The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING,

plain clothes, when he saw the prisoners, whom he
knew to be thieves, come out of Z-Ilverein depart-
ment, which at present is very much frequented. They
stood for a few moments, and then went into a passage
leadiag to the waterclosets. They all three then got
close to each other, and he saw McCann take something
from his pocket and, by his appearance and manner, he
believed he (McCann) was emptying something out into
his hand. At that time a person came out of one of the
watercloscts and they then walked to a bench close by.
McCann sat down on the bench and took off his hat,
which he placed between his knees. Witness then
saw him take something out of his pocket and place in
his bat. He then went up to them, and asked McCann
what he had got there? McCann looked up into his
face and said " Oh, nothing at all." Witness then
looked into his hand and saw the morocco purse pro-
duced. He took it from his hat and put it in his (wit-
ness's) pocket. He then procured assistance, and took
them to the station, where they were searched, and on
McCann was found 3/. 10s. in gold and a gold pin; on
Butler 1/. and Bs. 83. in silver; and on Smith ss. 105.,
and a Sardinian gold coin, of the value of 3/. 12e., in
English money. Witness questioned him (McCann) as
to his possession of the purse, and his replies were so
equivocal that he came to the conclusion the purse was
stolen.

Several constables of the L division proved that the
whole of the prisoners had been seen together coming
out of a notorious house in Herbart's-buildings, Water-
loo-road, no later than Friday last. Three former con-
victions were also proved against the prisoner Butler.
The prisoners, who protested their innocence, were
remanded till Saturday next.

THE KAFIR WAR.

PLYMOUTH, MONDAY.—The Geneal Steam Screw
Shipping Cominny's steam-ship Sir Robe' t Peel,
Captain Govt r, arrived off the port at nine A.M. this
morning.
Her outward dates are—St. Vincent, May 27,
nine A.M. ; sailed, May 29, eleven r.m. Arrived at
Sierra Leone, June 1, five P.M. ; sailed, June 3, four
P.M. Arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, June 26,
four P.M. Homeward—Sailed from the Cape of Good
Hope, July 4, two r.m. Arrived at Sierra Leone,
July 20, five P.M. ; sailed, July 21, two P.M. Arrived
at St. Vincent's, July 26, ten A.M. ; sailed, July 28,
noon.

She brings no decisiva intelligence respecting the
Kafir war. Sir harry Smith was on the frontier.
The enemy was in check, and he contemplated a de-
cisive movement, which it was hoped might lead to a
termination of hostilities.
Sandili continued on the Amatola mountains. It
is said that his favoured prophet, Umlangeni, had de-
serted him and joined another chief.
_ .

Pato remains faithful to the British cause.

The colonists at Cape Town believe that a consti-
tution has been sent to them, but that the officials
have not published it.

The Cape Town Mail of July 1 takes a gloomy
view of the then existing condition of affairs:—

" The accounts from the frontier war become at every
post more painful and disheartening. It is evident that
the colonists there find themselves unable to make head
against the increasing hordes of the enemy. The most
active and resolute leaders are falling one after another.
Field-Cornet Gray, in Lower Albany; Field-Cornet
Bonvver, of the Raga; Field-Cornet Albertse, of Albert
District, have all been struck down within a month.
We receive week after week lamentable news of the
murder of travellers, the burning of homesteads, the de-
vastation of wide tracts of country, where the horizon is
described as lighted up at night by the flames of deserted
farmhouses. There is no wonder that, as cur corre-
spondent writes, a general gloom prevails at Graham's
Town. The frontier colonists have certainly done al-
most all that has been done during the last six months,
and that is not a little, for the defence of the colony.
But there is no concert, no system—in a word, no Go-
vernment. Our enemies are united, and the colonists,
the troops, the military officers, the civil authorities, arc
working, if not absolutely against one another, at least
without co-operation or sympathy. The levies are
about to return to their homes. Sir Harry Smith, who
lately announced the approaching close of the war, has
ordered a European force of 300 men to be embodied
at Graham's Town for a term of six months. But under
the present system there is no apparent reason why the
war should not continue for six years. Yet, with a
colonial Parliament, uniting all classes of the colonist.s
in a phalanx for the common defence, and with Sir
Andries Stockenstrom as Commandant-General of the
colonial forces on the frontier, this wretched contest.
which is wasting the best blood and devouring the
wealth of the border districts, might be brought to a
close in six weeks."

