The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-11 00:00:00

T E SUN,

THE KAFIR WAR.

PLYMoUTFI, TUESDAY.—The G,L era! Screw Stearn
Shipping Camnenv's steamship Propontis, Cornwall-
der Thomas AV. Glover, arrived here last evening,
about seven o'clock.
The intelligence by this mail is far from sltisfactory.
Disorder and danger exist all along the border, atid
it is feared that the enemy is establishing himself in
the mountains and forests near Uitenhage and Fort
Elizabeth.
General Cathcart has commuted the sentence of
death on Cornet Andries Botha, the rebel Hottentot,
into transportation for life with hard labour.
Heed-qu trters continue at Fort Beaufort.
Colonel Eyre, of the 73d Regiment will, from ill
health, be obliged to quit the field, at least for a
short time.
Mejt r Hogge, one of her Majesty's Assistant-
Cotntnissiorisrs for settling affeirs on the frontier,
died at Bloem Foefein, Orange River Sovereignty,
on e 9th ot June. He left England thirteen mouths
previously, and lost his life through fever, caught by
exposure in the rain at a meeting of chiefs in Mo-
theh's country.
Tne following monthly summary of proceedings
on the frontier is taken from the Gape Town Mail, of
the I.t alt. :
" Our I.st was published on the 29th of May, hut
subsecpent mails from some of the remoes distrie s
brought intelligenca of much earlier dates. Thus, trorn
Whittlesea a le te.r of May 3 reports the circumstances
ot Captain Tylden's camp, and the apparent mustering of
the enemy in the neighnourhood. To. difficulties of an
En,lish officer commanding native levi,s consists not so
much in long and laborious marches over a rugged
country, as in getting their coloured equal; to stand
the tug of war.' The native, whether friend or foe, is
but a • trembling coward,' if without the cover of a rock
or tree to serve at once as embrasure and breastwork.
Hence in ambuscades the deadly precision of their attack
while aiming at some unsuspecting wayfarers.
"From Whittlesea a letter, dated May 11, states the
Kafirs to be getting troublesome.
" May 14—From Mr. Sydserff's place at Eildon 600
sheep were carried off. Three men from Lyndoch joined
in the pursuit, and after various expeditions the sheep
were found on the 18-h, near the boundary of Somerset
and Cradock, when 400 were re-taken.
" May 15—At Fort Cox the Kafirs surprised and
murdered one of the 2d Q sect's, who had been cutting
wood not 300 yards outside the fort; and a few days
after three of the 6th were wounded at Mount Macdonald
similarly engaged.
" May 20—A letter from Waterkloof reports that re-
gular attacks are made twice a week- by the Rifles, who
are encamped there.
" May 22—Mr. Robey's cattle, on Manley's Flat, were
attacked. Two of the herdsmen were shut on the first
fire. One of the survivors (a native) then ran for help,
leaving the fourth (an Englishman) to provide for him-
self and the cattle. The prompt arrival of Mr. Robey
rescued him from his perilous situation. Oa the same
day, in the Addo, two waggons belonging to Mr. Whit-
ing, on their way from Port Elizabeth to Graham's
Town, were attacked by 40 Hottentots. Captain Pullen
directed Commandant Hurter, also of the Levies, to co-
operate with him in pursuit of the robbers. But in the
twilight indistinctness of the following wet morning,
Captain Pallen'e men mistook their comrades for the
enemy they were set king, and bred into their rear,
wounding four men. The spoor of the retreating Hot.
tentots was traced to the Zuurberg, towards Z !recto
Hoogte, and into S 1 igtboom; then five spoors were seen
w
leading to Enon sum , . Ve missionary there denied
having seen any but two friendly visitors! Thus far the
guerilla escaped detection and pursuit.
" Same day.—Fifty Hottentots surrounded the kraal
of the chief Toise, who is friendly to us, stripped his
wives naked before his face, and carried him off as a
prisoner to Sandilli. Reports are conflicting as to the
precise disposition that was manifested towards the cap-
tive by the two parties, Kafirs and Hottentots. Some as-
cribe the atrocity to the Hottentots alone; others allege
that Sandilli commanded the Hottentots to kill Toise,
and that they refused. The whole may have been a'
premeditated ruse. Toise brought back a letter from
Uithaalder to the Commander-in-Chief, reading him a
grave lesson of peace without consulting his Kafir allies.
This, we have reason to believe, was the real aim in
view.
" The amount of risk we run by employing natives,
whether Hottentots or Fingoes, several auspicious in-
stances seem to prove. It will be remembered that Cap-
tain Bevil, of the Levies, was shot accidentally by a
Hottentot of his party, and that doubt still hangs over
Major Wilmot's lamented death, whether or not it was
by Fingoes of his owe party. Two or three (several
during the month) of the Rifles also have been
wounded, either by the awkward precipitance of the
Fingoes, or by their being mistaken for Kafirs. Such
friends are little less dangerous than enemies.
" May 26.—Some Kafirs from Waterkloof visited
Colonel Napier's camp at Blinkwater, and took 27 oxen
out of the kraal. On the following morning a patrol
started off and captured in reprisal 51 Kafir women, who
were safely lodged in Beaufort Gaol. It is very desir-
able that these women should be prevented hereafter
from carrying back ammunition and intelligence to our
enemies. The complaints made of the successful
espion-
age of these viragos are quite vexatious. The peilan-
thropy which connives at the cunning practice occasions
the loss of many a waggon, and exposes the life of many
a brave soldier and colonist. Our humanity is, there-
fore, exercised at the price of blood. We are glad to see
that the Commander-in-Chief has, by an order dated
May 30, prohibited the practice among the Levies o
selling their ammunition to the Kafirs under pain o:
death.

