The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-23 00:00:00

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days before. There was, however, no direct e vi- filled ; this day witnesses the fruition of all the
deuce against him. dearest hopes and expectations of the American
The mother was recalled, and, though she was people. It will not, we feel sure, cloud the joy With
very much pressed by the learned judge, she per- which Americans all the world over will contem-
sisted in saying she had no recollection of what had plate the blessings of this Christmas season, if they
passed. turn their thoughts back to the departed Christmas
The counsel for the prosecution proposed to con- Tide of last year. That day was a day of gloom to
tradict her by putting in her own depositions. them. They felt almost as if the message of peace
His lordship thought this could not be done under was a mockery—for was not their sky lit with the
Denman's Act. lurid glare of bloody war ?—and was not the
The prisoner, in his defence, proved that his smoke of the sacrifice of their best beloved ascend-
mother was subject to fits, and that the injuries re- ing to. the Demon of Slaughter from a hundred
suited from a fall while in one of those fits. thousand altars? Were not their fields red with
The jury found the prisoner guilty of unlawfully the blood of the sons of the Republic, who
wounding. had gone down into the valley of death, and whose
His lordship sentenced him to 18 months' impri- unburied bones lay bleaching on a hundred battle
sonment, with hard labour. fields? Aye, it was indeed a sad, sad Christmas-
THE MURDERER FORWOOD. day to them. For they had seen the Christmas
It was reported in court to-day that the con- season come and go, and come and go again, and
demned man Forwood, alias Southey, had sent a yet a third time come and go, and still hideous
letter to his lordship praying to grant him a new Treason stalked over the land, marking his path
trial, but that he (the learned judge) had refused with a wide track of desolation; and the
to receive any communication from him. It is said youth, the promise, the strength, the vigour of the
the prisoner continues to exhibit the same peculia- Republic had gone out to wrestle with the giant
rities of temper and manner as he has hitherto and had perished in the conflict ! And so they could
done. not rejoice, for Christmas brought no good
tidings of great joy" to them. There were
other reasons, too, why the American people
mourned rather than rejoiced when the last year's
Christmas came. It was not merely that wherever
the Christmas boaad was spread there were some
vacant places:--it was that the Republic, which had
been consecrated first by the blood of their ances-
tors, and a second time by the blood of their
brothers and their sons, was still in dire extre-
mity and peril ;—it was that the beautiful fabric of
freedom had been torn and rent asunder;-it was
that the free Government of which they were so
proud and which they had so learned to love had
been attacked by fratricidal hands, and was
wounded almost to the death ;—it was that
Christian nations looked coldly on in this death-
struggle of liberty with treason, and had no word
of sympathy for the right, no word of rebuke for the
wrong ;—it was that their faith had been so sorely
tried, and yet in all the black and frowning
heavens there was no bow of promise to be seen.
But this Christmas-day opens up a new 'dawning
to Americans—a new dawning to humanity. Last
year there were four millions of slaves on that
new continent—to-day there is no single slave in
all the land. Last year's Christmas was looked
forward to by those bondmen as the sad day when
their masters would let them out to the highest
bidder for the ensuing year—a husband here, a wife
there, and children yonder ! This is the first
merry Christmas those four millions have ever
known. They will meet together this Christmas
morning, husbands, wives, and children reunited,
never again to part at the bidding of the slave-
driver—free as the free air they breathe. Their
Christmas pudding this year will be their own, and
glorious will be its relish—glorious as the ambrosia
of the Gods—for has not liberty been proclaimed
throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants
thereof ? And shall they not sit them down
those dusky sons of the soil—as it were beneath
the shadow of their own vine and fig tree, and
with none to molest them or make them afraid?
For the starry flag of free America waves over
them—but it is their flag now ; and though its
threatening stripes are still there to scourge
those who would dishonour it, in all its sacred
folds there is not a single stripe for them.
We would not write of this auspicious Christmas
Tide in too enthusiastic terms, but we feel that any
language of ours will be poor indeed to express bow
deeply the American people appreciate the blessings
which it has brought to their country. A few days
since we witnessed a meeting between two repre-
sentative Americans in this country, who had not
met before for many years. One of them was au
officer of high rank in the American army, who
had fought gallantly through the war; the other was
anAmerican statesman, whose name is as well known
to Englishmen as to his own countrymen. These
two men met in London, clasped hands in a warm
fraternal greeting, and the first words that leaped
to their lips were " Glory to God in the highest!"
