The Sun.
London, England, 1851-10-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS,
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
TIMES.—A week and ineffective Ministry is not
in England itself felt as a very great calamity. The
law, notwithstanding the imbecility of the Executive,
is still worthily administered and steadily enforced.
Society holds together by its own inherent strength,
and men pursue their ordinary avocations in perfect
safety, and with perfect freedom. Everything, in-
deed, which depends directly upon the Government is
at a standstill; hut, as that bears but a email propor-
tion to the whole of our social interests, we may con-
tinue to be, as we now are, a flourishing people,
though really without the benefit of anything which
deserves the name of an Administration. When,
however, we extend our view beyond cur own island,
when we regard our imperial interests, and take into
consideration our vast outlying possessions, end our
colonies in every quarter of the globe, the scene pre-
tented is of a very different description. Sir G.
Grey may be unable to do anything beyond the
mere routine of his office, and we do not find
ourselves much the worse in consequence of his
inertness. But the inability and shortcomings
of Lord Grey are instantly followed by disastrous
results. An English colony, unfortunately, is
seldom permitted to manage its own affairs. The
meddling finger of the Colonial Secretary is found
everywhere, from the management of a parish turn-
pike to the conduct of a general war. If,
having brought the colonists into dependence, and in-
duced the helplessness that always attends it, we
either desert them in their need, or encumber them
with mischievous assistance, their fate is deplorable.
In the minor affairs of government the consequence
is seen in the apathy and slow progress of the colony.
It exhibits all the symptoms of an unfortunate and
sickly plant placed in a barren and ungrateful soil.
The sap, the freshness, and the vigour of youth are
wasting. Lingering, it drags on a miserable existence
checked, thwarted, and enthralled. It has, in fact,
no substantive existence, but is maintained alive by
wretched dribblets of emigration, is ever praying for
aid, and looking to the mother country for support ;
and having been from its commencement kept in
leadingstrings, it is wholly unable by its own energy
to stand alone. Such is the regular and inevitable
consequence of our colonial system. When, how-
ever, an extraordinary crisis comes, then are seen in
more striking relief all the baneful effects of our
officious meddling. The colonists, unable to help
themselves, look imploringly to the Colonial-office.
The Colonial-office, which has when danger was absent
blustered and talked big, is now paralyzed with ter-
ror. The chiefs, confused and incapable, look to
their inferiors ; the subalterns, accustomed only to
their own routine, which in their eyes has always
seemed the true art and science of government, are
as helpless as their superiors. Hurry, confusion, and
disaster follow ; and at length the whole corps sit
down in pitiable despair, hoping in their extremity
" that the fire will go out of itself." Should any one
deem this an overwrought picture of imbecility and
folly, we beg of him to direct his attention to our
possessions in South Africa, and ascertain the fate of
the unhappy subjects of England who there are
crushed by the leaden weight of our colonial domi-
nion. He will there see an energetic race of men,
so soon as they leave their native land and arrive at
that of their adoption, deprived of every means of ex-
hibiting and exercising the one great quality which
has made England what she is, and at once made to
feel that all spirit of self-dependence is deemed a
crime—that they are no longer to believe themselves
the best guardians of their own interests, but must
submit their fortunes to the guidance of the colonial
authorities, and that, being colonists, they are an in-
ferior race, hound to render blind adoration and un-
doubting obedience to the divinities of Downing-street.
He will also see a country of great beauty and fertility,
of almost boundless extent, and possessed of an exquisite
climate, offering itself as a worthy field of enterprise
to the adventurous colonists whom England daily sends
forth. In short, he will behold a territory which,
under skilful management, might become a great
state, and a race of men eminently qualified to turn
to profit the many advantages the country offers ;
being, as they are to a great extent, of the same race,
and not degenerate either, as those who laid the foun-
dations of that vast republic which now occupies the
whole continent of North America, from the 'ekes of
Canada to the boundaries of Mexico. But this coun-
try and these English colonists he will perceive
struggling in vain against the mischievous and imbe-
cile rule of Lord Grey and his subordinates. The
settlers in South Africa have, like our ancient colo-
nists of America, a wild and fierce native people to
dispossess and keep in subjection. With this difficulty,
however, they are not permitted to grapple, the Colo-
nial Secretary believing that he alone is capable of ma-
naging this delicate affair. The consequence of this ar-
rogant assumption is now manifest to the least obser-
vant, and ought, we think, to convince the most obsti-
nate. A second Kafir war now rages. We have
hardly paid the millions which the first war cost
when we are again called upon to spend our blood
and our treasure in this costly hostility. The war has
found Lord Grey and his subordinate, Sir Harry
Smith, wholly unprepared. The great politician of
Downing-street, and the great soldier whom lie sent
forth with vast pomp and circumstance, have been
both outwitted by a half naked savage. Sandilli has
been tee) much for both of them, and the unhappy
colonists, in their ruined farms, their desolate home-
steads, their famishing families, see the first fruits of
the wonderful skill of our Colonial Secretary and his
wonderful General. England herself will discover
the results when the bill is brought in. Parliament
will then have ample opportunity of estimating the
value of Lord Grey's policy in the figures of the sum
total for which they will be called upon to provide.
