The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-13 00:00:00

Capt. Baker—Did you ever hear of a skylight
being washed away before ?

Witness—l did not.

Capt. Baker—Nor I.

The witness said that, looking at the drawing of
the upper deck, he perceived there was a deck-house,
of the existence of which he was not aware pre-
viously, and he considered from this circumstance
that the combings of the London ought to have
been higher.

The inquiry was then adjourned till to-day.

Charing-cross Hotel Company (Limited).

THE COMPLAINTS WITH REGARD TO VISITORS.
The half-yearly meeting of the shareholders was
held at ten o'clock yesterday morning at the hotel
—the Hon. James Byng in the chair.
The report stated that the house had been well
filled from the beginning, and numerous applica-
tions for apartments had constantly been declined.
Daring the winter months a slackness of business
might have been anticipated, but on the contrary,
the demand had frequently exceeded the amount of
acconjnodation the hotel was capable of affording.
The public had also largely availed themselves of the
Railway Restaurant, and the Shades in Villiers-
street, both of which had been very successful. The
directors had thought it desirable to supply what
had hitherto been felt by continental travellers as a
great want in London hotels, namely, a table d'hote.
A sunerior table d'hote at 6 o'clock every evening
was accordingly established in November last in the
spacious apartment overlooking the trains and plat-
forms of the Charing-cross terminus ; and it had
been highly appreciated by guests visiting the hotel.
The trade receipts from all sources during the seven
and a half months ending the 31st December, 1865,
amounted to £46,482 3s. Id., and after placing
£2,000 to the credit of the reserve fund for depre-
ciation and renewals, there remained a balance of
£13,265 ss. 5d., and the directors recommend that
a dividend be declared at the rate of 12 per cent.
per annum, or 15s. per £lO share, free of income
tax, for the seven and a half months, leaving £1,265
ss. od. to be carried over to the next half-year.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report and accounts, said—l have much pleasure in
being able to congratulate you on the successful
operations of the company as referred to in the re-
port and accounts now submitted. It appears that
the habits of the English are changing, by rail-
ways and other causes. Our countrymen begin to
find hotels preferable to lodgings. Indeed, I ex-
pect a large portion of the population will in time
be resident in hotels in the same manner as on the
Continent—thus avoiding the anxieties of house-
keeping and obtaining a greater change of society.
There are visitors now staying at the Charing-
cross Hotel who have lived in it almost from the
first day it was opened. We find that in the dull
season of the year we have been just as busy as in
May and June. The great number of visitors ac-
commodated has severely taxed the energies of the
staff ; and, looking at the difficulties in organising
all the details necessary to put such an establish-
ment in -working order, I cannot but state in all
fairness:that we are much indebted to the officers
and servants of the company. With reference to the
complaints of incivility referred to in the Times, the
chief barmaid, the person alluded to, had left the
service of the company before those letters came
under the notice of the directors. You can easily
understand that where applications for acccommo-
dation are:more numerous than the place can afford
some inconvenience must naturally occur. The
circumstances have been investigated, and it has
been found that great difficulty arises when parties
keep their rooms for a longer period than they have
previously arranged. The apartments are fre-
quently re-let to guests who wish to come in. The
crowded state of the house renders it impossible
even to provide temporary rooms in the meantime,
and disappointment has been unavoidably occa-
sioned. The number of sleeping guests who have
visited the hotel since the opening is 45,000, and
that of casual visitors 5,000. You must bear in
mind that when visitors change their minds we can-
not compel them to vacate their apartments. The
directors are exceedingly anxious that everything
should be done to insure civility and comfort ; and
with every disposition in the world to afford conve-
nience to guests, it is obvious the house can only
give accommodation equal to its capacity. The
directors, as well as the manager, express the
greatest possible regret that anyone should have had
cause for complaint, and we beg to assure you that
no effort shall be wanting to conduct the hotel-in a
creditable manner. We have every confidence in
the manager, who in opening the hotel selected the
most efficient employes, but if in the cases named
they failed to carry out his instructions he much re-
grets it, as we do all. The profit on the hotel
management has been considerably higher than could
have reasonably been anticipated when compared
with undertakings of a similar nature. The general
satisfaction which has been expressed and the con-
tinued support the establishment meets with show
these instances to be of an exceptional character.
With regard to the question of keeping the house
open throughout the night, the directors are care-
fully considering the matter, and if they find that
any beneficial change can be made so as to meet the
further requirements in this particular, without act-
ing prejudicially to the comfort of the guests gene-
rally, they will only be too happy to make such
arrangements as will meet the case. But we must,
above all things, be particularly careful that we do
not get the hotel a bad name by making it what is
commonly called a " night house" in such a locality.
We pride ourselves, and have been highly compli-
mented, on the quietness of the house. Guests
speak of it, that after a certain hour it is as quiet as
their own homes. I may, however, state that since
the hotel has been opened guests who expect or are
likely to be late, having previously ordered supper,
it has always been ready for them on their return.
It should also be borne in mind that the hotel is
kept open for passengers arriving by the tidal and
other trains of the South-Eastern Company, at
whatever hour of the night the trains may come in,
when it is especially taken care that the requisite
accommodation is prepared ready for them in the
coffee-room. We shall, however, be glad at all
times to meet the public requirements, as far as can
possibly be done in this respect. In conclusion, I
would add that we must not overlook the fact that
not only has the hotel been successfully opened, and
a vast amount of business done, but a most satis-
factory result has also been produced, with every
probability of its being maintained. (Cheers.)
Mr. G. SMITH said although he read the letters
which had appeared with great anxiety, he felt con-
fident from his knowledge of the chairman and the
other directors that a satisfactory explanation would
be given. (Hear.) It now appeared that the lady in
question had left when the complaint was made,
but even if she had not he should have felt satisfied
that the directors would take the proper course. A
12 per cent. dividend was very pleasant, but it was
also desirable that the hotel should stand well in the
estimation of the visitors.
Another SHAREHOLDER also expressed his satis-
faction at the explanations given by the chairman
in relation to the charges of incivility. He added
that having resided in the hotel he could testify to
the satisfactory nature of the accommodation
afforded both to individuals and families.
The report was adopted, and a dividend at the
rate of 12 per cent. per annum declared.
The meeting was then made special, and a reso-
lution agreed to for raising £20,000 on debentures,
making the, total debenture debt £40,000.
A vote of thanks to the chairman and the other
directors terminated the proceedings.

