The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-15 00:00:00

TIIE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 15, 1867.

1 more than the mere neighbourhood of the
OE, required to make good sailors. The French,
thorigh they possess a seaboard of consider-
ab/ e extent, have never equalled the Eng-
lish as seamen, while the Americans have
alv •ays been distinguished for their sailorship.
Be t although the ideal of a seafaring life is always
pp) iular, though the schoolboy, sick of his tasks,
drt ams of a life before the mast as of an existence
in. Taradise, though NELSON and his contemporaries
are still the favourite heroes of the popular idolatry,
a nd though Jack Tar is generally looked upon with
iitterest and kindliness bylandsmen and landswomen,
the English navy has several practical drawbacks
which are seriously affecting its reputation and its

efficiency.
There have for some time been complaints made
of the increasing difficulty of obtaining recruits for
the Royal Navy, and various plans have been set on
foot for manning our ships and providing a good
naval reserve. The mercantile marine is naturally
looked to on these occasions as an invaluable train-
ing-school for able seamen, but we find the same
complaints made respecting the difficulty of obtain-
ing men, or of keeping them in the service, and this
in spite of the natural English love and aptitude for
the sea. The American masters appear to meet
with no such difficulty, though the harshness of their
rule is well known, and contrasts most unfavourably
with that of most English officers. It is well,
therefore, to look a little into the causes of this
seeming inconsistency, so far at least as our mer-
cantile marine is concerned.

Some very valuable information has recently been
laid before the public by Dr. STONE, Fellow of the
Royal College of Surgeons, who has personally
inspected numerous ships in the various docks on
the Thames. He gives us a very full account of
the capacities of the ships, the accommodation pro-
vided for the men, the time for which they are kept
at work, the quality of the food provided, and the
grievances which they most complain of. The
result is that any one who reads Mr. STONE'S report
attentively through, instead of wondering at the
demand for men exceeding the supply, can only
wonder that the supply is forthcoming at all. We
believe that the attention of the Government has
already been directed to this question, and we ear-
nestly hope that they will devise some measures of
thorough and practical reform.

The first visit which Dr. STONE paid was to the
East India Docks, where he found the vessels

mostly of a high order, large and well ventilated.
These are the ships employed in the traffic between

England and India, China, Australia, and New
Zealand, many of them being capable of accom-
modating a large number of passengers and heavy
freights. Even here, however, many of the ships

are fitted with mangers and scuppers, so that
when the cables are bent it is nothing
uncommon for the forecastles to be deluged
with water through the hawse holes. Dr. STONE
was told on good authority that sometimes the men

have to wade to their bunks. In these ships scurvy,
the dreaded foe of the sailor, is scarcely ever met
with. The provisions are good, and the supply of
lime juice regular. The masters, moreover, usually
see that the men actually drink their allowance.

Very different is the case of the vessel's employed
in other trades, in many of which the food is bad
in quality and insufficient in kind; while lime juice
is either not given at all, or if professed to be al-
lowed, is anything but genuine, so that the men not
only dislike to drink it, but lose their faith in its
efficacy. Scurvy is actually on the increase in our
mercantile navy, the number of cases admitted to
the Dreadnought last year exceeding those of the
three former years. The law provides an effectual
remedy for this the worst evil of the sailor's life,
but the law is disregarded. The masters have of t.m
a share in the ship, and consequently it is to their
interest to spend as little as possible on the men's
provisions. So glaring is their conduct in this re-
spect that in the vessels used for the coast trade—
vessels mostly of a wretched condition—Dr. STONE
found a common complaint among the boys
and men that they have not enough to eat;
and although the vessels are seldom more than three
or four days away from land the men scarcely ever
get fresh meat. The supply always consists of salt

beef—the coarsest parts—and the biscuits are of
the worst description. Under these circumstances
we can only be thankful that vessels so managed are
not longer at sea. The strength of the few men
employed is nevertheless severely overtasked. The
hands are so few that they are kept working on deck
or in the rigging for 20 or 25 hours consecutively ;
and even when the vessel reaches the harbour they
are not allowed to rest or go on shore, but are re-
quired to assist in discharging the cargo. To
this fact Dr. STONE attributes the great
preponderance of cheat diseases among them ;
and as a natural consequence of excessive
fatigue, exposure, and bad food, the men in har-
bour drink largely, and are often attacked with
severe diarrhoea, and it is with a crew in such
condition, half-delirious from drink, weak from
illness, that an old ill-found ship is sent in rough
weather to our northern coasts. No wonder, under
such circumstances, that the colliers exhibit a dis-
mal preponderance in our annual Wreck Register !
As on too many of our railway lines a pitiful and
unjust esonomy produces a cruel waste of life and
health. The large screw steamers now employed
in the coal trade are much superior in their accom-
modation and provisions, but the men are kept so
incessantly at work, that often when they arrive
in the morning after a rough passage, they are
set to unload during the day, and at night the ship
' is on her way to the north again.

