoking appetites 
 of the Chinese, to enforce the remarriage of Hindu widows, 
 to compel the Chinese women to have their feet free from 
 ligaments ; and lastly to anticipate possible civil war in 
 Uganda, they would let loose the dogs of war : the honour 
 of England is represented by Maxim guns imported to 
 cut down the African converts of Erench Roman Catholics : 
 Jingo expeditions of this kind are promoted by the same 
 sense of honour, which in the last generation caused duels 
 with sword and pistol. There will be a certain Nemesis : it 
 is well to have a giant’s strength, but not to use it as a giant. 
 
 IL “The continuity of moral policy ” : this is lawful and 
 good, but we must not do evil, that good may come : by 
 all means by lawful means repress the Slave-trade, stop 
 the importation of liquors, and lethal weapons ; what can 
 be more incontinently immoral than the unjustifiable 
 annexation of an independent Kingdom, and the slaughter 
 of poor Africans by Maxim guns ? the less that Morality 
 is talked about, since the agents of the East African 
 Company entered Uganda the better. 
 
 III. The Suppression of the Slave Trade. My pre¬ 
 vious knowledge of the country made me very sceptical 
 on this subject : every speaker, and every writer intro¬ 
 duced it like a schoolboy’s tag to his verses. The Rev. 
 Horace Waller, an admitted authority for many years, 
 spoke as follows at the Deputation to the Eoreign Office 
 on the 20th October 1892 of the British and Eoreign Anti- 
 Slavery Society : 
 
Uganda. 
 
 7 
 
 “ So that at the present moment, I think, we may congratulate ourselves 
 on the fact that, however bad the Slave-trade might have been in Uganda, 
 at present it is not allowed. (Hear, hear.) I think, my Lord, I have 
 detected an anxiety on your part, owing to what has taken place at other 
 meetings, to know if there are any great Slave routes from Uganda to the 
 coast. It has been the duty of the Society, with which I have the honour 
 to work, to make all the investigations possible on that point, and I can 
 only say that we know of no routes—routes, in the proper sense of the 
 word. The whole of the East Coast of Africa oozes with the Slave-trade. 
 There is not a creek, there is not a man who owns a dhow, that does not 
 know something of this atrocious trade; but to talk of a collection of 
 Slaves taking place in Uganda in order that they may be marched down 
 in thousands and tens of thousands, as they are in the Portuguese 
 dominions on the East Coast of Africa, is speaking beside the fact alto¬ 
 gether. One must speak the truth, and it will do no harm here if, in 
 parentheses, I say there has been, to a certain extent, a Slave route, and 
 that one does exist at the present moment; but when Slaves are seen 
 
 going through that country in large numbers I am ashamed to say that it 
 
 is very often for the purpose of taking provisions from Mombasa to the 
 British East Africa Company’s headquarters in Uganda. It has been 
 known to your Lordship, and all those who are present here, that there 
 has been a downward pouring of Slaves—not many of them but in times 
 past, when Mr. Stanley took away from Zanzibar a very large number of 
 Slaves indeed, and brought his remnant back, those Slaves came down 
 along what we may call, if you like, a Slave route, to go back to their 
 
 Slave labour. Such is the state of things at the present moment; and 
 
 again, I say, it is best for us to look these facts in the face if we are to try 
 and put our heads together and lay the thing before Her Majesty’s Govern¬ 
 ment in such a shape that they may be able to deal with the question of 
 the Slave-trade. 
 
 “ With regard to the railway, I am not sanguine enough to suppose for 
 one moment that that railway will make a very appreciable difference in 
 the export of Slaves from Africa. Slaves at the present moment are 
 teeming in our protectorate of Zanzibar.” 
 
 Lord Rosebery in his reply to the Deputation spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 “ The extent of the question was pointed out by Mr. Waller in his 
 speech, perhaps more extensively than I could do it by any words of mine. 
 He recommended a railroad that would cost two and a half millions ; but he 
 himself said that it would not be a ^reat anti-Slavery agency, and he pointed 
 out that, whereas we had acquired the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba in 
 exchange for an important British possession, in the hope of civilising 
 those countries. Slavery flourished largely there. And he further pointed 
 this out, that, whereas, with the view of developing British influence in 
 our sphere, we had handed over, to a very large extent, our responsibilities 
 to a chartered company, yet that Slavery flourished in the very employ¬ 
 ment of that chartered company. Now, these are not my representations ; 
 
8 IJo-anda. 
 
 they are the representations of a member of the Deputation, and I only 
 allude to them to point out to you, how very large is the question to which 
 you have invited my attention.” 
 
 It may be safely asserted that any allusion to the Slave 
 Trade in connection with the annexation of Uganda was 
 only by way of aggravation : of course a Railway and 
 European occupation, will sensibly but indirectly, sound the 
 knell of Slavery and the Slave Trade, but the prominent 
 place given to this great curse both in the discussions this 
 autumn, and in the debate of the House of Commons last 
 Session, was quite unjustified by facts. 
 
 IV. “The opening out of new markets.” A most 
 desirable object, and a legitimate one ; but why select a 
 country seven hundred miles from the Sea at a height of 
 four thousand feet above sea-level, with no well established 
 trade route, and no means of transport except Slave-labour, 
 especially as this country is inhabited by a people in a low 
 state of culture without a single market town, or masonry 
 house, to whom a sheet appears to be the only garment, 
 if we can judge from the illustrated literature sedulously 
 circulated by the Missionary Society t If we can judge 
 from the accounts of Henry Stanley and Carl Peters, the 
 progress of a Caravan is only accomplished by acts of 
 cruelty, flogging, shooting, etc. etc. : Has the Chamber of 
 Commerce thought out the. details of such commerce ? 
 liquor, gunpowder, fire-arms, would be the most accept¬ 
 able articles : the chief leader of the existing caravans is a 
 white man, who some years ago went out as a Missionary, 
 and now cohabits with a black woman, and goes backwards 
 and forwards, commanding a party of what Mr. Horace 
 Waller callsV'technical slaves ” : Let it be recorded to his 
 honour, that he neither flogs, nor murders, and pays his 
 porters their wages as agreed upon. 
 
 V. “ The annexation of a large country to the British 
 dominions with the consent of the people, healthy, fertile, 
 suitable for residence and colonisation of Europeans.” It 
 is situated on the Equator : that great astronomical line in 
 its course round the world traverses Sumatra, Borneo, and 
 
Uganda. 
 
