The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1849-10-02 00:00:00

FAILURE OF MISSIONARY EXERTIONS IN KAFIRLAND,

'6 Let us now take a retrospective glance at the means em-
ployed for conversion ; in attempting to effect winch, we
have literally been endeavouring to teach the savage to read
ere he had learnt his letters ; we have been enforcing n hat may
be termed a mock religions regimen, in a repulsive form, be-
fore his mind was stifficient y enlightened to appreciate its
advantages, or to fathom its—to him—incomprehensible sub-
tleties ; whilst instead of employing an experienced physician,
who, in administering the proper remedy for infidelity and
unbelief, would have duly timed and proportioned its quanti-
ties and ingredients, we have left the teaching of the gospel in
the hands of teen who, in some instances at least, have not
only deceived themselves and their pupils, but have seriously
injured the cause they professed to serve.
Indeed, in the very words of the celebrated missionary
Vander Kemp,' we have begun at the wrong end.' he untu-
tored mind of the savage must undergo preparatory measures
of civilization ere it be ready to receive the seeds of religion :
that precious seed will, as heretofore, be wantonly east to the
winds of heaven, if entrusted to the hands of ignorant. uncaring
hosbatolmen, or those who look to their own immediate gain,
rather than the imptovement and lasting good of the vineyard
under their hands If, commencing with those contiguous to
our frontier, it be the intention to humanize, so to speak. the
savage hordes of South Eastern Africa, (for, in their present
degraded condition, 'they can.' as Gibbon has justly remarked,
be seer-ely considered us raised above the animal creation,')
we must begin by attempting, by the medium of commercial
intercourse, first partially to civilize them, or rather to make
them feel the wants of civilization, and the comforts and ne-
cessity of religion. This object once effected by means of per-
sons properly qualified for their sacred calling, more p.ogress
may be made in the attempt.

The comparative inefficiency of the regular troops when
matched against savages in the " bush," as experienced
during the late Knfir war, was one of the causes of its
prolonged duration. Our author thus describes its
causes:—

DISADVANTAGES OF THE RP ITISH SOLDIER IN THE RUSH

"To cominence-with the Dragoons—never was a finer body
of men so completely thrown away, as in this inst-nce were the
7th Dragoon Guards, whilst employed in Katir warfare; for
which work, as a late writer observes, they are as welt adapted
as a fine frigate would be, in drawing up the mud-buckets for
deepening the Thames.'
" In the first place, the small horse of the• Cape is guile ina-
dequate to carry the weight here put upon his back; the heavy
Dragoon, when fully accoutred, riding, if we mistake not,
somewhere up to the mark of twenty-two stone. Then again,
the latter is armed with a long, unwieldy carbine, whirl, he
cannot even re load without dismounting. If to these evils it
be added that he is a most marked object for the aim of an
enemy he can seldom see, and never reach. (for the Gwanga
affair was a mere chance, and an exception to the general rule,)
we think every military reader will allow that the 7th Dragoon
Guards would be much better employed ai Houndslow or in
the Phoenix Park, on 11 an opportunity offered of showing their
mettle against some foe worthy of their steel,' and of whom
we have no doubt they would manage to give a tolerable
account.

" urn we now to the Infantry. Let the reader picture to
himself a British foot-soldier amidst the wilds of Kafirlaud, in
the self-same costume that he has beheld him mounting guard
at St. James's Palace—Fee him struggling through the Bush,
to get a return shot at a Kafir who has just had a crack at him.
Full of eagerness, and in his endem ours to follow the example
of some leather-breeched. felt-capped' little Hottentot. who
dives through the dense thicket, with all the dexterity of the
Kafir himself, our British Grenadier' rushes heedlessly
through thorns and brambles, regardless of their lacerating
and abt ading effects, until, about ten yards front his point of
departure. he is suddenly brought up by a sturdy mimosa
branch, which carries away that highly useful and ornamental
article of dress called the hat cap,' or chaco,' on stooping to
recover winch the fish-hook-like thorns of a wackt-een-
heetje' bush lay hold of his nether garments; meanwhile the
retire' shrilly sounds, followed by the `double'; and aware
that the Kafirs know these calls Filly as well as himself, he
commences a despera'e struggle with his tenacious thorny foe,
from whose embrace he at last escapes, leaving, however, sun-
dry portions of his clothes in its possession. He succeeds in
getting out of covert just as the Kafirs are upon him; and
breathless. torn. and bleeding from bands and face, he may be
seen scudding along and running the gauntlet of their not very
deadly fire, to rtjoin his company or battalion, with head bent
well forward to prevent the accursed `chaco' from again tie
sorting its po,t—musket at the long trail in one hand, whilst
the other is fully employed in steadying his pouch, which, like •
a kettle to a dog's tad, is dangling and banging most unmerci-
fully about him.
"-This picture may savour of caricature, hut if so, we can
assure the reader that it is but little overdrawn. However, to
make, certainly the finest infantry in the world, effective in
this sort of hush fighting, you must lose sight, for a while, of
the pomp and circumstance of glorious war,' and cast aside a
little tailoring and pipe-clay."
We subjoin the following description of
THE CLIMATE OF SOUTHERN AFRICA. _

" Here is a tine extent of country, stretching its undulating
and unfenced pasture-lands tor some hundred untenanted
miles. Fertile valleys, rich woods of timber, clear streams,
are spread, as in a panorama, beneath the eye of the traveller,
who my wander for a day at a stretch, with only occi sionul
rest and refreshment at some lone or dilapidated farm-h' use
in the wilderness. Here and there a comfortable homestead
presents itself; but this is rare, from the difficulties in procu-
rin arid mechanics. _ _

" First, we may observe that there are, in Southern Africa,
two wet seasons—those of spring, in September and October.
beit.a. the heaviest. The antimin rains fall in March and April,
and both seasons remind us of the former and latter rains'
mentioned in Scripture. Three crops of potatoes may gene-
rally be produced in the year; there are always two, and we
have known four, but this last is not common, and the third is
uncertain in unsheltered spots.

" Of peas, beans, and such vegetables, there are always two
crops, as well as of figs, peaches, and various other fruits.
Peach-trees should be pruned to produce good fruit, but it is
so abundant as to be useful in feeding pigs and ducks. Of oat
forage there are also two crops within !he year, but the detai;s
of Cape produce are so attainable that it were unsuited to our
province to dwell longer on such minutiae."

The writer enlarges upon the advantages which this
colony possesses, if they were properly developed, and the
Kafirs restrained within a defensible boundary line. For
these, however, we must refer the reader to the book it-
self, which he will find of a highly interesting character.

History of the National Constituent Assembly, from
May 1848. By J. F. Corkran, Esq. 2 vols. Lou-

don-: Richard Bentley.
Tn ESE volumes must prove highly interesting to those par-
ties who have watched the rapid succession of incidents
which has marked the history of France during the last
few months, not only as giving a connected summary of
the public events which have reached them in detached
portions through the medium of the serial press, but as
introducing them to a little of the by-play which has
taken place behind the scenes, and expo3ing, to their
view, with critical nicety, many of the actors in their
undress. The tangled doctrines of Communism and
Sacialism are neatly unravelled, and their professors
brought individually before the reader to answer for them-
selves. And from the chaos which ensued when once
the restraining power of monarchy was removed, how
many different principles sprang into existence ! and how
conflicting were the motives which influenced their au-
thors in thrusting themselves into notice ! We will in-
troduce our reader:: to two ndividuals, with very opposite
characteristics. The following is a portrait of