The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON; T'HURSD'AY EVENING; FEBRUARY 14, 1856;

LOSS OF THE JOSEPHINE WILLIS. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

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Investigation this Day.

A full meeting of this society Nrns held on Monday
evening ; Admiral W. F. Beechey, president, in the
chair.

At noon this day the inquiry directed by the Board
of Trade, under the 432.1 and 4331 sections of the
Merchant Shipping Act, 1854, (the 17th and 18th of
Victoria, cap. 101), into the circumstances attending
the unfortunate wreck of the ship Josephine Willis,
which was run down off Folkestone, by the Manger-
ton steamship, commenced before Mr. Yardley, at
the Town Hall, in High-street, Poplar. The
spacious board-room in which the inquiry was held was
crowded to excess with parties interested in the in-

Among those present were, Sir Roderick Murchison,
Sir G. Back, Sir Charles Fellows, the Earl of Sheffield,
General Sir Harry Jones, Count Straziecki, Lieuten-
ant-Colonel Lefroy, Dr. Rae, Captain Gordon, R.N.,
Mr. Calvert, Q.C., Mr. R. M. Milnei, M.P. the Hon.
H. S. Law; Captain Thomas Miller, R.N., Mr.i Duncan
M'Gregor, Mr. Brooking, Mr. Arrowsmith, Mr.
Galton, Dr. Hodgkin, Colonel Everest, Rev. C.
G. Nicolay, Rev. S. Clark, Rev. W. Ozenhatn,
Mr. Osborne Smith, Mr. Harris, Mr. Latrobe,
Mr. Ashurst Mejendie, Mr. Joseph Glen, Mr. W. B.
Hume, Mr. Findlay, Mr. Walker, Capt. the Hon. H.
A. Murray, Major Kane, Admiral the Hon. C. B.
Elliott, Mr. E. J. Harrington, Consul Brand, Mr..
Lionel Gisborne, Mr. Whitmore, Mr. John Brown, Mr
Lawrence Oliphant, and Mr. Uzielli.
The Right Hon. Sir T. Fremantle and Major Vincent
Eyre were officially introduced, upon their election.
Sir W. E Logan, F.R.S., Chief Geologist and Com-
missioner of Canada ; Captain Sherard Osborn, R.N.,
C.B. ; J. H. Mandeville, Esq., late her Majesty's Mi-
nister Plenipotentiary at Buenos Ayres ; Rev. A. R.
Ashwell, M.A.; G. F. Brooking, Esq.; M. H. Brooking,
Esq. ; T. H. Newman, Esq.; J. H. Plowee, Esq.; and
N. F. Simmons, R.N., were elected Fellows.

quiry.
Eleven o'clock was the hour appointed for the inquiry
to commence, but the magistrate did not enter the board-
soom until twelve o'clock.
Mr. O'Dowd, a barrister, and assistant solicitor to
conduct ceiminal prosecutions under the Merchant Ship.
ping Act, conducted the ease for the Board of Trade.
On Mr. Yardley taking his seat, he addressed Mr.
Ballantine, the barrister, and said, " I presume you at
tend here as counsel ?"
Mr. Ballantine—l attend here, sir, on behalf of the
steam-boat company, the owners of the Mangerton.
Mr. Yardley—And you, Mr. Parry ?
Mr. Parry—l attend here as counsel for the owners
of the lost ship, the Josephine Willis.
Mr. Yardley wished, at starting, to state the nature
of the proposed inquiry. It was not a judicial inquiry ;
but the object was to collect facts for the Beard of Trade

