The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-25 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, IECEMI3ER 18'60:

laden with the shipwrecked crew of three men
belonging to the smack Elizabeth Ann, of Lyme
Regis. The inhabitants of the town were perfectly
amazed at the lifeboat's performances, and the no
less daring behaviour of her skilful coxswain and
crew.

This case alone shows the inestimable value of
the National Lifeboat Institution ; but how much
more might be said of the services it has rendered
throughout its long career of usefulness, to what
may be called the private and hidden circles of
our life.

In addition to the 200 persons saved from a watery
grave by the lifeboats of the Institution during the
past year, they also went off 40 times in reply to
, which afterwards
eser,lsor had their crews
signalsh ad
e i t
hoef r distressg ot
out forfo md
avuegs
rescued by other means. Lifeboats were also assem-
bled in stormy weather on several occasions, both
during the day and night, in order to be ready for any
emergency that might arise. For these valuable
services the total amount paid was £792. On
occasions of service and quarterly exercise during
the year the lifeboats were manned by upwards of
5,000 persons. All the lifeboat services took place
in stormy weather, and frequently in the dark
hour of the night. Surely, then, such an institu-
tion, with 108 lifeboats under its charge, devoted
to such worthy and comprehensive purposes, need
not appeal for pecuniary support in vain. Much
has been done, but much yet remains to be done.
Munificent donations from the wealthy few have
poured in, in some cases the establishment of a per-
fect station having been presented ; but it is from
the contributions of the many, and the endowments
of the hurnane, that such an establishment must
derive its vitality and future power to keep up its
immense life-saving fleet. We trust that the
National Lifeboat Institution has only to be more
generally known to be placed upon a more perma-
nent and extended footing. We must yet expect
before the winter is over to hear the roar of many
a raging storm, and to read a few days after of
many a fearful wreck. Surely it would be a cheer-
ful thought in the breast of many of us, as he
listens to the one or peruses the other, to know that
he has fulfilled one of the many duties, assuredly
required of us, by having sent his mite to the office
of the Institution, No. 14, John-street, Adelphi.

GREAT CoNTEMPLATED EXTPNSIoN
BY GOVERNMENT 01 TELEGRAPHIC COM.
MUNICATION.

