The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-12 00:00:00

(From the Morning Herald.)
i
We believe the Merchant Shipping Amendment Act
will to-night come under the consideration of the House
of Commons in committee, and, as we have ever taken
the greatest possible interest in the mercantile marine of /
this country, we may be pardoned for dwelling a mo-
ment on the provisions of a bill to many of the prin-
ciples of which we are favourably inclined. On for-
mer occasions we have endeavoured to render a scant
justice to the excellent corporation of Trinity House,
a society which has long had the management of the
most important interests of the seamen and shipping of
England. The efforts of this corporation, whether in
apprenticing such boys of Christ's Hospital as evince
a predilection for the sea—in licensing pilots into
and out of the Thames—in settling the rates of pilotage
—in punishing seamen deserting—and also in making'
various bye-laws and regulations, to which it is not
necessary more particularly to advert here—have been
productive of the very best effect, both in our trade and
navigation. As a general principle, therefore, we should
--.4,..Z.,,
ourselves wish the proceedings ofthir. Trinity-1.T0u.§4,-*-1,.... - ,k,'';'7.144,
reference to purely nlutical hiatiers, to be interfered - ~.... -
with as little as possible. It should, however, also be
considered that the Trinity House receives, under various
acts of Parliament, certain ballastage rates—certain fees
and payments under the Mercantile Marine Act—and
other payments of which an account is kept at the Bank of
England, we doubt not under the most effective super-
vision and control. But with a view to the application 1
of these monies to the several services in respect to i
which they are paid—and to the reduction of the charges
whenever circumstances permit—it is henceforth pro-
posed that all tolls, ballastage rates, fees, and payments,
received by the Trinity House or the Board of Trade,
shall be carried to one aggregate fund, to be called " The
Mercantile Marine Fund ;" and such aggregate fund is 1
to be applicable to the purposes of the services in re-
spect of which the tolls, rates, and payments are to be
levied. An account of the fund is to be kept I
by the Paymaster-General, and the application of
it is to be under the direction of the Board of
Trade for the purposes of the act. In this provision of ;
the new bill the Commissioners of the Northern Light-
-1
houses—who are really the commissioners in whom the
management of the Scotch lighthouses is vested by
the act of the 26th year of the reign of George 111.
—and the Ballast Board of Dublin are both com-
I
prised. Living in London, we are of course not in
a position to know a great deal about the manage-
ment of the Scotch or Irish lighthouses ; but if the
corporation of Deptford Strond, or, as it is more
ordinarily called, Trinity House, is rendered
li
amenable to these regulations, there can be no
reason on earth why they should not apply to
Ireland and to Scotland. There is no country in the
world produces a better race of sailors and sea captains
than Scotland, but even the hardy and thrifty sons of
the Tweed cannot complain of a regulation in an act of
parliament which applies to Rent and to Sussex, to
Hampshire and to Lancashire alike. As to our Irish
brethren they have ever been more famous and world-
renowned as soldiers than as sailors, but without unduly I '
depreciating our facetious friend Pat, in a matter in
which he has never been supposed to have any special 1
aptitudes, we must say that he cannot complain that his
ballast board, or corporation, or whatever it may be 1
called, is placed on a similar footing with Trinity House 1
and the Northern Light Commissioners. .
It seems to be a thoughtful and careful provision of
the new act, at a time when the administrative ma- •
chinery of these different boards and corporations is to
be interfered with, that for the purpose of the erection and repairs of lighthouses, and of other extraordinary
expenses connected with the services, the Commissioners
of her Majesty's Treasury are authorised, from time to
time, to advance, out of the Consolidated Fund, such
sums of money as they may think fit, and to pay the
same to the credit of Mercantile Marine Fund ; provided i I
the whole sum due in respect of such advances shall
never exceed 200,0001. It is also properly and consid-
erately provided that the Board of Trade may raise i
money by mortgaging the Mercantile Fund, of course
with a view to carry out the purposes of the act, though i
-
this intention is not expressed in words. I
Another provision is that the Queen in Council may 1
fix the toll to be taken for new lighthouses. But with-
out in the least questioning the wisdom of her Majesty
or of her Majesty's Privy Councillors, whom Lord Coke
tells us, in his Fourth Institute, are all grave and dis- •
creet men—we think it may be well doubted whether
this high court is exactly the very fittest tribunal for
fixing tolls. For this purpose commend us to the Elder,
or even the Younger Brethren of Trinity House, to the
Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, or even to
the members of the Dublin Ballast Board, or the reformed
unreformed Dublin corporation. Upon complaint that any
lighthouse is improperly managed, or unnecessary, or in-
efficient, her Majesty may appoint proper qualified per- ;
11
sons to inspect, and the persons in charge shall furnish
such information and explanations as may be required.
The Trinity House may, with the sanction of the Board
of Trade, under the new system, direct the Commission-
i
ers of the Northern Lighthouses, and the port of Dublin l,
corporation, to erect any new lighthouse, or to remove
or alter any lighthouse, or make such alterations as the . I
Trinity House shall think fit. It is also provided that i
the property belonging to the Merchant Seamen's Fund
shall be paid into the Exchequer, and the expenses of
the fund provided for by an annual vote.