The ships in the West India Docks are mostly of
a wretched description, and, indeed, it is mortifying
to find Dr. STONE continually reiterating the bad
hygyienic condition of our men, and the superiority
of the accommodation in the vessels of other coun-
tries. The Swedish and Norwegian ships are better
so far as the forecastle and sleeping quarters are
concerned. The American are far superior, and
the masters of the American commer-
cial marine pride themselves on the con-
dition of their crews, and say it is the
best economy to give them good and abundant food,
and pay strict attention to their sleeping quarters.
This is very different from the belief acted upon
in English ships. "In the timber trade the state
of things is disgraceful : a house on the deck is an
exception, and the men live in a small, close, mid
ill-ventilated hole." In the West India vess&a
Captain TOYNBEE " has himself seen forecastles and
seamen's chests in first-class ships black from the
gas which rises from the cargo, and which smells like
sewage, especially in sugar ships. Captain TOYNBEE
informed me a day or two since that he had actually
seen a place containing two packs of foxhounds and
three horses which received half its ventilation by a
hatch which opened into the sailors' forecastle."

Into the horrors of the manure cargoes and bone
ships we will not enter. Enough has been said of
a large proportion of our regular mercantile marine
to account for the acknowledged and increasing re-
luctance of our young men to outer the navy as a
profession. It is more than time that the condition
of our sailors was looked into by competent authori-
ties if we wish to rotaiu our naval strength undi-
minished.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.
There is no political news of importance to-day
in the Moniteur, but it contains some official decrees

of interest relative to ecclesiastical matters. In pur-

suance of a bull of the Pope, dated July 25, 1866,
an archbishopric is created by the Emperor at Algiers,
and there are to be bishops at Constantine and Oran.
M. Lavigerie, Bishop of Nancy, is appointed arch-
. _

bishop of the newly created Archbishopric of Algiers.
The Abbe Callot, of Lyons, is appointed Bishop of

Oran, and the Abbe de las Cases, of Angers, is

promoted to the Bishopric of Constantine. The
Abbe Thomas, Vicar-General of Autun, is appointed

to the Bishopric of Rochelle, vacant by the appoint-
ment of Monseigneur Landriot to the Archbishopric

of Rheims. The Abbe Flacquard, curate of St.

Symphorien, Versailles, is appointed to the Arch-

bishopric of Verdun, vacant by the decease of Mon-
seigneur Rossat. The Abbe Foulon is raised to the
Archbishopric of Nancy, vacant by the appointment
of Monseigneur Lavigerie, as Archbishop of Algiers.
A letter from Lisbon states that the Portuguese
Government is occupied with the preparation of a

reaty of commerce and extradition with Spain, and

hat the formal negotiations between the two Go-

vernments upon the subject will commence without

delay.
The Moniteur de l'Algerie contains some further
melancholy particulars of the terrible earthquake.
The inhabitants of almost all the houses at Blidah

have retreated from them in alarm. Three villages
have been entirely destroyed, Mouzaivitle, le Bon
Roumi, and El Afroun. When the houses fell
clouds of dust obscured the whole neighbourhood.

The number killed at Mouzaivitle was more than
40, and upwards of 100 mere or less injured. At
El Afroun, of more than 100 houses only one re-
mains entire : this house, it appears, was of a pecu-
liar construction. Eleven victims were carried away
from one house at El Afroun. In all the villages
situated at the foot of this part of the Atlas the
terror prevalent is indescribable. The mountains
of the Atlas at the time of the earthquake were illu-
minated as if by fireworks or lightning. Some
other villages, Chiffa, Ameur-el-Ain, and isolated
farms have been nearly destroyed. At the latter
village several
Persons were killed and many wore
injured.

