CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 709, 19 May 1852, Page 3

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

[From the Empire, May 3, 1852.]

By the Queenstown we have Cape papers to the 28th of February. Great consternation had been caused-in the public mind by the wreck of the Birkenhead — : a full account of which disaster will be found in another part of our paper. Sir Harry Smith had been recalled ; his successor was Major-General Cathcart, who, however, had not arrived in the colony. This change in the Government was likely to render the state of affairs more perplexing and difficult than ever. We subjoin .the article of the South African on this subject: — “ The history of the Cape is becoming a pure series of calamities. In the fifteenth month of a war with barbarians, a highly disciplined British army stands baffled, checked, and lamenting the irreparable loss of its best officers and bravest men, without even a semblance of success in the pettiest operations. The campaign having proved a failure, the Governor and'Commander-in-Chief

intimated that be was wailing for reinforcements of Burghers from the Colony, and of troops from England, iu order to take the field in person on the Bth of March, with an overwhelming force. It is not yet known to what extent the Burghers have responded to his summons, but two events have just occurred which threaten to disable him altogether. The first is, his recall. The announcement of this event before the artival of his successor, annihilates his authority, without which it is impossible to command an army. With the regular forces under his command, the effect of his recall being known will be highly injurious, though discipline will still preserve order and keep the soldiers to their standards. But with the irregular or volunteer bands it will be utterly ruinous. Under such a cloud it would be unsafe to hazard any movement I’ke that announced for the Bth of March, which requires the prompt obedience and simultaneous action of distant columns, confronting on all sides a watchful aiid desperate enemy. To announce the disgrace of a Commandef-in-Chief, in the presence of his enemy, while his successor was weeks or months distant from the scene of action, was a proceeding worthy of Earl Grey. He is the most consistent man in mischief that ever ruined a country.”

“The other event fills the cup of bitterness to

the brim. On Monday last H.M. steamer Birkenhead, with a. reinforcement of 14 officers and 472 rank and file, arrived in Simon’s Bay, under tlie command of Major Sston, of. the 74th tegiment, and was dispatched on Wednesday for the

Buffalo, where they would have been in readiness to support the Governor in his intended movements on the Bth. Not many hours'after leaving Simon's Bay, this splendid vessel struck on a rock and immediately sunk, when all on board, with the exception, it is said, of some fifty persons, perished. Intelligence of this teirible calamity reached Gape Town only yesterday morning, and nothing further respecting it has yet been made public.” - ...

“Such events are beyond human foresight or control; but as they are always possible, a government worthy of confidence will always be in some measure prepared to meet them, and to brpak their force. In the present case they burst wish unmitigated violence on a community whose hopes are already prostrate. “ To what quarter can the colonists look for the recovery of their affairs? To Lord Grey, whose every step is marked with incapacity,. if not with rancour or an intention to wound and irritate ? To Sir Harry Smith, who has been laid aside ? To the local “ Government}" It has sunk beneath contempt. Its very existence has become questionable.

“It is to God and to themselves that the colonists must now look for safety. Their applications to Parliament and the Sovereign have hitherto been defeated liy false statements from their local rulers, which it then suited Lord Grey's purpose to say he believed. Events have altered his tactics. He now declares that he has been deceived, because without this declaration, he dared not have faced Parliament s on the 3rd of February. He is now prepared to sacrifice Sir Harry Smith, end it may be some others who have not been altogether faithful to him or Sir Marry. When asked why he did not act upon the information furnished by the colonists and by the Cape delegates, who told him very plainly how matters s’ood, and foretold what disasters were likely to follow his policy, he will produce despatches from the Colonial Office, bulletins from Sir Harry Smith, and extracts from the Government newspaper, containing assertions so positive that he might well be excused for giving credit to them. But he is now undeceived, and prepared to make sacrifices. There have indeed been sacrifices. The lives and property of the Frontier colonists have been sacrificed. The lives of gallant officers and soldiers, have been sacrificed in hopeless and inglorious contests with barbarians. The safety of every family in the colony has been put in peril. Some millions of money have been squandered in vain. The reputation of her Majesty’s administration of her Government has been damaged. To make up for all this, be is prepared to say that he has sent a Constitution to the Cape, to sooth the colonists, and recalled Sir Harry Smith. But the next steamer will inform the public that matters have been so arranged that the Constitution is as far from being settled as ever, and that the fecal of Sir Harry Smith has been so managed as to ensure the greatest possible amount of mischief that could have been produced under existing circumstances —and that the colonists are more exasperated by. the proceedings of his subordinates here than by any previous acts of folly or bad faith. If.tbere be virtue in Parliament, they will demand of him another sacrifice —the sacrifice of his place and l' a y-

“But the colonists —how are they to act? Without organization they can do nothing. To this one point of organization, therefore, all their efforts must be directed. They must once more demand the Constitution, which is tbeir right by Letters Patent. They can now prove by facts, which even Lord Grey will feel it delicate to deny, that the local Government has managed so to constitute the present Legislative Council, that it would not if it could, and cannot if it would, settle this question,— that it has become si.nply a key to the Exchequer, out of which the official and unofficial members can help one another in carrying on. their war against public opinion and public rights, for any length of time to come. Let them, at the public meeting to be held in the Town Hall on Monday, pass the Draft Ordinances, with the blanks to be filled up, and request their confirmation by Act of Parliament—• with an intimation that this is the last petition which respect for themselves will permit them to present on this subject. “This in all probability will be successful.”