The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-27 00:00:00

TilE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1` 65

not the same, as the cattle plague. There are some
who call for the stoppage of the pig trade, and the
Pickering magistrates have taken the initiative, and
have issued a supplementary order, prohibiting the
sale of swine as well as horned cattle. At a meet-
ing of magistrates acting for the Doncaster district
of the West. Riding, held on Saturday afternoon,
Mr. Stones, veterinary surgeon of Wath, near
Rotherham, was appointed cattle inspector. The
plague is extending over the whole district to the
west and east of the town ; and so necessary has it
become to take energetic steps that the magistrates
in this part of Yorkshire, acting in conjunction
with the Justices of North Nottinghamshire and
North Lincolnshire, have adopted the powers con-
ferred by the 18th clause of the last Order in Coun-
cil. Mr. Coulman, of Thorne, Mrs. Dearden, of
Balby, -Mr. Thompson, of Braithwell, and many
others, have lost many head of cattle, and the loss
in the Doncaster district falls at present little short
of 300.

Report of the French Minister of Finance.

M. Fould, in his report to the Emperor, recites
the results of the year 1864, the estimate for the

year 1865, and adds an outline of the corrective
Budget of 1866. The Minister observes that in his

report of the 9th of January last he declared that

the recent legislation with regard to sugar pre-

vented him from speaking with certainty as to the
prospects of 1864. The result has been that out of
the drawback of 50,000,000 francs referred
to in his report 16 millions have been received, but
the remainder is irrecoverable. The total deficit of

1864, as at present shown, is nearly 50 millions.
That amount, however, may be reduced by the de-
finitive arrangement of the account. With respect
to the estimate for 1865, after the corrective Budget,

the anticipated surplus was 7,312,000 f., but that
surplus had been liable to deduction. A supple-
mentary credit or nearly 4 millions had been asked
for the unforeseen requirements of the Minister of
Marine, and again a loss had accrued from the

•
realisation of Mexican Stock. By virtue of the
Treaty of Miramor the Mexican Government had

remitted to the French Treasury rentes representing
a capital of 54 millions, of which 40,100,000 f. was
applicable to the Budget of 1864 and 13,900,000 f. to
the Budget of 1865. Since the closing of the last

Session of the Chambers these rentes had been nego-
tiated, and, allowing for arrears received, the Trea-

sury had sustained a loss of 2,542,000 f., which loss
ought properly to have been divided between the
Budgets of 1864 and 1865 ; but, as the position
of the Budget was such that it could not bear any
loss, the whole was placed against the Budget of
1865, which would, therefore, be credited with
11,388,000 f., instead of 13,000,000 f. Notwithstand-
ing the miscalculation and the supplemental credit
which:will be demanded by the Minister of Marine,
it is hoped that the Budget of 1865 will result in a
balance. The produce of the sugar duties will ex-
ceed the estimate in the Budget, and there is no
reason to doubt that all the other imports will be as
productive as had been expected.

With respect to the year 1866 the Minister says
it is not possible for him at the present moment to
present to the Council of State a corrective
Budget; but from the materials which he has now
he is led to believe that the income will exceed the
charges, and will permit of a sum of some import-
ance being allotted to the Ministry of Public Works,
in order to hasten the completion of works that have
been commenced. It is well to notice that the correc-

tive Budgets have successively diminished. That
in 1862 was 231,357,534 f.; in 1863, 221,478,553 f.;

in 1864, 135,070,321 f. ; and in 1865, 82,843,112 f.
In 1866 the corrective Budget will be still further
reduced, even including the allocation for public
works. The demands which have been received from
the Ministries of War and Marine, whose wants
furnished the most important elements of supple-