The Courrier de l'Algerie gives an official account
of the deplorable catastrophe, and says that it was;
more disastrous than is represented by the Moniteur
de l'Algerie. It adds—it
We went to Mouzaia. The
reality of the destruction is more terrible than the
accounts of it. It seems almost impossible, but
whole villages have been suddenly destroyed. The
earthquakes continue to be felt. Marshal Mac-
Mahon has hastened to visit the scenes of death
and desolation."
Even in the height of summer there is not always
so bright a day as this has been. The sun has been
seen all day, but the cold is still intense, and the
rays of the sun have not been sufficiently powerful
to cause a. thaw. At post hour the frost continues
with no prospect of abatement.

The Constitutionnel confirms my statement in
regard to the manufacture of exciting news relative
to the affairs of the East, and says that the ques-
tion being "so interesting, people must not be
astonished at the fecundity of the newsmongers
who invent or propagate imaginary projects and
solutions relative to it." The Constitutionnel, never-
theless, seems to put faith in one report, according
to which France and Austria have taken some
steps, if not in concert at least in common, in be-
half of the Christian subjects of the Sultan. The
account goes so far as to say that Prussia, Italy, and
Russia have the same views upon the question, and
that the adhesion of England to them is considered
certain. At all events the French Ambassador at the
Court of Turkey, M. Bounce, was received with
great cordiality and attention by the Sultan when
he presented his credentials the other day at Pera.
M. Bouriee expressed a hope that his advice and
suggestions would be received with the same favour
and cordiality as those of the late French Ambas-
sador, M. Mousticr. The Sultan, through his in-
terpreter, Aali-Pacha, assured the now Ambassa-
dor that such would be the case, and expressed a
hope that each day would strengthen more and
more the relations of " good friendship" now exist-
ing between France and Turkey.
M. Ingres, the most eminent, perhaps, of all
French painters, is now in almost a hopeless condi-
tion. He is 87, but a few days ago he was in per-
fect health. A violent cold and inflammation of
the chest has suddenly prostrated him, and this
afternoon it was feared that his recovery was
almost impossible.
Yesterday afternoon the funeral ceremony over
the remains of the renowned actress, Mdlle. Georges,
took place at Passy church. The church with diffi-
culty could contain the crowds of dramatists and
literary men who pressed for entrance to pay their
last tribute of respect, but yet, in her " utmost need"
it is said that she was almost neglected, and the
friends who might have assisted her were "conspi-
cuous for their neglect of her."

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

Pacha, answered that speech by a few words full of
goodwill for the new representative of the Emperor,
and expressed a wish that the relations of good
friendship which exist between France and Turkey
should be daily increased.

Then the ambassador took leave of his Majesty
the Sultan, and was conducted to one of the adjacent
rooms, where he was offered refreshments according
to usage; and he went afterwards to the Sublime
Porte, through Tophane, Galata, and the new
streets of Stamboul, and paid his visit to the Grand
Vizier and the other Ministers of the Sultan.

FRANCE.
The celebrated painter M. Ingres and M. Victor

Cousin are dead.

The Etendard of this evening says that the Otto-
man circular relating to Greece was prematurely
announced, since it has only just now been pre-
sented to the protecting Powers.

A young woman was returning to her home in
the Rue des Filles-Dieu, about 11 o'clock, the night
before last, when she was suddenly stabbed in the
right shoulder by a young man, who made his es-
cape. A little later another young woman was
stabbed in the breast under similar circumstances in

the same street. At two in the morning a, young
man of 23 gave himself up at the Prefecture of
Police as the author of the two attempts, and exhi-
bited a pair of compasses covered with blood as the

instrument with which he had accomplished his
crimes. In his pocket was found a manuscript en-
titled :—" Reflections on death ; general considera-
tions on the punishment of the guillotine." This
document, of which he says he is the author, tends
to prove that the most agreeable of all deaths is that
on the scaffold. He is supposed to be insane.
Some evenings back a person entered the lodge of
a concierge, Rue des Fosses-Saint-Jacques. He
wore the dress of an ecclesiastic, and, saying he was
very tired, asked permission to rest a while and
finish some notes he had roughly taken on his tablets.
The request was granted, and he remained a coupe
of hours, during which time, it was noticed, he
made a minute inspection of the room. On leaving
he promised to return and bring to the concierge
a chaplet blessed by the Pope. He did present
himself on the following evening, but only to ask
for the loan of a few francs for a pressing purpose,
he having accidentally left his purse at home. He
would return the money next morning by one of
the boys of the choirs of his church at the Batig-
nolles ; but as yet the benevolent concierge has not
yet been favoured with a visit.

