The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-20 00:00:00

THE LOSS OF THE AMAZON:

- - -----
SOUTHAMPTON, MONDAY EVENING.--we have had
two foreign ships arrived at this port to-day, and from
the fact of their having passed through the Bay of
Biscay, the scene of the late catastrophe, many anxious
inquiries wore made if anything had been seen or heard
of any more of the crew of the ill-fated Amason; but
their anxiety was soon quieted by an answer in the
negative.
The Telsider Flori, ono of the two ships spoken of
above, however, picked up a portion of the wreck of some
ship, and from its appearance there is no doubt but that
it once formed a portion of the beautiful ship that so
recently left our docks with every hope of making
.a
rapid and successful voyage to the West Indies, bat in
the short space of three days was totally destroyed, and
with her a large number of the crew and passengers.
A report was circulated yesterday that another boat
with 30 more of the crew, had been picked up and
landed here, which report soou reached the metropolis,
in consequence of which a telegraphic message was sent
hero yesterday afternoon to know if such was the case.
It is hardly necessary to say the report was to-
tally unfounded. But, notwithstanding the time
that has elapsed, hopes are cherished that others have
been saved, and will yet return to soothe and comfort
those that now mourn their loss.
Little of importance has been transacted by the com-
mittee to- day ; indeed, nothing has transpired worthy of
notice. The announcement from different places with
regard to the subscription fund is most cheering.
The poor fellows that arrived here on Saturday are
progressing most favourably, and we may hope that a
few days of rest and quiet will restore them to perfect
health.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
SIR,—Having read with the deepest regret of the de-
struction of the West India Mail steam-packet Amazon
by fire, and the loss of life caused thereby, I am led to
offer these few remarks, viz.:—

In the early part of my life
I was connected with a
steam-packet company, consequently, as became my
duty, my attention was directea not only to the comfort
of the passengers, the speed of the vessel, bat also to
their safety, more particularly from
fire. I often sub-
mitted to those with whom I served—as I venture re-
spectfully to do now to you and the public—the pro-
priety or, so as to make it
almost, if not entirely, fireproof,-rcl°l3: at all events, a
of construct ng the engine
to other parts of
and passengers,
gthreeavteseasfeel,guthaerdreahgyaienffsetrfidriengesthteenderinegw
iu case of such an accident, the opportunity of stopping
its progress.
I am of opinion this could be easily done and without
any very heavy expense, by merely double casing, not
only the floor and the sides, but also under the deck, of
theth e engine-room,
outsidei n e- r oeof me,ey
the
commoninside
w casingeed
,to
leaving n, a
space for
sheet iron,
circulation of air between it and the vessel's timbers,
the casing to be about six inches apart, more or less,
rn this space
saccordingtreegelaytoeht
eheeld sizehe otifghthe y
rammed;vessel a p artth. e
weight would
be of little consequence, it being equally distributed
would not, I presume, materially affect the trim of the
vessel. Should a fire then unfortunately occur in the
engine-room—the most likely place—it would be almost
impossible that it could extend further before the efforts
of the crew would be able to extinguish it; and even if
the inside casing should become red hot, the clay would
only harden and become a solid mass, and prove itself a
most efficient party wall.
If you, should deem these observations worthy of
notice they:are entirely at your service, and if not con-
sidered practicable, should they cause other and more
beneficial ones to be promulgated, which may hereafter
tend to the protection ane saving of human lite, my ob-
ject will be gained, and afford much gratification to an
old man, and one of your constant readers.
Praying every excuse for troubling you, I remain, &c.,
WILLIAM.
Bethnal-green, Jan. 19, 1852.

ON THE DEATH OF ELIOT WARBURTON.
Oh, wherefore do the turbid billows roll
Above the temple of a mighty soul?
Why stayed the pulse its swift career of pride,
When Fame her meed of honour had supplied?
How went the deathless spirit to its home?
Where did the summons of its Maker come?