 9 
 
 the Celebes in Asia; Ecuador, and North Brazil in South 
 America; the Gabiin territory on the West Coast ot Africa, 
 Albert and Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa : one ot the 
 Missionaries describes Uganda as the “ country of graves ” : 
 if we had a list of the French and English Missionaries, 
 who have succumbed during the last fifteen years, we 
 should be appalled ; No European woman has yet pene¬ 
 trated to this country, so infant-life has never come into 
 existence : Captain Lugard is light-hearted enough to 
 certify the fitness of the country for European civilisation. 
 He describes it as an elevated table-land offering all the 
 conditions for a prosperous European settlement: he quotes 
 freely “ everybody, who knows the country.” But who 
 does know it } his letter reads like that of a prospectus 
 writer of a Company : he has a foregone conclusion : he 
 has repeated it to so many ignorant people at so many 
 meetings, that he is beginning to believe it himself: he 
 wants somebody to provide the money, and entrust him 
 with the spending : the morality of the transaction, the 
 possible failure, and the danger—are all kept in the back¬ 
 ground. 
 
 It is a field, he says, for Emigrants, for the localization 
 of European colonists : he specially recommends the High¬ 
 lands of Kikuyn : they are several hundred miles East of 
 Uganda : they afford a climate healthy and bracing : the 
 temperature is that of Europe, and the nights and days 
 very often are cold indeed : he does not state the season 
 of the year, during which he paid his visit : then he sug¬ 
 gests immigration into these Regions of Hindus from 
 British India; why not try Arabs from Arabia, and 
 Sudanese, and Abyssinians, and Somali, to join the happy 
 family in these blessed regions, which another writer 
 describes as entirely void of all inhabitants } 
 
 I quote lines from the Times with regard to the regions 
 of Nyasa and Blantyre far to the South of Uganda with a 
 far better climate : 
 
 “ Mr. Thompson is lar too cautious, and nmch too well 
 
lO 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 iiifornied, to maintain that on this splendid plateau (Blan- 
 tyre) Europeans can settle as colonists, as they do in 
 Canada and the Cape.” 
 
 Then as to the consent of the people : did any of them 
 ever know of the arrangement ? Mr. Carl Peters, the 
 German adventurer, had with the help of the French 
 Priests, only a short time before made similar arrange¬ 
 ments : is it the least likely that the Mahometans and 
 Pagans, and, the men who aspire to authority, approved 
 of it ? without asking for a regular plebiscite some proof 
 is required before the consent of the people, an African 
 people, is put forward. If we do occupy the country it 
 will be by brute force, by having at our command rides 
 and Maxim guns, by the service of the Sudanese troops 
 left behind by Emin Pasha, described by Mr. Horace 
 Waller in his address to Lord Rosebery, as “ versed in all 
 acts of atrocity : no men despise human life more than 
 they do.” In the war with our Colonies in North America 
 last century the great Earl Chatham denounced the employ¬ 
 ment of the Red Indian in our wars : we shall appear to 
 have fallen lower in “ our moral continuity,” if we employ 
 the black Sudanese in the work of enslaving the Waganda. 
 
 \T. “ The risk of another Power stepping in.” The 
 very fact, that in this argument the Portuguese are men¬ 
 tioned, who cannot occupy their own hinter-land, shows the 
 absurdity ; the Germans and Italians are bound by treaty 
 to their own limits, and will be taxed to the utmost of their 
 strength to fulfil their task, and are more afraid of us than 
 we of them : As for the Trench their name is merely 
 added by way of aggravation. The whole of the Kongo 
 Independent State intervenes between the French and 
 English S])heres : Lake Chad is the object of PTench fond 
 aspirations : the case for annexation was so weak, that a 
 grain of old Gallophobia was thrown in to rouse public 
 feeling more effectually, a litde more yeast to make the 
 bread rise. 
 
 In the pages ol the Record I find extreme jealousy 
 
Uganda. i i 
 
 expressed at the very idea of French intiiience appearing 
 in Abeokuta or Yoruba-land, on the West Coast, as it 
 would jeopardize the work of the British Protestant 
 Mission there : really, if the British work has taken such 
 little root, not much will be lost : centuries of English 
 domination have never extinguished the Roman Church in 
 Ireland. In the same leader I find objection to the occu¬ 
 pation of East Africa by the Germans, and the possibility 
 of Bishop Smythies having to teach German in his Mission 
 Schools. In fact, British Insularity and Superciliousness 
 wishes to have its own way East and West, and to get rid 
 of all other Nations. 
 
 VII, “The prospect of tropical products, stores of ivory, 
 mineral wealth of all kinds.” No one can say that in a 
 country, of which we know so little, such things may not 
 exist—or be made to exist: At one of the public Meetings 
 Mr. Alfred Spicer, a not very sanguine speaker, remarked, 
 that such good things might not be available now, but 
 that onr great grand-children would have the advantage 
 of this. When it is recollected, that the first and main 
 motive is the Missionary question, that the chief promoters 
 of the movement are the Missionary Societies, when one 
 comes to tea, coffee, sugar, and bananas, one is irresistibly 
 reminded of the well-known cry of the sellers of fruit at 
 Smyrna— 
 
 “ In the name of the Prophet Figs.” 
 
 VIII. “The awful consequence to the Waganda of the 
 British Nation abandoning a country, into which they had 
 without rhyme or reason entered,” I really can find no 
 evidence of this danger : Before Mr. Jackson and Captain 
 Lugard arrived, the British and Erench factions had 
 coalesced, had restored the King Mwanga to his throne, 
 and divided among themselves all the high offices : Captain 
 Lugard writes distinctly, that on his arrival he found that 
 a feud existed between the French and English parties, 
 headed by their Missionaries: he took sides with the 
 English, and we know the consequences. We are not 
 
12 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 responsible for the consequences of feuds among the 
 inhabitants of Lake Tanganyika, Lake Albert, Lake 
 Victoria, or Lake Chad ; who made us rulers and arbitra¬ 
 tors among these independent people ? The Piets and 
 Scots, the British and the Norsemen, the Normans and 
 the English, had dieir time of lighting, when the Romans 
 left England. We can leave this pretence of interference 
 with an easy conscience. Ever since we left Afghanistan 
 the tribes have been fighting with each other. Things are 
 much worse in the Sudan : why do we not interfere there 
 from Cairo and Suakim as our two bases, we have the very 
 real shame of Khartum to wipe out, and an access by 
 water all the way, which we have already traversed. 
 