(From theMbserver.)
We are indebted to a foreign Government for the
most important news which has reached us from
China. Per se we have no objection to place our-
selves under such an obligation. In times of peace
such good offices tend to bind together the nations
of the earth by the strong ties of gratitude, and we
rejoice in their occurrence. We must, however,
also look to what would have been the result had
Russia, when at war with us, gained greatly earlier
intelligence of some disaster to our arms in China
or in the East. The consequences might have been
overwhelming; The disaster would have been
aggravated by her action in a tenfold degree, at a
time when we should be prevented from taking the
necessary measures to neutralise it by ignorance of
our condition.
The telegraphic lines of Russia have advanced
into Asia, and are progressing with great rapidity.
Siberia will soon be traversed by them ; and it is
said that the Russian Government propose to con-
nect Siberia with America by means of a subma-
rine line along the Aleutian Islands. This
is by no means an impossible undertaking; and a
despotic Government has means at its disposal to
execute its designs withcut loss of time, which a
Parliamentary Government .annot hope to imitate.
It is not altogether impossible, therefore, that our
American as well as our China news may come to
us through Russian channels. And again we say
we are rejoiced to think so, especially if that know-
ledge will act as a spur upon us to take advantage
of the most wonderful application of the greatest
known power of nature to unite ourselves with our
offshoots in the distant East, and retain in our own
hands, and under our own eye, the means of com-
municating with them.
Are we, with whom the knowledge of telegra-
phic communication originated, to be outstripped
by imitators ? It may be said Russia can com-
municate overland with the East almost to
America. We can only do so by using the bottom
of the sea, 'We are aware of the distinction, and
we give it its due weight. But we must also call
attention to a further distinction, to that, namely,
which nature has placed between a deep sea and a
shallow sea—between a sea where, once submerged,
the cable is beyend our reach and must rest on its
own merits, and a shallow sea whence the damaged
cable can be fished up and restored to its primitive
efficiency. An examination of the published Admi-
ralty charts will show that, with the exception of
a short stretch to the coast of Africa, a cable can he
laid from Malta to Alexandria in depths not ex-
ceeding fifty fathoms—that it can be laid underthe
same conditions as to depth, with a trifling excep-
tion, from Suez to Aden, and thence parallel to the
south coast of Arabia to India, again with the ex-
ception of one deep, but short stretch from the east
point of Arabia to India. Equally shallow water
exists between India and Singapore and Java, and
along the Dutch islands to Sydney, by the northern
and eastern coasts of Australia.
Here we have a magnificent field before us for
establishing telegraphs under our own control,
both as regards teir working and their mainten-
ance. It has been necessary for us to enter into
particulars and details, and in consequence of the
general want of information which exists upon this
important subject.
The time has arrived, however, for taking this
matter into our most serious consideration. Some
money has been lost in these undertakings, though
we venture to say but little compared to their vast
importance. Much money was also squandered
upon railways. As regards one line of telegraph,
especially, we hope that the loss is not irremediable.
The lawsuit between the Red Sea and Indian
Telegraph Company and the contractors is, we are
happy to say, at length compromised, and the
stumblingblock which has for so many months
stood in the way of re-establishing our inter-
rupted telegraphic communication with India is
thus removed. Up to the present time neither
side dare touch the cable, the point in dispute
bi ing which was liable in law to repair it. Reports
have been spread that the line could not be
repaired, which, being uncontradicted, by those
connected with the undertaking, have obtained
general credence. Now, however, the reason for
silence is removed, and we find that the engineers,
both of the company and of the contractors, who
have examined and reported upon the state of the
line, agree that it can be repaired and restored to
efficient working order at a moderate cost. This
is also rendered highly probable be the fact that
throughout nearly its whole length the Red Sea
and India telegraph lies in shallow water. The,
copper and gutta percha have not been at all
affected by their residence on the sea bottom. The
outside iron wire, which has nothing to do with
the electrical efficiency of the cable, is generally
but little rusted, but in many places is almost
entirely gone. This is accounted for by the che-
mical action of the sea water, and in some places
of the sea bottom, upon the iron ; in other places
the metals and substances of which the sea bottom
is composed have had very little deleterious effects
upon the iron. The faults which have stopped the
working of the cable, except those which are
breakages by anchors, have their seat in the gutta
percha, and arc original imperfections in its texture,
or crevices accidentally left in it in laying it on the
copper wire. There are no signs of any mechanical
violence to the cable from any motion in the sea or
friction by the rocks. The cable shows positive
proof that it has lain at perfect rest, unless it ba in
exposed situations very near the shore.
Of the six sections of the Red Sea and Indian

line three are broken close to the stations in
shallow water, principally by anchors ; one is
at work • one section is faulty, probably in
several places, but the water is shallow nearly
everywhere. The section between Kosseir and
Suakin is in deep water, but it is believed it can also
be repaired. It must be remembered that no attempt
has ever been made to repair any of the sections
but one, and that was abandoned in consequence of
the dispute with the contractor.
We feel no doubt that the Government—for it is
in effect a Government line—will take immediate
steps to re-establish telegraphic communication
with. India. We trust that they will cause the cable
that is intended to be laid between Rangoon and
Singapore to be laid between Malta and Alex-
andria. The distance is nearly the same, if cer-
tain deviations are allowed for, so as to lay it
near the African coast, in shallow water. This
cable has not been prevented from going to Ran-
goon because of its bad state—the cable has suffered
no injury whatever—but simply because it must
be laid between Rangoon and Singapore before
next May, as the monsoon commences in that

month, and there is no time to fit up the ships with
water-tight compartments within which to lay the
cable, so as to ensure that the heating, of which
symptoms have exhibited themselves, shall not
reach a dangerous point. The cable, therefore,
cannot be laid between Rangoon and Singapore
till next November, when the monsoon ceases, and
we trust it will not be left idle during these 10
months, but be utilised between Malta and
Alexandria.

A &SIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LIVERi,oOi., Dec. 22.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn and a Special Jury.;
HOLT (ADMINISTRATOR) V. THE LANCASHIRE ANL

YORKSHIRE RAILWAY COMPANY.

Mr. Edward James and Mr. Mellish were for
the plaintiff, Mr. Overend and Mr. R. Griffith
Williams were for the defendants.

