CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 649, 16 January 1864, Page 6

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

the Epistle to the Romans aid the Pentateuch was commenced on Tuesday morning in St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, before th Metropolitan Bishop of Cape Town, and two suf fragans, the Bishop of Graham's Town and th Bishop of the Orange Free State. The accusin clerg/, the Dean of Cape Town and the Archdea cons of Graham's Town and George, were presen to support the charges they had preferred; an Dr. Bleek, curator ot the Grey Library, who at tended on behalf of Bishop Colenso read a lette from the bishop, denying the jurisdiction of th Court, and handed in a formal protest against th proceedings.-. Thl speech of the Dean of Cap Town in support of the charges preferred, wa very eloquent and forcible, and characterised b deej research and great ability, The Customs returns for the quarter endin 30th September last, show an increa-e of £55,01 in the value of the exports, which amounted t £301,210; the imports amounted to £541,037 and the entries for consumption to £507,7.> - only £6,535 more than the imports. . ./hk weather continues showery. There i every prospect of an abundant harvest. Provision plentiful and cheap, and trade is reviving Ther P e have he en destructive storms and heav floods in the Eastern Province. ■ the Governer and a party of about 40 invted guests to Wellington. On arriving there ( t^j^ffiffiz Governor presided. Conviction of Alfred Abraham Mar cus.-The Cnnunal Sessions commenced mth Supreme Court on Monday Nov 2. The mos interesting case was that of Alfred Abraham Mar cus, a well-known Cape speculator, well connecte by marriage, who was indicted on three distinc eo.mte for tofr^*^™***™!^" with having defrauded Mi. G, W. Pilkmgton o £4,000, by passing to him two promissoiy note for £2,000 each which notes he represented t have b9en accepted by the Hon. George Wood of Graham's Town a wealthy member of th Legislative Council, he at the same tim knowimr them to have been -endorsed not by the Hon. George Wood of Graham' Town, but by one George Wood, of Cap Town, an old theatrical costumier, not wort a shilling. The second count charged him wit having obtained from Messrs. Lewis and Lichten stein their bills to the amount of £4,200, by pas sing to them, by means of similar representations tft'O other bills of the same character. The thir count charged him withl passing, under a simila representation, to Mr. Henry Matthew Ai-derne an attorney of the Supreme Court, two bills fo £1,000 each, and oae bill for £1,000 and thereb defrauding Mr. Arderne of £300. He was foun " Guilty" and sentenced to be imprisoned, wit hard hard labor, for five years. ; . ¥AWmnmrT A P \TW THE VANDERBILT A&AIJN. seizure of the British barque saxon Some excitement was occasioned in Cape Tow on t]ie morning of Thursday, October 24, by th en trance into Table Bay of the well-know pedei-al American steam man-of-war Vanderbilt o f w iiose arrival at Mauritius we had then recentl hear d It appears that Captain Baldwin, who { . j Oman's Bay ran up. to Mauritius i n the expectation of finding the Confederat cruizer Georgia on the patent slip there, on learn mo. that he had been misled by false information re solved to return to the Cape. He accordingl left Mauritius on the 10th October, looked int Alcoa and Simon's Bays on Ms way down th coast, aud then came on to Table Bay, only to re cdvc full confirmation of the intelligence obtaine at the ports of call, that the Alabama and he "pirates," as it is his pleasure to miscal S t^m } J d appai .ently taken their final departur from our shores, and were gone, none knew whi ther! Captain Baldwin obtained permission tore m^; liere SO me days, for the purpose of overhaul S£ hlmSnevy^^mn^ndrepah-mg He ° ]{l t0 the Governor for permission to take i coa but that wS refused, upon the ground tha t£ mon hs hlfnolßelapsed since the° Vanderbil had obtained coil at an English port. She had nf^ctSn that time coaled at St. Helena, a B=,^^^ Mauritius. Captain Baldwin and the American consul waited upon th Governor, to remonstrate against the decision, but are reported to have had the wind taken out o 1 reference on the part of His Ex cellency to one of the letters written by the consul ■ to himself when the Alabama was here, in which to lumseU wi en e^™ m ai 7 (Jovvn the utmo3t H ,^^4 p /vile^ef to which she would be entitled. TlnlbeingthefirstvMtofthe Vanderbil

