The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-18 00:00:00

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

We have received files of papers from the Cape
;o the 28th of July. We take the following from

Le Angus of the 27th:—

" The Governor left Cape Town, to mediate
between the Boers and Basutus, yesterday morn-
ing, at 10 o'clock. It had been made known,
for two or three days previously, that his
Excellency had resolved to start immediately
after the despatch of the mail steamer, and
arrangements were made in Cape Town to
do honour to the occasimi of his Excellency's
-departure upon so important a mission. All
the Cape Town Volunteers assembled ; the Cape
Royal Rifles formed a guard of honour, under the
command of Capt. R. D. Jones, at the entrance of
Government-house ; the Cape Volunteer Cavalry
lined the walk at the back of the Cape Royal Rifles,
and the Cape Mounted Rifles were drawn up in
line at the top of Grave-street. The Volunteer
Artillery were posted with their guns at the Castle-
bridge. The cavalry were under the command of
Lieut. R. le Sueur, and the artillery under the
command of Major Duprat.
" As a mark of respect to his Excellency, a great
number of the most influential persons in this city
assembled at Government-house, where the Exe-
cutive Council sat for some time previous to the
hour appointed for starting.
" When the Governor appeared at the doorway
arms were presented, and the talented band of the
Cape Royal Rifles played the National Anthem.
His Excellency, who appeared highly gratified at
this manifestation of good feeling and esteem, took
leave of those who had assembled at Government-
house, and of the Cape Royal Rifles, and then rode
off with his suite. He was accompanied to Salt
Ris;er by the cavalry and, the. Cape Mounted
Rifles. When his Excellency arrived at the
Castle-bridge a salute of 19 guns was fired by the
artillery in first-rate time, which honour his Excel-
lency graciously acknowledged. At Salt River the
whole military escort came to a halt, and, after
receiving the thanks of the Governor, the cavalry
and Cape Mounted Rifles returned to Cape Town.

" There could not have been less than 2,000
persons present to witness his Excellency's depar-
ture. It was generally remarked that the appear-
anct of the volunteers and their conduct on this

occasion did themselves and the metropolis of the
colony infinite credit. His Excellency spent last
night at the Paarl, at which place, as well as at
Beaufort and other places en route, the inhabitants
have made arrangements to give him an enthusi-
astic reception. We wish him ' God speed."

THE WEST INDIA MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY.

The Royal West India mail packet Magdalena,
Capt. Abbot, arrived here to-day, with the Pacific
and West India mails. There is no news from
Mexico, the packet from Vera Cruz and Tampico not
having been due when the Magdalena sailed. Her
dates of sailing are :—Panama, August 23 ; Val-
paraiso, July 31 ; Calao, August 12 ; Jamaica, 25 ;
Demerara, 25 ; Trinidad, 23 ; Barbadoes, 27 ; St.
Lucia, 28 ; Antigua, 29 ; St. Vincent, 26 ; St.
Thomas, 28. _ - .

The Magdalena brings 69 passengers, and specie
to the amount of 749,371 dollars. _

Mr. Montagu Dundas, late fifth officer of the
royal mail steamship Thames, invalided, died, Sept.
3, on the passage. Mr. Alfred Fuller, chief officer
of the royal mail steamer Eagle, died at Jamaica,
August 26.
The schooner Australia, Royal Mail Company,
with outward mails, on anchoring in the harbour of
Nassau, New Providence, was struck by lightning,
which shivered the foremast all to pieces ; fortu-
nately the crew escaped without injury.
The crews of the steamships on the main route
have suffered much from the Chagres fever this
season.

The West India Islands generally, and Demerara,
are in a healthy state.
In Jamaica the weather had continued extremely
dry throughout a large part of the country. In
several parishes the drought proved the most severe
that had been experienced for many years past.
On some estates in St. Ann and elsewhere two sets
of plants were consecutively burnt out of the
ground. It is feared that the approaching crop of
1858-59 will be very seriously affected by it. A
fine shower, the first for some months, had fallen.
_ _

