The Sun.
London, England, 1852-05-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON,

while the provincial councils would be elected for
five years. The Upper Chamber would consist of
not less than ten, nor more than fifteen mem-
bers, and its acts are to override those of the
provinces. It was further proposed that there should
be a civil list. At present it amounted to
12,000/. a-year, and it was not intended to in-
crease it. An additional suns of 7,0001.
a year would be reserved for native purposes, and gene-
rally to such other purposes as may tend to promote the
interest or increase the happiness of the people.—(Hear,
hear.) The management of the Crown lands would be
reserved to the Central Legislature in the manner
proposed by the late Government. There was only one
other point which he need refer to, and that was
the Lower Chamber of the Colonial Legislature.
It was proposed that it should be elective each
provincial council having power to send three delegates
to be returned for five years, and this cental legis-
lature would be empowered to make changes in
the constitution, subject of course to the :approval of
the Crown.—(Hear, bear.) He had now gone
through the principal features of the measure,
and it now remains for the House to decide
whether it came within those necessary measures
which the Government were pledged only to introduce
this session. His own opinion was that it did, for he
had pressed to let the Act of 1846 revive rather than that
there should bo no legislation upon the subject of free-
institutions, rnd ho did hope the House would therefore
allow the Bill to be ultimately passed into a law.
(LEFT SPEAKING.)

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
By the ship Agincourt we have received intelligence
from the Cape to the 10th of March. There is no men-
tion of the Megasra or the Hydra. The Legislative
Council had voted 5001. towards the relief of the sufferers
from the loss of the Birkenhead.

Sir Harry Smith was to have taken the field on the
Bth inst. in person. A considerable number of Burghers
were expected to join. He had beard of his removal,
but it bad not altered his plans. Lady Smith was making
every preparation to leave on the arrival of the now
governor.
By the last frontier post there was nothing new.
The troops were preparing for the campaign of the Bth
of March.

The following Government notice had been published
by command:—
" King William's Town, Feb. 27, 1852.
" Reports have been received from Mr. Cole, Civil
Commissioner of Albert, dated the 17th instant. They
state that the Burgher force under his direction bad
swept the whole of Tyopo's and Madoor's country, the
Indwee river and its kloofs, the neighbourhood of the
Bolota, the whole of the Zuurberg range, and both banks
of the T'Somo. Twenty-five Kafirs and eleven Hotten-
tots had been slain; among the latter the notorious Dirk
Rabi; and 1,000 head of cattle, 300 goats, 40 horses,
and 12 stand of arms had been taken.
" Reports from Lieutenant-Colonel Michel extend up
to the 22d instant. Oa the 20th, notwithstanding the
incessant rain, his troops were vigorously employed in
devastating the crops in and adjacent to the Wolf's
Den, the property of Sandilli. On the 21st he burned
from 80 to 100 Hottentot huts, and aome regularly-
built houses of wattle and daub, in and above the Ama-
tole Basin. He then moved back by the very difficult
ground of the Wolf River to his camp in the valley of
the Lenya, destroying many crops on the march. Col.
Michel reports that nothing could be more complete
than the destruction of the Hottentot strongholds, or of
the crops in the Den.'
" Lieutenant-Colonel Eyre's reports reach to the 23d
instant. Early on the morning of the 21st he moved in
two divisions on the Guln mountain—the range which
separates the Wolf Valley from the tributaries of the
Gulu River—and completely surprised the enemy, cap-
turing 54 head of cattle on the summit of the heights,
and burning large numbers of huts in the very heart of
the dense bush. The enemy, Kafirs and Hottentots,
fled every where as the troops advanced. Immense quan-
tities of cultivation at the sources of the Upper Keis-
kamma, &c., were destroyed on the 21st and two follow-
ing days. Rockets bad been used with great effect,
spreading terror among the enemy.
" From the heights of the Gulu, Colonel Eyre bed
observed Colonel Michel operating in the Wolf Valley
below. The co-operation of these two officers, therefore,
has been perfect and most successful.
" Reports to the 22d instant have been received from
Major Kyle, up to which date the quantity of corn de-
stroyed by his column was computed at about 10,003
muids. He had met with no opposition.
" Major-General Somerset reports that he has de-
stroyed the whole of the crops of the treacherous Soga,
the murderer of the military villagers, and those of
others, in the valley of the Chumie, as well as very many
on that side of the Amatola,
" Major• General Somerset has moved to the old
Konap Post, preparatory to the grand movement of ex-
pulsion from the Waterkloof to the Kei. The troops
of the second division, having completed their labour of
devastation, are all ordered to head-quarters to re-equip
for the field.
" Mr. Robert Ainslie reports the spirited repulse of
an attack made by some marauders on his farm, Spring
Grove, on the morning of the 19th instant. A number of
cattle, sheep, and goats were, in the first instance, driven
off; the greater part, however, of the former, and the
whole of the later were recaptured, and in the skirmish
which took place between the small party of 13 Burghers
and the enemy, 14 of the latter were slain, and 20
horses and several guns and assegais taken. Mr. Ains-
lie states, that the enemy did not fight with that spirit
of determination which has been hitherto shown by
them, but seemed more intent on getting off with their
booty.' Very little ammunition was found in the
pouches of the slain."

