The Sun.
London, England, 1855-06-22 00:00:00

I ,q e et. A.1.41.Th11t,T hehMetTil'S MtaNT filea.NO Admiral Dundas having received Captain Fanshawe's
n Nrow Opr.n. Every Evening, at 8 o'llock, except Saturday. I
terxapcleantaotio explanation would hialivgeheisint
111 %Tang Iteorc.,,entaeeas take place every Ti-ss(l,,y, Tlmrsda7, I
twatr.lay, at 3 o'clock.- ,tails can be tal:eil et the Box-office
D bah!), to the Russian Lord High Adiniral—stating,
imnedailaittheloyri.styenit)ninthae
sfipaogt_of
every day from Eleven till Four.--•±:gyp,ian Ilall,ricradilly. I "
the facts and caking for explanation, and fair that reason
'he thought it would have been prudent not to enter
into my correspondence with the Danish Government
until it was known whether Admiral Dundas had taken
that step, and what had been the result.
Earl GRANVILLE intimated that Admiral Dunflas
had given no intimation of any intention to take the
course suggested by the noble earl—but he did not think
any great inconvenience would arise if a communication
, I were made by our admiral upon the subject, as well as
by the Danish Minister at St Petersburg,
In reply to a oriestien from the Earl of SLIAFTESIIIMIY,
The Earl of CLAR,ENDON said he did not know
whether the Russians who committed the outrage were
regular troops or not ; but it appeared that the man who
gave the orders had a mqsket in his hand, and for that
reason was supposed Lot to have been an officer.
Lord
in tCOLCHESTER believed it was the practice
navy, when any violation of the
usages of war was committed by the enemy, for the officer
in command to demand an explanation without waiting
I for instructions from home. He hoped that the Russian
Government would not only disclaim the act, but en-
deavour to find mit and punish the perpetrators of it.
Lord BROUGHAM felt convinced that they would
disown and disclaim the act, but they must go further,
and punish those by whom it had been committed.
The E trl of MALMESBURY had no objection to
make to the course the Government had indicated ; on
the contrary, he thought under the circumstances, it was
the most judicious that could be adopted ; but if the ex-
planation should not be satisfactory, he trusted the go-
vernment would not hesitate to take suchjurther steps
as the justice of the ca'e required. His noble friend had
used the word reprisals—but nothing in the shape of re-
prisals could be satisfactory—and if by reprisals the noble
earl meant aggressive acts against Russian subjects of the
same nature as that which had been perpetrated upon our
unfortunate countrymen, it would bring dishonour upon
the British nation. (Cheers.) What lie would like to
see his noble friend do was to bring the force of public
opinion in Europe to bear against the act by ap-
plying to every Government in alliance with her Ma-
je,ty, end to every civilised people, and every civilised
sovereign to unite in a protest against the conduct of
the cabinet of St. Petersburg, should it venture to up-
hold or d -fend so atr icious an act. (Hear.) Depend
upon it the force of opinion, so brought to bear upon that
cabinet would be too strong for it to resist. He hoped
if his noble friend failed in obtaining the satisfaction he
had so properlydemanded that he would bring the matter
before a jury of nations in the way he bad suggested.
Earl GRANVILLE referred to the remarkable
general order issued by the Doke of York, in reply to
the sanguinary decree issued by the French convention,
the effect of which had been that the French soldiers
refused to obey that decree, but instead to follow the
generous example of the British army. He believed that
Vie same course would be followed by a like result in
the cage of the Russian soldiers. (Hear.)
MEASUREMENT OF MERCHANT STEA.MERS
BILL.
The Earl of HARDWICKE moved the second
reading of this bill, the object of which, he said, was to
effect a system of tonnage registration. The present law
was very defective in this respect, and under it it was
impossible for the Government, in taking up merchant
steamers for the transport service, to know that they ob-
tained what they paid for. In considering the question
of tonnage, it was necessary to couple the tonnage capa-
bilities of the vessel with its power of speed. He main-
tained that in the present state of affairs no approxima-
tion could be gained to enable a merchant to ascertain
the exact value of a vessel either for hire or purchase.
He might be asked bow this could be the case, when for
so long a period tonnage had always been legalised by
measurement. That had certainly been the case, and
hitherto the system appeared to have been satisfac-
tory. That fashion and mode of gaining this know-
ledge was of very ancient date, and existed under the
system of propulsion of vessels by wind and canvas.
