The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-26 00:00:00

THE WEATHER—SIN OFFICE, AUGUST 26.
THERMOMETER, IN THR SHADE.
61—highest since Boon yesterday.
51—lowest this morning and daring the night.
62—this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30.11.
WIND, North-Westerly ; light, with fine weather.

It is high time that masters, or, as they are
termed, "captains," in the mercantile marine service,
should profit by the many painful lessons they have
received of late years, and learn that, though neces-
sarily entrusted with great power, they cannot abuse
that power with impunity, or vent their wrath on
innocent persons, whether they be passengers, or
even seamen under their command. For a long
time they had it all their own way—could indulge
in any amount of brutality, without any dread of
being called to account ; or, if brought be-
fore a " court for some great atrocity, the
indiscretion was charitably ascribed to excessive zeal,
and they escaped on payment of a mere nominal fine,
a matter that never in the slightest degree influenced
their future conduct. The conviction and execution
of Captain ROGERS at Liverpool, and the transporta-
tion of his two:mates, produced a very salutary effect,
showing that if death followed, if an unfortunate
victim perished from continued ill-treatment, whe-
ther produced from personal animosity or rough
practical joking, the perpetrators would be had
responsible to the law, and that the obsolete cant
respecting the necessity of preserving discipline
would no longer be tolerated in a court of justice.
Since the execution of Captain ROGERS, another
captain in the merchant service has been sentenced
to penal servitude, and several have been called to
account for driving their victims to suicide. This,
however, is a comparatively safe game, for though
morally murderers, being responsible in the sight of
GOD for the deaths of the miserable sufferers, they
could only be punished for common assaults, and
even in such case the full machinery of the law
was seldom, if ever, put in motion.
It is not often, however, that these " Vikings"
attempt to attack or insult gentlemen of rank and
position who may chance to be passengers in the
vessels of which they may be masters. They know
that such cases cannot easily be hushed up—that
they will eventually be called to a strict account for
their " sayings and doings and that, although it
may be very pleasant to exhibit spite towards pt_r-
sow immeasurably their superiors in social position,
education, and everything that constitutes a gentle-
man, it is rather a dangerous game to play, and
may prove to be a very expensive luxury. Be-
sides it may give the ship an ill name. C:T-
tains too prone to put passengers into irons, or
in any way abridge their liberties, will not

find many, able and willing to pay a fair price In

their accommodation, anxious to sail under suzh
sinister auspices. For their own sakes, then, they
would avoid such manifestations of ill-humour, but
sometimes bad temper outruns discretion, and they
vent their malevolence reckless of future come-

quences.
Such a case has been recently tried at Bristol, in
which a gentleman named Km:pa was plaintiff, and
Mr. HALE FRANKLIN, master of the ship Undaunted,
was defendant. Mr. Kaosi was an advocate of the
Scottish bar, son to an eminent member of the House
of Assembly at the Cape of Good -Hope, from which
place, unfortunately for himself, he came as passenger
to England on board the Undaunted. It happened
that Captain FRANKLIN had serious differences with
some of his military passengers before arriving at the
Cape, and that in consequence many of them had
kept him at a " civil distance," giving only formal
replies whenever addressed by him. He seems
to have resorted to petty annoyances in order to
avenge himself for what he was pleased to think their
contumacy; and, accordingly, one evening at eight
o'clock he ordered the lights to be extinguished'
when a party of officers were engaged in a friendly
rubber of whist. The usual time for so doing on
board the. Undaunted was eleven o'clock, but Captain
FRANKLIN chose to anticipate the time by three
hours. Mr. KROG was not in any way engaged in
the game, but on hearing the extraordinary
order, and ',feeling that he was better acquainted
with the law than any of his fellow-passen-
gers, he declared that the steward had no right
to remove the lights ; whereupon the captain,
in his elegant phraseology, asked :‘ Who the devil
areTyou." On replying that his name was Km)°, the
captain repeated it in derisive and insulti'.9g tone;,
adding that he was captain of the ship, and Tvould
have the lights put out. Mr. KROG said, " You sre
captain of the ship and the crew, but the passengers are
different as regards them; the ship is a sort of floating
hotel, of which you are the landlord." This could
not be borne—the indignant captain threatened to
carry him. to England in irons, and, what is more,
carried out the threat, for Mr. KROG was kept in
irons ten days in a close cabin, seven feet by six,
until the doctor of the ship declared that he could
not answer for his life were he longer kept in con-
finement.

In this extraordinary case the jury gave the
plaintiff £375 damages, not as a punishment for the
brutality of the captain, but as compensation for the
unmerited sufferings he had endured.
The defendant himself, by his evidence, completely
negatived the defence set rip by the pleadings, that it
was "to prevent a mutiny" that he had strained his
authority to such an extent. He also admitted that
he bad threatened to pull Lieut. ARMSTRONG'S nose,
was in a passion because his wife
" because he was in
hysterics. He threatened Captain HUNT, and told
Captain GREEN that he was ready to meet him at 12
paces ; but then cg he was annoyed!" He had an
cer seriously
j
altercation with Dr. VILtLE,
an
wounded at Lucknow, and off
eered him on
account of his wound. And this is the man
empowered by the certificate of the Board of
Trade to wield the authority which be has already,
through mere petulanCe, so grossly abused !
We have no personal feeling
against Captain
FRANKLIN. We know nothing either of him or of
any of the parties concerned, beyond the face
disclosed by the evidence, and the views taken by
the learned judge and the jury in reference thereto.
It is unquestionably a case that should be strictly
investigated by the Board of Trade, so that it may
be ascertained whether Captain FRANKLIN is a fit
and proper person to be entrusted with despotic
authority for the time being. Nor is it merely Captain
FRANKLIN'S case that should be acted on. There are
many others, indeed they are of daily occurrence,
in which certified masters greatly forget themselves,

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THE SUN.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 1858.