Among the donations received since the previous meet-
ing the following mere important ones were mentioned :
—United States Naval Astronomical Expedition to the
Southern Hemisphere during the years 1849, '5O, '5l,
and '52. By Lieutenant J. M, Gillis, Two vols. 4t0.,
numerously illustrated. „Preserfted by the author. The
Imperial Atlas of Modern Geography. By Messrs.
Blackie and Son, of Glasgow. Parts Ito 7 inclusive.
Second Edition of the Art of Travel. By F. Galton.
Memoirs of Admiral Krusenstern, edited by Sir John
Ross ; together with the Transactions of the Royal Uni-
versity of Christiania, and of the Royal Academy of
Sciences of Madrid.
The papers read were-
1. Remarks on the Open-Sea in the North Polar Basin,
by Robt. White, Esq.; oommunieated by Jno. Barrow,
Esq., F.R.G.S. The reports of the existence of an open
Polar sea have been corroborated by Dr Kane's expedition,
and the paper proposed to show that the action of the sun
and the oceanic currents within the Arctie circle naturally
explained such a phenomenon. The inclination of the
earth's axis referred the normal line of extreme cold to the
Arctic circle, the action of the sun on the Pole being con-
tinuous during the Arctic summer, while its influence is
distributed overtheregionsatificent bytheirdailyrotation.
The currents likewise circulating round the Pole convey
warmth there ; while they retain heat enough to become
the carriers of frozen masses to the temperate regions.
The evidence of Bareutz, Wrangel, Penny, Belcher,
and Kane, concurring on this subject, calls for further
investigation in the direction pointed out by the cuurse
of the warm stream. The President said that a work of
his had been quoted in support of an open sea, and there-
fore he would refer to the passage in question, and to
the authorities usually cited by advocates of that
opinion, for the purpose of showing that there was no
foundation for it. He concluded _by mentioning several '
cases in which reports of ai open sea had been fol-
lowed up without success ; and there was reason to be-
lieve that Dr. Kane's discovery, if pursued, would lead
either to a vast inland basin, or a sea covered with the
same moveable and impenetrable rua,,s of ice which had
stopped Parry, M'Cluro, Collinson, and Belcher, and all
other Arctic na‘,4,sators.
2. Report of Surveyor R. Austin, commanding the
Expedition to Explore the Interior of Western Aus-
tralia, N. and E. of the Settled Districts, communi-
nicated by the Colonial-office. This expedition was
ordered by the local Government of Western Aus-
tralia, and despatched in June, 1854, under the com-
mand of Mr. R. Austin, who was directed to proceed
to Northam, and exainne the country towards the
E.N.E., in search of a region called by the natives Caw-
cowing. Advancing northward and eastward, as far as
the latitude of Cape Cuvier, he was then to turn south
and west, in search of the Gascoyne, or any other large
river likely to fall into the sea, in the same neighbour-
hood. A vesi,el was sent to the mouth of the Gascoyne
to look out fn. him. Mr. Austin found Cowcowing ab,
60 miles N.E. of Northam, and proceeded in the same
direction as far as 118 deg. E. long., and 31 deg. S. lat.;
when, pushing northward to 27 deg. 30 min. S. lat., he
came upon a great marsh, winding and flowing N.W.,
at an altitude of 1,896 feet above the sea. From this
marsh the drainage appears to fall through Lake Moore,
Lake Cowoowing, the Salt River, and the Avon, to
the ocean. Passing the southern borders of the marsh,
Mr. Austin proceeded in a north-westerly.direction till he
approached 26 deg. S. lat., in long. 116 deg., and again
in long. 115 deg., when he was compelled to retreat on
the Murchison River, which he reached on November.
After leaving the marsh, he passed some large tribu-
taries of the Murchison, ceming from the N.E., fre-
quented by many natives, and various animals. The
country traversed was vary indifferent and waste to the
westward. The geological features evince great mine-
ralogical interest, and are said to indicate gold fields of
the richest character, confirming Sir R. Murchison's
views en those regions.

and report to that board. At the present moment
there really were no parties before him. At the same
time, he had no wish to exclude assistance from what-
ever quarter it might come, but at present no parties
were before him. lie wished to state at starting, how
the case stood.

Mr. Ballantine and Mr. Parry claimed a right to re•
present the parties for whou► they appeared, and said the
magistrate had the power of inflicting costs.
Mr. Yardley doubted whether he could inflict costs on
any party who was not befcre
After a long discussion, in the coarse of whieh Mr.
Yardley said he wished to elicit the truth, and should
be glad to hare the assistance of such acute gentlemen
as Mr. Parry and Mr. Ballantine, but he wished the
principle on which they claimed a right to be present
was understood. If the parties connected with

the two vessels had a right to appear by counsel, the re-
lations of the parties who had lost their lives might
claim a right to appear. This was in the shape of a pre-
liminary inquiry, like a coroner's inquest. Counsel did
appear before coroners' juries, and he should assimilate
the inquiry to that of a coroner's inquest, where no party
was supposed to be affected.

Mr. Parry contended that this was a judicial inquiry,
and that on a similar inquiry counsel and attorneys did
appear. The discussion was prolonged for a consider.
able time, counsel claiming the undoubted right and
privilege of representing their respective clients. Various
clauses were referred to, and many cases cited. They
contended also that the words " try the same" in the
433 d section gave full force to the proceeding being a
strictly judicial one.
Mr. Yardley asked if any parties had been summoned ?