In there days of cosmopolitan assimilation and frater-
nisation, it seems to have struck those who have re-
pealed the Navigation Act, and made an alteration in
the number of the seamen, born English or native, ne-
cessary to man a British vessel, that it might peradven-
ture happen that the British flag and national character
could be unduly assumed. • To prevent this, the follow-
ing clause is introduced into the bill :
" And whereas it is expedient to prevent the undue
assumption of the British flag and national character : DO
it enacted, that if any person or persons use the British
flag and assume the British national character on boar::
any ship, owned in whole or in part by any persons not
being entitled by law to own British ships and navigate
them under British colours and papers, for the purpose cf
making such ship appear to be a British ship, it shall be
lawful for any British cruiser, duly authorised by the
Lord High Admiral, or by the commissioners for execut-
ing his office, to seize and dedtation
bring such shipher orfon thehig
seas or in any British port,
adjudica-
tion before the High Court of Admiralty or any Vice-
Admiralty Court in her Majesty's dominions."
This is an exceedingly proper provision ; and if it is
made to appear to the court by competent evidence that
the ship has been navigated under the British flag and
British papers, though owned by persons not entitled to
own British ships, the court may pronounce the ship to
be confiscated to her Majesty. Other provisions of the
act there are for facilitating voluntary arrangements for
salvage services rendered by her Majesty's ships abroad,
which are clearly meant for the relief of the mercantile
marine. How these provisions may work in practice it
is very difficult at this stage to say ; but we confess from
a casual and perfunctory perusal of the bill, the provi-
sions appear to us somewhat circuitous and operose.

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE FROM CHARING-CROSS BRIDGE.
—Last night Mr. Higgs, the coroner for the Duchy of
Lancaster, held a brief inquiry at .the Spotted Dog, in
the Strand, on the body of Theresa Swifthorne, aged 21,
who committed suicide under the following circum-
stances :—The evidence proved that the friends of the
unfortunate woman were highly respectable, but that
for some time past, in spite of their entreaties; she had
led a most abandoned life, frequenting the company of
private soldiers and drummer-boys. On Thursday night
last she was in the company of a drummer named
Thomas Watkins, of the Coldstream Guards, at the
White Lion public-house near Charing-cross. She there
complained of being without money, when the drummer
gave her a shilling, which she expended in gin. After
that she asked the drummer to see her home across the
water. They proceeded together on to Charing-cross
Bridge, when the deceased to off her shawl and gave
it to her companion, saying that she was only going to
the rails for some purpose. He, therefore, went on,
and finding that she remained longer than he expected,
he looked round, and found her standing on the but-
tresses of the bridge, and holding on to one of the iron
rods. He ran forward to save her, but she instantly
fell into the water and disappeared. The drummer, in
answer to the Coroner, said that his belief was that she
had mounted the bridge merely to frighten him, bvt the
thunderstorm set in, and a flash of lightning caused her
to let go her hold, and she was in consequence drowned.
Elizabeth Fox, of 3, Earl-street, Seven-dials, proved
that the deceased had been in a very melancholy state
for some time, and on the afternoon of Thursday last she
took off her veil, placed it on her head, and inquired if
she (deceased) was dead whether she would wear it.
This and other evidence being conclusive, the jury re-
turned a verdict that deceased destroyed her own life
whilst in a state of temporary insanity, produced by
intoxicating drinks.

EMIGRATION.—The ships Statesman and Ellenlierough
left Southampton on Sunday for Australia with about
700 Government emigrants, the former bound for Mel-
bourne, the latter for Sydney. The emigrants on board
the Statesman consisted of 16 families, and, 240 young
and single Irish women.
Mr. John Wood, Chairman of the Board of Inland
Revenue, and Mr. Pressly had an interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday at his official
residence in Downing-street.
Dispatches were received at the Colonial-office yester-
day from the Governor-General of Canada.