The Sun.
London, England, 1854-09-13 00:00:00

were carried into execution. But it could scarcely
deceive a member of that gallant, but prover-
bially credulous, corps " the marines." It might,
indeed, be included in Punch's tales for the body.
Indeed it could only be swallowed by CLIO:WO; or
one desirous of listening to the flattering tale. All
we can say is that it would be very infamous, if
well founded ; but that we cannot conceive that
even NICHOLAS would be guilty of such unprofit-
able, if not wholly gratuitous, atrocity—such a
fearful infraction of the laws of humanity, without
the hope of leading to any corresponding result.
He may deal with the fortifications—with the
buildings that might be garrisoned by the Allies
—but that is all he is likely to attempt.
Meanwhile, our expedition to the Crimea has,
doubtless, already landed, and commenced
operations against Sebastopol. That there
will. be difficulties to be encountered, and
, serious impediments to be overcome is certain ; but
we cannot for a moment permit ourselves to doubt
the result. The disciplined and formidable forces
who have undertaken the duty far exceed in
strength any body that can be employed against
them. They will land under the guns of the
combined navies, which may be brought to bear
so effectually as to prevent even the semblance of
opposition to their landing. When that task has
been accomplished we may safely confide in their
bravery, energy, and efficiency to render a good ac-
count of any Russian troops that may dare to face
themin the field. We do not believe, however, that
there will be any such attempt. The Russians will
ensconce themselves behind stone walls, and rely
on their granite bastions. The fate of Bomarsund
will, however, prove the futility of such hopes—
of which the capture or destruction of Sebastopol
will afford a second and even a more striking tes-
timony. Beleaguered alike by land and water,
assailed in all directions—while its so-called men-
of-war skulk beneath its batteries, and perish in-
gloriously—it will afford a tardy recompence for
early inaction, and show that, although in the first
instance we were bamboozled by the wiles of pre-
tended friends, we knew how to vindicate our
characters, and to wipe away every reproach by
the arms of our gallant soldiers and sailors, in
conjunction with the equally gallant forces of La
Belle France.

There are two points of no small interest in
the late papers from Cape Town ; one chiefly
political, the other chiefly commercial ; and,
different as they are in character, having, we
suspect, a hidden, but real connection. The first
is the circumstances of the inauguration of Con-
stitutional Government in the Colony, to which
Wappy facts we adverted in a general point of
view on :vionday. There was naturally an imita-
tion, o:tough with a difference, of the proceedings
of ov.r more august Senate ; an imitation so far
avo.wed by the Lower House, that, after providing
reany Standing Orders, it was decreed that, in all
cases not provided for, the Standing Orders of the
Imperial Parliament should, so far as applicable,
be the guide. The Lieutenant-Governor, the re-
presentative of her MAJESTY, was announced by a
salute of nineteen gum, was received by the
Legislative Council, its members all standing, till
bid by him to resume their seats, and the House
of Assembly, at his " command " conveyed by a
messenger, entered the Upper House to hear his
Emcelleucy's most gracious speech ; which, a very
long one too, having been delivered to the members of
both Houses standing, and a copy presented to the
President of the one and the Speaker of the other,
the Governor rose, and, after a courteous obei-
sance to both Houses, left under escort of a guard
of honour. Such is the style in which the infant
Legislature has begun to follow the footsteps of
its parent ; and we are inclined to think that
such is the native good sense of the leading men
in the Colony, that the adoption of parental man-
ners in these things will be far removed from
mimicry, and become, in fact, as at home, a part
of the safeguards of political order and pro-
priety.

The chief point of difference was in the
Governor's speech. It was addressed, first to
both Houses, on the circumstance which was the
one of greatest interest including also the
Imperial question of the Russian war, and nume-
rous subjects of Colonial importance. "Mr.
Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of As-
sembly" were then informed of the state of the
public finances, which, happily, are in a prosperous
condition, and of the purposes for which demands
would be made upon them. 'We much regret to
find in this part of the speech a baneful relic
of Downing-street distrustfulness, and hankering
for the maintenance of aristocratical colonial
berths, in the announcement of "an amount of
reserve for the public service by her MAJESTY'S
Order in Council for that purpose." A compul-
sory levy for the maintenance of the Vice-Court
in a colony implies an ungenerous and mischievous
apprehension of the colony's loyalty—a want of
confidence exceedingly likely to weaken that de-
sirable sentiment. It is thus that aristocracies
ever peril the honour of the Crown to secure good
things for themselves. The Lieutenant-Governor
resumed the joint address to remind the two
Houses of the importance of co-operation and
harmony, for the disturbance of which some pro-
vision seems to have been made, by giving
the Lower House the initiative of money
bills, but the Upper House the power of
amending them. Unlike our Royal Speeches,
which are studiously empty of matter, this
speech of a kind of Vice-Royalty is as full as that
of an. American President. It would seem as if
it touched on almost every colonial topic, besides
being replete with a sort of parental advice to the
youthful Legislators—youthful in appointment,
I however, only, for many of them must know far
more of what is desirable in Cape Legislation
than all the Governors which the mother
country could provide, and would, no doubt,
make. far better Governors than any of
them. Probably the reason of the case was
stronger than the wish to carry out the forms of
a Roy-al opening. The Governor of a Colony, who
had hitherto been in fact regislator and admini-
strator too, had to renounce the former depart-
ment, and consign it to more fitting hands ; he
must, therefore, of necessity acquaint the Houses
with the position in which he had placed things,
and thus enter more fully into detail than a mo-
narch here has oecasiox to do. We must confess,
however, that we shall not be sorry to find all
such speeches in the Colonies better worth re-
printing than their types at home.
The other principal point to which we adverted
at the beginning, and which indeed is noticed. in the
speech also, is the splendid discoveries of copper
ore in Namaqualand, a full report of which to the
Lieutenant-Governor appeared in The Sun of
Monday. Mr. A. G. Bain, a geologist, has visited
the whole district, rather hastily, indeed, but not
too hastily to see hundreds oft tons of the richest
copper ore, got with unusually small labour from
the mountains. The greater part of the ore appears
to be that very rich and valuable one for smelting,
carbonate of copper ; and the peculiarity is
that it is not as elsewhere to be mined for in nar-
row lodes, but literally quarried from openings
too large for that designation. Its value cannot
be less than 401. or 451. per ton ; and though its
weight makes it a more serious matter than the
same value of nuggets, to convey from the diggings
to the shore, distant some 40 or 50 miles, yet no
digger needs dig for nothing, and we well know
the means by which articles of such weight and
value can be easily brought down to the harbour.
About five or six degrees north of Cape Town, the
Orange
River, much the largest stream of South
Africa, flews from east to west into the Atlantic;
between this river d the outposts of previous
cultivation, in the
district of Clanwilliam, lies
little Namaqualand ,the territory in question.
it will certainly ere long rival
Despised hitherto,
the glories of Australian and Californian mines.
There appears to be, also, contrary certainly to
what we had previously
supposed of this district,
much rich soil for cultivation. Streams are scarce,
but water at a small depth abundant, and great
facilities exist, it is said, for the formation of im-
mense and almost natural reservoirs. There seems,
to be no reason, therefore, why the district should
not become a wealthy„ and ultimately, a self-sus-
- in which the man who
tainiug province