The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-06 00:00:00

.1f Alt CUNT .1?A- 4:1‘71) AD M. IR Y

'P 7IS WANE OP Q Ei.V OE.

OBNTS.

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) - re•
' -1 or he kw Of derearid aria impel!' ought t. ;mire
The next foreign. maita fir-.;,.wil ii:
..,..1, e -,
,„I ue a never-failing succession of good speakers in
board the mail packets will be the India and uSite lhis ceuntra. Tee love of listening to oratory is
ones, and it will probably not be long bef re. t'io4. deeply impla ed in h: Englisem in. Whenever
mails ail be sorted al, :0. d ' ' •;n ex use can b f ian for it, the di Hoer table is
ar• packets run .ing en ' ' '
.
ell ill. mar. packet lin e Tturn •d into . tribune fur 'he exchange of compli-
. t. ca.e.L al .11 CO.t' l'aCt
are very elaborate documents, drawn up with the mentary aedresses ; debating clubs are the delight
greatest care, to secure the carryires
of foreign mails ' of every class from the undergraduates of Oxford
as speedily and as safely as possible. These docu- and Cambridge to the petty tradesman who hasjust
meats contain eire,agements on the part of the Go- put up his shutters ; no institution, whether patri-
vernment to pay heavy subsidies for carrying. mails : etic, or education il, or aericultur al, or charitable,
according to the contracts, and to inflict heavy can be inaugurated without an attempt at a set and
penalties ou mail packet companies for faille," in I formal speech. Why, then, do not great speakers
their obligations. The ports at which the packets l abound ? Previous education may be wanting, but
shall call, the order in which the packet ports are i in other departments the demand for a faculty, and
to be visited, the time for arrival and stoppage at, i the prizes which its exercise insures, make up for
and departure from, each port ; the speed per hour I nil deficiencies of instruction. Boys are not edu-
at which the packets must be driven, together with , candted in civil engineering or the mechanical arts,
the extra time allowed in case of accidents or unit-a I
suit yet men of the highest ability in these pur-
voidable delays through bad weather, are distinctly
1 Nor isaptlear at tho call of our new civilisation.
re anything in our education which
laid down in the mail contracts. n every emu i
should rearie
mail scheme where there is intercolonial or branch
vet it cannoijuicjlicious and temperate statssmen,
mad. service performed, the departures of the main
I °I-ilified for th e doubted that men eminently
steamers on the homeward voyage cannot be fixed 1 ?- '
English soeil task of government do spring
rotu
to a day. There must be several days' grace allowed, iu numbers which any other
country may
_envy.
_But-, whatever the cause, it
for the branch steamers to arrive at the junction
would sesm that lu
isthe present day at least the
ports, but in every contract there is a positive rule
facul:y of eloquence wanting.
that the main ste oners must start for home, weather Never was there
perniitt ng, as soon as the inter colonial mails are or, so much and so peer speaking. We do not refer
now to the decay of pulp oratory, though there
board. it ,
the seaborne
The subsidies paid for carrying , assursdly is a vast difference between the sermons
" "
mails are not sufficient for the maintenance' of steam which loused the hums of a seventeenth century
packet companies, and the litter are consequently audience and the compositions which are nowadays
to detive revenue from passengers and
obliged
demurely read to fidgety congregations. It is of
freight, but they lose many of the former and much
oratory proper, of political eloquence, the object
of the latter because their ships are unable to wait
of which is to persuade men in matters of State go-
vernment, that we would speak, and ask why it. is
for anything but mails. The mail packet compa-
that with knowledge beyond the reach of any pre-
secure as many passengers and as much freight as uies, in order to encourage their commanders to
vious age, with patriotism and purity of motive
which should elevate the style, with genius which
possible, allow the captains to victual the ships,
give them a percentage on the fares
or else
success in other pursuits shows not to have decayed
and freigt ; and in order to work the packets .
the country should still prodnce so few public men
who are gif,ed with the power of dignified and at-
as economically as possible, the engineers are paid a
tractive speaking. The Houses of Lords and Com-
a sum for every ton of coals they save during
a voyage. Now the natural result of this desire for
mons are, beyond all doubt, the most educated and
as much passenger and cs rgo traffic, and as little con-refined assemblies in the world. They contain a
sumption of fuel as possible, is, that all ocean wail comparatively large number of men who have won
packet companies aim at running their steamers j ust fame by literary or scientific achievements, and who
fast enough to avoid the mail contract penalties, one would think, would appreciate, and almost
add no faster. exact, oratorical excellence. And yet the leaders of
In order therefore that the public interests should the British Parliament are in effective oratory,
