THE GERMAN LEGION AND THE CAPE:

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 440, 21 January 1857, Page 5

THE GERMAN LEGION AND THE CAPE :

I Governor Sir George Grey had informed the of :the Capeof ■'■' Good Hope that lur ..-Majesty's Government had had under cpnsulei•.his urgent; call for a body of milit;!;y 's ttle s on (he border. ■ He had proposed th:^ fc ti strong body of out-pensioners of Chelsea llospi■:tal should he sent, but there were difficulties ia jfinding a sufficient number-of such men to cini-'

ignite to the Cape on terms similar to those of the New Zealand emigration. Government, therefore, had it under contemplation, on the return of peace and the contemplated reduction oL' the force, to send out such officers and men of

the British German "Legion as would volunteer. The plan described to the colonists by Sir George Grey is indeed remarkable. The men would be permitted to carry their wives and families, or, if any of them were not married, which is probably the case in the German Legion, they would be permitted before going to enter the married state. Should this anticipation of Sir George Grey be fulfilled, what a remarkable sensation it is likely to create in certain neighbourhoods of our own country; what a strong admixture ' of British blood is likely to he carried out by the pioposed emigration? The force would go out to the colony in a state of complete military , organization, with camp equipage and an Enfield | rifle for every man, a settle awaiting them in that hospitable colony, and a warm welcome, i The Legislative Council had given to the Governor thanks for the announcement; the'Legisla- ' ti\ c Assembly had accompanied its thanks with a vote pledging it to provide £40,000 towards the expense of the German military settlers— a solid testimony to the spirit in which the colonists are prepared to receive their promised brethren. It is not surprising that this intelligence should create a sensation, not only within the walls of the local Parliament, but in the colony at large. The circumstances of the more i*ecent settlements are such as to occasion the greatest delight ab the prospect of a military contingent. The news would be more welcome —far more welcome than the announcement of the coming Chelsea pensioners was in l^ew Zealand. The jiatives of If ew Zealand have never occasioned any very serious alarm to the settlers; they are too intelligent, too docile, too. easily managed, notwithstanding their old savagery. In the Cape it is quite different. The British settlers occupy thf 1 foot of the African continent —a space which may in rough terms be described as a. triangle of land, with the sea on two sides of it and a curved irregular border to the north. Along that border, crossing it in many parts, are various indigenous tribes, of many grades in the scale of humanity. The Bushman scarcely rises above the monkey in capacity or intelligence; with his hair divided into little knots upon separate squares of the skin, with his "cubical head, his flat face, yellow complexion, semiarticulate alphabet, groundling stature, savagepassions, and the one spark of vanity ip illumine his animal condition, he is but a step"above the wild beast. But he has sorrows and rapacity.' Prom the Bushman to the CafFre, a degenerated Arab blackening in the African sun, but retaining some old spark of Caucasian ambition, some wild and rude sense of " lights,"—we have as impracticable a horde of vermin and, robbers, congregated around the whole boundary of the great South African farm as it would be possible for any settler to conceive. A farmer tormented with game preserves, who could imagine every pheasant, fox, and polecat, standing upon two tegs, with an impish cunning to guide his depredation, would realise something of the Cape farmer's position. The men of the Cape have /shown themselves to be brave to a ■ fault ; the organization of the settlers has been that of a standing militia; and they have been prepared to defend themselves. Yet to follow the plough, and at the same time to follow the human beast of prey who is carrying off your fruits, is about as harassing a method of agriculture as could torment Mr. jVfechi's fancy in the worst of nighfcmaies. That, however, has been the normal condition of the Cape. We have tried' everything—rigour, philanfchrophy, let-alone, military government, and all without permanent success. One of the best shields for the pacific settler has been the outstanding Anglo-Dutch Republic, the. members of which were driyen into rebel-

lion by the Very "Aborigines question," that > was discussed at Exeter H?ill from the philanthropic point of view, and was viewed on the African border at the point of the arrow. No wonder, then, that the prospect of having an array of men kindred to the Anglo-Dutch set- ' tiers should be welcomed by the colonists from Cape Town to .the border. Even if it were presumed that the, Germans were to consort more with, the Anglo-Dutch than with the English, Tvere to recruit a republic that has once been in there could be scarcely any qualification to the pleasure. It. woujd be such a gain £o.liave enemies vrho could conduct warfare some-

thing after a civilized fashion—who would let the colonists, at least in the intervals of war, attend to business. Verily, we believe the Cape would rather be surrounded by hostile states than by the desert and its vermin without a fence between the field and the wild land. Besides, since their political separation the Auglo-Dutch have been neighbourly in the highest degree. The German soldiers were not expected alone; another expected arrival was that of the English rifle. The weapon is not entirely unknown at the Cape, for it has been used in the border warfare. In order, however, to appreciate the welcome, let us look to the actual state of the settlements. During' a time of peace, when • the surrounding tribes are in their normal state, ope spectacle very commonly greeted the eyes of the farmer. It was that of • a few black person^ at some distance driving off the farmer's own cattle. To pursue them alone was to be clubbed to death; to call up the posse cotnitdtus was to wait until the black travellers and their impromptu luggage had gone out of sight. Often must the farmer, who had i-ead of the Vincennes riflers, have wished for an instrument which could rival the telescope in its reach, and stop the black herdsman as he was making off in the background, To settle down a few riflers with the newly improved weapon from Enfield, would be to realise the dream that must have haunted the imaginative field cornet, and to teach the marauders the useful lesson that, even on the wildest field, they may find a very dangerous* kind of spring gun.— Globe.