mentary expediture, are less by 11,000,000 f. than
the credits which were recognised in 1865 to be
necessary for those two Departments. Coming to
the Estimates for 1867, the Minister remarks that
various charges given to the Budget for that year
a particular character. The principal consist in
the changes which have been made with respect to
the sinking fund. In 1865 the Sinking Fund
amounted to 184,000,000 f., and it would have in- I
creased in 1866 to 192,000,000 f. had not the Corps
Legislatif, in the exercise of its right, during the last
Session, and upon the invitation of the Government,
annulled 65,000,000 f. of rentes. The result, how-
ever, has been to reduce the Sinking Fund to
127,000,000 f. Although for several years the
wants of the public service have not permitted that
any part of that fund should be applied to the re-
duction of the debt, yet the sum which should have
been so applied continued, nevertheless, according
to the law, to figure in the Budget of expense. On
the other hand it was also carried to the account of
receipts, and in 1866 the amount was divided be-
tween the ordinary .and extraordinary Budgets ;
32,000,000 f. were allowed to the ordinary Budget to
insure an equilibrium, and 98,000,000 f. were added
to the resource of the extraordinary Budget to be
applicable to public works. Thus the Budget was
apparently increased, and the Sinking Fund,
the action of which was purely nominal, in-
stead of strengthening the public credit, only in-
duced a false notion of the financial condition. It
had long been recognised how advantageous it would
be to get rid of this complication, but there had
always been two conditions necessary to success—
first, that it should no longer be necessary to draw
upon the Sinking Fund to meet the ordinary ex-
penses, and secondly, that certain resources should
be made applicable to the reorganisation of the fund
upon new bases. Those two conditions would
be found in 1867, owing to the reduction
of expenditure in the several Ministerial depart-
ments. Acting upon the instructions of the Emperor;
a new scheme for the Sinking Fund had been pre-
pared. According to that plan the fund would be
chargeable with certain expenses, which would
gradually diminish, and finally disappear entirely.
On the other hand, it would be fed by revenues

which must continually increase. The balance of
income and expenditure showed a surplus of about
18,000,000 f. which might be subtracted from the
Budget without affecting the equilibrium. To that
revenue, which must annually increase, must be
added other guarantees and resources which in the
first year would allow of a redemption of the public
debt to the extent of 30 millions. The reconstitution
of the Sinking Fund, so favourable to the finances
of the future, is still more opportune and useful
when it is at the same time a protest against those
easy and dangerous doctrines the tendency of which
is to burden the future for :he benefit of the present.
In fulfilling an engagement with its creditors the
Government will profit by the state of peace which
now prevails to reduce its debt and to restore its
credit. It would have been impossible to make the
allocation of revenue in favour of the Sinking Fund
had it not been for the reduction of expenditure
which had been made in different branches of the
public service. Those reductions made a total of
30 millions, but, after corrections from various
causes, the real figure would be 26,500,000. In
that saving the Ministry of War had contributed
14,000,000 and the Ministry of Marine 7,000,000.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Commerce, and Public
Works had diminished the ordinary expenses by
1,800,000 f., the Ministry of the Household and Fine
Arts by 370,000 f., and the Ministry of Finance by
nearly
6,000,000 f. The recent modifications of the
commercial system had allowed of some reforms in
the Customs' department which had led to a reduc-
tion of 1,400,000. The result of a searching investi-
gation made this year led to the conviction that still
further reductions might be made in the Customs'
Department. But against those reductions must be
placed certain augmentations of credit, which the
wants of particular departments, owing to the ex-
tension of their business, entirely justified. In short,
the project of the Budget of 1867 results in these
three important points :
Suppression both in receipt and expenditure of the
Sinking Fund, the creation of a new Sinking Fund,
and, finally, the savings realised in different Minis-
terial departments.
Without those economies it would have been
necessary in 1867 as in 1866 to apply a portion of the
Sinking Fund to the discharge of the ordinary ex-
penses of the Budget. Thai necessity had compelled

