The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-24 00:00:00

• THE KAFIR WAR.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
a year ago you did me the honour of
publishing a letter of mine, signed (I think) R. M. G.,
containing two suggestions for the purpose of termi-
nating the Kafir war; viz., Ist, the employment of
Sepoys, and, 2d, of bloodhounds. The Naval and
Military Gazette afterwards puhlished a similar letter
of mine, and I see in the present number of that jour-
nal, a leading article recommending the sending of
British troops from India.
Allow me to recur to these suggestions. It is evi-
dent, as I then endeavoured to show, that the real
cause of the prolongation of the war is, above all
things, the deficiency of regular troops, the levies at
the Cape being not to be depended on, as has been well
shown. If the objects of the Kafirs were those en-
tertained in regular war, the thing would be different;
but their objects are those of brigands, and they are,
therefore, more difficult to be dealt with. When our
troops make a forward movement, a point, as it is
technically called, our generals are unable to leave a
sufficient cordon in their rear to protect our frontiers,
and the Kafirs retaliate any mischief we may do them
by ravaging our own territory. Lord Cathcart now
complains of the paucity of troops. Now, as we can-
not send a sufficient force from England, and as it
might be dangerous to adopt the suggestion of the
Naval and Military Gazette, and draw European
troops from India, especially at present, I again ask,
why not send the Sepoys ? During the last war
they were sent to Egypt and Java, and they helped
to take the Mauritius from the French. Lately they
have been sent to China, Arabia, and l3urmab.
Many of the irregular cavalry corps would appear
to be well adapted for the service; and as the Indian
army is most easily recruited, deficiency of means
cannot be pleaded. The very appearance of unknown
races of blacks serving under our banners, would serve
to daunt the enemy by giving them some idea of our
resources. No fear of desertion need be entertained,
as the differences of race, habits, and language would
be effectual barriers, which is more than can be said
of the Hottentot levies.

With regard to the employment of bloodhounds, the
efficacy of this measure was proved formerly against
the Maroons in Jamaica, a very analogous case. It
may be objected that such a measure is inhuman. I
answer, not against such an enemy, who have besides
employed their dogs against us. The dogs would not
is use o
af
c horses in war,
this,
againstbe used to tear them, but rather to find them out in
as I d o
their lairs; and if we make
not see, cceteris paribus, any abstract objection to the
use of dogs, especially a
such
an enemy who roast alive and crucify our men. Real
humanity consists in terminating the war as soon as
possible. I may make another suggestion in your
columns respecting the future disposal of the Rafirs
when conquered ; but as we must kill our hare before
we think of cooking it, I conclude with expressing a
wish that I may be pardoned, although a civilian, for
writing on such a subject, and a somewhat confident
belief, that had my hints keen acted on a year ago,
the Kafir war would have now been at an end.

Your obedient servant,
COMMON SENSE.
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Aug. 21.

A NEW PLANET.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.
Sir,—At 1113. 30m. mean timelast night I dis-
covered another planet, the I have detected
during the past five years---a
sufficient proof that the
muste be far more
d It is in the
members of the planetary
system ,
and will be readily numerous than was formerly supposed.
constellation Aquarius
a telescope of very ordinary power. In
bliygsehen with
brightness it
' equals a star of the ninth magnitude, and appears
have the same yellowish tinge that has noticedbeen to
about Pallas, Melpomene, and others of the same
group of planets. At 11h. 35m. 385., Greenwich
mean time (August 22), its right ascension was 0.9 h.
22m. 29.75., and its north polar distance 97 deg.
32 min. 14 sec.; the diurnal motion in right ascen-
sion is 535. towards the west, and, in N. P. D. about
5 min. towards the south.—l am, Sir, &c.
J. R. Him).
Mr. Bishop's Observatory, Regent's-park, Aug. 23.

CORONER'S INQUEST.
Yesterday morning an inquest was held by Mr.
Carter, the coroner for Surrey, at the Lambeth
Workhouse, on the body of Mary Charrett, aged 38,
who died under the following singular circumstances :
—The deceased and her husband, Goorge Charrett,
were in the service of Mr. Dymock, the banker, at
his residence near Forest-hill, Sy denham, but in con-
sequence of her intemperate habits her husband was
at last obliged to give notice and quit his situation.
They left on Saturday, the 7th of August, at eight in
the evening, intending to walk to London across
Peckham-rye. By the time they reached this spot
the woman became so intoxicated that she lay down
upon the grass, and, notwithstanding the remon-
strances of her husband, she remained in that condi-

