The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-07 00:00:00

THE Eurtra w

PLYMOUTH, TUESDAY.—The General Serest`
Steam-Ship Company's mail packet BoThorns,
Captain John V. Hail, arrived this morning. The
Bolliboru3 left Plymouth 5 P.M., April 15th; arrived
at St. Vincent, 9.15 A.M., April 27th ; left at noon
on the 29th ; arrived at Sierra Leone, 7.40 r.ki.,
-May 3i ; left at two pM. on the 4th ; arrived at
Table-bay at noon, May 24th. The passage front
Plymouth to Table-bay was performed in thirty-eight
days nineteen hours including stoppages, two days
twenty hours. The Bosphorus left Table-bay, 7.40
P.m., May 29th ; arrived at Sierra Leone, 3.40 P.M.,
June 13th ; left at 2.40 P.m., June 14th ; arrived at
St. Vincent's, 1.30 rad., June 19th; lett at 1 P.M.,
June 21st; arrived at Plymouth, 8 A.M., July 6th.
The news from the frontier is to the 25th of Mayo
and is of a very undecisive character. General
Cathcart has established his head-quarters at Fort
Beaufort, and is forming camps all along the frou•
tier ; there is one at the Tainschs ; the Rifles are at
Behr's Farm ; the 74th and 91st, and Cape Mounted
Rifles, under Colonel Napier, are at Balfour, and
Colonels Eyre and Michell are at Keishama's lock,
*here a fort is being erected.

No casualties of moment have occurred during the
preceding month, but there are several indications of
the unsubdued position of the Kafirs.
Early in May, at the Fish River mouth, the two
Clay tons, sons of a farmer, and their servant Elliott,
were murdered. On the 15th, near Fort Cox, an
unarmed private of the Queen's 2d Regiment was
killed while- cutting wood.; and on the 20th the
Rifles bud a brush in the Waterkloof, when three of
that corps were wounded and one Fiugoe killed.
Andries Botha, a field-cornet (Hottentot), after
trial of eight days at Cape Town, bad been convicted
of high treason, and was sentenced to be hung.
General Cathcart is seeking to raise a levy by offer-
ing the farmers sa. a day as privates, and 7s. 6d. a
day as officers, which is considered very liberal.
We extract the following from the monthly sum-
mary of the Cape Town Mail, dated May 29 :
" Lieutenant-General Cathcart having recovered from
the effects of the accident he had sustained in being
thrown off his horse, bad proceeded at the date of the
last monthly mail to assume the active command of the
forces in Ksfirland. Since then ho has permanently
removed bead-quarters from King William's Town to
Fort Beaufort.
"In reply to addresses from various bodies of the
colonists, shortly after his arrival, his Excellency an-
nounced his determination to cfr,ct the total subjugation
of the traitorous hordes now overrunning the colony,
and to expel for ever the hostile Guika Kafirs from the
country they had occupied before the war.
" To accomplish this object nearly the whole of the
forces under his command were extended in a connected
chain of columns across the territory intended to be
cleared, provision being made for keeping open the com-
munication between the different columns, while the
12th Regiment, under Colonel Perceval, were replaced
in their termer position at Collingham, for the protec-
tion of the Albany district. This corps had been pre-
viously engaged in the fruitless endeavour to drive the
enemy from his fastnesses in the Amatola mountains.
On their return they swept through the country of
Stock and Seyolo, which was found to be entirely de-
serted, those chiefs having either joined their forces to
those of Macomo and Sandilli, or sent them, dispersed in
marauding bands, into the colony.
" The results of the operations of the several columns
have not yeto
tbeseunecteosrsmsalhlyichcommmayinhieaavteedattotenthdeedputbhleiier
public.
combined The degree efforts can, therefore, be but indistinctly
pden
to have evaded theround. Great
y
Not the slightest indication,i however, has
yet b
een manifested of dispositio on the' part
traced.
n a
of the Kafirs to submit but, o
their resistance is as determined
shosswne
ata the
mrcarefully
ur
any
nel
yl contrary,
wariness
former
ioavoid
g
period of the war, though they
in choosing their positions, an
encounters
of erswitthheta the
atrreoopaslso knownepon o
troops, and entered the colonies at various places.
Many depredations have const quently been committed,
and several desperate encounters have taken place be-
tween them and parties of burghers who have endea-
voured to deprive them of their spoil.
" Oa the Ist inst. information was received that the
post from head- quarters had been intercepted by a
band of Seyolo's Kafirs, who carried off the mail bag,
containing the Governor's dispatches, the men in charge
barely escaping with their lives.
"In the Eat ly pars of the month, Colonel Michell, who
was stationed at Fort Cox, had a severe engagement, in
which 20 of the enemy were killed, and many more
wounded. The 6th Regiment and 60th Rifles were both
warmly engsged in this affair. The Kafirs, it appears,
maintained the conflict with great determination, the
troops being unable to make any impression upon them
until the Light Company of the 61, by a desperate
charge, drove them from their position, when a party of
the Rifles, in ambush, poured in a deadly fire and put
them to rout.

