The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-12 00:00:00

fll

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1852.

Earl GREY'S notorious despatch of the 14th of last
January has been responded to by Sir HA"!
SMITH in terms worthy of that distinguished and
veteran commander. His Excellency's reply, pub-
lished in the columns of yesterday evening's Gazette,
passes over in dignified silence the insolent and un-
statesmanlike contumelies indulged in by the late
Colonial Secretary. Writing in answer to Lord
GREY'S personally offensive communication, and
dating leis response, the 11th of March, from the
Camp at Blink water, Sir HARRY SMITH almost
entirely restricts himself to the narrative of
the various movements which had taken place :at
the seat of war since the period of his former
despatch to the Home Government. In the very pre-
amble of his present statement, the Governor of the
Cape remarks that, although informed that her MA.
JEST Y'S Government had deemed it an unavoidable
duty to relieve him from his position and its various
responsibilities, although his SOVEREIGN had approved
of that measure, anti although it was intimated to
him, indeed, that his successor was preparing forth-
with to leave the shores of Ilngland—" such were the
prospects of th 3 war at that period," says he, " and so
rapid the progression towardstbat state of things which
can alone perpetuate peace (hest shown by the pro-
clamation issued by me on the 6th of February, and
again enclosed), that a sense of the duty which has
guided me in the service of ray SoYEßliwzi and country

for so many years induced me to persevere in the pre-
paratory steps I had taken for the expulsion, from
certain strongholds within the colony, of the rebel
Gaikas and Hottentots under the wily Chief MA-
como, a renegade from the authority of his para-
mount Chief SANDILLI." Such are the magnani-
mous acts and the no less magnanimous expressions
by which his Excellency Sir HARRY SMITH has ac-
knowledged one of the most harsh and cruel docu-
ments ever directed officially to a brave old
officer, to one who had done good service in
his country's cause upon the faughten field, to one
who had again and again revealed his prowess on the
European, on the Asiatic, and on the African con-
tinents, who bad extorted the admiration of his co-
patriots by his brilliant charge at Aliwal, and who, in
addition to all this, in the very course condemned by
a civilian like Earl GREY, had elicited the approbation
of a military authority no less competent than Field-
Marshal his Grace the Duke of WELLINGTON !

Aware of the intrinsic strength of his own
position in the judgment of his fellow-coun-
trymen—aware that ultimately a decision must
be pronounced in his favour, not merely by posterity
but by his very contemporaries--not merely by the
future annalist, but by those his torians of the hour,
the public journalists—Sir HARRY SMITH could
well afford to pass by without further
comment than that comp:rised within this
very significant allusion, the petulant disapproval
of a policy previously applauded by the very states-
man giving utterance to its condemnation. Besides
informing her MAJESTY'S Government of his deter-
mination, in spite of everything, to persist in his en-
deavours to expel the rebel Gallas and Hottentots,
under MACOMO, from certain strongholds in the co-
lony, his Excellencr.adds that his purpose was, more-
over, to drive the Gaika tribes over the great Kei, and
thereby to rid of their presence the whole
of British Kafraria. With this resolve in
view, Sir HARRY thereupon informs Earl GREY that
he caused several detachments to concentrate at his
head-quarters, the general rendezvous at Fort Beau-
fort. Subsequently he recounts how on the 4th of
March Major-General SOMERSET had a smart affair
with the enemy in the Water Kloof, where a hundred
bead of cattle and forty horses were captured.
Afterwards, in pursuance of his original design, the
head• quarters were removed from Fort Beaufort to
Blinkwater. Thence an advance movement was
made against the strong positions held by the rebels.
Upon this occasion, the 10th of last March, the
troops appear to have behaved gallantly through-
out, the officers in command displaying admirable
skill and courage in their operations. Lieutenant-
Colonel EYRE being posted at a densely wooded part
of the range called Fuller's Hoak, where Mecomo's
" Den," so termed, was " so strongly situated in a
deep kloof as to be regarded almost inaccessible,"
moved upon the savages at the right time, and with
so much determination on the part of the troops, as
to carry everything before him—Captain FADDY, of the
Royal Artillery, causing four guns to be served with
admirable effect from a height to which they had been
dragged " with incredible exertion up a precipitous
ascent," while Captain CAMPBELL, of the 73d Regi-
ment, with a company of his own corps and two cone-
panies of the 433 Light Infantry, gallantly carried
a well-known and most difficult pass which had been
stoutly held by the enemy. Siri.HARRY'S despatch
of the 17th of March then goes on to relate how on
the following day, namely, the 11th of that same
month, the "Den" was triumphantly carried—a matter
of great importance, seeing that it was the stronghold
of Micomo, " the destruction of which," says his
Excellency, " I regarded as a gren t step towards the
humbling of the rebels ; for although SARDILLI and
the Gaikas affected, humility and a' desire for peace, I
well knew that all eyes were intent on the result of
these operations." The subsequen t events of this
important fifteen months' campaign are related with
admirable perspicuity in the remaining portions of
Sir HARRY'S despatch of the 17th of March, a docu-
ment which, to his honour, while it disdains to vin-
dicate his own reputation—notwithstanding that his
feelings must have been painfully wounded by the
unjustifiable tone of Lord Crasx's despatch
of the 14th of January—eon Isists for the
most part of generous tributes to the cou-
rage and intelligence of those under his com-
mand, both officers and privates. "I am fully aware,"
says Sir HARRY SMITH, "that I have been accused
during the progress of this campaign of using the
language of hyperbole in describing the numerous
rencontres which have occurred, and in giving praise
to the gallant officers and troops as well as burghers.
Possessing, however, some experks ice in war, I must
maintain that such is not the carve. Troops acting
in the open field expect not the retimulus of praise ;
the soldier sees his foe, and his British courage
rises at each step ; but he who, after
perhaps a night march of great length, has
to ascend mountains or penetrate dense bush
and ravines, filled probably with a daring
and intrepid enemy, as resolute as athletic,
ready to murder any one who may fall into
his hands, and whose warfare is of the most stealthy
and enterprising kind, appreciates; the praise of his
commander, because when his acts are conspicuously
daring he is conscious he deserves it. He does his
duty; but human nature renders even the soldier's
intrepid heart sensible of the approbation of
his superior, which he is proud to know
may reach the eye of his parents and friends."
Immediately before relinquishing his command,
therefore, his Excellency deems it but right
that he should still testify his sense of this duty by
not shrinking from its performance. And so with
this magnanimous tribute to his brave soldiers, ends
Sir HARRY SMITH'S temperate reply of the 17th of
March to Earl GREY'S most intemperate despatch of
the 14th of January.

