columns of the newspapers how good, how big, and how beautiful he is,
and "F. W. G. X." describes in enthusiastic terms his pearl-like teeth.
But as there are interests involved in the question of his reinstatement
which are, I think, more important than Cetywayo's personal proportions
of mind or body, and as the results of such a step would necessarily be
very marked and far-reaching, it is as well to try and understand the
matter in all its bearing before anything is done.

[*] Since the above was written the Government have at the
last moment decided to postpone Cetywayo's visit to this
country, chiefly on account of the political capital which
was being made out of the event by agitators in Zululand.
The project of bringing the king to England does not,
however, appear to have been abandoned.

There has been a great deal of special pleading about Cetywayo. Some
writers, swayed by sentiment, and that spirit of partisanship that the
sight of royalty in distress always excites, whitewash him in such a
persistent manner that their readers are left under the impression that
the ex-king is a model of injured innocence and virtue. Others again,
for political reasons, paint him very black, and predict that
his restoration would result in the destruction, or at the least,
disorganisation, of our South African empire. The truth in this, as in
the majority of political controversies, lies somewhere between these
two extremes, though it is difficult to say exactly where.

To understand the position of Cetywayo both with reference to his
subjects and the English Government, it will be necessary to touch,
though briefly, on the history of Zululand since it became a nation, and
also on the principal events of the ex-king's reign.