CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 290, 11 August 1855, Page 5

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

(From the "Times") The Tbansvaai. Republic and the Caffres. The despatches just received from the Cape of Good Hope contain, vie rejoice to say, no intimation that the disturbances recently thought so immiuent on the eastern frontier have actually broken out, and we trust therefore that the country may this time he spared so unwelcome an addition ts its burdens. An incident, however, in tl c reports before us is of a nature so striking in itself, so terrible in its details, and so instructive in the' lessons it conveys, that we bring it prominently into^notice for the consideration of the public. We are not the only Europeans settled in South Africa. The Dutch were there before us, and there, in no inconsiderable unmbers, they remain still. Not being very well satisfied with our Government—though discontented, probably, rather with the policy of our proceedings than our supremacy itself—some of the representatives of these older colonists have penetrated more and more deeply into the interior of the country, and have acquired a species of independence by escaping from the immediate vicinity of.the British provinces. Oire of their settlements is the Transvaal Republic— a title which will explain both the political and geographical position of the community. Here, like ourselves, they border upon the Caflres, and are exposed accordingly to the selfsame liabilities in the shape of frontier alarms, attacks, and depredations. That they do not,however, content themselves with our mild system of reprisals, or deal in our fashion with their savage enemies, will be only too evident from the story which we are about to relate. The Caffres had given the Transvaal boers most dreadful offence. They had murdered 7 orß men of the settlement, including a field cornet, or officer of colonial levies, and had put to death several women, with circumstances, as we are told, of the most frightful barbarity. In the month of October last, therefore (for so long are accounts in reaching us from these remote regions), General Pietorius, accompanied by Com-mander-General Potgieter — a relative, apparently, of the murdered officer —proceeded-'on

an expedition to avenge the blood which hare been shed by the Caffies. The force altogether was about 500 strong, the greater part being mounted, and they had 116 wagons and two iield pieces. Towards the end of the month they reached certain subterranean caverns of vast extent, in which the offending Caffies, under their chief, Maktpan, were known to have intrenched themselves. These extraordinary caves are described'as being upwards of 2,000 feet in length, and from 300 to 500 in width, intersected by several " walls"—we presume of natural construction, and so dark that no eye could penetrate the gloom. Arrived at this retreat, General Pretorious appears to have debated, without scruple or hesitation, how he could exterminate his enemies with the greatest facility, and at v a Council of war" it was resolved, we are told, to blast the rocks above the caverns, and thus crush and bury the savages alive under the ruins. This scheme was attempted forthwith, but failed, in consequence of the stone proving unfavourable to the operation. The caves were then surrounded and rigorously watched day and night, to prevent the entrance of any supplies, so that the wretches within, who seem by the accounts to have representeed the whole population of a Caffre village, wives and children included, might be reduced to the extremities of famine. At first, fences or barriers were constructed round the rocks, behind which the boers maintained incessant watch, but as the work proceeded enormous loads of timber and stone were brought up and thrown into ihe openings of the caverns. The pangs of thirst, however, soon forced through these obstacles some of the miserable creatures within, and "a large number of women and children," we are told, " suffering from want of water, sallied forth, but died after they had drunk a little." Meantime the patrols kept ward night and day, and with their rifles laid every Caffre dead who showed himself in his exhaustion or misery at the cavern's mouth. As this barbarous siege was actually protracted through the greater part of three weeks, it is plain that the savages must have had some small amount of provisions with them, but the work at last came to an end. On the 17tb of November the beseigers, as they advanced toward the rocks, encountered little opposition, and the silence of the caves together with the horrible smell of the dead, told them how effectually their object had been accomplished. The miserable savages had perished in their holes, and the estimate of their losses gives a frightful idea of the tragedy. Women and children in considerable numbers appear to Lave escaped, but upwards of 900 Caff es had been shot down at the opening of the caverns, and the number of those who had died by inches within was, we are assured, " much greater.*' Such is an incident of Caffre warfare, as conducted by colonists. Every one will rejoice that so horrible a massacre was not. perpetrated by British soldiers, under cover of the British flag, and the example may, perhaps, be reasonably appealed to by those who protest against committing the conduct of such wars to any but regular troops. It is impossible, however, to overlook the disadvantages in which such a policy places us. Judgiug from experience, we could not have done so much towards curbing the Caffies in a long campaign, or after an expenditure of millions, as General Pretorius did in two short months with a handful of volunteers, at probably little or no cost to his countrymen, and with a loss of only two killed and five wounded. The whole expedition was contrived with a rude simplicity, which, though barbarous enough in its results, was successfully adapted to the purpose. The settlers of ibe Transvaal Ptepublic turned out to hunt savages after a savage fashion. The Caffies had not only butchered their countrymen, but had added cannibalism to murder, for pots were found containing the roasted limbs of the victims. To such offenders no more mercy was shown than to so many wolves, and when they had been tracked to their dens they were starved and shot without respect to the usages of civilized war. After the expedition was over, the booty collected was sold for the public good; a portion of the proceeds was assigned to the widows and families of the murdered men ; the rest was reserved to pay for the ammunition, &c. expended ; and with this primitive settlement ihe Caffre war of the boers was closed. We, it is plain, do not figh i with such enemies on fair terms. The Caffres, in passing from peace to war with us, forego little—sacrifice little, and hazard to a very small extent even their own savage lives. We export soldiers

thousands of miles, every man of whom lias cost us the worth of a Caffre province in training, and who are expected to encounter treacherous and sanguinary barbarians in their own deserts according to the punctilios of regular war. The result is that the losses are almost exclusively our own. The-Treasury is drained of million after million, our best officers aud-men perish in the thicket, and, after the lapse of a year or two, the "Caffre war" is concluded, to be followed in a few months by another. We doubt very much if as many Caff res have fallen by the bullets or bayonets of our troops in the last three wars as were destroyed in this single expedition of Pretorius". It would he-hard indeed to argue that such an example should be followed; but of this we are convinced, —that, if the colonization of Africa is to be continued, the savage tribes of our frontier can only be successfully encountered, like the savages of all regions, by acts resembling their own. The back-woodsmen of Kentucky pursued the Red Indians as the Red Indians pursued them, and victory in the end fell to the superior race. It would probably be the same at the Cape ; but to expect that the contest should be conducted without offence to civilized feelings is altogether vain. We simply put the case by aid of this illustration before the eyes of the reader. Handled as those on the spot could handle them, the Caffres—those bugbears of our statesmen and economists —could be kept down with little outlay or trouble, but the system would be only too sure to involve shocks and scandals to the humanity of the nation. This, however, we must needs add, that if such an alternative be rejected, the border provinces ought to be relinquished altogether, for the country can no longer afford or tolerate those periodical wars of which the cost is found so great and the fruit so little.