The Express.
London, England, 1858-04-03 00:00:00

THE I•Xt'RESS, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 3, 1858.

authority which starts them in life cannot promote '
their subsequent advancement. But all these con-
stitutional checks are now to be swept away. The
Governor is to be absolute at home ; the Governor
is to be absolute abroad. Both in England and in
India he is to appoint his own checks. The Governor
at home, with a packed council of his own, and the
Governors abroad, with packed councils of their own,
may, as far as we can see, keep all the patronage
virtually in the h►nds of the governing classes.
Hitherto the best men have found their way
to the best places. The Councils of India have been
filled by men who have established by their ante-
cedents an undeniable right to that promotion. And
all the lesser appointments have been made, with
equal impartiality, by the Governors, because they
have had no inducement to nepotism, and if such
inducements had been present to them, they would
have been controlled by the dissenting voices of their
independent colleagues, and by the authority of an
independent body, like the Court of Directors, at
home. But now the " Governor," absolute and un-
controlled, is to have all his own way from one end
of the chain in England, to the other end of the
chain in India—and so farewell to the muscular,
sinewy reign of the LAWRENCE*, the Ot'TRAMS, and
the Nietiotso:es ! Is this to be tolerated? Is the
government of the middle climes to be thus
strangled, and the " Governor" to be permitted to
inaugurate in its stead the flaccid and feeble reign
of the I/OWES ?

Or the tens of thousands who can recall with what
emotion they have lingered over one of TURNER'S
noble " Shipwrecks," those awful scenes of blackness
and confusion amidst which the ship is seen stag-
gering and plunging among the roaring caverns of
the ocean, while the fancy hears the straining
and groaning of bulkheads, and the shriek
of drowning men mingling with the whistle of
the wind, are there many who are aware of the
frequency of this calamity on our coast ?
" GOD help the mariner at sea this wintry night"
is the natural exclamation of an Englishman as he
hes down to rest, while the howling of the east wind
among the housetops tells him that there is a gale at
sea, for he knows that before many hours are over
he will be reading of most piteous disasters. Bat
the wrecks and heavy euualties which threaten
shipwreck on our shores do not belong exclusively
to these exceptional states of the wind and weather.
They are things of daily occatrence.

The wreck experience of 1837 was favourable, yet
in the month of June the wrecks and perilous casual-
ties on our coasts were 34 in number, and 14 of the
cases involved total loss. Without reckoning col-
lisions, there were no fewer than 384 vessels, or 19
more than would be sufficient to give one per diem,
lost on or near these islands last year. The wrecks
and casualties involving serious damage were, to-
gether, 1,143 in number, being at the rate of more
than three per diem. By these circumstances 2,200 of
our fellow-creatures were placed iu imminent peril,
and 332 found a watery grave. Formerly no sys-
tematic record of maritime accidents was kept ; but
now the Inspecting Cammanders, and Officers of the
Coast Goard, and the Receivers of Wrecks, make
punctual reports of casualties, which, by order of
the Board of Trade, are compiled and published
together with a wreck chart, after presentation to
Parliament. The present return is a great improve-
ment on its predecessors, and in succeeding years it
will doubtless be made still more useful, by carrying
out a stricter system of classification than appears to
have been practicable hitherto.
On looking at the dotted wreck chart of the Bri-
tish Isles, we are at once struck by the great number
of black spots which mark out the east coast of
England as our gnat wrecking ground. The casu-
alties on this part of oar coast line contributed hut
year 52.5 per cent. upon the whole number which
occurred on our coasts,—a very large proportion.
This is partly accounted for by the great number of
vowels which pass and repass along the line, engaged
in the traffic of the Tyne, the Tees, the Humber,
and the Thames. The navigation also is here ren-
dered difficult and intricate by the rocks and sands,
with which the coast abounds. The Goodwin Sands
I proved fatal to 18 teasels, the Dudgeon shoal,
on the Norfolk coast, to five. and the G►l-
loper Bank, off that of Suffolk, to four this year.
Another element in the explanation of the bad pre-
eminence is the want of Harbours of Refuge.
But a large number of the casualties which
happen here must be set down to another cause :
the low character of the seamanship engaged
in an important portion of the trade on the
asst coast. The masters of colliers and coasters here
scarcely think of laying down courses, or using the
lead, or consulting charts. " Follow the leader" is
the word, until they get on a shoal or a sand-bank,
and add new figures to the column of wrecks
caused by negligence or inattention. The quality of
some of our coasting vessels is a disgrace to the
English name. Last year • small schooner from
Sandwich was so rotten, th►t while riding off Brid-
lington her anchor pulled out her bows. Of course
she sank instantly, and her crew of four hands
perished.
The wrecks and casualties, excluding collisions—
as to the causes of which a definite judgment is
recorded in the present return—are in number 676, of
which 72 are ascribed to defects in ships or equip-
ments. Twenty-nine Teasels were utterly lost from
unaeaworthiness. Others had rotten or imperfect
gear, or were overladen, or insufficiently manned,
and 11 had defective compasses or charts. It is to be
hoped that next year will show what were the
classes of ships so improvidently sent to sea. Ths
want of such distinction impairs the usefulness of the
figures before us, and tends indirectly to cast upon
the whole body of British shipowners discredit which
doubtless belongs to a very limited clam. 132 wrecks
and casualties aro imputed to the inattention or
carelessness of the masters. Only three vessels
were lost for absolute want of seamanship, but 22
stranded through neglect to heave the lead. " Lead
and look out" used to be the seaman's favourite rule,
but the detailed reports which accompany these
tables show how seriously the first part of the
maxim is overlooked. Captains against whom
no other imputation can be made, zealous and
skilful officers, who maintain a high character and
hold first-class commands, go on in neglect of this
important security until some dire catutrophe over-
takes them, when they are justly blamed, and pro-
bably set down for life in the register of unlucky
men.

