The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-15 00:00:00

_
The Loss of the Channel Steamer Paris.

Yesterda ---7..--
y morning an official investigation, instituted by
direction of the Board of Trade, took place at the Green-
wich Police-court before Mr. Traill, police magistrate, into
the circumktances attending the total loss of the steamer
Paris, Hemmings, master, one of the Maples' Channel
Line, which was wrecked off Jersey on the morning of the
28th July last.

Mr. F H. Hemel, barrister, attended to conduct the,case,
and having briefly narrated the facts as disclosed in evi-
dence, called

John P. Manger, of Guernsey, who said he held a certi-
ficate of competency as master in the home trade, dated
July, 1859, and was chief mate of the Paris. The vessel left
St. Male about six o'clock on the morning of July 28, with
a crew of 23 (including the master and pilot), and 20 pas-
sengers. She was well found and properly equipped, and
the weather on leaving St. Malo was fine, bright, and calm.
At half-past 8, after rounding the west end of the Miniquib
he went on to the bridge and spoke to the captain and pilot.
The captain told him to go aft and give the course to haul
the ship up from N. to N.E. ± N. He (witness) remarked
to the pilot that the marks on the middle passage, two flag-
posts, were not clear, and the pilot handed him the glasses
to see whether the flag- posts were one, whiehwould be right
for the middle passage. The vessel was then four or five
miles from the Grunot rocks, and witness could not see
whether the flag posts were in two or one. A quarter of an
hour after he left the bridge, and went forward to get the
anchor ready, The vessel was then entering on the Silliette
passage, the marks of which were open, the western mar-
tello tower being to the eastward. On looking ahead of the
vessel he saw the Grunot rocks about 10 or 15 yards from
the ship on the port bow, and exclaimed to one of the
crew, "My God, we are going on the rocks." At the same
moment she struck heavily on the rocks and passed over.
The engineer called out from below, " Get out your boats,
you have not a moment to lose," and the captain gave orders
to lower the boats and the engines to be stopped. The boats
were immediately lowered, and about seven minutes after,
as they were leaving with the passengers and crew, the
stewardess was seen to come out of the cabin. The captain
got out of the boat, but as the ship was then sinking he called
to the stewardess to jump into the sea, and he would pick her
up. She did so, and a Frenchman jumped out of the lifeboat
and held her up until they succeeded in getting her into the
boat. The ship went down immediately afterwards.
Thomas Avis, an able seaman, said he was at the wheel
at the time the vessel struck. At the moment she struck
the pilot called out " hard a-port," and the captain called
out " hard a-starboard." They both called out the same order
again, and witness was baffled, and put the helm hard
a-starboard. After she passed over the rocks witness found
the vessel would not answer her helm, and he got into the
lifeboat.

David Simpson, chief engineer, also gave evidence of
feeling the vessel go over the rocks, and described the shock
as if she had grated across something. The water imme-
diately rushed into the engine-room, and having eased the
valves, to prevent an explosion occurring, he left the vessel
in the boat.
De la Cour, the pilot in charge of the vessel, was the next
witness. He said be belonged to Jersey, and had held a
pilot's certificate of competency four years, but the authori•
ties at Jersey had deprived him of it since the present occur-
rence. He was engaged at Jersey by the agent of the com-
pany to which the Paris steamer belonged to go on board
as pilot, the agreement being that he was to be paid 355.
per week for his services. On going on board, and before
leaving the harbour at Jersey, the captain told him to go
and hide himself, as he thought a pilot named Finnie was
coming on board. Witness went and secreted himself in
the fore-cabin, and as Finnie did not come on board he
came from the fore-cabin on the vessel getting away from
the pier heads, and piloted the vessel to St. Malo. Wit-
ness had no other duty to perform, and when the marks
of passages were visible then he considered his duties as
pilot commenced. On the morning of the wreck the captain
said the marks of the Silliette Passage were just open, and
he (witness) gave orders for the vessel to be kept to the
southward ; but the captain said, " No, let her go towards
the Ruandiere," a reef with a buoy on it. The vessel struck
in about two minutes after he gave the order to keep her to
the southward, and on hearing the captain's order he be-
came thunderstruck, and said nothing. After the vessel
struck, the captain. addressing him, said, "You are a
pretty fellow;" and witness replied, " If you had done as
I told you this would not have happened." The captain
made no answer. When five or: six miles from where the
vessel struck, the captain asked him what passage he meant
to take, and he told him the middle passage. The captain,
on asking him this question, said " Cut it as short as possible
to-day, and let us be in first," meaning thereby not to let
the Wonder steamer, which left St. Male about five minutes
after the Paris, and which had been in sight nearly all the
way, got before them. Witness replied that the middle
passage was the shortest and safest, and he should take
that passage. He never told the captain that he should
take the Silliette Passage.

