The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-16 00:00:00

come :

" Camp Uitenhage, June 16, 1846.

" I mentioned in my last that the Kafirs had stolen
300 head of cattle within half an hour of this, and that
Commandant Du Toit, of the Worcester Burghers, had
gone in pursuit. He was fortunate enough in overtaking
the rascals at Pheasant Drift, on the Sunday River, and
shot all they saw, viz., 11, and recaptured the cattle.
Du Toit behaved nobly, shooting two himself, but I
regret that one of his men was killed by an assagai.
One Kafir got into the river and covered his head with
reeds, to make it appear that he was a bush. Young
Du Toit, however, saw his head, fired, and shot him
through the head. They took several assegais, and
two muskets, which were loaded. Both these were
pointed at Du 'Tit, but flashed in the pan. They also
took three horses.

" The weather continues very warm during the day,
and cold at night. No rain, however.
" 17th June.—An Aide has just arrived from
Grallaufs Town with a requisition to press all oxen
and waggons to convey provisions from Algoa Bay to
Graham's Town, as they are very badly off there. They
have in consequence taken our oxen, and how long we
shall remain here it is impossible to say. Our hor.,es
get only 121 b. of oat hay per diem. I have been obliged i
to buy forage and feed my horse up a little, for there s
not a blade of grass where our camp is."
Nothing seems to be publicly known respecting the
movements or intentions of the Kafirs. If they ever
meditated an attack on the colony in overwhelming
numbers, as some have supposed, they have lost their
opportunity. Such men as Macomo, Botma, or Stock,
who have known the colony, and the power it can in no
long time bring to bear upon them, must begin to be
sensible that they are in the very jaws of destruction.
The sparse and scattered population of the immediate
frontier, with some 1,500 soldiers, have, in effect, re-
pulsed their whole force as invaders. Though cattle
have been captured, the loss of men on the Kafir side,
compared with that of the colonists and troops, cannot
but be felt by them as a decisive proof of their utter in-
capacity to continue the contest on anything like equal
terms. What then can they expect now that the number
of effective military is more than doubled on their front,
while the frontier colonists have been reinforced by five
or six thousand men from the rear ? They trust, no
doubt, to the bush, or the ravines and thickets of their
country, but in the winter even this resource fails them,
for in the months of July and August the cold and rain
on the mountains are fatal to their cattle, and the plains
will be occupied or commanded by the troops and Burghers.
Nothing further is known respecting the designs of
Creili or of the Tambookies. If they mean mischief,
they are not in a hurry.—HeraM.

STATE AND PROSPECTS OF
NEW ZEALAND.

The following are extracts from an important and very
lengthy petition (just printed by order of the House of
Commons) present( d by Mr. Charles Buller, from inha-
bitants of the settlements of Wellington, Nelson, New
Plymouth, and Wanganui, in the colony of New Zealand:
" That it is with sincere regret your petitioners feel
themselves under the necessity of anxiously soliciting
the attention of your Honourable House to the state of
affairs in this colony.

" That those affairs are in such a condition that, if not
speedily remedied, the result must be general ruin. That
the Colonial Treasury is encumbered with debt; the re-
venue rapidly diminishing, the currency deranged and
vitiated. That all commercial and agricultural opera•
tions are checked and impeded, suspended or abandoned;
and the colonists reduced in numbers and in wealth.
That public confidence in the local government is utterly
destroyed; and there exists no adequate security for pro-
perty or life; and that the European and native races of
the country are on the verge of warfare, which in one
quarter hes actually and disastrously commenced, and
which the slightest accident or imprudence may render
as general as it would certainly be sanguinary.
" That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the imme-
diate causes of this lamentable state of things are to be
found in the erroneous policy adopted and pursued by
the present local government."
[Then follows a very elaborate and full account of the
proceedings in the colony since 1842. The petition to-
wards its conclusion proceeds thus] :
" Reviewing the whole policy and proceedings of Cap-
tain Fitzroy since his assumption of the government: re-
membering the evident prepossession of his mind by one
fixed and erroneous idea of the character of the natives
and one theory of governing them: the utter ignorance
of human nature betrayed by his adoption of this theory
and his mode of carrying it out,: the want of judgment,
infirmity of purpose, and inability to profit by the expe-
rience of his predecessors or his own; displayed particu-
larly in his unfortunate lenity towards Iloni Heki, after
the many proofs that had been given of its effects upon
other natives; in his allowing that disturber to escape
unpunished after so much display of force and of inten-
tion to use it; in the miserable collision about the sur-
render of the muskets; in the repetition at the second
attack upon Heki's pa of the errors which caused the
first to fail; and in his ultimate conclusion of a truce
with the rebels: considering further his many impolitic,
rash, inconsistent, and unnecessary declarations ; such
as his pledging himself to resign rather than use force
in any case ; or as his solemn recommendation of Mr.
Spain and his court at Waikanai and pledge to enforce
his decisions, one of the most important of which he pre-
sently and so uncerimoniously overthrew at Taranaki,
and at last sweepingly condemned the court itself (after
having, in spite of the agreements at home and its ill
effects out here, so long persisted in upholding it), in
the words, The plan was wrong from the first on
which these claims have been settled :' recollecting
moreover his continual disregard of the letter or spirit of
his instructions, as in the cases of the first Debenture
Bills, and of those on the company's stoppage : of the
establishment of a militia force ; and of the waiving of
the right of pre-emption ; looking at the fundamental
errors, and the extent an suddenness of the frequent
changes of his financial policy—at his unvarying acri-
mony against the settlers—at his unfortunate selection
of officers and confidential advisers—at his entire subjec-
tion to missionary influence—and at all the ruinous re-
sults of his whole administration of affairs, however oc-
casioned—reflecting upon all these things, and upon the
very critical circumstances of the colony at present,
your petitioners feel it impossible to avoid expressing,
in the most distinct terms, their utter want of confidence
in the ability of Captain Fitzroy or his government suc-
cessfully to encounter the difficulties before them.