According to a despatch received by the Gover-
nor from the Secretary of State for the Colonies,
her Majesty's Government had not deemed it pru-
dent to sanction the proposition of taking steps for
the introduction into the colony of the expatriated
free black and coloured inhabitants of the Southern
States of America.
A more active business had been transacted dur-
ing the fortnight, in consequence of a desire on the
part of some to speculate. Flour had advanced
considerably. Coffee was selling at 365. to 41s. per
100 lbs. according to quality. English cheese was
selling at ls. ld. per lb. Tonnage was plentiful,
but freights were dull. Sugar, 17s. to 20s. accord-
ing to quality ; very fair samples, at 21s. to 225.
per 100 lbs. Tobacco very heavy and very dull.
Exchange on London, 90 days, 1. per cent.
premium.
In British Guiana the weather had been very
showery, with oppressive heat. Sugar-making ope-
rations had commenced pretty generally, and the
canes were yielding well.
There is said to be a blight in the coffee planta-
tions of Martinique,
The reports from Trinidad arc favourable to the
crops. _ _ _

liarbadoes and Antigua have suffered much from
drought.
PANAMA, AUGUST 32.—Since the sailing of the
last European mail, but little important news has
transpired on the isthmus. The weather has been
unusually fine for the season of the year, and the
health of the isthmus is excellent. ' A slide on the
railroad took place near Obispo, which blocked up
the track, and prevented the trains from passing,
so that the passengers were detained all night on
the road. The next morning the passengers were
brought over. No damage done to cars or pas-
sengers.

A correspondent writes to us :
" The Thames arrived at Grey Town on the 12th,
and proceeded to Blewfields. What or where Blew-
fields is a great portion of the British public arc,
no doubt, ignorant ; even those that go there are in
the dark, except that they proceed some 90 miles
fiom Grey Town along a low dangerous coast, and
fin illy anchor off a ' bluff' without any shelter,
a very small mail bag is landed on a little island at
the entrance of a lagoon, where, in a hut, the only
one on the island, dwelt a white man and four or
five natives. To approacb.this island the boat has
to cross the bar, where a heavy sea runs at all times
frequently it is dangerous, and the lagoon abounds;
with sharks and alligators. The ship remains a
night, that is to say, if she is not obliged to get un-
derweigh on account of the weather. Blewfields,
the metropolis of his Mosquitian Majesty, is said to
be some five or six miles up the lagoon. The Go-
vernment, I understand, pay £l,OOO per annum
extra for this service ! I have inquired of many,
and none can explain this mystery. The mail, I
should say, was a mere bag of post-office forms.
There is, I believe, one Englishman resident besides
the one that receives the mail. By this arrange-
ment the time so necessary for the steamers to put
their machinery and boilers to rights at Grey Town
is cut short, and I don't hesitate to say that on many
occasions the lives of those landing are risked. You
will see that Blewfields is put on a footing with the
important Brazilian ports, and Grey Town, where
there is neither freight nor passenger traffic, has a
fortnightls
Grey Town is in a very low state; many are
leaving. The Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans have
rejected Mr. Vanderbilt's golden offer of £lOO,OOO
dollars and the opening of the route for the vision-
ary scheme of M. Belly, for such it is. No wonder
—from the experience the natives have had of the
Yankees.
On the 9th Colonel Cauty came down, and on
the part of the Governments of Costa Rica and
Nicaragua, took possession of Punta Arenas, the
os ship Leopard, interfered,
side of the harbour, but Captain Wain-
wriglit,of
consequence
Majesty'sf om e
old agreement, by which
u l.
in
we are bound to protect Mr. Scott, late of Morgan
Grimson and Co. Her
Majesty's
consul also ob-
jected on the part of the Mosquitian Government.
The Leopard has been stationed_ on this coast and
To
Jamaica eight months. give you some idea of
the Blewfields anchorage--the Leopard, in getting
under weigh, shipped a sea on 'the upper deck, when
a man was washed off the forecastle and lost.
" Colon is the ' Aspinwall' of the Americans.
Why should we not call it so . The present system
leach to confusi
on. It is best known as Aspinwall,
and considering the Americans that
made it, why
not adopt their name for
compliment by accepting our Grey Town.' What-
ever its name, it goes on • flourishing, and no
Wonder, as it is the only safe and easy com-
munication between two oceans. It is a com-
plete monopoly. There is no mere thorough-
going monopolist • than Brother Jonathan where
interests are coupled, but the system is