Captain Hemmings here said that the witness distinctly
told him he should take the Silliette Passage, and that on
the vessel sinking on the rocks he (De la Cour) stamped
twice on the deck and exclaimed, " Silliette I Silliette I"
meaning thereby that he thought the vessel was upon the
Silliette rocks.

The witness De la Cour denied this statement in Coto.
Captain Hemmings, in answer to the Court, said that the
pilotage dues for the Paris would amount to £3 17s per
week, and these duties were to be performed by De la Cour.
Captain Harris remarked that, had the vessel been in-
sured, which he understood was not the case, the entering
into such an engagement would have prevented the com-
pany recovering the amount of insurance.

Mr. Traill said such a proceeding was a direct evasion of
the pilot laws, as De la Cour, being so engaged, was to
all intents and purposes eno of the crew, and although called
a pilot he had not that authority, as he was under the cap-
tain's order. His (Mr, Train's) opinion was that the
duties of a pilot had been most abominably performed--
that nothing could have been worse, and that the cabin-
boy could not have been more inefficient.
The witness Manger was recalled, and stated that he un-
derstood from the captain that De la Cour was to act in the
capacity of pilot and second mate. Witness had been five
months on board the Paris, and never knew a pilot taken
on board before in their passage to the eastward.

Captain Harris expressed surprise at this admission, and
asked whether the pilotage dues were not payable, notwith-
standing the services of a pilot were not rendered.

Captain Hemmings replied in the negative, and handed

in a long written statement as to the circumstances attend-
ing the loss of the ship, alleging that De la Cour, as pilot,
was wholly responsible.
The Court having consulted together for some time,
Mr. Traill said the inquiry was most important, and the
misconduct of the captain so gross, in leaving the pilot
De la Cour in the manner described, that it would be a ques-
tion whether the Court would not feel themselves called
upon to deal with his certificate. The case required very
serious consideration, and in order to consider their decision
the inquiry would stand adjourned.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

