The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-21 00:00:00

AFRICAN ANECDOTES.

LEOPARD-HUNTING.--The leopard of
Southern Africa is known among the Cape
colonists by the name of tiger ; but is, in fact,
the real leopard, the Felis jubata of naturalists,
well known* for the beauty of its shape and
spotted skin, and the -treachery and fierceness of
its disposition. The animal called leopard
(iuipaard) by the Cape Dutch boots, is a
species of the panther, and is inferior to the real
leopard both in size and beauty. Both of them
are dreaded In the mountainous districts on ac-
count or the ravages which they occasionally
commit among the flocks, and on the young
cattle and horses in the breeding season.
The South African panther is a cowardly ani-
mal, and, like the hyena, flies from the face of
man. The leopard also, though his low, half-
smothered growl is frequently heard by night, as
he prowls like an evil spirit around the cottage
of the kraal, will seldom or never attack mankind
(children excepted), unless previously assailed or
exasperated. When hunted, as he usually is
with dogs, he instinctively betakes himself to a
tree, when he falls an easy prey to the shot of the
huntsnran. The leopard, however, though far
inferior in strength and intrepidity to the lion, is
yet an exceedingly active and furious animal ; and
when driven to extremity, proves himself occa-
sionally, an antagonist not to be trifled with.
The colonists relate many instances of,arduous
and even fatal encounters with the hunted
leopard. The following is one of these adven-
tures, which occurred in a frontier district in
1822, as described by one of the two individuals
so perilously engaged in it :

Two boors returning from hunting the Harte-
beest (antelope bubalis), fell in with a leopard
in a mountain ravine, and immediately gave
chase to him. The animal at first endeavoured
to escape by clambering up a precipice ; but
being hotly pressed, and slightly wounded by a
musket-ball, he turned upon his pursuers with
that frantic ferocity which on such emergencies
he frequently displays, and springing upon the
man who had fired at him, tore him from his
horse to the ground, biting him at the same time
very severely in the shoulder, and tearing his
face and arms with his talons. The other hun-
ter, seeing the danger of his comrade, (he was,
if I mistake not, his brother,) sprung from his
horse, and attempted to shoot the leopard
through the head ; but whether owing to trepi-
dation, or the fear of wounding his friend, or
the sudden motions of the animal, he unfortu-
nately missed.
The leopard, abandoning his prostrate enemy,
darted with redoubled fury upon this second
antagonist ; and so fierce and sudden was his
onset, that before the boor could stab him with
his hunting-knife, he had struck him in the eyes
with his claws, and tom' the scalp over his fore-.
head. In this frightful condition the hunter
grappled with the raging beast ; and struggling
for life, they rolled together down a steep de-
clivity. . All this passed so rapidly, that the other
boor had scarcely time to recover from the con-
fusion in which his feline foe had left him, to
seize his gun, and rush forward to aid his com-
rade, when he beheld them rolling together down
the steep bank in mortal conflict. In a few mo-
ments he was at the bottom with them, but too
late to save the life of his friend. The leopard
had torn open the jugular vein, and so dread-
fully mangled the throat of the unfortunate man,
that his death was inevitable ; and his comrade
had only the melancholy satisfaction of com-
pleting the destruction of the savage beast, already
exhausted with several deep wounds in the breast
from the desperate knife of the expiring bunt!,
man,--London Weekly Review.

FRI:INC/I PAPERS.
(From the Moniker of Wednesday, July IS.)
(Non-official Part.)

