The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-26 00:00:00

LITERARY HONESTY.

The Tablet writes a somewhat severe article on tho
indifference of the Saturday Review to the very prin.
ciples of literary criticism of which it professes to
appreciate the theoretical value. The instance of
this is in a late article. During the last few weeks ail
animated controversy has been carried on in the
_pages
of the Weekly Register, on the subject of Papal
Infallibility. In the course of the controversy Dr.
Herbert Vaughan quoted a passage attributed by St.
Alphonsus to St. Bernard. Quickly discovering that
he was partly in error in so doing, he wrote to the
paper, and placed the extract in its true and authentic
form. low, the Saturday Reviewer? having
this very number of the Register containing the
correction in his hands, coolly informs his readers
that " the Very Rev. Dr. Vaughan bases his proof
from St. Bernard on a passage which " Clencus"
shews in the same paper to be spurious." Though
Dr. Vaughan may be content to smile at such an
example of literary dishonesty, the Tablet considers
it is a specimen of a modo of procedure which
worth pointing out.

MRS. O'DONOVAN ROSSA.
It is evident that the quiet Irishmen of Tipperary
can get on very well without the assistance of their
ex-member, O'Donovan Rossa, so long as that great
man's talented wife is present with them. Mis.
O'Donovan Rossa has given a series of readings in
Tipperary, and the Kickham Committee have just
presented her with an address expressing their " ap-
preciation of and reverence for the feelings that
prompted her to honour" Tipperary with a
visit. Mrs. Rossa's reply is free from allu-
sion to English despotism, and the major part of
it is occupied with an expression of regret that the
proceeds of her readings are not to be devoted to the
Nationalist cause. " Yet I am consoled by the
assurance you give me that my elocutionary efforts,
inspired as they are by an intense love of our native
land, must be productive of benefit. Doubly dear
is this assurance to me in coming from the true and
tried, the fearless, noble, and self-sacrificing spirit
of Tipperary." And a little more of this kind.

THE MORMONS.

The United States' House of Representatives
commenced in earnest the long-threatened campaign,
Pgai the Lemons. it has Paned a bill enforcing

WASHINGTON, March 9.
The following are the first official dispatches received
by the Navy Department of the Oneida disaster
" Yokohama, Japan, Jan. 30, 1870.
" Sir,—lt is my painful duty to report to you the sink-
ing of the United States steamer Oneida by the Penin-
sular and Oriental mail steamer Bombay, in Yokohama
Bay, on the night of the 24th inst.
"The Oneida left left the harbour of Yokohama, bound
to Hong Kong, about 5 p.m. of that day, and when
near Saratoga Spit was struck by this steamer, then
arriving from Hong Kong. The Oneida was struckl just
forward of her starboard mizzen rigging, carrying away
the whole of the starboard quarter wheel and all the
steering gear, and sunk, so far as I have been able to
learn, in about fifteen minutes after the collision. Four
of the officers and fifty-seven of the men were saved in two
boats. I resvectfnlly inclose a list of the saved and lost,
so far as can oe ascertained from the officers and men. I
have already communicated the sad intelligence to the
Rear-Admiral, now at Hong Kong. I avail myself of the
opportunity of sending this by the American sailing bark
Benefactress, which sails to-morrow for San Francisco.
" The Pacific mail is now over due from San Francisco,
and no steamer will sail for that port until about the 22d
inst.—Your obedient pervant,

" H. E. MULLAN,
Lieutenant-Commander Commanding."

OPINIONS OF THE AMERICAN PRESS.

