The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 12, lEEE.

there is to be an extra Session of the Legislature
to meet on the 25th of October. The despatch ends
with the assurance that all are loyal and in good

spirits.

The ravages of the army worm in Texas are re-
presented to be alarming. In many sections of the
State, it is said, there will not be more than a fourth
of the crops worth gathering.
Accounts from North-East Mississippi represent
the prospects of the cotton crop as very poor. The
negroes, it is said, are unwilling to work or make
contracts with the planters by which the present
crops can be secured.
A despatch from New Orleans states that a cir-
cular has been issued from the headquarters of the
Bureau of Freedmen in that State, announcing that
hereafter, whenever judicial officers, who may have
freedmen on trial, show a disposition to act justly,
no interference will be made by the Bureau.
The Episcopal Convention of the diocess of New
York has exhibited a most conciliatory spirit toward
the Church in the South. It declares that not only
will the Southern delegates be received into the Ge-
neral Convention without a word of reproach, but
the election of the Bishop of Alabama and the crea-
tion of the diocess of Arkansas, and the election
thereto of a bishop, will be accepted by that body
as valid and proper acts.
Miss Emma Jones has been tried by court-martial
in Charleston, South Carolina, and sentenced to pay
a fine of $lOO. The charge against her was that she
had behaved in a disgraceful and disloyal manner
in the presence of citizens and United States' sol-
diers, and had trailed the American Union flag in
the dust, and trampled on it, at the same time utter-
ing contemptuous and disloyal language.

Mr. Disraeli on Farm Leases and Farm
Labourers.

The annual meeting of the Amersham and Ches-
ham Agricultural Association was held on Tuesday
at Amersham. At the dinner in the Town-hall the
chair was taken by Mr. T. T. Drake, of Shardeloes,
who was supported by Lord Chesham, Mr. Disraeli,
M.P., Mr. Du Pre, M.P., Mr. W. Lowndcs, Mr. J.
Hale, Rev. C. Lloyd, &c.
Mr. FIELD, in responding to the toast of " The
tenant farmers," made some observations on the ne-
cessity of granting leases to tenants as a security
for their investment, and described the present sys-
tem as a state of serfdom without the name.