The tribunals to which the Board of Trade has
referred some of the more serious wrecks have uni-
formly laid great stress upon the duty of attending
to the lead; but there is a growing disposition,
especially amongst the captains of mail steamerr
who, more than any other class of commanders, need
the safeguard of this precaution—to treat these in
as savouring of the landsman's pedantry. Men
conscious of a high degree of skill and experience
are too often tempted, after a long run of good luck,
to despise the precautions and rules to which they
owed their early success, and the delay caused by
taking soundings is exceedingly irksome under such
circumstances. Nevertheless, if captains have not
time to save their ships, passengers have no time to
lose their live', and it is to be hoped that the old

and wholesome rule will be rigidly upheld in the
disposal of certificates. Out of the numerous wrecks
of the year it is pleasing to see that only two are
ascribed to intemperance.

Collisions at sea form a class of casualties broadly
distinguished by their causes, which are almost uni-
formly to be found in culpable misconduct. It is,
therefore, doubly satisfactory to see that, as compared
with last year, a diminution of their number to the
extent of 39, or 12 percent., has taken place. Among
the 33 collisions of the year involving total loss, 23
might have been prevented by keeping an ordinary
look-out, 8 were due to neglect of the rule of the
road, 8 more to general negligence, and 6 to omit-
ting to show a light. Of the other 9, ono was
caused by the error of a pilot, a second by
want of sea room, a third by anchoring in a foul
berth, a fourth by the ship missing stays ; only three
were lost through the thick and foggy weather, and
of two the causes of loss are unknown.

These results show that much, even in the present
state of our science, may be done to diminish the
number of casualties, by which the lives of 780 of
our fellow-creatures are lost every year upon an
average on our coasts. But even then there
will remain a large residue of danger, which
we may hope to combat and diminish but not
prevent. Without reckoning collisions, the number
of last year's wrecks and casualties which the
officers of the Board of Trade cannot impute to the
culpable fault of any parties, was 662, moat of them
arising from stress of weather. The means of rescuing
life is, therefore, a subject deserving every atten-
tion. It is satisfactory to learn from this return
that there eve now stationed on the coasts of the
United Kingdom 66 life-boats belonging to the Royal
National Life-boat Institution, besides the life-boats
belonging to private persons, corporate bodies, and
local committees. The coxswains and crews of the
66 boats are exercised and maintained at the
expense of the Board of Trade, and paid
through the Institution. 1,049!. was spent last
year by the Board, for the maintenance
of life-boats alone. A new arrangement has just been
made with the National Life-boat Institution for in-
creasing the efficiency of the service, and a sum of
8271. has been paid to assist them in placing new
boats in situations where they were much required.
The method of landing persons from ships in distress
by means of rocket and mortar lines in charge
of the Coast Guard has been simplified, and there
are now 198 stations at which an apparatus of this
kind for saving life from shipwreck exists, in'
complete working order. The total sum paid
out of the Mercantile Marino Fund by the
Board of Trade during the year in providing
means for the salvage of life on our coasts, and as
rewards for meritorious service on that behalf, is
6,0201. It is computed that the lives of 2,206 per-
sons were imperilled by shipwreck, and of these 398
were saved by means of life-boats, and 243 with the
line and mortar apparatus, who, in all human pro-
bability, could have been delivered in no other way.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(moil °az OWN 00111.18PONDINT.)
PARIS, FRIDAY EVENING.