The plaintiff was Mr. Thomas Holt, of York-
Lill-terrace, Illackburn. The declaration was for
damage sustained by the death of his son, who
lost his life in consequence of alleged negligence
on the part of the defendants. The action was
founded upon Lord Campbell's Act. It appeared
that a new station has lately been constructed by
the defendants upon their line of railway at Daisy-
bank, near Blackburn. This station the defendants
opened, for the convenience of the public, before
it was quite finished, and the deceased lost his life
on the 15th of April last by falling into a sunken
way abutting upon the platform of the station,
which was not sufficiently fenced. Evidence was
given on behalf of the plaintiff, from which it ap-
peared that the deceased acted as the manager of
the plaintiff's cotton mill, and that the plaintiff
sustained actual damage by reason of his death.
Mr. Overend having addressed the jury for the
defendants,
His Lordship, in summing up, explained to the
jury that it was incumbent upon the plaintiff to
prove some actual damage, or the action would not
lie, and that, however unfeeling it might appear,
they must consider the value of the deceased to the
plaintiff, in the same light that they would con-
sider the value of a horse—they were not at liberty
to take into consideration the feelings of the plain-
tiff for the purpose of assessing the damages. The
questions for them to decide were—whether
or no any actual pecuniary damage had been sus-
tained, and if so, how much.

The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff-
damages. £250.

EARRISON Y. THE LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN

RAILWAY COMPANY.

. Mr. Edward James and Mr. Mellish were for the
plaintiff; Mr. Overend and Mr. Quin were for the
defendants.

The declaration alleged that the plaintiff was
the widow of one Henry Harrison, who lost his
life in the service of the defendants, and that his
death was occasioned by the negligence of the de-
fendants in employing an unskilful servant.
It appeared from the evidence of the plaintiff
that the deceased was a line foreman in the employ
of the defendants, and he was stationed at the
mouth of the Wapping Tunnel, at the Edgehill
Station. The deceased lost his life in consequence
of having been run over by an engine while under
the charge of Peter Kilshaw, a servant of the de-
fendants, who, it was contended, was not compe-
tent to manage an engine. Kilshaw, it was alleged,
had originally been a gardener, and although he
had subsequently been employed as an engine
cleaner, still he had not gone through the several
grades through which it was usual for the men to
pass before being intrusted with an engine. The
evidence, however, in support of the alleged un-
skilfulness of Kilshaw being unsatisfactory,
Mr. Overend objected that there was no evi-
dence to go to the jury.
His Lordship was of opinion that there was no
evidence, but

Mr. James having cited an authority in opposi-
tion to his Lordship's ruling,
His Lordship said he should reserve the ques-
tion and give Mr. James leave to move the court
above if he chose to do so.
Mr. Overend, however, stated that as he had a
strong case in the background he would rather the
case went to the jury. He called Bartholomew
Marshall, a locomotive foreman in the employ of
defendants at Edgehill, who stated that Kilshaw
had been in the service of the company for nearly
eight years, and that he had gone through all the
several gradesC through which an engine-driver
usually passed.
Upon hearing this evidence Mr. James said that
after the evidence of this witness he could not hope
for a verdict, and would not, therefore, attempt to
struggle further with the case.
The plaintiff was therefore nonsuited.
We understand that at the conclusion of the
case, the special jury presented the poor widow
with the sum of 12 guineas, being the amount which
they received as their fees for trying the case. We
believe, also, that although the company considered
it their duty to defend the action for the purpose of
disputing the principle of their liability, it is their
intention to present the widow with a gratuity.

his guilt, but said it was in joie, atid that if he had
not been taken into custody he would haie returned
the
,prosecutrix her money.
Ile vvEls committed for trial.

GREENWICH.—Robert Mann, a private be-
longing to the Royal Artillery stationed at Wool-
wich, was broughtup for final examination, charged
with wilfully firing a stack of hay, and destroying
property valued at £220, belonging to Mr. Wallis,
farmer, of Eltham. Kent.

The prisoner declined making any defence ; and
Mr. Maude committed him for trial.

PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS OPEN DU.RING THE
HOLIDAYS.

BARRY'S GRAND HISTORICAL CARTOONS, on the walls
of the Hall or principal room of the Society of Arts, 17,
John-street, Adelphi.

THE FLAXMAN GALLERY OF SCELPTURE.—ModeIs of
his principal works, &c., at London University College,
Gower-street.

SOUTH KENSINGTON MUSEUM, Cromwell-road, Bromp-
ton.—The Industrial, Educational, Architectural, Decora-
tive, and various other collections ; and the Vernon, Tur-
ner, Sheepshanks, and British Galleries of Pictures, by
modern artists.

TH BRITISH MUSEUM,—lncluding the Libraries and
Manuscript-room, in which is the recently purchased auto-
graph of Shakespeare.

THE ROYAL EXCH kNGE.—The Merchants' walk or Am-
bulatories have recently been elaborately redecorated in
fresco.