be looked after, the Govern merit hashitherto placed many of them, below the level of an Old Bailey
on board every ocean mail packet a naval lieutenant barrister or a popular Dissenting minister. Know-
as Admiraltymail agent. He carries with him a copy ledge of men and things and books, official experi-
of the mail contract, and sees that it is strictly ae- ' ence, long habits of rapid thinking and extern-
hared to. He is the judge as to the safety of the I pore speaking, have not taught them how to
packets leaving a port when the proper time has frame a sentence neatly, or to utter it
elapsed, and he dictates what shall be done in all I w. 12 grace. The wonder is that with
cases of emergency. He Sees also that the proper '
besi • rieg.lect of the proprietors of style they should
speed is kept up, that the packets run a proper able do. command and retain the attention of
their audiences, and
course, that their machinery is in good order, and we CALI only account for it by
supposing that the Houses have
that they are properly officered and manned, and he s ~ become accustomed
to the peculiar involutions and repetitions of Par-
takes care that the packers arrive at their destine-
Matinentery rhetoric, and that each member un-
tion, not only at the contract time, but before if
consciously performs for himself the operation
possible. He has charge of all mails on board, re-
which the reporter performs for the world in gene-
postmasters them from, and delivers them to, foreign
ral—reduces the contorted and redundant phraseo-
postmasters ; and in case of shipwreck, it is his spe-logy of the speaker into clear and straightforward.
cial duty to save them if possible. Moreover, he has
to see all British consuls, ambassadors, and admi-
English.
rats at the various foreign packet ports, to deliver We would not, indeed, be supposed to imply
up to, and receive from, them the most important that any of the great political chiefs stand actually
in need of the house's indulgence, but still we must
Government despatches, and to report to the Ad-
t
miralty the movements of all foreign ships of war think that even among the highest there is a ten-
ond Vise high seas. He has a beat and an officer and dency to certain deficiencies which in men less able
beat's crew to attend on him when on mail service and full of matter becomes positive poverty of ex-
pression. Take, for instance, our late Premier.
duty, and one of the staff of Admiralty agents is
L
promoted every year to the rank of commander as Lord Palmerston is probably the most instructed
a
a good service reward. For obvious reasons, the and experienced statesman in Europe. He has had
mail packet companies have always been desirous
nearly 50 years of official life and of personal inter-
that the services of the Admiralty aeentsahould be course with the most celebrated personages. He
dispensed with. They have offered to let their own has the wisdom of age with the vigour of life's
officers receive and deliver the foreign meils
prime : he has the courage to think and act, and he
thus save Government the pay of the naval lieu-
and
possesses the knowledge by which to direct his ac-
tenants. They have likewise agreed to submit to a Cons. And yet, though often effective, sometimes
reduction in the subsidy, provided the agents were powerful, Lord Palmerston owes his success more
to his matter and the sprit with which he utters
done away with, and now the Government requires
accommodation on board some of the packets for it than to any oratorical skill. He has, pro-
Post-office clerks. The companies demand for provid-
baldy, never done himsel justice, or fitly
ing that accommodation that the Admiralty agents embodied his thoughts and his impulses
shall be taken out of all the packets. But Post-office in language. A fluent delivery, an apt
clerks, being civilians, would be totally unable to see selection of words, and a scientific structure of
sentences, have never been attained by a statesman
that the mail contracts were carried out. In ship-
wrecks they would have difficulty to save them- who has spent 50 years of his life in addressing au-
diences of every kind. His speeches make an selves, and would be unable to look after mails.
im-
Besides which, the sorting of the mails on preboardssion on hearers who are accustomed to them ;
the packets can at the most, only accelerate the but who can doubt that their power would be
g
delivery of letters twenty-four hours, whereat Ad- greatly increased by those adventitious aids which
miralty agents cause the packets to arrive home it is the fashion to depreciate i Something similar
days before they otherwise would. may be said of Lord John Russell, who, though
Many of the Admiralty agents are first-rate na- more of an orator than Lord Palmerston, falls very
vigators, and have rendered important service to far short of excellence. A cultivated mind, literary
commanders in moments of danger and difficulty,
tastes, and a long acquaintance with the most edu-
and their rank adds dignity to the mail service rated society, have never compensated Lord John
abroad. Only a few months since, while the Ad-
tor the want of real oratorical attainments. But the