Bat a new era had now arrived, and people were
not satisfied now with men-of-war or merchant ships
unless the mode of conducting them was by steam
power. That had very materially changed the whole
system, and was a reason why the old plans of registra-
tion and measurement should be entirely changed. At
present tonnage was ascertained by measurement, but
measurement was not tonnage ; to measure was not to
weigh ; a ton was a weight, not a measure. People,
hewsver, had become so familiarised with the substitu-
tion of one for the other as at last even to confound the
terms. (Hear.) The measurement of the internal part
of a chip only enabled a person to ascertain how much
material it would hold within a given space; but the ques-
tion arose, What material I Take 100 cubic feet, which
might represent a ton. If filled with iron it would hold
20 or 30 tons, if with lead a proportionate weight, and so
-so that it would at once be seen tbat'tbis was not an
a lequate representation. The other day her Majesty' got
a ship called theTelearapb. No doubt she was statel to be
of a certain amount of tonnage, but when that amount of
teerage was put on board she was immersed, and her
carg >w as spoiled. He would further illustrate the sub-
ject of tonnage and measurement by two of her Ma-
jesty's ships. He would first take the Fairy, her Ma-
jesty's yacht, a well-known and beautiful vessel. The
Fairy measured 313 tans, but she would only carry 176
tons. If therefore a merchant or the Goverernent were
to hire a vessel of the form of the Fairy, and having paid
tir tonnage to the extent if 313 tons, if they were to
attempt to put 313 tons into her she would sink. His
next case was that of the Cruiser, another of her Ma-
jesty's ships. She measured 540 tons according to the
present legal mode of registering tonnage, but she would
carry 1,013 tons. If a merchant or the Government had
purchased her at her tate of measurement, the original
owner would have been a loser. (Hear) Theme illustra-
tions he thought would serve to show that the present
mode of registration was not the true mode of representing '
that which it was intended to represent- In the next place
he would direct their lordships' attention to steam power,
for the registration of which there existed at the present
time no law whatever. There was no law that fixed
any unit of power by which a merchant or the Govern-
ment could know the power of the steam-ship, by what
speed she could be propelled, or during what period of
time she could sustain a given degree of propulsion. It
would be for the good of all parties that there should be
an approximation to a unit of power. James Watt laid
down the unit of horse power at 33,000 pounds to raise
a foot per minute. That for a very long period of time,
and even now, by the builders of steam engines, was
supposed to be the unit of horse power. Such, however,
had been the improvements in the s'eam engines and
the progress of'science generally that such a calculation
was perfectly useless, and could not be retained as the
proper unit as meeting the term horse power. He would
show that by some practical examples. He would take
four of her Majesty's ships, namely, the Trident, the Re-
tribution,the Calliope, and the Elfin. The Trident.accord-
ing to measurement was 350 horse power, but when she
came to be worked she was found to be of 492 horse newer.
The Rettibution,according to measurement,was 400 horse
power, but on working she was found to be 1,092. The
Calliope was nominally 850 ; when worked 1,600. The
Elfin was 40 ; when worked 244. These instances
would serve to show how very uncertain the term horse
power really was. He would take some other instances
from the official records of the Admiralty. The En-
counter's real horse power was double that of her nomi-
nal power. The actual power of the Aganaemnon was
three times that of her nominal power ; the Undine,
four times ; the Banshee, five times; and the Elfin, six
times those of their nominal powers. The Wellington,
which was computed at 350shorse power by the con-
tractors, worked up to 800. Now, ho wished to esta-
blish a new unit which would approximate to the real
power of steam. A friend of his, a most scientific man,
had given great attention to the subject of steam capa-
bilities, and hal put him (the noble earl) in possession
of the facts. He selected ten vessel, and took first
their nominal horse power, then their real, and
summed them together. He deducted 15 per cent. for
friction, &c., and then divided the indicated by the
nominal horse power. He found as the result of the
calculations that 132,000 pounds would raise one foot
per minute as the unit, and that was really the value of
the horse power. As these vessels were of a peculiar
build, he took 32,000 away, and left 100,000 as the unit.
