The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-24 00:00:00

UNITED STATES AND MEXICO.

SANTA ANNA AT VEDA CRUZ.-IMPRISON
MENT OF PAREDES.-SEIZURE OF THE

C ALIFORNIAS.

We have just received by express New York papers
of the Ist instant, brought by the London line of packet
ship St. James, Captain Miser, which has arrived off
Deal ; they contain most important intelligence, which
we subjoin :

WASHINGTON, AUG. 31.

The steamer M'Kim arrived at New Orleans on the
23:1, with dates from Point Isabel to the 17th, and from
Camargo to the 13th. She brought 100 volunteers on
the sick list. General W. 0. Butler was confined to his
tent at Point Isabel, by sickness. The taking of China
sixty miles above Camargo, by M`Culloch and his
seventy-five Rangers, on the sth of August, is confirmed.
Seguin, with 100 mounted Mexicans, took flight from
the town, which contains 700 inhabitants. There were
300 regulars at Camargo on the 9th, ready to start for
Monterey.
The volunteers were pouring in. General Taylor
arrived on the 9th with his staff. Baylie Peyton also
arrived on the 9th. A grand review of the troops took
place, and it is said Taylor expressed himself in terms of
admiration of their discipline. Duncan's battery and
M'Culloch, with a portion of his- men, left Camargo on
the 12th, in the direction of Monterey.

The steamer Arab arrived off Vera Cruz on the 15th
August with Santa Anna on board. He immediately
placed himself at the head of the movement in that de-
partment. The departments of Pueba and Mexico have
declared for Santa Anna, and Paredes has been taken
prisoner. The revolt at the capital was headed by Ge-
neral Salas. Before Santa Anna loft Ilavannah, he took
letters from General Campbell to Com. Connor, and
avowed himself, in reply to some inquiries as to his in-
tentions, as follows :—" If the people of my country
are for war, then I am with them, but I would prefer
peace."
News had been received in Mexico that Monterey
and California had been taken by one of the vessels
of the United States' squadron. Another account says
that all California has yielded to the Americans!
A letter dated at Vera Cruz Aug. 16, says that ad-
vices have been received by express of the formal an-
nexation of California to the United States—that is, the
United States forces have taken possession of Califor-
nia. This news came to the British Consulate at Vera
Cruz.

Dispatches were to be sent to England and to New
Orleans by special expresses.—Herald.

THE RIVER PLATE.

FALMOUTH, SEPT. 22.—The Russian brig Bustruys,
Captain Schildwach, arrived off the port this afternoon,
after a remarkably quick passage, from the River Plate,
having quitted Monte Video so recently as the 28th of
July. The master could furnish no further information
than that matters still continued in an unsettled state,
and there was little prospect entertained of a speedy ad-
juitmont of differences between the opposing factions,
who remained in the field without any decisive move-
ment on either side.

Mr. Hood, the British Commissioner, had gone up to
Buenos Ayres three weeks before the sailing of the Bus-
truys, and had not returned when she left, nor had any
result of his mission to Rosas transpired.
MONTE VIDEO, JULY 27.—The Hood mission to
Buenos Ayres is still a mystery ; every arrival from the
other side of the river has been watched with feverish
anxiety by those who feel their national honour, as well
as their interests, not less than the future welfare of this
country, to depend on its scope and issue. Up to the
present moment, however, there is nothing known, save
conflicting reports and opinions, which have, one after
another, melted away as " baseless fabrics," leaving only
doubt and misgiving. There is one fact from which to
draw a deduction. After the lapse of 20 days, from his
landing on the 3d till the departure of the Dolphin on
the 23d, Mr. Hood was still remaining at Buenos Ayres ;
it is therefore natural to suppose that something is doing
—a conclusion supported by a contemporaneous im •
provement in the Buenos Ayres paper currency. Gold
ounces fell to 295 paper ; but the money market is by
far too sensitive a plant to be always infallible.
In this city public opinion has, within the last few
days, gradually returned to the belief that there will be
no peace with Rosas—an opinion forced on men's minds
by the lessons of the past, and which has gained ground
in spite of the blandishments of Messrs. Hood and
Arana, and of the conciliatory decree of the 15th inst.,
wherein leave is given to the merchantmen up the
Parana, and to our war-steamers, to pass the batteries
unmolested—after San Lorenzo, a very cheap mag-
nanimity"!
On the 18th of July, the grand anniversary of this
country, the Government sent a flag of truce out to
Oribe's camp, to propose a change of prisoners. Alas
the appeal in behalf of poor humanity was deficient in
respect to the Lieutenant of Rosas, and could not be ad-
mitted. " The legal President was in that camp, and no
communication could be received which was not so ad-
dressed."

The enemy has evacuated the department of Maldo-
nado, and marched towards the lines.

Rivera is still at Las Vacas.

