The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-01 00:00:00

WRECK OF_THE_.EIIIIG.R.A.AT SHIP

HALCYON.
We regret having to record the loss of the American
emigrant ship Halcyon, which sailed hence on the 17th
ult., with upwards f 300 passengers, principally
Irish and German emigrants, for New York. The
whole of the passengers and crew, with the excep-
tion of one woman and a child, were providen-
tially rescued from a watery grave, having been
humanely taken on board, almost in the last extremity,
by the New York ships, Connecticut, Capt. Latham, and
the William H. Wharton, Capt. Gates, laden with cotton,
on their passage to Liverpool. The Halcyon encoutered a
heavy gale on the Bth inst., longitude being about 57i and
latitude 42, within five or six days' sail of New York. The
ship, from a succession of disasters, became totally dis-
abled; and, notwithstanding the exertions and skill of
Captain Wade and his officers, to which the whole of the
passengers we have conversed with bear willing and eager
testimony, those on board would most inevitably have
perished had not the vessels alluded to have rendered
timely assistance. To Captain Wade, who most courte-
ously and readily afforded us every information, we are
indebted for the following report of the disaster :—" On the
Bth of June the Halcyon, when within five or six days' sail
of New York, was dismasted in a heavy S.E. gale.
The fore and mainmasts went by the deck, and the mizen-
mast below the top. The rudder was rendered useless
by the thumping of the spars before they could be got
clear and the violent action of the sea. One pump was
brokea by the cargo fetching away, and the other was so
much injured as to be rendered nearly useless. Up to the
time of the Connecticut and the William H. Wharton
coming to the rescue, which was on the 11th, it was
impossible, in consequence of the violent rolling of
the wreck, to get up a jury mast of sufficient size to
steady the sinking ship. All this time the leakage was
increasing, the cargo was working, and the hull strain-
ing violently. One of the steerage passengers, a wo-
man, sustained a serious injury from some iron rails on
deck falling on her feet, and crushing her very much,
which caused her death. When the Connecticut and
William H. Wharton came down they took off the
passengers and crew, with provisions, water, &0.,
and they left on the 12th. When leaving, the
wreck being directly in the track of ships bound to the
eastward, and it being nearly night, he (Captain Wade)
deemed it prudent to set her on fire, to prevent any ships
that might come along during the night running foul of
her. Captain Wade, the officers, and passengers of the
ill-fated vessel express the deepest gratitude for their
safe deliverance; and the subjoined testimonial has been
handed to us for publication :

"Liverpool, Juno 28.
" I am desirous, for myself and in the name of the
officers and passengers of the late unfortunate ship Hal-
cyon, to take this opportunity of expressing publicly our
acknowledgment of the debt of gratitude due from us to
Captain Latham, of the ship Connecticut, and Captain
Gates, of the William 11. Wharton, et New York, and to
the officers and crews of their respective ships. To their
humane conduct and praiseworthy exertions the company
and passengers of the Halcyon owe, under God, the pre-
servation of their lives.

" Through their untiring exertions over 300 persons
were transferred to their ships, without the loss of a
single life. Receiving such large numbers on board
ships having
accommodation only for their ordinary
company required personal sacrifices to be made and
inconvenience to be suffered by each and all belonging
to them. Yet these sacrifices were made, and incon-
veniences borne promptly and with the greatest cheer-
fulness. Everything that could be done to add to the
comfort or promote the health of those thus pieced under
their care was done in a generous spirit of huma-
nity. Although the rescued persons feel that the con
sciousness of having performed a noble duty in a nt,b!e
manner will bring more enduring pleasure to the minds
of their deliverers than any tribute they can offer, they
feel bound to perform their duty, and thus publicly re-
cord their gratitude.

" A. T. WADE,
" On behalf of the officers, crew and pas-
sengers of the ship Halcyon."
The William 11. Wharton arrived in Liverpool on
Thursday evening, with the mate of the vessel and 190
of her passengers, and the Connecticut, bringing Cap-
tain Wade and the remainder of the unfortunate people,
on Friday evening.—Liverpool Paper.

GLASGOW AND SOUTN-WESTICZN RAILWAY.— Traffic for
the Week ending June 28, 1851 :
Passengers (21,598), Goods, &c.,
nd Horses and Carriages ... £3,778 17 11
Corresponding week in last year
for Glasgow and Ayr and Glas-
gow, Diunfries, and Carlisle
Railways ... £2,769 13 4
Glasgow, June 30, 1851.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

ROUSE OF COMMON& June 30.
CUSTOMS BILL.

(Continued from our Third Edition of yesterday.)
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER said the
Hon. Member had acted under the delusion that coffee
was the only article adulterated, whereas almost every
other article of consumption was in many instances
mixed with deleterious ingredients. He (the Chancellor
of the Exchequer) did not think it expedient that the
grocers throughout the country should be subjected to
Excise interference to prevent their mixing chicory with
coffee. Any Government interference in regard to this
alleged fraud could only take place on two grounds—
either that the article was adulterated with dele
terious ingredients prejudicial to the health of
the public, of that the revenue suffered in
consequence of the practices adopted. Now he
was in possession of facts which showed that chicory
was not injurious to health, and that its mixture with
coffee was actually preferred by a great number of
persons. The revenue had suffered to a very inconsi
derable extent, if at all, by reducing the duty on coffee;
he thought he had adopted the best means of prevent-
ing the continuance of the adulteration by chicory.
He held iu his hand a letter which he had received that

