rcise their feelings, such as prisoners in
Newgate who have committed crimes small by comparison with those of the
Kaffirs, still the far-off land of Africa must be chosen by them, and
the savage, whose great delight, from habit and taste, is to murder and
steal, must needs be protected, when he ought to be hung or shot without
mercy. If some of these misled and misinformed people were aware how
much harm they really did to the savage, and the vast number of lives
that have been sacrificed by a want of firmness and of _apparent_
cruelty on the part of those intrusted with Kaffir government, they
would cease to do wrong out of piety, and would leave the entire
management of these matters in the hands of merciful men, who may be on
the spot, and whose experience would lead them to discover that a few
lives taken without hesitation at the commencement of disputes would
eventually prevent the loss of many hundreds.

The policy of showing mercy to the frontier Kaffir murderer is similar
to that of allowing a mad dog to run at liberty and bite people rather
than to commit the cruelty of knocking it on the head. At the present
time, the prompt and decided conduct of the able governor of the Cape
appears to have checked a most threatening demonstration of the frontier
Kaffirs. The Dutchmen, who are far up in the interior, keep their black
neighbours in better order. When there is any just cause for going to
war, such a severe punishment is inflicted by them on the Kaffirs, that
a score of years will not wipe out the moral effect of the dread that
these Dutchmen have inspired. I am convinced that by this apparent
severity lives are eventually saved.

Almost all the disasters that we have met with in Africa have been
caused by underrating the enemy, or fancying security where there was
danger. Perpetual caution and watchfulness are the only safeguards.

Many people under English dominion have a desire for war, on account of
the advantages which they thereby derive, their waggons and oxen being
frequently let for months at a time to the commissariat, etc., and
standing idle, but well paid for. The more troops there are in the
colony, the more money is brought to the inhabitants.

The unfortunate individuals who are settled on the outskirts of the
colony, or in situations liable to be attacked, are the great sufferers
during war time. In each successive war the Kaffir tribes are found to
be better armed and more formidab