to be ashamed of, but that the funds were made to
the fullest extent available for the purposes for which
they had been bestowed. In others, as in the case of
the Right Hon. Gentleman the Member for the
University of Oxford, on the grounds that it could
not be shown that the expectations on which the
endowment had been granted had been frustrated,
and that, therefore, both prudence and justice, in
their highest forms, demanded the maintenance
of the endowment. We do not, however,
coincide with either of those parties. Their
objects may be laudable, but their acts are im-
politic. The only possible results °tithe inquiry will
be the introduction of a new element of strife and
dissension into the polling-booths, and perhaps the
exclusion of many estimable and experienced persons,
and the substitution of others of far inferior qualifica-
tions, who will readily truckle to the popular outcry,
however unreasonable. There should, then, be no mis-
understanding on the subject. The demand is really
for the abolition of the grant to Maynootb, and no
person should support it who is not favourable to
and desirous of that result speedily following the
success.

After all, what are the grounds on which the
withdrawal of the grant is advocated ? —that there
are errors in the doctrine of the Roman Ca-
tholic, and that those errors are taught in the
Roman Catholic College, and again that the Ro-
man clergy were strongly imbued with Ultra-
montane., feelings, and, therefore, that the means
of home education should be denied] to
them, and that they should be driven to
foreign universities, where, of course, feelings
of dutiful allegiance and affectionate loyalty
to the British SOVEREIGN would be strongly incul-
cated. Was there ever greater nonsense ?
For what was _it established but for the
purpose of teaching the :tenets of the Roman
Catholic creed, and fitting youths for the
ministry in that Church f It was considered desirable
that they should receive their:education at home, and
not at Douai or St. Omer, and for that purpose a sum
was voted, the only objection to which consisted
in the penurious spirit and niggardly hand
with which the State bounty was doled out,
readoring the college a sort of Do-the-boys Hall
in place of a great national establishment, conducted
on a scale of liberality that would excite the gratitude
and conciliate the feelings of the students and
professors.

Why should we complain of the errors of Popery
when we support Hindoos and Mahomedans ?
Why, as the Hon. Member for Middlesex perti-
nently inquired, should we " strain at the Roman
Catholic gnat, and swallow the Brahminical camel
Why should we alienate the feelings of the people of
Ireland, and play into the.hands of those who would
excite animosity to this country ? The withdrawal of
the Maynooth grant could not stand alone. The
Parliament that refused to sanction the 26,0001. per
annum for that purpose should necessarily go far-
ther, and we should look forward to a speedy re-
enactment of the penal code, accompanied or preceded
by an internecine conflict of the most formidable
character, which would diminish the strength and
resources of the nation, and render the fear of
foreign invasion something more than a mere
bugbear.

