Colonies and distant dependencies send us news not without in-
terest. From farthest Ind we learn of new reverses on a small scale sustained by British arms. A gallant officer, whose per- sonal exploits have lent a lustre to the name of Loch, which mili- tary etiquette has not permitted to be typified in titles and deco- rations at his grade in the service, has perished in the paltry disasters of the campaign under the venerable pensioner.
The limes, apparently moved by some freshly-received intelli- gence, recalls attention to the state of Van Diemen's Land, where Sir William Denison maintains the Grey regime of transportation and Anti-Colonial hauteur, and where the rough-and-ready gold- diggers talk of helping the colonists to take the justice which their Governor declares they do not want! Intelligence from England is on its way to that colony which will probably allay this irritation. It is from the Cape of Good Hope that we have the most defi- nite news. General Cathcart had at last brought most of the con- tumacious African leaders to submission, and had exacted the con- cession which he had made his point of honour : Krell had crossed the Eel. But if the Kei can be crossed in one direction, it can be recrossed in the other ; and we do not see what is to keep Krell on the Trans-Kein territory ? General Cathcart, indeed, had thrown out a plan promising certain advantages to persons who should settle in the Amatolas and serve as military guards ; but while the advantages are not sufficient as a bounty for recruiting such a resident guard, there appears every reason to doubt whether the project will receive the sanction of the Colonial Legislature or of her Majesty's Ministers. Still, General Cathcart had done a public service in backing out of the border war as soon as he found a convenient opportunity for doing so with dignity. It was said long ago, that the war would be terminated as soon as General Cathcart should proclaim it to be so ; and behold, it is " finished " —or left off.
This conclusion opportunely clears the ground for the arrival of that constitution which has so long been promised to the Cape, and which is now on its way, framed according to the most liberal construction of the wishes of the colonists. The fact that the con- stitution had been sent out by the present Colonial Minister has attained a sort of private publicity for some days ; it has been al- luded to in the daily papers as a notorious fact; but the first distinct and authentic announcement we find in the Southwark speech of Sir William Molesworth, who vouches for the thoroughly satisfactory nature of the instrument. This is the true settlement of the bor- der question: with a wholesome constitution, the colony will be strong enough for any enemy which Africa can grow ; and Gene- ral Cathcart's military frontier may be laid up in that storehouse of the moon which is the depository for unfulfilled projects.
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