The Sun.
London, England, 1854-04-27 00:00:00

i .-

7z-r*,

assets to the extent of at leat4 five shillings in .the
pound clear of all charges,
We believe the commissioners have reccwamended
the abolition of this provision.
Against the enormous expenses of the court we
have often and earnestly protested, and have re-
peatedly called attention to the charges of official
assignees, messengers, &c. If we are not mistaken,
the reasonable complaints of the mercantile com-
munity upon this head have not been disregarded.
It is .anticipated that some very decided reconi-
he evidence of the Commissioners.
mendat'ions will be made in accordance with the
bulk of t.
it is ais,o expected that a recommendation will
be made to
mitigate the severity of some of the
penal clauses
of the Consolidation Act, which it
must bo admitted, especially-as regards speculating
in Consols, are unreasonably severe, and,
indeed, by their excessive severity, like other
harsh laws, defeat their .own object.
\Ve have been informer) that the report contains
a recommendation that tiere be a very decided
reduction in the fees and cbarges of the Court of
Bankruptcy, as well a a diminution of the staff;
If this be so, the Commissioners will have done
good service ; for, if the Courts of Bankruptcy are
to be maintained at all, it cannot be as they are
now constituted. So far as expense is concerned,
it is in many respects much worse than the Court
of Chancery now is.
As to the bankrupt's " balance-sheet," and the
charges of a class of persons tanned accountants,
we trust and believe that the Commissioners have
yielded to the wishes of mercantile' men, as well,
indeed, as to the dictates of common sense, in recom-
mending that the bankrupt should himself make
out his accounts.

The court broker, we trust, for sake of propriety
as well as economy, will be sent about his business ;
and we shall be much disappointed if the Commis-
sioners have not made some very energetic remon-
strances regarding the emoluments of messengers,
and the mode in which they are remunerated.
As regards the commissioners, the Consolidation
Act provides that, in London, no vacancy be filled
until their number is reduced to four. There are now
five. Three would be amply adequate to discharge
even more than the work done in Basinghall-street.
Whether the Royal Commissioners have made any
recommendation on this bead wo cannot say, but
as to the country commissioners, it is admitted
upon all heads that half the number would do the
business. Here, too, we anticipate the commis-
sioners have directed the pruning-knife.
It is needless to extend our speculations or an-
ticipations further at present. Much is expected—
j ustly expected—by the mercantile community from
the able men of whom the commission is composed.
We believe and trust they will not be disappointed.
—Morning Post.

THE LOSS OF THE TAYLEUR.

The loss of the unfortunate ship Tayleur may yet be

urned to the benefit of future navigators if the evidence

taken before the Liverpool Marine Board and the report

of the meeting be duly considered. Much of that evi-
dence turns upon points of a far too technical character
to be intelligible to the general reader, but of the genera
results we may fairly speak. Time way when the boldest

of the old Greek mariners--the men with heart of oak

encased in triple brass—never ventured to leave the
coast for one moment. The simple practice of these
primitive sailors was the direct opposite of our own in
more modern times—they ever hugged the shore.
Whether the shore was a lee one or not mattered little

to them, for they took excellent care to keep so close
that even in the presence of an approaching squall they
could beach their little craft, and haul her up high and.
dry, ere the force of the gale was felt. An iron-bound.
coast they would only pass in settled weather, and even
then the bold manoeuvre was executed with fear and

trembling, and with many a sly promise to Poseidon if he
would get his servants out of the scrape. So it happened
that Ulysses spent ten years on the accomplishment of a
distance which even the Austrian Lloyd's boats now per-
form in as many days. So the Plio3nician merchant bound
for G-ades would follow the windings of the Mediter-

ranean seaboard on either side, ;lever venturing to

stretch across a bay, or let go of the land even for a
moment. Other nations followed the samo principle,
and with the same results. At length a time came
when the surface of the untried and pathless waters was
reclaimed to the use of man. A little instrument was

.ormed, which, with a certain degree of accuracy, indi-
cated the position of the ship--or, at least, the direction
to which her head was pointed, even when the great
heavenly luminaries were obscured. Doubtless, great
errors prevailed. The nice calculations of variation
were reserved for more modern times, and even now
remain most imperfect. Still men were scarcely aware
of the full extent of their own ignorance, and were
therefore bold. They rushed into danger, and his com-