the adjournment of the reconstitution of the Sinking
Fund. It is now, however, urgent to reorganise
that fund upon new bases, which substituting reali-
ties for appearances will allow from 1867 certain
sums to be applied to the reduction of the
public debt. Such is the aim of the law which is
now preparing, and which, if it should receive the
sanction of tile Corps Legislatif, rill allow of
the surplus of 92,700,000 f. expected to arise
90,000,0001. to be carried to the ordinary Budget
in order to replace the amount of the Sinking Fund
which figured in the Budget of 1865, and which
formed the principal dotation for public works which
have been begun. With respect to the Budget Ex-
traordinary of 1867 the Minister states that 90
millions, part of the surplus of the ordinary Budget,
forms the most important element. In addition to
that sum there will be 25 millions, the annual indem-
nity for Mexico, 16,666,666 f., the second payment
by the Algerian Society, and some other amounts,
which will increase the total to 133,996,666 f. The
expenditure will only reach the sum of 133,556,201 f.,
or more than 16 millions below the amount of the
Extraordinary Budget of 1866.
Speaking of the floating debt M. Fould states
that on the Ist of January, 1865, the amount
was 808 millions, and that now it is but 772
millions, which, however, was greater by 69
millions than it was upon the Estimates of
1864, the reason of the difference being that
the floating debt has to support not only the
provided charges, but also to supply any extraordi-
nary funds, for which no special provision had been
made, which may be required for the support of
troops in France, or the colonies, or elsewhere. The
satisfactory state of internal affairs and the pros-
perity of commerce have kept the rate of interest
during the past year at a very moderate rate. The
inquiry into the causes which of late have raised the
price of money is being pursued with energy. Nume-
rous and impartial depositions have been taken, and
from the examination of the different opinions thus
set forth there will be obtained most valuable in-
formation. In conclusion, the Minister congratu-
lates the Empercr upon the continually increasing
development of commercial activity. The Customs'
returns of imports and exports for the first ten
months of the present year show a considerable
augmentation upon the receipts against the corre-
sponding period of last year, and the railway re-
turns showed a progressive and rapid increase of
traffic. The report concludes by declaring that,
thanks to the wise and pacific policy of the Empe-
ror, the country can reckon upon the increase of its
prosperity and the development of its resources.

The Indian Cotton Trade.

-0-

(From the Bombay Gazette of Nov. 15.)

If Government and the cotton producers of India
have let slip the golden opportunity, which the
American war opened up for them, of establishing a
permanently extended trade in the great staple, it is
not yet too late to retrieve in some measure the
error, although it is impossible to recall the chances
which are already gliding through our hands. Never
had a nation a fairer opportunity of establishing
once and for ever a lasting and lucrative trade in
cotton than that which the American war offered,
and never has a nation more grievously neglected
it. It is due we have responded to the wants of
the world by growing cotton in abundance, and it
is true that Government has toyed and dallied in
the most dainty and delicate way with its improve-
ment. But it is also true that our cotton was only
saleable because no other cotton could be had.
Where was the foresight of Government that it did
not see that an opening was presented to it of deve-
loping permanently by the improvement of the cot-
ton staple au immense source of wealth and indus-
try throughout India ? It was known that our staple
was bad, and in a normal state of the market could
not hold its ground against that of America, and
instead of any vigorous efforts being, made to
improve it or to compel improvement, which would
have been the exercise merely of a humane despo-
tism, we have a Cotton Frauds Act as the summum
bonum of legislative wisdom, and a cotton commis-
sioner experimenting, and still experimenting, and
distributing a few pounds of New Orleans seed
annually in the Mofussil. We think that cotton
improvement is decidedly and emphatically a govern-
ment question, calling at once for what should have
been given some years ago, vigorous Government
action. Without depreciating, and indeed duly
recognising Dr. Forbes's services, we say that they
are not on a scale adequate to the emergencies of
the moment, and that the organisation and means
by which better seed is to be introduced in the
cotton-growing districts is so deplorably ineffective,
as at one and the same tune to indicate the most
supine indifference on the part of the Government
and to demonstrate that at the end of the century
the work will be still to do. If improvement is to
proceed in the spirit of comfortable indolence that
prevails at present, we shall assuredly see our whole
cotton trade dwindle away, and that perhaps at
a startling rapid rate. On the other hand, if
we are to retain that trade in even an
average degree (and some of it we must
lose), it is _ indispensable that the most
earnest and prompt measures should be taken to put
the produce of the Indian cotton fields on an equa-
lity with the produce of the best cotton growing
countries, since even already the agencies are at
work which will endanger or rather destroy our
trade. That America will be entering the field again
before a couple of years are over is scarcely to be
doubted, and it becomes a much graver question for
the consideration of Government, how to retain for
India as much of the cotton trade as possible, than
to examine with microscopic spectacles every tele-
graphic message that professes to be sent on public
business, lest some unwitting official may have de-
frauded the revenues of the country of a few pies.
If cotton growing in India were a profitable Euro-
pean enterprise, then Go'vernment might safely leave
the enterprise and the improvement in European
hands. It is absurd, however, to imagine that the
miserable, ignorant ryots in the Mofussil, who can-
not tell the cause of their sudden enrichment, who
do not know where or what America is, who have
the faintest possible conception why the demand
for cotton has become so enormous, and prices so
high, and who anticipate no end to the present flow
of fortune, can ever see the imperative necessity
of introducing a new staple. The statistical and
minute-writing machinery of Government is perfect,
and it preserves the peace satisfactorily also all over
India. Surely, however, the Governor-General and
the Governors of the presidencies are something
more than sublimated commissioners of police ; and
not the least among their functions is to lay eager
hold of such an opportunity as that which the Ame-
rican war presented of conferring a permanent bene-
fit upon the cotton-growing districts of India. Go-
vernment knows the English estimate of Indian
cotton ; it foresees also the appearance in the home
markets, at no remote date, of the more serviceable
growths of America, and it can also easily divine
what the consequences to the Indian cotton at pre-
seat grown must inevitably be. Already the trade
in some of our most valuable exports is dwarfed,
some of them even are almost dropping from our
articles of produce altogether, and when our
cotton trade collapses, the export trade of the Pre-
sidency will be in an unhappy position. There
is yet time before America can take her old place
to institute such measures as would ultimately
preserve or speedily regain for India a large propor-
tion of her present cotton trade. With Government
aid it can be done ; without it it will not be at-
tempted.