Mr. O'Dowd said witnesses had been summoned, but
neither of the parties belonging to the two ships which
came in.collision.

Mr. Parry—The second mate of the Josephine Willis
is summoned hero.

Mr. O'Dowd—As a witness ?
Mr. l'arry said the proceeding, was analogous to one
before a magistrate, where he madeau order or convicted

a party.

Mr. Yardley despatched Mr. Livingston, the chief
usher of the Thames police.oourt, for his commission,
which he had lett in his desk at the court. The magis-

rate was quite positive that he could not award costs

against any party who was not before him, and there
rea:ly were no parties before him. There could
be no judicial opinion given ; he was only to
give a report. He could, if he thought proper,
conduct the inquiry with closed doors. He had no wish
to stifle inquiry, bat he wished to conduct it in such a.

way as to prevent error. If the inquiry was directed to
inquire into the conduct of any captain or mete, the

party would havo a, perfect right to appear by counsel

or attorney, and he would most readily admit his right.
No parties had been summoned before him, and
no person could be represented, but he should

be most happy to be assisted by counsel
or attorney, or to receive any suggestions from them,
in the-same manner as a coroner did upon au inquest

3. Notes on the Probable Condition of the Interior
of Australia ; by Mr. H. Landor. From the evidence
afforded by the wind and temperature in the several
colonies of Australia, the author assumes that the
greater part of the interior is covered with shallow
water in winter, which evaporates in summer, when
the ground becomes parched and burnt up, under the
intense heat experienced by Captain Sturt. The coun-
try may be more favourable along the northern water-
parting, which, however, he thinks, cannot be moun-
tainous ; and this track will probably be explored by
the expedition now on the Victoria.

4. Progress of the North Australian Expedition, by
A. C. Gregory, commander ; communicated by the
Colonial-office. A communication from Mr. Gregory to
the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and another from
Mr. Wilson, the geologist, to Sir Roderick Murchison,
announce the arrival of the North Australian Expedi•
tion at the mouth of the Victoria River, on the N.W.
coast. The expedition left Moreton Island on August
12th, in the Monarch, barque, and Tom Tough, schooner.
Port Essington was sighted on September Ist, and on
the same day the Monarch grounded on a reef at the en-
trance of Port Patterson, where the ships remained till
September 10. After leaving the reef the ships parted
company, and Mr. Gregory having reached Blunders
in the Tom Tough, and found a good landing-place with
water, returned in search of the Monarch, which he
found at Point Pearce, landing the horses on a beach
two miles distant from the ship, advantage having been
taken of his absence. As the horses were towed through
the water, out of fifty, five were drowned. Water
was found with difficulty six miles from the beach,
and there the horses were encamped, and were
rapidly recovering from the effects of the voyage.
From thence, the horses will be driven round the
head of the Fitzmaurice river, through a rugged sand-
stone country, to meet the rest of the party at Kangaroo
Point, on the Victoria ; from whence a start will be
made about the end of October. The geological indica-
tions give promise of a country in the interior, and it
is hoped that another communication may be received
before the expedition is completed. Although many
fires and traces of natives have been seen, none of the
aborigines have been met with.
Sir RODERICK Musa:mow directed attention to the
great importance of the expedition, and to the impera-
tive necessity for the occupation and settlement of
Northern Australia.

Count STRAZLECKI, concurring in the views taken by
Sir Roderick, complimented the societyfor having urged
on the notice of Government strdesirable an undertaking,
and remarked that so much importance was attached t•
it, in a commercial as well as in other points of view, by
many of the city merchants, that Mr. Uzielli, a member
of the society, had volunteered, in the event of the Go-
vernment's refusing to send out this expedition, to ad-
vance 10,0031. for the purpose of carrying out the objects
in question. _

After a few brief observations from Mr. Uzielli, the
meeting adjourned to the 25th inst.

MARKET NEWS.—(This Day.)

GENERAL AVERAGE PRICES OF 131:ITISII CORN
For the week ended Feb. 14,1856, made up from the Returns of the
Inspectors in the different Cities and Towns in England and Wales
por Imperial Quarter.
WULAT. I BARLEY. OATS. EYE. BEANS. I PEAS.
73; S 1 373 51 245 (11 51s 4d 43s 41 42s 2d

L ITERATURE.

