The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-16 00:00:00

MISSING SHIPS.

The New York Times of March 2nd has an article on
the missing steamships City of Boston and Schmidt. The
anxiety of those whose friends were on board the two
vessels "was fast sinking into despair" when the article
was written, but happily since that date the Schmdt, as
we know, has safely come into port. The New York Times
remarks that the list of Calamities to great steamers has,
considering the chances of the seas, and the numbers of
such vessels been wonderfully short. Total dieappearance
with the loss of all oh board, has been among the rarest of
disasters recorded of ocean steamships.
The President, which left New-York March 11, 1841,
-having among her
_passengers Tyrone Power, the come-
dian, a son of the Duke of Richmond, and other noted
persons, is in this dismal catalotue; and so is the City of
Glasgow, lost in 1854, and the Pacific in 1856 ; but wa
recollect no other vessels of similar character that have so
vanished and "left not a rack behind." Consequently
the chances would seem to be that as in the cases
of the troopship Birkenhead, and the packets Sts
George, Central America, Sarah Sands, Austria, Anglo-
Saxon and Loudon, a greater or lesS number of the pas-
sengers of the two =Missing craft may have been saved.
Such it will be remembered, was also the fact as regards
the Lady Elgin, sunk by collision on Lake Wichigan,
September 8, 1860. ' Of her 385 passengers, 287 perished,
among whom was Mr. Herbert Ingram, M.P., the
founder of the Illustrated London Areice, and his son. Of
the passengers and crew of the Hungarian,
on the other hand, which was wrecked on the
coast of Nova Scotia, February 19, of the same
year all on board Wereost. The Birkenhead, wrecked
off -Simon's Bays South Africa, Feb. 26, 1852, lost 454 and
saved 184. The:St- George, which was bound from Liver-
pool to New York, and was destroyed, by fire at sea,
December 24, 1852, lost 51, while 70 were rescued and
taken to Havre by the. American ship Orlando. The
Central America, which foundered on her way from
Habana to New York, September 12, 1857, carried 579
persons, of whom only 152 were saved. Of the 538 on
board the Austria--burned in the middle of the Atlantis',
Sept. 13, 1858—but 67 survived. The Sarah Sands, which
sailed from Portsmouth for Calcutta in August 1857 took fire
in November, and -afterwards experienced a tremendous
gale, carried •all on board safely into port. The Anglo-
Saxon,
wrecked on a reef off Gape Race during a dense
fog, April 27, 1863, lost 237 out of 446 individuals. The
London, which foundered in the Bay Biscay, January 11..
1866, on the passage from England to Melbourne, lost 220
lives, among whom were Dr. Woolley, Principal of
the University of Sydney, and Mr. G. V. Brooke,
the tragedian. Two instances have befallen during
the past few years, when the. romantic incident,
so much used by snovelists and dramatists, of a single
life being saved from among all on board a lost
ship has really been exemplified. These were in the cases
of the Dalhousie, wrecked off Beachy Head, October 19,
1853, and the Dunbar, wrecked off Sydney, August 20,
1857. In the latter instance the survivor was thi'own by
a gigantic wave into a tiny aperture high up in the face of
a precipice—the chance of such a thing occurring being
about the same as that of throwing a pea into a nail-
hole in the side of a wall—where he Jay insen-
sible for many hours, but was finally discovered
and saved by a daring fellow, who caused himielf to be
let down from the top of the acclivity by ropes.
The facts we have named, and others that mightbe
cited, indicate a strong preponderance in favour of the
supposition that' even should the City of Boston and the
Schmidt have been overtaken by calamity, many and
perhaps all of their passengers and crews may have been
saved. •