Mr. DISRAELI then rose to propose " Prosperity
to the Association and the Agricultural Labourers."
He said—l have a toast entrusted to me which refers
to a class not inferior in value to the farmers them-
selves. If I stop for a moment to make an observa-
tion on the speech we have just listened to, it is not
to provoke a discussion on an occasion like the pre-
sent on the subject of leases. Any one who has given
attention to that subject must know that it would
be impossible on an occasion like the present to ex-
haust the matter, or even to touch on the principles
which lie at the foundation of it. It is very well to
say a farmer ought to have a lease, but you must
consider the terms of that lease, and you will find,
when you come to discuss those terms with one who
would be your tenant, that very different ideas are
attached to these conditions from those which are
entertained by another. Mr. Field said a farmer
should have a lease or tenant right, but a lease and
tenant right are two very different things. Mr.
Pusey was one of the best authorities on this matter
who have flourished in our time, and to his proposi-
tion with regard to tenant right I was always favour-
able'. I remember hearing him say in the House of
Commons—although he was a man to whom agri-
culture and husbandry are more indebted than to
any other man in our generation—that rather than
let land on long leases he would prefer tohave no land
at all. He thought that letting under such conditions
would deprive him of the opportunity of performing
some of the first duties which, in his opinion, attach
to the possession of land. If you put it to a farmer
whether lie will have a lease for a short term of
years, he will give you remons for objecting to that.
On the other hand, the landlord will say that as the
value of land generally speaking has been rising
for a long series of years, if he grants a lease
for a long term it will be necessary to enter into
some arrangement by which the rent shall be
proportionately and periodically increased. That
again might not satisfy the person who would be
your tenant. (Hear, hear.) The fact is the ar-
rangements under which land is held must vary ac-
cording to the soil and the different counties. I do
not think any abstract principles can be laid down
on the subject. But this is quite clear, that per-
manent improvements ought to be done by the land-
lord—(hear, hear)—and if that be done there are
very few tenants, I think, who would wish to embar-
rass themselves with leases. That is a point, I think,
on which experience has led us all to the same con-
clusion. Gentlemen, it is by command of your pre-
sident that I rise to propose success to this institu-
tion, and especially to the agricultural labourers, on
whose behalf (and not on that of the tenant farmers)
this association was principally instituted. I wish to
call the attention of the meeting to a mostimportant
matter. I have always been, as I intimated before,
very much in favour of local institutions which propose
to themselves local objects, and which have closely
followed up their original intention. And of all the
local institutions in this country I have no hesitation
in saying that the Amersham and Chesham Associa-
tion is the one which has been most successful, and
that, proposing to itself a limited object it has com-
pletely achieved it. The object is to recognise merit
and to reward skill in the agricultural population. It
proposed that object, and it has succeeded in recog-
nising, in rewarding, and encouraging merit in that
portion of her Majesty's subjects. I have not changed
my opinion as to the expediency of rewarding long
service by a pecuniary donation, and although that
has been a subject of considerable controversy, I
know as you all do, that this is a recognition
of merit which they substantially appreciate. And
so long as the labouring classes associate with them
the feelings which they do at present, it would be
most unwise, and give rise to great and painful mis-
conception if we were to terminate them. It is a
very great mistake to suppose that because to the
editor of a newspaper who perhaps receives £l,OOO
a year the reward may seem trifling, therefore it is
small in the estimation of the person who receives
it. Recollect you must estimate the value, of re-
ward of £3 to a labourer with 12s. a week repre-
sents a sum equivalent to £5OO or £6OO to a gentle-
man with £5,000 a year. Now I have observed that
gentlemen in the receipt of £5,000 a year are not
absolutely indifferent to the chance of receiving
£4OO or £5OO extra. (Laughter.) Why the income
tax, about which the gentlemen with large incomes
make such a noise, does not amount proportionately
to anything like the sum which is obtained in addi-
tion to his income by one of the agricultural la-
bourers whose moral virtues and whose industry are
recognised by this system of rewards. With regard
to the other prizes there can be no controversy.
Careful shepherds, industrious ploughmen, skilful
hedgers and thatchers (as we have in the southern
part of the county, though you have not here), why
should not their merits be recognised by those among
whom they live ? (Hear, hear.) There is another
point touching the condition of the labouring popu-
lation which this and similarsocieties have attempted
to influence. I mean their habitations. (Hear, hear.)
You offered premiums for keeping cottages in good
order, for the cultivation of gardens with the
greatest industry and taste, and in other modes
sought to encourage a feeling of the respectability
of home among the labouring p )or. Gentlemen,
that is an excellent object, but there were, I believe,
domestic difficulties connected with the inspection,
which have thrown obstacles in the way of the con-
tinuation of the prizes for the best kept cottages.
But generally the premiums offered by this and
similar societies for the cultivation of cottage gar-
dens had been productive of much good. I must
repeat what I said on a former occasion, that the
condition of the residences of our agricuitural popu-
lation demands most serious ,consideration. It is
always said that cottages never will pay a fair in-
terest for the money invested in them. I will not
say, as it is sometimes said, that you must look to
the moral return you receive for building proper
habitations on your estate, though I believe that is
a substantial return ; but I say that in a pecuniary
sense you get a return for your investment. It is

true, that if you build a cottage for £l2O it is not
practicable to receive a rent from the cottage in
proportion to the investment. I admit that, but in
the long run the farmer is so glad to have the
labourer handy on his land, he sees the immense
advantage to the health and strength of the labourers
in having the dwellings well ventilated, that where
the comfort and health of the labourer are provided
for he will give an increased rent. Consequently,
although the direct result may not remunerate the
landlord, there is, on that ground, every reason why
the condition of the labourers' dwellings should be
improved. At the same timein all things there should
be moderation. The other day I was shown some
model cottages—this was in the county of Bucking-
ham—the porches of which were covered with plate
glass. I do not know what they cost, perhaps
£250 a piece. Now a porch is necessary to a cot-
tage, but the labourer ought not to be deprived of
the light of day, or the shining of the moon by
night, by a slate covering, and so I actually
saw the porches covered with plate glass. (Renewed
laughter.) That, no doubt, is folly, and tends to
defeat the object we all have in view. Cottages at
£250 a piece are the " follies" of the poor, just as
we have some buildings which are styled the "fol-
lies" of the rich. Speaking strictly to the toast
I can say there has been during the past 20 years a
decided improvement in the dwellings of the poorin
the county of Buckingham, but there are districts
where there is still very much to be regretted. But
we may may congratulate ourselves here that dur-
ing the last few years there has been a gradual rise
in the wages of labour for the agricultural class in
this county, and that is the foundation of all efforts
for their improvement. Gentlemen, with these feel-
ings I ask you to drink prosperity to this associa-
tion, because it is founded on an excellent principle,
and it has succeeded because it has confined itself
to that principle, and has not aimed at that which
a local association can never fulfil. If you want to
stimulate agriculture and husbandry in this county,
if you want to increase the means by which you
make wealth, and so to become richer, you must
have the larger association referred to by my excel-
lent friend, and that can only be done by a whole
country acting with determination, and animated
by honourable competition. But as regards this
society, it does fulfil its object; it has improved the
condition of the labourer in this district, and there-
fore I trust you will join me in drinking prosperity
and success to it. (Cheers.)

The Loss of the Eagle Speed.