The same journal declares that the rebellion of the
frontier Hottentots had assumed a new development
during the past month. The insurrection had spread
more widely, and the general nature of the objects
which the rebels had in view was becoming better
known. " These objects," according to the Cape
Town Mail—

" Were the expulsion of the English colonists from
that portion of the frontier districts which is situated
between the Sunday's, the Baviaan's, and the Keis-
kamma Rivers, and the occupation of that territory by
the Hottentots, as an independent nation.' These in-
tentions, however, have not been entertained by all the
Hottentots in that part of the country. Many of them
have remained faithful, in spite of the defection of their
comrades and relatives. The Hottentots in other parts
of the colony have had no concern in the plot whatever,
and have evinced no symptoms of disaffection. The re-
bellion, taken in connexion with the general hostilities,
cannot be properly termed a war of races. As the
Fingoes have been contending against the Kafirs, so, in
like manner, the Hottentot levies from the western dis-
tricts have been fighting unhesitatingly against the
rebellious Hottentots of the frontier. The insurrection,
in fact, is a purely local affair, affecting only a com-
paratively small and well-defined section of the colony.
" A review of the occurrences of the past month pre-
sents few incidents of a cheering or satisfactory charac-
ter. In the latter part of May the marauding bands of
Kafirs in the frontier districts became more numerous
and bold than they had before shown themselves at any
time during the present war. It was generally reported
that the Kafir chiefs had given orders to their people to
enter the colony, and subsist in it by plunder during the
winter, which had just commenced with unusual seve-
rity. This plan of hostilities has been vigorously pur-
sued by the enemy during the month, with disastrous
consequences to the colonists, whose losses of property
have been heavier than in any previous month of the
war. Many valuable lives have also been lost, three
field-cornets and several other respectable inhabitants
having been killed in repelling the inroads of the
plunderers.

" Sir Harry Smith has remained at King William's
Town, arid has continued to send strong patrolling par-
ties of troops into the enemy's country. The Kafira have
thus been kept on the alert, and have been prevented
from entering the colony en masse. A few of them have
bee❑ killed, some of their huts destroyed, and some hun-
dreds of cattle captured. It does not appear, however,
that any injuries hare been inflicted upon them at all
commensurate with those which the colony has suff,red
from them. The rebel Hottentots among them, how-
ever, are reported to be in bad plight, from want of
provisions, and a few have come in and surrendered
themselves.

"The Hottentot levies at King William's Town,
chiefly from the western districts, were likely to return
home at the close of their term of enlistment, which
expires on the 10th inst. Very few of them had con-
sented to re-enlist. Their general conduct is highly
commended.

" A party of frontier colonists, proceeding with a train
of waggons from Cradock to Graham's Town, were at-
tacked by Kafirs, several of the waggons plundered,
the oxen carried off, and one of the defenders, Mr. G.
Dyason, son of the resident magistrate of Bathurst, was
killed. Two days before, Mr. Whiting, another
traveller, proceeding to Cradock, was attacked in his
waggon, and stabbed to death with assegais.
"The accounts from the north-eastern boundary re-
present that part of the colony as in a deplorable con-
dition, from the ravages of the Tambookies.
" At the last accounts from head-quarters (21st ult.)
Sir Harry Smith was preparing for au important move-
ment, said to be a patrol intended to continue for two or
three weeks, and (according to one report) to be com-
manded by his Excellency in person. It is even ru-
moured that Sir Harry entertained the hope of being
able by this movement to bring the war to a close.
Fears prevailed among the frontier colonists that a peace
would he patched up' on such conditions as would result
in a renewal of hostilities within a few years.
" General Somerset was engaged, during the latter
part of May, in attempting to expel the Kafirs and rebel
Hottentots, who, under the chief Mccomo, had taken
possession of the Kat River settlement. The Major-
General's force, however, proved to be insufficient to ac-
complish this object. The enemy constantly withdrew
as ho advanced, and returned upon his traces whenever
he retired to his encampment. Some sharp skirmishing
took place, but with no important result.