BREAKFAST BEVERAGE.—Homoeopathic practitioners, and
the medical profession generally, recommend cocoa as being
the most healthful of ali beverages. When the doctrine of
homeopathy was first introduced into this country, there
were to be obtained no preparations of cocoa either attrac-
tive to the taste or acceptable to the stomach ; the nut was
either supplied in the crude state, or so unskilfully manu-
factured as to obtain little notice. J. Epps, of London,
homeopathic chemist, was induced in the year 1839 to turn
his attention to this subje.t, and at length sucleeded, with
the assistance of elaborate machinery, in being the first to
produce an article pure in its composition, aad so refined by
the pert et trituration it receives in the process it passes
through, as to be most acceptable to the delicate stomach.
For general use Epps' cocoa is distinguished as an invigo-
rating, grateful breakfast beverage, with a delicious aroma.
Dr. Hassall in his work, "Food and its Adulterations,"
says—" Cocoa contains a great variety of important nutritive
principles ; every ingredient necessary to the growth and
sustenance of the body." Again, "As a nutritive, cocoa
stands very much higher than either coffee or tea." Direc-
tions : —Two teaspoonfuls of the powder in a breakfast cup,
filled up with boiling water or milk. Secured in tin-lined
i-lb., Fib., and lib. labelled packets, and sold at is. 6d. per
lb. by grocers, smtectioners, sad chemists.

Report of the Capital Punishment
Commission.

The following is the report of the Capital Punish-

ment Commission as finally, and it is believed unani-
enously, agreed to. Several of the commissioners
have, however, signed a supplementary paragraph
stating their belief that capital punishments might
now be safely abolished :
To THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

We, your Majesty's commissioners appointed " to

iquire into the provisions and operation of thelaws
_ _

now in force in the United Kingdom, under and by
virtue of which the punishment of death may be in-
flicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes, and
also into the manner in which capital sentences are
carried into execution, and to certify to your Ma-
jesty under our hands and seals, or under the hands
and seals of any five or more of us, our several pro-
ceedings in the premises, and at the same time' to
report to your Majesty our opinion whether any
and what alteration is desirable in such laws or any
of them, or in the manner in which such sentences
are carried into execution," humbly report as follows :
1. We have been occupied a considerable time in
taking evidence upon the question referred to us.
Many witnesses have been examined, and a care-