 IX. “ Eree course to the peaceful work of the Mission¬ 
 aries of the Protestant Churches and the Church of Rome.” 
 Let us think for a moment what could have happened to 
 the Missionaries, who now cry out like children, that have 
 been hurt owing to their own misconduct, if they had 
 belonged to any other Nation but Great Britain or PTance. 
 The American citizens of the United States must have 
 made the best of it, as it is the fixed policy of the States 
 to have no political entanglements East of the Atlantic. 
 The American Government does indeed send war ships 
 to bully the natives of Mikronesia in the South Sea 
 Islands, but nothing beyond. The Emperor of Austria 
 has submitted to the sad imprisonment of his poor Monks 
 and Nuns at Khartum and El Obed in the Sudan. Italy 
 and Spain would not have ventured on such an expedition, 
 even if the Pope himself, the poor prisoner of the Vatican, 
 had got into a real prison in Uganda. Russia would have 
 left her Greek Priests to stew in their own juice : we 
 very much doubt whether Protestant Germany would 
 have been induced to send an expedition to extricate Ger¬ 
 man Missionaries, who went without leave, and against 
 advice and warning. As for Holland, Belgium, Sweden, 
 Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, all which countries are re¬ 
 presented in the African Mission Field, they would have 
 
1 
 
 Ugmida. 13 
 
 patiently suffered hardship like good soldiers, have put up 
 with the spoiling of their goods, and died at their post, as 
 British and B'rench Missionaries also have been in the habit 
 of doing in other co^mtries and past decades: their cry has 
 always been : 
 
 “ Do anything rather than avenge my death ! do any¬ 
 thing rather than invade with military forces my adopted 
 country! do not shed innocent blood, and place a free 
 people under hated foreign domination, on the pretence of 
 preaching the Gospel of Peace, putting an end to domestic 
 slavery, and opening a new market for spirits and Man¬ 
 chester goods, and introducing European bad habits worse 
 than barbarism,” 
 
 Such would be the cry of the real Missionaries, and 
 such has been until the present lamentable occurrence the 
 practice : if the British and French Missionaries remain at 
 Uganda, will the memory of the Maxim-gun, and the 
 slaughter of Africans be forgotten ? If Augustine had 
 landed in Kent and acted in this way, should we have ever 
 forgotten it ? It is distressing to think, how much the pre¬ 
 judice against foreign Missions among so many classes of 
 the British Community, and which is so painfully evident, 
 will be increased by the exhibition of the fighting tenden¬ 
 cies, and annexation-appetites, of the Evangelical sections of 
 the Church during the last three months : the noise of re¬ 
 ligious and quasi-religious Meetings can only be compared 
 to the barking of dogs at night, who bark when they hear 
 other dogs bark : they know not why : it means nothing ; 
 secular political Meetings mean something very real, but 
 demonstrations of semi-religious matters from the platform 
 and pulpit read more like the scolding of women. If at¬ 
 tempts to evangelize a heathen nation are to be the first step 
 to, and closely connected with, annexation of Provinces, 
 enslaving of free Nationalities, destroying them with ar¬ 
 tillery, burning their houses down : if Arnott, when he 
 penetrated to Garenganze is but the herald, and forerunner, 
 of gallant Captains, better far that the attempts should not be 
 
14 
 
 LJo-aiida. 
 
 made : ail the froth about civilization is cant and hypocrisy : 
 if a Mahometan had done it, no condemnation would be 
 considered too severe ; if Roman Catholics attempted it, as 
 they did in the days of Charles Martel, and the Teutonic 
 Knights, the censure of Protestants would be unlimited ; 
 but here we hive Pulpit, Platform, and Evangelical Press, 
 hounding on an unwilling Government to assume the 
 Protectorate of thousands of naked savages, seven hundred 
 miles from the nearest seaport at an altitude of 4,000 feet 
 above the level of the sea, with still loftier ranges to be 
 crossed to get to the sea, and no means of transport except 
 actual or technical slaves, supplied by the Arab slave¬ 
 holders at Zanzibar. 
 
 X. “ Protection of Native Christian Churches in the 
 country from the intolerance of the Mahometan and Pagan,” 
 Is King Mwanga a Christian He was baptized by the 
 Roman Catholics, and we read, that he attends a State 
 Divine Service in the Protestant Church : Captain Lugard 
 tells us in the Fo 7 'tiiightly of Nov., 1892, that this King is 
 a man of singularly abandoned morals, and he confirms in 
 so many printed words what was only whispered before, 
 that these numerous pages, of which we hear so much in 
 Missionary Reports, and some of whom are ranked among 
 Protestants, and Roman Catholic Martyrs (for both parties 
 have long lists of Martyrs) were the victims of their 
 Sovereign’s lust, and in fact members of his male harem. 
 Mr. Ashe a Missionary, in his letter to the Tiines^ J’-ily 26, 
 of the year 1892, writes about political Protestants, Captain 
 Lugard takes credit for having introduced the use of the 
 term “ Protestant,” and Mr. Ashe remarks that it was 
 unknown, when he left Uganda in 1886, and that it was 
 used now to denote the party, who support the English 
 occupation”: upon this the Times remarks: 
 
 “ It has probably always been felt by careful students, that the extra¬ 
 ordinary theological zeal of the natives of Uganda for different forms of 
 the Christian religion stood somewhat in need of explanation. Mr. Ashe, 
 with a candour which is not too common, tells us that the explanation 
 is largely rifles. Protestants and Catholics in his view are mainly rival 
 
15 
 
 ( [o-a)ida. 
 
 claimants for political power, and both are keenly alive to the fact, that 
 power is apt to belong to big battalions armed with good weapons, ffe 
 was not unfamiliar four years ago with the scramble for rifles, but he finds, 
 that it has become far more keen in the interval, and that a brisk trade 
 has ended in furnishing Uganda and the regions round about with a 
 formidable number of these weapons. (Capt. Lugard says 6,000.) 
 
 “ We may take it that the feverish desire for books and knowledge 
 which Mr. Ashe describes would not long survive a general letting loose 
 of all the worse passions of man. Happily the reduction of the theological 
 motive to its proper iinporlaiice gives some assurance that the task of main 
 taining order will not be very heavy. These interesting sectaries are (juite 
 prepared to bow to accomplished facts, and to accept the rule of strength. 
 The great mass of lukewarm Catholics have already become supporters of 
 the party in power, which will doubtless further increase its following by 
 remaining powerful. PWen legitimate rule may be easily compassed at no 
 distant date, since King Mwanga, apart from the probability that he too 
 will worship strength, is a man of weakly constitution. In a country where 
 rules of succession are vague, it will be strange if a new ruler does not 
 work cordially with de facto holders of power.” 
 
 We can hardly oret tip an interest in such a Church, 
 which is mongrel in every sense: “ Ce .sang etait-il si 
 pur ?’’ 
 
 What was most remarkable was the divided action of the 
 Committee of the Missionary Society as a whole, and the 
 members of that Committee as individuals. The Committee 
 resolved to leave the matter absolutely with God, and to 
 have recourse to Prayer. The Members of the Committee 
 appealed to Man : 1 adjoin a specimen ; 
 
 “to [HE EDITOR OF THE ‘RECORD.’ 
 
 “ Sir,— 
 
 “The time is short; the crisis is great. I'he future of Uganda 
 may depend in large measure upon the degree of our efforts to educate 
 and awaken public opinion within the next few months. What shall 
 we do ? 
 
 “ I. Let there be one or more great public Meetings held in Exeter 
 Hall; and not only there, but in different parts of the Metropolis—North, 
 South, East, and W^est. 
 
 “ 2. Let similar Meetings be promoted throughout all the larger towns 
 in the provinces. 
 