The MUSEUM OF PRACTICAL GEOLOGY, Jermyn-street;
Piccadilly, contains an endless variety of Natural and Arti-
ficial Products, well deserving the notice of working men.
Penny Lectures in the theatre of this institution every
Monday evening at eight.
THE FRANKLIN RELICS, at the United Service Institu-
tion,7Middle Scotland-yard.—By (free) tickets, of Sand-
ford, 6, Charing-cross.
WESTMINSTER HALL, with its magnificent Painted
Glass Window, the largest in the world.

THE NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, 29, Great George-
street, Westminster.—Now free, without tickets.
THE HOUSES OP PARLIAMENT.—OR Saturdays, by tickets
(gratis), which admit any number of visitors, to be had at
the Chamberlain's office, under the Victoria Tower.

KEW GARDENS, in which are the Botanical, Colonial,
and Mercantile Museums, the great Palm House, the
largest Arboretum in the world, the Grecian and 25 other
"conservatories, containing the plants, flowers, and vege-
table curiosities of all climates and all countries.

THE COAL EXCHANGE, Thames-street.—The decorated
galleries of this beautiful building will well repay a visit of
inspection. •
THE TEMPLE CHURCH, Fleet-street, with its beautiful
and costly stained storied •
" Windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light."
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL has lately been restored and
embellished, and is now well worthy a visit.

DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY.—This celebrated collec-
lection is now open (free), without the trouble of obtaining
tickets in London, as formerly.
CHELSEA HOSPITAL.—The Hall and Chapel in which
are preserved the French Eagles ofNapoleon, captured at
Barossa, Talavera, and Waterloo, and 55 colours captured
by the British in different campaigns, and the Wellington
funeral car.

The COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, Lincolns'-inn-fields.—The
extensive museum and library, including the celebrated
collections of John Hunter, may be seen by a member's
order.

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.—The monuments and statues of
distinguished men, and the exceedingly beautiful rose
window of ancient stained glass over the Poet's Corner.

ST. STEPHEN'S Cuuncu, Walbrook.—The masterpiece
of Sir Christopher Wren.
GREENWICH HOSPITAL.—The Chapel and Painted Hall,
An Altar-piece by West, bust of Dibdin the nasal song
writer, Portraits of Columbus and Capt. Cook, the Nelson
and Franklin relics, and models of the famous wooden walls
of Old England.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S CHURCH, Smithfield.—The oldest
church in London.

THE FOUNDLING:HOSPITAL, Guildford-street, Russell-
square.—ln the ckapel an altar-piece by West, and the
organ presented to the Institution by Handel, upon which
he frequently performed his oratorio of the " Messiah ;" in
the committee-room several valAgable paintings by Hogarth
and other eminent artists,

ST. GILES'S CHURCH, Cripplegate.—Here was buried
John Milton, and Cromwell married in 1620.
CROSBY HALL, Bishopsgate-street.—This beautiful relic
of a poetic and picturesque age is open (free) to the public
every day.

THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH NA VIES,

A correspondence between Mr. Paton, Montrose,
and Mr. Baxter, M.P., has been published. Mr.
Baxter's letter embraces the whole subject :
Dundee, Dec. 13.
My dear Sir,—l am favoured with yours of the 11th inst.,
with reference to a statement made by me last month, that
Great Britain had a greater number of persons in her Royal
\ravy this year than the entire mercantile marine of France,
both coasting and foreign, contains. That statement was
not ventured on mere hearsay, but is based on a careful
consideration of official documents, and will be found quite
correct, however surprising it may appear to those who
have allowed themselves, without investigation, to be de-
luded by unauthenticated paragraphs in newspapers, setting
forth the gigantic naval preparations of France. The facts
of the case are these :
On the Ist of July, 1860, the total number of men and
boys registered according to the French maritime inscription
was 156,383, classified as follows :-
1. Officiers, mariners, et matelots 85,539
2. Novices et mousses 49,983
3. Ouvriers, &c 19,159
4. Mecaniciens, &c
Under the first head are ranked all sea-going men of all
ages, including not only those employed in the foreign and
coasting trade, but fishermen and also the sailors in the
Imperial Navy, with the exception of that portion of them,
about one-third (or 10,000), which are landsmen taken from
the military conscription.
Under No. 2 are enumerated the boys and the landsmen
omitted from No 1.

No. 3 includes ship carpenters, sailmakers, and all sorts
of labourers, whether employed in national dockyards or at
private establishments, likewise boatmen who descend rivers
so far as the tide water.