miralty agent was going down the Spanish main
most striking example of this defect is in the case
with the mails he heard that Walker and the of Sir G. C. Lewis, all whose inexhaustible learn-
American filibusters had landed at Greytowu, and ing, and ability, and application are often neutral-
knowing that they would lay an embargo on the
ised, in the opinion of his hearers, by the tedious-
Costa Rican mail bag, which is sent acrass the ness of his delivery. In fact, out of both houses it
would be difficult to select a dozen men who really
Isthmus from their lauding-place, he cut open the
Greytown bag, took out the letter bag for Costa
do justice to a great subject. Lords Derby, Ellen-
Rica, which was enclosed in it, and sent the Costa borough, and Lyndhurst, with the Duke of Argyll
Rican mail across the Isthmus from Colon
b and and the Bishop tif Oxford, in the one house ; Messrs.
,00ty.
Gladstone, Disraeli, Sir J. Graham, Mr. Bright,
thus deprived the filibusters cf their
M
When the mail steamer Caudia broke down in the Mr. S. Herbert, and Mr. Roebuck, in the other,
Medit iranean about fif eon months since, the
are indeed speakers who increase the attraction of
-t
Admiralty agent was enabled by his rank and in-
their subject by the manner in which they treat it,
fluence to obtain the loan of a steamer from the
but these are nearly all, and even these sometimes
sink to the lower level of style which isprevalent in
Bey of Tunis to carry on the India mails. Some
time since a mail packet struck on a rock, and the our poi-tic speaking.
T
commander was about to back her; before ho did he fact probably is that we have fallen into a
so the Admiralty agent insisted upon getting out
bad style, through too great a contempt for elabo-
ration and artifice. In his mails. As soon as he got them out the ship the last century every era-
was backed, and sunk in deep water, and every- for attitudinised, just as a Frenchman does at the
thing on board of her was lost. The mails in the present day. Manner was of more importance
Great Liverpool, Erin, Madrid, Tiber, and other than matter, and a weak and superficial civilisation
wrecked packets have been saved by the zeal, was cer atinly the consequence ; but it had its
judgment, and nautical skill of the Admiralty merit,. We may tire of the monotonous elevation
agents. The foreign snails are now become of im- of Johnson and Gibbon, yet we may well wonder
menese value and importance, and for the exigencies how they could write volume after volume of
of commerce, they cannot be carried too quickly to pointed sentences, while authors of the present
their destination. With Admiralty agents to see day, if they begin a book with any pretensions to
the mail contracts fairly and fully carried out, and style, generally subside into slipshod after the first
with Post office clerks, travelling the first and last few chapters. Burke and Pitt and Fox and Sheri-
stages on the mail steam lines to enable the public den were brought up in a rigid school of manner-
in England to post their foreign letters just previ- ism, in the study of the " Spectator" and the
ous to tire departure of the outward packet, and "Essay on Man," and they were surrounded by
to receive their correspondence immediately after the atmosphere of the "Rambler." and "Junius."
the arrival in England of the homeward packet, Doubtless ninny geniuses were cramped by these
nothing further can be desired, and it is to be circumstances, but those which broke through felt
the benefit of the training. They were taught to
hoped that the Government will not adopt a
penny-wise-and-pound-foolish policy, and iu order respect art, to speak according to rules, to be
to avoid some additional expense, stop short of all careful in the censtruction of their sentences, to
balance their periods, and to profit by the art of
the completeness that is attainable in their foreign
and colonial mail service.—Daily News. elocution. New it seems to us that in our horror
of artificiality and our affected love of earnestness
and naturalness we have forgotten that people
must learn to speak as well as to do anything
else. Those persons who must speak in order
to live—such as barristers, lecturers, Dissent-
ing preachers, and the like—have managed
to keep up the practice of at least fluent oratory ;
but amateurs, as our politicians chiefly are, seem
to have forgotten the art of addressing an audience.
They even appear to takea pride in their bad speak-
ing, as dirt nguishing them from those who have
been forced to cultivate their powers. It is really
piteous to hear or read so many long common-place
effusions, to find men of the greatest powers using
over and over again the same hackneyed expres-
sions, adopting, in short, the Widest and most
worn-out diction of their predecessors. If the as-
pirants to Parliamentary fame, instead of inter-
preting the applause of agricultural or charitable
dinners into a tribute to their excellence, would
labour iu their oratorical education as the great
e d that
men of the past laboured, we have h
ttl
but
not only the eloquence of Parliament, ~ oubtb
7 the_
torte of example, th© power of the pulpit and the
ovation.
bar, would receive a healthy ren

