The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 5, 1863.

bar promised to introduce another in the coming
session, and we hope that he will keep his
word, and that every man of sense, justice,

and humanity in the House will support
him. If it could be rendered compulsory that every
vessel should carry sufficient boats to provide for
the safety of her crew, another diminution would
be made in the loss of life at all events. What

countless tragedies have been played out on the
wide seas for want of a few boats ? What sad

stories are told of emigrant ships carrying hundreds

- -
of passengers going down in the deep waters, and

struggling, shrieking, praying for the boats? Bu

nothing it seems will make us learn the lesson.

was only the other day that the Admiralty begun
trying to provide lifeboats for our men-of-war, and

we suppose that a good many more losses at sea

will be necessary before the simple rule is observed
that every ship shall carry enough efficient boats to

give all who sail in her at least a chance of life

This changie would extend its influence beyond our

own coasts, for it would save many lives far

away from our rocks and channels. For provision

against their dangers the best security is to be found
in the proper equipment of the ships themselves, in
the more liberal lighting of our coasts, and in the

provision of harbours of refuge. All these matters

should be seen to without delay. It is no theoreti-
cal evil or temporary reform that is wanted, but a

. --
real, pressing, urgent need of changes and improve-
ments that shall save money and life, and redeem
the coasts of the first naval nation in the world from
bearing the unenviable repute of being the most
fatal to the mariner, from preventible causes.

M. Itenan's Duplex character is thus ably and
eloquently defined by M. Lasserre :—" There are
two men in M. Renan, the Seminarist, and the—no matter
what we name it—second self. On the one side, a Christian
imagination; on the other, an atheist's heart. When he
recounts the life of the Son of Man,' he interrogates his
imagination, heretofore sheltered beneath the shadow of the
Altars, and under the refreshment of the grand trees of S.
Sulpice, and he finds exquisite refinement, and oftentimes
a remarkable perception of the Beautiful and the Good.
When, on the other hand, ho wishes to draw conclusions,
and to reason, he listens to his own heart. and says,
' There is no God.' Fearful contrast I . . The incense
of the Sanctuary embalms for a moment the vague depths
of his stile. Strange contradiction ! He believes not in G6d ;
but his fervour is by no means diminished. Hitherto the
atheists have wished to abolish Religion. Not he ! He
genuflects ; he prostrates himself before an Altar without
a God. He adores, with a devout fervour, that in which he
has no belief I ' Love goes without faith,' he gravely says.
He would found, not the desolating philosophy of Atheism;
but the tender .Religion of Nothingness! ' I adore you! I
love I I hiss your sacred feet, 0 ray well-beloved ! omy
God, who existest not ! and it is even because you do not
exist I have vowed you a worship so ardent . . It is
not quite in vain that he has heretofore worn the white
surplice of the Levite; if he has lost faith, he has not quite
rid himself of mysticism and feeling. He is an atheistic
religionist, or rather, a mystic atheist."

SIR CHARLES NAPIER'S ESTIMATE OF MILITARY
GLORY.--Nineteen long letters from Lord Ellen-
borough. oi rnoaul g hr. a
yHe has ;
ands made
he has
Governormderod ofta S c
e capturedi nde w , it had di-
guns
to be cant into a trinteptial column, with our
name. I wish he would let me go back to my
wife and girls, it would bo more to mo than pay, glory,
and honours. This is glory I is it ? Yes. Niece princes
have surrendered their swords to me on the field of battle,
and their kingdoms have been conquered by me and at-
tached to my own country. Well, all the glory that can be
desired is mine, and I care so little for it that the moment I
can all shall be resigned to live quietly with my wife and
girls; no honour or riches repays me for absence from them.
Otherwise, this sort of life is life to me; is agreeable, as it
may enable the to do good to these poor people. Oh I if I
can do ° any good thing to serve them where so much blood
has
bee
shed in accursed war, I shall be happy. May I
nevee another shot fired I Horrid, horrid NI ar I Yet,
how it wain upon and hardens one when in command. No
and 60
young ma
aren
different can resist the temptations, I defy him ; but 30
. .
AS'ii Charles James Arapier. yhe if and Opinions of Genoa
A SHORT SERMON.
Peter the Great when at
---
Zaarchm wished to hear a rather
fatuous preacher. The
latter consented to preach before the Czar. H
ascended the pulpit, he said, with solemnity and dignaving
ity,
"Think well, speak well, and act well. Arizen,,,

be a considerable increase of this sum. In every
year we lose round our English coasts, exclusive of
losses in other parts of the world, between two and
three thousand vessels, with a corresponding loss
of life. So great and so constant is the number of
these losses, that a Wreck Register has become a
regular publication, chronicling year by year the
lamentable increase in the loss of life and property
by disasters at sea. It may be said that this is only
a natural consequence of our immense naval traffic;
but we are not contented with this explanation in
other matters. Our railways, though more nume-
rous and more active than others, do not show any
excess of casualties over those of other less busy
eo•intries. Our highways, though more thronged
than those of most cities, are not remarkable for
the number of accidents; nay, when once fairly out
at sea, our vessels are not more frequently
lost than others. The dangers of our coast are
undoubtedly naturally great. It is said that
not less than one-third of the wrecks from rocks
and shoals take place in our channels and on our
coasts. This is a startling calculation even allow-
ing for the immense amount of traffic that passes
to and fro. But have we done all in our power
to modify these dangers ? Have we reduced the
list of casualties to the limit inevitable from un-
controllable accidents. Those are the questions
for naval authorities, and shipowners to put to
themselves as they read the figures in this Regi-
ster. The stormy season is now fairly begun.
How many more preventible catastrophes will
work its passage this year. How more vessels
will perish for want of Harbours of Refuge, how
many more ill found ships and their crews will
be sacrificed to the cupidity of their owners. The
moral is pointed by the fact, which we have so
often referred to other occasions, that nearly halt
the wrecks of the year are those of colliers, and
that when we come to the larger and better
equipped vessels the ratio immediately decreases.
Why should this state of things be suffered to
continue ? Why are men allowed to go to sea
year after year in utterly unseaworthy craft,
without a fair supply of what may be termed the
necessaries of safe navigation. It is no excuse to
urge the natural danger and intricacy of our
coasts and channels. That is only a reason for
oar shipowners being especially careful that their
vessels are well found and prepared for possible
mischance. It is surely not too much
to expect that such reasons should induce
them to make a liberal provision for every possible
want ; that they shall send vessels to sea that are
fit for the voyage, not miserable craft nearly a
hundred years old ; that they should see to it that
these vessels be properly supplied with cables,
anchors, and grounding tackle ; that they should be
sufficiently manned and commanded by sober men
who know their business. If these precautions
were attended to, the long list in the Wreck Regis-
ter would suddenly collapse, and leave the public to
regret the lives that have been wasted in foregoing
years. The system of insurance, excellent as it
undoubtedly is, has, like every blessing, its attendant
dangers, and the full compensation, sometimes more
than compensation, readily attainable by the ship-
owner renders him too often indifferent to the loss
of the ship and men. What is a human life more
or less ? A great deal, doubtless, to the widow and
orphan, but very little to him. Plenty more men
ca❑ be found any day on the look-out for employ-
ment, plenty of equally reckless or needy com-
manders to take the same risk, perhaps, with their
eyes open, perhaps unknowing of the danger from
the ignorance which greatly adds to it. Mr.
LAIRD S motion on this subject was withdrawn
owing to pertinacious opposition, but the hon. mem