The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-16 00:00:00

The Peacock Testimonial,

in laying the:subject of the Peacock Testimonial
before our readers, we merely perform, says the
Daily Shipping News, one of the duties which it is
intended our journal shall discharge. Those inte.
rested in the shipping of the port of London stood
in need of increased facilities for getting their views
ventilated in matters of a purely class nature. The
claims of Captain Peacock will have been made
known this morning by the numerous circulars of
the influential committee who held a meeting at the
office of Messrs. Cowan, Heatley, and Co,, Great

St. Helen's, on Tuesday afternoon. Captain Pea-
cock some four-and-twenty years ago sacrificed
commission and standing in the British Navy to
take command of the first steamship that passed
the Straits of Magellan to the Pacific coast. He
was therefore the pioneer of West Coast Steam
Navigation, and that circumstance, in conjunction
with the maintenance of useful and genial West
Coast relatiocs subsisting from then till now, have,
in the opinion of numerous friends—especially of
the West Coast—justified the putting forward of
CaptainPeacock'a claims to acknowledgment. They
think that he who was the first to demonstrate the
practicability of long-voyage steam navigation, an
achievement chronicled in the annals of Chile,
Bolivia, Peru, Equador, and New Grenada should
not remain unrecognised in the England which
has profited so much by the development of
West Coast trade. They think also that at a
time when the officers and seamen of the
mercantile marine are at the best received into
the service of the Crown in a half-hearted kind of
manner, he who among living men was one of the
earliest examples of preference for the merchant
flag should now, in his declining years, receive
that testimonial which long ago might have been
appropriately bestowed. The committee believe that
those now honouring Capt. Peacock will honour the
country's merchant flag.
Of Captain Peacock we profess to know nothing.
For any other officer of the mercantile marine
similarly recommended for distinguished service
and honourable life we would cheerfully bespeak
as much favour. We think that they who ought
to have our help should receive it. We give it,
therefore, in this case on public grounds. The
officers of the mercantile marine, old and young,
have never been, so far as we are aware, over-
valued. Oa the contrary, there is no want of
evidence of their being too often highly thought
of. In the Navy, especially, they have been long
regarded as a low-bred and inferior class. We are
not sure that this feeling has ever yet wholly passed
away. Many of our old admirals are still the con-
ceited fools that they always were. Nor can it be
said that the Admiralty exhibit more than half the

liberality that they ought to do. Why should the
commaltder of a first•class merchant ship be incom-
peteat to commaid a first-class Queen's ship ?
Press the Admiralty on the point, and the sole
objection will be that the commanders of first-
class merchant ships are not lords, rot gentry,
nor men put forward by others who happen
to have the disposal of a rotten Parliamentary
borough. This surely is a narrow view of the
fitness of any class of men. Good seamanship
with all that that implies, is something apart from
and superior to birth or influence. As a rule the
best sailors are the self-made men, whose lives have
been marked by ups and downs, and who, by stea-
diness and industry, have gained the ladder's top.
On the other hand, the rule is that the worst sailors
are the feather bed, silver spoon gentlemen with
which the Navy now abounds. Such sailors could
not hold a candle to the Lffieers of the merchant
service. The latter are seasoned for endurance—
the former have still to endure their seasoning.
The Admiralty commit a serious blunder in practi•
tally excluding from the service of their country
the very men on whom the country must rely in a
time of danger.

Railway Accidents,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SITI'I.•

Sin,—lt is difficult to understand why railway directors
persist in ignoring three admirable safeguards, all of which
are practised in America
with success, for the prevention
of railway accidents. Firstly, Why is there not the simple
machinery called the cow lifter, which, when attached to
the fore part of the engine, can lift off any obstruction, living
or inanimate ; and which plan, therefore, in night travel-
ling, is especially useful ? Secondly, Why is there not a
bell rope running through loops within the railway car.
riages, enabling passengers, in case of illness or of robbery,
to communicate with the engineer or guard ? The objet •
tion which I have heard alleged against this plan is that it
might be used by foolish or mischievous persons to hoax
the officials; but this objection does not apply in America,
and I do not understand why it should apply in England,
At any rate, the plan deserves a fair trial, and this remark
applies to the well
known plan of exchanging small num-
bered plates with the railway guard or porter, for the car-
riage and safe delivery of luggage from one station to
another station, Perhaps hundreds of miles distant...—
Yours, &c., Cult. Cooxa,
July 14,