 “ 3. Set apart a Sunday on which, simultaneously throughout the King¬ 
 dom, clergymen may be asked to call the attention of their congregations 
 to the work of the C.M.S. in Uganda and to the consequences of its 
 evacuation. 
 
 “4. Let the Gleaners’ Union and the other C.M. Unions betake them- 
 
16 Uganda. 
 
 selves very specially to prayer, and make it, as it were, the very object of 
 their existence to instruct the less instructed and to awaken their 
 sympathy. 
 
 “Sir, as friends of the C.M.S., we cannot be too energetic at this 
 moment, and we cannot bring too much pressure to hear on the Committee, 
 if that be necessary, that for some time to come they should make the 
 awakening of interest on all sides and amongst all classes the first object 
 of their deliberations. We have been assured on all hands, by those 
 who see and know most clearly, that evacuation means the destruction of 
 our work, the dispersion or massacre of our converts and missionaries, a 
 widespread reign of anarchy, and the revival of the Slave-trade. Now, 
 suppose a telegram were received to this effect in six or eight months, 
 could it be to us other than a perpetual shame and humiliation, that we 
 had not strained every nerve and used every means to avert so unspeak¬ 
 able a calamity, when we had been warned again and again in the most 
 emphatic manner of the certainty of its approach in the event of evacua¬ 
 tion ? Frequently it has been said to me that ‘God would not allow so 
 great a work as the C.M.S. work in Uganda to be brought to nought’; 
 b2it God never acts hut by means. God helps those only who help themselves. 
 I therefore plead with you that during the next six months not a copy of the 
 Record will issue but that you will sound therein a tru 7 npet-caU to redoubled 
 energy. 
 
 “ Alpha. 
 
 “ October 4.” 
 
 XI. “The establishment of a Protestant Government.” 
 The Rev. Cyril Gordon, a Protestant Missionary, spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 “ England had been led to the country m the protndence of God, ajid if 
 Etigland remamed there, there was every encouragement. There was hope 
 for the men, for the women, for the countries around—in Usoga, for 
 instance—(Sembrera was Msoga by birth), in Sagalla, and elsewhere. But 
 if this country was left to itself there was one hope, because the mission¬ 
 aries had been able to give to the nation the Word of Life in their own 
 tongue. To prevent, however, any such disaster as would occur to the 
 missionaries and Christians, if England gave up, we must remember that 
 the country was ours by right of discovery, by right of evangelization, by 
 the labour of the missionaries, by the deaths of those who had laid down 
 their lives for it; it was ours by the prayers and labours of Mackay, and 
 therefore it was our duty to keep the country in the hands of those people 
 who are now Protestants. We ought to interest all whom we meet in the 
 question, and give ourselves to diligent prayer to God for this now Protes¬ 
 tant country 
 
 Now, if a Roman Catholic European Power had got 
 possession of the land, and one of their Priests had spoken 
 in this way, there would have been outcry against his in- 
 
Uganda. 17 
 
 tolerance. The same gentleman shows that his object is 
 annexation very clearly in a letter to the Record: 
 
 “ The country would be in danger of falling back into the cruel hands 
 of the wicked heathen natives, or it would be in danger of falling into the 
 hands of the terrible slave-raiding Mohammedan natives, or it would be in 
 danger of falling into the hands of the Roman Catholic converts, into a 
 dreaded slavery of the nii)id to the power of Rome. The chief danger to the 
 Protestant converts would come from the hostility of the Roman Catholic 
 natives, who are far more numerous than the Mohammedan natives. The 
 Roman Catholics, remembering the late war, would not spare the Protestant 
 natives nor yet the lives of the missionaries. For the missionaries would 
 not desert their converts. The danger would be very real to all. The 
 true Protestant converts are not a very large body. These noble and true¬ 
 hearted Christians, of whom there are many, would come forward to beg 
 the missionaries to leave the country. For they would be unwilling, that 
 their beloved friends their teachers, should perish in the wretched fighting 
 and slaughter which would take place. Therefore, if the Company are 
 obliged to withdraw, they must make a way of escape for the missionaries, 
 the Christian converts, with all the women and the children of the same. 
 But the missionaries and the native Christians look to Christian England 
 to shelter them from these very terrible dangers, and expect Christian 
 England to take measures to prevent the occurrence of such deeds as will 
 certainly take place if British influence is withdrawn. The shelter and 
 protection will be given if the Treaty that has been made with Protestant 
 BUganda is kept by England.” 
 
 He is fresh from the field, and we gather from his utter¬ 
 ances the spirit of the Mission : it wishes for religion and 
 political supremacy by the help of British Military power. 
 No wonder that the Editor of the Vossisc/ie Zeitung of 
 July 28 of this year writes as follows : 
 
 “ To carry the Bible in one hand and preach the religion of love, while 
 with the other they sell rifles to be used in expelling their unwelcome 
 rivals, may correspond well enough with English ideas of the duty of a 
 missionary., but there is no trace in such conduct of Christianity, European 
 culture, or civilization. This is but a small edition of what has been practised 
 on a large scale in Uganda.” 
 
 Such assertions can be repelled with indignation in other 
 Mission-fields, but Mr. Gordon’s utterances are clear; at 
 any rate, that is the view which Germans and French take 
 of the case. 
 
 XII. “ The maintenance of sacred treaties.” What pos¬ 
 sible authority had Captain Lugard, a mere Captain of an 
 
iX UO'and a. 
 
 armed force, to make a treaty in the Queen’s name ? Has 
 any member of the past and present Government come 
 forward to justify it ? Would a Captain of Infantry in 
 India be allowed to bind the Viceroy without confirma¬ 
 tion afterwards ? It might have contained dishonourable 
 terms under threat of personal violence to the British re¬ 
 presentative, as happened not long ago in Bhutan in India. 
 In a petty matter, affecting the commercial interests of the 
 Company, or the necessities of frontier police regulations, a 
 treaty might have been made, but such a document as was 
 signed by Captain Lugard on the 30th March, 1892, cannot 
 be treated as a serious document until sanctioned by the 
 Government, published in a blue-book, and submitted to 
 Parliament after debate. Mr. Walker, another Missionary, 
 tells us, that Mwanga was originally opposed to the Christian 
 Religion, because he believed, that the Missionaries were 
 the agents of European Governments, which would come 
 later on and take his country : the Arabs encouraged these 
 suspicions, and when this treaty was forced upon him, they 
 proved too true. However let Captain Lugard tell his own 
 story : he seems to think that the British taxpayer is bound 
 for ever by his erring judgment : 
 
 “ He was sent to Uganda not on his own hook, but as the agent duly 
 accredited, acting with the full knowledge and consent of the Crown. He 
 concluded treaties, and those treaties were submitted by him to his direc¬ 
 tors, who in their turn submitted them to the Foreign Office, to Lord Salis- 
 Imry a 7 id to Lord Rosebery. 'I'hose treaties have been accepted and approved. 
 Some details as to wools were checked, but as regarded the right he had to 
 conclude the treaties no exception whatever had been taken. (Hear, hear.) 
 He thought when they considered the (juestion from the first to the last 
 it would be found that it was impossible to repudiate the pledges, which 
 had been given, and say that they were given by irresponsible persons.” 
 