morning from a coffee-roaster in the metropolis, stating that
the mixture of chicory with coffee had led to the production
of a much better article than that which had formerly been
in use, and that previously to tho introduction of chicory
the coffee sent to the roasters was so bad that the men
engaged in roasting it could hardly remain on the premises
during the process, while the trade were at present enabled
to purchase good coffee, and, by mixing it with chicory, to
give the public a much better and cheaper article than that
which they had formerly sold. He could assure his Honour-
able Friend that if he could give him (the Chancellor
of the Exchequer) any information showing that a dele-
terious article had been mixed with coffee, he should take
care that the party guilty of the offence should be pro-
secuted. The Treasury minute dealt with chicory, and with
nothing but chicory; and with respect to the mixture of any
other article the law remained as it had been. He should
confess, however, that unless it should appear that there had
been some deleterious article mixed with the doffee he did
not think it was the business of the Treasury to interfere.
No doubt the Treasury found it desirable to present the
adulteration of such an article as tobaceo, on which a very
high duty was imposed. But it should be remembered that
the powers confided to the Excise officers in these matters
were confided to them mainly, not for the purpose of pro-
tecting the consumer, but for the purpose of protecting the
revenue. It was lett to the discretion of the revenue officers
to decide whether in any particular case the protection of the
revenue was so indispensable that it was advisable, in order
to attain that object, to subject parties to that annoyance
which always accompanied Excise interference. His belief
was, that in the present instance it was not worth while that
the Excise officers should interfere in the manner proposed.
His Hon. Friend had alluded to the falling off in the con-
sumption of coffee during the last three or four years. But
it should be observed that there had been a large increase
in the consumption of coffee during the last ten years; and
he believed that by reducing the duty on the article he was
taking the best means of insuring its increased consumption.
There were in Great Britain 131,000 grocers, who had taken
out licences for the sale of coffee, and it would be no light
matter to subject all these persons to that Excise supervision
from which they had been exempted during the last ten
years. He had received communications from several agri-
cultural districts, in which he had been requested not to in-
terfere with the growth of ehicory,which had been carried on
successfully for some time. One gentleman had stated to him
that there were probably 20,000 engaged in the cleaning or
the cultivation of chicory, arid that he himself employed
nearly 300 persons in that way. He further said that the
supply of labourers in that business did not equal the de-
mand, so that those who did offer themselves were all in full
employment. His Hon. Friend proposed that he (the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer) should put an end to that employ-
ment. He had been informed that in the great consuming
towns in the manufacturing districts the mixed article was
preferred to the inferior descriptions of coffee, and not a
single complaint had as yet proceeded from the consumers
against the mixture in question. All the complaints that had
been heard upon the subject had been raised by the roasters
and the sellers of coffee. His Hon. Friend proposed that
they should introduce into a Customs Bill a clause which was
to be carried out by the Excise; but it would be a new and
unexampled proceeding to introduce an excise restriction into
a Customs Act. He had formerly heard frequent complaints,
to the effect that he had imposed undue restraints on the
right of the agricultural interest to cultivate any article they
might please. And yet the Hon. Gentleman proposed it to be
known that if the consumer were prevented in that case from
having a cheap and wholesome beverage, that arrangement
would be forced on an unwilling and reluctant Government,
to the injury, as he believed, of the dealers, of the growers,
and of the public.

Mr. CRAWFORD said he entirely approved of the mo-
tion of the Hon. Member for Huntingdon. Neither the
growers nor the importers of coffee had any objection to chi-
cory as chicory; but they objected to the use which unscru-
pulous dealers made of the suspension of the provisions of
the Act by the authority of the Treasury. It was well known
that coffee was adulterated with the most unwholesome and
offensive substances.

Sir J. TYRELL said he felt compelled to oppose the
motion of his Hon. Friend the Member for Huntingdon. A
good deal of land was at present used for the growth of
chicory, and a considerable number of labourers were em-
ployed in its cultivation. sow, he could see no reason why
those labourers should be deprived of that employment.
They had heard nothing of the unwholesomeness of chicory
until after large sums bad been invested in its growth ; for
he believed that the cultivation of an acre of chicory cost 141,
while it was an article very well suited to the climate of this
country.
Mr. ANSTEY said no one wished to interfere with the
growth of chicory, but what was desired was, to prevent
substitutes from being sold for coffee, and fetching a price in
the market which they would not otherwise reach; and he
contended that those who laboured to that end were truer
friends to the poor than the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The only persons who benefitted by the present atrocious
system were those grocers who had memoralised the Right
Hon. Gentleman. He differed from the lion. Member for
Huntingdon in one respect, for in his (Mr. Anstey's) opi-
nion, the object which he had in view might be attained by
abolishing the duty on coffee altogether. But if they were
not prepated to do this, there was no alternative but the
Excise system. The Right lion. the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer said it was quite unprecedented to introduce an
Excise clause into a Customs Bill; but he begged to remind
him that the Right Hon. Member for the University o;
Cambridge, when Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1843, pur-
sued that course, for the purpose of preventing the adulte-
ration of tobacco. Similar precautions had also been take':
to prevent the adulteration of tea and pepper by means of
the Excise, and why should not the NM muse be followed
with repot to coffee ?