THE CAPE COLONY AND THE KAFFIRS. (From the "Britannia")

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 600, 14 January 1852, Page 3

THE CAPE COLONY AND THE KAFFIRS. (From the "Britannia")

Every timr* that the fund* neepssaiy for carrying on the piesent Kafhr war aie alhidod to in the House or' Commons, some indignant financier giowls his objections to the umount required and tho piiuciple on winch it is given, rating t!io Government for withholding lepreb( j niiitivp institutions I'roni the Colony, and tailing a '' long 1 shot" at the sclnsluicsh and sii|)incrioss of the Colonist-- in not fl^litm^ t hoi t ohm battle^. It is only nitiii.il and pcrfoclly reasonable lh.it Mr. John 1-Jull should entcitam a d'cul d ihJilio to pnrting »\itii Ijis haul cash for th" fio^nmgf ot the l<lark thicvt i of South Aina. What has lie lo do uitli Kidiis l Wn-it hai.n do thoir lohbui Hi's do to /urn 1 What good would their annihilation confei ou him 1 Thu answer to all this 13

absolutely and itndonn'.'y " nothm;,." his tmo that [ th" ('oli)insls who r/o -uIW, mill low lorn tui sn-diMi il<s,ij)jit'!iiaiiti> of h.illiiN fioi.i til.' face of t '<c* "lobe won 111 Le flic supremest of I)l(msui<;s, aie hi~ "W n "ile-.ii •ami blood ;" but, tin' d.i>s of .enMinent nnd . Hot turn in pilincnl mitteis aie passid away, ande\e'j Colony 1. expected to t.ikt caie, vt itseii as c npha.ru lly .is iho i'ntili (1 chickens, among whom I lie long-i'aioil annual pei ln! mod his piroue tes. .Ju-t'oe, how-pier, still holds a scat in oi" councils, albeit Whiys and F-ee-tia leis hive don" then best to tin ust the verifiable lady ioitli fioiii it. lathe n.nne then of justice why should Jo'i i isu!l object to p.iv lor «,ih mcmied b) his o>v n alisui ilit 1 s and pi^-e'-adcd obstinacy? The Colonists ba\f nothing to <U> wn'i t'.e [noseiH war so fas a-t concern* Us oii^m. I hey piotistcd a<;.unst the in uiiici 1 in wind) th" la-t war bur one was .settled ; they declaimed a<,amst the equal w nit <>t co'limoil sense displajed at (ho co.icliis| v i, of the l.v t one Then complaints have been imlmmh 1 ; then pio te>ts i ejected ; their warnings dis <•",: ided. > v tr llany Smith and Loid Giey (John" UullVo'in depi ml-)m 1 -) hue had it all (heir own wiy ; ihe conse^ti' nc» ->1 then ,ics has befn along war, and anequ.ill. ju»t con equence js that the.) or thuir master should now jku lor liyht.ng it out. J.ord John Ru=sell states the enso most unfmih when he says that the Colonists are willing to defend " their own fiontier but not that of Hntis.li Kattiana, with which they liave not l nn<> to do," and then vtiup.-i ai^-, them for an assertion which has no other foundation than his Lordship's own feitile imagination. The Colonists, in truth, protested against IJntish Kaffniu altogether as denbtuuted by Downin^-bticet and Sir Ilarrv. What is the liistoiy of tins tame British Kallrana ? It is a tiact of land between the Gioat Kish and the Keisl>amma rivers, which was fixed on in 18 36 (at the conclusion of awai) a-* a " neut>ul temtoij" between the Colony and Katriana, in which a f< j w British forts shodld'be erected, lla t iM? ')cen all -had this teuitory been strictly pie^eived a neutuil, all would have «one well , but tin* Kafiir tribes voe a!l n.eil— and they alone— to occupy such temtoi), ai.d thoae veiy tribes, as a matter of coui-e, became the constant and untiling th eves of the fiontiei f uiaeis' flocks and heuls. So th.it the very tiact which bnould b,»\e l» en preserved as a belt of defence between the Colony and the Kaffirs, became th J rendezvous and lulling place of the scoundrels who, ten jcais later, added murder and nraon to their pievious occupation of larceny, and thus commenced the disastrous war or 1816, with its two millions of expenditure. Did not that buiden justly iall on the mtion whose policy occasioned it, and who refused to listen for ten years to the loud cries and warning's utteied by the Colonists a= to the inevitable consecpuences which would, and did, result fiom it] It is sickening to hear it continually asserted by the I weak-minded men who an- mis^oveimn" the mother country as well as the Colonies, that they iiie anxious to grant a reine'-ent Uive system of "oteinment to the Cape Colony, but that they cannot put it into operation. Üby not 'J he whole colons id unanimous m de-.ii ing puch a govpjnment and anxious so nui in its formation. 'J he obstinacy and inconipetency of one m<m alo'ie 6tand in the way ; the obvious co'iise then is to leraove such a man fiom his i'O-t, and phve in his stead some one more conveisant with civil government than lurnsetf. lie may be— he is — a »ieat soldier ; but he has proved himself too deficient in tempei, know 'edge, forbnarance, and self contiol, to be the Governor of a Colony, flow long will Downiiiq-stieet continue under the " Major Geneial delusion," in selecting such officeis 1 We will venture to as-n it, and we know that we are only echoing the sentiments of the Colony in doing so, that a competent Governor would have a repiesentafive assembly to aid him within three months of assuming the lems of his government. Let the countiy look to this ; let it »ive the Colony a fair oppoi (unity of managing its own affius, and it will be a safe prophecy to pi edict that fio'ii that day forth neither England noi the Cape will have to pay for another " Kalhr war."