 This is another instance, which the foreign European 
 Press will not forget, of the divine right asserted by the 
 British Nation to lay hold of anything that comes to hand. 
 Lord Salisbury remarked, that the Spheres of InHuence 
 had been imposed on Native populations by rival European 
 Nations, who busied themselves in giving away territories, 
 that did not belong to them : the aged Earl Grey inquires, 
 
>9 
 
 [[o-ajuia. 
 
 what were the grounds, on which the European States con¬ 
 sider themselves entitled to spheres of influence in violation 
 of all native rights to their independence and their country. 
 First comes the Sphere of Influence : then the protectorate 
 based on a treaty forced upon a weak vacillating Native 
 Chief : then follows the actual annexation : Up to this time 
 the British have shed no Mahometan or Pagan, only Roman 
 Catholic, blood in these spheres, while the Germans have 
 shot and hung the natives pretty freely. The occupation 
 of Uganda cannot fail to eventuate in bloodshed, rebellions, 
 burning of villages, loss of European life, and cui bono } 
 Why not leave the poor people alone ? 
 
 XIII. “ The occupation of the Head waters of the Nile.” 
 No greater snare was ever put forward than this obscure 
 phrase : old gentlemen shake their heads, when they talk 
 of the Head waters of the Nile : it sounds important and 
 historical, and geographical : in one of Dickens’ novels a 
 Mrs. Pipchin gained importance by alluding to her shares 
 in Peruvian mines : Uganda is also called “ the key to the 
 Countries of Central Africa”: one writer, not very accurate 
 in his geography, connects it with Stevenson’s road from 
 the Nyasa Lake to Tanganyika Lake, many hundred 
 miles to the South. The fact is always omitted that the 
 Nile waters are not navigable till considerably to the North 
 of Lake Albert : of course it is written in our destiny to 
 occupy that lake also : it is a pity that we did not leave 
 Emin Pasha at Wadelai, though probably he has found his 
 way back to that interesting and unfortunate spot ; Mis¬ 
 sionaries ought to be sent on at once to form a nucleus for 
 future protectorates. And surely the head waters of the 
 Rivers Congo and Niger and Senegal, and Zambesi are 
 worth looking after : they are also the keys of great posi¬ 
 tions : it is not exactly clear what an invader of England 
 would take by occupying the head waters of the Thames, 
 the Severn, and the Tweed: but the Nile has a certain 
 reputation, and it sounds plausible. 
 
 XIV. "The whole New Testament has been translated 
 
20 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 into the language of Uganda.” Can this really be put 
 forward as a reason for annexation ? The idea has the 
 merit of novelty : on inquiry, it is found that the New 
 Testament has been translated into 290 languages. Mer¬ 
 ciful Heavens! Have we by this literary manceuvre es¬ 
 tablished an initiatory claim to interfere in, invade, annex, 
 and slay the people of, 290 countries where these transla¬ 
 tions are used ? We shall have tribes petitioning that 
 translations of the New Testament in their language be not 
 made. There was some years ago a good joke at St. 
 Petersburgh that when Professor Dorn published his 
 ‘ Pushtu Grammar ’ in Russian, a thrill of anguish passed 
 through the people of Afghanistan, as they felt that their 
 day was coming : the New Testament must have a severer 
 effect, because it inculcates love to your neighbours, peace 
 and good-will, and yet it is quoted by a Missionary Society, 
 as an incidental argument for a hostile occupation of an 
 independent people. The books of Joshua and Judges 
 would have been more appropriate to the temper of the 
 Uganda political Protestants, and of the Missionary 
 Society. 
 
 XV. The last reason is a sad one, but none the less true: 
 we have only to reflect upon the last twenty-five years of 
 African history. The slave trade of last century seems 
 more tolerable : the Africans deported to America are 
 forming a great and powerful Nation. In every part of 
 Africa the great races are being destroyed, or politically 
 enslaved by European States, cut down ruthlessly by 
 European explorers, or poisoned by European liquor 
 dealers :—and all in the name of Christian Civilization, and 
 Christian Missionary Societies are not backward to urge 
 the Government to ruthless and shameful annexation. 
 
 One or two incidental considerations occur to me : what 
 possible relation can the British fleet, which cruises off the 
 Coasts of Zanzibar, the German Protectorate, and the Por¬ 
 tuguese Colony of Mozambik, with a view of intercepting 
 the departing by sea to Arabia of Africans brought down 
 
UgajLcia. 
 
 2 I 
 
 by the well-known slave routes from Lake Tanganyika and 
 Lake Nyasa, many degrees South of the Equator, have 
 with the proposed railroad from Monbasa to the shores of 
 the Lake North of the Equator : there is no regular slave 
 route through the Masai country, and Captain Lugard con¬ 
 firms the assertion of Mr. Horace Waller, that the whole 
 argument is mythical; the individuals, who have rushed 
 into this controversy, have not studied their maps, and are 
 not familiar with the history of the last quarter of a century. 
 They condemn what they do not understand. 
 
 Then again the shame of withdrawing from a country 
 occupied less than two years by three European officers is 
 dwelt upon ; is it not the fact that twice during her Majesty’s 
 reign the Government has been hounded on by public 
 opinion to occupy Afghanistan, the Pearl of Asia, the key 
 to the countries beyond, the Head waters of the River 
 Indus, hounded on by treaties forced on their Rulers under 
 the influence of the bugbear of Russian intrigue, a new 
 opening for commerce, a blessing to a few oppressed people, 
 oppressed by Mahometans ? Is it not true, that twice that 
 country has been occupied, and twice abandoned, after the 
 expenditure of millions and loss of hundreds of lives, and 
 the prestige of European wisdom and generosity, leaving 
 behind an enduring feeling of hate stored up against us. 
 as unprovoked invaders 1 Can we never take warning 
 from past failures ? 
 
 But if we occupy Uganda, it is but the beginning of 
 further annexations : the appetite comes with eating : The 
 kingdom of Unyoro, Albert Nyanza, Wadelai and beyond : 
 Captain Lugard and his Sudanese must be on the move : 
 Here we have the programme of the Army and Church 
 Militant: 
 
 “ But are we to stop here, when the enteqrrise of Captain Lugard has 
 already established military stations all the way between Lake Victoria and 
 Lake Albert Edward?—the principal ones being (i) in Singo, on the 
 Unyoro border, and (2) Fort Edward, in Toru, under Mount Ruwenzori; 
 each to be garrisoned by two European officers and a company of 120 
 native soldiers. The Church Militant must not let itself be outstripped. 
 
22 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 but should proceed at once to locate two of its officers at each of these 
 posts, and thus complete the Mission chain throughout the British pro¬ 
 tectorate.” (Is it a Protectorate, or only a sphere of Influence?) 
 
