Panda waged no more external wars, but lived peaceably in his kraal,
breeding cattle. Most conspicuous amongst the sons of Panda were
Cetywayo and Umbulazi; these two, having quarrelled, waged a sort of
civil war one against the other, and in the result Umbulazi was defeated
and killed. Amongst the army of Umbulazi were John Dunn and about thirty
other white men armed with rifles. Cetywayo then quarrelled with another
brother, and the same state of disorder continued till Panda's death,
which occurred in October, 1872.
Cetywayo being thereupon accepted as king by the Zulu nation, applied to
the English Government to recognize him. Accordingly, Sir
Theophilus--then Mr.--Shepstone was sent as envoy, and publicly crowned
Cetywayo at the Umlambongmenya kraal, on which occasion he spoke thus to
the assembled Zulus: "Here is your king. You have recognized him as
such, and I now do also, in the name of the Queen of England. Your kings
have often met violent deaths at the hands of their people, but if you
kill this one, we shall surely require his blood of you." He then went
on to say, "that as the English had recognized him as king, they would
expect him to give all men a fair trial before condemnation. Even a
witch should be let off, and merely sent away to another district." To
this the Zulus returned that they would kill any man who went with the
king's women, any man who ran away with another's wife, any thief of
cattle, royal or otherwise; that a witch should not be put to death on a
first accusation, but should any persist in witchcraft, he should be
killed. And to this Shepstone signified his assent. The chiefs then rose
in a body and said, "We will so govern the country under our King
Cetywayo, and we look to England to support him as the king of the Zulu
nation." Shepstone replied that he hoped the Zulus would live peaceably
under the new king, whom England would expect to adhere to the terms to
which he had just assented.
But these promises were broken on more than one occasion. Cetywayo
having called up his army, and finding them tardy in response, and many
absentees on the plea of illness, forthwith sent a regiment to slay all
those thus absent, saying, "Sick men are no good; I will save the
doctors the trouble of attending them." Again, one of the divisions of
females being ordered to marry a certain regiment, objected that they
were too few. Another regiment was named, and further objections raised.
Then an impi was sent to punish these women, and a great number were
killed. Great abuses in the practice of "smelling out" by witch-doctors
also prevailed, though in this respect Cetywayo appears slightly better
than his predecessors.
It is now time to turn attention to what is called the Boundary
Question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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