AMERICAN NEWS.
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

LIVERPOOL, WEDNESDAY, 5 A.M.

By the United States mail steam-ship Arctic, which ar-
rived in the river shortly before four o'clock, we have ad-
vices from New York to the Ist inst. She brings 150 pas-
sengers and 12,0001. in specie.
The steam-ship Niagara, with ,the mails of the 17th, ar-
rived at Boston on the 29th ult.

The shock of an earthquake had been felt in several parts
of the United States on the afternoon of the 30th ; it was
very sensibly felt at Washington, Baltimore, and throughout
Maryland. _ _ _

A banquet had been given at Boston to Kossuth on the
30th ult.

Late accounts from Newfoundland report that a dreadfal
storm had visited that coast, whereby upwards of sixty
sailing vessels had been lost, in addition to many other
vessels.

Vera Cruz advices to the 17th ult. state that the Tehuan-
tepec Railroad project had been defeated in the Mexican Con-
gress, there being only one vote in favour of it.
Advices from Cape Haytien to the 17th ult. state that a
severe shock of an earthquake was felt there on the Bth, but
no, damage was done.
'The New York stock market was active, with an upward
tendency. The money market was abundantly supplied.
Foreign exchange had advanced. Bills on London 110 to
1104 ; Paris, 5 17i to 5 164 ; Amsterdam, 40i to 40k; Ram-
burgh, 354 to 351 ; and Bremen, 78 to 784.
The Cotton market was very active, and prices had been
advanced 4c. per lb. Sales since last steamer, 12,000 bales.
Iron was more active. Breadstuffs active, but prices un-
altered. Naval stores very scarce, and held at high rates.
Freights to London—flour, Is. 6d., and turpentine 2s. per
barrel; measurement goods, 20s. to 30s. per ton.
NEW ORLEANS, Arum 29.
Cotton market much excited on receipt of Niagara's ad-
vices. Sales 12,000 bales, at an advance of ic. per lb.—Times.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY
OLD COURT.

(Before Mr. Baron PLATT.)
MURDER.—Thomas Cathie Wheeler, aged 29, who stands
charged with the wilful murder of Elizabeth Wheeler, his
own mother, was put forward to plead to the indictment. The
prisoner displayed evident symptoms of insanity, and
laughed and giggled in the dock like an idiot, seemingly
quite unconscious of the awful situation in which he was
placed, not paying the slightest attenticn to the proceedings
going on around him.

Mr. RIBTON, who had been retained for the defence, said
before the case was gone- into the prisoner's friends, who
were highly repectable people, wished to have the issue of
the prisoner's insanity tried. He was, in fact; not in a state
of mind to be able to plead, and it would save time if this
pleliminary inquiry was at once entered upon.
Mr. Baron PLATT—By all means. Well go into that
matter now.

Mr. Cathie, uncle of the prisoner, stated that the deceased
was his own sister, and he had known the prisoner from in-
fancy. In 1848 the prisoner went out to South America,
but soon afterwards returned, when he exhibited undoubted
symptoms of insanity. He was accordingly placed under
restraint, and ultimately he became an inmate of a lunatic
asylum. He remained there some time, and having partially
recovered he was allowed to go at large again. He was,
however, never able to resume his business, while from time
to time he had renewed attacks of his dreadful malady.
One of these attacks came upon him a few days before the
murder, and had he delayed his terrible purpose a few hours
he would once more have been placed in an asylum, but it
was not to be, and he committed the offence of which
he now stood charged while in a state of undoubted
madness. The insanity was attributed to over-exertion and
anxiety in business, for previous to 1848 the prisoner was a
kind and industrious man, and the whole and sole support of
his mother and family. Since he had been in Newgate the
witness had seen him more than once, and he had no hesita-
tion in declaring his conviction that the prisoner was wholly
unconscious of the situation in which he at present stood.
Mr. PAYNE, who appeared for the prosecution, cross-ex-
amined the witness, bat the cross examination only con-
firmed the assertion that the prisoner was mad.
Mr. Jones, the landlord of the house in which the prisoner
with his mother had lived for some time past, also gave it
as his thorough belief that the prisoner was not in his right
senses, nor had he been sane ever since he had known him.
He always thought the prisoner was harmless until the day
before the murder, when he returned home, raving as a
madman would do, insisting that he was going to fight Ben
Caunt.