" The most unfortunate event which bad occurred
during the month—and, next to the Kat River revolt, the
most unfortunate occurrence in this war—has been the
insurrection of the Hottentots of the Theopolis Mission
Station, in Lower Albany, near the sea-coast, and about
thirty miles southeast of Graham's Town. These Hot-
tentots had been previously joined by some deserters of
the Cape Corps, through whose counsel and assistance,
it appears, the insurrection was concerted and carried
into effect. At day-break on the morning of the 31st of
May the Hottentots suddenly fell upon several Fingoes
who resided at their station, and murdered them. They
then loaded their waggons with their families and goods
and moved off towards the Bushman's River,
sending, at the same time, to one of the Kafir chiefs to
ask for assistance. Theopolis, it should be stated, al-
though considered a station of the London Missionary So-
ciety (and having been, in fact, the seat of one of its
earliest ' institutions' in South Africa), had been for
two years without a resident missionary, being only oc-
casionally visited by the missionary resident in Gra-
ham's Town. The number of persons at the station
has of late years been about 300, of whom about 70
were grown men. Many of the Kat River settlers ori-
ginally emigrated from Theopolis, and an intimate con-
nexion has consequently always existed between the two
places.
" The news of this insurrection spread with great ra-
pidity, and caused the utmost excitement in Graham's
Town, and throughout the neigbouring country. Major-
General Somerset happened to be at the time in Gra-
ham's Town. The 74th Regiment, which recently ar-
rived in the colony, had reached Graham's Town on its
way to Fort Hare only three days before. The Major-
General et once ordered about 300 men of that regiment
to proceed towards Lower Albany, in order to intercept
the insurgents—he himself preparing to take the com-
mand of the force which was to surround and crush them.
The graham's Town Mounted Rangers, however, pushed
on before the infantry, and, being joined by some
mounted burghers from Lower Albany and Uitenhage,
made an attack upon a party of the rebels, about 100
strong. A desperate conflict ensued, but the rebels were
at length driven from the field into a neighbouring
ravine, leaving their waggons and oxen, and seven of
their number killed. Of the colonial force, Field-Cornet
Gray, au old and much respected settler of Lower
Albany, was killed. Captain W. Stubbs, of the Gra-
ham's
Town Rangers, and Commandant Woest, of the
Uitenhage Burghers, with several others, were wounded.
This action took place on the 3d ult. On the sth,
earlya s s em ibnl e the
a morning, force
fbuogntde
ft, Thishe iwiaarse g covert,
ivte rt,
fiver. enclosedl e
rebels
o r6-OGO emn eerna,
pSomerset at
oa vs iunr.
g
round the stronghold in which the rebels had taken re-
elsenwseerbeuspha'rtiinallya
surrounded, but through some unfortunate mistake, or
mismanagement, they were allowed to escape at an un-
guarded outlet. They fled, leaving some waggons and
Gf enre a i awards,so mi
enr
sobedienceh
et o7o4rtdhe ;le
about 600 cattle in the hands of the troops. Immediately
gf
irmo me n
theado-ccieu;dneede rtso,
Fort Hare. The rebels, after burning the buildings at
Theopolis, retreated into Kafirland."
Considerable anxiety exists as to the return of the
Hottentot levies to their homes. The Governor had
them assembled at King Wililam's TOWD, and offered
them, for a re-engagement of only six weeks, a
bounty of 1/. and a full suit of clothes, but which offer
they declined, persisting in their original determina-
tion of returning to their homes. An abstraction of
.o large A portion of 0 l9 force in the field, and tliA

portion the parties best adapted for bush-fighting and
Kafir warfare, must b© a serious loss to the Gover-
nor. Added to this, it is impossible to foretel what
effect it will have in re-assuring the enemy.
When Sir R. Peel left a rumour was prevalent that
Earl Grey had consented to grant a constitution to
the colony, and that a dispatch had been received
from the Noble Earl, in which he expressed his
approval of the "16 articles." The Cape Town
Mail says on this subject :
" We believe that we may congratulate our fellow-
colonists on the approaching triumph of the cause which
they have at heart. It seems probable that the privilege
of self-government is at last about to be conceded to this
colony. The rumours which are afloat, and confident
tone of Mr. Fairbairn's letter, the encouraging tenor of
the remarks which we copy from the Times, with various
other indications, leave little room for doubting that a
constitution will shortly be granted to the Cape, based
in its main provisions on the 16 articles' of the popular
plan of government."

The mails, in charge of Commander Mellor, were
landed immediately, and a special engine has been
put on by the South Devon Railway to expedite their
delivery in London.

BANK OF FRAN CE.
The following is a return of the situation of the Bank
of France on Aug. 7:—