(From the Times' Correspondent)

On Sunday morning, the 19th of August, 425
statute adult coolies, or 300 men, 93 women, and
65 children under ten, and 39 infants in arms,
making 497 human beings, sailed from Port Can-
ning for Demerara in the Eagle Speed, Captain
Brinsden. The ship was American originally, and
pine built ; she was not classed high at Lloyd's, but
she seems to have been an average vessel. All the
formalities and inspection necessary in shipping
coolies seems to have been attended to by the Pro-
tector of Emigrants and the agent for the colony,
except one—the crew were not mustered by the
pilot. Had this been done it would have been found
that, though it was of a sufficient strength in num-
bers, only six were able for work. The captain
was, or had been, ailing, but was on duty, and he
was anxious to get out to sea, that there his men
might get well after a debauch on land. The chief
officer was ill and off duty. Even the coolie doctor
was ill, but the poor doctor took his place until the
ship should get to sea. The port master, Captain
Hoskins, accompanied the ship down the estuary.
The ship was towed by the Lady Elgin steamer,
Captain Heath, on board of which, as a passenger,
was Captain W. G. Maitland, of the 29th Punja-
bees. At four o'clock on the subsequent day, when
wind and weather were both bad, the rope connect-
ing the steamer and the ship broke, and during the
two hours occupied in passing another rope the ship
drifted on to the Roy Mutlah sands and sprang a
leak. Professional men assert that if she had been
a new or an iron ship this would not have happened ;
and a correspondent of a Calcutta paper asserts
that 75 per cent. of all the vessels engaged in the
coolie trade are not classed at Lloyd's at all. The
Emigration Commissioners will see to this, doubtless.
With a bad leak and heavy weather the ship ought
at once to have been towed back to Halifax Island,
the nearest good anchorage. Instead of this the
steamer took her out towards sea till, at 10 o'clock at
night, the steamer also broke down and both anchored.
All this time, from 4 to 10, the coolies had been at
the pumps, and continued them till 3 next (Tuesday)
morning, when the steamer was signalled for help as
the Eagle Speed was sinking. The steamer, how-
ever, neither towed the ship with her living freight
back to Halliday Island nor passed lines by which
the coolies might have boarded her, nor sent off her
own three boats to help in transhipping them. The
sea was high, but all the witnesses assert that any
one of these plans might have been adopted, and
would have saved every soul on board. Instead of
this only three of the ship's boats were lowered.
The shrieking coolies clung to the gangways and
bulwarks, eager to save themselves, and a few
threw themselves into the water on hencoops and
were picked up. One boat, manned by the pilot
and crew, made one trip and never returned. A
second, manned by the second officer and others of
the crew, was stove in after the first trip. Captain
Hoskins made five trips, till sunstroke disabled him.
Then the steamer put down one of its three boats,
and it was long till the offer of money and shame
would induce the now saved ship's crew to man it.
They positively refused to save their captain, who
was still on the wreck. At last they made two
trips, bringing him and the coolie doctor and others
off. The scene on board that Tuesday forenoon
must have been terrible. The interpreter had dis-
appeared ; the compounder and others had broken
open the brandy-chest ; the pilot had not returned ;
no one could speak a word of the language ; no
orders could be given. The captain left at half-past
12, and, though the ship did not sink for 18 hours
after, the steamer returned to Port Canning with
only 169 coolies saved, and leaving the rest without
advice or encouragement to their horrible fate. The
excuse given is that there was only one day's coal
on board. But even at this stage of mismanage-
ment and barbarity there was enough of coal to
have enabled it to go to Halliday Island, deposit
the coolies, and return for the larger number still
abandoned. A fine boat had been left on the wreck
unlaunched, and as if to condemn the ignorant in-
humanity of those on board the steamer, it was
launched by the coolies with the aid of one sick
European and four negroes. The boat actually
passed the steamer, and found its way up to port.
Imagination refuses to picture the horrors of the 300
human beings when steamer and boat had left, all
through that Tuesday afternoon and night, with the
ship sinking, the water coming ever nearer, the
breakers sweeping off the weak and despairing, and
the strong clinging and climbing even higher on the
masts. Wednesday morning dawned, and still no
hope, till about seven she went down, and when the
two steamers sent from Calcutta arrived at the scene
they found only the top of the inizenmast with three
boys clinging to it, and covered with the rags of the
poor wretches who had been washed off or had thrown
themselves into the sea unencumbered in the hope
of safety. When the Lady Elgin returned she saved
50 who had found their way on pieces of the wreck
to Halliday Island, and the Oudh steamer, which has
since been searching the creek, has picked up 10
more. No less than 265 of the 497 coolies are lost.
As if to add to the horrors of the story, several of
the poor wretches who escaped drowning, when they
landed on the mud islets near, were carried off by
tigers. A story is told of two children who floated
to shore. One had left his companion for a moment
himselfrnec to l
talnirde wretun into see
him
n the seaina
andtiger's
was
last extremity. pickedja ws''
nil;again
at
the
I cannot repeat to you the curses, not loud but
deep, which are heard in almost every circle of so-
ciety, but are checked by the fact that a Court is
trying the pilot. No one defends the sailors, who are
acknowledged on all sides to have acted as English-
men are, thank God, but seldom known to act. All
feel that Capt. Hoskins did his duty, and wonder
that he did not insist on the steamer towing the
vessel to land, or at least waiting longer by her,

