Modern quarter leather binding with marbled paper sides and gilt titles on spine.
xi + 352pp. Illustrated with plates (all present).
Internally clean and in very good condition.
'Mr. Thomson is a severe critic of the Chartered Company, which he says "as a government, has no claim to indulgence." He maintains that "it has given cause for suspicion to the Boers, to the Portuguese, and to the neighbouring native states, and it has cruelly wronged and oppressed those natives who have been placed under its control. . . . For these things Mr. Rhodes is directly responsible." He considers that the causes of the rebellion in Matabeleland and Mashonaland were the maladministration of affairs in the country, the appointment of native police, the irritation caused by the shooting of the natives' cattle owing to rinderpest regulations, and to the reality of forced labour imposed upon the native races. It is asserted that the natives said, "Our country is gone, our cattle have gone, our people have scattered, we have nothing to live for . . . we are the slaves of the white man, we are nobody, and have no rights or laws of any kind. . . Could there be," asks the author, "a sadder commentary upon the results of our occupation of Matabeleland?" Nevertheless, it is maintained that "the failure of the Company to govern rightly has not been wilful, but has arisen from weakness of administration and extent of territory." Although acquitting Mr. Rhodes of sordid motives, and descanting on his liberality to the settlers and the natives, the author practically accuses him of having forced on the war with Lobengula under the pretence of protecting the Mashonas. He remarks on the great personality of the South African statesman, which, he states, exercised an influence over both the Dutch in the Colony and the Republics. He quotes a conversation between Mr. Merriman and himself, in the course of which he remarked, that Mr. Rhodes ought to have been detained in England and tried at the same time as Dr. Jameson; in reply, it appears, Mr. Merriman flared up at once, "I don't agree with you at all," he said, "I am a strong enough opponent of Mr. Rhodes, but if we choose to elect the Devil himself, we are not going to have you (the English Government) say we shall not."' - Mendelssohn Vol.II, pages 495-96
- Binding Condition: Fine
- Overall Condition: Very Good
- Size: 8vo.