The government has, I believe, given orders to its
journals tot to make any more fuss about the isle of
Perim for the present. It is not wished to dwell
upon any subject which m.ght affect the Duke of
Malak.ff's reception in London. You may, how-
ever, be quite certain that the article in the Patrie
was not written by the person who signed it,proprio
motu, and I am sure that it is intended to bring the
question before the next Paris Conference. The
Steele, having d)ubtless received an inkling of the
way in which the wind blows for the moment,
speaks of the violent article in the Patrie, an article
of the Presse written in a similar spirit, and an
attack of the Constitutionals, upon the Times, u
mere boutades (explosions of ill-humour), and does
not doubt that the good understanding between the
two nations, which was momentarily interrupted by
misconceptions, will be speedily re-established upon
a solid basis.

The Pays," until better advised," considers the
telegraphic information from Constantinople that
the Porte has rejected M. Thouvencl's application
for permission to open the isthmus of Suez as in-
correct, because it is not aware that the French am-
bassador has been instructed to take any such step
as that supposed. The Pays also explains that the
assertion of the Opinion, that the Sardinian govern-
ment had sent back the last Neapolitan note on the
affairs of the Cagliari without making any reply
cannot be strictly true. All that has happened is
that Count Caroni has desired that certain offensive
expressions in the note may be withdrawn before
any answer is made. Such proceedings are quite
usual in diplomacy, and do not necessarily imply
the probability of a rupture.
Baron de Bourqucney, ambassador at Vienna, has
arrived in Paris.

The Bourse has been heavy. The Rente for ac-
count, after having been quoted as low as 69fr. 55c.,
became a little firmer at the close, and left off at
yesterday's price, 69fr. 70c. For cash there was
also no ultimate change. Mobilier fell 6fr. The
Orleans Railway fell I Ifr. 25c. ; Lyons, 6fr. 25c. ;
and the other lines about 21r. 450.

Prince Napoleon, in subscribing to the Lamartine
(and, has sent the following letter to M. Lacroix,
president of the Civil Tribunal of Macon, one of
the delegates of the committee now in Paris:
Pau la Royal, April 1.
- - • --

Monsieur,—There are glories which are sacred for France ;
that of M. Lamertine is of the number. The subscription,
therefore, the generous initiative of which has been taken
by Macon, cannot but excite the warmest sympatbies.
R. 1.11. the Prince Jerome Napoleon, sharing the senti-
ments of the Emperor in regard to the illustrious writer,
wishes his name to appear irony ltately on the subscription
list by the aide of hie Majesty's for the sum of I,ooofr. I
beg you, sir, to inform the committee of his imperial high-
ness's intentions. A. Hat r,
Secretary of Commands of H. I. H.
The Emperor has subscribed for 10,000 fr. and the
Minister of the Interior for WOG.