The New York Herald says :—The accounts only elabo-
rate the sad story. They do not relieve the first details
of any of their horror or put the disaster in any more
favourable light. Sixty men were saved and one hundred
and thirteen were lost, as at first reported. The infamous
inhumanity of the captain of the Bombay, the un-
answered calls of the Oneida for succour, the gallantry of
Commander Williams, who gathered his officers about
him, that they might all go down in line, are all con-
firmed. No sadder story has been told for many a long
day. No braver, more gallant record of heroism in the
face of death than that' of Williams, Stewart, Muldaur
and their messmates has been written since the days of
the British troop-ship, on which a regiment went down
with arms presented. The conduct of the captain of the
Bombay is under investigation by a naval court of in-
quiry at Yokohama. His defence seems to be that he
felt only a slight shock of collision, which he did not
think was sufficient to damage the Oneida or his own
vessel, and did not hear the sound of the guns. But his
defence is too late to avert the infamy that will attach
to him, and the punishment that ought to be meted out
to him. It seems probable that merely to escape respon-
sibility for the neglect of his look-outs, or to save his
owners from the liabilities incurred by the careless de-
struction of another vessel, he left to their fate the men
who, if saved, might testify against them.
The Tribune, in an article on " Captain Eyre's Crime,"
observes there is something worse than shocking in a
disaster of a magnitude for which we have to blame not
elements and accidents merely, but the heart of man,
which is more dangerous than the precipice and more
savage than the sea. The disaster perpetrated by the
British steamer Bombay in Japanese waters was a double
calamity. The steamer itself killed a ship, so to speak,
but that was an accident. The captain of the steamer
left more than a hundred men to drown, and this
is a crime which finds its measure in the asst
which holds it rather than in the ordinary limits of
human perceptions. It is waist, than disgraceful to his
nation and race—it is a calamity to Ws species. We have
only to say in behalf of Captain Ey..a that it must have
given him exceedingly little thougnt and feeling to commit
his great murder at sea as compared with the thoughts awl
feelings which are aroused to denounce it. Of the actua'.
commission of a crime more or less in the affair of :.tie
Oneida, there is no longer a doubt, we grieve to say. in
the remarkably prompt, full, and detailed report of the
disaster, which we present elsewhere in our correspondence
from Yokohama, nothing is wanting to shew the
nature of the catastrophe, and the wilful or
careless crime which made the Oneida its victim.
Captain's Eyre's own evidence is to the effect that the
collision was too slight to be much suspected, that his
pilot told him that a spit of land was near and that there
was no danger, and that he was a good fifteen minutes
looking after the ill-fated ship. That "good fifteen
minutes "is a terrible bit of evidence. We are far from
wishing to prejudge the case of the Bombay captain? and,
for the honour of our race, hope that he will prove himself
less a reckless villain than he seems. Let not his infamy,
as it stands, obscure the sublime last act of noble men—
the heroism with which Captain Williams determined to.
go down with his ship, the noble courage of the young.
Ensign Copp—illustrious examples, of which a Marine
that claims the memory of Commander Craven and the
immortal boy Holland can never be destitute when an
occasion arises.

BANK OF ENGLAND RETURNS.

An Account, tursuant to the .
for the week ending We
ISSUE nni
Notes issued £34,339,5731

X 34,339,573
BINXING D.

Act 7 and 8 Victoria, cep. 82,
,dnesday, March, 23, 1870.
P kIiTMENT.
Governmt. Debt £11,015,1u,
Other Securities 3,984,900
Gold Coin and
Bullion
Silver Bullion

£34,339,673

Proprietors' Capi-
tal
Rest
Public Deposits
(including Ex-
chequer, Sav-
ings' Banks,
Commissioners
of National
Debt, and Div.
Accounts 12.249.608
Other Deposits 16,781,829
Seven Days and
othor Bills 378,879

PARMIENT.
Governmt. Secu-
rities(including
Dead Weight
Annuity) .... £18,832.460
Other Securities 19,580,860
Notes 12,242,600
Gold and Silver
Coin . 975,236

£46,631,156

£46,631,156

COURSE OF EXCHANGE.

Amsterdam, Short ... 11 181 ... 11 19.4
Do
Rotterdam 3Ms ... 12 01 ... 12 1
... 12 0 ... 12 1
Antwerp — ... 25 424 ... 25 474
Brussels — ... 25 424 ... 25 47
Hamburgh — ... 13 101- ... 13 104
Paris
Ditto
Marseilles
Frankfort-on-the-Main — ... 1201 ... 121
Vienna — ... 12 65 ... 12 70
Trieste — ... l 2 65 ... 12 70
Petersburg
Copenhagen.• „.... ~ 9 23 ... 9 27
Berlin
Madrid.
Cadiz — ... 49 ... 494
Leghorn ... ... 26 224 .., 26 30
Milan . ... 26 224 ..- 26 30
Genoa .. — ... 26 224 .., 26 30
Naples
Palormo — ... 26 224 ... 26 30
Messina
Lisbon
Oporto — ... L 2 ... 524