They had no thought of the cold forms of etiquette
—none of individual commonplaces, of " How do
you do ?" and " I hope you are quite well !"—but
it was that the Almighty had blessed them ?—that
their land was redeemed, and "Glory to God in the
highest !" was all they could say in remem-
brance of a Deliverance as grand and solemn
as that which came to those of old who were
led through the desert by the pillar of fire.
And so say we—reverently, devoutly, earnestly.—
" Glory to God in the highest !" We throw to
the winds all stately phrases, all fine-sounding
words. Feeling, as we do, that on this Christmas-
day, as on that of old, " the glory of the Lord
shines round about them," we congratulate the
American people on what He hath done fcr them.
Lift up your heads, ye mighty mountains, and re-
joice! Roll on, ye turbid rivers ! Blossom, ye wide-
spread prairies ! For lo ! the yoke of the oppressor
is broken, and those who were oppressed are free
And now, in conclusion, a word to England and
to Englishmen. Away across the Atlantic, in the
highest place of the Great Republic, sits a man
who as it were but yesterday came from his tailor's
bench to do his country's bidding. He has spoken
to you, and his voice is the voice of thirty millions.
He would have by-gones be by-gones. His mes-
sage is peace—and how opportunely it comes at
this friendly Christmas season ! Stretch forth your
broad palm, John Bull, and grasp the hand
extended to yours. Let your yule-log sparkle and
glow on the ruddy Christmas hearth your
Christthas tree spread itsbroad, well-laden branches
over your heads. Put an extra plum in your
Christmas pudding, and,with glorious,old-fashioned
English cheer, drink to your young, sturdy cousin
over the sea. For, behold, he brings you glad
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
He has broken the fetters of the enslaved, and
four millions are free ! " Glory to God
a
the highest, and on earth peace, good will toWar

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—" Anything but history," said Sir Ro
bert 'Walpole, " for that we know must be false ;
and certainly, when we are able to inquire into the
manner in which history is made for us, we see
much more reason than at first sight appears in
confirmation of the cynical observations of the old
Whig leader. Any one who considers how fre-
quently it falls within his own observation that men
will pervert, misstate, or colour to any extent facts
concerning which they have an interest in mislead-
ingmankind, must be astonished at his own cre-
dulity in accepting without question so many
statements on the faith of persons who also have an
interest to mislead him. Even our painful retrospec-
tive searches into events the best evidence of which
has long since perished often enable us to detect the
very process by which an error has been magnified
into a stroke of genius, a crime converted into a
hard necessity, and a happy chance into a superb
combination. But how much better, one thinks, it
would be if facts were carefully sifted by some com-
petent tribunal before they were received and
credited by mankind! Knowing things as they
really are, we might, from these well ascertained
data, hope to make some solid progress in politics
and the other moral sciences, instead of, as at
present, being obliged to base our reasonings on
things which, if we knew them as they really
happened, might very likely lead to conclusions
the very reverse of those we draw from them.
The investigations into shipwrecks conducted by
the Board of Trade furnish an excellent illustra-
tion, not only of the difference between facts as
they really happen and as they are presented to
us, but of the difficulty, even with an impartial
inquiry, of arriving at the truth. The first
thing we almost always hear when a catastrophe
such as a shipwreck has occurred is that "no
one• is to blame." The utmost vigilance, forti-
tude, and care have been exerted, but a . series
of untoward incidents have baffled the wisdom and
forethought of man. The captain is an object of
general sympathy and admiration, the owner is in-
demnified by the insurance, and unless it happens
that a passenger or two is drowned the impression
made upon one's mind is that nobody is in fault,
and no harm has teen done to anybody. Then
comes the investigation of theßoard of Trade,which
seldom fails to detect the negligence, or ignorance,
or other preventible cause which led to the catas-
trophe, and we have just had a case in which even
its verdict is questioned and condemned. A very
renowned Australian steam packet called the Dun-
can Dunbar was wrecked some months since on a
reef called Las Rocas, on the east coast of Brazil,
between three and four degrees south of the Equa-
tor. It was known that the ship was in the neigh-
bourhood of this dangerous reef. Nevertheless, she
went straight upon it at 8 o'clock in the evening
and became a complete wreck. Two witnesses were
examined on behalf of the captain—the first a former
master of a merchant vessel, now holding a com-
mission in the navy ; the second, and more impor-
tant one, Captain Selwyn, of the Royal Navy, who
stated that he had himself been employed on board
her Majesty's ship Siren, in 1857, in surveying the
reef on which the vessel struck. The currents
round the reef are described as running westward,
whereas Captain Selwyn states they have a
southerly with an easterly tendency. Thus the
captain of the Duncan Dunbar, being misled as to