4, Your petitioners therefore earnestly implore your
Honourable House to interfere, and literally save them•
from destruction. it is undeniable that the form of

is-
ph
he
-e-

Government they are placed under is a perfect
despotism; that they have no vote, or voice, or in-
fluence whatever, direct or indirect, in the frain;ng
of any laws or ordinances they are bound to obey,
even those which most materially affect them; that
they are ruled by ti.e wilt and judgment of one
man, and three irdivid'uals completdy subservient ;to
him. They have often Leen shocked by the assignment
of power over them to persons who, in more instances
than would readily be believed, have put the infamy of
their characters beyond doubt, and justified the aversion
of the community they dwelt among, by acts of public or
private delinquency, necessitating at last their reluctant
removal. They have been grieved at the insults continually
offered by savages to a British Government; at the sad
spectacle of a British governor 11:inn:tering on from disas-
trous and disgraceful concession to imbecile attempts at
coercion—driven by the practice of an utterly irrational
policy into the unwilling adoption of a wiser one, he
was utterly unequal to the execution of it ; in the one
case as well as the other only exposing himself to the
contempt and derision of the savages he was unable
either to conciliate or conquer. They complain of prac-
tical o"iis of misgevereracia, alil.e undeniable and unen-
durable. They complain if tle ruin of the public
finances, and of taxation n (-piaci] thereby, :Mich they
are wholly unable to eniltn e. They complain of their
capital wasted, of all useful cxerti,ns restricted or pAra-
lised, the fruits of industry destroyed, and the toil of
years rendered nugatory, by the forcible occupation by
others of lands, which by all rules of justice they
themselves should be put and maintained in possession
of. And they complain of the utter insecurity of life,
and of such property as has hitherto escaped the
rapacity of treacherous, avaricious, and cruel savages,
whose passions a mistaken policy has called into
activity, excited and given the most unbridled licence
to. They would be wanting to themselves, they would
be accessory to their own destruction, if they did not
protest against this monstrous policy; if they were not
with the utmost earnn stness to implore your Honourable
House, while there is yet time, if time there really be, to
avert its still impending ill consequences. They do im-
plore your Honourable House to rescue from utter faqure
an attempt to colonise a country, of resources so promising
and so generally admitted, on principles acknowledged
to be the best and wis•st hitherto discovered,
and originally made under circumstances apparently
more favourable and auspicious than ever attended any
similar enterprise. They ask thus much for their own
sakes ; they ask it for the sake even of those aborigines
whom nothing but the ruinous kindness of mistaken
friends, and the curse of unbounded licence, has
turned for the present into instruments of destruction,
but who, by wise and vigorous government, might
yet be preserved and civilised, made valuable auxilia-
ries in the developement of the resources of the
country, made to add to the wealth and strength of the
empire, and be raised into a peaceable, orderly, and
contented community. Your petitioners rest of nothing
more assured than that the same policy, so necessary
for their own welfare, is equally re quisite for the ulti-
mate preservation of their own natives. Finally, they
entreat your Honourable House to consider that possibly
the very existence of the settlements of New Zealand,

certainly their immediate or even early prosperity
depends upon the favourable reception of the prayer o
your petitioners."