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

THE MURDERER FORWOOD.

It was reported in court to-day that the con-
demned man Forwood, alias Southey, had sent a
letter to his lordship praying to grant him a new
trial, but that he (the learned judge) had refused
to receive any communication from him. It is said
the prisoner continues to exhibit the same peculia-
rities of temper and manner as he has hitherto
done.

SPIRIT OF 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-
ing mankind, 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 the Board 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 bad
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. Stiange 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, hare 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-clay, 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 great joy to all
people. That day saw the promise of Israel ful-