The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-02 00:00:00

MN, THURS UA V E v ENING, MAY 2, 1867.

on the line, called the Battersea-park and York-
road station.

TEIGN VALLEY.

A special meeting of this company was held at
Newton on Monday. Sir L. Palk, M.P., presided.
The CHAIRMAN said that the share capital now
subscribed was £20,320, while the amount autho-
rised was £•15,000, and of preference capital
£30,000, with borrowing powers for an additional
£79,000. Ile strongly urged shareholders to take
up preference stock, so that the undertaking could
b..! completed without further delay. A revised
statement of the accounts mould be ready in the
course of a month or six weeks.
Mr. C. Langley was elected auditor.

Cape Colonies, Orange River to Delago Bay, 45 ;
Delago Bay, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and
Red Sea, 82 ; &c. The smallest return is from Aden
to Kurrachee, including the Persian Gulf, where
the casualties repotted have only amounted to 2.
Total loss of ships and steamers, 2,234 ; construc-
tive loss, 270 ; great damage, 1,295 ; minor damage,
4,416 ; raised after sinking, 52 not damaged or
results unknown, 2,320 ; grand total, 10,587.

Official Report.

THE WRECK OF THE EARL OF DUBLIN.

To the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade.
My Lords,—l have held an official inquiry into the
wreck of the Earl of Dublin steamship, assisted by Cap-
tain Harris and Commander Roche, RN., as Nautical As-
sors, and have the honour to report: —That the Earl
of Dublin was a paddlewheel steamer, built at Port
Glasgow is the year 1837, her framework being of
iron. She was registered at Dublin, her gross
tonnage being 618, and her registered 431 tons,
and she was propelled by two engines of 300 horse
power. She was owned by the Dublin and Glasgow
Company. This was her first voyage on the station be-
tween Dublin and Glasgow, and she was commanded by
Mr. William Stokes, who holds a certificate of service, and
was manned by a crew of 26, all told. The Earl of Dub-