though he had no power. Even the captain of the
coolie ship is less blamed than the pilot, who, know-
ing the language and being in charge, never returned
to the wreck, excusing himself on the ground that
the crew would not work and his boat was smashed,
forsooth, as if there were not other boats. But the
most culpable seems to have been the steamer's cap-
tain. The lives of these 500 people were in his hands,
and he saved only 169 of them. As usual, when any
such catastrophe as this or the cyclone happens at
any other time than the cold season, both the su-
preme and local Governments are away—the former
enjoying the cool delights of Simla, and the latter in
Assam. I trust this catastrophe will open the eyes
of the English authorities to the character of the
coolie trade. The Emigration Commissioners in
their last report, for 1864, write very pleasantly
about it, and certainly all that the Government of
India does for its emigrant subjects up to the time
they go to sea is done. But such a disaster as this,
a similar shipwreck and loss of life off the harbour
of the Natal capital some months ago, such barbarity
as the Mauritius colonists were guilty of nine years
ago, when, under the baseless fear of cholera, they
massacred 152 by exposing them for days on a rock in
the Indian Ocean; the travaux forces of the French
planters in Reunion, which our agent's report ex-
posed some time ago in our own columns ; the mor-
tality on board the ships, amounting, say the com-
missioners, in many special cases to 22i per cent. ;
the incompetent surgeons, " two of whom are said to
have been constantly intoxicated"—l quote their
own report—all these facts, in the interests of huma-
nity alone, ought to put a stop to our coolie trade,
and to such convention as Lord Russell has made
with the French Emperor, which is as bad as the old
Assiento treaties. But there is another argument.
Is it or is it not a fact that India is under-peopled,
that she cannot grow more cotton for want of hands
to pluck it, that the infant industries of tea and
coffee cultivation in the hills are being strangled by
the difficulty of getting labour ? If so, surely it is
suicidal in the Government of India, whether at
home, where it is pressed by colonial, Parliamentary,
and French interests, or here, where the Viceroy is
but the head clerk of the Secretary of State, to give
encouragement to such a trade—to do more than
allow its subjects to carry their labour to any mar-
ket they like, under a Passenger Act such as that
which regulates emigration in England. In the past
21 years India has sent half a million of her subjects
to the colonies. Of these 310,202 have gone to the
Mauritius, 90,200 to the West Indies, and the rest
to the French colonies and Ceylon. These figures
have a meaning beyond what they would have in
little England. Not only do early marriages, zenana
excesses, poor food, and past anarchy limit the
growth of an Asiatic population, but the mass of
the people are peasants with small holdings, and
there is no labouring class except the 4,000,000 or
5,000,000 of indigenous tribes in the hills, one-sixth
of whom, at least, have been shipped out'of the
country. Is it right for the home authorities thus
ignorantly to sacrifice our Indian subjects and the
best interests of India, at a time when there is a cry
for cotton,only to help a few colonists to grow sugar,
and in the vain hope of bribing French planters to
stope the " free labour" slave trade from the east
coast of Africa?"

The Gale on the North-East Coast.

SHIELDS, Wednesday, 3 a.m.