pass bore the mariner safe to his destination. Wrecks,
no doubt, occurred to a most lamentable extent, but
these calamities were not registered, then as carefully as
they are now. Enough, however, was gained to increase
the audacity and stimulate the ingenuity of mankind.
Each year has brought its contribution to the sum
of scientific knowledge in this matter. Now the
variations have been registered—now a plan has been
devised for correcting the errors of the magnetic telltale,
as it was affected by the iron which entered into the
ship's construction. Men who were not called by their
especial vocation to "go down to the sea in ships, or
follow their business on the great waters," were left to
the pleasing illusion that far more had been gained
than the circumstances of the case would appear to
justify. When the sun or moon, or certain stars are
visible, what with his sextants and chronometers, a,
modern navigator should be able to prick down his
exact position on the surface of the vast ocean with as
great certainty as a London cabman might feel with re-
gard to his whereabouts when urging his impetuous
Hansom along Piccadilly. But, even when all these
aids are useless or paralysed by surrounding darkness
and storm, and the seaman is left to his dead reckoning
and his compass, with but a few helps to calculation
from one or two other primitive contrivances, we
could scarce have imagined that he could have been
so completely betrayed to his own ruin by his own
compass as appears to have been the case with Captain
Noble, of the Tayleur, when that unfortunate ship
was cast away in the Irish Channel a short while back.
This officer, by the unanimous verdict of the Liver-
pool Marine Board, appears to have been free from blame
in the entire transaction. He was, they tell us, a man
who had passed his examinations with the most distin-
guished success ; in point of fact, a man remarkable+
among his class for superior dexterity in handling a ship
under trying circumstances. The sugg( stion that the
Tayleur was short-handed appears to be negatived hey
the evidence taken before the Board. The people win -e
a little clumsy, and did not work well together at fit
—the well nigh invariable case of a crew when picked
up from all quarters and just thrown together. Captain
Noble says, emphatically, that he considers them to
have been " efficient." The report of the. action of the
vessel herself is not quite so satisfactory ; it does not
seem that in any instance they succeeded in getting her
fairly about by tacking, but were always compelled to
adopt the alternative o wearing her in order to get her
round. Still, when the most is made of the deficiencies
of the Tayleur in such respects, they are not sufficiant
to account for her loss. The real cause of the calamity
was the condition of her compasses. So says Captain
Noble, and the Marine Board of Liverpool endorse. his
explanation to its fullest extent. With regard to his
compasses, again, Captain Noble, before starting ex-
ceeded the bounds of the caution usual among profes- '
sional men. He confided all the arrangements to the
man of most note in the port of Liverpool ; he endea-
voured to check the results at which this person had
arrived by independent means. He got compasses from
other makers. He tried to find out if there was any
spot on board his ship where the deviation could
not be felt. When his ship was being swung by
the tide in the river Captain Noble was always
busy with his compasses ; when he got to eea
he steadily observed the bearings of headlarnda
and lights to test their accuracy. All this, and much
more than this to the same purpose, will be found in ahe
report of the Liverpool Board of Inquiry. Now, what.
was the result on the morning of the wreck ? The steer-
ing compass, and a compass which had been placed in.
front of the poop, differed from each other by two points_
When the captain came to look into the matter he came
to the conclusion that the compass in front of the poop
had been thrown into error by the proximity of the mizen-
topsail sheets, which contained more than two hundred
weight of iron chain, and which had been displaced when
the sail was sheeted home. It should be added, in fairness
to Captain Noble, that the weather was so overcast With
haze that he had no chance of getting an observation,
and so was left to his guess. The result of it all was,
that he fell foul of Lambay Island at a time when he
thought he was running freely down mid-channel.
Here follows the extraordinary part of the. report :
" This Board would call particular attention to the fact
that numerous instances have been brought' tinder their
consideration of compasses having proved greatly, ire
,error
on board of both wood-and iron Ships ivhile fiaitigatieg the
Irish Channel, and which deviation is net accounted for by
any theory at present." .
4tioted
This is strange enough, but other instances art
of the like kind. On board of the Niagara, a wooden
,
steatinthip, a change of four degrees occurred.
hLne
Teneriffe changed her magnetism in
a point and a-half. Neither the
and of
important science, nor the details of practice. .
against deviations,
mechanical arrangement to provide •
are at all fixed. There can be no reason for supposing
prinecioprnlFiangof thise
thatnel. suchlf there,
no
irregularities
doubt, ar
the
these
a
confined
m toe thingstllie occur I r
i sh C h
a n
at.
other portions of the earthT
's surface. e result can
It
sstatedtin a
uncertain fewg ti idNev. We
words—the
n mariner'sotw
is compassh
in
re-
marks to enter into the case of the Tayleur. We are
and
hadg the Tayleur left portl
prepared for the moment to believeta sultiltiyattphped
elishi,
tp6 wag
good, the
s
good, the crew better, the captain best_of all. _ 7115
Qcompasses
alcv
h eret_osft i
ithel:
kiscarcend
when she blundered upon an island on one side_ of a
wide channel. Cannot our scientific men suggest a
remedy.—Tines. , , •

THE FIRST OF THE ROYAL YACHT SQUADRON 'FOR
THE BALTIC.—The first of the Royal Yacht Squadron
for a cruise in the Baltic is the Shark, schooner, W.
Curling, Esq. She has arrived at Ramsgate, and will
be eff in a few days. Other yachts, we hear, will

1:,11;.11