The Romance of a Pro-Consul: Being the Personal Life and Memoirs of the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, K.C.B.Milne, James
History
The Romance of a Pro-Consul: Being the Personal Life and Memoirs of the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, K.C.B.
Milne, James
Grey, George, Sir, 1812-1898
To Sir George, Lot Hrayi's despatch was a State paper. 'Native races,' he
laid down, 'understood personal rule, and the great thing was to make the
Queen vivid, a reality, to them. England? Yes, it was a place far
distant, where there were no dark-skinned peoples. The Queen of England?
Ah, yes, they could comprehend her! She sat on a throne, so beautiful
that its place must be where all was beautiful and good. Her heart beat
for her folk, irrespective of their colour; she would minister to their
happiness. Nothing could more delight her, than to secure the well-being
of those who claimed her powerful protection. That was intelligible!
'Thus, when I had a measure of mercy, of justice, or of guidance to
announce, I did it directly, in the Queen's name, and in the native
languages. It was the Queen's utterance, though spoken by me, and it
would be difficult to indicate how well the charm worked. Go into a
cottage, in almost any part of England, and you will, I judge, find a
portrait of the Queen hanging on the whitewashed walls. There were no
portraits in the Kaffir kraals, yet the Queen entered them, a beneficent
influence in many a crisis.'
Striving to attach the Kaffirs, Sir George granted them written titles to
their lands. They could not at first perceive the object of the
parchment, and he would express it thus: 'If you have any trouble with
your lands, it is only necessary for you to go to a judge with this
document. He will read it, and if there is a real grievance, he will have
it put right. Even the Queen's army might be ordered away from a place,
by a few policemen, if a judge so directed.'
The chiefs would often say afterwards: 'Oh, Sir George Grey explained to
us, all about the advantages under which we held the land. He told us
that the Queen, herself, could not turn us off the ground, without going
to the supreme courts which dispensed justice in her name. If a claimant
were found not entitled to a piece of land, he would be removed by the
Queen's officers. But if he had right behind his claim, why, he would be
maintained in it by those officers.'
'Some people,' Sir George made comment, 'declared it absurd that I should
instil those ideas into the minds of the natives, but, in reality, it
resulted in their having far more respect and regard for the Queen.'
Assuredly, his policy made the Kaffirs eager to get land titles, and
these were always another link binding them to good behaviour. It was the
contrivance of the silken thread, wound here, there, everywhere, as
against the other method, of a horse-hair halter.
Should some swashbuckler have contrary views on native administration, he
could relieve his fierceness by tracing the word 'Hottentot' to its
origin. Sir George had an amusing story of Cape Town in controversy on
this term, which the Hottentots had always insisted did not belong to
their forefathers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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