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and that he only attached his signature to the proclamation at the urgent request of the Zulus, and because, looking to the preceding agreement of May and the present helplessness of the Zulus, he saw no alternative for them but to yield, at least for the time, to the Boer demands (Mr. Grant to Sir H. Bulwer, 4th of August, 1885, in Sir H. Bulwer's despatch of the 18th of August, 16,394.) On the other hand Martin Lutuli, a Christian and English-speaking native who was present at the time, and in the employment of Mr. Grant, has given the following very different account of the matter. It is printed at p. 118 of the Blue Book, C-4,587.
"After this it was agreed that Mr. Grant should represent the Zulus and speak for the Zulus, and on Friday all the Zulus went up to the Boers' tent with him. Mr. Grant went inside the tent, and was inside talking with the Boers until they adjourned for dinner; nothing was said to the Zulus of what was being done inside the tent; after dinner Mr. Laas came to the Zulus with a paper in his hand, which he stated was a notifica- tion, isimemezelo, for all people to see and know what land the Zulus had given to the Boers, which it was necessary that the headmen should sign. Mr. Grant did not explain anything of the con- tents of the paper. Upon Umnyamana and Undabuko being called upon to sign the paper, they refused, and did not sign it; it was only by the child (Dinuzulu) and Mr. Grant.
"I understood that the paper only gave the land from the Inkande through the Zungeni Neck to the Bivane River as had been previously agreed to by the Zulus. We then got up and left, and on our way the Zulus said that it will now be necessary for us to report to the Governor of Natal what they had done, and tell him that they had under pressure cut off this strip of land for the Boers. No copy of this paper was given to the Zulus.
<
When the Zulus separated to go to their homes, they told the Boers that they would nominate some men belonging to Umtuzwa, who lived in that neighbourhood, to point out the boundaries of the land they had cut off.
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Some time after this, on seeing in the news- papers that it was said that the Zulus had, with the advice of Mr. Grant, cut off millions of acres for the Boers, and placed themselves and their country under the protection of the Boers, I was astonished, as I heard nothing of all this when the paper was signed.
What I have said in this deposition is the truth. I only tell what I heard with my ears, and saw with my eyes.
"
tr
(Signed) MARTIN LUTULI.
Sworn before me at Pietermaritzburg, this 2nd day of July 1885.
" (Signed)
H. C. SHEPSTONE,
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'Justice of the Peace."
The truth probably lies somewhere between the three witnesses, Esselin, Grant, and Lutuli.
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