" PARIS, JULY 17.—For some time the London
journals have been speaking of an arrangement con-
cluded between the three great maritime Powers of
Europe, with a view to the pacification of Greece.
The Times has just published this arrangement, with
all its clauses, both avowed and secret. We give
only conditional credit to the document of the Times.
Not that the basis of the news appears to us suspi-
cious. We are convinced that the Cabinets have
desired to terminate this horrible drama from the
very day when it began. Whatever be the opinions
of statesmen on the rights arising from conquest, and
on those whici survive it, they have constantly
agreed in the wish for participation. Whatever the
treaty may be, we ran therefore affirm that it will be
worthy of the august contracting parties—worthy of
the important and novel situation in which the poli-
tical world is placed—worthy of the public law
which has prevailed in Europe for these twelve
years. But as there is some difference between the
spirit of a contract and the text of its articles, so
long as these articles are not officially known to us,
our
respectourselves forto
he public
thedisc makes
discussion
ssi
ono
fi t our
prob duty
a,ni
ti
etso con-
fine .
" And, first, the news in the Times is not only
probable, we warrant it very true in this particular
—that a sacred love of humanity has undoubtedly
presided in the contract, and that no thought
of aggrandizement has profaned this treaty. We
can affirm it of France, in the name of the virtues of
its King,—in the name of the heroic patronage
given by its Consul to all the unfortunate,—in the
name of its flag, which has always been displayed in
those ensanguined seas as a signal of safety and pity.
We can affirm it of the other Cabinets, in the name
of Alexander-' stationary four years on the banks of
the Priith, of Nicholas, prosecuting his diplomatic
negotiations in the presence of his impatient army,
—of Lord Strangford, stipulating, in return for
another intervention, only the right to enlighten the
Divan respecting its true interests.
" It is very probable, also, that a note drawn up
in common will precede all hostile demonstrations,
and if recourse should belied to any such, the only
object of it will be to separate the combatants,—to
hinder a whole people from being struck out of the
book of life, which would be like a mutilation of
the human race. This order of proceeding, this
slow and gradual march, are entirely in the spirit of
a policy, the essence of which is preservation,—
which does not interfere in fires to direct them -
rather to one point than to another, but to 'extin-
guish them,—which does not favour the weak to -
further his vengeance, but to defend him against the
vengeance of the strong.
When we speak of disinterestedness, we under-
stand this word in the sense of an aggrandizement
of territory or power ; for all personal interest is not.
wholly banished from this combination. If it is
true that the war of extermination, of which Greece
is the theatre, greatly, impedes our commerce in the
Levant, and obliges ciiilized Europe to incur bur-
densome expences of protection and repression, such
a motive must have had its influence on the determi-
natiOn of the three Cabinets; for to whom do they
owe their first affections but to the people whoms
Providence has entrusted to them .? Here we shall
find the explanation of a fact, which seems to have
in it some obscurity,: though it is not without pre-
cedents. According to the Times, only three of the
great Allied Powers would intervene in the pacifi-
cation. This probibly is, because the maritime
powers only can take part in a maritime interven-
tion. We must not be astonished at what we have
twice seen. Did not Austria alone take upon it-
self in 1820 to pacify Naples ? Did not France
take upon itself alone in 1823 to pacify Spain ?
Both of them acted without the material aid of
their allies, but seconded by the labours of their
diplomacy. Thus, in the intimate union of the
Cabinets, the means of execution. became more
simple, and each takes the Post assigned to it
by the opportunity of its situation and the nature
of its forces. Those who never know how to be
contented with present good, will, perhaps, re,
quire of the Allied Powers the reason of their delay
in assuming this magnanimous attitude; We answer
them, that England did not recognize South Ame-
rica till after having seen it contend for 16 years
against the mother country; that France did not
make war till 1823 upon the Cortes, which had held
a Bourbon captive over since 1820; that in times
farther back, France wasted four years to declare in
favour of the American insurgents, and that England
employed the same number of years in preparing its
hostilities against the Revolution in France. To
take precipitately a decisive part at the first moment,
would be running the risk of strange departures from
it (etranges retours). An event is sometimes only
a symptom, sometimes a transitory anomaly : a me-
teor may be extinguished at the moment that it
burns. If these motives are good to justify the de-
lays of u cabinet, how much more those of a confe-
deration ? It is necessary in the latter case to meet
—to concert—to resolve. Each does not always
see the same things in the same light, especially
when the difficulties are numerous,—when the rea-
sons for refraining nearly balance these for action.
Now, is not this the case with respect to the affair:
of Greece ? Has the revolution preserved the same
character in its whole course ? Was it the same in
1821, under the Ypsilantes, as in 1827, under George
Sessini ?

" In all the alternatives of reverse and success,
might not the hope be entertained, that each of the
belligerent parties would sacrifice something of its
pretensions ? Many equally respectable motives
clashed with each other in this examination : against.
the Turks, the original title, and their strange man-
ners which break the European unity ; for them, a.
possession of three centuries and a half, and the nu-
merous treaties which sanction it. Against the
Greeks the very principle of their new Government;
for them, the community of religion, at least as far as
concerns the fundamental dogmas, and that compas-
sion which it is impossible not to feel at the sight oi?
their sufferings. Was it not, besides, an absohitoy
indispenable preliminary that the confederation, should
disengage itself from every interest pecliiiar to one
of its number ? And was it not necessary that the
treaty of Akermann should precede that of London?
" The supposed arrangement would reconcile
every thing, both the rights of the Porte, which at
the bottom are right, and those of the Greeks,
which are, however, not a chimera. This arrange-
ment would take from each of the contending parties
only a pretension and a danger from the Greeks
political independence, and the dangers of a situas
tion too elevated for them ;—from the Turks a so-
vereignty (souverainete), which gratifies only hatred;
1 itcha;
for supremacy (suzerainete) gives much more grati-
fication to pride. And how after this bloody di-
vorce should the ancient relation revive ? How,
could two nations which have demanded from each
domination, the Porte receives a tribute, which will
underother thethe lastsatn (Idroprnufo; tlhneirexbclohoand,gelivfeorhetihmeesfotertrhit
be guaranteed.. In exchange for au independence,
be in servitude, without
icdhlainn igi
tee; Prvoaoillus idbfredorini.taywti in'aefitteei e x
titGmie complica-
tion impossible
skfs
Greeks will
hbiN
el‘n:yit el
willraen s dt
receives
existing as a distinct nation; they will live in peace,
but as vassals and tributaries. Whatever be the
vwe which
cease
meaning of one of the clauses inserted in the Tinier,
they will not be so far freed from the power of their
ancient master as not to bear witness to that power
in the acts of their new existence. Thus we shall
not have rescued unhappy people from the torments.
of Hell to plunge them into chaos.
" Far from the three Cabinets any ambitious de-
sign ! We are in a new era :it must not be judged
of according to old ideas. A whole world has arisen
between the policy of the present times and that of
those which are past. Thanks to the permanent
alliance of the Governments. Europe is only one
country. May it never quit so noble a path ! There
alone will it find greatness and security : by that