German Reading Book. By Dr. M. M. Fischel.
David Nutt, 270, Strand.
Henceforth, from the date of the issue of this
little volume through the press, Dr. Fischel ought
to be regarded as a veritable Benefactor to the
English Student of German Literature. Altogether
it appears to us one of the most masterly elemen-
tary productions which has for a considerable while
come within the range of our observation. In its
general design, no doubt, it has a certain kind of
family resemblance to the works based upon the
system popularly known as the Hamiltonian. Yet
the obvious similarity alluded to is such as in no
essential respect whatever to militate from the
value of the claims put forth by Dr. Fischel's
volume to the merit of distinctive individuality—
as implied through the wording of the very title-
page, " A German Reading Book"—it unquestion-
ably is--" on an entirely 91 eiv principle :" although
one, it may be, originally suggested by the general
system already particularised. In illustration of
our meaning it will only be necessary briefly to
explain in a few words the character of the
very novel enterprise, as it appears to us,
here brought, by the ingenious German master
of Queen's College,_under our critical consideration.
It is nothing leis agreeable and attractive than
" A Story by Franz Hoffmann"—a charming story
in twelve chapters—printed in companion pages,
giving the reader upon the left hand the German
original, and upon the right hand a literal English
translation. A version line for line ! nay, more
than that, actually word for word ! ! The identity
of each line clearly indicated by numerals in the
margin—and the signification of the idiomatic ori-
ginal being strongly impressed upon the reader's
memory by the force of the contrasting syntax of
the two languages. Ex. gr.--" 'He, mein Bursche,'
Sagte der mann, welcher ihn in den Kreis seiner
Gefahrtcn gebracht hatte, ' Ich frage dich ob du
mit uns aus demGefangnisse entwischen willst?' "
is explained to mean not Ha, my lad,'
said the man who had brought him into the midst
of his companions, I ask thee whether thou wilt
escape with us out of the prison ?' " but literally,—
" Ha, my lad,' said the man, who him into the
circle of his companions brought had, ask thee,
whether thou with us out of the prisonescape " A
single example like the one here particularised will
be sufficient—ex ecno disce omnes—read it! examine
it ! and you have the key to the whole mystery.
Hey-presto—and, at the mere waving, as it were,
of the magic pen of Dr. Fischel, in his capacity, as
at once the compiler and editor of this admirable
version of "A Story by Franz Hoffmann," simul-
taneously in idiomatic German and distorted English
—there crumble away to nothingness the rugged
and mountainous difficulties, apparently blocking
up the pathway to the acquisition of the German lan-
guage by the English student, just then beginning
perhaps to aspire to the appreciation of the German
literature. Dr. Fischel's great motive-power as a
teacher is precisely what was the motive-power of
Dauton as a statesman—viz., to dare. Instead of
allowing his pupils, like inexperienced swimmers,
to stand shivering upon the brink of the unknown
tongue, trembling and shuddering perpetually over
the dry rules of the grammar—he makes them
plunge boldly into the stream of learning, at once,
by placing a German book, without further
delay into their hands, and enabling them, as we
have seen, to begin reading it on the instant. The
result is little short of the miraculous. Scarcely
has the student mastered the orthography of the
language, and got by heart the first simple prin-
ciples of its etymology, when be finds himself with
this pleasant tale by Franz Hoffmann before him,
floating pleasantly onward to a perfect (though
while it is being acquired scarcely perceptible)
acquisition of the laws, the peculiarities, and the
irregularities of the German syntax—the ear, the
taste, and the nice discrimination of the attendant
master alone enabling any one of course to obtain a
knowledge of the - crowning grammatic ac-
complishment, that of the prosody, regulat-
ing the variable inflections, and the quantities,
and the accents, and the emphasis, and in short
the general pronunciation. Turning page after
me glibly, following line after line, tracing out
word after word, the reader opens the book, may
be, hardly able to stumble through a sentence, and
closes it capable (unless he be inherently an unmiti-
gated and immitigable dullard) capable—what shall
we say without exaggeration ?—well (honestly then),
capable not only of reading and understanding, but
actually, to a very great extent, of enjoying and ap-
preciating, not simply a Hoffmann, but a Gcethe or
a Schiller. Hurrying on from the perusal of a
nameless little story about Pierre and Captal to
that of a world-famous idyl like " Herman and
L Dorothea," or of wondrous lyrics like those by the
celebrant of " Fridolin," and the "Gods of Greece."
Honour to the ingenious scholiast whose skill has
thus deftlyendowed his pupils with an Open Sesame
to the hidden treasures of the glorious literature of
his fatherland ! Proceeding to the details of the
plan here unfolded to the wondering contempla-
tion of his disciples, De. Fischel explains to them
at the outset, that -is to say, through the medium
of his brief prefatory announcement, how it is he
contrives to insinuate into their minds, during the
course of an agreeable and facile perusal of a story
by Franz Hoffmann, a familiar acquaintance with
the rules of the German grammar ! This he ac-
complishes by means of a sprinkling of illustrative
foot-notes as lucid as they are apposite. Foot-
notes conveying among other instructive frag-
ments of information, a notion of the various
ideas involved in a single word, giving all its
other meanings (besides the one supplied in the
text), both proper and figurative. Added to
these, moreover, there are foot-notes explanatory
of idioms, and, appended to the whole story, an
elementary German Grammar—so that to all in-
tents and purposes the single volume before us,
marvellously complete in itself, comprises in one
work the usually scattered advantages of a Reading
Book, a Grammar, and a Dictionary. In other
words, it is a literal Vade Mecum, a veritable re-
pertory of instruction upon the no longer recondite
study of the German language. As affording addi-
tional testimony of the value of the remarkable
volume under notice—hero are the five hints as to
the manner in which the book ought to be used
during the process of its systematic examination.
Firstly—the student is informed, for example, that
" the English line on the opposite page, having the
same numeral at the side as the German, is the
literal translation of the German line"—as we our-
selves have already here exemplified. Secondly—
it has been .arranged that " when two English
words are required for translating one German word
they are connected by a hyphen"—a most judi-
cious arrangement, it will be allowed, when it is
remembered how many are the composite words
in the German language. Thirdly, by an adroit
arrangement, whenever "a German word is not
required in the English it is translated, but placed
between brackets [ ]"—while, on the contrary,
" words which are necessary in English, but are
wanting in the German, are placed within paren-
theses ( )"—occasions, as might be conjectured,
of not by any means unfrequent occurrence.
Fourthly, " when the German separable compound
verb is translated by one word, that word is to go
in the place of the verb ; and to call attention to
the prefix, a (p.) has been inserted, signifying par-
ticiple, the translation of which is already con-
tained in the verb" by which simple contriv-
ance a constant source of bewilderment to a tyro
is at once overcome. Fifthly, and this, too, is re-
peatedly occurring—" where the cases are different
in German from the English, they are indicated in
the German text by the letters g, d, or a," meaning,
of course, respectively, genitive, dative, or accusa-
tive. And with these five little keys in his hand
the student quickly enough discovers how very
easily he can unlock the mysteries of a noble, and
at the outset an apparently almost inscrutable,
language. The volume is one which, of itself)
stamps the reputation of Dr. Fischel as that of an
eminent German teacher, who is at once a profound
and a popular grammarian.

