The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-02 00:00:00

HOLLAND.

THE HAGUE, DEC. 28.—The' official journal
announces that M. Mutsaers, formerly member of
the Second Chamber, and ex-Minister of Public
Worship, is again named Chief of this Depart-
ment, in the place of M. de Lightenvelt, who
has demanded and obtained his resignation.
M. de Lightenvelt replaces M. le Baron Fagel
as Minister of Holland at Paris. M. Mutsaers is
one of the most distinguished men of Northern
Brabant. He has resided at Bois-le-Due and at
Tilbourg for a considerable period.
Such is the severity of the winter that at Maes-
tricht the Meuse is almost entirely frozen over.

BELGIUM.--BRUSSELS, Dtc. 31.—The Budget
of Public Works was voted unanimously in the
Senate yesterday.
The law on the Importation of Foreign Coal
was voted by a large majority : 32 members voted
for and 7 against it.
The discussion of the Bill on the Revision of the
Tariff of the Electric Telegraph also took place. The
Minister of Public Works decalred that a reduction
of the tariff would at present be impossible, as the
small number of efficient employes possessed by the
Government were incapable of transacting the in..
crease of business which would follow a reduction.
The contingent of the army for the year 1854
has been fixed at 70,000 men. The budget of war
for the same year, amounting to 33,129,930 f., was
unanimously adopted.
A deputation, charged to present the felicitations
of the Assembly to the King on the occasion of the
new year, will assemble on Sunday, at the Chain-
ber, whence they will set out for the Palace.,

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)

PLYMOUTH, MONDAY.
The General Screw Steamship Company's mail-
packet Bosphorus, Commander Robert Maynard,
arrived this morning ; she left Point de Galle,
October 4th ; Mauritius, November 6th ; Cape,
November 21st ; St. Helena, 29th ; Ascension,
December 3d ; St. Vincent, 12th, and Coruna,
28 h.

Within the Cape colony everything is peaceful
and progressive.
___

In the Orange River Sovereignty Sir George
Clerk proceeds steadily in maturing arrangements
for the withdrawal of British authority from the
north side of the river.

The election for the Legislative Council was to
commence on the 9th of January.
The copper mines on the Orange River appear to
be productive. 200 tons of ore were on the beach
ready for shipment.
Great inconvenience is experienced by the ship-
ping in consequence of the desertion of seamen,
186 whom were brought before the police autho-
rities at Cape Town in 6 weeks.
The frontier mail arrived at noon, on the 21st.
The Dee and Hydra were at Algoa Bay on the
18th. The Hydra was to embark the 74th for
Table Bay when the weather moderated.

The Sir Robert Peel, with the Natal mail, was
still there.

The Barracouta war steamer, which arrived on.
the 18th of November, would leave for the fron-
tier to bring down the remainder of the troops on
the 22d. The Dee, with the 12th Lancers who.
embarked in the Queen, was expected hourly. The
Sitnooni, with the Rifle Brigade, sailed for Eng-.
land on the 15th of November. Her Majesty's,
ship Meander was in Table Bay.
The Nerbudda is cruizing in the Mozambique.
Ci tannel.

The United States squadron, consisting of the
Vincennes, Porpoi:;e, and Kennedy, left Simon's
Bay for India on the 9th of November. The Lady
Jocelyn, with the English mail, had not arrived.
The American Commodore, in the Constitution,
arrived at St. Helena 29th November. The fol-
lowing arrived there on the 22d :—The Eclipse,
from Shanghai, for London ; the Blundell, from
Batavia, for Rotterdam ; and the Berbice, from
Mauritius, for London.

The screw steam ship Peninsular put into Co-
runna on the 27th of December, owing to some
slight accident to her machinery. She would have
to perform three days' quarantine.
Stations of her Maje3ty's ships on the West
Coast of Africa :—On the Sierra Leone division
were the Penelope, Teazer, Britomart, Plumper,
and Antelope. The Penelope and Teazer were
shortly expected at Ascension. In the Bights :
Alecto, Polyphemus, Ferret, Waterwitch, Myr-
midon. On the South Coast :—Crane, Commander
Miler, senior officer ; Pluto, and Linnet. The
Linnet was returning to England.
The Atholl was daily expected at Ascension.
Some changes were shortly to take place in these
stations consequent on the Admiral's visit to Sierra
Leone.

On the Ist of November, between Point de Gale
and the Mauritius, the crank pin of the main
shaft of the en-ines of the Bosphorus, which is
solid cast iron, about a ton in weight, broke in
two pieces. The engineers under the direction of
Mr. T. Turner, chief engineer, manufactured a
steel plate, and ingeniously forced it one-half
into the crank, and the other I,alf into the crank
pin, in a hole one inch and three quarters in dia-
meter and six inches deep, which had been pre-
viously drilled to receive it. At the Mauritius a
spare steel pin two inches in diameter was obtained.
On arriving at the Cape the manufactured steel
plate was discovered to be broken ; it was replaced
by the pin obtained at the Mauritius. The Bos-
phorus has not been able since the accident to her
machinery to proceed under steam, and has been
obliged in heavy seas to shut it off entirely ; with
these disadvantages, however, she arrived at the
Cape 36 hours before due. On leaving St.
Vincent she was 18 hours before contract time.
The Bosphorus was only six and a half days' sail
from Plymouth on the 18th of December, from
which to the 30th she had experienced fresh
northerly winds and two gales from N.E., and the
26th she was obliged to bear up for Corunna,
where she was detained 48 hours by bad weather.
Left on the 28th, at midnight, and at 6 p.m.
was hove to in a heavy gale from north-east,
which lasted two days ; since then she has had
north-west winds. The Bosphorus has a cargo of
four-fifths of silk, the remainder indigo, arc. She
conveyed a quantity of specie between the Indian
ports and Mauritius.

THE UNITED STATES.