Ilitherto it has been custoincry to convey tc.
Devonport the mails arriving at Plymouth from London
for the Cape and from the Cape for London, which was a
wasteful piece of routine, the double journey to and from
Devonport being attended with no practical advantage.
The Western Morning News learns that the postal autho-
rities have at leu,gth recognised this, and have orderedthe
Cape mails to be hereafter sorted at Plymouth instea',lc
at Devonport.

The editor supports his correspondent, and forcibly
backs up his arguments. The Army, including the
Navy, is th 3 one branch of the public service, which,
as Mr. JENCKES says, has preserved the spirit of
honesty, self-sacrifice, and fidelity. The advantages
of such a body even as examples to the youth of the
country cannot be over estimated, but their very
virtues make them intensely obnoxious to a class
of politicians now influential in the House, and
not powerless in the Senate. The impolicy of turn-
ing these gentlemen out of the service without
compensation, or on half pay, may not suggest itself
to the House as a breach of faith ; but the effect
is very mischievous, and likely to prove more so,
more especially in view of the gradual admission
now going on of large bodies of ignorant persons
to a share in the Government. The cultivation of
respect for plighted faith is the nearest approach
there is to the soul of a people, and they who want
it may have the tongues of angels, immeasurable
corn, wine, and oil, but they will profit them nothing.
We are all aware of the deep interest the politician
took in the welfare of the maimed soldier, and the
rewards to be bestowed on the gallant men who
had fought the battles of the Union. Allusions to
them were to .be found alike in the Radical and
Conservative plairfornas, and these who did not un-
derstand the claptrap,ina agined that au organisation
existed to deprive the worthy soldiers of their well-
earned rewards. How, then, comes it, that the
officers who led the soldiers, about whom there was
all that fuss, are to be thus mercilessly deprived of
their bread ? and how does it happen that among
all the honest, keen observers associated with the
American press so little sympathy should be dis-
played, or any advocacy of so just a cause ?
While the Census Bill was being discussed in
the Senate the utmost confusion was always repre-
sented as then prevailing. Some Senators noisily left
the Chamber, others loudly chatted and argued, and
when CHARLES SUMNER attempted to give the sta-
tistics, no one listened, nor could any one hear.
What on earth, we here in Europe said, is there ob-
jectionable in this bill? That the abolition of the
franking privilege debated at the same time might
be unpalatable was easy to understand, but the ob-
jection to the other had to be sought beneath the
surface. In 1850 the Census Law was passed, and
under its provisions the statistics at the end of two
decades were compiled. A Committee was ap-
pointed last session by the House to inquire into
the subject and to report what further legislation
had becomenecessary. It found that the last, though
excellent in its day, was now antiquated, and seve-
ral improvements were suggested, a_ bill being re-
ported after an elaborate investigation. Some of
the old schedules were laid aside, others altered, and
many new ones were added. The system was
changed, the work being taken from th e marshals and
a new organization was formed, independent of
other Government machinery, and arranged in ac-
cordance with the system of Congressional districts.
General GARFIELD, after along and careful debate,
carried it through the House, and on the 17th of last
December it went to the Senate, where the impolitic
action of the Lower House then immediately became
apparent. In the first place, it had not consulted its
dignified brother ; in the second, it had trans-
ferred the work from the Marshals usually appointed
by the Senators to a body of officers to be appointed
by itself; and, to crown all, the Senate, instead of
referring it to a Special Committee, sent the un-
lucky bill for consideration to the Standing Com-
mittee on the revision of laws. Mr. CoNkLuco was
the' Chairman, Messrs. SUMNER, CARPENTER, and
two other Senators, the members. The Nation de-
scribes Mr. CONKLING as of so peculiar a turn of
mind that he rarely supports any measure except to