" May 29.—Eleven waggons, belonging to Mr. Pohl
and others, were attacked near Do Bruin's Poort while
bringing produce to Graham's Town; Mr. Humphries
was mortally wounded, and 27 oxen anti two horses
were driven off. Mr. Pohi was attacked three several
times before emerging from the bush into the open
country. The death of Mr. Humphries is one of
those events that rivet public attention upon
the miserable details of the war. His family had
been previously in comfortable circumstances, but hav-
ing lost nearly all they possessed, the deceased and his
brother became waggon drivers. The same mail ac-
quaints us with the death of Mr. T. Phillips, Justice of
the Peace, another victim to this slow, consuming war.
'Like hundreds of others,' writes one of the frontier
papers, he had been forced to become a houseless
wanderer,' until at length he sank under the effects of
hardship and exposure.

"June 2—About half-past 11 at night a body of Hot-
tentots, under Uithaalder, attacked the cattle-kraal be-
longing to the Missionary Institution of Mount Coke.
Seven men of the place were killed and nine wounded;
but the cattle cut from the waggons would have been
preserved, had not a large mounted reserve appeared.
The firing was heard at Fort Murray, and General
Yorke dispatched a squadron of Lancers and Cape
Corps, under Major Tovenhare, who joined in the pur-
suit as far as Debe Neck.
June 3—From Eland's Kloof, four miles east of Gra-
ham 's Town, four spans of oxen and other cattle, worth
3001., were driven o !eas o a
ctor the
ao ff and secreted in one of the buohy
confluencewiththeoste depredations,
the Kat with h
the
newsFi f
Fish
the remote districts bordering Taint,ookieland tell of suc-
cessive forays;—from Dow o Stela, of 'Mori Pleats, 500
sheep having been taken.
" June 13.—The rebel Hottentots at d tacke g gons while proceeding from Graham's Town t) Fort
---- -ye wag
Beaufort, though guarded by a detachrnenand Miners, under the command of Captain of
3oto4appers.
The
rebels on this occas'oa hal pi)sted themselves in
th
thick bush of the Konap-hill, and as soon as the small
convoy appeared they opened a sudden volley, by which
the leading mule-waggon was disabled, end seven of the
small convoy killed. During the contest, which la,teci
for some time, nine more were wound. d, but the re-
mainder were brought off in good order by the cool gal.
The waggons contained some
lantry of Captain Moody.
ammunition and Millie muskets, which latter were, how-
ever, rendered useless by the precaution of removing
the nipples.
"On the same day, th 3 mail from Graham's Town
was seized near the Beka 'twin by ten rebel
Hotten-
tots,son. but, was again recaptured by Tabai (Uwkei's)
On the 15th, 40 oxen were taken from H. Btzuiden-
hout's place, Highlands.
