The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-03 00:00:00

THE KAFIR WAR.
At a public meeting, at Bradford, to petition
,ainst the Kafir war, on Friday, Jan. 30, with
'e Mayor in the chair, and both the Members for
e borough present,
Colonel Tuoupsors said, there are two reasons
y I must speak, with great plainness, on the sub
set before me. First, because I ern one of a sus -
pected class ; and, seeondly, because you have a right
to ask me, and to expect that I shall speak the truth;
and the truth is, that, on consid cog tbe whole cir-
cumstances of this Kafir war, I e to no con-
clusion but that there has been a bee in the bonnet. It
does not accord with the proceedings of rational men,
nor of rational nations. Do you know what you have
v a for it? I apprehend preceding speakers have taken
tco low an estimate. I have been where the subject
wee discussed, and never heard less than three mil-
lie is named as the present amount, with a consider-
e probability of three millions more. I have not
the smallest doubt that the expenses up to this mo-
ment, with the least imaginable addition for what
in'ist of necessity be spent in winding up the busi-
I, -es, are more than three millions. And what would
,-ee millions have bought you ? It would have bought
3a-na forty sail of the line, which you may come to
want. The common estimate is, that ships of war cost a
thousand pounds per gun ; a 74-gun ship therefore
r. •sts 74,000!., and forty 74 gun ships would cost—
_ is an affair for Walkinghame—naught is naught,
ur fours are sixteen, four sevens are twenty-eight
d one is twenty-mine-2,960 thousand pounds,
a bleb is under three millions. Forty sail of the line
ve you run ashore and cast away on the coast of
afraria. And what was there to get for it in re-
...rn ? A splendid collection of heathe,—luxuriant
icimens of pelargoniums ;—but it was not these
a -re wanted, it was the bills that were to be drawn
-.-ar you to pay. You are at the mercy of anybody
who will set a job on foot, and you and yours must
ray out of the proceeds of your honest in-
. dustry. And then the reasons given for
it all. Look at the press which takes
that side, and see, what its own statement is.
Mr. Chairman, in India, after marching from day-
break, it is a common thing to buy a chicken on the
new camp ground and kill it for breakfast, and the
sash goes by the name of " Sudden death." The
native servants are said to be in the habit of plucking
the miserable fowl alive, with the idea of preventing its
being tough The story goes that, at an old General's
t..ble, somebody remarked upon the cruelty of the
practice. To which the General replied, " B-b-b-but,
bow is it to be tender, if they don't ?" This is
precisely what the press has said. It says, in
express words, " How are Englishmen to get lands, if
they don't take them from the natives ?" It is the
intent of felony avoved." For other reasons given,
I no more believe in them than I believe in Dysk
prates, though we paid for them. We are miserable
wretches, bound to be accomplices in felony after the
fact. Would it not be a brilliant act of providential
;ustice if we were to be attacked by a foreign enemy,
we:ecisely because our troops were engaged abroad in
.oing wrong ? I see but one way in which we
Lre likely to help • ourselves. Take the three
millions, divide it as the Levite did his
,encubine, and send the pieces into all cor-
ners of the land, as proof of the necessity for ex-
:ending the political power of the honest part of
community. Press them on the Government as
7idence of the policy the inevitableness of a wide
id immediate extension in this direction, and thus,
rhaps, out of evil may be brought good, and
'ugh you cannot recover what has been taken frem
and thrown away, you may de something to-
Ma preventing the like befalling you again.
petition was adopted with unanimity, and ordered
prevented by the Members.

R ROBERT PEEL AT TAMWORTH.
(From the Birmingham Journal of Saturday.)
in Wednesday evening the Mayor of Tam,worth
W. Knight, gave the customary dinner to the
mbera for the borough and others. Alter the usual

