The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-22 00:00:00

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE,

PLYMOUTH, THURSDAY.
The Union Royal Mail Shipping Company's
steamship Saxon, Commander Coxwell, from Table
Bay, June 20; St Helena, June 28; and Ascension,
July 2, arrived in the Sound this afternoon.
The Cape Advertiser of June 18 states that Sir
W. Carrie reports to the Governor that the difficul-
ties in the Transkei are increasing. He recom-
mends the 10th Regiment to be retained on the
frontier. The Valorous, which conveyed the 11th
hegimont to Natal, left the sth Fusiliers at East
London, and has returned to Simon's Bay. A
trader who had passed through Krelis country, and
had arrived recently at King William's Town,
found the tribe peaceable.
The Commander of the Forces announced in
Graham's Town, at the Mayor's dinner on 15th June,
that'll° did not apprehend a K,-.ffir war at present.
The Parliament is still sitting in Graham's Town.
Several Government measures have been thrown out,
among others the bill for establishing a Deeds' Re-
gistry Office in Graham's Town, and that for the
creation of a supreme t.ourt in one or me eastern
divisions.

The High Commissioner, Sir Philip Wodehouse,
has announced his intention of annexing 'he terri
tory between the Kei and the Banshee to Br;tisl.
Kaffraria, and of giving out the land to setticre
military tenure.
The Bishop of Cape Town is still at Natal, whence
he will probably return in about a month. Bishop
Tozer, of the late Central African Mission, is in
Cape Town. Dr. Duff, the venerable Indian mis-
sionary, is a passenger to England by the present
mail steamer.
The weather has been very seasonable for farmers,
and a great breadth of land has been placed under
cultivation. The prices of colonial produce, par-
ticularly grain, are on the increase. Trade is dull,
and the rates of interest are on the decline. It is
estimated that no importations of foreign wheat
will be required during the present year.
Coals are selling in Cape Town at from 655. to 70s.
per ton. Freight to England for wool ld. per lb.,
dead weight 30s. per ton. Exchange, at 30 days'
sight, 1 per cent. discount.
The following have been the arrivals in Table
Bay from England since the departure of the Royal
Mail steamer Cambrian ;—May 24, the Avoca,
bark from London; 26, the Glendower schooner,
from London; the Francis, bark, from Swansea ;
27th, the Hugh Bailment, bark, from Swansea ; the
Meiron's Bride, brig from London ; 28th, the Simon
brig, from Liverpool ; 30th, the Eliza Sharp, from
the Downs, bound for Melbourne; 31st, the Dum-
barton screw steamer, from Greenock, bound for
China ; June 10, the Athens Royal Mail steamer,
from Plymouth ; 12th, the Ahuriri screw steamer,
from Glasgow, bound for New Zealand,—Simon's
Bay.—June 27, the Prince of the Seas, bark,
from London ; the Wallibe
28t sch oo ner,
Her. from
Glasgow, bound for Sydney ; h, the
melin, bark, from the Clyde. And in Algoa
Bay—May 22, the Eastern Province, screw steamer
from Falmouth; 28th, the Regina bark from Lou-
den ; the Milton ship, from Liverpool, bound for
Hongkong; the Noor Schen bark, from London ;
30th, the Granton bark, from London; the Oribe
bark, from London ; June 2, the Herman and Oscar,
from Cardiff.
The fi igship PrinefiSS Royal, with Admiral King,
left June 16, for Trincomalee and Bombay. Th.
Penguin was to follow. The Orestes was appointee
to leave on the sth of July for the Mozambique
Channel. The Ariel was expected in the Cape on
the 28th of June, after which she would leave for
England. The Confederate war steamship Tusca•
loosa continues in Simon's Bay.
The Diamond steamer Eastern Province, of Lon-
don, made the run out to Algoa Bay in 32,1 days.
She had unusually fine weather, with fair winds,
and was appointed to leave Algot+. Bay on the
20th of June and Table Bay on the 23d for Eng-
land, and may be expected home in about ten days.
The screw steamer Narcissus, 39, with Rear-Ad-
miral Sir Baldwin Walker, which touched at St.
Helena
o June
the 17th fo
une6, arriverdEgantAlasncedn.sion on the 14th,
and left
The following vessels have anchored at the island
of Ascension—June 2, the English bark Leading
Star, 94 days from the Cape, short of water, and
left the same day for London ; 6th, the ship Old
England, 52 days from London, fur Ascension, with
stores; H.M.S. Encounter, from China, for Ports-
mouth, called fur invalids, and left on the Bth ; 15th,
the ship Chinera, 99 days from Currachee, for Lon.
don ; 16th, the ship Confidence, 85 days from Bom-
bay, for Liverpool, and the bar'Deanv,
c'2l days
feom Algoa Bay, for Ascension ; 9th, the ,hoolicr
Olympus, 25 days from Algoa Bay for New York ;
20th, ship Highland Chief, 100 days from Akyab,
valmoula ; 22d, American ship Amitz, 88 days
-eon, for Falmouth: 20th, her Majesty's
Rio Janeiro for Ascension; 25th,
-"-a den, from Akyab for Fal-
-ssed :—June 7, the
-,d; the bark
the

for -

" Sire—Your very brief despatches of the 19th
and 20th ult., informing the department that the
piratical craft Alabama, or 290,' had been sunk on
the 19th of June, near meridian, by the Kearsage,
under your command, were this day received. I ,
congratulate you on your good fortune in meeting
this vessel, which had so long avoided the fastest
ships and some of the most vigilant and intelligent
officers of the service, and for the ability displayed
in this combat you have the thanks of the depart-
ment. You will please express to the officers and
crew of the Kearsage the satisfaction of the Govern-
ment at the victory over a vessel superior in tonnage,
superior in number of guns, and superior in the
number of her crew. The battle was so brief, the
victory so decisive, and the comparative results so
striking, that the country will be reminded of the
brilliant actions of our infant navy, which have been
repeated and illustrated in this engagement.
" The Alabama represented the best maritime
effort of the most skilled English workshops. Her
battery was composed of the well-tried 32-pounders
of 57 cwt., of the famous 68-pounder of the British
navy, and of the only successful rifled 100-pounder,
yet produced in England_ The crew were generally
recruited in Great Britain, and many of them re-
ceived superior training on board her Majesty's
gunnery ship Excellent.
" The Kearsage is one of the first gunboats built
at our navy yards at the commencement of the re-
bellion, and lacks the improvements of vessels now
under construction. Tne principal guns composing
her battery had never been previously tried in an
exclusively naval engagement ; yet in one hour you
succeeded in sinking your antagonist, thus fitly
ending her predatory career, and killing many of
her crew, without injury to the Kearsage or the loss
of a single life on your vessel. Our countrymen
have reason to be satisfied that in this, as in every
naval action of this unhappy war, neither the ships,
the guns, nor the crews have been deteriorated, but
that they maintain the ability and continue the re-
nown which ever adorned our naval annals.
The President has signified his intention to re.
commend that you:receive a vote of thanks in order
that you may be advanced to the grade of Commo-
dore. Lieutenant-Commander James A. Thornton,
the executive officer of the Kearsage, will be recom-
mended to the Senate for advancement ten numbers
itnhehins names
grade,
of e, and
any you
others will roof pot rhe o
ffi
t totheeerdse Nepoarratvmcyr.eenwt
whose good conduct on the occasion entitles them
to esp,e,cGiailDattotNenwtioEnii—LEVs, seryecrespectfully,
' Captain John A. Winslow, U.S. Navy,
Commanding U.S. steamer Kearsage,
Cherbourg, France."