That would give a datum to the merchant and the Go-
vernment on which they might with safety act. Having
shown the fallacy of tonnage by measurement, he would
proceed to state what he would propose. There was no
ship built in which the builder was not perfectly ac-
quainted with the displacement of
.that ship. What he
desired was to register the displacement of that ship as
the real tonnage, leaving the present bill as it stood, so
that they would have both the roomage and the tonnage
accurately definei, and they would know what the mea-
sure and the tonnage reaily were. When a vessel was
on the stocks a builder was bound to make an indelible
mrrk, showing what she would draw when there was
nothing in her, and that would give the weight of her
body. If he were compelled also to place upon
her stern post what she would draw when she was
loaded, it would be sufficiently indicated what she would
carry. He had embodied in his bill a clause which
would compel, under penalties, builders to delineate
those lines. He had heard that there were objections to
this on the part of merchants and builders. He knew so
few of those gentlemen that he had 'not been able to
have any conversation with them upon the subject ; but
he felt assured that the more the subject was inve4i-
gated, the more probable were the public to demand
some definite and positive law which would enable a re-
gistry to be made such as he had described. Under the
present system it was impossible for kperson taking a
vessel to say what roomage or tonnage would be likely
to have. Take a vessel of 5,000 tons displacement, and
say that she was to go a passage of I,OOQ miles at 8 miles
an hour. To propel that vessel at that kpeed she would
only want 172-horse power, and she rould be able to
carry a cargo of 2,733 tons. Take the same vessel, re-
quired to go 10 miles an hour. She would require 336-
horse power, and would carry a cargo of 2,524 tons.
Suppose an accelerated speed—eighteen miles an hour—
required. To perform that the vessel would require
1,961 horse power, and she would carry a cargo of only
585 tons. To propel her at 20 miles an hour she would
be unable to carry cargo at all. The whole of her must
be fall of fuel for 1,00 miles, and she would uonimUle it
___ _ _ .

The Earl of MALMESBURY—I rise to draw the at-
tention of her Majesty's Government, and to ask from
them information in respect to a subject which has filled
the public mind of this country, and I doubt not of the
whole of civilised Europe, with feelings of horror and
dismay. Your lordships will readily understand that
I allude to the massacre on the coast of Russia, near
Hango, of a boat's crew, with the officers in command,
belonging to her Majesty's ship Cossack. It will hardly
be necessary for irte, my lords, to go into the details ( f
this cruel and unjustifiable act, for your lordships will
already have read the despatch of Captain Fanshawe,
of the Cossack, to Admiral Dundee, who sent the boat
whose crew were made the victims of this wanton out-
rage to land certain Russian prisoners at their own re-
quest at Hango, and in which those details are fully
stated. (Hear, hear.) It will be sufficient, therefore,
for me to remind your lordships that the boat con-
tained Russian prisoners who were sent under a flag
of truce, and commanded by the lieutenant of the
Cossack, a surgeon, and one or two petty officers, who
had charge of the prisoners, who bad been allowed
themselves to select the part of the Russian coast at
which they wished to be landed. It appears that
when they were put on shore at the wharf at Hango,
no one was seen ; but suddenly the boat's crew and
the liberated prisoners also were attacked by a large
armed force, who fired upon them and massacred all,
with the exception of one, a man named John Brown,
who, though badly wounded, managed to escape in the
heat. According to this man's account, the officer in
command, Lieut. Genesse, was shot down while in the
act of waving the flag of truce over his head, and while
one of the Russian prisoners was explaining to the attack-
ing party the circumstances under which, and the object
for which, the landing had taken place ; and it further
appears that when the atrocity had been consummated.
the Russian soldiers went down into the 'Float, and
threw overboard net only the bodies of the dead, but
those also who were wounded. Such is the account
given by Captain Fanshawe to Admiral Dundas, upon
the authority of the man Brown. When Admiral Dun-
des was first made acquainted with these facts, he natu-
rally imagined that there had been some act of indiscre-
sion, or that some omission In displaying the flag of truce,
or some fau't on the part of the lieutenant in command
of the boat had taken place, and would he made the
excuse for the perpetration of this wanton violation
of all national and of human law, and ace ,rdingly he
wrote to Captain Fanshawe, putting to him a number of
luestione categorically, all of which being arswered sa-
tisfactorily, AdmiratDundaStecaine convireed thnt no
blame whatsoever applied either to Ciptain Fanshawe, to
the officer in command of the boat, or to any of the crew.
It is, however, but fair to add, that not many hours ago
ao'aecount has reached London, and which appears in
the second edition of a morning paper, giving the Rus-
sian version of this melancholy affair. That account
states that the whole of the boat's crew were not killed,
but that nine of the men and two of the o%cers were
taken prisoners, three or four of whom are woundel, and
the rest they say were killed in resisting the Russian
troops who attacked them when they landed. Not a
word more is stated in this account, but I have thought
it fair to state to your lordships what is the Russian
version of the story so far as we know it. But, even
assuming that this version is correct, and that nine,
or rather 11 men including the two officers, were tale, n
prisoners, though it mitigates in some degree the horrible
cruelty which, according to our own version, had been
,perpetrated, still it in nowise exculpates the Russian
soldiers, and more especially the officer who commanded
them, from the complete and wanton breach of the law
of nations which they have committed. (Hear, hear.)