 But this is nothing when Britannia Africana is on the 
 war path : nothing is gained until Lake Chad is won : Here 
 we have that policy looming in the distance : 
 
 “There need be no alarm on account of British interests in the Lake 
 Chad region from the fact that the enterprising French traveller. Captain 
 Monteil, has succeeded in entering Bornu and making friends with the 
 Sultan at Kuka on the lake. The Anglo-French arrangement is perfectly 
 explicit; Bornu is entirely south of the line from Say to Burrawa, beyond 
 which France has pledged herself not to interfere. Captain Monteil will have 
 done a service to the Royal Niger Company if he has induced the Sultan 
 of Bornu to be more amenable to European influence; at the same time 
 it is to be hoped that the French traveller has not attempted to poison the 
 Sultan’s mind against the English.” 
 
 Here the Royal Niger Company will come into evidence: 
 at any rate they have a waterway up the Niger and Binue 
 Rivers : they have Missionaries quite ready to start for¬ 
 ward : it is singularly enough the same British Protestant 
 Society, and the same Roman Catholic French Society. 
 To save possible massacre of the poor natives, who for 
 many centuries have taken care of themselves, a man of 
 Captain Ltigard’s stamp must be put forward with a Maxim 
 gun : there are German spheres of influence on one side at 
 the Kameriin, and French spheres of influence to the North. 
 Some Church dignitary, a Bishop if possible, must be killed: 
 Some youthful converts of doubtful antecedents must be 
 burnt by the Mahometans, and then the same thrill of 
 anguish will pass through Evangelical circles in England : 
 Why not try Timbuktu } It is alas! in the Erench sphere 
 of influence : when once the Tenth Commandment is broken, 
 and we commence to covet the land of our neighbours, 
 there is no limit but our Power and our opportunity, for all 
 Moral feeling has disappeared. The very existence of the 
 great African lakes is very imperfectly known to the middle- 
 aged clergy, who make up a Missionary Committee, and they 
 have no conception of the vast distances to be traversed. 
 An old gentleman was overheard at the Anti-slavery Depu- 
 
Uganda, 
 
 tation to the Foreign Office asking a neighbour on which 
 side of the Red Sea was Uganda, for. as he naively added, 
 one likes to know. Surely this is not the class to settle the 
 foreign policy of this great Kingdom. 
 
 I thank Captain Lugard for one thing : he is the only 
 Englishman, who has said a word in favour of the French 
 Missionaries, the citizens of a friendly State : we differ essen¬ 
 tially from their doctrine, but we admire their devotion : 
 They have no wives, and families, and salaries, and com¬ 
 fortable homes ; no furloughs and pensions : while they 
 live, they work : when they can work no longer, they die : 
 they somehow give us a better idea of an apostle, though 
 now and then the Protestants have apostles like Mackay, 
 Hannington, and Parker : The French have as much right 
 to beat Uganda sl's the English have : it is under a strange 
 misapprehension, that Captain Lugard remarked in the 
 Fortnightly of November, 1892, that under a Missionary 
 etiquette the Roman Catholics had no right to intrude two 
 years later into a Protestant Preserve. Such a comity 
 exists among Protestant Missions, but not between Pro¬ 
 testant and Roman Catholic : otherwise how are Protestants 
 in India, China, and Japan in localities occupied centuries 
 earlier by Roman Catholic Missionaries ? With the French 
 Missionary difficulties are experienced, which are not felt 
 with other Nationalities, certainly not with British Roman 
 Catholics. I give a quotation : 
 
 “ Bishop Hedley, speaking last night at the annual soiree in aid of St. 
 Mary’s Roman Catholic Schools, Walsall, referred to the Uganda question. 
 He thought, and he said it with sorrow, that in the future, wherever the 
 power of Protestantism and Catholicism met in Equatorial .Africa, it would 
 be necessary to divide them into different spheres, not because he imagined 
 there would be any difficulty about educated gentlemen, not to say Christian 
 gentlemen, living in peace, but because there was the danger of half- 
 educated followers coming into conflict.” 
 
 The Protestant Missionary at Uganda expresses himsell 
 very differently : what he wants is political ascendancy, and 
 this is just what no form of Religion whatever ought to 
 have : 
 
24 
 
 “The Roman Catholic party is the one most likely to feel aggrieved and 
 jealous of the others. It is true that they have Budu, a very fertile district, 
 but the chief of Budu never had the position and honour that many other 
 chiefs had. This party has lately lost the most, and is therefore the most 
 likely to feel dissatisfied. They would submit to be ruled by representa¬ 
 tives of the British Government, or of a company if the Europeans could 
 carry their own in Buganda ; but if they felt that they were virtually being 
 govemed by the Protestant party in Buganda^ I do riot think they would 
 submit to it. In all they do they will be entirely guided by their ‘ Fathers,^ 
 who exercise absolute authority over them. I think that you can well 
 judge what would be the consequence if the British control were withdrawn. 
 The first scene of the new act would be all parties flying at the Protestant 
 Christians. Then the Mohammedans would seize all the Roman Catholic 
 converts and their followers, and would open a slave market at once.” 
 
 Not one word has been said about the feelings ot the 
 Taxpayers, except jaunty remarks such as the following : 
 
 “ Is there any jiistification for the assumption that the taxpayers of this 
 coimtry would disapprove of the cost of its retention I Every taxpayer, who 
 has given the subject any attention, knows that in a merely selfish or 
 pecuniary sense it is of the highest importance to retain Uganda, the pearl 
 of Africa, and the key to two million square miles of territory, which by 
 international agreement are at the present time under our protection. The 
 markets of the world are being more and more closed against us, and it is 
 surely the act of a nation gone mad to wilfully throw away the glorious 
 prospects which the development of the rich lake districts of Central Africa 
 would open to our trade.” 
 
 This is just bunkum, and the writer knows that it is, for 
 he in his next sentence appeals to other passions, Religion 
 and Chauvinism : 
 
 “ Are we going to desert our fellow-Christians in Uganda ? Are we going 
 to give up to massacre those friendly tribes who, trusting in our promises 
 of protection, have given us their assistance ? And are we going to give 
 up that immense and fertile region., pregnant with mineral and other wealth, 
 to another nation ? If we are true to our God, to our country, and to our. 
 selves, the crime of deserting Uganda will not rest upon us.” 
 
 It is quite clear, that if the Railway is guaranteed there 
 will be an annual heavy charge on our resources, however 
 fanatics never think of this : this very month some of this 
 class have, proposed to the Secretary of State for India 
 arbitrarily to destroy the cultivation of the Poppy, a great 
 industry of the People of India, amounting to at least eight 
 millions annually, and some have gone so far as to propose 
 to make a proportionate grant to the Indian Exchequer. 
 