"Information has also been received of a gallant at-
tack upon a. portion of the Waterkloof, by Colonel Bul-
ler, with two companies of the 60th Riflee, under Captain
Lord A. Russell and Captain Woodford, and a small de-
tachment of the Cape Corps under Captain Somerset.
The Kafiri, however, were found to be in such over-
whelming force, and to be screened by the nature of
the ground, that, after a laborious march through the
rugged jungle, and killing 0 considerable number of
the enemy, the attacking party retired, under cover of
a six-pounder which had been judiciously placed in re-
serve. Oa this occasion it is stated that ' the peculiar
whiz of the enemies' balls told of iron pot legs and angu-
lar pieces of iron, and not ot musket balls,' proving that
the stringent measures taken to prevent them from ob-
taining ammunition are beginning to be felt among them.
On the side of the troops, only one officer and two pri-
vates were wounded, Lieutenant Godfrey having the tip
of his ear shot off.
" On the sth instant, a detachment of the 231 h Regi-
ment, under Captain Helmsley, suddenly fell in with a
party of about forty Kafirs in the Fish River Bush, near
Committee's Drift when six of the enemy were killed,
and the others, *titer discharging their pieces, plunged
into the bush and escaped.
" Great consternation was excited among the inhabi-
tants of Lower Albany by the discovery, on the 12th
instant, of th 4 traces of a largo body of rebel Hottentots,
estimated at from 100 to 150 men, having entered the
Kowie Bush, which extends within a few miles of Gra-
ham's Town. About sixty of the neighbouring inhabi-
tants, including a party of the Albany Rangers, were
speedily assembled, and, under Captain Stubbs, moved
during the night in the direction of the marauders, whom
they came up with about three o'clock in the morning,
and found them sleeping round their fires in an open
space in the centre of a cense bush. Owing to the pre-
cipitancy of some of the party an alarm was given
before an efftctual attempt could be made, and the
rebels, starting up, dived ecathless into the bush. They
left behind them sixteen stand of arms, including two
double-barrelled Cape Corps carbines and two double-
barrelled fowling pieces, besides about fifty "wide-
awake" hats and the same number of topcoats, •
blankets, pouches, and a number of other articles,
which were collected and burnt on the spot. Circum-
stances of this kind, which are unfortunately of constant
tendto
occurrence in the exposed distrircetvse,ntn
them naturally tend
en-
teringdiscourage the inhabitants, . and .
between them and
notwith-
standing the large force interposed
outragesb inseparable
the great body of the enemy.
with spirit upon agricultural persuits, d
just occurred at the homestead
from savage warfare bad
left their father's ouse, near
of a respectable farmer. w h wo young
" Another of those deplorable
the mouth of the Fish River, along with a discharged
:it:abide
soldier of the 27th Regiment, named Elliott, for the pur-
posemen, sons of Mr. Cis} ton,
d. While thus engaged, they were
of cutting
wood.
b a large bed of d
y the enemy, an
suddenly delo e
y 1
blood berate y shot down The marauders,
in cold
about 100 in number,
halt of whom were mounted, then
proceed
they
ee to the house, which entered andran-
_.
daughters,
ited. Mr. and Mrs. Clayton, with two
so •
had their lives spared, but were atript and insulted; and,
after plundering ri the premises, the band made off, carry-
ingthe whole property of the
vitt' them
nead of cattle, 15 horses,and family, com-
prising 20 several guns.
o afford assistance in such
d
In order t cases, a burgher
police
force is being organised to traverse the more un-
d arts of the countr
protecte p_ _ . . y, and follow up the vari-
ous hordes ot banditti by whom the frontier districts are
now everywhere infesttd.
e The nature ot the Governor's planswith .
regard to
as been the hitherto neutral chiets h
partially disclosed.
Is appears that his Excellency •
proposes to subsidise
them, under certain
conditions, and that some of them
have already
been paid sums of money
arrangements. Much appreh •
ension however, is gene-
rally entertained of the intentions of
the Slambie tribes
and strong symptoms of disaffection and a desire to join
the enemy are said to have been of late manifested among
them.
" The bodies of Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce and Lieu-
tenants Carey and Gordon have been removed from the
spots where they bad been hastily interred, and buried
in Graham's Town, amid the strongest demonstrations
of respect and grief on the part of the inhabitants.
" In the western portion of the colony little has ope
curred during the month to call for special notice. Th_t.o.
most perfect tranquillity continues to exist. • Thf...q.
citement which the mutilation of the Constitution eeenance by the effete Legislative Council nature Y
II
assured
'occa-
sioned has entirely subsided, the colonists feeling
violate the
that her Majesty's Government will never..
asnotioning the
solemn promises held out to them by
measure in its present useless form. .
h treason which
" The trial of Andries Botha for big , oh
for eight days, has
occupied the the Supreme Court
. counts, with a
nated in a verdict of guilty on all the Mx
ground of his previous
recommendation to mercy on the , . Th.
loyalty, services, and good conduct.
of 13 verdict has
some the counts being
excited general astonishment,e
that
so little supported by eve _
_heapstril pro-
ceeded, they were v'rthally abandoned by blic
prosecutor. The nature_of the principal evidence brought
forward against hitn--that of convicts for life—has also
, given rise to much animadversion, and a respect re
me_
morial is in course ot very general signature, praying
Lieutenant-General Cathcart to givethe
effect to the recommendation of the jury.
en is In no small degree satisfactory to be able to add
that the best fe lie
---g continues to Exist between Lieu-
tenant G
. overnor Darling and the inhabitants, especially
each public bodies as have bad occasion to commute
este with him on matters affecting the interest of our
local community; his ready and courteous attention to
those intere,is presenting a most agreeable contrast to
1 the manner in which the representation of the colonist&
re treated under the previous Administration.*