The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-11 00:00:00

Royal Geographical Society,

The 12th meeting of the present session of this
society was held on Monday evening, at Burling-
ton-house--Sir R. I. Murchison, president, in the
chair.

The first paper was " On the specific gravity,
temperature, and currents of the seas passed
through between England and India," by Captain
Toynbee, R.N. The author, in this paper, recorded
the principal observations which he had made, with
instruments supplied by the Board of Trade, during
five voyages to India, leaving England on the Ist
July and returning about the middle of April. It
was the constant recurrence of certain phenomena
in the condition of the sea, in the same place and
at the same time of the year, that had led him to
think they might be intermting to the public, as
pointing to some important conclusions regarding
the physical geography of the sea. He found in the
Atlantic that the specific gravity of the sea de-
creased on approaching the equator—a result due
to the rains falling between the north-east and
south-east trades ; and in the southern Indian
Ocean, in the rainy season (Jan. and Feb.), the
whole ocean was affected by the rains then falling
south of the line. With regard to the temperature,
his numerous observations during the five voyages
(the chief results of which he had tabulated) in the
first place threw some light on the cold current
which swept in August northward along the West
Coast of Africa. This, he found reason to conclude,
curved sharply to the westward shortly after crossing
the line in about 17 deg. W. long. The further to the
east of this the colder was the water. Onse, between
1 30 deg. and 0 30 deg. N. lat., he found its tempe-
rature descended as low as 70 deg. (Fahrenheit),
making the air quite cool and damp. In March
this current is of a higher temperature, because it
has then flowed from the south after the southern
summer. The author confirmed the views of Tow-
son regarding the direction of the tracks of icebergs
in the south Atlantic, and showed that the very low
temperature of the sea in Table Bay (51 deg. in
February);was due to the current setting from the
ice-bearing sea, and that this was also the source of
the great West African current. A few miles to
the south-east of the Cape the sea greatly increases
in warmth, and along the parallel of about 40 deg.
running from the meridian of Greenwich to 50 E.
there was found in each voyage a succession of lanes
alternately of hot and cold water—the hot as high
as 67 deg. (Fahrenheit), and the cold as low as 40
deg. Were it not for the rush of warm water down
the Mozambique Channel the ice-streams travelling
north-eastward would not be deflected as now to
the south-east, but would go forward and render
the passage round the Cape much more dangerous
than it is. After giving further details on this im-
portant subject, the author concluded by recom-
mending outward-bound ships to delay crossing the
40th parallel till the longitude of 10 deg. E. is
reached. As the sea on the Agullias Bank is always
several degrees colder than that to the eastward of
it, the thermometer is a good guide to tell a ship
when she is coming near the land.

After some remarks from Admiral COLLINSON on
the great importance of Captain Toynbee's observa-
tions,
Commander DAVIS said that great errors in the
observations made on the temperature and specific
gravity of the sea arose from the fact that the water
experimented upon was generally taken directly
from the surface, which was likely to be acted upon
by solar radiation, the descent of rain, and other
purely local circumstances. More value would be
attached to these observations if the water were
taken from a depth of two or three fathoms.
Captain ToYNBEE replied that he had taken water
for experiment from various depths. He thought
the observations contained in his paper were not
liable to error from local and temporary conditions
of the sea, as he had found the same phenomena
repeated in pretty nearly the same parts of the
ocean and at the same periods of the year during
five successive voyages.
Mr. F. GALTON bore witness to the accuracy of
Capt. Toynbee's remarks about the cold current
along the coast of Africa. He had himself experi-
enced the low temperature at the mouth of the
Swakop river, in the height of the southern summer ;
he and his men suffering keenly from the relative
cold compared with what they had experienced in
the interior.