THE LOSS OF THE BIRKENHEAD.
(From the Portsmouth Times and Aaval Gazette.)
By the arrival of the survivors of this awful calamity
we are put in possession of some highly interesting de-
tails not before made public, and sorry we are that in
these gatherings we should have to record so cold-
hearted and ungentlemanly a reminiscence of Commo-
dore Wyvill towards the master of the schooner
Lioness as that given in our " latest particulars"
of the wreck. Wo were inclined to doubt the
information we received in relation to that transaction,
but the conduct attributed to Commodore Wyvill is
supported by such respectable evidence that we cannot
but believe he has acted in the way imputed to him;
nor is the treatment of the merchant Captain of the
Lioness all that may justly be complained of
in Commodore Wyvill's behaviour during the
awe-striking period succeedingi the loss of the
Birkenhead at the Cape. His dispatches to the Admi-
ralty have not been framed with that coolness and re-
gard for rigid accuracy which such official information
should do in a matter so vital to numerous members of
the community in England. He said in his dispatch to the
home authorities that it did not appear either Mr. Sal-
mond (the master commanding the Birkenhead) or Mr.
Brodie, the second master, had been on deck from
ten o'clock to the time the ship struck. How
this information was gleaned we are at a loss to
know, as both the naval and military officers of the
watch are drowned, and the officers of the ship who are
saved, comprising Mr. Richards, master's assistant ;
Mr. Renwick, engineer; Mr. Archbold, gunner; Mr. Cul-
bane, assistant surgeon ; Mr. Hire, clerk, and Mr.
Barber, assistant engineer, were all in bed at the time
the ship struck, and had been so from ten o'clock, and
not one of these officers were asked by Commodore
Wyvill whether either Mr. Salmond or Mr. Brodie were
on deck from ten o'clock ! The leadsmen and helms-
man saved did not go on watch till twelve o'clock, and
can only speak to what took place from that time to
two o'clock.

Again Commodore Wyvill said the rocks off Point
Danger extended only a little more than a mile, and that
the Birkenhead, when she struck, could not have been
so far off the shore as the surviving officers had repre-
sented. Now this looks very much like impugning the
best testimony he could presume to judge from, and a
very uncourteous doubt of ocular evidence than which
none better was spared by the waves. Now in contra-
distinction to the Commodore's hasty opinion we have
conversed with a gentleman who was shown by Captain
Ramsden, of the Lioness, a chart, of a much later
date than any in the possession of the Admiralty,
whereon the rocks off Point Danger are shown
to extend about a mile and a quarter from the
shore, whereas he, Captain Itaaisden, who has
navigated the waters on the Cape coast for 24 years
and upwards, knows the reef at Point Danger extends
fully tour miles out! and that the Birkenhead was fully
three miles from the shore when she struck; and in his
opinion the authorised charts issued were useless to
steer by.
Then, as to the compasses of the Birkenhead—we
showed in a recent article (on the 10th ult.) that her com-
passes were entirely untrustworthy, and in support
of this we have now a further corroboratory opinion of
some value. The master of the Lioness when at Cape
Town after the wreck, was told by the commander of the
Propontis iron (screw) mail packet, on the latter's hearing
of the wreck, he was not surprised, immediately assigning
the cause to have been the failure of the compasses, as
his own vessel, the same night on which the Birkenhead
was lost, and about the same time, was in danger, from
the attraction of her compasses from atmospheric in-
fluence, the compasses of the Propontis having
night gone entirely round the circle, and kept fluctu-
ating round and round, rendering steering by them
useless I on that
After this who can wonder at the loss of the Birken-
head ?
We have other information in our possession relative
to the conduct of parties saved, but we will not prejudge
them in the eyes of the world by publishing it now, feel-
ing assured that before such a court-martial as will next
week assemble to investigate the cause of the wreck,
the amplest explanations will be searched out and made
known.

LIVERPOOL, SATURDAY.—The screw steam-ship
Great Britain, Mathews commander, sailed from the
Mersey at 910 A.AL to-day for New York, amidst the
cheers of thousands of persons assembled on the pier-beads
to witness her departure. She took out 180 passengers,
and, judging from the rate at which she steamed to Holy-
head, there is no doubt she will make a very fine run out.
She was off the Ormshead, distant about 33 miles from the
Rock Lighthouse, in two hours and 50 minutes ; and passed
Holyhead, a distance of 60 miles, in 5 hours and 50 minutes,
and that, too, with a N.W. wind. The Royal Mail steam-
ship Canada, Lang commander, sailed from tho Mersey at
430 r.nt. to-day for Halifax and Boston, with the usual
mails,
50 passengers, and about 8,0001. in gold. The United
States Mail steam-ship Atlantic, West commander, will
sail from this port for New York on Wednesday next, with
the mails, &c. The screw steam-ship City of Manchester,
Leitch commander, will also sail on Wednesday next for
Philadelphia.

We understand
taken a chateau at St. Germain for the summer. His Lord-
ship perfectly recovered from his leng and dangerous
illness, that the Earl of Pembroke has