During the past 15 hours—that is, since the last de-
spatch was sent from this seaport—the gale has continued
to rage with great fury, and at this hour of the morning
there is no appearance of abatement. It is blowing hard
upon the land, and the sea is very fearful. The brig Me-
dora, which foundered yesterday forenoon and drowned all
her crew off here, was an old Tyne collier, and seven sea-
men have perished with her. Her master, Mr. Colbear,
was a good sailor, but the vessel appears to have been one
of those old tubs that are no credit to our marine, and the
sea at the entrance to the Tyne seems to have crushed her
like an egg-shell. The sea and wind were very violent in
the early part of last night, and as the Tyne was somewhat
flooded by the recent heavy rains, vessels were in serious
danger of being driven upon the rocks upon the ebb if they
took the harbour, and the newly-formed corps of volunteers
(the Tynemouth Life Guards), the coastguards, and life-
boatmen kept a sharp look out. About 8 o'clock last night
a schooner, the Ringwood, ;sf Yarmouth, attempted to seek
the shelter of the Tyne ; but unfortunately, in taking the
bar, the master kept too far to the northward, and the re-
sult was that the vessel ran upon the dangerous reef at the
mouth of the Tyne known as the Black Middens. The
North and South Shields lifeboats were launched and
manned and despatched to the rescue of the crew, and the
Life Guard Brigade also got the apparatus on the rocks, and
succeeded in firing two rockets over the schooner ; but the
crew made no effort to use the lines thus sent off, neither
did they wait for the arrival of the lifeboats, but having got
their long boat out they got into her and made for the shore.
At the time surf was breaking upon the beach heavily and
violently, and the back sweep of the waves was tremendous.
The result was that when the crew got the boat in towards
the shore it upset with them. Two of them, Jas. Johnson,
tho mate, and Wm. Whittaker, a seaman, ga on a rock,
and by sticking their hands in the mud they held on until
they were able to climb up the face of the cliff and were
saved. But the master, Mr. James Johnson, John Walker,
and James Cox, seamen, were swept away by a tremen-
dous sea, and were drowned. Johnson and Whittaker
were picked up by some friendly people, and were taken
to the tavern frequented by the lifeboat boatmen, where
they were furnished with dry clothes and refreshment,
of which they were very much in need. When the life-
boats got down to the ship, which they did at considerable
risk to the crews, the latter discovered that there was no
one on board, and they brought information into the
harbour that the crew had been washed overboard and
drowned, which did not quite happen to be the case. If
the poor men had only stood by their ship they would have
been saved with the greatest ease. The body of the mas-
ter (Mr. Johnson) and that of the cook, a middle-aged man,
were found among the rocks at midnight. The vessel, which
has dried at low water, appears to bo very much broken,
and seems to be little better than a wreck. A considerable
number of light and laden ships have run into the Tyne
during the past 24 hours, and, with the exception of the
two vessels mentioned above, they have all reached the
port without sustaining any damage. In consequence
of the late great improvements effected by the Commis-
sioners, there is a very considerable • depth of water upon
the bar of the Tyne at all times of tide. Only on ac-
count of the improvement in the depth of water in the
estuary of the Tyne, a much heavier sea comes into the
harbour in a storm like the one now raging, and the danger
to human life has become greater. At present the Tyne
and docks are very much crowded with shipping, which are
here either for loading or shelter. A fleet of laden vessels,
it is hoped, is in the Humber. But those vessels which
have sailed from the Tyne and have not a good roadstead,
will be in considerable peril, for the weather is really fright-
ful in the North Sea. Among the list of casualties which
have come to hand, we have received information that the
Economy, of Whitstable, has gone ashore at Hartlepool ;
and it is also reported that another schooner, heavily
laden, is ashore upon the Hall Rocks, and that two men
are lost overboard. A shipwrecked crew is also reported
to have been brought into the Tyne by a steamer, the
vessel having gone ashore at Souter Point. The Catherine,
of Lynn, has been lost at Seaham Harbour.

Noon.

The gale seems to be about over, and since daybreak
this morning the sea has fallen considerably. Last night
after dark a vessel foundered off the Wear and all hands
perished. She is believed to be the Frederick VII., from
Honfleur, and was the property of Mr. Scott, of Seaham
harbour, to which latter place she was bound, light. She
was commanded by Mr..) uray, a native of Rye. She had
two other hands, a foreign seaman and a boy, as crew.
During the afternoon Mr. Scott, the owner of the vessel,
saw her crew making signals, and he took the train from
Seaham and proceeded to Sunderland. In the train he
watched her proceeding northwards, and upon getting
upon the pier he saw her founder. Tho schooner Favour-
ite, of Ipswich, drifted up on the beach at Sunderlandlast
night, but her crew, who had taken to the boats, were
picked up by the Privateer steam tug and brought into
Shields harbour. Several ships have arrived in the Tyne
from the south this morning. We have had no .rain since
midnight.