Not on the shores of that historic land,
Where yet the cedars of the Bible stand;
Not where the palm-trees cast their pleasant shade,
And his rapt spirit, where the Saviour strayed,
Could see the countless thousands of the blest,
And sighless, tearless, seek its holy rest.
Not where the beings who have loved him dwell,
Not there was heard earth's lingering farewell
Home's first-loved voices breathed not—ever dear—
Low, whispered words of solace and good cheer;
Not by long sickness was his manhood spent—
Back to his Gon in health's glad prime he went.

A will for enterprise and deeds of might
In him o'ershadowed not the cause of right;
His words were vivid—thrilling—and awoke
The heart's intensest feelings, when he spoke
Of battles nobly won and bravely lost—
He knew the torrents of heart-tears they cost.

He died—where lurid flames far on the sea
In savage splendour of rudetmajesty,
Gleamed forth triumphant. Madly on it came,
Crackling and hissing, the remorseless flame—
The noble ship, as one in frantic pain,
Cleaved the dark waters of the lonely main.

The tempest rang around her its deep knell,
And the sea answered with a raging swell ;
And angels veiled their eyes, for on her way
The stars refused to pour one hopeful ray;
A burning glow she left upon the waves,
Though black before her yawned the ocean's graves.
A sail! a sail ! they hailed it with a shout,
Such as life's serest anguish can give it out—
Hearts that till then had struggled to be still
Restrained no more their fierce, impetuous will;
They had borne calmly all that scene of strife,
Yet drooped and fainted at the hope of life.
A sail ! a sail I at first it loomed in sight,
Then grew distinct in that red glare of light—
It was no phantom mocking their distress,
But a reality to aid and bless.
It came—it passed-0 Heaven ! can it be
That sailors feel not for a fire at sea?
The shriek of agony or abject fear,
In awful discord, fell upon the ear;
Mingled with suffocating groans was beard
The whispered pray'r, the fond, endearing word.
At intervals there came a hollow Plash'
While more appalling grew the fearful crash.

Thus Death seized sternly on that fated crew,
On the weakhearted, on the brave and true;
On those who yielded to a dull despair,
And those who ended Time with trusting PraY'r"-
Should rise upon them when the fight was
Believing that Eternity's bright sun
done.
He died—and though unknown I mourn the dead,
The energetic soul for ever fled
While England's shores re-echo with the strain
Of wail and desolation—all in vain I
0 murmur not—though bitter be the rod,
It yet is wielded by the
hand of Gon.
January 15, 1852.

F. E.

ST. ANNE'S CHURCH, LIMBHOUSE.
---
This edifice has been
estored since the fire, under
direction of Mr. Hardwick
Cubitt and Co. being the and Mr. Morris (Messrs. W.
er:.ontractors), and although not
finished, is opened for s
as we understand, to make The endeavour has been,
large span, and similar Visible'
what it was before as e the interior as nearly like
that over the great hall The roof is new, of
at Construction, we are told, to
walls remain standing. Messrs.
Euston Station: the old
Dr Cubitt's contract to
exclusive of the organ, which
restore the church as it was
was built by Messrs. Gray
previous to the fire is 11.000 i.,
,of
f the Crucifixion,
and Davison, and cost 8001.
filled with stained glass, representinghechancel window is
Stratford, at the cost
executed by Mr. Clutterbuck
I,r perspective, and can
concerned,
meaning die-
credit sui
we. forced to gaze upon
of perspective,
This window,
of 200 L, 2
theoC lt ,wa whichy,
ie was
cationsao raised
defianceb
ower,geast and west of
igivet. pleasurellintdtleeed,to en tota thosee
truth, whoan d
couldiswdeist
rssi n fledgi
y
woollsed,
little
t 0
00
admirean y o f the
to
tne partiesnew
subscription to effect
circle of ornamental work in the new' The enormous
seats and other
htheiasv,yw'emsdhoausldfocretrhtaeinlalyrgeadgvaisteil 4
the erasure of them. The permanent
wood fittings are not yet 144—Budder.

