The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-08 00:00:00

SATURDA

TBE KAFIR WAR.

PLY:3IOITH,- MAY .7.—The S2.row Steam-
ship Ilarbing3r,,C iptitin J. AV, +Lr-tri arkivc,d, at the
Plymouth Great Western Docks, at 11 -A ' having left
Table Biy the -Ist Of April' last. Oa her voyage'
home •e she xperienced Tory revere Weather from the
-prevailing easterly winds, and having run 'short cf coals
was obliged to put in at Scilly to renew her.stock. The
.Harbinger left Plymouth- on yher outward voyage on
FA, 15'; St. Vincent,' Feb. 26; Sierra IPone, March 2;
and rofiched. Table Bay on- March 24. She left Table
Bly,_C:i.pe of Good Uopo, on her honvvrard voyage on
April-1;. arrived at Sierra rione, ,April 16; left the
some day; arrived 'at St. Vincent April 2.1, and left
April 23; she reached Scilly on -the 6r,h, and having
laken-in coals there, left'ana arrived, here this forenoon.
The Harbinger bringeand
'A --home g.mcral cargo,
sours spece.- , At the time of her leaving. the Cape,' her
majesty's ship StYi,',6 *tins, 'Commtrider. flail; her
MajeAty's steamer-Hydra, 6, Cant. T; Bagr3vo3. and her'
Majetty's steamvr RtiadateanthtiA, ,2, Cap O
t. Belau', were.
in 'ruble Bay. ,Th 6 East Indianian Alft ea was ''Mara
on the *h for Calcutta. In S'mon's Bay : Her Majesty's
ship Castdr;36,guns, Cdnarnod.lrc-Wivillei her'AlAjestr".
steamer Gladiator, 6, Capt. - Adaras; ;her Mapaty's
steam:lr Megarl, Maa,ter Commander. .Barlow.. At' Serra.
litone.-.ller,ll4jeity's steamer PAtalope, •03":""thlre
..Vir:.Bruce; and.ber Atej4sty's steaarsloop Archer, 14,
Cduamander.J.; N. Strange, :which. wut-zinder,orde.rs to'
sail for England on the s:h of April. The. %Vest 'lndia,
Royal Maihtteamer.Takiot ivai 'at Vincient on the
22tL :The Je.ssica, merchant shiv,; hound., to -Rio,
Moursne Commander, •had, taken fire .at .3,1, and cans
entirely-consumed. -AR hands ware. saved.: The 'fire
is .supposed to base. originated in eponteneetw conl,.
bustion. - . • .

The Harbinger' took out Lieutenant-Governor Dar-
ling. add Majar-General.:YoLlte. The Litattlaallt Go-,
vernor, on lauding. proceeded* to Government House,
where, shortly afterwards, he was waited upon by the
Municipal • Com miSsionera, who
presented to him a con-
gratulatory address. Her Majesty's ship Hydra arrived in
morning Table Bay early on the.
of-the 31st of March,
with his Excellency .Lientenars t. General the lion. George
Cathcart, the Governorand Conamander-in-Chief of the
colony, actompanied.by 'Lien tenant-Colonel Seymour, hii
military secretary, andithe Hon: Cs el Curzon, aide-do-
camp. His Excellency Y(fte received with the accustomed
forms at the Government Hausa, and . after being sworn •
in, the Commissioners of the-Municipality of Cape Town
presented him with a congratulatory address on his ar-
rival in the colony. It -was-said _that General Cathcart
meant to proceed. on the following clay in the Ssynx, to
assume the command of operations at the seat of war,
where the bite Governor, Sir Harry Smith,swas at the
tithe of the Hit/Unger reavin'g. - -
This mail brings intelligence 14 days. Liter than that
brought by the Maidstone. It now appears that in the
conflict on the 4th of March, Colonel Ya-rberough was
severely wounded, and ,that amongst. the, killed was
Sergeant Laing. It has been already :stated that on the
following day Sir Harry:. Smith adaanced with a strong
force into the Waterkloof, were a great deal of desul-
tory warfare has • since been carried on. In one of
thew affairs. the Honourable H. Wrottesley,"of the 43d
Regiment, lost his lift, dna- ten prii'ates of the 91st
were wounded. The latest `dates from the frontierire
to the 27th • March, at which time operationa Were *still
being carried on. Although great numbers of Kafiri
are constantly reported to havabeen killed, yet no desire
has been expressed on. their part to submit, and the
prospect of a satisfactory peace appears to be as far off
as ever.; At the same time the barbaritiea.of the Kafirs
are of the most inhuman character, the sufferings of
the poor felloWs who fall into their hands being fre-
quently protracted with the moat revolting bru-
tality.* It is stated that Mr. Hartung, the bandmaster
of the 74th Highlinders, Who fell into the hatds of the
savages, was cut, into pieces with assegai', whilst living,
being kept under torture for three, days, during which
time they cutoff: bin ;41gers and toes, incts'by inch, at
intervals; and When, at. the close of the third day; the
wretched man asked for food, &piece of his*own flesh
was cut off froth his body and given to him. Ho died a
few hours afterwards. The case of Sergeant Laing was
still' worse. He fell into -the hands of the' enemy, and
three days after*his capture he-was found expiring under
the horrors of crucifiction-;being extended tipoia hos•back
on the ground, to which he'svat fixed by stakes of wood
driven through the palms of his hancls, the ankles, and
the fifth through his body. •
The Legislative Council. had voted 5001. towards the
relief of the sufferers 'from the Birkenhead. The whole
amount subscribed at the Cape was 7201. 16s. 6d. The
survivors from the`wreek-of that ill-fated vessel had been
sent to jOin their respective corps in Kefirland. The
60th Rifles, Who went out-iii the Megmra, had also pro-
ceeded to the frontier.

