CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 121, 30 April 1853, Page 4

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

We have received Cape Advices to the 4th of February. The following extract is from the South African of the 29th January :— Although banditti still infest the rugged border country, there seems to be a general expectation that peace will be proclaimed shortly, but nothing is known as to any terms or conditions being accepted by the hostile chiefs. A hint is given in the Graham's Town Journal respecting the future distribution of the troops, which, if correct, looks something like a peace establishment, as one regiment is assigned to Cape Town, and another to Simon's Town and Port Elizabeth, and Waterkloof, Fort Beaufort, King William's Town, and East London, are also to be garrisoned. By notices in yesterday's Gazette, it appears that no less than 17 men deserted from two regiments in service on the frontier between the Ist and 17th January, of whom were 12 from the 74th Highlanders— 1 onthe Ist, 3 on the 10th, and 8 on the Bth of this month. From the 43rd, five. Job David, deserter from the Cape Mounted Rifles, was executed at King William's Town oh the morning of the 17th. We subjoin another extract from the same journal, February 4th:—" By yesterdajr's post from Graham's Town, we learn that General Cathcart left that place on the morning of the 27th, accompanied by Major-General Yorke, Colonels Cloete and Seymour, and the rest of his Staff, for King William's Town. The expectation is general that he has resolved to makepeace, but what that means no one pretends to know. In a highly complimentary General Order, dated Graham's Town* January 26th, His Excellency conveys his own thanks and those of the army, to Captain Hall, of the Styx, for his important services " during this arduous contest now happily brought to an end." His Excellency could scarcely use these words without having come to some understanding with the hostile chiefs, no intimation of which, however, has yet been made public." In a lengthy article upon the Kaffir war, a late number of the Cape Monitor observes :-— "The grand mistake which has been made in all our dealings with the native tribes of South Africa consists in applying the principles of civilised society to transactions in which, so far as we are concerned, the savage element pre- .* dominated. This has been the principal origin of thefts innumerable, together with melancholy loss of human life. The benevolent error of fancying that a savage tribe can be restrained by the same sort of rational treatment which would be successful in the case of a European community, is one which, to the credit of the Cape pop illation generally, has been confined wholly to a few political missionaries and their dupes—-the English Government. Whether we are to suppose that the Dutch boers, in consequence of their isolation and peculiar habits of life had descended in the scale of civilization, or that repeated intercourse with their savage neighbours had made them practically acquainted with the proper mode of keeping their ferocity and thievish propensities in check, is immaterial in our present discussion. One fact is certain, that the boers have universally impressed the natives with a wholesome dread of their powers; and the concomitant result is so less singular than true, that the awe-struck natives invariably manifest towards the boers a degree of respect which the philanthropy of our English Government has failed to excite. The proofs of this assertion are to be found in all our historical documents of the last fifteen or twenty years ; and from the Draakberg to Table Mountain the coloured native is found more submissive —not to say grateful-^-to his Dutch than to his English master. It has been stated on former occasions i that treaties with chiefs are inexpedient. The reason is obvious. The chief of a savage tribe, I whether he has attained his position by birthright or by personal ability, is merely the headI man of a band of freebooters. Success in cat- ' tie-lifting, and courage in defending his spoils, form the only permanent bond of connection between him and his people. Dexterity and cunning are therefore the qualities most requisite to establish and extend the reputation of a native prince. Honesty and magnanimity are not heroic virtues, but disguises subsequently assumed to conceal weakness or incapacity."