A
The next paper was' Un the Rovuma River, East
Africa," by Dr. Kirk. The author stated that this
river was of interest to the English public as being
the first of any importance on the 600 miles of
coast north of the Zambesi, and opposite that blank
on the map where the great problem in African
geography remains to be solved, aid the head
waters of the Nile, Congo, and Zambesi yet de-
fined. It lies within the jurisdiction of the Sultan
of Zanzibar, and is accessible to small vessels, hav-
ing no bar. He accompanied Dr. Livingstone on
two journeys up the river in 1861 and 1862 ; in the
second he reached the rapids which limit naviga-
tion, a little more than 100 miles from the coast
and halfway to the east bank of Lake Nyassa. A
little beyond this point the river is joined by the
Niende, flowing from the south-west, but the main
stream comes from the north-west, and none of the
natives seemed to have any knowledge of its course.
The PRESIDENT stated that the Rovuma was the
entrance by which Dr. Livingstone, who had
recently received the appointment of Consul to the
independent chief of Central Africa, and was about
.to start on his third journey of exploration, in-
tended to penetrate the great unknown interior.
He would endeavour to proceed up the north-
western branch, which would enable him to pass all
those obstacles offered by tribes nearer the coast
connected with the slave traffic. His chief object
on reaching the interior would be to solve the great

problem of the watershed of Central Africa, by as-
certaining the nature of the connection (if any) be-
tween the great lakes, whichthemselves are still im-
perfectly known. Should it be the doctor's good
fortune to reach the northern end of Lake Tangan-
yika, he would be able to determine the' great ques-
tion of the ultimate source of the Nile.
A third paper was " On a visit to unexplored parts
of North Madagascar," by Dr. Gunst. This was
an account of a journey which the author had re-
cently performed in the first place from Tamatave
to Tananarivo and back, and thence along the east
coast northward to Vobemaro, touching on the way
at the port of Agouzy. Being furnished with letters
fromKingßadama he was allowedto travel in the in-
terior from this place, and visited mountain ranges
to examine them for traces of metals. He dis-
covered here tin ore, gold, and traces of copper, and
saw an abundance of copal trees in the forest. His
explorations came to an end by his being seized by
a party of Hova soldiers in the interior, robbed of
all he possessed, bound with cords, and dragged for
a long distance over the ground. The news of the
outrage reached the French commander at St. Mary,
who sent a vessel to bring him away, soon after
which he returned to the Island of Bourbon, and
thence to Europe.
Before the adjournment of the meeting, the Pre:
sident announced that a telegram had that day been
received from Colonel Belly, stating that he had
returned in safety to Bushire, after leading his party
to the Wahabite capital, in the interior of Arabia,
and back. We might now hope to have shortly
much new geographical information regarding this
little-known country.
The anniversary meeting and dinner of the society
were announced as to take place on Monday, May
22.

THE TURNPIKE ABOLITION MOVEMEGT.—The
second reading of the bill for the abolition of tolls, intro-
duced by Mr. Whalley, is fixed for the 17th inst., before
which day petitions in suppoet of that object should be
forwarded. In accordance with the recommendation of
the committee of the Turnpike Abolition Society, the bill
proposes to abolish turnpike tolls throughout the king-
dom by voluntary acceptance on the part of the parishes
interested.