i'SS^^S^rf^'^bSS n of Cape Town to inspect the mammoth war slim of which so much ha* heen heard and read, and durin*- her stay here large numbers of persons JJ™y ™ nnd wei = most courteously ree erf d an(] onterta incd by the officer.?. Naturally : nOll ~ ]nany persons endeavored to institute a , "^ be tween the fightm* qualities of the y^g^t ail d those of the more celebrated Alau ama ie balance of opinion, was decidedly in o fivot .' of tic ]; lt ter; the Vanderhilt, notwithstandi ioo hai licav i er armament and superior speed, c bfiilti C(inpar<l Hvely slightly built, having all her c machhi ,, ry on deck, and presenting an immense d « mark » t o an enemy, while the deck of the Alabamil is only cig)lt f eGt above the water. s while the Vanderbilt was in port the Customhouse officers seized onboard the Flower of the Yarrow, a vessel employed regularly in the coaste ing trade, which had arrived from Ichaboe a faw - (Inys previously three.balesot hops and twoboxes of tobacco, which* were behewd to havi formed t partofthecai^oof the Sea Bride the Federal barqu^ captured by the Alabama at the entrance to Table Bay, andsold byCap tainSemmes to Captain Elmstone who has since left the Cape On l the foliowm-day, the 27th idt, tho Vanderb.lt - weighed anchor and left Table Bay, it being given w out that Captain iialdwm had determined to ret tnrn direct to the American coast beueving that « the Alabama and her consorts had gone m that direction for the purpose of preying upon I<oderal merchant vessels. On the 4th November, the j schooner Atlas arrived from Penguin Island, and - the captain reported that he had been boarded by - an officer and boat's crew of the Vanderbilt, who, t i )es ides overhauling his papers, opened the hatches ah of his vessel and examined hey cargo. After this n the Vanderbilt made a straight course forAmrra c Pequina, the-too well known rendezvous of the n Confederate cruisers. Upon' learning this, the - GoverEment at once ordered up the Valorous from t Simons Bay, for the protection of any British moo terest that might chance to bs imperilled. The d Valorous left Simon's Hay on Saturday evening, c the 7thinst., and returned on Sunday last, s On the following day, various exciting rumors . were circulated in .Cape Town. It was asserted t that the otfeers of the Valorous had reported that ; the Van erbilt had visited Angra Pequina, capd tured there the barque Saxon (formerly the a American banjue Lucy Johnson), the property of Messrs. Wm •> ndereon, Saxon and Co., laden t with part of the cargo of the Alabama's prize, the c Tusc.aloosa; placed a prize crew on board of her, - and sent her to New York; transferred the crew o of the Saxon, with the exception of the chief f officer, who was said to hav<? been killed, to either t the Good Hope or the Isabclle, and subsequently t destroyed or taken away a depot of coal estabe lished'in. Penguin Island. Upon inquiry we c ascertained that Mr \V. J. Anderson, .of the firm - of Wm. Anderson, Saxon and Co., had received c from his agent at Simon's Bay a communication y informing him that on dunday"morning H.M.S. t Valorous returned to Simon's Bay from her cruise s along the West Coast on the track of the Vandero hilt, "and her officers reported the seizure of the - >axon by the Vanderbilt, the transfer of her crew d to the Isabelle, the reported death of the mate, who c was said to have been shot byjone of the officers , of the Vanderbilt, and other circumstances. There o did not, however, appear to be very good authority c for any of these statements, tb'e only information y the officers of the Valorous obtained having been c received from some laborers at Ichaboe. There - were no vessels at * ngra Pequina when the Vaa lorou3 entered the harbour, and some men obt served upon Penguin Island disappeared when a d boat from the vessel approached the shore with a t view of communicating with them., Captain Forr syth, however, subsequently managed to eommuo nicate with some laborers, who informed him that t the Vanderbilt had been there several days pres viously, after having examined Penguin Island, c shipped the greater portion of 250 tons of coal c which she found there, and destroyed the ret mainder. That while she was lying off Penguin d Island the Saxon came from the inner harbour, y was overhauled close to the land, seized, placed m r charge of a prize crew, and despatched to New c York. The men further stated that Captain - ,-hepherd (the commander of the Paxon) and the c crew were afterwards placed on board of a coaste ing vessel, in orderto be taken to the Cape. Ruo mors were current in town that the vessel which - received the crew of the axon was the Good Hope, o and not the Isabelle, the latter also having been d seized by the Vanderbilt; but we were not able to c trace them to any reliable source. The Good o Hope was bound to Sandwich Harbour and wale \vieh Bay, and may be hourly expected to return c to the Cape. Thesemireof the heVanderlu t wjl give rise to a number of knotty points, which in d *T'^ Tf J dipl°^ C ? n^nwmTr^^el w» Szed pi^nt accounts represent, the^elwa. seized in Bntoh.or other neutral ivaters, tae cap ure m , she would have had no right to rescue the prize. . Before making any such attempt^ she must. have c waited until both had removed beyond the limits - of the protecting league. It is clear, therefore, c that she could have no right to seize he £Ixo,l, g either within three miles of Penguin Island - which is part of this coony, «^ta%™« t "ngra Pequina, which is, nommallj at least, d Portuguese territory. But it she were not m - neutral water the case will present a very different r aspect Captain'mines cannot convey to any c one a legal title to the cargoes ot the vessels he c has captured until they have been condemned m c a regular prize court. Until condemned, they s remain Federal property, and we have a misgiving y that dealing on the high seas with property to which onehasno legal title must ] **%&**£ g something not very far removei from p acy. 8 Anywhere upon the high seas Cap a™ BaWwij o would be at .hbertytoseizefl *J™V*%>™*£ , trea tas-we as sea O, M aw^ glf^Jf"! with it But the sef-me^d effitrue ion ot tne coal stored on Peng urn Wanel wes cle. rj an act s s Mra™^JS v S^^^ . ? re ™P «^uk^ab«"f.^^h Goveray Jf^a "^'^toapdo^totte^nteh^ein ment ' "nd *""*?,^S rSSrin Xn 0 mff any Confederate man-of-w,r,^ seize , an Ji destroy the coal at Penguin Island. If either jK^texsa-^ws the q^ wa3 f or some other object than to meet , - the Alabama.