lin left Glasgow on her return voyage on the afternoon of
the 21st of March, having on board about 13 chief and 20
deck passengers, and a general cargo, consisting of bale
goods, sugar, and iron, the latter of which was stowed
upon the fore part of the deck. At 8 p.m. she passed the
Cumbrae Light, and a course was shaped down the Chan-
nel towards Corewell Point. Tho master appears to have
been on deck till a little after midnight, when he went
below, having been relieved by the Chief Mate. Shortly
afterwards the lights, both at Portp ttrick and the Cope-
land Islands, were visible, and the distance was c mputed
at about six miles from the former and nine miles from the
latter light. Of this fact the Master was made aware.
The Master, before he went below, gave the course S. by
VT. W. nothing to westward, leaving directions to have
the lights reported to him when seen,with their bearings,and
any alteration in the wind or weather. At 2 o'clock A.M.
the Copeland Islands were passed at a compu'ed distance of
six miles, Donaghadee red light being in sight. The
weather at this time is described as cloudy, but not thick,
and blowing strong. About a quarter or twenty minutes
after 2 o'clock, the sea getting heavier, the Mate altered
the course from S. by W. W. to S., but did not call the
Master till 3 o'clock A.M., when he says that he lost sight
of the Copeland Light bearing N.N.W. The Master
shortly afterwards came on deck, and sent a hand aloft to
look out for the South Rock Light. At this time
it was snowing heavily, and blowing a whole gale at
S.E., with a heavy sea. In about a quarter of en
hour after, the look-out aloft shouted out "land" or
"breakers right ahead." The helm was promptly put
hard a-starboard, and the engines " stopped" and " re-
versed ;" but before the latter order could be carried out,
the vessel struck upon the rocks about half a mile to the
westward of Burial Island. A communication with the
shore having been established by means of a rope, the pas-
sengert and crew were all safely lauded in their own life-
boat by 8 o'clock the same morning. Some portion of the
cargo was saved on that and the following days, and the
vessel eventually broke in two, and became a total wreck.
Such is the brief narrative of the loss of this valuable ship.
If the evidence of the mate with respect to the courses
steered and bearings of the lights is to be relied on, there
are only two modes of accounting for the loss of this ship--
either there must have been a great derangement of the
compasses, or a very insufficient allowance for the force of
the wind and sea and set of the tide. It is obvious that
shortly after midnight, if the cross bearings of Portpatrick
and the Copeland Lights were accurately taken, the
vessel was in a proper position, and the course S. by
W. W. should have carried the ship clear, under
ordinary circumstances, of all the dangers on the Irish
coast. At the time of taking these bearings, however,
it was high water, a spring tide ; consequently, from that
time till the vessel struck she had a hard gale and heavy
sea on the port bow, together with a strong spring ebb, all
tending to sot the ship towards the Irish coast. This only
could be obviated by the greatest attention to the bearings
and distance from the lights, and the weather was such as
to render it very difficult to compute the distance from them
with any degree of accuracy. It must, moreover, be noticed,
that no cross-bearings were taken of the Copeland and
Denaghadee lights, though both were ♦isible at the same
time ; nor was any lead used to verify tho distance from
the land. To these circumstances chiefly, in my opinion,
aided by my Nautical Assessors, is to be attributed the
loss of the ship, without having recourse to any subtle
theory of magnetism. In fact., had the compasses been in
error to so great an extent as has been assumed, it must
have been apparent long before the ship arrived off Port-
patrick. The mate in his evidence distinctly states that
there was no reason to doubt their accuracy, and it is only
after the ship is lost, in accounting for the disaster, that
he assumes that they must have been in error. It is pos-
sible that, although the error was unsuspected, and, there-
fore, unobserved, that the iron stowed on deck, as the
mato deposes, within fifteen or twenty feet of the bridge
compass, might have affected it je some de,,r,,e_
This circumstance, added to the fact that this new iron
ship was on her first laden voyage, and for the first time
with her head pointing to the southward, rendered a
greater degree of vigilance necessary in the navigation of
the ship. When the master left the deck at midnight the
position of the ship might be at that moment perfectly
safe ; yet looking at the state of the weather, the set of the
tide, and the possibility of derangement in his steering
compass, ho would have evinced more prudence had
he continued on deck. On leaving the deck, however, he
gave orders to the mate to report to him when lights
were seen, and their bearings, or any change in the wea-
ther. Tho mate, who had sailed under his connnand for
four years, omitted to do so, and when the master was
called it was too late to avert the calamity. Taking into
account all the circumstances of the case as laid before
me in the evidence, and bearing in m'nd the iniportant fact
of the mate having omitted to call the master as directed,
and looking at the long service and experience of Mr.
Stokes, extending over a period of 29 years in the same
employ, the court thought a reprimand would satisfy the
ends of justice, and at the same time meet the merits of
the case.—l have, dc.,
J. W. O'DONNELL, Chief Magistrate, dc.