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-41..-

TIMES.—Mr. Beecher was well chosen as the na-
tional orator at Fort Sumter. He is eloquent and
enthusiastic, and he represents, too, exactly that
element in the civil strife which has predominated
and triumphed. One thing beyond all doubt has
been decided by the American war, and that is the
fate of slavery. This result did not appear probable
at first. It was perfectly clear that the North valued
something far more highly than the abolition of
slavery. Whether that something be called Union,
or empire, or integrity of territory, matters little.
There it was, preferred by the great body of the
Northern people to every other object, and for its
sake it seemed as if almost anything the Slave States
could ask would be willingly conceded. Yet in the
end, after the vicissitudes of four eventful years, the
emancipation of the negro is the one great result be-
fore us. It is certain that slavery is doomed, and
that its extinction, indeed, has been half accomplished
already. Mr. Beecher and his friends are entitled to
triumph at the success of their principles—the more
so as it is a success at which everybody can rejoice.
But Mr. Beecher was not content with this triumph.
As he stood on Fort Sumter and delivered the ad-
dress which he was commissioned to give, he expa-
tiated with singular ability and force upon topics
far more obscure and difficult. He wished to show
not only that America had been purged of the crime
of slavery, but that the cure, terrible as it was, had
been beneficial in its very process. lie argued that
war, war in itself, even apart from its object or its
justice, was attended with advantages and blessings
of its own ; that it was a species of national educa-
tion; that it led a people from infancy to man-
hood ; that it filled them with a belief in their own
convictions and a knowledge of their own strength ;
that it proved their patriotism and zeal, and
that it left them all the better for the ordeal.
These are not new arguments. The ennobling
effects of war have often been discoursed upon
by philosophers and historians, and perhaps the
national character of Mr. Beecher's country'
men was peculiarly open to the improvement which
such stern teaching might bring. That this charac-
ter was actually affected by the war as it proceeded
was a subject of common remark, and it is to be
hoped that Mr. Beecher's prognostications of the
result may be verified by experience. But the future
is a mystery. America is changed, and that is all
we know. The transformation may be political,
social, and national all at once. Mr. Beecher him-
self answers for the social metamorphosis, and al-
ready there are many symptoms of national con-
stitutional transition. One great and powerful ele-
ment in American character is probably extinguished.
The spirit of the South will no longer shape the na-
tional counsels or stamp the national policy. Mr.
Beecher thinks this is all for the best. He tells us
that all we misliked or mistrusted in Americans pro-
ceeded from the South. " All the arrogant attitudes
of this nation, so offensive to foreign Governments,
were inspired by slavery and under the administra-
tion of its minions." This, in the main, is true. The
influence of the South usually predominated in the
Government of the old Union, and it was the im-
pending decline of this influence which served as the
signal for Secession. But there was much in the
Southern spirit, for all that, which went to the
making of a nation. The Northern people looked up
to the people of the South. They were proud of their
Southern countrymen as more purely national, and
perhaps as more aristocratic than themselves.
Southern boys took the lead in schools and colleges,
just as Southern statesmen did in Congress, and the
world has seen what Southern soldiers couldi do in
war. Mr: Beecher must not forget, when he says
that the last four years have given America a his-
tory, how much of this history has been contributed
by the South. The most famous city in all America
will be Richmond, and Americans of all parts will
probably be of one mind in so regarding it.
But the change will not stop here. There were
two great parties in America independently of
slavery. Probably, though they both bore de-
mocratic designations, they expressed that inter-
nal conflict of opinion between Conservatism and
Liberalism which is to be found everywhere and
at all times. One of these has been worsted in this
struggle, and the other is in the ascendant. There
are people in America who look at its political divi-
sions and institutions much as Mr. Baines and his
friends look at our electoral constituencies. They
are jealous of State rights, and of all the peculiar
and independent administrations which stand in the
way of popular will. They are discontented even
with the Union itself as it formerly existed. It is
not Union enough for them. They desire to see in
the place of the " United States" a great nation of
Americans, " one and indivisible," in which the will
of the majority shall be law. The party holding
these opinions has been strengthened by the war,
and it is surmised that the new President may in-
cline to their views. Certainly in one of his ad-
dresses he spoke as if he thought the Constitution