object to another ; being as weak in constructing, as
strong in obstructiveness, able, and confident in his
judgment. Such a man could not fail to clash with
SUMNER, while the Chamber has lately been made a
sort of stage for the Senators to fight out their pri-
vate quarrels, and it was the hard fate of the Census
Bill to be brought up at the very time when Mr.
SUMNER was to be snubbed. The bill was presented
by Mr. CONKLING, and its defeats pointed out in a
clever speech. Mr. SUMNER in vain attempted to
prove that since the law of 1850 had been passed the
world had moved forward, and it was necessary to
make the alterations suggested by the House if the
measure was to render the Act efficient for the pre-
sent. The bill was laid upon the table, and the time
slipped away within which it had to be passed, when
the old Act, by virtue of a provision contained therein,
again became operative. That such paltry considera-
tions should have weighed with the Senate showshow
fallible is human nature, and what poor things are
even the most august bodies. While throwing out
the useful measure thus sent up from the house
the Senate evinces no inclination to abolish the
franking abuse, although such has been conclusively
shown to be the desire of the people. The Executive
has urged it ; the press has urged it ; and petition sin
thousands puur in from ail parts of the country also
urging it,yet the Senate remains unmoved. The Post-
master• General has published a few figures, plainly
stating the coatto the country of that abuse. During

The steamship Nebraska, which is now in San
Francisco ready for sea, is to be the pioneer vessel
of the Australian mail line. She will sail for Syd-
ney and Melbourne about the 25th of March. This
is the way in which things are done in the United
States. The everlasting Yankee gets to the anti-
podes while in London people get up a meeting ;
and while they are discussing the preliminaries of
the enterprise on this side, they are driving their
steamers through the waters of the Pacific on the
other. It has long been to us inexplicable why the
Union Pacific, after completing the railroad, should
have pushed no further. It might be supposed that
the directors being gorged with bonds and land •
grants gave themselves no additional trouble to rea-
lize the grand dream of Conusieus, that when he was
ploughing the Atlantic westward he was on the
right road to Cathay. It is not sufficient to over-
come the difficulties interposed by nature, and to
establish the communication, for the world is pre-
judiced, is ignorant, is hard to persuade, and
stupid people will still go the wrong road, if that
be the one to which they are accustomed. Surely
it is worth the while of these Pacific steam lines,
in conjunction with the transcontinental highway, to
establish agencies in Europe, whose businessit would
be to make known the advantages offered by the
new routes opened. A year ago the Peninsular and
Oriental Company took fright and published tables
which went the round of the English press, show-
ing that the western road via San Francisco to
China could never compete with their route via
Egypt. What could we single-handed accomplish
against so many? and the impression is now univer-
sal that as to bringing China nearer to Europe, the
new road is an acknowledged failure ? Indeed that
there is a new road is only incidentally known to
a few, and many a passenger shipping by the
Peninsular and Oriental Company for Shanghai—
aye, even for Japan—is surprised on learning that
there is a magnificent line of steamers running from
San Francisco to the same ports, with a railway
penetrating the United States to the Pacific, in the
cars of which people can live while travelling as in
an hotel. Another line opens to the Australias,
and not an intimation of the fact reaches Europe,
whence nearly the whole traffic which is to support
that line must be derived. There are many energetic
Americans established in business in the chief capi-
tals of this Continent who can make these agencies
alike profitable to the companies and to themselves,
but it is in vain that the subject is brought to the
notice of the directors.; no attention appears to be
p id to their communications, and a matter of a
magnitude eveninvolving national interests remains
wholly neglected. It may be that the Protectionists
design to shut out foreigners and to keep the road
and the traffic to themselves; it may be that the ten-
der-hearted managers cannot bear to work an in-
jury to the Peninsular and Oriental Company,
whose ships are acquiring so enviable a reputation
for running down any vessels which come in their
way. Whatever the reason, the fact is beyond dis-
pute that -one of the finest undertakings ever
achieved in this world is shorn of the full propor-
tions of its success through an incomprehensible
neglect. There are many other interests involved
as well; and it would be worth their while to
bestir themselves in this matter—for instance the
