11 SEPTEMBER 1852, Page 1

The latest intelligence from the Cape of Good Hope is

of great importance, as throwing a lurid light upon the position of the offi- cial government in the colony. Either the representative of the Colonial Office has exceeded his orders to an extent which ought to bring him criminally to account, or the most responsible Minister of the empire has committed himself to a course the failure of which should entail upon him the consequences of impeachment. General Cathcart may claim the distinction, not easy to attain, of having issued the most insolent document which the Cape colo- nists have been destined to receive,—:and they have often been highly favoured in that particular. The document is more than insolent; it commits the person who has uttered it to a specific course of conduct, momentous both to colony and mother-country.

In this official paper General Cathcart describes the hostile Caffres as being nearly subdued—only some " three hundred Hottentot man- randers " " roaming the country" ; and he avers that" one thousand mounted police" might "ere long root them out"- This suggestio falsi, so grossly underrating the present infliction on the colonists—mani- festlyinconsistent in itself, not less than with facts as notorious as the Queen's going to Balmoral—can serve no purpose but to irritate the settlers and provoke their contempt. When he declares that the mother-country obtains scarcely any return for "making the great sacrifice she has done in this cause," and parades the cost of 1,000,0001. sterling "drawn from the .pockets of the British con- stituency," he does no more than cast in the teeth of the colonists the gibes which the Financial Reformers cast upon his own chiefs. When he tells them that the object of his expedition is to show the power and will of the colonists to scourge the native tribes, he can only add to the irritation which they feel at being thus osten- tatiously summoned to do what they would have done for them- selves long ago, if they had not been prevented by the Colonial Office. When he tells them that " this must probably be the last Caffre war," and threatens to withdraw " my army," he provokes the retort that the colonists will be glad to get rid of British assistance with its encumbrances.

But at home, the question must arise, by what authority Gene- ral Cathcart has committed himself to that threat of abandoning a British dependency ? It appears scarcely possible, that a simple military man, as a matter of military tactics, can have ventured upon a manoeuvre so momentous in its consequences ; and yet it does appear almost more impossible that he can have received from any one of her Majesty's responsible advisers instructions so extravagant.

If, indeed, venturing upon a course so wild, Lord Derby thinks that he can evade the responsibility by casting it retrospectively upon his predecessors—thinks that he can shield himself at the ex- pense of the late Premier, by recording with the pen of his Procon- sul in Africa the Financial Reform truisms about sacrifices for Caffre wars for the sake of "national pride" or "sympathy and benevo- lence," he rates the simplicity of the English public beyond the point to which even his Protectionist-Free-trade and Conservative-Re- form dodges have warranted him in doing. It is not to be forgotten that the whole Cape system would have been brought under re- -Vision, if the accidents by which he accepted office had not released Lo'rd John Russell and his eolleaguei from their official responsi- bility. The. Tories had a joint interest in quashing that investi- gation; for it was. well known, that if Mr. Adderley had brought hothe to the Whig Ministers their misdeeds at the Cape, Sir Molesworth was ready to carry back the account to the day when Lord Stafiley was Colonial Minister, and began some of the ill works which the Liberals continued. That case is still

standing for trial ; and even if the change of .the defendant • in .the Treasury dock should scare Mr. Adderley from acting on

.his brief, there is still Sir William Molesworth, tied by no party bonds ; and the Lord Stanley of his Cape researches is now the Lord Derby officially answerable for General Cathcart. The affairs of the Cape cannot be left any longer without a thorough over- hauling : these last escapades imperatively challenge the scrutiny of Parliament ; and the extreme aspect which they have now as- sumed may help to arouse the public attention to see that Par- liament do not neglect its duty.