The Messrs. Galignani, of Paris, have built and
endowed an hospital for the English poor residing in this
city. It is situated on the new Boulevard de Bineau, and
contains 25 beds, six in the men's ward and six in the
women's, and the rest in separate rooms on an upper story.
It is placed under the direction of an English Sister of
Charity, and two medical men, also English, have under-
taken to give gratuitous attendance. The building, which
has a garden attached, was given over on Monday by the
Messrs. Galignani to the English Ambassador, and becomes
English property from this day forward.
IA.DITILTISEILENT.I—HOUOWay'S Pills.—A Remedy, for
Bi ious and Liver Complaints.—Those who suffer from
biliousness and liver complaints should try the effects of
this valuable remedy, a few doses of which will make the
sufferer feel elastic and vigorous, remove all impurities,
give a healthy action to the liver, and strengthen the
stomach. If bilious attacks be allowed to continuo with-
out using such a preventive, more serious casualties may
arise, and the sufferer be consigned to a bed of sickness.
Holloway's pills are an extraordinary remedy, acting im-
mediately in the removal of acidity of the stomach, indi-
gestion, debility, and nausea, preparing the food thoroughly
for assimilation, rendering each tributary organ perfect in
its function, and stimulating the kidneys.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—A catastrophe unparalleled for horror
and fatality has been reported from Calcutta by the
last mail. The chronicles, indeed, of such disasters,
copious and appalling as they are, might be searched
in vain for any such story as is now related. We
hardly know how to designate the occurrence. It
would have been a shipwreck if it had happened at
sea or on a stormy coast without a chance of help,
but the circumstances were not of that character.
The scene rather resembled those executions during
the French Reign of Terror when a number of vie-
tiins were floated down the Loire in a vessel built tti
sink at a given moment with all on board. How-
ever, the public shall be made acquainted with the
facts, and judge for itself. Two months ago a
cargo of Coolies, that is to say, natives of India,
was consigned from Calcutta to Demerara, so that
the labour-market of the West Indies might be
stocked by importations from the East. The trade
is a regular trade, and not only recognised, but
placed under certain restrictions to prevent abuses
which might otherwise prevail. On this occasion
the ship Eagle Speed embarked at Port Canning no
fewer than 497 of these emigrants, of whom 300
were men,. 93 women, 65 little children, and 39 in-
fants actually in arms. We must beg the reader's
attention to the classification of the passengers, and
to the proportion of poor creatures—almost two-
fifths of the whole—who would be utterly helpless
in an hour of peril. The ship was commanded by
a Captain Brinsden, and she bad a crew of 26 offi-
cers and men, exclusive of cooks and cabin boys.
Captain Hoskins, the port-master, went on board
himself to see her out of the estuary, and aCalcutta
steamer called the Lady Elgin, under the command
of a Captain Heath, was ordered to tow her down
the river. On this voyage she started on Sunday,
the 20th of August last, one of the regular pilots,
named Vardy, having been placed in charge of her.
The first day of the voyage saw her as far as Hal-
liday's Island,_ where she anchored for the night.
On Monday morning she proceeded on her way, but
the wind was high and the sea rough, and at length,
at 4 o'clock in the afternoon the towing rope broke,
and the ship and steamer parted. This accident
occurred within about a mile of the Mutlah Sands,
and before a fresh rope could be passed from the
steamer the ship drifted towards these sands, and
there struck. In about half an hour, however, she
got off, but she had sprung a leak on the sands, and
had nearly two feet of water in her hold. A little
later that evening the steamer's engines got out of
order, and so about 9'oclock p.m. on the second day
of the voyage, the ship anchored again. Before day
broke on Tuesday it was found that the water was
gaining on her, and though the Coolies had been
kept at the pumps from the first the water gained
still, till at length she signalled the steamer that she
was sinking. At this time the steamer was close by.
It was dark, but daylight was not far off ; a couple
of hours at the utmost would have sufficed for pass-
ing ropes from one vessel to the other, and by 10
o'clock at latest the ship and its living cargo might
have been back again at Halliday's Island. For an
hour, however, the steamer did nothing. During
this time the ship had launched three of her own
boats, one under Captain Hoskins, another under
the second officer, and the third under the pilot.
Captain Hoskins made five trips with his boat, and
ceased only when disabled by sun-stroke. The
second officer's boat was soon stove in, and so was
the pilot's. Still there was yet one fine boat on board
the ship and three on board the steamer, and about
4 o'clock in the morning the steamer did put one of
these down, though the utmost difficulty was found
in getting the rescued crew of the ship to man it.
The pilot actually refused to return to the ship at all,
though he understood the language of the Coolies,
and could have given directions and orders. In
the meantime, the scene on board the emigrant ship
was terrible. There was nobody there who could
speak to the Coolies or give them any instructions
or encouragement. The spirit-room had been
broken open, and the brandy broached. All the
Europeans were taken off safely, but it is asserted
that the last who left endeavoured to set the ship
on fire. At length, about half-past 12, when 169
Coolies only had been saved, the steamer actually
put her head about and returned to Port Canning,
leaving upwards of 300 of these poor creatures to
their fate. It was a slow and shocking one. The
ship lived all through the night, and up to 7 o'clock
on Wednesday morning, settling down in the water
by degrees. Some of the Coolies threw themselves
off on hencoops or spars, and floated to the islands,
where they became the prey of tigers. One little
boy survived to tell how he was drifted to the
jungle with another about as big as himself, and
how he saw him in the jaws of an enormous tiger a
minute afterwards. The stronger Coolies clambered
up the rigging and postponed their fate a few hours,
but at last death overtook them all, and when
steamers at length returned to the rescue three boys
clinging to the top of a mast were all that could be
seen of the ship and her crew. Others were picked
up subsequently on the water or in the jungle, but
when the tale was made up it was found that of the
497 Coolies 265 had perished, while only 232 had
been saved. Of course, a sacrifice so frightful has
provoked an inquiry, and we are rejoiced to see that
public opinion in Calcutta has been shocked as
severely as it will be in England. There appears to
have been something wrong at almost every point.
The ship's crew were never mustered before start-
ing, or it would have been found that, out of the
twenty-six, twenty, either from sickness or intoxi-
cation, were unfit for duty. The second officer was
drunk, the boatswain was drunk, and several of the
crew were drunk, and continued drunk all through
the night to the next day. The first officer was ill
and off duty, and the captain, though on duty, was
ailing too. In fact, he alleged as a reason for get-
ting to sea that he wished his mento get right again
after their debauches on shore. Then the vessel,
it is said, must have been unfit for the voyage,
or she would never have sprung a leak on the
Mutlah Sands. As to the behaviour of the people
concerned, there is a chorus of indignation and
censure. Captain Hoskins, who did his duty better
than any man there, declares that the ship might
have been saved with every
.soul on board, and this
is proved to be a sound opinion by the fact that,
after the steamer had left, the Coolies, aided by one
European, did launch the remaining ship's boat, and
actually take this boat safe to port. The excuse
made by the-captain of the steamer is that he had
only one day's coal on board, but this supply would,
surely, have enabled him to take the ship back to
Halliday's Island ; and, at any rate, on the first
discovery of the danger all the steamer's boats
might have been launched, each trip of which, we
are told, might have saved 50 lives. As to the
crew, their conduct seems to have been what might
have been expected from their character and con-
dition. It was only by bribery that they were at
last induced to go and bring off their captain from
the sinking vessel. Thus, in the light of day, in
weather not dangerous, in a mere river channel,
within four hours' sail of a good anchorage, and
with a steamtug actually on the spot and in com-
pany, nearly 300 miserable creatures were left to
drown. The wonder is, indeed, that even so many
were rescued, for the steamer herself when she
abandoned the wreck took away but 160, and the
rest were picked up floating on the water or
stranded among the tigers in the jungle. More lives
have been occasionally sacrificed by overwhelming
and insurmountable calamities, but never before, we
suppose, was there a loss at once so heavy and so
avoidable. The weight of responsibility will be
apportioned by judicial decision ; but enough has
been acknowledged to show that accident has
entered less, and misconduct far more, than is
usually the case into this deplorable history of
disaster.