25 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 The proposition was too ridiculous to entertain. Empires 
 cannot be governed by fanatics : We are far too ready to 
 be indulgent, when we have other people’s purses to draw 
 on, when we can dip into the State Treasury : With the 
 overwhelming demands upon us of the Pauper Population 
 of our cities are we justified in flinging away annual thou¬ 
 sands in Central Africa ? 
 
 An international question has already arisen with France 
 about the treatment of French Missionaries by Captain 
 Lugard, It comes with a bad grace from the Government 
 of a Republic, which has ejected English Missionaries from 
 the Loyalty Islands and threatens to do the same in Algeria 
 and Tunisie. Still the facts as admitted have an ugly 
 appearance. Captain Lugard in the Fo 7 'tnightly of Nov., 
 1892, disposes of the charge in a jaunty way by the asser¬ 
 tion, that English officers are incapable of such things, but 
 the pages of this Journal* in the October number tell us how 
 English officers acted in the expedition to relieve Emin 
 Pasha, and committed acts of Murder and Rapine right 
 across Africa. I really am reluctant to describe what took 
 place at the Island of Sesse in my own words for fear of 
 being charged with exaggeration. I quote those of an 
 entire stranger, the Rev. Edward Conybeare in his letter 
 to the Guardia?i, October 22, 1892 : 
 
 “ 5. The Catholics, thus defeated, took refuge from the bullets of these 
 English rifles on an inaccessible island, whence the King continued to 
 defy our authorities. 
 
 “ 6. And now comes the horror. To bring this obstinate heretic to his 
 senses Captain Lugard sent against him a gun-boat, flying presumably, the 
 English flag, and under the command, certainly, of an English officer. 
 Captain Williams. On the approach of this formidable foe the Catholics 
 abandoned all idea of further resistance, and thought only of escape. They 
 crowded into their canoes for flight— men., women, and children. The 
 King effected his escape; but of his unhappy followers boatload after 
 boatload was sent to the bottom by the murderous volleys of our Maxim 
 gun. On the computation—I wish I could say the admission—of our 
 Protestant informants, several hundreds of defenceless fugitives, chiefly non- 
 
 * The Imperial a 7 id Asiatic Quarterly Review, October, 1892, “The 
 Ethics of African Geographical Exploration ” (page 348). 
 
26 
 
 Uga7ida. 
 
 combatants, were thus massacred. And this, be it remarked, was not done 
 by unloosed savages, but by the latest weapons of civilisation and by the 
 orders of an Englishman. 
 
 “ Now, sir, can we hope for God’s blessing on our doings in Uganda 
 while we allow such a deed to pass unrepented ? I do not wish to blame 
 Captain Lugard, who, doubtless, felt the fearful course he adopted an 
 unavoidable necessity. Nor do I wish to defend the Uganda Catholics, 
 who, possibly, provoked their own doom. But, to whatever extent the 
 slaughter may be justified, the fact remains that we were the slaughterers ; 
 and we may be very sure that such wholesale shedding of Christian blood 
 is no light thing in God’s sight. At our hand He will require it ; at the 
 hand of the English nation, and above all of the English Church, unless 
 by contrition we turn away His anger from us. Hitherto, alas, we have 
 rather made ourselves partakers of the deed. Will none of our Bishops 
 give expression to what we ought to feel ? 
 
 “ Edward Conybeare. 
 
 “Barrington Vicarage, Cambridge, October 22, 1892.” 
 
 And again in a second letter, under date Nov. ii, he 
 gives his authority for these statements, the Rev. Mr. 
 Collins, one of the British Missionaries, whose report I 
 have before me, and which bears out Mr. Conybeare’s 
 independent outcry : 
 
 “ Sir,— 
 
 “ The extent to which here at home we have shut our eyes to the 
 horrors in Uganda is shown by the letter of Bishop Smythies in your 
 current issue. My account of what took place seems to him almost incred¬ 
 ible—too ghastly to be true. But, as I mentioned, I took care to say 
 nothing which was not from our own English and Protestant sources. Had 
 I gone to the other side, yet more fearful tales would be brought forward, 
 tales of the outrage and torture of Catholic women for refusing to deny 
 their faith. These charges are brought against us by Monsignor Hirth, 
 and have never, so far as I have seen, been contradicted. But as our side 
 have said nothing about them, I said nothing about them either, confining 
 myself to the reports of our own authorities, civil and ecclesiastical. In these 
 reports the account of the massacre is to be found only too plainly ; given 
 sometimes zvith scarcely veiled glee, sometimes barely narrated, never with 
 one word of pity for the victims or regret at so deep a stain of Christian 
 blood on our cause. The last of them was that of Mr. Collins, which 
 appeared in the same number of the Guardian as my letter (October 26). 
 
 “And this is where the disgrace to our boasted Christianity lies—not 
 nearly so much in the deed itself (horrible though it was) as in the spirit 
 with which we have greeted the tidings. Captain Williams was but carry¬ 
 ing out relentlessly the relentless orders of his superior officer to make the 
 Catholics submit at all costs. Captain Lugard is far too brave a man to 
 attempt to evade his responsibility for those orders. He boldly avouches 
 it; and, relentless as they were, such awful deeds are sometimes an awful 
 
Uganda. 27 
 
 necessity in warfare. When once he had begun to fight he could scarcely 
 stop till the foe surrendered ; and his beginning he justifies (and the voice 
 of the English Church unanimously accepts the justification) on the same 
 plea which was put forth for the Massacre of St. Bartholomew—viz., that 
 if the slaughterers had not struck the first blow they would themselves 
 have been slaughtered. But Captain Lugard alone speaks of the proceed¬ 
 ings as ‘deplorable.’ No diocesan conference, no Church newspaper 
 echoes that word. No—the murdered women and children were con¬ 
 nected with ‘the Italian Mission,’ and therefore beyond the pale of 
 Anglican sympathy. No wonder that Roman Catholics say we have shown 
 what reality we attach to our claim to be Catholics also. Even the Israelites, 
 at the most barbarous period of their history, knew better. When they 
 had slaughtered down the Benjamites (richly deserved as the slaughter 
 was), they felt the horror of the deed, and prayed for forgiveness. We 
 seem not even to feel that we need pardon for our brethren’s blood. We 
 do not ask for it, and we shall not get it. 
 
 “ Edward Conybeare. 
 
 “Barrington Vicarage, Cambridge, November ii, 1892.” 
 
 Guardian., November 16, 1892. 
 