THE FENIAN CONVICTS.—At a very early hour
on Saturday, the 10th inst., 13 Fenian prisoners,
lately convicted, were conveyed from Kilmainham Prison,
escorted by a great number of warders and mounted palice,
to the Westland-row station in Dublin. They left the
station by the 6.15 a.m. train for Kingstown, and were in-
trusted to the charge of 25 marines from her Majesty's ship
the Royal George, with a number of warders, to be con-
veyed over the Channel, on board the Royal mailpacket the
Ulster to Holyhead. It being a very rough morning at sea
the prisouers wore Al very sick during the whole voyage.
Having arrived at Holyhead, and the mail bags with the
ordinary passengers being landed, a portion of the Marines
marched up before the Fenians, and formed a line to guard
them from the packet to a third-class carriage attached to
the limited mail train, which left Holyhead at 11 40 a.m.
for London. Thirteen warders from London had been
commissioned to meet them at Holyhead.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The bill which was presented to the House
cf Commons last night by Sir G. Grey bears wit-
, ness to the rapid advance of opinion in favour of
stringent measures in the case of the cattle plague.
After three months of disinclination and wavering
the public have at length given their full assent to
the recommendations of the Commissioners, which
at the time they were made naturally seemed tyran-
nical and unnecessary. As week by week the returns
have been more and more alarming, the objections
of those on whom the loss and inconvenience must
in the first instance fall have been one by one dis-
sipated. The present month is not yet half over,
and yet it has seen the desire for stringency and
promptitude of action increase until it is impossible
for any Government to neglect it. Sir G. Grey
admits that he has changed his mind within a very
limited period—he would not say within a few weeks,
but actually since the week preceding the meeting
of Parliament. The House of Commons, which so
largely represents the agricultural interest, is evi-
dently now fully in earnest. The seven hours'
debate of Tuesday night, the meeting of the Agri-
cultural Society on Wednesday last, and the Confer-
ence at St. James's Hall on Thursday, show the
paramount importance attached to strong and im-
mediate measures. If Sir G. Grey had come for-
ward last night with such a bill as he probably would
have thought sufficient a fortnight ago, the Govern-
ment would have bad to dread the indignation of
the house. Happily, he has managed to overtake
public opinion, and now asks Parliament for powers
which, if the cattle plague can be stayed by
human precautions, seem likely to effect that object.
The choice of the house lay between the Go-
vernment Bill and that of Mr. Hunt. With a good
deal of similarity in the machinery to be employed,
Mr. Hunt's Bill, which is based on the resolutions
of the St. James's Hall conference, differ from
the Ministerial proposal principally in totally pro-
hibiting all movement of cattle whatever till the
31st of March, while Sir G. Grey's Bill empowers
the local authorities to issue licences for removal
under general regulations. We must confess that at
first sight there is a good deal to recommend Mr.
Hunt's more absolute proposal. If we are to stop
the movement of cattle by Parliamentary legislation,
it seems as well to do the work thoroughly. Grant-
ing that the disease is the most infectious that has
ever been known in man or beast,—that it may be
conveyed in the hair of an animal or the coat of a
man, that it clings to the dust of a road, the leaves
of a hedge, and even the surface of a post or gate,
—the natural conclusion is that if it is to be con-
quered by isolation, that isolation must be complete
and liable to not even the chance of contagious in-
tercourse. If one infected cow, which is, perhaps,
in the first stage of the disease, and has escaped
notice, be allowed to pass along so many miles of
road, what is to prevent the infection spreading as
much from her as if drove after drove passed daily ?
This question of absolute or approximative prohibi-
tion may, in the present temper of Parliament, lead
to serious difference of opinion ; but we are not pre-
pared to say that Sir George Grey is in the wrong.
Undoubtedly, total cessation of intercourse would
be desirable, if feasible ; but the question is whether
it can be enforced without injury to other interests
which have a right to be considered. The Govern-
ment proposal is that a magistrate's licence may be
given for removal, on a certificate that the animals, 1
and also the premises on which they are kept, have
been inspected within a certain time, that the cattle