A Plea for• Urania. Piper, Stephenson, and

Spence.
It is unquestionably
a very remarkable_ curiosity,
to say the least of it, this " Plea for Urania''—being
nothing less than a Popular Sketch of Celestial Phi-
losophy, or, in other words, an argument in favour
of the most ancient of the various ologies, the ology
of all the ologies, Astrology ! A treatise the book
before us, in fact, proves itself to be, upon examina-
tion—written for the most part in a logical and some-
times even in a strictly philosophical spirit, though
occasionally running off in its style into the oddest
sort of serio-comic whimsicalities ? The anony-
mous author is evidently a war, as well as a stu-
dent—otherwise we should not have him penning so
facetious a preamble to his really erudite disquisi-
tion as that fantastic reference to the taboo upon
Urania with which he introduces his readers to the
more recondite chapters, relating subsequently to
the once vaunted, but now for the most part ex-
ploded, science of Judicial Astrology, the science,
as it is more sublimely designated by its votaries,
of Celestial Philosophy. Whoever the writer of
the volume may be—he has manifestly mastered
his theme very surprisingly. He is " up" in its
mysteries. He is among the number of the ini-
tiated. Nay—he is not merely initiated himself,
but bent apparently upon tearing away the veil of
the weird Elsusis for the 7ronXoL—macadamising,
a highway for the vulgar crowd along which they
may penetrate, if they list, to the very heart of the
labyrinth—treading not " lightly," but heavily,
loudly, resoundingly upon the holy ground,"
traversed during past ages by so many sages from
Zoroaster., down to Zadkiel That we are