POST.—After much and anxious consideration,
three rejoinders to Prince Gortschakoff's three de-
spatches have at last been forwarded to St. Peters-
burg. It was proposed at one time that the three
should be welded into one strong identical note ;
but upon reflection it has been thought more
judicious to persevere as we began, and to retain
our identity of character, though imbued with
similarity of purpose. This will best allow of
-itable answers being returned to Prince Gods-
' 8"- if, who, having been more civil in his lan-
' chako-• than to the French, will now receive
gouge to
met ally a sharper rejoinder than we
from our nears_
give. The object of all is, how-
are called upon to
t•senze ;• !.ind we believe we shall
ever, strictly the
e affirm that the three
prove to be correct when v,
:s nearly as possible,
notes will be found to have,
ise of the three
identical conclusions. The purc
vance of the
Powers is to bring Russia to the obse:
provisions of the Treaties of 1815 with aspect to
Poland. In that attempt the three are acting' as one
and none will take action without the others. All
notion of coercion has passed away for the present. ,
For ourselves, we regret this, because we doubt of '
obtaining what we wish by diluted diplomacy. Had
we firmly held our course, and had the three Powers
taken up a strong and positive position, Russia
must either have given way at once, or must have
yielded in a short time to the great pressure brought
to bear on her. There would have been no neces-
sity for war in the common acceptation of the term.
There would have been no question of give
and take in blows to be dealt; no great struggle—
the colossus of the North would have been held
paralysed in the grip of all Europe. From Sweden
to Turkey a vast encircling pressure might have been
applied which would have been irresistible in its force.
Tnat this is the truth is proved by the article which
we publish in another column from the Gazette of
Moscow. That journal, full of the notion that we
would, if necessary, take up a hostile position with-
out war, writhes in anticipated impotence and pain,
and cries aloud against the wiciedness of a policy
which, after all, would have been but the em-
bodiment of the moral force of universal opinion.
If, however, the step the three Powers now
take is not so trenchant as we could hare
wished, it is not to be interpreted as a sign
of vascillation in their general intentions.
Prince Gortschakoff will do well to read the signs
of the times honestly and simply as they are
written. He has failed to detach Austria from our
alliance. Let him not think on the one hand that
England and Austria are holding back from France,
or, on the other, that he could provoke France into
a false position, and precipitate her into isolated
hostilities. He would only encounter another failure
in any such attempt. France will not step one foot
without her allies. He should therefore look his
opponents in the face, and resign for ever the idea
of cajoling, seducing, or irritating any of them into
divergent action. If the more formidable aspect of
the question is adjourned, it is only from the con-
viction that the Cabinet of St. Petersburg must
now realise the truth of its position and the neces-
sity of a return within the limits of treaties. If
the warning now given be again misinterpreted, and
if, as there is every prospect, the Poles sustain the
arduous struggle in which they are engaged, th,
question will ultimately have to be put in the most
decisive form—a rorm in which Russia cannot afford
to meet it. The great empire is much disorganised,
badly off in its finances, and indifferently supplied
with military resources. Bombast is a favourite
Russian weapon, but on this occasion its empty
sound will produce no effect, and we therefore hope
we shall have no more of it. Our demands must he
met in a spirit partaking of the sincerity in which
they are made. We have every desire to avoid even
the semblance of danger to the general peace.
Neither ourselves nor our allies have the least
present hostile intention, and we should only adopt
coercive measures in the last resort when they are
forced upon us. But step by step, in negotiation or
in action, we shall advance together in the inten-
tion of obtaining from Russia the recognition of
what is just, and a consummation claimed by the
voice of Europe.
HERALD.—The removal of Sir James Hudson
from the post of British representative at the Court
of Turin, and his replacement by the Hon. Mr_
Elliot, savour very strongly of a rank Whig job.
job. We say the removal of Sir James Hudson,
because his voluntary resignation is out of the ques-
tion. He has far more than eleven years given, in
the name of England, the warmest encouragement
and aid to the policy of aggrandisement which King
Victor Emmanuel and his Ministers have so suc-
cessfully pursued. The Italian kingdom is almost a
child of his begetting, and he would not withdraw
his fostering care from the bantling of his own free
will. His devoted zeal and his great services have
been cordially recognised by the King and by all
classes of Italian politicians, and he enjoys an in-
fluence and an esteem which no foreign Minister
has ever possessed in any country, and which most
assuredly he could not acquire in any other capacity.
If England is the country of his birth, Italy is that
of his adoption, all his interests are centered in her
fortunes, and he could have desired nothing more
than to continue—with some increase of dignity
and emolument perhaps, if possible, but if that