are perfectly healthy, that no disease exists at the
place from which it is proposed to remove them, or
within a certain distance from the line of route
along which they are to be moved. The Bill will
give power to arrest persons who are found to vio-
late the law, and carry them before the nearest
magistrate. Now, with the present strong feeling
throughout the country, that the disease can only be
suppressed by the strictest precautions, these provi-
sions will probably be found sufficient. We presume
that no licence would be given except in cases of ex-
treme necessity, and only when there exists a practical
certainty that the disease does not exist in the place
from which the cattle are taken. Discretion is
left to the local authorities—that is, the county
magistrates—but then they are just the persons who
will now be most eager in prohibiting unnecessary
movement for their own sake, and may, we think,
be trusted to keep a sharp watch upon anything
like deception or carelessness. At any rate, this may
be said, that the Government bill is the most strin-
gent that is consistent with anything like local ad-
ministration. If the present system is to be enforced
at all, it must be by allowing some such discretion
as the present measure permits. The provisions for
giving compensation for the slaughter of cattle are
elaborate, and will no doubt create a great deal of
discussion. The Government proposal is, that it
should be imperative on the local authorities to
order the slaughter of all infected animals, and to
give them a discretion with respect to the slaughter
of those which have been exposed to infection,
granting compensation in the former case to the
amount of two-thirds and in the second to the
amount of three-fourths of the value of the animal,
the maximum not to. exceed £2O and £25. This
will probably be accepted as a satisfactory arrange-
ment • but the source from which the compensation
is to be drawn may perhaps cause discussions calcu-
lated to impede the progress of the bill. This, how-
ever, may fairly be a matter for further considera-
tion ; and if, as Sir G. Grey indicates, it may be
expedient to divide the bill into two parts, and pass
at once those clauses which admit of no delay, and
about which there is not likely to be a difference of
opinion, the question of the rates for compensation
may be left for the more leisurely discussion of the
second measure. Of the other propositions of Sir
G. Grey, with respect to markets, slaughtering, and
the importation of foreign cattle,.we need not speak
at present ; all that is necessary to observe is that
the bill met with sufficient acceptance from the
house, and that there is reason to hope that its
leading provisions will be at once passed into
law. There can be no doubt that both Govern-
ment and country are now fully alive to the
necessity of action, which to be effectual must be
within the next two months. The most important
national interest is threatened, and those who
talk of " selfish agriculturists" and " undue alarm"
should recollect that what is the calamity of a sec-
tion of the public to-day will be the calamity of the
whole to-morrow. If the disease spread at its pre-
sent rate, not only the meat of this year, but of the
next two or three years, will be at almost a famine
price. The public has not yet felt the weight of the
misfortune, but in two or three months more it will
begin to tell on prices, and inflict hardships upon
all classes of the community which they can now
hardly estimate. Speedy legislation, followed by a
vigorous enforcement of the new act, is what the I
country now desires.