needed reform, and as if certain guarantees for
popular principles, hitherto absent, ought now to
be introduced. Mr. Beecher himself anticipates
some species of revolution, if not in organic institu-
tions, at any rate in the policy of the nation as in-
sensibly resulting. He thinks it will be a beneficial
change, and that the policy of American Governments
will serve as a model to other countries of the world.
In his opinion, the hopes which were expressed in
our Parliament on a recent occasion will actually
be fulfilled. That future which Mr. Disraeli desired
for the American nation is the future which Mr.
Beecher prognosticates. It may be observed that
even the orator himself did not pretend that the
Civil War, on the part of the North, was a war ex-
clusively for emancipation. He owns frankly that
they fought for " territory," and argues that we,
cramped as we are within our narrow confines, have
no idea what " territory" means, or of how far it is
necessary to a nation's development. We cannot un-
derstand the object, and therefore we have " miscon-
ceived" the conflict. We dare say there is truth in this.
The passion of Americans for territory has always been
extraordinary. It was said, we remember, at the be-
ginning of the war that no citizen of the orth could
ever possibly reconcile himself to such a consum-
mation as the claims of the South pretended. If
Virginia were to be carried off by a new Republic
in the South, there would actually be a spot in the
old Republic where the United States were not fifty
miles wide, and that, it was declared, no American
could ever endure. But if we look without sym-
pathy on these speculations it is because we have
no experience to guide us. In all history there is
no example of such a State as the Americans expect
to become. China makes the nearest approach to
it. In that Empire the population is counted by
hundreds of millions, and they have been united for
• ages, but they are governed by a foreign Tace, and
they are incessantly exposed to civil war. At pre-
sent the Americans have barely reached a census
of 30,000,000, and yet they could not live together
in unity. How will it be when these 30,000,000
become 60,000,000 or 100,000,000 ? Americans
think the problem easy, and the issue sure. We
can but say that there is no precedent for such a
consummation, but if Mr. Beecher's picture of the
future be correct we have no reason to deprecate it.
The Americans have conceived their own destiny,
and are working it out in their own manner ; but
they have now, at least, learnt this,—that Europe,
whatever may be its speculations or sympathies,
will never interfere to disturb them.
HERALD.—The debate in the Lords on Tuesday
night was by no means the least interesting episode
in the history of the unended and almost unending
Edmunds scandal. The attendance was unusually
large and the number of speakers was above the
average ; the proceedings were of an exceptionally
animated character, and the language employed by
several speakers was more forcible than is commonly
heard in the decorous and dignified Upper Chamber.
Nor were these incidents of the debate at all sur-
prising. The Peers must by this time have had more
than enough of their late reading clerk and of
their present Speaker. We believe that they are
heartily disgusted, both with the delinquencies of the
one and the " errors" of the other. Even more
intensely than the public, the Lords must wish that
the mischief, which began at the Patent Office and-
ended in their own house, could be decently buried
out of sight, or, better still, that such things had
never been. But, unluckily, those wishes are not
to be realised. The unsavoury subject comes up
again and again, with the persistency of an uneasy
ghost or an importunate creditor. It will not be got
rid of. Put out of sight it will not be ; put out of
mind it cannot be. It is not to be bucked in a com-
mittee room or buried in a blue book. It has brought
the Patent Office into disrepute, the public audit
into discredit, the Lord Chancellor to disgrace, and
Mr. Edmunds to ruin. But still the public is not
satisfied, for every one feels that the chief delinquent
has escaped, and that even-handed justice has not
been done. It was only natural that Lord Redes-
dale should share this general discontent. His lord-
ship thought that the report of the select committee
cast all implied censure on himself and the other
members of the pension committee, and he therefore
brought under the notice of the house the passage
by which that censure was conveyed. Lord Redes-
dales presented the case of himself and of his col-
leagues in a very effective and perspicuous manner.
The members of the pension committee say that
they felt themselves limited by their instructions.
They were ordered to inquire into the amount of
pension to which Mr. Edmunds might, by former
practice, be deemed entitled. They had no official
knowledge of any charge against him, and any in-
formation they had obtained respecting it was from
vague and uncertain rumours, of which the other
members of the house were as cognisant as them-
selves. When they entered upon their labours Mr.
Edmunds's resignationlhad been accepted, and after
they had made their report a week elapsed before the