could not be obtained readily, without it—in a po-
sition which enables him to advance so greatly her
cause. Sir James Hudson has only resigned upon
compulsion, and the fact that Mr. Elliot succeeds
him would indicate that the only reason for the
compulsion was the desire on the part of Earl Rus-
tell to find his relative a comfortable position. Mr.
Elliot has of late had no regular employment. He
has been sent upon a special mission or two,
which, as the case of Greece, had no other reason
somethingof certain,
the
than to give him something to do. He naturally
began tolongfor
anxious, as a judicious
observer
chancesan d
ofi
politics, to get it at once. His eye had long been
upon Sir James Hudson's place; he nearly got it
two or three years ago, but the loud and
indig-
nant outcry which was raised as soon as the plot
was revealed, frightened Lord Russell and saved
Sir James Hudson. This time it • is supposed all
will be right. Parliament is not sitting, and no
inconvenient inquiries are to be feared. The
business will be concluded, Sir James Hudson
will be in retirement, or employed in some other
part of the world, before the two houses meet
again, and then of course very little can be
said or done. The matter will have long been
settled, and after a few taunts at the noble lord's
inherent jobbery the fait accompli will be accepted.
We have never been admirers of Sir James Hudson.
Whilst recognising his ability we have often had
the conviction forced upon us that he has regarded
much more the interests of Italy than of England,
and that his object throughout his residence at Turin
has not been so much to serve the country in whose
name he was accredited as to advance
the projects
of King Victor Emmanuel and hie
advisers. His
dispatches betray a desire rather to represent every-
thing in the most favourable
light for the Piedmon-
tese, to bolster up the mistakes and deceptions of
their Ministers, than to give a truthful and accurate
picture of the real condition of affairs. But if he '
did thus dress up his wares, he sent them to a mar-
ket which would only receive them so prepared. If
Sir James Hudson is an enthusiast for the kingdom
of Italy; if he has palliated all the mistakes of its
Ministers; if he has tried to explain away all the
steps that they have taken injurious to British in-
terests, to make out Naples peaceful and contented,
to prove that England alone would be advantaged
by unity under Piedmontese rule, Lords Palmerston
and Russell have done just the same thing, and have
made their friendship to the new kingdom the chief
part of their stock in trade. And there can be no
doubt that Sir James Hudson is the great mainstay
of such British influence as there is in Turin. The
Ministers of the King and the King himself sought
his advice, and acted upon it when ever the neces-
sities of their obligations to France and their posi-
tion towards the party of action allowed them to do
so. Mr. Elliot will only follow, with less know-
ledge and far less influence, in the path which Sir
James Hudson has pursued. We have in Turin a
first-rate man for the place so long as the policy of
the last three or four years is to be pursued, and
we get rid of him, and appoint a man of whom
the best thing that can be said is that nobody
knows any great harm of him. Our Italian policy
now consists in a struggle for influence with
France; we seek to drive her out of Rome and
destroy her natural influence over the Italian Go-
vernment. It is not a policy which holds out much
chance of success ; not a policy, perhaps, the success
of which would be worth anything; but it is our
Policy, and Sir James Hudson was the only man
who could pursue it with any chance of success.
His heart was in the work ; he had a rare know-
ledge of the instruments by which to advance it;
and yet our Whig Government, to find a place for a
member of a family of place-bunters, to provide for
a poor relation of the Foreign Minister, removes
this one capable man, and substitutes for him a
person who has never shown that he possesses more
ability than would justify his appointment to a
clerkship in the Excise. There are, indeed, two
cases in which the removal of Sir James Hudson
would be legitimate. If the Government has deter- ,

mined to change its policy towards Italy it would
be judicious to transfer Sir James Hudson to some
other post, and replace him by some diplomatist not
committed as he is. Sir James Hudson way hive
committed some act of insubordination or indiscre-
tion which necessitates his recal. But in either of
these cases—the first 3f which is hardly possible,
the removal of Sir James Hudson would be fully
justified, the choice of his successor would remain
a rank job; If it had been necessary to remove
from Turin the man who had represented this coun-
try there through eleven so eventful years, a wor-
thier successor might have been found for him than
Mr. Elliot, WE° will be British envoy at Turin
not by right of his special ability, great expe-
rience, or long services, but by his close relation-
ship to a leading member of a shamelessly corrupt
Administration. The removal may possibly be
justified; the appointment cannot even be excused.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

I,`

LIVERPOOL-FRIDAY.

At this day's market there was a slow trade in wheat,
and prices must be quoted ld per cental lower. Barley,
beans, and peas at former rates. Oats difficult to sell.
Indian corn offered, and closed 3d pr quarter cheaper.
Oatmeal neglected. Flour (American) a slow inquirh
but unaltered in value.