Capt. F. D. Lugard:
It is sufficient to reiterate here that, as long as our policy is one of free trade, we
are compelled to seek new markets; for old ones are being closed to us by hostile tariffs,
and our great dependencies, which formerly were the consumers of our goods, are now
becoming our commercial rivals. It is inherent in a great colonial and commercial empire
like ours that we go forward or go backward. To allow other nations to develop new fields,
and to refuse to do so ourselves, is to go backward; and this is the more deplorable,
seeing that we have proved ourselves notably capable of dealing with native races and of
developing new countries at a less expense than other nations. We owe to the instincts of
colonial expansion of our ancestors those vast and noble dependencies which are our pride
and the outlets of our trade today; and we are accountable to posterity that opportunities
which now present themselves of extending the sphere of our industrial enterprise are not
neglected, for the opportunities now offered will never recur again. Lord Rosebery in his
speech at the Royal Colonial Institute expressed this in emphatic language: "We are
engaged in 'pegging out claims' for the future. We have to consider, not what we want now,
but what we shall want in the future. We have to consider what countries must be developed
either by ourselves or some other nation. . . . Remember that the task of the statesman is
not merely with the present, but with the future. We have to look forward beyond the
chatter of platforms, and the passions of party, to the future of the race of which we are
at present the trustees, and we should, in my opinion, grossly fail in the task that has
been laid upon us did we shrink from responsibilities, and decline to take our share in a
partition of the world which we have not forced on, but which has been forced upon
us."
If some initial expense is incurred, is it not justified by the ultimate gain? I have
already pointed out what other nations are doing in the way of railway extension. The
government is not asked to provide the capital of the railway, but only a guarantee on the
subscribed capital.... Independently of money spent on railways, the conquest of Algeria
alone cost France £150,000,000, and it is estimated that her West Coast colonies cost her
half a million yearly. Italy spends on her Abyssinian protectorate a sum variously
estimated at £400,000 or £600,000 per annum. Belgium, besides her heavy expenses for the
Congo railway, the capital of which she has advanced without interest, guarantees £80,000
per annum to the Congo state, and is altering her constitution in order to allow her to
take over that state as a colonial possession. Germany has spent over a million sterling
in East Africa, besides her expenditure on the west and southwest colonies. The parallel
is here complete, for the German company failed, and government stepped in to carry out
the pledges and obligations incurred. Even Portugal is content to support a yearly deficit
on each of her African possessions, gives heavy subsidies to the mail steamers, and
£10,000 per annum to the cable. All these nations are content to incur this yearly cost
in the present, confident that in the future these possessions will repay the outlay, and
willing to be at a national expense to fulfill their treaty obligations under the Brussels
Act.
The Zanzibar Gazette, which is in a good position to judge, since the imports and
exports from German East Africa can be fairly assessed there, speaking of "the
comparatively large sums from the national resources" invested in this country, says,
"We think it is only a question of time for such investments, with a careful
management of the territory, to show highly profitable returns." Such a view from
those on the spot and possessing local knowledge, should be a strong testimony in favor of
the far richer British sphere....
A word as to missions in Africa. Beyond doubt I think the most useful missions are the
medical and the industrial, in the initial stages of savage development. A combination of
the two is, in my opinion, an ideal mission. Such is the work of the Scotch Free Church on
Lake Nyasa. The medical missionary begins work with every advantage. Throughout Africa the
ideas of the cure of the body and of the soul are closely allied. The "medicine
man" is credited, not only with a knowledge of the simples and drugs which may avert
or cure disease, but owing to the superstitions of the people, he is also supposed to have
a knowledge of the charms and dawa which will invoke the aid of the Deity or
appease His wrath, and of the witchcraft and magic (ulu) by which success in war,
immunity from danger, or a supply of rain may be obtained. As the skill of the European in
medicine asserts its superiority over the crude methods of the medicine man, so does he in
proportion gain an influence in his teaching of the great truths of Christianity. He
teaches the savage where knowledge and art cease, how far natural remedies produce their
effects, independent of charms or supernatural agencies, and where divine power overrules
all human efforts. Such demonstration from a medicine man, whose skill they cannot fail to
recognize as superior to their own, has naturally more weight than any mere preaching. A
mere preacher is discounted and his zeal is not understood. The medical missionary,
moreover, gains an admission to the houses and homes of the natives by virtue of his art,
which would not be so readily accorded to another. He becomes their adviser and referee,
and his counsels are substituted for the magic and witchcraft which retard development.
The value of the industrial mission, on the other hand, depends, of course, largely on
the nature of the tribes among whom it is located. Its value can hardly be overestimated
among such people as the Waganda, both on account of their natural aptitude and their
eager desire to learn. But even the less advanced and more primitive tribes may be equally
benefited, if not only mechanical and artisan work, such as the carpenter's and
blacksmith's craft, but also the simpler expedients of agriculture are taught. The sinking
of wells, the system of irrigation, the introduction and planting of useful trees, the use
of manure, and of domestic animals for agricultural purposes, the improvement of his
implements by the introduction of the primitive Indian plough, etc.---all of these, while
improving the status of the native, will render his land more productive, and hence, by
increasing his surplus products, will enable him to purchase from the trader the cloth
which shall add to his decency, and the implements and household utensils which shall
produce greater results for his labor and greater comforts in his social life.