'al summary of their evidence precedes this report.
In addition to this oral testimony, certain ques-
tions have been addressed to, and answers received

from, nearly all the nations of Europe, and some of
the States of the United States of America, with
regard to the laws relating to the punishment of
death existing in those countries respectively.
The opinions of all her Majesty's judges in Eng-
land, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as of other
eminent criminal lawyers, have been requested upon
the expediency of making any alteration in the laws
under which the punishment of death may now be
inflicted upon persons convicted of certain crimes.
In answer to this request some of the judges have
sent in statements of their views, while others have
attended before the commission and verbally stated
their opinions. The whole of this evidence, both
oral and documentary, will be found in the appen-
dix.

2. The commissioners forbear to enter into the
abstract question of the expediency of abolishing or
maintaining capital punishment, on which subject
differences of opinion exist among them, but they
are all of opinion that certain alterations ought to
be made in the existing law.
3. The only crimes now practically punishable
with death in the United Kingdom are treason and
murder ; we say practically, because in Scotland
there remain many other offences which are still in
point of law liable to be.so punished, though in fact
such a case never occurs. We strongly recommend
that this anomaly be no longer allowed to exist, and
that all such obsolete laws be repealed.
A list of these offences will be found in the Ap-
pendix, p.
4. We have then, first, to consider whether, as-
suming capital punishment to be retained, we should
recommend any change in its present application to
the crime of treason, and upon this point we have
come to the conclusion that no alteration is required.
The statute of the 11 and 12 Vic., c. 12, commonly
called the " Treason Felony Act," without in any
way abrogating the ancient law upon that subject,
has introduced a new and more merciful law, which
in all but eases of extreme gravity will probably su-
persede the former. The maximum punishment
under this act is penal servitude for life, which seems
sufficiently severe in cases of constructive treason
unaccompanied by overt acts of rebellion, assassi-
nation, or other violence. With respect to treason
of the latter character, we are of opinion that the
extreme penalty must remain.
5. We now arrive at the consideration of the crime
of murder and its punishment, and in treating this
difficult question we think it convenient briefly to
refer in the first instance to the existing state of the
law.

6. By the law murder is the unlawfully killing
another with malice aforethought, and this defini-

tion appears to us to be correct in principle.
Unfortunately these words have not been confined
to express malice aforethought, or as it is sometimes

called malice in fact, but have received a less natu-
ral construction which has long been adopted as the
settled law of the land. It has been held that malice
in its legal sense imports nothing more than a wicked
intention to do injury to the person of another with-
out any just cause or excuse, and that where a man
is killed in consequence of any such wicked inten-
tion the law will infer malice aforethought, though
no express enmity or preconceived design can be
shown; not indeed a particular, but a general ma-
lice aforethought, arising from the extreme depra-
vity of disposition shown by the act. This doctrine
of implied malice aforethought goes even beyond
this, and it is carried to such an extent that the law
always infers it when a person in the act of commit-
ting a felony, even of a trifling nature, kills another,
though there may be in fact no premeditation, and
no intention to kill, or do serious injury.
When homicide is committed in the perpetration
of crimes of great enormity, such as those enume-
rated in clause 12, this inference may not be impro-
perly drawn.
7. The extreme severity of this construction has
been somewhat mitigated by law of manslaugh-
ter, which is defined to be the unlawful killing of
another without malice express or implied. In order
to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter,
the law allows evidence of provocation to be given
to rebut the inference- of malice, which would other-
wise be drawn from the act of killing. Here, how-
ever, again certain arbitrary rules have been intro-
duced into the law, which most materially restrict
its beneficial operation. It has been established by
the decisions of our courts that no provocations by
words, or looks, or gestures, however contemptuous
and insulting, or by • any trespass merely against
lands or goods, is sufficient to free the party killing
from the guilt of murder, if he kills with a deadly
weapon, or in any manner showing an intention to
kill, or do grievous bodily harm. In those cases,
though the suddenness of the provocation may rebut
in point of fact the express malice aforethought, it is
not allowed, on account of its supposed insignifi-
cance, to overcome the general malice aforethought
which is implied by the law from the wickednessand
cruelty of the deed. Withont entering into the
many nice and subtle distinctions which prevail upon
this subject, it is enough to say that the practical
result of this state of things is most unsatisfactory.
A man who, in a sudden fit of psssion, aroused by
insult to himself or his wife, kills the person who
offers the insult, is, by law, guilty of the same crime
and liable to the same punishment as the assassin
who has long meditated and brooded over his crime.
A great majority of the witnesses whom we have
examined have expressed a strong opinion that this
branch of our criminal law requires revision and
amendment, at least as far as the punishment is con-
cerned, and we have unanimously arrived at the
same conclusion.
8. We proceed therefore to offer such recommenda-
tions as we think expedient for altering the present
law of murder. It appears to us that there are two
modes in which the change may be effected.
•,9. The first plan is to abrogate altogether the
existing law of murder, and to substitute a new de-
finition of that *crime; confining it to felonious
homicides of great enormity, and leaving all those
which are of a less heinous description in the cate-
gory of manslaughter.
10. The other plan is one which has been exten-
sively acted upon in the United States of America,
where the common law of England is in force ; this
leaves the definition of murder and the distinction
between that crime and manslaughter untouched,
but divides the crime of murder into two classes or
degrees, solely with the view of confining the
punishment of death to the first or higher degree.
11. We have given both these plans our serious
consideration, and we are of opinion that the re-
quired change may be best effected by the latter,
which involves no disturbance of the present dis-
tinction between murder and manslaughter, which
does not make it necessary to remodel the statutes
relating to attempt to murder, and does not inter-
fere with the operation of those treaties with foreign
Powers which provide for the extradition of fugi-
tives accused of that crime. The object proposed
can be attained by a short and simple enactment,
providing that no murder shall be punished with