 It is unnecessary to say, that in the French Missionary 
 periodicals the story is told with large amplifications, and 
 the hatred of the people of France against “ les Anglais” 
 is roused : this is most lamentable. I quote this to show, 
 that the rule of Uganda will not be conducted in rosewater : 
 we shall hear of constant massacres of this kind, assassina¬ 
 tions, and outrage : is this the kind of protection which the 
 benevolent people of England and the Missionaries wish to 
 supply ? I am not blaming Captain Lugard : he certainly 
 does not value black life much : An official in British India 
 could never have done such things, and no Governor would 
 have tolerated it : this incident shows that Captain Lugard 
 did not possess the least elementary knowledge of ruling 
 Native Races : the people who were killed were nominal 
 Christians, though of a different Church, and this renders 
 the incident more deplorable : Reverse the position and 
 imagine a French officer having treated Protestant baptized 
 converts in this fashion. Had Captain Lugard had any 
 experience of a District in a Rebellion during the Indian 
 Mutiny of 1857, or of a great city like Banaras, stirred to 
 its depth of religious fanaticism by the unlucky death by 
 violence of a Brahmini Bull in the streets, or a sacred monkey 
 
28 
 
 Uganda. 
 
 being shot by a casual English loafer, or winter visitor, he 
 would have known how to handle ignorant crowds without 
 the use of artillery and rides : at any rate a Protestant 
 should have done anything rather than shoot down Roman 
 Catholic converts : nothing of the kind has ever happened 
 in British India : it is very true that there are very few 
 French Roman Catholic Missionaries in India, and the 
 British, Spanish, Italian, Belgian, German, Roman Catholics 
 never give any trouble : the French Missionary, whether 
 Protestant or Roman Catholic, has always La France on 
 his brain : his own co-religionists deplore this egregious 
 Chauvinism. 
 
 The decision of the Government to send out a Commis¬ 
 sioner to make a local inquiry and report does not satisfy 
 the Religious Press ; where, they say, can more competent 
 witnesses be found than Captain Fugard, and the British 
 Missionaries ? is the evidence of Bishop Hirsch, and his 
 French colleagues not to be taken ? are they to be treated 
 like the Irish landlords during the investigation into the 
 eviction of tenants ? All sense of equity seems to disappear 
 under the presence of a confused mass of denominational 
 Religion, spurious Nationality, and spread-eagle Imperial¬ 
 ism. Mr. Gladstone made one frightful mistake in bom¬ 
 barding Alexandria, and sending Gordon to Khartum ; he 
 is older and wiser now : but, says the Missionaries’ advocate 
 “ until the decision is finally made, the people will not settle 
 down let us hope that practically it is made : “ The 
 
 English Missionaries cannot feel the confidence they should 
 in the future of the country ” : it is not the Missionary’s busi¬ 
 ness to meddle with such matters : let him preach the 
 Gospel, attend to his schools, and eschew politics, and the 
 people will love him, and cherish his memory ; it is a wrong 
 departure to have what Mr. Ashe calls “political Pro¬ 
 testants.” 
 
 With regard to the French scare I add the following : 
 
 “ There is evidently much misconception as to the exact application of 
 the terms of the Berlin Act to the present case. The Act is clear enough. 
 
Uganda. 
 
 29 
 
 It stipulates that, when any Power takes possession of any part of the coast 
 of Africa it must intimate the same to other Powers in case there may 
 be pre-existing claims. And, again, that no act of annexation will be 
 regarded as valid unless steps are taken to establish an effective jurisdiction. 
 All this applies only to the coast. As to the interior, the convenient 
 category of ‘ spheres of influence ’ was established. It has therefore been 
 considered internationally convenient that when a Power has, in agree¬ 
 ment with other Powers, declared a certain area to be within its ‘ sphere 
 of influence,’ reasonable time should be given her to establish herself effec¬ 
 tively in the territory. The British East Africa sphere, extending over a 
 million square miles, has been defined in agreement with Germany and 
 Italy. Though neither France nor the Congo Free State is a direct party 
 to it, it would not only be an act of extreme unfriendliness for either to 
 take advantage of the immensity of the sphere and slip in by a back-door, 
 as it were, but it would introduce an element of discord into the partition 
 of Africa which it was the object of the Berlin Conference to obviate. 
 Both France and the Free State possess enormous areas in Africa within 
 their ‘ spheres,’ which are as yet entirely unoccupied, and which are, there¬ 
 fore, as open to annexation by other Powers as the remoter parts of British 
 East Africa.” 
 
 The most extraordinary literature has appeared indicating 
 the colour of the waters, which have been stirred—perhaps 
 the most astounding is “The Uganda Catechism” by an 
 Oxford Doctor of Divinity : a more foolish paper, and one 
 more replete with inexact statements we have rarely seen : 
 whether this Catechism is to take the place of the Church 
 Catechism in the Uganda Sunday Schools, or to be taught, 
 as an extra, to the children of the poor in England, it is 
 not stated : it is printed and published at the expense of 
 the Missionary Society : the price is not given : it would be 
 dear at a penny : 1 only allude to it, as it indicates neatly 
 the electoral tactics now applied to Missionary desires. 
 
 Oufestion 36. What can individuals do to prevent such a 
 lamentable catastrophe (as the withdrawal of the officials ol 
 the Company) ? 
 
 Answer (i). They can commit the whole (piestion to the 
 King of Kings in believing prayer. 
 
 (So far we are with the Catechist and his Catechumens.) 
 
 Answer (2). They can do much in conversation, etc., to 
 arouse public interest in what threatens to become a 
 national disgrace. 
 

 Uganda. 
 
 30 
 
 Answer (3). They can write letters to their represen¬ 
 tative in Parliament, which will interest him in the subject 
 and lead him to help in averting the impending disaster: 
 (in fact threaten him against the next Election). 
 
 Answer (4). They can unite in memorializing Govern¬ 
 ment either with the definite proposals, which the Anti- 
 Slavery Society has adopted, or in more general terms such 
 as the Missionary Society, a non-political organisation, felt 
 constrained to use. 
 
 Question 37. Is there anything further that can be sug¬ 
 gested in connection with this subject ? 
 
 Answer. Yes : That thou doest do quickly, for the 
 night cometh, when no man can work. 
 
 The learned Doctor has omitted from his list of measures: 
 Thunder from the Pulpit : pass resolutions in Diocesan 
 Conferences: it has not yet come to “ Denounce from the 
 Altar,” but the younger members of this generation may 
 live to hear that also : when once clerics meddle in political 
 matters, they brook no opposition, and hesitate at no 
 measures : it has been the bane of the Church of Rome from 
 its earliest day: up to this day the Church of England has 
 abstained from indulgence in Imperial appetites : It is to 
 be hoped that the Uganda fever will burn itself out. 
 
 The methods used are not new, nor unique : The Ameri¬ 
 cans set us the example : a fair description of their methods 
 covers the case for annexation of Uganda : 
 
 “ It strives to bolster them up by the arguments, true and false, which 
 seem most likely to appeal to the prejudices and the credulity of the 
 greatest number; and it endeavours to prove the soundness of those argu¬ 
 ments by a number of good stout assertions upon matters of fact. The 
 whole is, of course, larded with a pungent criticism of Democratic short¬ 
 comings and garnished with elaborate dissertations to show that America 
 owes all her prosperity, moral and material, to the disinterested services 
 done her by the great Republican party.” 
 
 Pmilo-Africanus. 
 
 Dec. 1, i8g2.