the real direction of the currents, might naturally
and excusably suppose that he had passed to the
west of Las Rocas when he really lay to the north
of them. Had he not taken an observation of them
at four o'clock that day it would only have misled
him more. The inference which Captain Selwyn
drew from this statement was that no blame at-
tached to any one, and that a lighthouse ought to
be erected on the reef to prevent such accidents
for the future, and to afford a mark by which
vessels could steer. The representative of the
owner of the ship was perfectly satisfied. He had
never been able before to understand the reason
of the wreck, it was now made entirely clear,
and the captain had behaved with courage and
humanity after the misfortune. The Court had
nothing to do but to decide in the captain's favour
amid general applause, and everybody being satis-
fied the inquiry came to an end. Stange to say,
however, the Board of Trade felt just as much
dissatisfied with the evidence taken on this inquiry
as everybody else had been pleased with it, and, on
referring the matter to the Admiralty hydrographer,
this high authority says, first, that the ship's log-
book had been altered after the event so as to give
her a more westerly course than that assigned to
her at the time ; and next that, supposing the ship
to have been at noon in the position stated, and to
have gone at the rate and steered in the direction
described, she should, experiencing the usual cur-
rents, have run ashore exactly at the time she did,
and that her having done so is the best proof of the
correctness of existing charts. There is no record
in the. Admiralty of the southerly and easterly cur-
rents described by Captain Selwyn; in the plans
made by Captain Parish in 1856, and by Captain
Selwyn in 1857, there is no mention of any current.
But in the paper accompanying Captain Selwyn's
plan he mentions a westerly current, though he
says nothing of the southerly and easterly currents
which did such good service on the investigation
into the wreck. A single observation of longitude
at 4 o'clock ought, in the opinion of the hydro-
grapher, to have prevented the catastrophe, which
occurred only four hours later. A lighthouse is,
he thinks, not urgently required, because, although
it would be valuable to the local trade, no
ocean-going ship ought to go as far westward.
as Las Rocas, unless driven thither by extraor-
dinary stress of weather. The latitude of the
reef was determined within less than three miles,
quite near enough for all practical purposes, and
there is no ground, in the opinion of the hydro-
grapher, for the argument which has been raised in
favour of the captain on that ground. This is a
very remarkable case. A splendid merchant vessel
is wrecked in calm weather on a well-known reef,
and the master is pronounced by the Court to which
the case is referred to have been in no respect in
fault. When this sentence comes to be reviewed
by higher authority, it is alleged that the master
steered directly for the reef, and that, allowing for
the currents, the wind, and the rate at which the
ship was going, he ought to have pitched upon it at
the precise moment when he did. He neglected to
take an observation at 4 o'clock in the afternoon,
which ought to have prevented the catastrophe, and,
in fact, steered straight to his destruction without
taking a single precaution to avert it. Certainly,
if a wreck occurring under the circumstances thus
stated is to cast no blame upon anybody, it becomes
impossible to conceive for what cause a certificate
can ever be withheld. The Board of Trade and the
Admiralty Hydrographer have duly discharged their
duty to the public in pointing out their view of the
case, and exploding doctrines which, if once ad-
mitted, would be fatal to the security of voyages by.
sea ; but whose record are we to believe in the in-
stance of current history we have selected as an
example of the difficulty of arriving at truth ?
" THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES" ON CHRISTMAS
TIDE.—We think it proper and appropriate that this
journal, which professes to be the exponent of
American opinion in Europe, should pause at this
festive season, and, turning from the discussion of
questions of politics and commerce, seek to
give expression to those emotions which are upper-
most in the minds of all Americans to-day, in
whatever part of the world they may be sojourn-
ing. As this merry Christmas comes round there
is much reason for rejoicing everywhere. All
Christendom is happy and at peace. There is now
no marshaling of mighty hosts, no noise of
trumpets, no flouting of warlike banners. Eng-
land, turning from the grave of her long-trusted
statesman, dries her tears and girds up her loins
for renewed efforts in the race of Reform. France,
proud and mighty under the sway of a monarch
whose empire is peace, sets an example of wisdom
and moderation to the nations around her. Italy,
young but sturdy, pursues her career of vigour
and glory ; and America—the last hope and the
last promise of civilisation—joins with the nations
in the celebration of this merry. Christmas Tide,
with joy which is not the less joyous that it is
chastened by thoughts of those lost ones who will
never sit at the Christmas board again. For this
Christmas is to Americans second only to that
Christmas nineteen centuries ago when the
angel brought glad tidings of greatjoy to all
people. That day saw the promise of Israel ful-

men ! 5