THE ALLEGED MURDER IN SP/TALFIELDS.
The inquest on the body of James Rutter, who was
stabbed in Bacon-street, Spitalfields, on Saturday, was
opened yesterday by Mr. Humphreys. Annie Rutter
deposed that she was the wife of the deceased, who was a
wood carver. On Saturday niAt she had been " chaffing" her
brother, Henry Parker, and he being in liquor, became
angry and excited. The witness was silent when ques-
tioned by the coroner as to the nature of their quarrel,
and Sarah Skudder . was called. who lived in
the same house art Henry Parker, and the de
ceased and his tyife. She is the mother of Parker,
He came home on Saturday night, aboutB o'clock, and bad
some words with his sister, who said that she would get
her husband to pay him off. Another witness deposed to
hearing the quarrel. Parker, on hearing that Rutter was
to be of to. " 'punch " him, ran .to a cupboard, and wit-
ness believed he took a knife from it. They after-
wards went out, and at the door of the shop
in Bamon -street they encountered Rutter. He gave
Parker a blow, knocked him down, and said to him "Get
up and fight me." Parker replied, " No ; you are a better
man than I am," and retreated across the street. On
being followed by Rutter he struck him in the breast, and
Rutter ran into the public-house crying out that
he was stabbed. He said Parker had struck
him, and added, " Take me to the hospital, I shall die."
He died almost immediately. Witness and Parker were
both drunk, but' Rutter was not. He struck the first
blow. _

—Abraham Rutter, brother' of the deceased, said,
Saturday night he was tirunk. He was with his broth ..)r,
and heard that Parker wanted to cheat his mothcr.
Ho was in the shop lighting his pipe when his brother was
stabbed.

Nottage deposed that on Saturday night at
nine o'clock he met Parker, who said, " I think r have
killed my brother."" He said, " You don't say so."
Parker replied, "Yes I do, I think I quail .give myself
up." Witness.advised him not to, ay..d he then said he
thought he would make away with himself. He said his
sister vas the cause of it all. He then left.
The inquest was adjourned, at the recommendation of
the coroner, for evidence to be obtained as to where
Parker got the 1-.r_ifs. The accused has not yet been cap
tured.

The Corporation of the City of Hamilton, Canada
West, have forwarded to the City Bank the usual
remittance to provide for the coupons maturing Ist
proximo upon their sterling debenturQs.

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

OPPOSITION TO THE EDUCATION BILL. -i
It is impossible (says the Times) not to feel some Want
of sympathy—we might use a stronger positive expression
—with the leaders of the opposition to the Education Bill.
Their course of action is certainly .not direct ; it admits of
diicits,ion whether it is strictly honest. The amendment
moved by Mr. Dixon declares that no measure of publics
education can be satisfactoryorpermanent which leaves the
question of religions instruction to be determined by lo cal
authorities. There is much ingenuity in the wording of the
resolution. We do, not know whether Mr. Dixon's
anyindment to the second reading will be withdrawn,
or will be pushed to a hopeless division; but if the fatter
.course be pursued after Mr. Lowe's declaration, its
anti ors had better frankly confess their real motive. Mr.
Winterfiotham has at leastacknowleciged for himself what
ha would prefer. He regrets that the Government had
not postponed dealing with the question till next year, in
order that, if possible;the agitation, which is now lukG•
warm, might have risen to fever heat in the interval. Wr°
wonder if it has occurred to him what would have been _
said by himself and his immediate colleagues if the Govern-
ment had brought in no measure upon education. Instead
of gratitude, there would have been reproaches, and these
would have been justified. Mr. Lowe fairly called the
turn that hies been given to the discussion hitherto
" pitiable." The adjournment of the debate leaves time
forreconsideration. There is not only the usual quiet of
Wednesday, but Thursday to boot, for reflection. I'Ve
trust that by Friday Mr. Dixon and his friends will seo
that, for the good of the cause they have at heart,
as well
as for their own reputation, it will be wise and patrioticin
them to abandon their amendment.
The_ Telegrdph- observes that the member for Stroud is
too logical not to see that if the religious provisions ofMr. Forster's Bill be rejected, the only alternative will be
a system of undiluted secularism. He accepts that
system. Although a Nonconformist, and therefore 3
" Bible Christian," he does not scruple to recom-
mend the exclusion of the sacred volume from
the list of class-books. We repeat that the
proposal is open to a fatal objection. she
English ,people will not hear of it. Unsectarian theY
might consent to make their school system ; but so long
as they retain their present feelings, there is one thing
they will not do, and that is, in elementary schools, to
abolish the Bible by Act of Parliament. With a warmth
which the House thoroughly appreciated, Mr. Forster
declared that the Puritan blood in his veins was roused by
the proposal forcibly to withhold from the young the
Book which is deemed the priceless treasure of Protestant
Christendom. He hardly needed to quote the famoue
and the exquisitely beautiful eulogy which Dr.
NeWman pronounced on the English Bible,
after the great divine had sought for refuge
in a Church that denies the canonicity of
the English version. Even if we put it on the lowest of
grounds, we cannot exclude the Bible from the number
of historical class-books. The majority of English parents
would loudly protest' against such an exclusion. To the
secularist party they would say, "By all means take the
shelter of the conscience clause; if you object to the read-
ing of the Scriptures ; 'but don't forbid on,: children to re-
ceive, in the national class-rooms, that religious instruc-
tion which' we deem an essential part of a Christian edu-
cation." To that argument a consistent Liberal can make
no reply.