sts,
the Mayon asked them to fill a bumper to " The
,alth of the representatives of the borough of Tam-
, e•th."—((great cheering.) At the latter end of the
• eir 1850 the question of the Crystal Palace was agi-
dog this country. It was thought by some that the
• ;ambling together of the products of all countries and
1 men of all climes would be as the inauguration of
liversel peace. He confessed that he indulged in no
.ch dream, feeling assured that unless human nature
ire changed, ambition annihilated, and the selfishness
-,d bad passions which excited men to war abolished,
liversal peace was a chimera. The Continent was now
-.. armed camp. Where the conflict would begin or
-Id it was not for him ,o speculate upon; but the gen-
-men who were charged with representing them
-re intrusted with great and important duties; and
om them he would not conceal his conviction
at they ought to go to the House of Commons with a
eep feeling of the responsibility which attached to a re-
.fteni,itiVe of the people. When he looked at the
. embers sent by the lerger constituencies, he felt—and
eas sure they would feel—that the representation of
a country would not be benefited if such boroughs as
smse rib were disfranchised. They would feel that,
:e his illustrious ancestors, Captain Towshend was
way a ready to do his duty independently and disinte
stedly.—(Cheers.) He might, he thought, say that
e community of ratnworth were perftetly satisfied
ith the mode in which he had discharged his duties.—
tenemed cheering.) Of the Hon. Baronet on his right
snd they had not any lengthened experience; but they
>nld not mention the name he bore without exciting a
'sep interest in the community.—(Great cheering.) He
as elected in a manner creditable to them and honour-
ele to himself, and he (the Mayor) was sure that he
ould not disappoint the expectations of those who sent
im to Parliament.
The toast was drunk amid prolonged cheering.
Captain TOWNSBEND, as the senior Member, returned
::auks amid applause. The Mayor had in the kindest
ald most flattering manner paid him more compliments
. ian he deserved. He had told them that he (Captain
` 'ownshend) stood high in the confidence of the com-
any ; and he could assure them that nothing could give
im more sincere delight than a knowledge of that tact.
'he session would be a difficult one, end he dared say
'hat it would not be long before they were alasnt to the
rightabout.—(Laughter.) As it was very pperly de-
eided that on such occasions as these politics should not
he introduced, he would not touch upon them. They
all knew what his principles were, and he had seen no
reason to alter them. Allusion had been made to the
new Reform Bill. His opinion was that nobody knew
anything about it; hut he might say that his firm belief
'a the Prime Minister was diet it he knew anything
;n• 'oat the feeling of the country and the state of parties
"e would be a lone tima before he disfranchised bo-
Thtighs like that.—(Cheers.) In conclusion, he expressed
...e delight he felt in being among them, and again made
l'ao acknowledgments amid much cheering.
Sir it. pREL wee received with prolonged applause.
.A Sir
a brief l exordium he remarked that doubtless they
any: eipmed
0„ ape_
iio some few observations from their Membsrs
that, not only as guests, but as repre-
: them like
in Parliament. He purposed to speak
,y; he had no need of concealment. Before, how-
alluding to atnoy other subject, he was desirous of
ecly referring to
permitted
which, much to his
:et, had been tttde to disturb the harmony which
,ht to exist berw.en
flwithin the circle ofsa an' others, and which bar-
y,y
should be most desirousthefir own
neighbourhood,
cultivating.—(Cheers.)
his name had been
he wouldgreat
asgaiyi
much mentioned, his conduct
say, without compromising
.ch canvassed,
- e own views on the
.re took the public opportunity of 2 question, that he
,t that a meeting, sanctioned by
the local
his re-
,t that
as was alleged, for the sot, and ao authorities,l
discussing metters of political import,
should
ytearpose
en violently interfered with.e-(ebeero ~, have
of eng—which
ivilege—th at all enjoyed,
i At was a
oyedwhich
exe • ,
e humblest had mast; right to rcise, which
the
institution sanctioned and which
.ought to be
Well that
. slously guarded. . which - might be
misunderstanding ought
a result of " to be ate
He would say
aged.—(Loud cheers.) more
before them all -h
no
the subject; but there, b
Cb e , !s held out
e right baud of reconciliation—( e rs)--in the hope
dha been occasioned ight
t at the heartburniogs which
—(Renewed cheerimng.)
"iterated from all mesnerieB-
Having dismi,sed that subject, let them see what the
•st and the pr-sent afforded as food for reflection-
-Ist were the objects most flcibly brought under their
Mice. Were they not the Great Exhiniriou, Kossuth,
-ricul,nre, and reform? There was, then, the Great
ehibition—the most stupendous, certainly toe most in-
pious, structure that the canning hands of man, aided
• science, ever succeeded in erecting; but when they
ok ipso consideration that it was a temple dedicated to
e arts and industry of the world—to the promotion of
iman progress—callous must that man be who,
reading its long drawn aisles and wandering through
3 labyrinth of riches, did not feel his mind expand in
. ratitude to the All-wise Dispenser of all things. Well,
'ere was Kossuth. Kossuth Caine from afar, having
-tjayed the Oriental hospitality of an enlightened Mo-
arch, and on h.s way to another
place was attracted to
. its land of liberty. He came to seek hospitality, and
e
he found a trieraph—(Hear)—for what was his reception
cut a triumph, or a series of triumphs, from Southamp-
• ,is to Manchester, and back to the vessel which bore
ins to America? He must have been gratified by the
°Pular ovation; yet be (Sir Robert Peel) believed
that the people of Eogiand misapplied their enthn-
'la"; and overrated Kossuth.--(Cheers.) He was a
man of great abilities, great talent, and had wonderful
ttecility of expression, but he was not what he wished to
smenn.osidered; be was not the disinterested and undis-
)3" g patriot he wished to appear. The star of
Washington never illumined his mind; his heart never
mat with the austere severe patriotism of an Oliver
Cromwell. lint his presence was significant—significant
of revelation.—(Ree.) They as Englishmen, were
disposed to resist oppression oppose and to tyranny, but
to
they were also disposed
Heresist revolution. He bad
witnessed revolution.had seen its birth-day
struggle, ilea meridian expectation,
its evening disappoint-
en( ; and he foam that
revolution
mannihilation of existing thibßso uatnidon implied a forcible
the foundation of a
;Jew system, most frequently jin '
govern-
ment, to order, inimical to the rightsu of property and to
injurious to good
the welfare of a nation.—(Cheers.) But while he was
disposed to reprobate reforms brought
about byhe good
violent
seesns, there wore reforms brought about by -
seats of the people, foreshadowed by thedev development of
1 t
ognaion,,the introduction of which changes,
however
MOSS filer night Mow that reission to "1-
et:Almeria ,