THE KAFIR WAR,

PORTSMOUTH, WEDNESDAY.—By the arrival of her
Majesty's ship Plover, six guns, Captain Collinson, C.B.
(which came up to Spithead this afternoon at three
o'clock), from China, we have intelligence and papers
from the Cape of Goad Hope fifteen days later than
those last published.
Her dates are, Hong-Kong, April 3 ; Cape of Good
Hope, July 12; St. Helena, July 28; and Ascension,
August 2. She arrived at Simon's Bay on the 7th of
July. It appears that the marauding parties of Kafirs,
who for the last two or three months have caused so
much alarm, and done so much mischief in the frontier
districts, were nearly, if not altogether expelled, and
that a sufficient number of men had arrived to prevent
their return, if properly distributed and kept on the
alert. Whatever operations may be undertaken beyond
the boundary, the colonists must be made to feel secure
against such inroads, as they not only consume the pro-
duce of industry, but stop the machine itself. Besides
the ravages of the enemy, the frontier colonists were
suffering greatly from droughs, followed by diseases
amongst the cattle, and much loss, at a critical season,
among the sheep. Another evil of a wasting nature had
also fallen upon them, arising partly from the war itself
and partly from the weakness and death of draught cattle,
namely, the excessive high price of provisions.
The President, 50, Captain Haule, flag of Clear-Admiral
Dacres, Commander-in-Chief, left Simon's Bay two days
before the arrival of the Plover, for Algoa Bay, where she
would re-embark her marines, and sail thence for the
Mauritius.

The Sappho, 16, Commander Gambier, and the Snake,
12, Commander Brown, were in Simons Bay when the
Plover left for St. Helena, where she arrived on the
night of the 27th July. There was no man-of-war at
St. Helena at that date. Lieutenant-Colonel Ross had
been sworn in as governor of the island (pro tern.), until
a formal commission arrived from England, appointing
the successor of Colonel Trelawny, deceased.
The Bittern, 12, Commander Hope, sailed from St.
Helena for Loando, on the 25th of July. Dr. Crawford
has come home invalided from her.

The Plover merely touched at Ascension. The only
man of war there was the Tvrtoise, store and guard ship,
Commander Morrel.

Dysentery was still raging. Captain Mansel, of the
Acton, 26, had been attacked by paralysis, and was sent
up_the mountain to recruit. _

Mr. Eeles, promoted from the rank of Clerk in charge
to Paymaster and Purser, of the Vestal, 26. Captain
Talbot came home in the Plover.

We subjoin extracts from the Cape papers:—
(From the South Afrii_!ak Commercial Advez tiger of
- July 11.)
With the exception of very small parties of thieves,
the frontier districts appear to be clear of the enemy.
This is a fact of great importance, as it may put it in
the power of the Governor so to arrange his forees as to
enable the !Yonder colonists to nilte the opportunity of
ploughing and sewing during the approaching season.
The loss of h month now is to the agriculturist the loss
of a whole year. By removing the enemy, and keeping
him out, the flocks of sheep, the Chief wealth and re-
source of the frontier colonist, aro also saved, not only
from the jaws of the destroyer, but from the destruction
that follows over-crowding, bad pasturage and over-
driving. Although Kafirland is not yetinvaded and
subdued, it would be unjust not to acknowledge that
things have most materially altered for thebetter, within
the last month or six weeks. The advanced posts, the
villages, such as Bathurst and Theopolis, are no longer
surrounded by a vigilant enemy, nor does any one think
it probable that a rush will be made upon Graham's
Town 1

It seems to be now ascertained that no assistance will
be given to the hostile Kafirs by the Tambookies or
Creili's people.
The district levies are now nearly all at hand, and
next moon, if not the present one, should light the
different divisions of the army to the most distant and
least accessible positions between the Keiskama and the
Kei.

It is said that probably on the 6th instant, a movement
will be made across the Keiskama into Pate's country,
by a force consisting of the following troops:-
160 Dragoons.
240 Cape Mounted Rifles.
900 Mounted Burghers from George and Swellendam.
100 90th Regiment.
100 91st Regiment.
400 Hottentots.
100 Fingoes.

2,000 in all.

A corresponding movement will probably be made
upon the Amatola, by the divisions under Colonel Hare
and Sir A. Stockenstrom.

(From the Graham's Town Journal.)
FRlDAY.—Received this afternoon further information
from the neighbourhood of the Kaga, the most important
point being that Sir Andreas Stockenstrorn had made a
journey into the Tambookie country and had held a con-
ference with some of the chiefs, all of whom had made
to him the strongest professions of good-will towards the
colony. From the Koga to the Kei there is a large
force of Burghers assembled, who are most anxious
to take the field, and whose patience is almost exhausted
by the long delay which has taken place. Unfortunately
there appears to be but very little concert among our
leaders. No regular communications are preserved, and it
Henn t 49 be tiaeuglit ? matter of PeOM indifference