But Why 1890 to 1914? 1890 Was the Year When Cecil Rhodes Managed

But why 1890 to 1914? 1890 was the year when Cecil Rhodes managed at last to consolidate his empire north of the Zambezi. In 1914, though the lights did not go out all over Africa, they were sufficiently dimmed by war and the subsequent economic depression to halt die initial impetus of development in Rhodesia. These twenty-four years were surely the most essential in Zambia’s progress into the modern world. The dialectical historian of Africa might ascribe this progress simply to copper; another might say that it was due to the northward thrust of the railway; or to the swift advance of tropical medicine, combating the tsetse and mosquito; yet another to the establishment of sound adminstration founded on missionary endeavour. The more discerning might ascribe it to the happy coincidence of all these factors, galvanised by the energy of Rhodes, that “brooding spirit”, as Kipling called him; for northern Rhodesia fell astride die highway of his dream. Let us look at Rhodes’s incursion north of die Zambezi and then briefly at some of these main forces, and, where possible, interrelate them. In 1890 his empire ended on the shores of the great river barrier of the Zambezi. North-west are the low swampy plains of Barotseland and the Kafue basin, and to the north-east the plateau that extends down through east Africa and continues on to Natal. Like the traders and explorers, including Livingstone himself, the earliest missionaries entered northern Rhodesia from Bechuanaland or Lobengula’s country, where, by the Rudd Concession of 1888, Rhodes had forced the Chief to grant him the full mineral rights of his kingdom. Thence they crossed the Zambezi between Lealui and Sesheke in Barotseland, where Paramount Chief Lewanika ruled one of the largest territories in central Africa. Along this route, then, came successively explorer, trader, missionary and administrator. The early missionaries greatly facilitated the task of the administrators by acquainting the chiefs, particularly Lewanika, with the method of European negotiation, whether it was ultimately for religious teaching or secular power. The earliest missionary to visit his kingdom was Francois Coillard of the Paris Evangelical Missionary Society. Hence, it was drawn towards Barotseland by the close linguistic ties between the two territories; and there, despite the competition of Frederick Arnot of the Plymouth Brethren, Coillard gained permission from the King to establish a mission station. But no sooner had he left to recall his colleagues from Basutoland than he passed, on its northward trek, the Zambezi Mission of the Jesuits in the charge of Father Depelchin. The Jesuits duly established themselves at Pandamatenka in Mashonaland; and, after successful negotiations with the Matabele, they, too, turned their attention northwards to Barotseland. For five years, from 1880, they struggled with disease, heat and torrential rain, which severely depleted their strength, and with the quixotic whims of the King who eventually decided against their entry. Coillard was able to establish the first permanent mission in Rhodesia beyond the Zambezi at Sefula, in October, 1885. In the negotiations that were to follow between Lewanika and Rhodes’s more ruthless emissaries, Coillard remained the King’s chief adviser and interpreter. By the strong influence he was able to exert over Lewanika and the primitive people of western Barotseland he was already unwittingly helping to realise Rhodes’s dream. After the success of Henry Ware’s mission, designed to secure the gold concessions for the British South Africa Company over all the country between the Zambezi and the road to the north, Coillard decided to convene a conference at Sesheke in August, 1889, to prepare for the inevitable invasion of Rhodes’s emissaries. It was agreed to establish a mission at Kazungula’s village, which was traditionally the gateway to Barotseland. Helplessly at odds with the Company, Coillard was at once guardian and appeaser. In the same year, the British South Africa Company received a Royal Charter from the Queen. All was now ready to receive the secular missionary, F. E. Lochner. He arrived with severe fever and was offered hospitality by Coillard, but was not well received by the chiefs. Lewanika, according to custom, greeted Lochner with a present of forty slaughtered oxen, but refused to accept his gifts until the discussion had been concluded. But, when these appeared to be threatened by deadlock, Lochner invited the King and his principal chiefs to Scfuia to attend a great feast in honour of the Queen of England. Oxen were killed, lantern slides were shown and fireworks were let off. But there was method in his magic. Lochner was spectacularly successful. Yet it was surely Coillard who ultimately turned the negotiations in his favour. Why should he be partisan? He asked the King; after all, he was a Frenchman. But under a stable administration