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

4
'.".44...iiftl
flit, .--,,,,.__.„

THE SU`N,

plain c'othes, when he saw the prisoners, whom he
knew to be thieves, coma out of the Z )lherein depar-
ment, which at present is very much frequented. Ihey
stood for a few moments, and then went into a passage
leading 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
waterclosets and they then walked to a bench close by.
McCann sat down on the bench and took cif his hat,
which he placed between his knees. Witness then
saw him take something out of his pocket and place in
his hat. 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 morccco 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 en
McCann was found 3/. 10s. in gold and a gold pin; on
Bailer 11. and Bs. Bd. in silver; and on Smith 53. lOci.,
and a Sardinian gold coin, of the value of 31. 125., in
English money. Witness questioned him (McCann) as
to his possession of the purse, and his replies were co
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 tcgether coming
out of a notorious house in Ilerbert'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.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
An Italian version of Mr. Balfe's most pleasing and
most popular comic opera Les Quatre Fils Aymon, was
produced here last evening, under the title of I
Quattro Fratelli. The performance was for the benefit
of Mr. Balfe himself, whose exertions as musical
director at her Majesty's Theatre have been
during the present season, more especially, most un-
tiring, and most arduous, and to whose admirable
organization we are indebted for the present admir-
able orchestra. The theatre was crowded before the
rising of the curtain—a fit and proper tribitte to the
high merits of the most popular of English composers
and conductors. The music of I Quattro Fratelli is
full of melody, it is characteristic, dramatic, and
has about it that undefinable charm of unflagging
sprightliness without which all the mere school learn-
ing in the world is of no avail. When originally
produced at the Opera Comique in Paris
it enjoyed an immense popularity. A Ger-
man version of it produced at Frankfort
had a great run. The opera was then re produced at
Vienna, where it was frequently represented at three
theatres on the same evening, and in this country it
achieved for itself an enduring popularity, when pro-
duced at the Princess's Theatre, under the title of
The Castle of Aymon. To detail the plot of an
opera so well known as this would be indeed
work of supererogation. Who does not remember Ivon,
the old Caleb Balderston sort of steward to the four
poor sons of the Duke of Aymon ; who does not re-
member the pompous and stingy Baron di
Beaumanoir and his delightful daughter Her-
minie, and bow a marriage between herself
and Oliviero, the eldest of the brothers
(preceded by those of the three brothers with three of
her cousins), is brought about by the tact of Ivon and
the wit of the rich and lovely damsel ? In order to adapt

the opera to the Italian stage, Mr. Balfe has turned tfle
spoken dialogue of the original into recitative ; he
has also composed two new airs for Madlle. Sofie
Cruvelli, who sustains the part of Erminia. The first
of these, "Di Duchessa it nome Otero," occurs in
the first act, and is one of the most marvel-
lous efforts of execution ever heard. Mr.
Balfe seems to have taxed his powers to heap
together every conceivable species of difficulty, in
order to show with what facility and adroitness all
difficulties can be overcome by Mdlle. Sofie Cruvelli ;
the second, " Or qui verra," in the third act, is a
delicious melody, replete, however, with difficulties,
in the overcoming of which Madlle. Sofie Cruvelli
seemed to revel. This brilliant and exquisite piece
of vocalization excited the most rapturous applause.
Her rendering of the exquisite melody " Giovin
belea" was delicious; and the duet with Oliviero
(Gardoni), " Quando tornar ridente' " was perfect ;
never have we heard two voices blend together
more delightfully than did those of Mademoi-
selle Sofie Cruvelli and Gardoni in this exqui-
site duet, which is, to our thinking, the gem of the
opera. Gardoni, who was in excellent voice, sang
the beautiful music allotted to Oliviero with infinite
taste, and Pardini, as Riccardo, rendered the martial
air in the second act with great spirit. Coletti, as
Ivon, exhibited a degree of rough humour,
for the possession of which we had not before given
him credit, and his heartiness of manner was moat
telling in the character of the old Seneschal. The
making-up of Massol as the Baron di Beaumanoir was
as perfect in its way as the making-up of Lablache in
Don Pasquale, and Massol sung and acted in the
true Italian buffo style ; we have never seen any
buffo duet more effectively rendered than the duet
descriptive or the riches of the sons of Aymon, by
Coletti and Massol. In the duet with Made-
moiselle Sofie Cruvelli, in the third act, in which
the bells are introduced as an accompaniment,
Massol was also admirable. The concerted music
was perfectly given, and we have seldom heard any-
thing more quaintly effective than the chattering
quartet of the four cousins. The bril-
liant overture, and the whole of the music
was admirably rendered by the orchestra. At the
conclusion of each act the principal performers were
called on, and at the conclusion of the opera there
were loud calls for Balfe, who was led on by Gardoni
to bow his thanks.

LONDON,:

THE KAFIR WAR.
PLYMOUTH, Mormay:—The Geneal Steam Screw
Shipping Company's steam-ship Sir Rubel t Peel,
Captain Glover, arrived off the port at nine A.m. this

morning.
Her outward dates are—St. Vincent, May 27,
nine A.M. ; sailed, niy 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 P.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 decisive intelligence respecting the
Kafir war. Sir Ihrry 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

ermination of hostilities.
Sandili continued on the Amatola mountains. It

is said that his favoured prophet, TJmlangeni, 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 bead

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
Bouwer, of the Kaga; 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, tho 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 our 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, are
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 colonists
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 .3lail

" 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 jest 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, and has continued to send strong patrolling par-
ties of troops into the enemy's country. The Kafirs have

thus been kept on the ale: t, and have been prevented
from sntering the colony en masse. A few of them have
been killed, some of their huts destroyed, and some hun-
dreds of cattle captured. It does not appear, however,
that any injuries have been inflicted upon them at all
commensurate with those which the colony has sufLred
from them. The rebel Hottentots among them, how-
ever, are reported to bo 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 Katirs, 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-
dltion, from the ravages of the Tambookies.
" At the last accounts from head-quarters (21st ult.)
Sir Harry Smith was preparing for an 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 be patched up' on such conditions as would result
in a renewal of hostilities within a fow years.
" General Somerset was engaged, during the latter
part of May, in attempting to expel the Kafirs and rebel
Hottentots, who, under the chief Mocomo, had taken
pea,;eaaine 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 he 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 had 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
Statioe, in Lower Albany, near the sea-coast, and about
thirty miles south-east 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 ono 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

plus s.
" The news of this insurrection spread with great ra-
pidity, and caused the utmost excitement in Graham's
Town, and throughout the ueigbouring 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-
Geuerul at 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 raham'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
Uncnlnige Burghers, with several others, were wounded.
"This action took place on the 3d ult. On the sth,
early in the morning, Major-General Somerset having
assembled a force of about 600 men, proceeded to sur-
round the stronghold in which the rebels had taken re-
foga. This was a covert, enclosed by dense bush, in a
bend of the Kareiga River. The rebels were partially
surrounded, but through some unfortunate mistake, or
mimaaagement, they were allowed to escape at an un-
gusrdecl outlet. They fled, leaving some waggons and
about 600 cattle in the hands of the troops. Immediately
afterwards, in obedi"nce to orders from head-quarters,
General Somerset and the 74th Regiment proceeded to
Fart Hare. The rebels, alter 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 William's Town, 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
1 so large a portion of the force in the field, and that