There is in the environs of Orleans an ancient
chiteau with a charming park, known as La
Source, in which the citizens of Joan of Arc's town
were wont on Sundays to " walk abroad and
recreate themselves." There has been of late great
wailing in Orleans, in consequence of a report that
the chiteau was to be pulled down and the park
sold in lots. Happily the entire property has been
ppv•chased by Captain de Pohgnac, of the let
Chaueurs, with the money of a fair Scotch heiress,
Miss Jessie-Anne Runsay, whom he met in the
English colony at Tours, wooed, conquered, and
married. The public are to continue to enjoy
their old privileges.

haps it will end in the acceptance of a part of the
offered services, and it is stated in some letters that
a number of Corsicans have already arrived there.
The advent of the English tones to power has not
rejoiced Austria one whit, as it might have been
thought likely to do, and great displeasure is shown
at Vienna and at Milan on account of the publication
in the Moniteur of Orsini's' letter to the Emperor.
Austria is apprehensive that it may be again in con-
templation to ameliorate the condition of Italy in
order to diminish the host of refugees, and to
quench the madness and fury of despair in their
minds. I suppose you know how, at Padua, all the
students assisted in church, and with the greatest 1
collectwduesa, at a funeral mass for the soul of Felice
Orsini. 'I hese young men deplore hiserror, and blame
his offence, but are unwilling to forget that the spirit
which animated all the actions of Orsini was always
his intense desire for the independence of Italy, and
his hatred of her foreign oppressor. The Austrian
government uses all possible efforts to appear easy
and agreeable, and would fain assume a httle even
of the liberal tint; hut in every instance it is
ob'Aged to unmask, and appear again such as it
really is. Many arrests have been made daring the
last few days, and in some cases of persons of im-
portance. Pratt, a poet of high reputation amongst
us, born a Lombard subject, but a naturalised Pied-
montese, went to Padua, furnished with his pass-
port, to embrace his little daughter there, but after
staying two days he was expelled by order of
Lieutenant Count von Bissingen. No sooner had
Prati returned than he transmitted to Count Cavour
a circumstantial notice of the fact. The artifices
employed too by the Archduke Maximilian to seduce
public opinion to be in favour of Austria, are, as I
have before observed, more ingenious than success-
ful, and even the counsels of his father-in-law, the

King of the Belgians, a consummate politician, do
not suffice for so difficult an undertaking. Not long
since the Archduke excused many of the small com-
munes the debts they owed to the State, and ho
thought a great sensation would be created by this
liberality; but the communes showed themselves
slenderly grateful for being forgiven a debt which
they. had been forced to contract by the necessity of
paying taxes beyond all reason excessive. The
nobles always retrain from attending the court festi-
vities, and the Archduchess, young and fair as she
is, continues to be extremely mortified at this, re-
membering the throng of visitors she was accus-
tomed to see and to be pleased with in her father's
court at Brussels. A few days ago a Milanese
Countess was conversing with the Archduchess,
when the latter said, " There are political parties in
France and Belgium too, but, notwithstanding that,
they go to court and dance ; whilst here, at Milan,
they do not." The Countess replied, " Yes, in those
places they do go to court, because in France they
are all French, and in Belgium they are all
Belgians."
A rumour was spread yesterday that the Neapo-
litan Minister's answer to the Sardinian ultimatum
had already arrived. It was, however, a false re-
port, but every one thinks the answer will not now
be long delayed, and that it will be a negative one.
In this case, what will our government do P The
first thing will be to send a memorandum to all the
maritime powers, explaining to them all the true
state of the case, and showing them how the proceed.
ings of the King of Naples, by violating .a principle of
international maritime law, inflict an injury on all
the nations that have an interest in that law. I
believe that what our diplomacy will next do must
depend on the success of the memorandum. Mean-
while, it affords us great satisfaction that the opinion
of the English people shows itself daily more
favourable to us, with regard to this business, and
the opinion of Dr. Phillimore, a masterly authority
with yon on such subjects, is certainly worth a heat
of other adherents. Your government will, per-
haps, object that the discussion of the point of inter-
national law comes too late and is useless, seeing
that the two English engineers are already released.
I would have it remembered, however, that the
Sardinian government has already, and a long time
since, invited them to consider this disputed point,
and the Daily News has been discussing it for two
months past, but Lord Clarendon could never be in-
duced to apply his mind to it, and he seems to have
been more ready and willing to please King Ferdi-
nand, with whom you have broken off diplomatic re-
lations, than to assist the loyal Victor Emanuel, who
has not hesitated to spend for England both the
money and the blood of his people.
P.S. It is :rumoured at this very moment that
Naples has rejected the last note of Count Cavour,
without making any reply. If this rumour has any
foundation I will write again to-morrow. A.

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