SOUTH-EASTERN ie
—AILWAT
Gross traffic receipts for passengers •
and goods, week ending Jan. 17,
1852 ... ••• "'
Ditto, Jan. 18, 1851

••• £10,732 16 0
••• 10,284 17 3

••• £44718 9

48,142 15 10
Increase in 1852 ...
London Terminus, Jan. 19, 1852.
GLASGOW AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILwAy.
—Traffic for
the week ending January 17, 1852
Passengers (16,342), goods and
3,201 2 8
Glasgow, January 19•
Correspondingpa rce parcels, hors
week
icaa
lastia es. year.

MIRACULOUS EscarE.—Last
ALARMING FIRE AND
night, shortly before nine o'clock, a fire broke out on the
premises of Mr. William Brown, No. 4, Taylor's-court,
one of the firemen, notwith-
Bedfordbury, Chandos-street, in the first-floor. It became
known that a young child was therein, but owing to the
suffocating nature of the smoke. none of the residents were
able to enter the room. Mr. Wilkinson, the head engineer
of the station, and Dalryn3Ple,
standing the density of the smoke, rushed into the apart-
ment, when they found a quantity of wearing apparel and
some of the furniture in a blaze. They instantly groped
through the fire and smoke, and at great risk succeeded in
saving the life of the child. A spark from a lighted candle,
it
now i s
STOURpresumed,be i
n gm VALLEYa
d ew
faso ; t
extending
the causeß of the disaster.
nwAY.--Arrangements are
the convenience of the electric
posts are already erected, and it may therefore reasonably be
' telegraph along this line. A considerable number of the
expected that the connexion will be completed in the course
of a few weeks.

LORD PALMERSTON.

The more we reflect on the present condition of Euro-
pean affairs, the more are we impressed with the con-
viction that the man most required in the councils of the
British Empire, is he who, by some still unintelligible
manoeuvre, has been driven to retire from them. Each
succeeding day and hour adds to our belief that the
ranks of the Liberal party cannot supply the place of
Lord Palmerston. Of his successor, in the title of
Foreign Secretary, we have already spoken, as a man
who, for his years and political standing, deserves the
reputation of ability. But that he is capable of admi-
nistering the foreign affairs of this country, as the ex-
Minister could du, and has done, no one can pretend to
believe. In truth, he is nothing more than we have
just described him, the titular successor to Lord Pal-
merston's office; and it is perfectly understood that
his more important functions will be discharged by the
head of the Government, so long as it continues as
now :constituted. Lord John Russell is now the real
Foreign Secretary, and Lord Granville merely such
in name. Indeed, as far as we can judge, the grava-
men of the charge against the ex-Minister is, that he
was something more than a mere official cypher. He
took, it appears, too large a share of responsibility
on himself, and deferred too little to the opinion of his
colleagues or his chief. His post is therefore conferred
on a less competent person, it being presumed that the
less competent person will be more deferential. Lord
Granville will submit to a degree of interference in his
department which Lord Palmerston would not endure.
The defenders of Lord J. Russell parade this as an argu-
ment, end a strong one too, in favour of the change made
in the Foreign-office. But we confess teat we can discover
little value in it.