Once more the public time has been occupied, and
the public mind disturbed, by the introduction of a
polemical question, calculated to excite sectarian ani-
mosities among all classes of her MAJESTY'S subjects,
and more particularly to fling the firebrand of reli-
gious discord into poor unhappy Ireland. It is per-
fectly manifest that no fairly conducted and bowl fide
inquiry into the system of education carried on at the
College of A.lisynooth could be brought to a termi-
nation during the present session. It is equally
clear that a dissolution of Parliament, and an
appeal to the country, must take place the moment the
indispensable business oan be completed, and it is
more than probable that several Members of any
. Committee that could be nominated may not have
seats in the new Parliament. What, therefore, could
be the object of the elaborate motion of the Hon.
Gentleman the Member for North Warwickshire in
asking for a Select Committee ? What, in fact, could
it be, save to excite feelings of bigotry and intoler-
ance, and to get up a "No-Popery" cry, to divert
weak-minded electors from the consideration of more
important questions.
If it were indeed desirable to institute a strict and
searching
investigation, with '
of education
ing the establishment, but of aimviperwo,vninogt othe
d destroy-
ing
the principles
sanctioned, no suitable , and rendering it more in accordance
inaugurl •
on which the grant was originally
e opportunity would arise until
the motion was after the
debsired
the improvement
forward in no such spirit.
:ton of the new Parliament. But
It was not
of the institution
that was
so far at least as the withdrawal its
total abolition,
awal of the Parliamentary
grant could accomplish that object. The whole
speech of the Honourable Gentleman
question was brought forward
indicated
settled purpose. It was one that that steady,
might have elicited
ages,
applause in bygone
on the introduction of
some new penal law, when it HER MAJESTY'S
.BIRTHDAY.—To-morrow, being
was supposed to be the
duty of the State to control the reli • • • the day appointed for the celebration of her Majesty's birth-
the opinions of day, will be observed as a holyday at all the Government and
the people, and to allow no dissent of any de- public offices (the Post-office excepted), and no business of
scription from the doctrines of any kind will be transacted at the great dock esblishments
the
majority, and other places of commercial intercourse in the metropolis.
and to fine, imprison, banish, aye,
and put In consequence of the influx of foreign shipping into the port
to death, those who presumed to think for of London, and the consequent pressure of business which has
themselves, and to worship their CREATOR in the awcactreureslae t
ttilir docks and iyhtearrffeargeenpcerem
wistleistfieenuesralualf a
course
manner which they deemed to be most acceptable to of business, morebuttis tem
or ar
particularlyln with the discharge of the
the DEITY. Those who supported the mot- vessels in process of being relieved of their cargoes, so long
lon must, detained by adverse sea and in the British Channel,
under the exceedingly peculiar circumstances of the will necessarilyv
he resme
owrien
thancls at
commonly inconvenient on this,
case, be presumed to participate in the same com- occasion.
mon purpose. many of those who expressed HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE..--11l consequence of the
their intention of diviqing in favour of ba indisposition of Cruvelli, the Cenerentola was last night sub-
r. stituted for Norma, the opera that had been previously an-
SrooNzit's proposition did so on very different flounced.
grounds from those put forward by the Honourable JamesTH EREPRESENTATION OF GUILDFORD. Mr.
Gentleman. They did so, in some instances, as ber for St. -
Bell, Jhnadrte,rBs, titliaosd
announced
e the d brotherh.
lf of the gaotne.
for M
theem -
challenging investigation, courting publicity, and representation of the borough.oti In histm saeddress to the electors,
desirous of showing not only that there WAS nothing e declares himself a Free-trader, an advocate of the eaten-
i WA 9f the Suffrage and vote by ballot.

Mr. Cope, the Governor of Newgate, said he had had re-
peated o,portunities of observing the prisoner's manners and
conduct since he bad been in prison, and it was his decided
opinion that if the prisoner was asked to say whether he was
guilty or not guilty, he would not understand the nature of
the question.

Mr. Baron PLATT thought the evidence was conclusive,
but it was for the jury to decide the issue.
The jury immediately returned a verdict that the prisoner
was of unsound mind.

Mr. PAY NE applied to the Court to have the prisoner de.
tained during her Majesty's pleasure.
Mr. Baron PUTT—IA it so.

The prisoner was then removed from the dock.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.
(THIS DAY.)
Richard Ambler, a respectably-dressed young nun,
pleaded not gailty to an indictment charging him with
attempting a felonious assault on Maria Newbery, aged 18,
one of the inmates of the Servants' Home, on the 2d of April
last. The prisoner was described as a surgeon, of Portland-
place, Regent's-Park.
Mr. Parry appeared for the prosecution; Mr. Ballantine
and Mr. Giffbrd for the defence.
The particulars detailed in the evidence have already ap-
peared in our police reports.
After Mr. Ballantine's address, the Assistant-Judge
summed up at considerable length; the jury then retired to
consider their verdict, and in the course of half an hour re-
turned a verdict of Guilty.
Mr. Sergeant ADAMS, in a very impressive address, sen-
tenced the prisoner to eighteen months' hard labour in the
House of Correction.