great Atlantic steam lines, as well as the leading
railroads to the West. The Cunard, Inman, Guion,
Hamburgh-American, and North German Lloyd
fleets have all a share in the success of the new route
now being opened to the Australias. So have the
Erie, New York C entral,an d Penn sylvania Rairoads.
Perhaps it is the generality as well as the distribu-
tion of the interest which causes it to be no one's bu-
siness in particular. There are, however, three di-
rectly involved—First, the Pacific Railroad, for over
it all must go; there is no choice there,for between
Omaha and San Francisco there is but one route.
The next is the Pacific Steamship Company, ply-
ing from San Francisco to Hongkong; and the third
is this new line from San Francisco to Australia
and New Zealand. These three ought to act in
conjunction to make the world know what they can
do in the way of transport, and the facilities offered
for the carriage of all who entrust their persons or
goods to them. Some time ago we received nume-
rous inquiries about the advantages secured by the
new route to China, but the subject is now never
mentioned. If we were asked how the passenger
for Yokohama was to proceed, we would be at- a
loss to answer, and our only resource would be
to send the inquirer to Messrs. H. STARR and
COMPANY, Pacific Mail Agents, of 22, Moor-
gate-street, in the hope that he might there get
the information he wants. We are aware that the
work which has fallen on the board of the Union
Pacific has been overwhelming, and that it has
been increased by the notorious Erie clique, which,
not content with mismanaging their own line, have
thrown every possible impediment in the way of
other undertakings; among their performances driv-
ing the head office of the Union Pacific out of New
York to Boston, breaking into the safe of the. com-
pany, and accomplishing divers other meritorious
acts, which will be narrated when Fisk s history comes
to be written. It is now, however, time that the Board
should begin to look about them, and extend their
operations beyond the United States. To secure
passengers, the first essential is to give " through"
tickets, for no family will take their chance of an
uncertain cost. But when the money is paid down
in Europe, in a currency passengers understand, and
which they can compare with the Eastern rate, they
will accept the time-tables on the word of the agent.
Above all is this necessary if the San Francisco
boats to Australia are to be filled ; indeed it will
make almost the difference between success and
failure, white the cost, properly distributed, of
eseb co llin
traffic g good working agencies in 'Europe would
b
paratively trifling. Nor do these new roads
connect
points for commercial only ; for
ta
they have opened strange countries to the tourist,
to the geologist, the botanist, health or pleasure
seeker. The entaprizing traveller can now gaze into
the great gorge of the Rio Colorado, or from
the peak of Mount Lincoln look over the boundless
prairie towards the rising sun. No more terrific
sight can be seen than the one ; nor any grander
than the other. Then the Valley of the Yo Semite
would soon be known through Europe, and the U.S
Government might expect with reason that BRIG-
HAM YOUNG would speedily be " interviewed " to
death. Let us have Colorado opened to the tourist,
as is Switz rlend, and the trarec ,ntinental line be-
come as quickly as possible the World's highway.
which Nature has decreed it ought to be. —Anglo-,
American 7 intes.

The Silesia, from New York, has brought £39,600.
There has been.no material alteration in the exchanges
to-day.
A special meeting of shareholders of the Man-
chester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway was
held to-day for the purpose of rescinding a resolu-
tion of a special meeting of the proprietors in 1866,
whereby 103,500 shares of £lO each were created,
and of cancelling such shares, no Portion thereof having
been issued ; and of authorising the creation in lieu thereof
of other capital, for the purpose of the redemption of the
existing £6 preference shares, and the capital represented
thereby. The chairman (Sir E. Watkin) said that in lieu
of the 6 per cent. preference stock the directors proposed
to issue a stock at 5 per cent. for ten years, and 4i. per
cent. in perpetuity, and after a period of two years to give
the option to any holder to convert his stock into 41 per
cent. perpetual preference. If for any number of years
the dividends upon that stock were not from any cause
paid, they would accumulate, and before anybody else
was paid, the accumulated dividends upon these particular
stocks must be cleared off. The motion was carried

wthi only four dissentients.
The directors of the Chartered Bank of India, Aus-

tralia, and China have decided to recommend to the
shareholders, at the annual general meeting on the 20th
proximo, a dividend for the half-year ended the 31st
December last at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum free
of income tax.