Town Mail of April 1.)
(From the Cape ' •
mailsteamer the I t t
a es At the departure of the last Monthly,
MONTHLY SUMMAR Y.
Was to the effect that Sir
intelligence from head-4
Harry Smith.wwhole of, the burghers of
t 'n debitson the Bth
the frontier districts to assemble atter al . t
• g an extensive movement instant., to aid him" in inalun
had"
summonedrtetrbee
against the enemy.. • ' burgher muster,
Some days. before the time fixed for the,
toOklace which have
P
another, of those unfortunate affairs
so strongly characterised the present
war. A portico-1i of the
forces belonging to Melon 4 Somerseteneral's division were
detached, by order of that officer, and thrown into a position
of muchperit in the NYteteriloofovheree after destroying some
huts and killing a number' of 'Kars, they were attacked at
a disadvantage on their retinal PY a large body of the enemy,
_ of _
sup-
and during a oonflict of several hours, before the arrival
port, theyeustained considerable ,loss. The t.OOP 3 engaged
ose. j.,
on this unfortunate occasion weise-300 of the 9lat Rsg _
ment, under Colonel Yarti4ough,lso of the 74th, and 70 of
the Cape Corps. Colonel Yarboyough himself was severely
wounded, and of his gallaut corpee one sergeant and three
'men were killed, and Ensign HilMrt,-ibreeeergeants, and*
eleven men wounded. • The-74th• Highlanders had one killed
and four eiounded,, and Captain Bramley, of the Cape
Moanted tiflea, was also-wounded. 1 Great blame has been
at
ton ajor-General Somerset for exposing so mall• ril
body of "me in a loaality ktietvnto lbeau4 an vrous. 0l
their' return to camp, their of course, immediately re-
occupied the ground whence it had been so ineffectually at-
tempted to dislodge them.- „ .• ,
On the followiug day, the sth inst., Sir Harry Smith ad-
•vanced from, King Vililliarn'e Town, with, about 2,500 men,
in three columns, under Coronet l'ole, Colonel Michel, and
Coloua Eyre, ana entered the Waterkloof. Here a number
of desultory operations aPPear to 'have taken place, the re-
sults of which have,not been Made public' in any connected_
form. ' It would ' apPear- that -the enemy generally avoided
'meeting the troops; and although considerable numbers
must have fallen, by the shetlethrown amongst them where-
aver they were seen in numbers, it is believed that the main
bode, have succeeded •in leaving that locality and joining
.Sandilli and his followers in the .Ainatolas—a stronghold
which they have held-throughout the war, and whither Sir
Harry, by the latest--accounts, was engaged in ,following,
them up.
One of Macomo a
' principal loof
retreats, in the Waterk ,
previously deethed impracticable for European troops, was
successfully penetrated by•the column under Eyre, but the
enemy disappeared, leaving in our hands a large
441.11016 V of
stores and about 130 'women, eane of them the principal wife
of Macomo, with three of his children.
_e 'ln a later affair, in the-Waterkloof, the lion. H. 'CV rottesleY,
43d Regiments lost his life, and ten privates of the 91st were
wounded. ,- • . ,
The operations of the column unler Colonel Dlichel are
spoken of as highly
Buccessful i but at no point, it aPPears 0
did the Kens make anY decided stand. With incredible
labour the two guns. attached to his column were dragged
through the dense bush, and placed on the most command-
ing heights, but the space within range was speedily founl
to be deserted. This part of the force doce not seem to have
met with any opposition ;- and .although it was known that
the ravines and kloofs were swarming with Kafirs, ready to
cut off straggl hoer or take .advantage of any unguarded
movement, the wle of the Waterkloof was traversed for
claws, the troppe destroying the enemy's huts and crops,
wilhout a single casualty,
Almost the only satisfactory feature in the aspect of fron-
tier affairs is the almost entire absence, during the month,
of depredations within the border; the marauding bands
who formerly infested the eastern districts having been ap-
parently recalled to -assist their chief. -
The number of burghers. who responded to the Governor's