They may not admire, hut they must pay. A more
frightful scene of devastation was never beheld during
the terrible struggles which took place between the
early settlers in America and the fierce nations by
whom they were surrounded, than that which South
Africa now presents to view, with an English Gene-
ral for its Governor, and an English army for its de-
fence. The colonial papers thus describe the destruc-
tion going on in the colony :
" Above Graham's Town, to the Orange River, a dis-
tance of 300 miles, the whole line has been devastated—
sheep, cattle, horses, all swept away or destroyed ; the
whole border being marked by the ruins of fired farm-
houses, the once happ homes of a peaceful, industrious
people. Lower Albany, with some little exception, had
until last week escaped the ravages. But these 'wolves'
having been unearthed by the British troops in Kafraria,
have rushed hither, and already we have the dismal
tidings of burning houses and beggared families."
From this we learn that the Governor having betaken..
himselfh
newly-occupiedeadlonginttoerwrihtoarty—
is cleaflltedthßersietitsthledla colony
—a
unguarded. The wily foe took advantage of the
blunder, and, being a more expert general than Sir
Harry Smith, has employed the Governor's mauccuvre
against himself with tenfold effect, and dies spread
ruin and desolation over the fairest part of the colony.
This disaster, be it remembered, did not occur at the
outbreak of the war, but at least eight or nine months
after that event. Now, eight months in these days of
rapid communication were amply sufficient to enable
us to have sent a sufficient force to the Cape—
if our rulers had really understood the dan-
ger, and known what force was needed.
But Lord Grey, wrapped up in the contem-
plation cf his own exclusive wisdom, would
listen to an advice, and refused to take any
warning. When the news of the outbreak arrived he
supposed it would at once be suppressed. Now that
vigour and promptitude and fertility of resource were
needed, he thought the height of wisdom was to sit
with folded hands and do nothing. But, at length,
disaster having succeeded disaster—confusion, and
desolation, and ruin being to be seen in every part of
the colony—what then does the Noble Secretary for
the Colonies ? Nothing. He looks on in bewildered
imbecility, and betakes himself, as the Court News-
man informs us this morning, to his seat in Northum-
berland. The lesson read us by the last Kafir war
has been entirely forgotten. The fierce and wily
character of the foe, which that war had made mani-
fest, was supposed to be wholly changed, and childish
antics and ridiculous mummery were thought the proper
instruments to employ in order to counteract the
machinations of the deadly and vindictive hatred
burning in the breasts of the native tribes by whom
the colony is surrounded. Behold the result ! A
protracted war, a ruined colony, a disgraced com-
mander, a baffled army, a heavy bill of costs behind
all ! Such are the admirable consequences of the
unrivalled skill in colonial government of our present
Colonial Secretary ! The day of payment must
come. Will Parliament make that day a day of
reckoning also ?
lieDeedA,lLwihratNEWS,
r—SST©
enme vp
eorr a forr ios asememomteont
hbavee-
done, that the Porte would offer any serious or per-
sistent Opposition to the execution of a railway
fornop
le
. makinglo\a't'e looked
ouosie,
eodf
uponblus tlethr,
neeogrusa
lognCfuoetenthiosecitnoafineirtthtsiee-t
through Egypt, or that there was the least necessity
Sultan
aggravatedlrteeanl
nhaaycs:io,
annastett
pinartthoef ssmailltiaenr'sagmenintsd.,
instance surprised that an enterprise of considerable
importance, affecting the empire, had been actually,
determined on, and contracted fur, without any inti-
mation being given to him. And we have understood
that when our ambassador at Constantinople sought to
remove objections and allay irritation, he was met by
the allegation of a purposed slight or offence on the part
of Egypt. Rumour adds, that on perceiving this Sir
Stratford Canning wrote to the British Consul-Gene-
ral iu Egypt, begging the signature of the contract or
its commencement to be delayed till the formality of
irking the Porte had been complied with. And
rumour moreover says that the Consul-General in
Egypt declined the authority and rejected the advice
f the Ambassador at Constantinople. So that it
seems the question of the supremacy of the Sultan,
and the independence of the Pacha, affects not merely
the policy and alministration of the Turks, but also