The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-17 00:00:00

THE KAFIR WAR.

Last night's London Gazette contains the follow-
ing dispatch from Lieutenant-General Sir Henry G.
W. Smith, Bart., Governor of the Cape of Good
Tope

" King William's Town, July 3,1851.
i‘ My Lord,—The general and combined move-
ment into the Amatola mountains, which I have long
had in contemplation, has been effected with the
success I anticipated, and which I have now the ho-
nour to lay before your Lordship.
"I directed the first division, under Major-General
Somerset, the second division, under Colonel Mac-
kinnon, and a force of 500 men from Whittlesea, under
Captain Tylden, so to post themselves that these
mountain ranges might be penetrated by four dis-
tinct columns converging to a centre, and which WAS
°serried out much to my satisfaction, the operations
commencing on the 26th, and continuing until the
30th ult. The combinations were skilfully effected ;
each column was at its post as directed; mutual
support was thus given, and signal success was in
consequence the result. I enclose the reports of
Major-General Somerset and of Colonel Mackinnon,
who was unfortunately indisposed after the first day's
operations, and his valuable services thus lost. This able
officer, however, communicated his instructions to
Lieut.-Colonel Michel, upon whom the command de-
volved, and whose judgment and energy became con-
scicuous. His report, with those of Lieut.-Colonels
Eyre and Cooper, is annexed, together with the general
order and Government notice which I issued on the
achievement of this important success. They so fully
demonstrate the peculiar difficulties and arduous cha-
racter of this mountain service, that I beg to draw
your Lordships attention to its perusal ; and I, at the
same time, desire to attract your notice to the marked
eulogium passed upon Ensign Robertson, of the Cape
Mounted Rifles, captain in command of a detachment
of Armstrong's Horse. The success of every patrol
invariably involves the gallant conduct of this young
and most intrepid officer, in whose rising judgment I
place every confidence.
" Major-General Somerset speaks in the highest
terms of Lieutenant-Colonel Fordyce and the 74th
Regiment, recently arrived from England, upon
whom the brunt of these operations fell in the first
division ; and I also desire to draw your Lordship's
attention to the ability displayed in command by
114ieutenant-Colonel Michel, of the 6th Royal Regi-
ment ; to the usual conspicuous gallantry of Lieute-
nant-Colonel Eyre and the 73d • and to the conduct of
the Royal Marines of her dajesty's ship Castor,
under their officer Lieutenant Harris, and attached to
the 73d, which equally merits my commendation.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cooper, 45th Regiment, com-
manded with much ability the column of troops from
Fort Cox.
" 1,500 head of cattle, 42 horses, and nearly 1,000
goats were captured by the second division, 350 head
of cattle by the first division, and 300 by the force
under Captain Tylden, while large stores of corn were
destroyed, as well as numerous recently-constructed
huts. To be compelled thus barbarously to prosecute
war, ever cruel in even its most mitigated form, is re-
volting to the Christian mind. But no other course is
open. The feeling with which the European regards
his country and his home is, in the case of the Kafir
centered in his herds and flocks, for which he will fight
to the last, and the only means of opening a prospect
of bringing to a close this harassing and distressing
war is to wrest his much-prized cattle from him in
the heart of his fastnesses and almost impenetrable
forests, into which be drives them for concealment
and security. In the midst of these scenes of deso-
lation I am consoled by the fact that the people are
aware that the war was commenced by their chief
Sandilli ; that every prisoner is set at liberty, and
told that peace and the former harmony which pre-
Tailed are our only objects after the duo punishment
oie the war party and their rebellious chiefs ; and more
than all, by the gratifying reflection that our troops
can be charged with no act of wanton cruelty. Not
one instance has been brought to my notice of any
outrage having been perpetrated by the ever-humane
British soldier, or even by the excited Hottentot or
exasperated Fingoe ; and this is the more commend-
able when it is borne in mind that the atrocities com-
mitted by the Kafirs at the commencement of the
war are fresh in the recollection of our soldiery.
Avoiding on their own part all wanton excess, they
at the same time cannot forget the cold-blooded
murder of our military villagers, perpetrated under
the guise of friendship, or the massacre on the Debe
Flats of the 17 soldiers of the 45th Regiment, who
had given no provocation, and with whom their mur-
derers had for three years been on terms of the most
friendly intercourse.
" The success in the Amatolas which I have now
reported has, however, had no perceptible effect as
regards the termination of hostilities. The people
indeed declare, as I learn from information which
reaches me from various sources, that they are tired
of the struggle, and that our patrols keep them in a
state of constant alarm ; while the chief Sandilli aq-
serts and gives out that an agent has gone, on :his
account, to England, who will procure the restora-
tion of the land which he forfeited in the previous
war;' such forfeiture having been the condition on
which he obtained his own liberty and that of his
Great Men,' who were in confinement with him
when I assumed the administration of this Govern