call on the 13th amounted-- in .411 to abont SOO men, most of
them belonging to the .class a;" boere," zed but few, we
regret to state, froui the- cotiratively E•nglish districts of
Albany", Fort Beaufort, feee, itenhage. That these men.
should be found to leave their families and farms at all, in
the preSent disturbed state of affairs, and after so many calls
of the same kind,had beemmade upon them, speaks well both
for their courage and their loyalty.
The Legislative Council, after repeated delays and post-
ponements, has at. last proceeded with the " Constitutional
Ordinances," for carrying- into effect herilejesty's letters
patent of
we, creating, a Parliatn t •this Iny Strenu-
en in co o •
by DI
oils (Map were made r. Montagu, the locum tenons of
the Grew-nor. in,the Council, to have tha measure postponed
mo
untif after the war.; and st alarmieg representations were
made by him to Sir Harry Smith of the dangers to which he
imagined the discession of certain Claut;es would lead. Sir
insisted upon thewishesHome Go-
Harry, however,
vernment being carried into effect ; and the Bill was laid
upon the table as a .Government measure, the several` Go-
vernment members being left at.lib3rtY to vote lopes the des
-T
tails as they pleased. :.
he .result was*that the ordinance
passed, but at the instigation of Mr. AI ontagu,, the , funda-
mental part of the measure, (th e, 25/, franchise ) has been
changed for one so high as virtually to,, exclude the coloured
any. fair participation iu th
inhabitants from e boon cif repre-
Thikalteration v
sentative, privileges%
'.l
the 'Auditor-
(1.41 nobly resisted by
the 'AttornerGenera 2 General, and the Col--
ho declared that
lector of Customs,' who
d, to be entirely worthless.
During considered the
measure, so mutilated, less.
the month v '
early part of
During the, arious, demonstrations
. .Crown for the draf
the t ordinances, and of
of gratitatude to
those. who impeded their immediate
condemnation of
made in various, parts of. the colony. The
petition from ,S
welleewas mentioned in oura prayerst for Mr.
Montagu 's removal,
e Since arrived from Worceiter and CliT'
Similar petitions have
brought to Cape Town b a. A
r, e ~ Y a body of williatn—the .latter
9of whom nad ridden fifty, ' '
cornets, som • ea y, otuers
twenty field _
Manly hours, in order to present it
forty, and none Ices than,
be/letal Cathcart, who was then daily personally to Major:sa
_Oll. .
~ i tea in this, they returned
expected. Being. _nl Prpeace-
fully their petition in the hands of
fully to Clariveieliam,
Cape Town Municipality, to he by him
the chairman of the
to the new -Governor •'• ernor on his ar-
presented, on their behalf,
rival. oint
, .
.. epped Lieutenant-Governor
Dir. Darling, tlit
nowle-, ,
a gave great
lost_,
and
' eh, to au address• presented by the
public by declarer.
et ill ',7,-, his determination to "devote him-
self to Ceemiuiseionci, the interests of the'people ,of , all
self to the promoti9l3 °Titlient any distinctien?
classes in
Cathcart,this-coleeYel• who arrived yesterday in the
Lieut.-General .immediately to' the frontier to relieve
Sir Harry Smell. __j,p
Hydra; will pro cell
on Lieut.-Governor 'Darling will then
administration of the civil goYerconent of the
devolve the adminis beat to- decide whether be will
give his tint to tiee
colony ; and it viiil ,be for
bill" as passed,and theteby constitute
...
bich formonly it will be received
from the eolony...DY the
it an ".ordinanee," - ill w
Seer tar of State or whetther he
roceedings
de nose, making_ .
, and introduce he Bill
will quash all:preyjoe tot. franchise a " Gevernment mea-,
the
sure"
believe:would give more general con-
tentment throughoutWe
Nothing, - the colony than his adopting the latter
has been (loos
course
Con to a measure which,' in his ab-
Bence, .
11 those characteristics that had
• ,e 'refusing his sane i
d of a
caused it to be received with such unbounded satisfaction by
especially when he shall have learnt
that; Om grin initti
the inhabitants, slid lAtea. in open ,contempt pf rho
;