The Sun.
London, England, 1869-11-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF • THE PUBLIC JOTTRNLLS,

The Times observes that such a shipwreck as that of the
China clipper Spindrift would almost warrant the paradox
that a sea voyage is becoming dangerous because it is safe.
A sea divested of rocks and shoals, or a vessel which rocks
and shoals cannot wreck, would not enter into the wildest
dreams. Yet, if we may judge from the story of the
Spindrift, these two inevitable conditions are all that is
necessary for a total shipwreck. What conceivable occa-
sion was there for keeping the vessel so near shore
that the safety of property worth £220,000, to say
nothing of life, depends upon whether a leadsman
called out " eight "or "three"? Why not leave a broad
margin for these "mistakes," since they must, it appears,
happen in the best-regulated crews, and their consequences
are so terrible ? There is on record a case in which a
collison occurred between two vessels simply because an
officer suddenly rushed drunk on deck, and, giving " by
rniqtalte " the wrong order, made the helmsman of one
vessel steer straight into the other. It may be impossible
in crowded seas to allow a margin for the results of such
unusual conduct as this. The only perfect remedy is for
all hands cn board to keep always sober. But since it is
notorious that all hands are not always sober, especially

wen a vessel has just left port, it is surely
the height of rashness to keep a vessel so near
la.nd that her running or not running ashore
may turn upon whether any one of the numerous heads
and hands upon whose perfect concert safety depends is
slightly the worse for a glass of grog. In railway accidents
we are quite familiar with the defence that if some official
had not been so many seconds behind his time the acci-
dent could not have occurred, and we naturally reply that
the safety of life and limb should not depend upon whether
an ordinary human and fallible being counts correctly a
certain number of seconds. We had fancied that at sea
the calculations as to distance and time were, for obvious
reasons, less fastidiously nice, but from the story of the
Spindrift it would almost seem that we are wrong, and
that one of the duties of a first class Pilot is to relieve the
monotonous security of a Channel voyage by seeing how
near to land he can steer without, as in this case, striking
upon a rock.

The Post remarks that the correspondence which has
just appeared respecting the proposed Anglo-American
Atlantic Yacßt Race, taken in connection with that pub-
lished by '2,lr. Bennett in October, reveals a case of cross
purposes as curious as it is vexatious. The way the matter
now stands is this. In his letter of 27th September Mr.
Ashbury makes a final proposition for bringing off the ccn-
test with the Dauntless next year. He suggests five
races, one round the Isle of Wight, another to
Cherbourg and back, the third from Cowed to
New York ; there three to take place in March next,
the first two being conducted by the Thames rules
and measurement, and the ocean race without any ques-
tion as to time or tonnage. The other two races to be
run at Yew York, in accordance with local conditions.
Mr. Ashbury now says that he has received no answer to
his letter. But he must be aware that in October Mr. Ben-
nett published a letter in which he declined—as of course
was to be expected—the inland race proposed; but, to
save " another disappointment," he accepted the ocean
race, although he thought March would prove "stormy
and disagreeable," and he suggested that the race
should be for a piece of plate worth £lO,OOO, as
a " testimonial worthy of the event," or, if that
was considered too extravagant an idea, that "a set of
"colours " should be the prize. Thus it will be seen that
it rests with 'Mr. Ashbury himself whether the ocean race
comes off or not. If he will not sail the ocean without
the inland races, the matter must drop; for Mr. Bennett
has repeatedly and positively refused—for reasons best
known to himself L-to sail except on the ocean. All that
Mr. Ashbury has to do to ensure the ocean race coming off
is to write to Mr. Bennett saying that he will waive the
question of the inland contests, and to select whether the
prize shall be £lO,OOO or "a set of colours." This is the
simple way out of the strange labyrinth of misapprehen-
sions known as the Anglo-American Atlantic yacht-race
question.

The Daily News declares that the date of the last fortu-
nate news of the great African explorer strongly illustrates
the delays of African travel. The place from which Dr.
Livingstone's letter of May 13 is dated was that to which
he was directing his steps when his previous letters
of July 1863 .were written. The last communi-
cations left us on the verge of a great discovery,
nothing less, in fact, than that link which connects
together the discoveries of Dr. Livingstone and
those of Sir Samuel Baker and Captain Burton.
There remains the solution of the question whether Tan-
ganyika drains into Chowambe, and whether Chowambe
is the Albert Nyanza, out of the north end of which flows
the Nile. It is very improbable that Dr. Livingstone will
return without this great secret in his possession. Ujiji
is itself a natural point of departure for this crowning
investigation. The undiscovered end of the Albert Nyanza
lies due north of it, and for at least two degrees of latituc'e
the lake Taganyika stretches towards that lake. At
Ujiji Dr. Livingstone has just touched the great
world, and yet stands on the very edge of the most
mysterious region of the earth. He has probably by this
time got far on into the trackless wilderness where the
final secret of the Nile lies hid. Baker has traced the mys-
terious river from its mouth to the great equatorial
-reservoirs. Livingstone has hit the head waters of some
important stream ten or twelve degrees south of the
Equator, and has traced it flowing in the very direction in
which those great equatorial reservoirs lie, and he is now
probably at work in that primeval land mapping the course
of great rivers, determining the height and position of
great mountain chains, and filling up the last remaining
blank in our knowledge of perhaps the largest river system
on the earth, and of the great mystery which has baffled
all previous generations of civilised men.
The Standard reminds us that a great question
bearing on the food of the poor now engages atten-
tion. Notoriously the produce of these islands, espe-
cially in the matter of beef and mutton and pork, is insuffi-
cient for their population. We are the worst economists
in the way of the dairy and the poultry-yard of all
Europe ; we buy eggs by hundreds of millions without any
natural necessity; and although our grazing lands and
pastures are incomparable, their yield is so much more in
quality than in quantity that it falls far short of the
common demand. We have to go thousands of miles fcr
an adequate provision. We have to hunt on the plains of
South America and penetrate the Australian wildernesses
in order to obtain beef and mutton enough for our wants.
Every device of human ingenuity has been tortured for the
sake of bringing home this plenty which is wasted in the
desert. At last an endeavour is being made to derive
from the inexhaustible grounds of La Plata a supply of
live cattle, brought across the ocean in steamers of a
peculiar build, and calculated not merely to keep the
animals healthy, but also to exempt them from any physical
suffering on the voyage. The undertaking, indeed, has
already been put in practice with success. A consignment
of oxen has arrived in England, been sold with profit, and
proved to be excellent material. South American cattle
are at this moment grazing in English parks, and have fed
English dinner tables. We shall get something better
than butter as commenced in London, and completed in
Amsterdam, from those famous prairies of the South. It
is full time that no chance should be cast aside of securing
a more plentiful and cheaper diet for the pocr, because,
notwithstanding all the blessings bestowed upon them by
their infallible benefactors, they seem in the eyes of the
blind to be poorer than ever.