meat, and on which peace and tranquillity were given
to his people. In proof that an assertion of this kind
has been made by Sandilli, I annex the copy of a de--
position formally made by the chief Toise before the
T'Slambie commissioner, the purport of which is cor-
roborated by various spies in my employ.
" My next patrol will be directed against the chiefs
Stock and Tole, and the renegade rebel Hottentots,
who have located themselves in the Fish River Bush,
to intercept my communications with Graham's-town,
and to spoil the cattle of the Fingoes around Fort
Peddle. I have, &c,

" 11. G. SMITH.

" The Right Hon. Earl Grey.
‘I).S. Since this dispatch was closed I have re
ceived a report from Major-General Somerset, that he
had continued for some days his operations on the
north aide of the Amatolas,—another proof of the ac-
tivity and energy of this experienced officer. I en-
close his report in the shape in which I have given it
publicity in a general order.

" G. H. SMITH."
[Major-General Somerset's report referred to in the
above dispatch is dated from the camp on the Qui-
sane, the 28th of June, 1851, and gives a detailed
account of the operations of her Majesty's forces.
The following extracts include the most interesting
portions of the Gallant Orh'cer's report, which is ad-
dressed to Lieut.-Colonel Cloete, Deputy Quarter-
mester-Gmeral :—]
"I have the honuur to acquaint you, for the infor-
mation •of his Excellency the Commander-in• Chief,
that, agreeably to the instructions contained in the
Comma nder-in-Chief's memorandum of the 14th inst.,
I moved from this camp with the troops under my
orders before daylight on the 26th inst.
" At dawn I ascended the western range of the
Amatola heights in two columns, and having esta-
blished the troops on the ridge, I halted preparatory
to attacking the position of the enemy in the forest on
the northern range of the Amatola, previous to which
I proceeded with a detachment of the Cape Mounted
Rifles to reconnoitre the position of the enemy along
the slope of the Victoria heights. On reaching the
southern point of the range the enemy opened a brisk
fire on my party, which was returned by the Cape
Mounted Rifles, and was sustained by both sides until
the column of the Levies, consisting of the George,
Graaff-RE inet, and Fort Beaufort Fingoes, whom I
had detached to the right under Captain Heathcote,
bad been brought up ; these I immediately moved
forward, supported by two companies of the 91st Re-
giment, under Mijor Forbes, the whole commanded
by Lient.-Colonel Sutton, and the enemy was driven
from his position into the valley below.
" While these operations were going forward, I re-
turned to my left, and moved the 74th Regiment,
Cape Mounted Rifles, European Levy, Kat River
Levy, and Alice and Port Elizabeth Fingoe Corps,
down the valley into the Amatola basin. Perceiving
the enemy's force of Kafirs and rebel Hottentots
strongly posted along the lower ridges under the
northern range of the Amatola, and collected ,in a
strong body on the extreme point of the ridge, partly
concealed and covered by the high rocks and stones,
I directed Lieut.-Colonel Fordyce to move his regi-
ment on to the attack, this movement being flanked
by the Alice and Port Elizabeth Fingoes, under
Captains Cumber and Ayliff.
" The enemy commenced a brisk fire on the ad-
vancing troops and Fingoes, both from the forest and
the ridge—
de tbe 74th Highlanders steadily moving for-
ward and la 74th
into line under fire, extended and
opened its fire on the enemy, who still kept up a gal-
ling fire on the troops, and continued it until the
position was m ost gallantly carried, and the regiment
placed in posit ion on the ridge not, however, I re-
gret to say, without some loss on our side, three men
of the 74th Hi ghlanders being killed, and one officer
and nine men wounded.
" The force under Lieutenant-Colonel Sutton had
in the meantime driven the enemy from his position
on the lower range into the valley, and up the ridge
of the Victoria, heights, but with the loss of three
men killed of the George Levy, and five Fingoes
severely wounded, two of them since dead.
" The Fort Beaufort Fingoes having again rejoined
me, I moved. the Kat River Levy, European Levy,
and Fort Beaufort Fingoes up the ridges of the
northern range of the Amatola, proceeding also to that
4%..p., point myself with the Cape Mounted Rifles and
d'AMounted George Levy, at which point I met the 74th
- inpatient, where Lieutenant- Colonel Fordyce had
13\ been strongly attacked by the enemy from a
- ~;of forest bush which intersected the ridges at
Diet,
and where two of his gallant soldiers were