This page needs to be proofread.
562
UGANDA
  


was made to reduce expenses. On arrival in England Lugard found that the British Government had decided not to come to the help of the company, and Uganda was to be left to its fate. A strong movement was set on foot for the “retention of Uganda,” and on the 10th of December Lord Rosebery despatched Sir Gerald Portal to report on the best means of dealing with the country, and a subsidy was given to the company to enable them to retain their troops there till the 31st of March 1893. Captain (afterwards General Sir) J. R. L. Macdonald, who had been in charge of a railway survey to Uganda, was directed to inquire into the claims put forward by France for compensation for the priests. His report was set aside by the government, which, without admitting liability, but to close the controversy with France, agreed to pay £10,000 to the French priests, and the foreign office published a categorical reply by Lugard to the accusations made. Portal and his staff reached Uganda in March, and Williams left soon afterwards with the original troops of the company, leaving Selim Bey and the Sudanese and Portal’s large escort in Uganda. The country on Portal’s arrival bore every mark of prosperity and revival. By increasing the territory of the Roman Catholics, and giving them estates on the road from Buddu to the capital, Portal gave effect to projects which the Protestants had violently opposed. He added also to their chief ships, and on the 1st of April hoisted the British flag, made a new treaty with Mwanga, and sent Major Roderick Owen to enlist 400 Sudanese from the Toro colonies. He recommended to the imperial government the retention of Uganda (i.e. Buganda), the abandonment of Unyoro and Toro, and the construction of a railway half-way only to the lake. He departed after two and a half months’ residence, leaving Macdonald in charge. During Macdonald’s administration the Sudanese under Selim Bey began to conspire against the British control. The movement was checked and Selim Bey was deported to the coast.

In November 1893 Colonel (Sir Henry) Colvile arrived to take charge, and at once led the whole of the Baganda army against King Kabarega of Unyoro. Major R. Owen defeated the hostile army, first in the south and later in the north, and the Baganda chiefs scattered the main body, while Colvile occupied the capital and built a line of forts from Buganda, to Lake Albert, of which he left Major A. B. Thruston in command, This officer fought a number of brilliant actions, and aided by Major (later Colonel) G. G. Cunningham, Captain Seymour Vandeleur, William Grant and others, he overran Unyoro and broke down all resistance. In June 1894 Uganda (i.e. the kingdom of Buganda) was declared a protectorate, and at the end of the year Sir Henry Colvile was invalided. Mr F. J. Jackson now took temporary charge, pending the arrival in June 1895 of Mr E. J. L. Berkeley, the first administrator.

At this time also it was decided to construct a railway to Uganda, but work was not begun till December 1896. Peace seemed assured in Uganda; territorial limits to religious teaching were abolished, English Roman Catholic priests were added to the French Fathers, and the material progress of the country was very marked. European traders settled in the country, good permanent houses were built, roads were made and kept in repair, and many new industries introduced, chief among which were the expression of oil from various oilseeds and the cultivation of coffee. Trees were imported and land set aside for planting forests. The success of these efforts at progress was largely due to Mr G. Wilson, C.B., who had been sent to Uganda from East Africa as an assistant administrator in 1896. In this year also the protectorate was extended -over Unyoro and Busoga.[1]

In the middle of 1897 this era of peace was rudely interrupted. Colonel Trevor Ternan was acting commissioner, and Macdonald had returned to East Africa in command of an exploring expedition, for which Ternan had been ordered to supply 300 Sudanese. In June Wilson discovered a plot to revolt, and in July Mwanga fled to the south of Buddu and raised the standard of rebellion. The rebels were defeated, while Mwanga was made a prisoner by the Germans. Ternan, unaware of the disaffection of his men, now sent three companies to Macdonald, selecting those who had been continuously fighting in Unyoro, Nandi and Buddu. This caused great discontent, which was increased by the fact that their pay was six months in arrears and their clothing long overdue. The men, too, resented the fact that their pay was but a fifth of that given to Zanzibari porters and to those of their own body enlisted in the adjoining protectorate. They were sore at again being sent on service without their wives, and complained of harsh treatment from their officers. Necessaries had been delayed in the attempt to import steamers from the coast before the railway was made.

After Colonel Ternan’s departure on leave, the three companies who had joined Macdonald broke out into revolt in the Nandi district (East Africa) and set off to Uganda, looting the countries they passed through. Macdonald and Jackson followed with a force of Zanzibaris. Meanwhile Major Thruston—a man justly loved by his soldiers, in whom he had complete confidence—hurried to the garrison at Lubais, near the Ripon Falls, relying on his personal influence to control the men, and risking his life in the heroic attempt. He and two other Europeans were seized and made prisoners. On the 19th of October a battle was fought between the mutineers and Macdonald’s force, in which the former were defeated. The same night the Sudanese leaders, fearful lest their men might submit, murdered Thruston and his companions and sent letters to Uganda to incite their comrades to mutiny. Wilson, however, had already disarmed the troops in Kampala, who remained loyal, as also did Mbogo, the ex-king of the Baganda Mahommedans. A large Protestant army now went to the assistance of Macdonald, and from the 19th of October to the 9th of January the siege of Luba’s continued, with constant skirmishes, among the killed being the Rev. G. Pilkington. Early in January Mwanga escaped from the Germans, and, declaring himself a Mahommedan, reached Buddu with a large force, which Major Macdonald defeated with the aid of the Baganda army. He then disarmed the Sudanese garrisons in Buddu. The garrisons in Unyoro (about 500) and in Toro remained loyal. Meanwhile the Sudanese at Luba’s (numbering 600, with 200 Mahommedan Baganda) escaped, proceeded up the east bank of the Nile and crossed the river, making their way to Mruli. It appeared probable that if they reached that point the Sudanese garrisons in Unyoro would revolt as well as the Baganda Mahommedans, and the last hope of the Europeans would be lost. Leaving a small column to deal with Mwanga’s force in the south, and another with Kabarega, Macdonald pursued the mutineers, overtook them in the swamps of Lake Kioga, and after a couple of successful skirmishes returned to Kampala, leaving Captain (afterwards Colonel) E. G. Harrison in command. That officer, crossing a swamp supposed to be impassable, attacked the rebel stockade at Kabagambi, and carried it with great gallantry. Captain Maloney was killed and Lieut. Osborne wounded, but the crisis was past. A large number of Indian troops arrived early in 1899, and in May Colonel C. G. Martyr inflicted another heavy defeat on the mutineers at Mruli. Mwanga, however, managed to get through and join Kabarega and the rebels in the north. These were dealt with in a series of engagements, but it was not till June 1899 that Colonel J. T. Evatt had the good fortune to capture Kings Mwanga and Kabarega, who were deported to the coast and subsequently removed to the Seychelles, where Mwanga died in 1903. Colonel Martyr at the close of the year (1899) undertook an expedition up the Nile, and extended the limits of the protectorate in that direction. Major H. H. Austin, who had come up to Uganda in 1897 with Macdonald and had fought through the mutiny operations, revealed the regions north of Mt Elgon. Colonel C. Delmé-Radcliiie finally subdued the last Rebellion of

  1. Toro, Ankole, Bukedi and, the other countries now included in the protectorate were added by Sir Harry Johnston in 1899–1901.