disastrous war. In the latter place of purgatory, it has just been announced, Mr. Frederick Peel succeeds Mr.
Hawes, and may at any rate be tolerably free from the fear that after his term of service he will leave things
worse than he found them. That would not be possible. Let us add that a better selection for this
bête noir of an undersecretaryship could not have been made. Mr. Peel is the most promising young statesman
of his party; resembling his father closely not only in person and manner, but in all such attributes of
mind as he has hitherto had occasion to display.

The overland mail from Bombay, of the 1st of
September, brings little interesting news. Gholab
Singh had put down the insurrection which his tax-
gatherers had caused in the northern parts of his
dominions; and he had been formally congratulated by
the British authorities on the event. Moolraj, of
Mooltan celebrity, who cost us so much at the end of
the Lahore war, has expired in captivity. The last
mail brought reports of the discovery of plots for his
escape to Nepaul; and it was on his journey from the
place in which he had hitherto been confined to some
more secure fortress that he died. An enormous quantity
of rain had fallen in the valley of the Indus; more rain
had fallen in twenty days than had fallen in the twenty
years preceding: hundreds of villages had been swept
away, and with an immense loss of property there had
been also a great loss of lives.

A Court Martial was held at Penang on the 3rd and
4th of September, on Commander Peter Cracroft and
the officers and crew of her Majesty's steam sloop,
Reynard, for the loss of that vessel, wrecked on the 31st
of May, on the reefs near Pratas Island. The Court
were of opinion that the said vessel was set on shore by
the irregular currents, which have been proved to be
very uncertain both in strength and direction; and that
after she struck upon the shoal every effort that could
have been adopted was made to save the vessel, and that
she was not abandoned until it would have exposed her
crew to great danger and loss of life by remaining by the
wreck. The court were also of opinion that an error in
judgment was committed in approaching the shoal from
the south-east, when it was steep to, instead of from
the north-west, where it appears, on the authority of
Horsburgh's Directory and the Admiralty chart, that
soundings project two or three miles; also that due
precautions, as laid down in the Admiralty instructions,
were not taken, inasmuch as no leadsmen were in the
chains, nor any casts of the deep sea lead taken.
The court, therefore, deemed the commander, and Mr.
McCauland, the master, worthy of censure, but in
consideration of their high character, only adjudged them to
be admonished; while they expressed their high
approbation of the exemplary conduct displayed by the
commander, officers, and crew under the most trying
circumstances.

The Canadian ministry have resigned. Their
resignations were not sent in en masse, but Mr. Hincks, the
inspector-general, and Mr. Morris, the postmaster-
general, sent their resignations; and this made such a
rupture of the ministry, as to make the resignation of
the whole a matter of necessity. The chief point of
division is the clergy reserves. Mr. Hincks is in favour
of the secularisation of these, while Mr. Lafontaine
holds the converse creed.—The grand provincial
agricultural exhibition has been held in Brockville. About
12,000 visitors from different parts of the province and
the United States were present. The show of cattle
and horses was not quite so large as usual, but the
grains were very superior, and have never been surpassed;
much finer specimens of wheat were shown than those
sent to London at the Industrial Exhibition. The
show of butter and cheese was very good; as was also
that of agricultural implements.

The last advices from Sydney give some satisfactory
assurances against the probability of any extensive
desertion of their vessels by the seamen in the port in
consequence of the discovery of the gold mines. The
desertion at San Francisco when the Californian gold
was discovered was universal, because there was no
marine police, but at Sydney there is an organised and
efficient force for the protection of the harbour and the
prevention of offences. There is a water-police magistrate
especially appointed to decide maritime disputes,
to whom a jurisdiction, most important to the commerce
of the colony, has been recently given under the
Mercantile Marine Act to hear and determine certain cases
summarily which were previously sent to a jury. These
cases comprise any wilful damage of a ship or embezzlement
of her stores, and wilful disobedience or neglect of
duty, or any combination for that purpose, and the
penalties range from one to three months' imprisonment,
with or without hard labour. An instance of the
enforcement of the act has already occurred, and in a
way to show that it will prove effective. On the 6th of
June the crew of the emigrant ship Emperor, just
arrived, struck, and positively refused to do more duty,
the motive of the combination being obviously an intention
to get to the diggings. An unsatisfactory plea was
set up in justification, and they were all sentenced to
hard labour for twelve weeks.

In reference to the derangement of the labour and
produce market, the new evidence is corrective of the
first accounts. The numbers of miners appear to have
been much fewer than was supposed. About ten days
before the latest accounts came from the diggings, the
number was estimated to be 1500, and at the latest
moment they were set down at 2000. The accounts
also contain statements, repeated in many forms, that
the desertion of shepherds was not so extensive as had
at first been represented; nor have the prices of provisions
risen so enormously as was stated.

Intelligence from the Cape of Good Hope has been
received to the 12th of .September. A serious engagement
took place on the 1st of September in the Fish
River Bush. A detachment, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Burne, 2nd Royals, encountered a body of Stock's,
Seyolo's, and Botman's Kaffirs, with a number of
Hottentots. Several desperate charges were made by the
men of the 2nd, who, though unused to this kind of
fighting, displayed great spirit. Two men of this
regiment were killed, and five wounded; of the Royal
Sappers and Miners one was killed and one wounded; in
the Cape Corps and Armstrong's Horse two men were
wounded. The dead and wounded were sent to Fort
Peddie, and the detachment returned to King William's
Town. On their march the Kaffirs are said to have
attacked them again; very heavy firing was heard by
persons at Fort Peddie, in the direction in which the
troops had gone, but the result was not known. On the
2nd the Kaffirs attacked some waggons on their way to
Graham's Town from below Southwell, and succeeded
in carrying off five spans of oxen, worth £300. The
affair was reported to Major-General Somerset, when
pursuit was immediately made, and eighteen of the
oxen recovered. From Lyndoch, intelligence has been
received that most of the Tambookie servants, who had
hitherto remained faithful, have joined the enemy, and
have assisted in driving off their master's cattle, horses,
and sheep. Some sharp conflicts had taken place
between the colonists (Messrs. Pringle, Scott, Niland, and
others) and the marauders, several of whom were shot.
In these actions, unfortunately, two burghers were
killed, and others wounded. Numerous other skirmishes
of military and colonial patrols with the enemy have
taken place; but it does not appear that any material
effect has yet been produced in restraining the activity
or diminishing the boldness of the enemy. Every post
brought accounts of fresh depredations and ravages,
committed at various points within the line of the frontier.
The presence of the troops in the colony appears
to have had little influence in repressing the ravages of
the enemy, except in the immediate vicinity of the forces.
The movements of General Somerset are said to have
had rather the effect of encouraging than of restraining