Isish lunacy, says the Herald, has now been rampantly
violent for .twelvo months.. The debates of last session
were accompanied by the dropping fire of the Ribbonmen.
The assassination principle is now extended to every rela-
tion of life. The auctioneer of land receives a threatening
letter. The purchaser of a lot of bog in Mayo perishes by
the hand of the assassin. The lawlessness of a large
portion of Ireland could not be denied. But we
were asked to wait until Vag loyalty of the people
had awakened and overpowered this truculent
minority. Every day now proves that the change
within the last year has been 'the other way. It ts
Fenianism which has been winning converts, n loyalty
to British rule. It is time it were understood that
some
one else has a voice in the affairs of Ireland besides the
Irish Radicals and the Fenians. How long will the Eng-
lish people be content to hold Ireland on the terms of
acquiescing in assassination and perpetrating confisca-
tion ? How long will the English people tole-
rate a Ministry which presents our rule in such a light
to the wild Irish population? These are questions which
the Tipperary election will hardly help to solve, and they are
more pressing than the result of the struggle between
avowed Fenianism and unchecked lawlessness bearing the
garb of religion and of justice. The English people must
resolve to make the ordinary conditions of government
observed in Ireland. If we hold Ireland on the policy of
Mr. Ryan, if we treat assassination as a natural product of
the country, how long shall we be able to confine these
practices to their native soil ? Fenianism is already
vigorous in our English towns. Will not the counter
policy of assassination soon establish itself here if it is to
be recognised as the most effective Irish invention?
The Times, in referring to the trial of Henson, says that
upon the facts the prisoner had undoubtedly committed
homicide. The only question was whether it amounted to
murder. The prisoner had been an honest artisan, and
satisfactory evidence was adduced of his general good cha-
racter. Boyd had no doubt behaved infamously, and bad
given him great provocation. A good deal of sympathy
hall been expressed for him, which was reilected even in
the Judge's Charge. and, it may be presumed, caused the
lieritati‘m of the jury to convict on the plain facts narrated.
The counsal for the prisoner urged, accordingly, with
great earnestness, that the provocation was sufficient to
reduce the crime to manslaughter. The judge ruled
positively to the contrary, and expressed his opinion
that the jury could have given no other verdict con-
sistently with their oath: It is always a painful task to com-
ment on such a terrible issue, unless the way seems clear
to admit the existence of reasonable excuse. As the ques-
tion, however, was so urgently pressed, we arc bound to
say the.rnling of the judge appears to us consistent with
the substantial justice of the case. If the prisoner had
simply murdered Boyd his case would have stood very diffe-
rdntly, though even then it would not be susceptible of the
comparisons offered. But the murder of the woman—for
which Henson was actually tried—was a cruel and mali
Cious act, and the evidence tended to show thiiit it was
AenUnittV4 with Mae deliberation_. •

THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY ON
HIS BED OF SICKNESP•

The Archdeacon of Canterbury has written a letter to
the Vicar of Margate on the state of the Archbishop,
which letter is published. " The Archbishop of Canter-
bury (says the Ven. Archdeacon), in the midst of his
serious illness, has much upon his mind the subject of
some Ruri-decanal conferences, for which arrange-
ments were on the point of being made when his
Grace was suddenly :taken ill. Among the number your
Deanery was included. I have therefore to ask you, on
behalf of the Archbishop, and at his most earnest request,
that you will be so good as to invite the clergy of your
Deanery, as soon as possible, to a meeting (the arrange-
ments for which must bo entirely left to your own dis-
cretion), not now for discussion, but for prayer.
Prayer,' the Archbishop says, is better than discus-
sion. And tell them,' he added, that I have come to the
determination what to pray for myself. I have desired to
live especially that I might carry out the organization of
lay-helpers in the Church; but it is possible that my life
might be P. hindrance and not a help to the work. So now
I quite determine to pray that God would give me and
His Church that which will be best. This prayer cannot be
wrong, as God knows what is best. If I were to pray for
my life, I might pray for what would be a hindrance and
not a help to the work of His Church, I have
only to add to these affecting words that the
Archbishop's mind has from the first been perfectly clear,
and that his whole trust is placed in the merits and media-
tion of the Lord who died for sinners."

Owing to the serious illness of the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, no meeting of the Ritual Commissioners was
held, as intended, on Wednesday, and the meetings
appointed for the Ist and 2nd of December will not be
held.