The killing even of one man, or much less, the taking
even of a single man prisoner, while under the safeguar 1
of a flag of truce, is an infraction of the law of nations
and of the law of honourable warfare, as taken from the
ancient code of the Middle Ages, for the purpose of re-
straining men's passions when not engaged in actual
conflict, and which is adopted by every civilise" nation.
A flag of truce has been always honoured and held
sacred—in every see and by every nation—it is ne-
cessary for the interests of humanity, and for the
protection of the soldiers themselves—and I scarcely
know of an instance of its having been violated.
(Sear, hear.) I believe if you trace history through-
out you will not find a parallel either in ancient or
modern times to this atrocious act. (Loud cheers.)
My lords, it is not so much for the purpose of drawing
your lordships' attention to what has happened that I
have risen on this occasion to ask her Majesty's Govern-
ment what course they intend to pursue under the cir-
cumstances ? (Hear, hear.) It appears to ma to be the
interest, not only of the government of this country,
but of every Government in the world, to take notice of
such an act—and certainly it is the interest of every
Sovereign in Europe, as it is the interest of every officer
and of every soldier of every army in Europe, to de-
mand that it. should be noticed, and the perpetrators of
it visited with condign punishment, in order that that
sense of honour and of humanity which is inherent in
every man's breast may be upheld in the wars of civi-
lised nations. (Cheers.) How this is to be done—how
purishment is to follow this violation of the Blend law
of nations, I wish to know from her Majesty's Govern-
ment. It is not for me to suggest the means, but lam
sure her Majesty's Government will not think me out of
place in making these remarks, and inquiring of my
noble friend opposite, the President of the Council, what
course they intend to pursue ? (Cheers )
The Earl of CLARENDON—My lords, although the
questiot. put hy my noble friend has been addressed to
my noble friend the President of the Council, I am, per-
haps, in a better position to answer, and, with the per-
mission of your' lordships, I will do so. (Hear.) My
noble friend has accurately stated all the facts of the case,
and the manner in which this atrocity was carried into
effect, and he has most properly characterised it. (Hear.)
It is an outrage so horrible and infamous, so utterly at va-
riance with the usages of war and the customs of civilised
nations, that we are compelled to believe that the perpe-
trators of it cannot have acted upon the instructions or
with the approval of their superiors. (Hear.) I think it
onlyreasonable to suppose in the first instance, till we have
further information, that such was the case, and I say this
the more, because it does appear that it must have been
the brutal act of some unauthorised subordinate, for
I see in Captain Fanshawe's despatch that the person
who directed the force and gave the orders to fire did
not appear to be an officer. On receiving information
of the transaction I lost not a moment in addressing the
papers detailing the circumstances to her Majesty's Mi-
nister at Copenhagen, instructing him to request the
Danish Government to send instructions to the Danish
Minister at St. Petersburg, of whose friendly zeal on
behalf of British subjects and British interssts it is im-
possible to speak too highly, requesting him to bring the
matter to the notice of the Russian Government, and to
state that her Majesty's Government waited with ex-
treme anxiety to learn what steps they had taken, or in-
tended to take, to mark their sense of this unnecessary
and brutal outrage—an outrage which might possibly
have happened in some one of the savage islands of the
South Sea without exciting any great degree of surprise,
but which was not to be expected in civilised Europe,
and which, if not amply punished, would demand severe
reprisals. Under these circumstances, my noble friend
will see that it is not until we know what steps the
Russian Government intend to take in the matter that
we can state what course it may become her Majesty's
Government to adopt. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH observed that the
Admiral in command of the British fleet would, in all
probability, acting upon his own discretion, demand an
explanation from the Russian authorities on the spot, and
he suggested that the communication from the Govern-
ment to our minister at Copenhagen should go through
Admiral Dund es.
'The Earl of CLARENDON—The Government will
communicate to Admiral Dundee' the steps which have.
been taken, but I know of no other means of communi-
cation with the Russian Government except through the
Danish ambassador.
The Earl 'of ELLENBOROUGE =Adored that
_ considered that