THE OUTBREAK OF THE KAFFIR WAR.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 50417, 19 April 1878, Page 2

THE OUTBREAK OF THE KAFFIR WAR.

(From the " New Zealand Herald.")

Now that the Kaffir war has fairly broken out, and that the old warriors who still possess the memories of the battles of 30 years ago, and have excited thousands of younger men who, in those days, were children, or were yet unborn, to enter on the war-path, it will be of interest to examine into the immediate cause of the war which now, unhappily, rages at the Cape. It is curious and instructive to consider the similarity in the events which have arisen at the Cape to those which have been experienced in New Zealand. There was in the Cape Colony a party who believed that after the defeats the Kaffirs received in 1846, 1848, and finally, and especially in 1853-4— when they were completely beaten, and their chiefs exiled — that they would never again enter on the war-path. To such an extent did this belief prevail, that despite repeated warnings which the present Ministry and the Parliament of Cape Colony received from an experienced and influential special magistrate among a large section of the Transkeian tribes,— Mr Richard Tainton, who, with his brother, was murdered in December last, — no one would believe that the peace of the frontier, which had been so long undisturbed, would ever again be broken. Mr Tainton gave evidence before a Defence Commission laßt year that the natives were unsettled, and exhibited warlike tendencies. It was in vain ; and in pursuance of his duty he continued, as he was required, to settle parties of German immigrants near the Kwelegha, near where he lately lost his life. This reminds us of neglected warnings given to the Stafford Ministry in 1866 by the then Resident Magistrate of the Chatham Islands, where Te Kooti and the rest of the Maori prisoners were confined, of the urgent need for an increased force of armed men, which had been allowed to dwindle down to a force of some six or eight men. The repeated request was disregarded, and what followed has become a dark page in the history of New Zealand. The Maori prisoners, exciled by Te Kooti, rose on their gaolers, bound them, seized the schooner Rifleman, escaped to the mainland, and the woeful story of Poverty Bay and the spread of insurrection were the painful results of this mistaken neglect. For eighty years the Kaffirs have intermittently waged war with the European settlers. British colonists have fought them from time to time since 1798. During the fourteen years which followed they were repeatedly attacked and driven over the Greal Fish River, and in 1819, under the Prophet Makanna (the name reminds us of the false prophet Mokhanna of Moore's " Lalla Rookh "), they had the audacity to attack Grahamstown in strong force, but were repulsed with great slaughter. A sort of half peace prevailed for nine years, until in 1828 they were driven back, and a large tract of country was settled by Hottentots and Europeans. Then came the great war of 1834-5, which cost upwards of a million sterling. In this war the Kaffirs were driven eastward of the Great Kei, and an extensive territory lying between that river and the Fish River was annexed. From 18_6 to 1848 there was war again, and in the latter year Sir Harry Smith, then Governor and an able general, drove the swarming foe further east and north, and annexed the vast region now called British Kafiraria. Still the chiefs plotted, and again invaded the colony, and after a long stauggle the enemy were again repulsed in 1851. Sir Harry Smith was relieved by Sir Henry Pottinger, who was succeeded by Sir George Grey early in 1854, after which their power was >