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE DEPUTY CLERK OP THE
PEACE.—On Wednesday an inquest was held at the
Sessions House, Clerkenwell-Green, relative to the death of
Mr Baldwin, aged 52, who was found dead in his office on
Tuesday afternoon last. From the evidence of Mr Charles
Robert Harper, a clerk in the Peace-office, it appeared that
the deceased was the deputy clerk, whom he saw last alive
about half-past eleven on Tuesday morning. He complained
of a numbness in the limbs and dryness in the throat. De-
ceased was then in his inner office. Shortly before half-
past four o'clock In the afternoon witness found him sitting
in his chair dead. .gr Charles J. Austin, surgeon, said
that death was caused by fatty degeneration of the heart.
The jury returned a verdict of death from natural causes.
A CAPTIOUS AND VIOLENT ROGUE.—A man with
several aliases, including Goodenough, Smith, and
Williams, was tried before Mr Justice Byles, at Winches-
ter, on Thursday, for five burglaries committed in different
parts of Hampshire. He challenged no less than 20 jury-
men, on the ground that there was a prejudice against him
in the county, and then apparently went into a fit,. and lay
on the Thor of the dock. A jury was made up from the
persons in court, and the trial proceeded, it being shown in
evidence that the prisoner was captured at Bristol after a
desperate resistance, in which he used a knife and a six
barrelled revolver, stabbing one of the officers. He was
surrounded in the dock by a strong force of police, it being
considered probable that he would be violent. He was
found guilty and sentenced to 14 years' penal servitude,
and is still to be tried for being at large before the expira-
tion, of a former pergeire of 45 years' traworatien,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

[REITTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

AMERICA.
(Per the Afrioa.)

The Royal Mail steamship Africa, from Boston
on the 6th and Halifax on the Bth July, arrived at
Queenstown at 4 a.m. to-day (July 16). She brings
77 passengers and 64,431 dollars in specie. She
landed 113 sacks of mails and 12 passengers, and
proceeded at 415 a.m. for Liverpool. All well.
NEW YORK, JULY 5, Evening.
Senator Fessenden has accepted the office of Sec•
retary of the Treasury.

The Government has withdrawn its rroposal for
bids for the balance of the loan of seventy-five

millions.

Wilson's cavalry has entirely destroyed 60 miles
of the Southern railroad.

Gen. Hunter has reached Charlestown, Virginia.
Congress has adjourned sine die.
The New York and the City of Baltimore have

arrived out:

(By Telegraph to Halifax.)
NEW YORK, July 7, Evening.
A large Confederate force has occupied Harper's
Ferry and HaLarstown, Maryland, and is advancing
northward.
President Lincoln has called out the militia to
repel the invasion.
Wilson's cavalry has returned, having lost 13
guns and 1,000 prisoners.
It is expected that Grant is nearly ready for
another demonstration against Petersburg.
Sherman has occupied Marietta and Kenesaw.
Johnston nas retreated to Chattahoochie.
Ewell's forces, estimated to number 30,000 men,
have advanced safely up the Shenandoah Valley.
After a severe fight they evacuated Martinsburg
and retreated towards Maryland Heights. The
Federals have abandoned Harper's Ferry and de.
stroyed the bridge. The Confederates are at
Harper's Ferry preparing to attack the Maryland

Heights.
Marauding parties appeared at Frederick, Point
of Rocks, Greencastle, and Chambersburg, Penn-
sylvania. Great alarm is felt along the Pennsyl'
vanian border.

It is supposed that the main Confederate body
will march to Frederick, Maryland.
Hunter's forces are moving to attack the Cons