HERALD.—The Government of the United States
must have the best reason just at present for wish-
ing to remain at peace with the world outside it.
Considering the immense difficulty of the task
which lies before it, that it is called upon to stanch
the wounds of a nation still bleeding and sore from
the.
results of a conflict unprecedented in modern
times for its fierceness ; to calm the still seething
elements of discord, which threaten, on the one
hand, to prevent the reconstruction of a state so
violently dislocated and rent asunder ; on the other
hand, to substitute for the war of sections a more
furious war of race, which will heap up horror upon
horror ; considering, too, that the resources of the
country have been already to all appearance taxed
to their uttermost, so that their only chance of re-
covery seems to lie in long years of peace, we can
well understand that Mr. Johnson and his advisers
are prepared to set their faces most firmly against
any suggestions of fresh war with foreign nations.
We can believe that they are prepared to discoun-
tenance any absurd raid into Canada, or descent
on Ireland by the crazy meti called Fenians, or any
crusade in Mexico in behalf of a lost cause. It has
needed all their strength to get the better, in four
years' war, of a minority of their citizens arrayed
in arms against their Government ; to challenge
just now, with any chance of success, the power of
a first-class Government, such as that of France or
England, would be impossible. It is to their inte-
rest to live not only at peace but on good terms
with these countries. The European Powers, on
their side,-are willing, as far as in them lies, to give
every opportunity to America to carry out her des-
tinies in the way that pleases her best, to leave her
undisturbed to the development of a restored polity
which may seem to them but a poor reward in itself
for the immense sacrifices that have been made in
its assertion by arms. This being so, we think it
is much to be regretted that any remnant of ill-
feeling should be still kept up between the English
and American Governments by the prolongation