The Great Bank Robbei y at Melbourne,

(From theßullionist.)
As imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, we
suppose we ought to be greatly gratified at the close-
ness with which colonial and other communities copy
English or Anglicised institutions. In spite of sneers
at the nation of shopkeepers, and go-ahead decla-
rations that we are behind the time, we may not un-
fairly boast of setting the fashion in all things
monetary. Not only our virtues but our vices, not
only our excellences and adornments, but our blots
and blemishes, are imitated and reproduced, as
completely as if beyond entire conformity
to our model the force of nature could
not go. Our columns have abundantly testified
to the naturalisation, in India, America, and
Australia, of the grand English invention of a
periodical panic, with its accessories and concomi-
tants of awful smashes, grave scandals, and extra-
ordinary disclosures. Meetings of, deluded share-
holders and indignant creditors have become quite
as much en regle among our foreign commercial rivals
and in our most mercantile dependencies as ever they
have been here, and by the last Australian mail
we have a sensation story of a bank robbery,
which throws all antecedent occurrences of the
kind into the shade. Confidential clerks, fraudu,
lent managers, dishonest directors, and insane
speculators have done great things in the way of
spoliation, but then they have wrought with the
smooth and polished tools of the outwardly estima-
ble forger or swindler, and not with the coarse and
vulgar expedient of the rough and ready rubber, who
forcibly " steals, takes, and carries away " another's
property in as inartistic a fashion as if he were Bill
Sykes or Bob the Cracksman himself. But the
singularity of the latest novelty in the way of com-
mercial delinquency is that while it resembles rather
the unskilled and commonplace than the refined and
respectable in its manner, it exceeds even the most
remarkable instances of breach of trust in the value
of its subject matter. It took Redpath and Pul-
linger many years of elaborate artifice to make up
an aggregate misappropriation of a quarter of a
minion, while Windsor in America, Lamirande in
France, and a host of others in England were but
hucksters and petty chapmen in the same peculiar
department of industry. 11Iany years ago London
was startled by the news that £40,000 worth of bank
notes had been abstracted from a house in Lombard-
street, and until now that memorable event has
remained par excellence, " the great bank robbery,"
compared with which sundry successful burglaries
in quest of watches, jewellery, and bullion have been
treated almost as unconsidered trifles. In Mel
bourne, however, just before the mail left for Eng-
land, the discovery had been made that eight hun-
dred thousand pounds worth of good commercial
bills had been abstracted from the strong box of the
Branch Oriental Bank, and for a few days it seemed
as if scarcely any hopes of tracing the thieves or
recovering the property could be entertained. For-
tunately this distressing uncertainty did not last
i very long. A clue w furnished by the extraordi7

nary conduct of the actual depredator, which was
fortunately so effectually followed up, that by the
same despatch which informs us of the robbery, we
learn that the robber had been arrested, and the
proceeds of his villany restored to the rightful
owners.

Considering how much mischief any well-
grounded apprehension of insecurity as to the safe
keeping of negotiable instruments in banking estab-
lishments would do, it is satisfactory to find that the
crime on which we are now commenting is not of a
nature particularly likely to be repeate.l. Ott the
28th of January the bills in question were safe in a
►wooden box, which again was enclosed in a heavy
tin box, and this yat again was deposited in the or-
dinary way in the bank safe. On the next day the safe
and its enclosures appeared to have bren undisturbe.l,
but shortly afterwards it was ascertained--tirst, that
a portion, and ultimately, that the whole, of
the " paper" had been abstracted. Outward in-
dication of violence there was none—a circumstance
which, we think, must have suggested that the
robbery had been committed by some of the bank's
employes. But neither the police nor the bank board
were able to hit upon the offender. As we have
known happen nearer home, the two were working
at cross purposes, and thus the secret which both
were anxious to keep leaked out, and was mentioned
in the morning papers. About the same time an ana-
granimatic advertisement was inserted in what an-
swers to the mysterious second column, in which the
movements of some and the misfortunes of others of

the bank officials were fortold in a language which the
cognoscenti could readily understand. Falconer
was to remain, Anderson was to be shipped off
instead, Cargill was to be a felo de se, Trail to go
mad, Skinner to wind up. The copy of this singu-
lar advertisement was inspected, and found. to be
in the writing of a bank clerk, who was identified
as having brought it to the office, and some days
afterwards an anonymous notice, made up of printed
matter cut from some periodical, was pushed under
the door of the detective police office, telling
them where to "look for bills." The police went
to the place, and, what is more singular, they
went away again before they had made their search
exhaustive. But all's well that ends well. The
search was resumed, nearly the whole of the bills
were found. Dickson, the clerk, confessed to hav-
ing removed them from a malevolent desire to cause
his employers temporary inconvenience, and the
preliminary steps for bringing this worthy to con-
dign punishment had been taken at the time the
last advices left for England.
We have said that even this startling occurrence

is not likely to diminish the sense of security with
which mercantile men are accustomed to leave
their paper in the keeping of our banking estab-
lishments. We express this opinion, partly because
we know that our bank clerks are, as a body, too
respectable to imitate Dicksou's example, and partly
also, because their opportunities of committing
similar robberies, or of disposing of their proceeds,
are very few and far between. In conclusion, we
must say a word on the pride with which the
Oriental Bank may henceforth point to one incident
in this strange story. A full week elapsed between
the abstraction and restoration of the contents
of the big-box, during which all manner of
alarming rumours were, of course, in circulation.
But during the whole of this time the bills that
matured were regularly paid without being pro-
duced, the parties liable being perfectly satisfied
with copies made out from the bank's bill-book, and
accompanied by the bank's indemnity. Thus an
act of felony, which might have had serious con-
sequences, has occasioned no greater inconvenience
than a little temporary excitement and apprehen-
sion, for which the contemporary proofs of unlimited
confidence are more than sufficient compensation.
The occurrence, however, has become historical, and
will henceforth rank as one of the most singular and
sensational incidents ever recorded in the annals of
banking.

