to punish the murderer. Mwanga, however, acquitted
him; and when Captain Lugard’s interpreter complained
against this judgment, pointing out that to leave such
a crime unpunished would certainly lead to civil war,
-the King answered, “ I am ready” ; and added a number
of insults to Captain Lugard. The Captain, however,
merely wrote to the King asking him to reconsider his
decision: the only answer he received was a long list
of Catholic grievances. Captain Lugard then wrote to
the Catholic Bishop asking him to use his influence to
avoid a conflict: the Bishop responded in the same
terms as the King.. Meanwhile the Catholics were
organizing themselves for war. This went on for some
days, and then Captain Lugard, anticipating an attack,
and knowing that a Catholic victory would mean the
annihilation of the authority of the British Company and
of British influence, distributed arms to the Protestants.
Then war broke out; the Catholics were beaten, and
Mwanga took refuge on an island on the lake, where he
was joined by the Catholic missionaries. On their advice
he refused to listen to the overtures of Captain Lugard,
who invited him to return. The war went on, therefore,
and the King with the Catholic missionaries took refuge
in the island of Sesse. At last, after long negotiations,
Captain Lugard induced him to return to his capital.
The various provinces were then divided between Catholics
and Protestants, the latter obtaining a slightly better
share than the Catholics. As discontent was still ripe,
Captain Lugard brought back the Mahomedans to counterbalance
the intrigues of the other two parties.
Meanwhile, the question had attracted much attention
in Europe, and it was proposed' to build a railway
between Mombasa and Lake Victoria Nyanza. A sum of
money was voted by Parliament to enable the Company
to make a preliminary survey, and Captain, now Major,
Macdonald, R.E., was put in charge of it. But, meanwhile,
all the troubles in Uganda had put the Company
4 10
MAP OF UGANDA.
This map shows the different Provinces of Uganda, each Province
being ruled by a distinct chief, who takes his title from his Province.
Sir Gerald Portal settled the Catholics and the Protestants in
separate Provinces, Buddu and the Sesse Islands being assigned to
the Catholics.