of such a correspondence as that on the subject
of the Alabama and her Consorts. This correspon-
dence is needlessly irritating, and can lead to no '
good result. Every American statesman of educa-
tion must know perfectly well that no English
Minister could listen to a claim so ill-founded, we
might say so insulting, as that of compensation to
be paid by this country for the depredations of these
cruisers. The thing is simply out of the question.
All the batteries of Mr. Adams might be pointed
against the Foreign Office for years without any
prospect of forcing it to a surrender on such a chal-
lenge. We had hoped that the whole of this tedious,
business was done with ; that when Federals and
Confederates had agreed to bury the hatchet even
Lord nussell and Mr. Adams might have smoked
the pipe of peace together. We were sadly dis-
appointed by the issue of last night's Gazette. A
correspondence of a truly formidable nature WAS
before us. Not content, it seems, with despatches
of the ordinary dimensions, the rival diplomatists
have been pelting one another with treatises. Lord
Russell, whatever may be his faults, cannot fairly
be accused of wasting his autumn leisure. In his
last letter he positively gives us a new edition of
Vattel, a resume of the views on international law
of Kent and Story, Wheaton and Lord Stowell, a
summary of the history of the American revolu-
tionary war, with a second volume on the revolt of •
the South American provinces ' • a third on the
long-winded discussion between the United States
and Portugal regarding the manner in which the
former regarded their duty as neutrals. It would
be asking too much of the patience of our readers
were we to attempt to follow our indefatigable
Foreign Minister through the tremendous letter
which he indited on August 30 as an answer to
one sent him by Mr. Adams on May 20 of this
year. As it seems to have taken him three
months' hard work to compose it we should
do it scant justice were we to epitomise it in as
many minutes. " The time," he says, "is favour-
able to a calm examination of the facts and
principles involved in such cases." This calm
examination accordingly, he proceeds to make after
his own fashion, which is not deficient in clearness
nor in point, but is certainly open to blame on the
general ground implied in the old proverb—Qui
s'excuse s'accuse. He strives to show that in their
early recognition of the belligerency of the South,
Her Majesty's Government correctly interpreted the
law of nations, and that with regard to the armed
cruisers they did all that they were justified in doing
to prevent them from sailing. On the first head,
Vattel comes in as•a matter of course, and his dic-
tum is very clearly pronounced on the question of
belligerent rights in civil war. That America ,
should claim to exercise the rights of a belligerent,
while Great Britain was not allowed to claim those
of neutrals, was a position which Great Britain
could never permit. America herself had acted
over and over again in the same way as England,
and France in a similar civil war had sided with
our enemies. -Lord Russell goes extensively into
the history of the civil war between the South
Amerlan States and the mother Countries of Spain
and Portugal between 1810 and 1823. He dives
into the angry correspondence between the Portu-
guese and United States Governments on the sub-
ject of aid afforded by the citizens of the latter to -
the Brazilian insurgents. Mr. Adams, the then
President of the United States, replied to the com,
plaint of Portugal by offering legal redress in the
American courts, adding—" But you cannot make
the Government of the United States responsible
for the acts of men on the high seas, over whom.
the United States exercise no jurisdiciton." The
destruction of the commerce of Portugal was at this
time a regular trade in the ports of the North.
They had 40 or 50 armed cruisers on the sea,
manned by Americans, but flying the flag of Brazil.
In our case there have been but three or four„
which our Government certainly did its best to
seize before they could hoist the Confederate
colours. When, among his other arguments,'
Lord Russell observes that the British Govern-
ment cannot be held responsible for the acts of men
who are beyond its jurisdiction, he reminds us of
the French general, who being asked by his King to
bombard a certain town, gave, in reply, a hundred
reasons why he could not do it, the first being that
he had no artillery. Why, this simple fact should
dispose of the whole subject. " Supposing," says
Lord Russell, " that a merchant or passenger vessel
belonging to the United States were to go to the.
coast of adagascar, and were to meet a ship from
Boston with cannon and muskets, and the merchant
ship being then armed were to take part against
Brazil in the war between Brazil and Paraguay--
let me ask, I say, whether your Government would'
think themselves bound to afford reparation to Brazil
for all the captures made by that ship ? Yet such
is the case of the Shenandoah." We cannot but,
think that it would have been far more dignified in.'
our Foreign Secretary to have briefly stated the
impossibility of acceding to such demands, than to •
have gone into so lengthened and wearisome an
effort to rebut them, only to wind up with so weak
and humiliating a conclusion as that " her Majesty's
Government are willing to consent to the appoint-
rueiat of a commission" to consider and determine
upon the claims arising between the two Govern
ments during the civil war. We cannot conceive
that any good could arise from the labours of such
a commission. It is to be hoped that the United
states Government will not avail itself of the tempt-
ing opportunity to reopen the hundred vexed ques-
tions which it were to be wished on all hands might
now be suffered to sleep. Mr. Adams has made
known the proposition, and awaits instructions.
We, too, await his news with much apprehension.
We dare not say what effect upon the temper of
this country, what disastrous disturbance of the
present friendly relations between England and
America, may not result from the deliberate at-
tempt to appraise the losses caused by the Confe-
derate cruisers and exact payment for them at oil
hands. This, however, is the contingency for which
Lord Russell has been preparing us.