SPORTING EXTRAORDINARY.

At half-past 6 a.m., March the 23, a native on
board the steamer Aden reported that a large tiger
was swimming towards Mazagon from the opposite
shore. Immediately, with the usual promptness
and love of sport inherent in Englishmen, the cow-
man ler ordered a boat's crew to be got ready, and
fuur officers—Mr. Maundrell, chief officer ; Mr.
Tottenham, third officer ; Mr. Bain, feu! th
officer ; and Mr. Newell, clerk in charge—arrived
with guns and proceeded to the capture. No
time was to be lost, as the powerful animal
was fast approacl ing the shore near the
Bauder at Mazagon. About 15 minutes sufficed to
bring the tiger in sight when lie was found at-
tempting to board a native boat lying at anchor,
and with fierce roars he was springing at the side
of the bungalow. The natives, who evidently were
iu the greatest terror at the view of the monster
who was attempting to board them, were with cries
making frantic attempts to repel him with sticks,
and when they perceived the Aden's boat coming
up they by gesture and signsbegged them to hasten.
In a few minutes a volley of four muskets from the
Aden's boat made this monster roar and turn round
to repel the attack from the boat. Soon, however,
a fresh volley from the boat caused him to drop I,is
head in the water, when with a cheer the toat
was brought alongside the carcass of the huge
animal, and he was taken in tow, and Boon paced
on board the Aden. He proved to be a male tiger
of the Royal Bengal species, and his dimen,ions
will show what a formidable creature be would have
proved had he reached the shore, which in a f,
minutes he could have done from the spot where lie
was captured. The weight of this animal
ta'ai;
3531 b. ; the length from nose to tip ~0131-t.
Bft. 9in., of which his tail measurea
height
circumference round the body 4f6.
g, and 24
3ft. 9in. He had four tusks, each 2injong ; the cir-
to show the smaller teeth ; his whiskers Were 9.ina.,
id
cumference of his head, 2ft. Sk[in;ieed only say that
great strength of this aril:l:raj...id lit. 8 .n.,
a r., cl the,
round his fora leg he Ina": red creature and beau-
hind leg 21t. wag is is no way damaged •; as,
the officers aimed at his
tifully striped ; head,
like true sportsmen,tbullets found their way, so that
fits skin will re.
through which
remain a lasting
when
,priensefnt-hedo
prompt
manner in which he was
memoria- - tured.,.thus saving the inhabitants
its vicinity the terror it would have
pursuedvaolnida cap.
ofinspired at having so terrible a visitor in their
neighbourhood.—Bombay Telegraph.

LLOYD'S SHIPPING.—(This Day.)

LONDON, r.—wind this day at noon, E. by S.E.;
frosrbDre°eN' Aprilze,w
ith.ralP—Viind S.SE.— Sailed—Priman,
JERSEY,
.Aprd
for West Indieffl. 5._
Arrived— Medina
DUBLIN, , from Porto
APri
Rico.
gos,, April 5..--Wind S.E.—Arrived—East
AN: fromC S3110(1--Emigrant, for Quebec.
Lothian, April s.—Wind S.—Sailed—Thoinasine, for
gootre"
soUTIIAMPTON, April 5,—Sailed - Norman (s), for Cape
of Good Hope.

(By ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
SOUTHAMPTON, Tuesday Morning.

Wind E., rain.
Arrived.—Cotnier, steamer, from Jersey; Havro,
steamer, Havre.
Sailed.—Saxonis, steamer, for New York ; Norman,
steamer, Cape of Good Hope ; Alliance, steamer, Havre ;
Despatch, steamer, Jersey.

LIVERPOOL, Tuesday Morning.
Wind E. ; strong breeze.
Arrived.— Loochi istie, from Ghent.
Sailed, April 4.—Glengary, for Singapore.
Sailed, April s.—Therese, for Sydney ; Woodfield, for
Montreal ; Islas, for Earbadoes.
The Morning Light, from Melbourne, drove from her
anchors at ton o'clock last night, and grounded off Sea-
combo Point. Two ateamtuga went to her assistance and
towed her in safety into the stream. Wind at the time,
E.S.E., a gale.

(BY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.).
GRAVESEND, Tuesday Morning.
Wind S.E. ; tido, threo hours' ebb ; cloudy and fresh.
Arrived—Harriet, and Speedwell, from Antwerp ;
Saohrimmer, from Dram.
Sailed— Blackburn, for Calcutta; Adelaide, for Dome.
rara ; Albion, steamer, for Boulogne.
DEAL, Tuesday Morning.

Viscount and Viscountess Villiers are among the
English families of rank passing the Easter holidays in
Paris.
The Right lion. the Speaker and Lady Casrlotts
Deniso❑ purpose giving a series of grand dini, ec parties
shortly a.ter their return to town, at their Mansion in
Chrlton House terrace,

Wind E.S.E., &cab.
NO arrivals.