he foresaw better living conditions for the primitive Barotse and a great chance for his evangelism. He advised Iewanika to accept Lechner’s offer and on June 27th, 1890, the Treaty was signed. And so the British South Africa Company gained the complete mineral rights of the territory, which was to be opened to all employees of the Company and to traders, but not to immigrants. In return, the Company would govern and defend the Protectorate, but would respect the authority of the chiefs over their people and their internal affairs. Titus a form of dual mandate was established in a territory that Coillard considered to be incapable of self-government. The Lochner Treaty was unfortunate for all concerned, particularly for Coillard. Feeling betrayed, Lewanika was angry with both the Company and Coillard. The Paris Mission’s secular trader, a man called Middleton, even tried to repudiate the Treaty as fraudulently represented; but Sir Henry Loch, the Governor of Cape Colony, was able to show that the British Government had ratified it; and he assured Lewanika that Barotseland was under the Queen’s protection. Meanwhile, the unfortunate Dr. Jameson, who was anxious to avoid open aggression with the Matabele, whom he had hoped gradually to assimilate through a process of labour migration, decided at last on a policy of suppression. On October 2nd, 1893, the tribe’s resistance was ruthlessly crushed; Bulawayo was captured; and Lobengula, “that fat naked savage”, was killed as he fled the field. The rival Barotse were delighted, and Rhodes was able at last to fulfil his commitments to Lewanika. Ironically, then, this slaughter initiated a golden age for missionary work in Barotseland, and Coillard was revered everywhere in the Kingdom. Rhodes had only one great rival in his northward expansion, the leading figure of the African Lakes Company and founder of Nyasaland, Sir Harry Johnston. By 1890 the Iakes Company was crippled by its long war with the Arab slave traders, and the Chartered Company agreed to subsidise it to the extent of £20,000. In the result, Nyasaland was placed under the Imperial Administration, for Johnston would not admit Nyasaland’s inclusion in any commercial enterprise in which the ascendancy had already been lost by the Belgians’ occupation of Katanga. The matter was eventually settled in February, 1891, when the Company agreed to pay the sum of £10,000 a year for the upkeep of a police force that was to be controlled by Her Majesty’s Commissioner and Consul- General for British Central Africa. The judiciary, as before, was to be administered in accordance with the African Order in Council of 1889, which was vested in the Supreme Court for Cape Colony. The unfortunate Commissioner was Johnston. His headquarters at Zomba was eight hundred miles from Lealui, with the result that Coillard, the missionary, found that he was virtually governor of Barotseland. Johnston’s position was clearly unsatisfactory. He was deeply suspicious of Rhodes, who himself did not cherish the idea of “an independent King Johnston over the Zambezi”. On November 24th, 1894, the Foreign Office and the Chartered Company agreed that the chartered sphere north of the Zambezi was to be withdrawn from Johnston’s control, and that direct administration was to be transferred to the Company not later than June 30th, 1895. The new Deputy Commissioner for the chartered territory north of the Zambezi was Major Patrick Forbes, a serving officer who had distinguished himself during the first Matabelc campaign. He arrived at Zomba on June 23rd, 1895, to take up his duties; but within a few months he was unfortunately obliged by an injury to go to Cape Town for an operation. It was at this crucial moment that Dr. Jameson launched his raid on the Boers of the Transvaal. Its failure obliged the Company to concentrate its forces south of the Limpopo, which, in turn, provided the opportunity for the Matabele to avenge their defeat. Six hundred and eighty- three Europeans were killed in the rising. The Colonial Office lost much confidence in the administration, which again was forced to neglect its more remote territories. At the end of 1895 it was proposed that Hubert Hervey should be sent as Commissioner of Barotscland; but, when he was killed in the Rising, no immediate replacement could be found; and Lewanika, whose kingdom continued to be neglected, was powerless to control the hoards of copper prospectors of the Northern Rhodesia (B.S.A.) Exploration Company (later called the Northern Copper Company), financed by one Edmund Davis and led by an American, Frederick Burnham. Large numbers of Portuguese also infiltrated into Barotseland. The closer vigilance of tire Imperial Government over the affairs in southern Africa, following the Jameson Raid, now prejudiced Rhodes’s chance of extending the Matabele Order in Council, passed after the death of Lobengula, to include the country north of the Zambezi.

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