"June 19.—Major-General Yorke, with a large force,
supported by Colonel Michel and Colonel Ego, mar-
ched against the camp of the rebel Hottentots, which
was reached the next morning (a day before the Hot-
tentots expected to be attacked). Our success was signal
A Cape Corps sergeant, who was taken prisoner, was
immediately hanged. Three of the Minie rifles, and
part of the ammunition lately taken at the Konap were
found. Among the slain was a Cape Corps deserter,
who had a gold watch and chain; and a soldier found a
pouch tull of sovereigns. A Kafir boy was taken in
Fort Beaufort, who disclosed the mode of replenishing
the stores of the enemy. Ia the evening, women, car-
rying wool, enters the town and remains till 10 al night,
when they mating° to leave, laden with supplies.
" Toe last mail has also brought the sickening in-
telligence of a brutal murder at Olifant's Hoek. 't his is
the second victim of wanton barbarity who has fallen in
this place by the hands of rebel Hottentots within ten
days, but we trust that the reign of philanthrophic
humbug is drawing to a close.

6' We purposely reserve our concluding notice for a
review of General Cathcart's dispositions and manoeuvres;
hut we feel our inability to detail plans known only to
himself, and which will receive their first historical de-
lineation in the field. We are persuaded that the
Com-
mander-in-ChiefitoEexoele,ialerimlc:hh(a3s not bEen idle. His judicious 'flea
sures have already impressed the enemy with wholesome
awe, and we perceive in the capture of Toise merely the
cumbrous device of a bewildered rebel to convey a "titer
rto a a his
veB.sntanthte Sovereignly, GUl's were really brightening,
for Pretorius had found m-aria to persuade the yolks
enteredA. into bcqween peaceful
Wl' (la
War Councile° ae t
and herwhich MI) aadj 0 ~teye'ns
the fact of procuring vCocoami toissi,.neraA.
traryYecicclui policy.
While _ g pprr:
gunpowderel h° es he
dehd
fromrebelss'ill t h
ihsa chief.ve pursuesbe a-
prospee,s el
a ,
.:1707dribi:';,
the
er
mhe4r3t,s,chauriey t saddenedlding.
ma h' 'iu,,::,,,h: 'l..eia g-ii,h‘inal,'a a- loul,l experi-Lee,
lip de4,-„, I,n",":ll):.u.leLcw, quulitied him in Jo *,roi-
o ; n 2(-vIl ii 7 rr
Wr hum, Th., 1,"1. the ,a-k ankh nil hol and rink,-n.
in.-cits of m, 'gh'"st- itite-Iptun of ditTarag nv; CA,
feel ~or,, 1", juctiti:d bit survici.a. eOlll-11gUei WO yet
uniiin,ly reni,vai, t In pronounce g IliAjor Hilw,'S
lawity. Th,• re,otetrul each a crisis, io be a public ca
his bbrrowing widow LiCe'lt,3'4'ol'4 of all ciahs,s with
Our shun ens. tupsotes her departure from
..• LI IsTa,t4l all a, aui,t• bet n colice ~,ii. Tin, 1,..0....tbii4A1 o' the hut-i;ix had
as shown by the success of AI? m
wood s
exp r
di d
of
ollart,ut,c7:uriiige tiUgt%