DR. NEWMAN AND THE " WEEKLY
REGISTER."

dwr,eessshotuolaDtri.ihlk,
to
New-
man All
cannot
vhboutsfi
geenledgratltieef uald,
' qmother column a sentence out of harmony
Mr. Ward for pointing out in a letter which we
give in
with the purport of the address, which was simply
to repinnaie an unwarrantable attack made by
the Roman correspondent of the Weekly Register
on Dr. Newman, and to convey to him an ex-
pression of deep and earnest sympathy. This
address, so numerously signed, shows how alive
the English Catholic laity are to the good fame of
a man who has done so much service to the Church
in England, but they are still more sensitive as
to any slur on their profound loyalty towards th©
Pope. Hence they will read with unmixed in-
dignation the offensive and preposterous charge
which the Guardian newspaper has ventured to
make against their allegiance to the Holy See,
by likening the Catholic noblemen and gentlemen
who have signed the address to Dr. Newman to
those Barons of the middle ages who resisted the
interposition of the Popes in the matter of inves-
titures. It says that the principle of the opposi-
tion is the same, though it touches now not on
temporal interests, but on the liberty of opinion,
and it regards the address to Dr. Newman as a
protest on behalf of liberty of opinion against
tho encroachments of Papal authority. In the
name of the Catholics who signed this address
with no such purpose in their mind, and whose
allegiance to the Pope is as dear to them as
their lives, we indignantly repudiate this gross
perversion of the purport of the address. But
if the Guardian misrepresents so many of the
Catholic nobility and gentry, it is even still more
offensive in its remarks on Dr. Newman himself,
for it broadly lays to his charge that he has re-
tracted in his later writings some of the prin-
ciples he maintained in his earlier works, espe-
cially in regard to the Papal authority and
the cultus of the Blessed Virgin. Such a
charge is a repetition in more stated terms of
the imputations of unorthodoxy advanced by
the Roman correspondent of the Weekly Register.
For such an offence the Guardian will, we feel
confident, draw down on itself a more prompt
rebuke and a more indignant refutation than were
so deservedly visited on the writer in the Weekly
Register.—Westminster Gazette.

Old Hall House, near Ware, April 24, 1867.
Sin,—A week has now passed since I forwarded
to Mr. Monsell the letter which you were kind
enough to insert in your last number, and I have
as yet received no answer from that gentleman.
The Tablet declined to insert my letter, on the
ground that the, address could not possibly bear
such an interpretation as I had suggested, and that
it was unfair, therefore, towards Mr. Monsell to
insert the letter. I may take for granted, then, I
suppose, that Mr. Monsell's silence may be re-
garded as an emphatic disavowal of that inter-
pretation. I hope, however, that Catholics will
not think me obtrusive if I write again on the sub-
ject, because I am in the really singular position
of finding myself unable to sign the address, while
yet I concur with every opinion which (as I be-
lieve) the great majority of subscribers intended to
express by it.
What they intended to express seems to me
quite obvious. They intended to visit with just
animadversion a most indefensible attack, and to
assure that eminent person who was its object
that their respect and gratitude towards him have
not been in the slightest degree lessened thereby.
The attack was certainly most indefensible, apart
from all theological questions whatever. Let me
illustrate its nature by a contrast. Let me sup-
pose the writer to have mentioned this or that
proposition occurring in some work of Father New-
luau's, and to have added, with due deference to
ecclesiastical authority, that it seemed to him at
variance with this or that decision or practice of
the Church. This would have been manly and
straightforward. But what course has he in fact
pursued? He has cited no proposition of Father
Newman's ; he has appealed to no decision of the
Church. On the contrary, he has indulged in
vague and random declamation ; he has made a
most invidious, unauthorized, and impertinent use
of names the most illustrious ; he has sent over to
England a mass of indefinite gossip, for which no
one is responsible ; and, lastly (as I cannot but
think), has given an essentially erroneous state-
ment of fiefs. Without impugning for a moment
his good intentions, he has, in fact, chosen that
means of attack which tends to do Father New-
man the greatest possible injury, and, on the other
hand, to give him the least possible opportunity of