In my view, moreover, instruction (religious or secular) is largely wasted upon adults,
who are wedded to custom and prejudice. It is the rising generation who should be educated
to a higher plane, by the establishment of schools for children. They, in turn, will send
their children for instruction; and so a progressive advancement is instituted, which may
produce really great results. I see, in a recent letter, that Dr. Laws supports this view,
and appositely quotes the parallel of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt, who
were detained for forty years in the desert, until the generation who had been slaves in
Egypt had passed away. The extensive schools at his mission at Bandawi were evidence of
the practical application of his views. These schools were literally thronged with
thousands of children, and chiefs of neighboring tribes were eagerly offering to erect
schools in their own villages at their own cost.
The Established Church of Scotland Mission at Blantyre was (if I may so call it) an
administrative mission. It was started under a wholly different set of conditions. The
site of the mission, instead of being in a densely populated country, like the Free Church
mission stations, was in a district largely depopulated. Around the mission grew up a
population chiefly consisting of fugitive slaves. This initial mistake led to serious
difficulties later, and I believe the resentment of the tribes from whom these slaves had
run away was eventually disarmed only by the payment of ransom money by the mission. Thus
the missions became the administrators and lawgivers of the native community which grew up
around them. Just as the mission houses and plantations were themselves an object lesson
to the natives of Africa, so the little colony became itself a model. The spotless clothes
of the children, the neatness, and order, and discipline enforced, were like nothing I
have ever seen elsewhere in Africa. The children in the schools were boarders; native
chiefs from surrounding tribes sent their sons to live in Blantyre, and be taught in the
schools; neighboring chiefs came to the white man of Blantyre, as arbitrator in disputes;
his intervention on more than one occasion prevented war.
The great coffee plantation and buildings of the missions, the Lakes Company, and
Messrs. Buchanan, were the means of instituting on a large scale the experiment of free
labor in Africa, and natives came from great distances, even from the warlike Angoni
tribe, to engage themselves for regular wages....
An administrative mission can, of course, only be founded in a country not under the
aegis of any European power. Under such circumstances, a mission may be justified in
undertaking to some extent administrative functions, pending the absorption of the country
under European protection, especially where no central native authority exists, and there
is no cohesion to repel the attacks of slavetraders, or the tyranny of the dominant tribe.
This is, of course, more especially the case when the community has grown up in a
previously unpopulated country, as at Blantyre. But when a secular administration is
established, it appears to me that the missions should resign entirely into the hands of
the authorized executive government all functions pertaining to administration....
One word as regards missionaries themselves. The essential point in dealing with
Africans is to establish a respect for the European. Upon this---the prestige of the white
man---depends his influence, often his very existence, in Africa. If he shows by his
surroundings, by his assumption of superiority, that he is far above the native, he will
be respected, and his influence will be proportionate to the superiority he assumes and
bears out by his higher accomplishments and mode of life. In my opinion---at any rate with
reference to Africa---it is the greatest possible mistake to suppose that a European can
acquire a greater influence by adopting the mode of life of the natives. In effect, it is
to lower himself to their plane, instead of elevating them to his. The sacrifice involved
is wholly unappreciated, and the motive would be held by the savage to be poverty and lack
of social status in his own country. The whole influence of the European in Africa is
gained by this assertion of a superiority which commands the respect and excites the
emulation of the savage. To forego this vantage ground is to lose influence for good. I
may add, that the loss of prestige consequent on what I should term the humiliation of the
European affects not merely the missionary himself, but is subversive of all efforts for
secular administration, and may even invite insult, which may lead to disaster and
bloodshed. To maintain it a missionary must, above all things, be a gentleman; for no one
is more quick to recognize a real gentleman than the African savage. He must at all times
assert himself, and repel an insolent familiarity, which is a thing entirely apart from
friendship born of respect and affection. His dwelling house should be as superior to
those of the natives as he is himself superior to them. And this, while adding to his
prestige and influence, will simultaneously promote his own health and energy, and so save
money spent on invalidings to England, and replacements due to sickness or death.....
I am convinced that the indiscriminate application of such precepts as those contained
in the words to turn the other cheek also to the smiter, and to be the servant of all men,
is to wholly misunderstand and misapply the teaching of Christ. The African holds the
position of a late-born child in the family of nations, and must as yet be schooled in the
discipline of the nursery. He is neither the intelligent ideal crying out for instruction,
and capable of appreciating the subtle beauties of Christian forbearance and
self-sacrifice, which some well-meaning missionary literature would lead us to suppose,
nor yet, on the other hand, is he universally a rampant cannibal, predestined by
Providence to the yoke of the slave, and fitted for nothing better, as I have elsewhere
seen him depicted. I hold rather with Longfellow's beautiful lines---
AIn all ages
Every human heart is human;
There are longings, yearnings, strivings
For the good they comprehend not.
That the feeble hands and helpless,
Groping blindly in the darkness,
Touch God's right hand in that darkness."
That is to say, that there is in him, like the rest of us, both good and bad, and that
the innate good is capable of being developed by culture.
Source:
From: F. D. Lugard, The Rise of Our East African Empire, (Edinburgh, 1893),
I.585-587, II.69-75.
Scanned by Jerome S. Arkenberg, Cal. State Fullerton.
This text is part of the Internet
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