No. 4 is for mechanics and firemen.
Now, in order to ascertain whether or not the assertion
made in my speech is correct, we have to find out how many
of the above are bona fide seamen, serving either in the
foreign or coasting trade ; for you will observe that I did
not include fishermen, artisans, or sailors of the Imperial
Navy. We can only arrive at an approximation to this
number ; but the French commission of inquiry which re •
ported in 18.50, set it down as 51,000, and in a very able
article entitled, "Do la Marine Francaise," in the Revue
Contemporaine, M. De Mondy estimates at 55,000 to 60,000.
If we deduct from the gross number of 156,000 30,000 em-
ployed in the Imperial Navy, the same number of fisher-
men, 19,000 workmen, and 2,000 mechanics, there remain
75,000 actual sailors. Or we may adopt another plan. In
1859 the French had 14,708 sailing -vessels, with a tonnage
of 960,936, and 321 steamers with a tonnage of 56,000—in
round numbers a million tons of mercantile shipping. They
reckon eight men and boys to every 100 tons, although in

Great Britain the proportion is very much less. The dif-
ference may be to some extent accounted for by their having
very few large vessels, and by the fact that small ships] b avo
in preportion more hands, but I suspect those French writers
who calculate upon a man or boy to every 12 tons take into
account the fishermen on the Newfoundland coast. But
even granting that they do not, and giving the alarmists
the full benefit of the doubt, 8 per cent. on a tonnage of a
million only gives 80,000 persons, or deducting boys, about
the same number of able-bodied men as M. do Mondy calcu-

latex upon. Well, then, wo have this year 84,000 persons, or
77,000 men and 7,000 boys in our ships of war—a greater
number than that in the entire mercantile service of France,
computed according to any of the above methods. An easier
method certainly is to copy the figures from the table of the
maritime inscription, and in happy ignorance of the whole
subjectto jump to the conclusion that all who are registered
are seamen. I was much amused the other day to observe a
writer fall into this error, and go on 'gravely taking it for
granted that he understood the statistics which he had dia-
-1 covered. This is only one specimen of how the public are
misled by blind guides, and induced to sanction that extra-
vagance in expenditure which necessitates excessive taxa-
tion, prevents the repeal of the paper duty, the fire insur
ance duty, and other obnoxious burdens, and renders im-
possible any reduction on the duties on the poor man's tea
and sugar. Any of your friends who were staggered at my
statement would do well to read the article in the Revue
Contemporaine, from which I have already quoted, the
writer of which mourns over the weakness of the French
Navy in comparison with that of England; says that the
latter could block up the former in port, and destroy the
mercantile marine of France at the same time, and con-
cludes by declaring that if it were possible to establish be-
tween France and England a convention by which the
latter would engage to have only double the maritime forces
of the former, his countrymen would sign it with all their
heart. Nor must we forget that we have a reserve of 20,000,
or perhaps more, in our coastguard service and our volun-
teer naval reserve, and that the merchant shipping of
France is steadily increasing. It had in 1849 42,000 tons
lets than it had in 1857; and without a flourishing mer-
cantile marine, there never can be a powerful naval reserve,
or even a reliable navy. The state of the case, then, is
simply this. We have 77,000 able-bodied men in our Royal
Navy, and 7,000 boys, 84,000 in all ; the French have
20,000. They have 60,000 able-bodied men, or 80,000 hands
in all, in their me •cantile marine ; we have 240,000 or there-
abouts. Our sailors are increasing every day, theirs are on
the decline. So it is to be hoped we may still sleep soundly
as far as dread of the naval resources of France is eon-
cernod. The most extraordinary misstatements are afloat,
too, with regard to the number of vessels in the French
Imperial Navy. lilately read one to the effect that they had I

neatly as many as we, and figures, glaringly incorrect,
were actually given in support of the monstrous assertion.
This is really too bad, for how stands the case, as any one
may find out for himself by looking over the official lists.
By the lists corrected up to April, 1859 (and every one
knows that we, since then, have made much greater pro-
gress than our neighbours), the French had 180 sailing
vessels, with 2,922 guns ; the British had 221 sailing ves-
sels, with 8,275 guns—the difference in the proportion
between the ships and suns being accounted for by the fact
that the French have only four sailing three-deckers and
ten two-deckers left, whilst we hive 43 sailing-line-of-
battle ships still in the service. At the same period the
French had 265 steam vessels of war, with 5,500 guns ; the
British had 530 steam vessels of war (including 161 gun-
boats), with 8,697 guns•--I am, &c., W. E. BAXTER.
James M. Paton, Esq., Montrose.