A young woman, named Selina, was tried at the
Paris Court of Assizes on Saturday for the murder
of her illegitimate male child, aged 13 months. The
accused had left her parents voluntarily to lead a
disorderly life, and was delivered of a child which
she placed out to nurse. Finding, however, that it
was a burthen she took back the infant under the
pretence of confiding it to her mother, and then
drowned it in the Canal St. Martin. She was con-
demned to eight years' imprisonment.
A gentleman of Verona (Euro) was going out
shooting one day last week, accompanied by a young
man named Panton, when he stopped to speak to a
neighbour. Panton asked him to lend him his gun
while he was waiting, and upon his doing so he
put the muzzle in his mouth, fired, and fell dead,
his head being blown to pieces. He had long been
considered by the neighbours as of unsound in-
tellect.

In the Paris Corn Market last week the four
marks of flour advanced lfr. 75c.—to 82fr. 75c. the

.57 kilos. ; wheat rose Ifr.—to 48f. the 120 kilos. ;

rYe was unvaried at 24fr. the 115 kilos. ; barley was
unchanged at 23fr. 50c. the 100 kilos. ; and oats
likewise unaltered at 24fr. 50c. the 100 kilos. At
the last cattle market at Sceaux, oxen sold at Ifr.
26c. to lfr. 64c. the kilo. ; calves, at lfr. 56c. to
lfr. 95c. ; and sheep, at lfr. 42c. to Ifr. 75c. At
Poissy the prices were lfr. 26c. to Ifr. 58c. ; Ifr.
54c. to lfr. 95c. ; and lfr. 45c. to Ifr. 76c., respec-
tively.
fol The bulletin of the Paris Observatory gives the
lowing as the atmospheric situation on Saturday :
-" The winds at present blowing over France are
from the north ; they are generally temperate, but
fresh near the Pas-de-Calais and on the coast of
Provence. The sea is heavy at Dunkirk and rough
in the Channel and in the Bay of Biscay. Squalls
are passing over the Mediterranean. The usual de-
spatches from Portugal, England, Sweden, and
Norway have not been received. Great oscillations
are observed in the magnetic needle."
During the year 1866 seventy-five new plays
were produced on the Paris stage.
The number of telegraphic despatches exchanged
in the interior of Paris now exceeds 1,500 a day.
The winter has set in with severity throughout
the country. The thermometer (Centigrade) fell to
3 deg. below zero (26.5 Fahrenheit) at Rouen on
Saturday. At night snow also fell, and the frost is
reported as general in the south-eastern and central
departments.
A stranger entered the court-yard of the Hotel-
Dieu, at Rouen, on Saturday morning, and drawing
a pistol from his pocket shot himself through the
heart. The body has not been identified.
An infant has just died of starvation at Roche-
fort, the avarice of its unnatural father having
refused sufficient nourishment to the mother who
was suckling it.
The city of Lisle is preparing to celebrate, in
grand style, the 200th anniversary of its annexa-
tion to France.
A young man aged 19, named Rebouillet, a
domestic at Beauvosin (Gard), has just died from
drinking a. bottle of brandy in less than 5 minutes.
BOURSE, Jan. 14, Two o'clock.-Securities are
falling, with the exception of Italian Fives, which
have slightly advanced, having been quoted at 53f.
95c., with an improvement of 10c., whereas French
Threes have fallen 121 c., at 69f. 60c. Credit
Mobilier and Credit Foncier shares have declined
each 2f. 50c.-at 506 f. 25c., and 1,412 f. 50c.
Comptoir d'Escompte, weak during the last few
days, have again fallen, this time to 827 f. 50c., with
a loss of 10f. Railway Shares are very calm,
quotations are either unvaried or a shade lower.
Generally very few transactions are taking place.
English Consols lower.
Three o'clock.-Italian Fives have further ad-
vanced, and Comptoir d'Escompte shares have im-
proved. The market closed as follows :-
Bank Shares 3590 -
Italian Loan 54
Do. end month 54 15
Mexican Loan
Do. Bonds - -
Spanish Threes - -
Home Debt
Deferred
"&YB.

