Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-06-16 00:00:00

allowed, while referring to " certificates,' to notice
the epithet " captain" or " master." I remember
the pleasure with which (when a youth) I heard
details of the glorious conduct of merchant seamen
in the China Sea, when they so gallantly defeated
a formidable squadron of an 80 gun ship and three
frigates under Admiral Linois. A fleet of Indiamen
deliberately hove to held a short council, beat to
arms, and fought off their assailants ; refilled their
sails, and then pursued a course their foes were
afraid to follow. I think this bears so strongly
on the question before the public, that it is well to
remark that the Government of the day, admiring
valour and patriotism, wherever found, conferred
for bravery and self-devotion both rank and uniform
on all the East India Company's service—the
bravery of a part of its marine, ennobled in some
degree the whole,—those absent had the merit of
courage and loyalty, because those menaced had
been proved to possess it. Now, when we consider
that our country in a huge war has recently been
aided by the courage and energy, and ne less
devotion and loyalty of the Mercantile Marine,
without whose transports war must have been
protracted; and merchant shipmasters, ever ready
to defend their country, without the stimulant of
promotion or reward, and not fighting for their
personal security, to evade captivity, nor even to
protect their owners' interests ; but having free
choice to dare the fight or work in peaceful commerce,
perilled their lives, and used such energy as never
was surpassed, while. I believe, only one of them
has received a war medal.* Would it not, yet, sir,
be a graceful act for a British senate, who have of
late witnessed the giving of rewards to grand-
children of long passed heroes—would it not be a
noble act to say to these "masters" of the merchant
service, " Thanks for your recent timely help ;
henceforth be no mere ' masters'—be ye captains'
or ' commanders,' subordinate to our navy. Thus
tike your well-earned rank in social life, and strive
to adorn it, as did your prelecessors." My own
experience of the East India Service convinces me
that nothing tended more to continue that ser-
vice as one of •' gentlemen," than the small
but wise concession in the powers that were,
in bestowing rank and uniform, and nourishing
thereby, the seeds of self respect which are not
rarely met with in our youths; I would venture to
predict that, let a well arranged scale cf nautical
mercantile rank be initiated, and we not only open
a large and tempting field for honourable occu-
pation to many young men, who otherwise would
crowd the church, or law, or medicine, but we pro-
vide for future years a more efficient, because organ-
ised, band of bold defenders of our Empire, we
raise our master seamen to a higher social scale,
and, from their example, self-respect will spread
throughout the ship; and thus we shall secure
the maintenance of our sovereignty of the ocean.
Neglect this, and some future war may cherish dis-
content, and even the puny midshipman of naval
grade may fan this discontent into a conflagration.
Ask veterans commanding stately merchant ships.
who served their Queen and country in the Crimean
war, what was it that rankled in their manly breasts
when often these mere boys denied them before
their crews the title which, by common courtesy, is
due and given, and tauntingly and pointedly style
them " Master?" That such was not the practice
of the " naval officer and the gentleman" towards
his humbler fellow men of war can be no reason
why it should be borne, that wounds from a middy's
dirk-like tongue should longer be allowed? It
rankles still in many a good man's memory. I
know it.—l have, &c., S. M. SAXBY.
13th June, 1857.

* Captain Morton, late of the Oneida.

THE FIRE AT MESSRS. PICKFORD'S

Captain Huish, General Manager of the Loudon
and North-Western Railway, writes to a London
coternporary :
The exaggerated statements which have appeared in
occupied by Messrs. Pickford and Co. at Camden-town,
induce me to request the favour of your giving insertion
to this note in your next issue. It is, of course, impossible
for me to ascertain exactly the loss which has been sus-
tained • bat sufficient is already known to enable me to
deny the accuracy of many of the statements. For
instance, it is said that 40,000 quarters of corn were
destroyed. The entire quantity in the building was 400
quarters, ,with 1,200 quarters of beans. The number of
horses is greatly overstated, and I am happy to add that
only one animal met with any casualty. The area of the
warehouses destroyed is little more than an acre, instead
of five, as stated. The quantity of goods within the
warehouses at the time of the conflagration was very small,
owing to the fact that all the important trains for the
north had been despatched, and time was given by
telegraph to stop the incoming trains. The entire weight
of goods (many cf them of very small value) which was
destroyed is about 60 tons, and the insurances effected
upon them will cover the loss. The building itself was
insured for a considerable amount, and the loss on it will
be small. I need hardly say that, as the warehouse is
separated from the railway by the Regent's Canal, neither
the line nor other works of the railway were affected. The
various reports which have appeared in the public prints
ad seem t t assess th3damaga at exactly £250,000 ; without
being able precisely to state the amount, I have little
hesitation in saying that in all probability this sum is
about four times the real amount, including the building.
I may add that the business has not b en interrupted.

THE COOLIE TRADE.

TO THE EDITOR OF TIIE NORTIIERN TIMES.

Sir,—ln your paper of this date, I find the fol-
lowing ~ditorial remark, in reference to a deputa-
tion to Lord Vilinerston on the subject of the
Cuba alive trade :—" West India proprietors are
justly open to suspicion, and in the face of the
prove I eruelt,., horrors, and enormous mortality
atter-I.lin'). the legalked Coolie traffic from the far
East to dr. Caribbean Sea. We are bound to
express approval of Lord Palmerston's decided
nevative to the proposal to allow negro immigra-
tion into our West. India Islands, under any name
or ;1: uarantee whatever."

Cati you, sir. point out any instance in which
cruelty, horrors, or enormous mortality have been
proved to have occurred on board any vessel
carryin,..z Gullies from British India to the British
West Indies?
If you wid take the trouble to seek information
from the Land and Emicration Commissioners on
the suoject, you will fi•td that you are grievously
in error, in so characterising an emigration
which has been conducted with extreme careful-
toss, ant a happy exemption from easualities.—
Yours. &e., W. R. SANDBACH
Liverpool, June 13th, 1857.

In reply to the above letter, and in support of
our remarks, w (vote the following from a Lon-
don eotemo,rary t v.-sterday :
The Merchantman, from Calcutta, arrived at Demerara
on the 13th of %fay, after a voyage of ninety days, with
260 coolies The mortali yon board had been fearful, 113
having died onring the passage, and of sixty who were
conveyed to the hospital atter their arrival, five died while
being landed, and several others subsequently expired in
the hospital.
in a id.tiott to the above we quote the following
from th, Jsrn ti •;4 Royal Gazette:—
It appears from the investigation that the coolies
seleoted were a set of sickly emaciated creatures,
the refaseof the emigrants collected for the Mauritius
and other p' aces, and, when put on board, were
more fit to he sent to an hospital than on a long sea
vol age. Many died of cholera during the passage down
the Ho,-tghley, and many more of dysentery and diarrhwa
before they reached the Cape. Ship fever then broke
out with fee hil virulence, and the whole shin
became a sort of general hospital, in which the sick
and the healthy were indiscriminately huddled up to-
gether. The Arrangements of the ship, made under the
wders of the emigration authorities in Calcutta, were
injudiciously made. The platforms erected around the
ship obstructed the ventilation ; the privies, too, were an
intolerable nuisance, and the changes which have been
made in the dietary tables, by the substitution of better
food than the immigrants have been accustomed to, has
been found productive of injurious effects. These and
sereral other causes combined have led to the most severe
mortality that has ever occurred on board any immigrant
ship corn ng to this colony. It is but due to the captain
and surgeon to say that they did all they could to prevent
the progress of the disease, and to ameliorate the condi-
tion of these unfortunate people.
[Further comment is unnecessary.—En. N. T.]