death except such as are particularly therein men-

,ioned.

These should be called murders of :the first
degree ; all other murders should be called murders
of the second degree, and punished as hereinafter

recommended.

12. 'We recommend therefore :

(1.) That the punishment of death be retained
for all murders deliberately committed with express
malice aforethought, such malice to be found as a
fact by the jury.

(2.) That the punishment of death be also re-
tained for all murders committed in, or with a -view
to, the perpetration, or escape after the perpetra-
tion, or attempt at perpetration of any of the fol-
lowing felonies :—Murder, arson, rape, burglary,
robbery, or piracy. _ _

(3.) That in all other cases of murder the punish-
ments be penal servitude for life, or for any period
not less than seven years, at the discretion of the
court.

13. Our attention has been called to the frequent
failures of justice in cases of infanticide.
The crime of infanticide, as distinguished from
murder in general, is not known to the English
law. The moment a child is born alive it is as much
under the protection of the law as an adult.

14. We have considered whether the failure of
justice, which undoubtedly often occurs in such
cases, may not be obviated by some change in the
law which shall add to the protection of new-born
children. The principal obstacle which now pre-
vents the due enforcement of the law is the extreme
difficulty of giving positive proof that the child al-
leged to have been murdered was completely born
alive.

15. We have given this important and difficult
subject our serious attention, and we have arrived
at the opinion that an act should be passed making
it an offence, punishable with penal servitude, or
imprisonment at the discretion of the court, unlaw-
fully and maliciously to inflict grievous bodily harm
or serious injury upon a child during its birth, or
within seven days afterwards, in case such child has
subsequently died. No proof that the child was
completely born alive should be required. With
respect to the offence of concealment of birth, we
think that no person should be liable to be con-
victed of such offence upon an indictment for mur-
der, but should be tried upon a separate indictment.
The accused should not be entitled to be acquitted
in either of the above cases if it should be proved on
the trial that the offence amounted to murder or
manslaughter.

16. There is one point upon which the witnesses
whom we have examined are almost unanimous,
viz., that the power of directing sentence of death
to be recorded should be restored to the judges.
We think this change desirable.

17. Upon another important point there is also a
great preponderance of opinion against the present
state of the law. The witnesses whom we have ex-
amined are, with very few exceptions, in favour
of the present system of public executions, and it
seems impossible to resist such a weight of autho-
rity. We therefore recommend that an act be
passed putting an end to public executions, and
directing that sentence of death shall be carried out
within the precincts of the prison, under such re-
gulations as may be considered necessary to pre-
vent abuse, and satisfy the public that the law has
been complied with.

