The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-03 00:00:00

in a manner to cozen him with a message through
his sons, and after having received a peremptory
communication requiring his instant reply in per-
son at Platberg. There it was, accordingly, that,
on the day already specified, namely, the 14th,
the Governor of the Cape and the Chief of the
Basutos had their long-delayed interview, to the
end that they might, if possible, come to some
definite and satisfactory understanding. The
description furnished us of their " talk" is amus-
ingly characteristic. General CA.THCART reite-
rated the demand already made by him both in
his message and in his proclamation. He re-
quired 10,000 head of cattle and 1,000 horses to
be given up to him by the Basutos, to be after-
wards distributed by him among those boers and
others who had been the victims of such sys-
tematic and wholesale depredations. He offered
this as the condition of peace. He reminded
MOSB.ESH that the result of its refusal would be
the commencement of war, and hinted to him
pretty clearly that that war would probably re-
solve itself into a war of extermination. He in-
formed him candidly that if his propositions were
not agreed to by the Basutos, he should feel
himself Called upon to take from them by force
of arms three times as many cattle and horses
as had been originally demanded. At the first
mention of the alternative of peace or war,
MOSHESH remarked sententiously, " Peace is like
the rain that makes the grass grow, while war is
like the wind which dries it up,"—implying that
he appreciated to the full their relative advan-
tages and disadvantages. When the threat of
severe measures being resorted to in case of neces-
sity was repeated, he seems to have lost patience,
or at any rate to have shown that he had, as the
saying is, " a spice of the devil" in his composi-
tion. "Do not talk of war," said he, " for
however anxious I may be to avoid it, you
know that a dog when beaten will show his
teeth." With this kind of converse, the in-
terview was carried on and brought to a conclu-
sion. The three days' grace were definitively
agreed upon, within which time the 10,000
head of cattle and the 1,000 horses were to be
forthcoming—or, in the event of their non-arri-
val, war was to be declared upon the Basutos by
the English Governor. Having failed in our
pacific efforts, we were to employ fire and sword
with a view to extort compensation.
The dog showed his teeth ! MOSHESH had not
spoken idly or at random on the 14th of Decem-
ber. By the 18th only 3,500, instead of the
stipulated 10,000, head of cattle had been brought
into the British camp at Platberg, by his son
NEHEMIAH. Upon the next day, the appointed
interval having expired, our troops were set in
motion, and upon the day following, the 20th, a
fierce conflict took place between the belligerents
in the vicinity of the vast droves of cattle col-
lected together on the Berea Mountain. The
result of all this was as could alone have been an-
ticipated. The Basutos, after making a resolute
resistance, and thereby causing a deplorable loss
of life on both sides, were compelled to yield to
the superior skill and discipline of their European
antagonists. MOSHESH himself, on the 20th, sent
in his written submission to the Governor, and on
the 23d his Excellency announced the satisfactory
settlement of the difficulty by a formal Proclama-
tion. So the quarrel has terminated. It remains
yet to be seen, however, if it may not, be produc-
tive of still more widely-extended disasters : for
already it has become known in the colony that
our old foes the Kafirs, who have been watching
the course of these warlike proceedings with some
degree of curiosity and solicitude, are disposed to
view as a defeat the withdrawal of our troops
from the Orange River Sovereignty. Incited to
a renewal of hostilities by this misapprehension,
they may compel the Governor again to resort to
those efforts at warlike retaliation which have
already cost this country so many lives, so much
anxiety, and such enormous and repeated dis-
bursements. GOD grant that another most bitter
lesson may not thus be afforded to our rulers,
showing them again in characters of blood the
criminal extravagance of over-economy in the
conduct of the warlike operations of a civilised
Government !