That the late Foreign Secretary should have been
jealous of intermeddling in the details of his official du-
ties seems to us very natural indeed. We presume that,
of those who think most highly of the present Ministers,
there is not one who imagines that any amongst them
understand the subject of foreign affairs as well as the
late chief of that department. A man of splendid
ability, vast experience, and—with a reputation, amongst
those who saw him only in his assumed character, of
pleasure-loving indolence—habits of severe and constant
application, all the seinutim of his vast and complicated
official duties were as familiar to him as the names of the
European states are to an every-day politician. We
firmly believe that no one of his colleagues understood
the business of his peculiar office anything near so well
as Lord Palmerston knew that of his. To say so is to
detract nothing from the merits of the best amongst
them, so much did his official exp erience exceed theirs.
But the fact being thus, is it strange that he should have
been extremely averse to any interference in his de-
partment?
But are we, in fact, called upon to believe that Lord
Palmerston consulted his colleagues less than has been
the habit with the other leading Cabinet Ministers?
Has the Chief of the Colonial Office acted less on his
own responsibility, and more frequently sought the
counsel of his brother Ministers, than did the ex-Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs? We shrewdly suspect that
he hasonot. We believe that Earl Grey has been just
as littre in the habit of asking advice as Lord Palmer-
ston, and would be just as ill inclined to take it. We
believe, moreover, that such great administrative de-
partments as those of the Colonial and Foreign Offices,
never can be efficiently managed, except by placing men
at their head who will assume the risk of independent
action, and on whom, rather than on the Prime Minis-
ter, the country will throw the responsibility of their
administration. Such responsibility has, in point of
fact, always rested on Lords Palmerston and Grey, and
one need but take up the file of the Times to perceive
that they, and not the head of the Cabinet, have been
invariably assailed in person for every act connected
with the foreign and colonial affairs of the empire
which that journal thought fit to censure.
We do not, of coarse, mean to contend that when any
member of an Administration does an act repugnant to
the general principles upon which it is understood to be
constituted, or which his colleagues believe themselves
called on to repudiate, they must acquiesce in his con-
duct, and continue to sustain him. If Lord Palmerston
has dissented from his colleagues on any important
question of policy, it could not be expected that he should
retain his place in the Ministry, But no less cause than
this, we must say, would warrant the exclusion of such
a man at such a moment. And assuming that such has
been the cause of his exclusion, it becomes matter of
serious importance to ascertain whether the policy of
the ex-Minister, or that of those who retain office, is that
which the country should uphold.
Fo ourselves we own to a hearty and earnest ap-
provaTbf the mode in which Lord Palmerston has ad-
ministered the great department which he has so long
guided—to quote the words of Lord John Russell, in
the debate on the Greek question—" not as the Minister
of Austria, not as the Minister of Russia, but as the
Minister of England." A match for the wiliest of con-
tinental statesmen in diplomatic skill, he has never failed
to show the " pluck" of a gallant, manly nature, when-
ever the quality was demanded by the occasion. Equal
to his adversaries at their weapons, his own is that
which he grasps instinctively when a real danger
menaces. He is cautious without fear, and daring with-
out rashness. Never was a man of such a stamp more
needed in the councils of Great Britain.
In our admiration of Lord Palmerston's character, we
aro not led away by any of what wo believe to be the
very false notions which certain ultra-radical journals
indulge in respecting his opinions on domestic ques-
tions. We are far from thinking that universal suf-
frage, and vote by ballot, and equal electoral districts,
and the other quackeries of the day, would find favour
with a man of his intellect and experience. • And really
it is too absurd to pretend that either England or Ire-
land
demands those nostrums. The mind of the Empire,
just now, is fixed on more important topics. We may
be on the eve of a combat in which all the great princi-
ples of human freedom will be the stake at issue.
While petty artificers are devising their silly schemes
for remodelling the temple of freedom, the miner who
longs for its destruction may, already, be working his
unseen approach to its great foundations. This is not
an hour for the small expedients or the little jealousies
of party. We want not a Government that can mend
the franchise, but one that can save the nation. Dan-
gers, menace upon all sides ; we want men who will,
if possible, elude, but failing to elude, will dare to
faco them. We feel—now that he is no longer in
power, more than ever we did before—how thoroughly
fit for such an emergency is the late Foreign Secretary.
Many and many a heart rejoices at this moment in
the absence of this man from the Imperial Council, but
we fairly believe not one who does not hate England,
and who would not betray the cause of humanh freedom.hahl
There are Irishmen, not a few either,
chuckle at the perils that beset the countryw
often and so foully wronged theirs. But their joy were
tohaptrohassoy
now a treason to the human race. There are conflicts
in which men are called on to stand side by side with
those who have most deeply injured them andtheirs. In
that which we believe impending, the banner which
England must bear aloft can be deserted by no man
who will not by such desertion prove himself deserving
of execration through all time. The oriflamme of human
liberty and progress we would fight beneath it, though
the hands that reared it were crimsoned with the blood
of our fathers, and hate of us and of ours were in the
bearer's heart. Surely we will not flinch from it when
upreared by a brave and honest, though it play be a
prejudiced and mistaken race.—Cork Southern Reporter