18. There are other questions of great importance
upon which we have taken evidence, viz. :
(1.) The_propriety of allowing an appeal on mat-
ters of fact to a court of law in criminal cases.

(2.) The mode in which the Crown is advised to
exercise the prerogative of mercy by the Home

Secretary.

(3.) The present state of the law as to the nature
and degree of insanity which is held to relieve the ac-
cused from penal responsibility in criminal cases.
It is obvious that these difficult questions are not
confined to capital crimes only, but pervade the
whole administration of the criminal law. They
therefore require a more general and comprehen-
sive treatment than the terms of the commission
under which we act will admit. We think, there-
fore, that while we should not be justified in making
any recommendation to your Majesty on any of
these points, we should fail in our duty did we..not
humbly solicit your,Majesty's attention to, them as
requiring further investigation.
All which we humbly submit to your Majesty's
royal consideration.

Wreck of the Ibis—Loss of Seventeen Lives•

The following full details of this disaster, which
has turned out to have been more serious than was
supposed from the last account, are from the
Cork, Canstitution:—

The Ibis left London on Monday for Cork. Bally-
cotton was made about half-past one o'clock on
Wednesday afternoon. The weather then being
thick, Captain Holland stood a little in towards
the land in order to make Poor Head, but when
off Ballycrooneen Bay the engines suddenly broke
down, the after crank pin having broken. The
weather at the time was fearfully bad, a gale blowing
from the south-west, and a raging sea prevailing.
When Capt. Holland found his vessel drifting on a
lee shore he ordered the flag of distress to be run up
—the royal ensign with union down, and hoisted the
telegraph " machinery damaged ;" and immediately
after all sail was set to try and wear the ship, which
was fast running into the, bay, but all to no purpose
—she would not answer her helm, so severe was the
gale, and seeing her fast drifting in shore Captain
Holland ordered two anchors to be let go—one at
65, and the other at 45 fathoms. Capt. Holland
next ordered one of the boats to be lowered, and
sent the second officer and three men in her to try
and communicate with the shore. During this time
the usual signals of distress were made, which were
observed by the coastguard at Ballycroneen, who
came down to the beach, but could render no assist-
ance. The officers and men pulled back again to
the ship, and after great difficulty were got onboard,
but the boat was swamped during the night. The
Ibis continued to lie to her anchors, but laboured
violently, the sea at times making a clean breach
over her, and at others sweeping her decks. Just
when all hope was failing, a steamer was seen
moving a-head outside, and Capt. Holland burned
blue lights, but she passed on her way. Capt. Hol-
land supposed that, owing to the thickness of the
weather, she did not notice him. Meanwhile the
coastguard men despatched a messenger. 1;,o Queens-
town to obtain assistance, and on Thursday morn-
ing at about half-past 9 o'clock the Sabrina came
to her aid. She had taken with her the two stoutest
hawsers in_ the company's stores, one 7 inches in
diameter, and which had never been used. As soon
as the Sabrina came to the Ibis she made attempts
to get the hawser on board, but three times they
failed. However, the fourth attempt was success-
ful, and when Capt. Holland found his vessel under
way, he slipped both his chains, which had been
made ready for doing so with buoys attached. He
then ran aft to take the bearing of his ship's head and
see that she was paying off the land, but before he
got to the wheel the hawser snapped, and the ibis
drifted in shore until she struck on the Julian
rock, where she stuck fast. The sea broke in fury
over the vessel, drenching the passengers, who were
all on deck, and carrying away part of her bul-
warks. The rock is about a mile from the shore,
and on it she remained for a few hours, when she
parted in two, her after-part going down into deep
water, leaving nothing but the mizenmast seen, but
her forepart stayed on the rock, and was afterward
drifted into within about 100 yards of the shore,
where up to Friday evening it remained, standing
as if it lay in dock. The fore and main masts were
up, but- the funnel was gone. Along with the
Sabrina, the Cormorant, which was bound for Lon-
don, also came to the Ibis. When several of the
attempts on the part of the Sabrina to pass the
hawser to the Ibis failed her captain lowered his
lifeboat, and at the risk of his life and those of the
men with him, tried to pass a rope between thetwo
vessels, but could not do so, and returned to his
ship, when he and his crew were picked up, but the
boat was lost. The hawser between the Sabrina
and Ibis was conveyed by means of, the steamers
United States and Lord Clyde, which left the har-
bour on receipt of the news of the disaster. After
the vessel struck, Captain Holland saw that the
wily way of saving the lives of those on board was

