The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-01 00:00:00

THE CAPE AND THE KAFFIR WAR.

LE'll'Elt

TO TUB EPIToIt OF 111 K DAILY NIAV4.
Sta,—ln the year 1830, the Colonial-office gays
way at length to passive resistance. 'the " pledge,*
by inducing the resignation of the unofficial mem-
bers of the council, had for some time brought the
local government to a stand-still, and after an effort
of many months' duration to convert the Cape into a
penal settlement, the minister yielded, and the con-
vict ship set sail. But this obstinate and irritating
struggle left in the minds of the colonists a conviction
of their insecurity, and the impossibilityof relying on
Lord Grey's promises or good intentions, and a deter-
mination to demand, in unmistakeable language, a
change in the local government. Suddenly, how.
ever, this impulse was checked by the denounce-
ment that the change was conccded,and an outline of
a constitution was to be sent out for arrangement in
the colony; and in May, 183'0, the Governor vve.
claimed the fact, and proposed to act " in the spirit of
such measures," by leaving to popular election the five
vacant places in the legislative council, to which the
duty of preparing the representative institutions was
to be entrusted. Four seat,' in the council were thus
filled; the governor nominating to the fifth, a gen-
! tleman who was the Ilth, instead of the 3th, on the
j electors' list, for which reason his nomination was
objected to by the government secretary-.• But a
, strong suspicion pervaded the public mind that Lord
Grey's concession was not sincere, and that if the old
[system of colonial office despotism with a sham coma-
, cal could be set going again, pretexts could be found
for adjourning the promised constitution, and ulti-
mately nullifying the boon. People remarked that
91 the new council was still a mere tool of government,
which had seven votes in it out of eleven, while the
official members were bound to vote fur authority,
whether they approved or nut, according to tho
secretary for government. Scarcely did the council
proceed to business when the suspicions of the
colonists were fully confirmed, by the presentatioa
of' 14 bills by government, whose discussion was re-
solved on by the government majority. In vain did
the four popular members protest against such a
course; in vain was a most important memorial
hastily signed at Cape Town to stop it ; in vain was
time requested for the expression of public opinion,
and even an adjournment of a few days prayed for.
Yet it was notorious that the four members had been
elected solely tor the purpose of preparing represen.
tative institutions ; as had indeed been announced by
their constituents and the press, and has been repeated
since. It was notorious that the colony would have
prevented by all possible means the resusci(ation of
the power of the council, save for this single purposte.
Finally, it was clear that the settlement of most im.
portant colonial questions, which had been delayed
so long already, might very well wait about six
mouths longer for the meeting of a colonial parlia.
ment, as not one of the fourteen bids pressed for a
decision—not even the estimates—Lord Grey pos-
sessing, and having freely used, the right to
dispose of the colonial revenue. The popular
members saw, therefore, in the government
measures-I- nothing but a shallow mane:acre of
the minister to again break faith with the hopes of
the colony by reviving the old packed council, with
which he might afterwards domineer over their con.
stituents, and disregard their wishes and hems a,
as before. To foil this manoeuvre they resigned,
September 20, 1830, mul once more brought the local
government to a stand-still. This step wax followed
by public meetings all over the Cape, ardently ap-
proving of the conduct of the four members—meet-
ings representing an immense preponderance, not
only in point of numbers, but in the wealth and
landed property of the colonists.l. The issue of these
meetings was the appointment of two delegates to
England, of whom one, Mr. Fairbairn, sailed in Oc-
tober, 1830, and the other, Sir Andreits Stockenstrom,
in Afore'', 1831. And now, leaving these gentlemen
for a while and liming shown what discontent, de-
spair, and, I grieve to add, disaffection, Colonial-offico
policy had produced in the south, I will show what
the same spirit had been doing in the north of our
African territory. Those who desire to know who Cm
Kaffirs are, and why we are eternally going to war with
them, would naturally ask what book is a good au-
thority- on the subject? Yet Ido not know of ono