tion all night. Early on the following morning a
policeman came to the spot, and advised the husband
to take a cab and remove her to some coffee-house.
He adopted this suggestion, and after endeavouring
ineffectually to obtain admission at different places
they drove to the police-station, and thence to An-
sell's coffee-house, Lower-marsh, Lambeth. Here
the woman went to bed, and the husband went
out for a walk. After dinner he went out again,
but was not seen to return. In the evening
Mr. Ansel! heard a heavy fall in the woman's
room, and, on going upstairs, he knocked, and
the woman replied that she wanted some water.
On being asked for her husband, she said that she did
not know where he was, and that she could not find
the door in the dark. An entrance was effected into
the room, and the woman was found lying on the floor
much bruised about the bead. She was lifted into
bed, and the husband was discovered hanging in a
closet in the room and quite dead. An inquest was
held on the body, and an open verdict returned. The
woman was removed to Lambeth workhouse, where
she remained very ill. It was assumed that the hus-
band, exasperated at his wife's conduct, had beaten
her dreadfully in an attempt to kill her, and then
hanged himself. The woman, however, in her lucid
intervals said that she received the injuries by falling
about. She died from the effects of them on Friday
last. The house surgeon, who examined the body,
found that the cause of death was rupture of a vessel
in the dura mater and inflammation of the brain, the
result of external violence, but how inflicted he could
not say. The jury returned a verdict in accordance
with the evidence--viz., that the woman died from
injurieso,
injuriesprod produced by
Wasyvio n
violence, but how she came by
those
remarkable that at the first inpqruoitr'fy. no medical is
med"icu:elw
evi-
dence was called as to the nature of the injuries in-
flicted fiicted on the woman, as, had it appeared
char hus
were most likely to have been inflicted by from
band, his state of mind might have been inferred
that and his subsequent self-destruction.

LEAP OP A PRISONER FRold A 'WAY TRAIN.—
OF Shieldsrtoou into
On Friday Sergeant Richardson, of Sonuame
of John Brown,
custody, for robbery, a person of thehs .
eing
liberated from
alias Quick, a native of Shields, onfori t D
welve months
Morpeth gaol, where he had been
isonor to Newcastle, which
impri-
soned. The officer conveyed his clock train, travelling in a
town they left by the eleven.:)._the
prisoner handcuffed.
third class open chins' d
d Shields station the prisoner,
Between Brockley Vail's leaped out of the carriage and fell,
tunity, leap .
watching his appor RAIL . ,
was going to follow him, but was
b his fellow-pass4ngers. The train at
prudently preventeddi yg
„ a at a rattling pace, and the prisoner
the time was pr et and walk with a limp along the line.
was observed to e sackened its pace at the High station,
As soon es the trainin
on the rails. The officer
reuretturning pursuit. An alum was given, and a
number o wereinstantly dispatched in search of the
71theodughthe officer was not more than ten
to the spot where the escape took place,
Du,n active' search was made, no tidings whatever could
an" 4..;,, aof the lost prisoner, who remains at large, and
be 013,4- • vigilance of the police.
The the
fugitives
jtlorffiec;ierfirbetlicere
Utitheis LreEcTo-
The President of the Board of Trade (Mr. Henley),
who has been suffering from indifferent health, has arrived
in town from Germany, considerably better.
1 itiN
LEN
ox.r—i..
To EXPLOSION r if
et
r-rs BURNLEY.—BURN
very of four of the persons most seriously injured b
SATTUIEBRDABYOILEVE
terrible disaster have, we regret to state, been fearfully this
rea-
lized, death having terminated their sufferings,y
Whitaker, 17, mechanic, died at ten minutes George
last night; William Winterbottom, 29, warper, after eleven
before one this morning; Joseph Townson, 51,
at a quarter
quarter before five this morning; and John' warper, at a
weaver, at a quarter before six. The Thornton, 39,
persons injured are as follow :—Rich
dnames of the other
Robert Heys, weaver; George Whitaker,:—Richard
Jackson, weaver;
Jackson, weaver; Samuel Bracewell, warper; Robert
smith;
Peter Robin-
son, overlooker ; and William overl eker Several
of these persons are so severely Watson,
° • scalded as to remain in the
greatest agony, and are by no means
more can be said as to the of danger. Little
out .
than
causes of this sad accident
~ e
was stated yesterday. An '
Court-house inquiry will be opened at We
on Monday, when doubtless a full inwstigation
will take place,
pending which we must defer any remarks
we may make on the subject.
THE MOORS.—The weather has been very unpro-
pituous for the nverness-
grouse shooters this season.
In
I the
shire the ground has been in a very bad state; but birds
are plentiful and strong. Most of die shootinghs
uar,etiot:re
-
pied, and a good deal of game has been bagged,
turns are not at all tilual to those of last season.
In Aber-
deen and Banff shires the sport has been better, and the Dee
•
side heather promises to be in a good condition and well
supplied. In the western districts the game is remarkably
been good.
plentiful, and the shootings thus far have
TILE FRENCH GOVkaNNTiT AND
a THE Fismigt.
MEN.—SIIIELLS, AUG. 23.
Le_Corse, large and handsome
• to the French Government, is at pre-
war-steamer belonging
She has two tenders •
cruising off the
sent in our harbour.
bat a number of French beats are engaged
coast. It appears t
'
in the herring fishery,
and that they a
re
catch. paid a premium by
the Government upon what theyAs they fish out-
sidethe men very frequently act 'in concert with
our boats,
our men,purchase
and _ fish of them instead cf engaging
themselves in fishing. .ence the watch set upon them.
There has been a
considerablell take of herrings eff this coast
during
the last fewdays, and, notwithstanding great quanti-
ties are
sent by railway into the interior of the county, they
have
been selling as low as 7s. 6d. per thousand: Some of
the Penzance boats have been very successful.
LONDON, AUG. &.—The Endeavour, Lynn to South-
ampton, was run down off Dungeness 21st inst.