. THE CONDITION OF IRELAND.
The Post thinks it is important that the actuality of the
state of things should be neither exaggerated nor under-
stated, and it is therefOre to be regretted that the Duke of
Richmond should havo described Ireland as being in
condition hitherto unparalleled, and that the Marquis of
Salisbury should have added to the force of the view
enunciated by the Leader of the Conservative 'party •
by describing the evil against which we have to
contend as . utterly unprecedented. This is not
the first time that. the population have been, or
appeared to be, on the side of crime. It is true that
hitherto the Executive have riot been able, as stated by
Lord Salisbury, to get either evidence or convictions ;
but Lord Salisbury might and should have added that
within these few days—almost, indeed, concurrently with
the exhibition of the views of Parliament on the Land.
Question=the Crown has obtained prompt and decided
convictions at the hands of ordinary juries. We do not
desire that more weight should be attached to this circum-
stance than it deserves, but it is right that it should be
borne in mind in forming a judgment as to what should
now be done in respect of 'new or amended legislation for
Ireland.

THE CITY OF BOSTON.
The Standard considers that those who remember the
dreadful anxiety 'which prevailed when the President was
missed will, apart from personal feelings, appreciate the
mystery hanging around the missing—let us not say lost
—City of Boston. Certainly there are hopes of her still.
Tremendous hurricanes have swept the Atlantic : great
vessels have been driven out of their courses ; ships •
passing have had glimpses of giant hulls labouring
against the wind and sea, and among these may.
have been the long-looked-for steamer. Very rarely,
notwithstanding any passions of the weather, have
•
steamers of this class failed. They are built, furnished,
and rigged in order to meet the exigencies of the sea,.
'When the President was lost an entirely different Condi-
tion of affairs in navigation prevailed: But here is a first-
class steamer, fitted with the best_equipment, powerful in•
its machinery, capable in its management, large, strong,
well-built, and capable, as might be supposed, of encoun-
tering-the most termagant winds and seas. It is quite natural
that the public interebt, should be more closely concentrated
upon a great passenger liner than, for example, upon a
mi,,sing whaler, or a merchant bottom from an obscure -
outward port. Yet, in the very fact that so intense a -
sympathy is felt for those who, as it were, are watching
from our headlands in expectancy of the delayed steamer, .
is ehewn the yearning of the country towards its children.
Aay moment may clear up the mystery; but, at all
events, through all the mists of telegraphic accuracy, we
still look with some confidence for the good City of
Bostoh. -
PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.
Public opinion, remarks the Daily News, has so defi-
nitely settled what the main purport of the report of the
Select Committee on Parliamentary and Municipal Elec-
tions will be, that one or two points which it must neces
Sarily embrace have been probably lost sight of. The
Liberal party has emphatically made up its mind to have
tee Ballot, the whole Ballot, and nothing but the Ballot;
the committee is popularly regarded as merely one for in-
quiving into the operations of the Ballot, arid it is expected
that: their report will include a simple recommendation of
secret voting as the cure of all our electoral ills. We
• ldlieve, however, that though the report of the Cora-
ls:l-tee will in no degree fall short of public expectation in
as‘respeet, it will inlome other particulars go very much
rr.Tond that expectation. The Ballot will, we believe,
render
.paid canvassers as obviously useless as they are
:e.'illy inefficient, and will render equally needless
the large expenditure incurred by candidates in
the appointment of a number of legal agents ; but
it naky be found needful to make an express enactment
forbidding this form of extravagant outlay. All, these
reforms will, we anticipate, be proposed by the Com-
mi,t.tee and adopted by Parliament. If. so, the reign of
violence is over, and scenes like'those at Waterford and
Tipperary, even scenes like those at Southwark and
Nottingham, have occurred for the last time in our
election history. The greatness of the boon to be thus '
conferred on the country can hardly be measured yet.