taking to the boats, and ordered all to be lowered.
The crew, it is said, seemed horror-stricken at go-
ing into such a boiling surf in small boats, but
Captain Holland cried out that he would show
them the way, and immediately jumped into one of
the lifeboats. Two of the seamen followed him.
His intention was to go to the Sabrina, if he could.
The sea, however, ran so high, that it was almost
madness to try to go against it, and the two men
with him giving up, Captain Holland ran the boat
for the shore. When about 100 yards from it she
was upset, and the men swept into the waves. The
two seamen were Robert Inkstor. and Joseph Sc 7
van. On cresting a wave, Capt. Holland succeeded
in grasping an oar, but, good swimmer though he
is, even with its assistance he was tumbled over and
over in the water, until washed ashore almost
insensible. He was caught by some of the country
people who crowded the beach, and taken to a
house, where he soon after regained his senses. Sul-
I
livan, alter a hard struggle, reached the land, but
Inkston perished. He was seen to lay hold of an
oar, but no sooner had he done so than it was washed
from his hands, and he sank beneath the waves.
During all this time the scene on board the ship was
of a most heartrending nature---,the passengers
crowded together, and bade one another good bye,
expecting that the next moment would be their last.
Some one thought of constructing a raft, which was
set about, made, and launched. On it went seve-
ral of the passengers, but each one of them before
they were halfway to the shore met a watery gra"'
Among them was a man named Mahony, a seaman.
The remaining passengers remained on the wreck.
until, fortunately for them, the outward bound In-
man steamer City of London was discerned, and
Captain Seaton, of the Lord Clyde tug boat, made
towards her, and informed her captain of the position
of the Ibis, and asked him to send one of his life-
boats to the rescue of the passengers. This request
he immediately granted ; the boat, manned by volun-
teers, was launched and towed by the Lord Clyde
to Ballycrooneen Bay. She managed to get alongside
the Ibis and to take off the 21 persons remaining on
board her, and land them safely. Amongst them were
two little boys who stood conspicuously brave
throughout the storm's greatest fierceness-they were
the young Browns, sons of Capt. Brown. One of
them was just being taken by a seaman on the raft,
when he was caught by the stewardess and implored
by her not to go on it. He came back, arid he
and :his brother afterwards got into the City, of
London's lifeboat, but so full was it that they had
to lie down on the flooring of the boat. The little
fellows, who were coming home for their Christmas
holidays, lost, as did everybody else on board, al-
most everything they had with them. Nothing but
what the passengers had on them was saved. The
Ibis now lies, her forward part close in shore, and
standing firm on its keel, the after part barely seen?
and with the mizenmast only prominently above the
water. During Friday the shore was strewn With
portions of the wreck, but very little of the cargo
came ashore.

The latest accounts give the number of passengers
lost as three soldiers, three deck passengers, and
John Mahony, father of the young man previously
mentioned ; Robert Inkston, Patrick Mehigant
Chas. Higgins, John Yelverton, Jeremiah Travers,
John Keating, James Egan, and Daniel Riding--
all belonging to the crew of the vessel.
The Cork Examiner of Saturday evening says—%
" It has been ascertained that 17 persons who had
been on board the Ibis have perished. Ten of those
belonged to the crew. By a telegram received 03
afternoon it appears that another body, supposed to.
be that of a passenger, has been washed ashore, and,
that the vessel is rapidly breaking up. An inquest
was held on thebodies found to-day. Capt. Haan!:
and the mate were examined, and the latter salu
the persons lost on the raft left the ship against his
will. Verdict, found drowned. No other bOdie°
have come ashore."