4 per Cents 9B 75
Do. end month —
3 per Cents. 69 60
Do. end month 69 60
Credit Mobilier
Do. end month
Credit Foncier —
Do. end month 1415 -
RAIL'

For Account.
Orleans
Northern llB2 50
Lyons and Mediterranean 912 50
Southern 568 75
Westeria

Eastern
Sardinian
Austrian
Lombard 3BB 75
North of Spain l2O
Sragosre. —

DittO' to Barcelona —
Roman,: 9O

COMMUNICATION BETWEEN PASSENGERS AND
GUARDS ON RAlLWAYS.—Yestorday a number of railway
directors and gentlemen connected with mechanical science
attended a series of experiments made on trains running
between Victoria Station and the Crystal Palace, as to a
means of establishing communication between passengers
and guard, or between the guard at the rear of the train
and the driver. The first obstacle to the adoption of any
system has bean the want of simplicity and cheapness.
Au invention tried yesterday, and which seemed to give
satisfaction to a large body of practical men, is apparently
all that is wanting. The apparatus is applied to a car-
riage, or any number of carriages, by simply drilling a
hole in the roof. A tube having a slight slit in it is then
in roach of the passenger. In the slit is a pair of jams
or jaws, covered with a chemical composition of an
ignitable character, but which can only be ignited by
the touch of another composition having an affinity
to it. This second composition is to be supplied by touch-
ing the passenger's tickets with it, and the insertion of
a ticket will at once explode a rocket, which can be heard
from end to end of the train, and ignite coloured fire
which will flare for several minutes on the roof of the car-
riage, so pointing out where the explosion came from.
The passenger's ticket will show who caused the explo-
sion. Tho experiments were completely successful. The
inventors are Messrs. Le Keux and Wishart. The inven-
tion tried yesterday has boon brought to perfection by
Mr. T. Brown, civil engineer of the European Inventors'
Agency.

:..

HER MAJESTY, &c.

--v-

OSBORNE, Jan. 14.
The Queen and Princess Louise walked in the
grounds and rode on ponies this morning.
Prince and Princess Christian drove out, accom-
panied by the Dowager Duchess of Atholc and Miss
M'Gregor, and visited the Female Prison at Park-
hurst. Mrs. G. D. Engleheart was in attendance
upon their Royal Highnesses.
Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice, and Prince
Henry of Prussia went out walking.

We have much pleasure in announciug that her
Majesty will open Parliament in person, and with the
same State as last year.

THE KING OF THE BELGIANS.--The Arenir
National says there is no foundation for a recent report
that the King of the Belgians was about to leave for the
south of Europe for the sake of a milder climate. His
Majesty's health is better than it was formerly, and he does
not now require to pass the winter in Egypt or Turkey.
Leopold 11. is able to endure the inclemency of the weather
with impunity. Last week he was to be seen riding for
several hours together on the boulevards in the midst of
rain, wind, and snow.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Anglesey have
been entertaining at Beaudesert the following party :
The Marquis and Marchioness of Hastings, the Earl and
Countess of Winchilsea ; Ladies Constance, Mabel, and
Hilda Finch-Hatton ; Viscount Maidstone, the Earl and
Countess of Uxbridge, Viscount and Lady Constance
Marsham, Sir Henry and Lady Sophia Des Vccux, Mr.
George Tredcroft, Mr. Peter Wilkinson, Mr. H. Thorn-
hill ; Lords Henry, Alexander, and Berkeley Paget.
The Earl and Countess Grey are expected to
arrive at their residence on Carlton-house-terrace at tho
end of the month from Howick Hall, for the meeting of
Parliament.

The Countess of Coventry has left Thomas's
Hotel Berkeley-square, for Asdown Park.

_ .
Lady Catherine Boyle, eldest daughter of llenry,
third Earl of Shannon, by Sarah, fourth daughter of Mr
John Hyde, of Castle Hyde, county Cork, diod on Tues-
day last at Dover. She was born 13th March, 1801.
The Hon. Mrs. Ramsay, of Barnton, and Mrs.
and Miss Pollock Morris have arrived at Brown's Hotel.

Sir Bruce and Lady Chichester have arrived at
Maurigy's Hotel from their seat, Basingstoke.
Sir Edwin Scudamore Stanhope has left Maurigy's
Hotel for Holum Lacy, Hereford; Sir Frederick, Lady,
and Miss E. H. Bathurst have I,,ft for II ,sthigs.