SAD ACCIDENT AT BOLTON. -- On Tuesday
myrning an accident took place at the gas works
Little Bolton. A large iron cistern, weighing nearly five
tons, was being raised by means of planks. A stoker
namgd James Fresco-a, was lying fiat on one of the planks
removing logs, when the cistern slipped, owing to the
failing of a screw-jack, and falling on Prescott's shoulders
nearly cut him iii two, killing him instantly.
A MINISTER ON UNCLEAN FACES.—Henry Ward
Beecher is again writing for the .New York Independent.
In his last article he discourses characteristically as
follows :—I wish the poor would speak to me. I cannot
,remember all my church, certainly not all my Sunday
school. But they never try without finding lam glad for
one. I have the same form of trouble that you have,
Uther IL—pride. I know all the inns and out of
Oat. But I can truly say there is no person so poor
or so lowly that it does not give me more pleasure
to have them speak to me than it does them. I
never have children speak to me on the street that it does
not make me feel good all the day long. It is not trouble-
some to me to be interested in a clean face. I like the
self-respectful, decorous poor, who are my equals, and
often my superiors. That is no trouble. It is these dirty
and often lousy things that I find it difficult to see the
Master in—this dirty boy who halloos after me,
" Henry Ward Beecher,
He's the screecher,"
and sometimes puts in a stone by way of punctuation.
A LION FIGHT.—Our fires were surrounded by
these animals at a very short distance, and they kept us
company until day-break, when they disappeared. The
largest lion I ever saw, a most splendid beast, was close to
us all night. He appeared so hungry that he would have
made very small bones of any one who should have fallen
in his way, and a magnificent lioness was with him. After
he had been there roaring for some time another lio4

" Gave another roar,
And the first lion thought the last a bore."
Then the hottest combat ensued that I ever witnessed ; it
was so terrible that there could scarcely be said to be any
enjoyment in the magnificent spectacle, for we were in
inns neat danger of our lives should either of them in their
fury spring over the fires, The two brutes fought for the
lioness, and the incredible activity of the smaller of the
two was something awful. It leapt upon the back of the
big one and both rolled over together, the fore quarter of
the big lion being one mass of blood. I consulted with the
Kaffirs as to what had better be done, and we decided
upon firing assagais at them, keeping three guns in reserve
in case of necessity. The pricks of the assagais made
them more fierce towards each other, and for a few seconds
they seemed positively riveted together. Meantime as the
fighting of these two brutes had driven all the other game
away, we discharged a volley of musketry. at random,
which did not seem to take effect. They still fought on,
blood running from than as water from a pump. We
loaded again and fired, this time with more precision for
we shot the small one dead. The other stood over his
dead foe, defiantly lashing his tail backwards and forwards
for a considerable time, until at last being apparently,
tired of that amusement, and gr9wing weaker by his
wounds, he crawled off.—Sketches of trAfe and Sport sm
louth,-Eastern Africa.
-iritoLzsAat roitiONING OP. -FOXI/017ND8.Lx1710'
.oisoning of seven valuable foxhounds belonging to Mr.l
.G, erard Leigh's (Hertfordshire) pack, as narrated
already, is found to have been caused by pieces of liver,'
impregnated with mineral poison, and placed by the road-1
side in the way the hounds had' to traverse from the
kennel to the meet at Silsoe, on Wednesday last. The
stomachs of the dogs are undergoing- chemical analysis,
Meanwhile the gentlemen of the hunt have determined to
discovery and punishment of
offer a reward of £lOO for the
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