Title:  Native Races and the War

Author:  Josephine Elizabeth Butler

Release Date:  December 8, 2004 [EBook #14299]

Language:  English

Character set encoding:  ASCII

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NATIVE RACES AND THE WAR,

BY

Josephine E. Butler.

London:  Gay & Bird.

Newcastle-on-tyne:  Mawson, Swan, & Morgan.

1900.

DEDICATED TO MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN.

I.

     Apology for “Yet another book” On the south African question. 
     Future peace must be based on justice,—­to coloured as well as
     white men.  Difference between legalized slavery and the subjection
     of natives by individuals.  The Transvaal in 1877:  Its bankruptcy: 
     Its annexation by great Britain:  Its liberation from great Britain
     in 1881.  Convention of 1881 signed at Pretoria.  British
     commissioners’ audience with 300 native chiefs.  Speeches and
     sorrowful protests of the chiefs.  Royal commission appointed to
     take evidence.  Evidence of natives and others concerning slavery in
     the Transvaal.  Appeal of the Christian king Khama.  Letter of
     M’PLAANK, nephew of Cetewayo.  Prevalence of contempt for the native
     races.  Sympathy of A native chief with the sufferings of Christ.

In the midst of the manifold utterances and discussions on the burning question of to-day,—­the War in South Africa,—­there is one side of the subject which, it seems to me, has not as yet been considered with the seriousness which it deserves,—­and that is the question of Slavery, and of the treatment of the native races of South Africa.  Though this question has not yet in England or on the Continent been cited as one of the direct causes of the war, I am convinced,—­as are many others,—­that it lies very near to the heart of the present trouble.

The object of this paper is simply to bring witnesses together who will testify to the past and present condition of the native races under British, Dutch, and Transvaal rule.  These witnesses shall not be all of one nation; they shall come from different countries, and among them there shall be representatives of the native peoples themselves.  I shall add little of my own to the testimony of these witnesses.  But I will say, in advance, that what I desire to