s.✓

legitimate defence. Even if my great personal
affection for Father Newman did not make me feel
the cruelty of this—even if my sense of justice
were not violently outraged thereby—a mere selfish
desire of security would lead me to reprobate it.
For what Catholic writer in the world is safe from
such stabs inflicted in the dark
The great body of English Catholics is justlyin-
dignant. Had such weapons been used against
any one whatever, the thing would have been de-
plorable enough. But against whom have they
been in fact employed? Against one of our most
distinguished names ; against one to whom many
Catholics owe a debt of gratitude which they can
never possibly repay ; against one, we may add,
who is himself peculiarly fair and generous in deal-
ing with individual opponents. Catholic laymen
then hastened to express both their reprobation of
the attack and their sense of Father Newman, s
claim to most opposite treatment ; and they signed,
almost as a matter of course, the address put before
them, appearing, as it did, to state this and this
alone.
Still, the more I reflect on the sentence to which
I objected in my letter to Mr. Monsell, the more
I find myself unable to give it any sense which
can justify subscription. The address assures
Father Newman that " every blow which touches
him inflicts a wound on the whole Catholic Church
in this country." Now, I wish most respectfully
to ask Mr. Monsell and other promoters of the ad-
dress, what is the nature of that " blow " to which
they refer ? I can only think of two interpretations
which would even be suggested by the Roman
letter. The first of these is that which I men-
tioned in my letter to Mr. Monsell—the alleged
" inhibition" of Father Newman's mission at Ox-
ford. Of course, I can well understand an humble
address of laymen to the Holy Father, assuring
him of their profound attachment and obedience,
and entreating him at the same time (for certain
reasons assi..ned) not hastily to decide on such a
measure. But there is not one Catholic in Eng-
land who would sign an address to Father Newin in,
saying nakedly in so many words, "if the Pope
inhibits you from going to Oxford, he will inflict
a wound on the whole Catholic Church in Eng-
land." This explanation of the address, then,
must be put on one side.
The only other " bloW" suggested by the Roman
correspondent is the less favourable view of Father
Newman's theology, which that writer alleges to
prevail in certain Roman quarters. If this be the
"blow" referred to, the address assures Father
Newman that any less favourable view of his theo-
logical opinions " would inflict a wound on the
whole Catholic Church in England." But this
it can only do (as is evident), if it is not only
a less favourable, but also a mistaken view%
On such a construction, then, the promoters of
the address summon us Catholic laymen to pub-
lish a dogmatic decision on the due theological
appreciation of certain writings. Now, lam as
certain as I can be of anything which I do not
actually know, that not one gentleman in twenty
who signed the address dreams of this. The sub-
scribers desire, as I have said, to express their un-
abated respect and gratitude to Father Newman,
and their reprobation of the attack made on him.;
but nothing (I believe) could be further from their
mind than the thought of giving] expression, di-
rect or indirect, to any theological opinion what-
ever.

It may, perhaps, be said that at least the sentence
only refers to a criticism of the same kind with that
which gave occasion to the address. But I cannot
imagine such a criticism being called " a blow ;',
and still less can I fancy anyone thinking that
it will " inflict a wound on the whole Catholic
Church in England." I conclude, therefore, as I
began. I sympathize entirely with what I believe.
to be intended, but I cannot sign the address. 1
could most gladly sign the first and the third sent
ences, but I can only imagine two senses for the
second ; and in either of these two senses it is
absolutely intolerable (and would be so considered
by almost all the subscribers) that a body of us
laymen should append our names to it.—l remain,
sir, faithfully yours, W. G. WARD.