The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-23 00:00:00

s 1 .N, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 23, 1863.

MR. THORNBURY'S NEW NOVI. L.
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vols.,
TRUE A S STEEL.
By WALTER THORNBURY.
Also now ready, In 3 vols.,
ST. OLAVE'S. A NOVEL.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

In Bvo., with Illustrations, 155.,

NARRATIVE of a SUCCESSFUL
EXPLORATION THROUGH the INTERIOR of
AUSTRALIA, from Melbourne to the Gulf of Carpentaria.
From the Journals of WILLIAM JOHN WILLS, by his
Father, WILLIAM WILLS.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

to clean their bottoms. Tbey left Lisbon on the 16th
inst., and experienced fine weather up to the time
of anchoring at Spithead. The passage has been
made easily at reduced power. In coming up
Channel on Saturday the Revenge, Warrior, and
Black Prince were steaming with half-boiler
power, and the Defence and hesistance with full
power, the rate of steaming of the whole fleet being
IP2 knots.

An attempt which has been made to iude e the
shipwright officers of her Majesty's dockya ds to
memorialise his Grace the Duke of Somerset in op-
position to the appointment of Mr. E. J. Reed to
the chief eonstruotorship of the navy, has met with
signal failure. A memorial was drawn up at Devon-
port during the late election, and was signed by the
master shipwright and his assistants of the yard.
The Woolwich officers of the department afterwards
added their names. On the document reaching
Sheerness, Mr. Moody, the able master-shipwright
of that establishment, and his assistants refused to
countenance the project, and the promoters have ac-
cordingly dropped the matter. It is a significant
fact that the officerd who have discountenanced the
memorial are those who have had the very best op-
portunities of becoming acquainted with Mr. Reed's
practical skill, Mr. Moody having been engaged for
several months in building the Enterprise at Dept-
ford under Mr. Reed's superintendence; and Mr.
Martin, the assistant master-shipwright at Sheer-
ness, having been one of the practical shipbuilding
officers with whom the pupils of the late Ports-
mouth school of naval construction were associated.
They, therefore, know how vain it would be to im-
pute a want of skill or experience to the new chief
constructor, or to gainsay the justice of the appoint-
ment.

The following appointments were made on Friday
at the Admiralty :—Lieut. Hilary G. Andoc to the
Vigilant ; W. S. Whittaker, assist.-paymaster to the
Colossus; W. J. Sprake, acting second•class assist,
engineer, to the Asia, for the Frederick William;
J. E. T. Nicholls and F. L. Lawrence have been
nominated to naval cadets.

THY CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

PLYMOUTH, Saturday.
The East India and London Steam Shipping
Company's screw steamer Mauritius, 2,200 tons,
Capt. J. Smyth, passed up Channel off this port to-
day. She is from Calcutta, Nov. 22, Madras, 29,
and the Cape, Jan. 12. She brings a mail from the
Cape, a full general cargo, and the following pas-
sengers :

From India—Brigadier Christie, C. 8., 80th Regi-
ment; Lieut. Warren, 81st; Lieut. Hartwick, 7th;
Lieut. Brooks, 82d, lady, and three children ; Mr.
Newberry, civil service ; Capt. Brooking, 12th Mad-
ras Native Infantry ; Lieut. Strettell, Madras Na-
tive Infantry; Capt. Brown, lady, and two children,
sth Madras Native Infantry ; Mrs. W. 11. Brown ;
Mrs. Kimber; a sergeant of the Royal Artillery and
his wife, and two privates of the 43d Regiment.
From the Cape, Capt. Fox, 13th Regiment, and
Mr. White.

At the Cape collections were still being made in
aid of the distressed Lancashire operatives. The
railway goods traffic had increased so much lately
that the system of running goods trains had been
adopted. The railway company's engineers were
preparing to erect an iron lattice girder bridge over
the Berg River. Some parts of the colony were still
in a wr( tched state from the long continued drought,
and the farmers and residents in the district towns
were offering to give every support in their power
to any measure which would prevent a recurrence
of the evils from which they were suffering. Vari-
ous schemes for future irrigation were under con-
sideration.

Several postal robberies of money letters had
recently occurred. On the frontier, in many parts
of the Transkeian territory, sufficient rain had fallen
to restore the fertility of that district, and the
lately starving flocks of the Tambookies were be-
ginning to thrive again. Kaffir news was unim-
portant, matters being quiet • among their tribes.
There had, however, been some sharp police work
on the Umgwali, and a local disturbanceoccasioned
through the rising of some wise man (phophet) near
Windvogelberg.
General Wynyard and staff, with head-quarters,
had gone to the frontier, but only for inspection
purposes. H.M.S. Imperieuse, 51, screw frigate,
Captain R. Gibson, had arrived in Simon's Bay
from China, and was to proceed on her voyage for
England about Jan. 20 ; Orestes, 21, screw cor-
vette, Captain A. H. Gardner, arrived in Simon's
Bay, Jan. 7, from Algoa Bay, Dec. 31 ; Barossa, 21,
screw corvette, Captain W. M. Dowell, was in
Simon's Bay, en route for China.
Business was improving in the colony. The
barque Kestrel, from London for Shanghai, put
into Simon's Bay Jan. '7, with damaged rudder.
The South African Loan Company, with a capital
of £2.000,000, had at last been started. A man
had been brutally murdered in a quarrel in one of
the Rough districts of Cape Town, and great com-
plaints were being made by the local Piess of the
increase of crime in the colony, robberies and crimes
of violence frequently occurriug where a few years
before they had been unknown. The Mauritius
landed her mail here by a pilot-boat, and it was
sorted and forwarded to-night. Brigadier Christie,
Captain Brooking, and Mr. Newberry also landed
here.