A CAPTIVE AFRICAN CHIEF.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2930, 6 July 1878, Page 4

A CAPTIVE AFRICAN CHIEF.

It may be remembered how the news of Langalibalele's rebellion, trial and punishment gradually reached England, now at first we feared that a,! great rebel had arisen, to conquer whom. would~require us to put out all our powers,: and then how we were moved by the outraged philanthropist to Xhivik. that a grievous injustice had been done. I cannot but say that in matters. we allowed ourselves to be swayed by exaggerated reports and unwarranted fears and sympathies. Langalibalele did rebel and had to be punished. His trial was no doubt informal and overformal. Too much was made of it. The fault throughout has been that too much has been made of the whole affair. Partisans arose on behalf of the now notorious and very troublesome old Pagan, and philanthrophy was outraged. Then came the necessity of doing something to set right an acknowledged wrong. It might be that Langalibalele had had cause for suspicion when he stripped the Queen's messenger. It might be that the running away was the natural effect of fear, and that the subsequent tragedies had been simply unfortunate. The trial was adjudged to have been conducted with overstrained rigour and the punishment to have been too severe. Therefore it was decided in England that he should be sent back to the mainland from the island, that he should be located in the neighbourhood of Capetown,—and that his tribe should be allowed to join him. That was promising too much." It was found to be inconvenient to settle a whole tribe of a new race in the Cape colony. Nor was it apparent that the tribe would wish to move after its chieftain. Then it was decided that instead of the tribe the chieftain's family should follow him with any of his immediate friends who might wish to be transported from Natal. Now Langalibalele had seTenty wives and a proportionate offspring. And it soon became apparent that whoever were sent after him must be maintained at the'expense of Government. Moreover it could hardly be that Exeter Hall and the philanthropists should desire to encourage polygamy by sending such a flock of wives after the favored prisoner. Complaint was made to me that only two wives and one man were sent. With them Langalibale was established in a small house on the sea-shore near to Capetown, and there he is now living at the expense of £500 per annum to the Government. But this unfortunately is not the end. He has still friends in Natal, whi'e friends, who think that not nearly enough has been done for him. A great many more wives might be allowed to. join him, or the pro* mise made to him will not have been kept. He is languishing for his wives, and all should be sent who would be willing to go. I saw one of them very ill—dying, I was told, because of her troubles, and half a dozen others, all of them provided with food gratis, but in great tribulation—so it is said—because of this cruel separation. The Government should surely send him three or four more wives, seeing that to a man who has bad seventy less than half a dozen must be almost worse than none.—Trollope.