which conveys a fair representation of the case. I
never knew a party question in which assertions
have been more positively made and flatly contra-
dicted, by conscientious men un both sides, than this
one of the Kaffirs and the Dutch Boers. Perhaps
the reason is, that the best writers on the subject
have been either " birds of passage" at the Cape, or
else the organs of a clique ; but the consequence is
that two ultra opinions, directly contrary to one an-
other, have ever been held with regard to the Kaffirs,
and two systems of policy founded on these opinions,
which may be described as the missionary and mili-
tary systems, have been alternately pursued, until
they grew incarnate in two eminent men, red
became known at the Cape as the Glenelg and
D'Urban systems. There is only one point
in which all writers and travellers agree about tho
Kaffirs, which is that the manly form among this
race is the most beautiful in the world. Exactly tho
same thought has, to my knowledge, struck more
than one old Cape officer on find seeing the Apollo
IBelvidere, viz., that he could not have believed such
an exquisite model of symmetry in the male form
was true to nature, without having seen a Kaffir.
But when we come to the moral attributes of this
people, the discrepancy of authorities is so litrange, it
would be even ludicrous, if we could forget tho
blundering it has caused in our ignorant and arbi-
trary Colonial-office ; and the shocking waste of
blood and treasure which has resulted from it.
liarrow, who will ever remain the classic of the
Cape, was charmed with the Kaffirs ; though he
was in the country at the time of the Vandeleur and
Chummey affairs. The only charge Ile brings
against them is, that they are " a volatile race, ex-
tremely good-humoured, but turning into ridicule alt
attempts to convert them to Christianity,"—a charge
which remains, I fear, but too well founded; this
" volatile race" still merit their name of Kaffir
(infidel), and perhaps turn into cartridges and gun.
wadding the Bibles with which they are supplied.
If the reader consults Barrow, vol. L, pages
120, 149, 151, 153, 138, 161, he will see how
fascinated this author was by the Kaffirs, and
what a favourable opinion he.formed of them. After
Barrow come Pringle, Martin, ke., and various
missionary writers, who leave us under the impression
that the Kaffirs are one of the most engaging and
interesting races that ever were created. Moreover
Sir Harry Smith, whose blustering, footkiasing
mode of dealing with them I shall have to notice,
describes them to Mr. Bunbury as "an uncommonly
intelligent, acute, high-spirited, and brave people,
though, like the ancient Spartans, they con-
sider theft no crime." This may be called
the missionary ease, and the quintessence of tho
military one will be found in the pages of Colonel
Napier. If the reader consults this author, espe-
cially vol. 11., he will find the Kaffirs " in-
corrigible, barbarous, treacherous, blood-thirsty,
ungrateful, irreclaimable, insatiable savages," pages
45, 145, 146, 191 ; and the Kaffir is thus summed
up: "He is rapacious, cowardly, and cruel, be-
sides being the greatest beggar, the greatest thief,
and the greatest liar in the world," 1(4. Part of
this, by the bye. appears scarcely consistent with
what the gallant colonel says afterwards, that "the
Kaffirs are certainly " game to the backbone ;" an ad-
mission which he takes care to qualify by adding,
"but I suspect this to be their only redeeming
quality, for a more irreclaimable set of savages can-
not possibly exist," p.:1:17. Such are the two opinions
about the same people; and thus do Mr. Barrow's
" extremely good-humoured race," appear " fiends in
human shape" to Colonel Napier.
Need I say after this, that these two deems of
writers have each of them seen but one aide of the
character they describe: one class has seen all the
good, and the other all the bad. But the Kaffir is
neither a wild beast, nor a man of a high moral
sense and refined feelings. He is as far from the one
extreme as the other. He is simply a savage-mss
such, he possesses both the virtues and the view
which characterise the savage, and which we ought
to know, because we have had experience of them
in the North American Indians. It is clear, there-
' fore, that we have never yet treated tho Kaffirs with
il common sense, and it is equally clear how we ought
to treat them.—l remain, 5:c., AFRICANUS.

• Capers (as boron.), pa ii., 10 (
p. :5 Papuaßunbary, Cape of Good Rom p. 110.

44 before),
e( 20, 55.

GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY.—Another
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Lae nut month.