CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 67, 17 April 1852, Page 7

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE

Our dates from the Cape are to 13th December. The Kaffir war was still raging, and with no prospect of a speedy termination. A series of desperate engagements with the enemy had taken place in the beginning of November, resulting in the loss of officers and nineteen-men. The following officers were killed, —Lieut-Col. Fordyce, of the 74th Highlanders; Lieuts. Carey and Gordon, of the same regiment; and Captain Devenish, of the Beaufort (W) Levy. Ensign

Ricketts of the 91st also died of a wound recei ved a month previously. The condition of the British troop was wretched in the extreme. Sir Harry Smith is very severely censured by the journals for permitting this. A body of forces numbering nearly 3000 had crossed the Kei into Krelis country. It was commanded by Major General Somerset, with Col. Mac Kinnon as second in command. Lieut.-Cols. Pole, Burns, Mitchell, Napser, and Nisbet, accompanied the expedition. It is feared it would prove unsuccessful.

The Cape Town Mail says;—" It is confidently reported that instructions have been received from the Home Government to renounce British jurisdiction over the Orange River sovereignty. The public have, as yet, no means of ascertaining the true character of the report, and we may therefore, hope, that it will prove to be unfounded. Should, ho%vever, such a purpose have been actually entertained, it must cer- . tainly rank among the most ill judged and impolitic determinations which the Colonial Office itself has ever blundered upon."

The New Constitution reached the Cape at the latter end of November. It was hailed as a liberal boon by the journals and the people generally; but opposed by the nominee legislative council.

H. M. steamer Vulcan arrived on the 9th December with the 43rd regiment, and detachments of the 12th Foot and 12th Lancers.

The disturbances in the interior have had the effect of greatly diminishing the inland trade of Natal. That colony has of late suffered considerably from commercial depression ; but the internal tranquility of the settlement has not been disturbed.