house formally agreed to its recommendations. They
say, therefore, that looking to the nature of their
instructions, they would have been acting ultra vires
had they extended their inquiries to matters uncon-
nected with Mr. Edmunds's duties in the House of
Lords. They say further, that even if they had
failed in their duty by passing such matters over,
the house had the opportunity of rectify-
ing the mistake and supplying the omission.
We must own that we are rather inclined to
agree with Lord Redesdale. His view of the func-
tion of the pension committee may, perhaps, be
rather technical ; but it should be remembered that,
as chairman of committees, he has had peculiar
opportunities of judging how much discretion the
forms of the house allow in such cases, and that his
opinion of the committee's powers was supported by.
Lord Eversley, a former Speaker of the House et
Commons. Lord Redesdale also protests that w heo.
joining in the pension report he did not know that
Mr. Edmunds had resigned upon compulsion. The
members of the committee had some conversation
about the money which he had been called upon to
pay, but their belief then was that he had actuallY,
paid more than the amount with which he believed'
himself chargeable. It may be, on the other hand,
that Lord Derby's view of the committee's duty is
the correct one • that it was perfectly competent to
the committee tor inquire into any circumstance that
had come to their knowledge, and to settle not only
the amount of Mr. Edmunds's pension, but whether
he was worthy to receive a pension at all. The
point, however, may well be left in dubio. It is one
i
of the matters on which men equally upright and
punctilious will arrive at directly opposite conclu-
sions. Any intention to censure the pension com-
mittee has been distinctly disclaimed, and the die'
claimer has been accepted as satisfactory by these
whom that censure would have affected. The discus-
sion, however, showed how keenly anything like e:ll,_
amputation of breach of duty was felt on both
sides of the house ; how anxious every peer on the..
benches was to vindicate himself from the charge or
neglecting to do anything required of hiln
by
regard for the public interest and for his own re-
putation. We have written advisedly the sentences
immediately preceding. When we speak of both
sides of the.house we say nothing about its centre.
From the peers on the benches we expressly a-
elude the lord upon the woolsack. In the remon-
strances of Lord Redesdale, the apologies of Earl
Granville, the complaints of Lord Hardwickel
the arguments of Lord Derby, the excuses of Earl
Russell, and the retorts of the Marquis of Bath,
there was at least one point of resemblance. Ever);
noble lord who took part in the debate recognise.u.
the gravity of the situation, and seemed to feel
incumbent upon him to disclaim the very sinalles'
participation in the scandal. But presiding over
the assembly, officially regulating the debate, wa, e
the man who had caused all the mischief. Again
and again did the speakers on either side refer ‘1
what the Lord-Chancellor had done, or had failed
to do ; again and again did expectation stand on
tiptoe to hear him speak in his own vindication, V;),
hear him express something like regret for an " error
which had involved such serious consequeurret
But the expectation was not to be realised. ,-L,),
Lords waited in vain. The calm impudence 'Out,
sustained Sir Richard Bethell, when, an advoel',l
at the bar, he insulted judges upon the bench,
not desert him when, a parvenu among the Peers,
he had brought the house into a difficulty and bib
office into discredit. As, in the one case, he sr',
where he should have been silent, so in the other 117.
was silent when he should have spoken. tc The lel
said the soonest mended," says the old saw, al,
Lord Westbury on the woolsack, listening to 'EL;
debate on Lord Redesdale's resolutions, was its ra°,lo
modern instance. " Having known Mr. Ednaull
for many years in connection with the House ()
Lords," said Lord Redesdale, " and having found
him in all respects a gentleman and an honourable
man, I was not likely to take up the charges brought
against him in a loose manner without knowing
something on the subject." Why did not ke,,
Redesdale know " something on the subjca4
Through the default, the great and grievous defau-`,
~,3
of Lord Westbury. He knew officially what tti
pension committee had not heard at all, or had he
only "in a loose manner." Of the extent of r,ue
munds's defalcations he was well aware, and that Li
had brought himself within the criminal law 'ln';
Chancellor was only too certain. How, knew..,,g7
all this, he could conceal his knowledge, sup.'
the facts, hoodwink the committee,
.and help
ra
man, guilty of grave delinquencies, to the rewaes
of faithful services, must remain among the t,
hard to be understood" on any supposition consis-
tent with public decency or the Chancellor's integ
rity. But the debate on Tuesday night has fur"
nished us with something still more extraordinary'
It has shown us how a highly-paid official can re"
main unmoved while on every hand he is re-
proached with grievous improprieties. How
chief equity judge can sit silent while the assembly
Peers of England, in effect, charge him with brellc7,
of trust ; how he who should, like Caesar's,
sar's wife, Ti
above suspicion, can practically confess hilus'n
beyond the power of vindication. So long as he 00
hold office and draw his salary, so long as he can se
his son fill the place from which Mr. Edmunds Ilir.
been thrust, it would seem that the Chancellor care:
for none of these things. His lordship may butv;
his own standard of what is proper, his own es,4
mate of what is becoming ; but if the Ministry, ut-"r
Lords or the Commons, have a proper regard 'e
their personal character, their traditional reputation;
or their public duty, they will not allow the matte, r
to rest where it is, merely because the Chanceh°
thinks he can afford to treat the outraged feelie'
of the nation with supercilious indifference or colY
temptuous insolence.