Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.
Proposed Zulu Province
Proposed Zulu Province.
To this connection it was owing that he made proposals to Sir Benjamin Pine, the Lieutenant-Governor, respecting the disposal and management of some 50,000 or 60,000 Zulus who had fled into Natal to escape from the tyranny of three ferocious Zulu chieftains—Chaaka, Dingaan, and Panda. This huge horde of natives formed a source of disturbance and unrest in Natal. Could they not be organized into one of those non-genealogical tribes which Sir Alfred Lyall discovered in India, and which Dr. W. E. Hearn believed to be the origin of the State? Yes, certainly, thought Mr. Shepstone; provided a suitable location could be found. One such was lying invitingly ready at hand. To the west of Natal, between the colony and British Kafraria, lay a beautiful and fertile territory, where forests flanked wide and well-watered pasture-lands. What specially recommended it for settlement was the fact that it was a waste domain, occupied only by a few white settlers and a few kraals, but mainly by wild beasts. Mr. Shepstone proposed that he should march the entire body into this no-man's-land. There, under more favourable conditions, he was to continue to rule over them and pursue his civilising work. Who, indeed, so well fitted to play to them the part of an Earthly Providence?