The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-08 00:00:00

LONDOIV, TUESDAY, JAN. 8, 1867.

The New Year has, indeed, opened most inaus-
piciously so far as the weather is concerned,
and many homes will be desolated and many
hearts ache on receipt of the intelligence
which the particulars of the late storm will bring
them. Already the list of fatal shipwrecks is great,
and of course we shall shortly hear of more to the
same effect. A great loss was sustained on Satur-
day night when the iron ship James Crosfield, of
1,000 tons, was wrecked off Langness Point, Islem an .
She was bound from Calcutta for Liverpool, and
bad on board nearly 1,700 bales of cotton. All
hands were lost. From Great Yarmouth we also
learn sad tidings. During the gale on Sunday two
vessels were totally lost, and it is thought that
their crews perished in both instances. There was
tremendous weather on Sunday night, and in the
midst of the storm a brig was driven ashore. Various
means were used to arouse the crew, but it was
found that the vessel was empty. No doubt the
men had taken to their boats and were drowned iu
the heavy sea, as by the next day no news of them
was heard. Another brig, also from Sunderland,
was lcst, and a sloop was driven on the Scroby Sand,
which is very dangerous, but in this case the crew
were saved. At Penzance the National Lifeboat
Institution's boat was of signal service. A
schooner was driven ashore at Long Roche, and
the lifeboat being launched was the means of
rescuing six men, which comprised the crew of the
doomed vessel, and the next morning the same life-
boat went out again and saved the crews of various
vessels. All over this coast there are wrecks to be
seen, and the lifeboats, beside the Richard Lewis,
went out, but unhappily were not successful in their
efforts to save life, not meeting with shipwrecked
crews.

At Ramsgate very gallant services were rendered
by the lifeboat Bradford, also of the same institution,
which has been the means of preserving so many
lives. Guns were heard, and the lifeboat was im-
mediately manned and started for the point
of danger. It was the means of rescuing
the crew of a schooner from Amsterdam, who were
iu a ship's boat, the schooner having gone ashore
the previous evening. In the evening the same
lifeboat went out again in tow of the harbour steam
tug, and were forced to return from the extreme
cold. The next morning, however, they started
again in " a strong gale and a tremendous sea,"
and were fortunate enough to find a vessel ashore.
After attempting six times to bring the lifeboat
alongside the vessel ashore they succeeded in res-
cuing the crew. The severity of the storm may be
appreciated from the fact that the lifeboat lost both
anchors and cables in the wreck. The arduous task
took more than six hours, and the coxswain of the
lifeboat reports that he never encountered such
" terrific weather, intense cold, and heavy sea in
all his experience." At Shields dreadful weather
was experienced, and the greatest loss of shipping
has taken place there which has occurred this
winter. The pier was covered with ice, and the
men had to crawl along it to carry the rocket-lines
to a vessel in distress, the crew were so benumbed
that they could not use the lines, and the lifeboats
that went out, though they were pulled for two
hours, could not get out of the harbour. By
three in the morning there were four ves-
sels all knocking against each other outside
the pier. By strenuous efforts nearly all of the
four crews were saved, but the scene was an extra-
ordinary and exciting one altogether. Most heroic
deeds are performed by those who peril their lives
to save the shipwrecked crews, and the crew of one
of these vessels at Shields would not have been saved
had not a man plunged into the serf, and thus
enabled the life brigade to get a hawser and cradle
off to them. With all the exertions made there
will still be a sad catalogue of horrors to peruse
when the full particulars of the late dismters come
to be laid before us, and many will have bitter cause
to remember and regret the fearful storms which
attended the commencement of the year 1867.

It is not surprising that the discussion on
Democracy which took place last week in the Music
Hall, Edinburgh, should have attracted a good deal
of attention. The merits and demerits, the advan-
tages and drawbacks, attending a democratic form
of Government have lately been the topic of much
consideration and debate. History, contemporary
and retrospective, has been ransacked by the con-
' troversialists, and practice, theory, and illustration
have been cited in support of the rival arguments.
Seldom, however, has the whole question been more
ably and temperately discussed than by Professor
BLACKIE and Mr. ERNEST JONES, in Edinburgh.
Both sides may be well satisfied with their
respective advocates; and the audiences, who lis-
tened to them in turn with the closest attention,
were unable to withhold their hearty plaudits from
either. Probably each left the other unconvinced,
but the more such questions are fully, Lilly, and
temperately discussed, the better it will be for
the interests of the public. It is difficult, if not
impossible, wholly to separate poli:dcal and party
feeeling from the discussion of these topics in the
National Assembly ; and, therefore, if men of
education and ability, who have studied them in
all their branches, will set before the people the
reasons which have led them to form their political
opinions, it will tend greatly to disabuse prejudice and
to diffuse that political knowledge among the masses
which is indispensable to a just and moderate judg-
ment on public affairs. Professor BLACKIE was
bold enough to declare, in Edinburgh itself, that
the General Assembly was inclined to be tyrannical
on account of its democratic constituency. The
Ministers say, " You must all think according to
the view of the majority." The Professor went on
to show, from the example of America, the dangers
of a totally democratic form of Government ; but
Mr. ERNEST JONES, in his reply, availed himself of
the same illustration as an argument on his side.
America is populous and powerful enough to
furnish a good many examples; but, looked
at impartially, Englishmen must admit that
they would lose much by exchanging their
constitution for that of America. The whole
British constitution is founded on a system of
checks. The power of the Crown is checked by
he control of the national finances by the
Commons, the power of the Commons is checked
by the Lords, who again are held in check by the
periodical elections and by the power of the Crown
to appeal to the people. The abuse of power by a
particular Parliament is checked by the limit to its
existence, the abuse of the power of the Crown to get
rid of troublesome popular representatives is checked
by the constitutional law which forbids a prorogation
for more than forty days, and which stipulates
that one Parliament shall immediately succeed
another. The abuse of the power given by a stand-
ing army to the rulers of the people is checked by
the yearly estimates. Our ancestors learned their