broken. Of Governor Grey and his administration at the Cape, "Chambers's y Encyclopedia" says that "by his aßtute policy he succeeded in breaking, jjto the power of the chiefs, dispersing the^ribes amongst the European settlers, and utterly destroying their strength." He was assisted by a terrible famine which fell on the Kaffirs, who, instigated by a false prophet, neglected to plant their fields and killed nearly all their cattle, this insane proceeding being urged in unconscious emulation oftho classical warrior'who destroyed his ships so as to infuse the., valor of desperation into his soldiers, who knew that they must either conquer or die. In this case the Kaffirs died, and Sir George Grey did his best, after conquering them, to lessen the effects of the famine. For his success in subduing the Kaffirs, and thus securing a long peace and for another act of munificence to Cape Oolony, in the presentation of a magnificent library, a fine statue of the exGovernor, by Calder Marshall, now adorns Cape Town. "*' Returning to the present war at the Cape; it began, somewhat after the fashion of Thagett story in Taranajt.,'; in the murder of three Europeans — Mr ; Richard Tainton and his brother John, with Mr W. Brown— which three headed ; a party of native police, sent to capture" a ' body of Kaffirs, who, bike caterans of old, V swooped down on a settlement and stole a large herd of cattle. They followed the "spoor," or track, and reached a kraal" near the Kwelegha riyer. Mr Taintpn demanded the thieves, but the natives denied any were there, and ho cattle were to be seen. But a war-dance had been going on when they arrived, and the party left in quest of their object, and returned to tliis kraal a few days after. On the morning of the 31st of December the three gentler;: men were resting under a tree after breakfast. Their men were partly .sleeping, partly cooking, and some washing and drying their clothes. What happened is told by a Fingo orderly as follows : — j^- " I was near the river when I .heart! -a school Kaffir woman cry, 'Look ! xSpy are being surrounded,' and I. saw a hum** ber of armed natives gathering in ;' the bushes. Running up, I saw the three gentlemen go into the 'hut and get their guns and ammun£ tion, and I got mine also. The effcmy were then quite close to ns, -aad advanced menacingly upon our ' parly. We were told not to shoot, and' Mr ,!_t." Tainton advanced towards the Kaffirs, who were then about 50 yards off, saying, 'Do not fire ;we are not here to fight ; ! go back,' and other words to that effect; I think that they quieted a little. - They were right round us, and one of the police madly fired his rifle off, and it was at once answered with a volley from the Kaffirsi Some 20 of the men of our party -then bolted without firing a shot, and the Kaffirs cried, ' See, they are leaving their great chiefs ;' but the rest of us fired. I saw Mr R. Taintcn shoot a Kaffir in the neck, who fell dead ; but as he was in the act of putting another cartridge in his gun, a Kaffir shot him from behind, striking him in the .groin. He did not fall, but slowly sank, stoop* ing over the gun, and several Kaffirs rushed iri, stabbing him with assegais i_ the back of the head and neck, thus killing him. Mr John Tainton, on seemg Tim brother fall, ran to his assistance, shooting one of the murderers, who waswithii a few inches of the muzzle of his giin but before he could reload he was als< stabbed to death. Mr Brown was alsi surrounded by three remorseless savages and, after bringing down one or two io the enemy, he too was assegaied in i similar manner. Seeing my masters wen killed, I dived away into the bush, in juring my leg in doing so. I heard tin Kaffirs kill a policeman in the kloof, wh asked loudly for mercy. I then got ayri. as quickly as I could * some of the horse we managed to catch and bring\aqvay> bi guns and many other things w_Hxad fe into the hands of our enemies." The words we have marked by italics; tt unfortunate and most inopportune firm of a rifle, is just a counterpart to the ace dent which occurred at the Wairau, i Nelson province, some six-and-thirt years ago, whereby a daughter, of tl famous chief Rauparaha was sho. duriz* a parley between the natives and tl survey party, and then followed the ma sacre of the most of the party, resultir in the creation of a feeling among tl natives that they could drive the pakel into the sea. Since this unhappy sacrifice of lif various engagements have taken place i different parts of Cape Colony, and tl Gaikas and Galekas have risen, and it feared that the whole Kaffir people w rise in revolt. The numbers are i unequal — thousands of Kaffirs again hundreds of our forces — that grave appr hension exists, for the latest telegrams sta that a severe reverse has been suffered I the Cape forces, and that a whole reg ment had been lost. The despatch vague, but serious, and we hope that tl results are less painful than it seems 'i indicate. One thing is certain, the Kafir have to be beaten ; and the. energy ai bravery of the Cape colonists, aided 1 the Imperial forces, must have but p] result — victory and subjugation of tl rebels.