HERALD.—The resumption of diplomatic relations
between Great Britain and Brazil may be dated from
the interview between Mr. Thornton, our Minister
to the Argentine Republic, and the Emperor of Bra-
zil, in his camp at Uruguayana, on Sept. 23 of last
year. The papers relating to this happy renewal of
intercourse, which have flst been presented to both
Houses of Parliament, show that it was not effected
without a good deal of discussion and letter-writing
—sometimes amiable, _ sometimes acrimonious in

tone—between the irritable Minister who had in:

volved his country in a dilemma from which it was

not easy to extricate her without dishonour, and the
representative of the neutral power which had un-
dertaken the difficult task of reconciling the claims
of Great Britain with those of outraged Brazil. The
correspondence was conducted with great temper,
and yet with commendable spirit, by Count Lay-
radio; the Portuguese Minister. On the part of
Lord Russell it shows an ill-disguised eagerness to
escape from a troublesome business without discredit,
side by side with an obstinate persistence in impos-
sible demands, from which he was glad at last to.
escape by a subterfuge. The Government of Portu-
gal, despairing of bringing him to reason, at one
time threw up the mediation in despair. At
this critical moment Lord Russell, conceiving
perhaps that he had gone too far, proposed
the renewal of relations by a sort of back-
door, accrediting with a special mission the popu-
lar British Minister at Buenos Ayres, and to the
tact and moderation of M. Saraiva, the Brazilian
Foreign Minister, who closed with the proposal in
default of better, we owe it that this foolish quarrel
has been brought to an end. The difference with
Brazil had its origin in an untoward event which
occurred in June, 1861; it was itot terminated
until the autumn of 1865. In June, 1861, the
barque Prince of Wales was shipwrecked on a desert
part of the coast of Brazil. The British consul

supposed that the seamen, who were found dead,
and the cargo, which was not found at all, had met
with foul play at the hands of the wild people of this
region. The Brazilian authorities being unable to
bring the guilt home to any of the supposed offenders,
the British Government made demand of a repara-
tion in money for an outrage for which it argued
the Government of Brazil was responsible. The
question was stil undecided in June of the next
year, 1862, when a collision between some officers
of the Forte and the police of Rio furnished our
irritable representative, Mr. Christie, with a new
grievance, which decided him on prompt action.
The British Admiral Warren was instructed to
make reprisals. He seized five ships, and carried
them off to the Bay of Palms, in Brazilian waters.
Under this coercion the Government of Rio con-
sented to pay the small sum demanded of it as com-
pensation for the wrecking of the Prince of Wales,
and offered to submit to arbitration the question of
the officers of the Forte. The award of the King
of the Belgians, given on June 18, 1863, was unre-
servedly in favour of the Government of Brazil. No
insult, it decided, bad been either intended or offered

to the British navy. Meanwhile the Brazilian Mi-
nister in London had demanded his passports ; and
Mr. Christie having left Rio, diplomatic intercourse
between Great Britain and Brazil was suspended.
So far her Majesty's Government had very much
the worst of it, and had to back out with the best
grace it could, from the half of its demands pre-
ferred against the Government of the Emperor.
The other half, the question of the Prince of Wales,
had been settled by the payment under protest of
£3,200, the amount claimed from Brazil. But di-
plomatic relations were interrupted, and could not
well be renewed without some atonement being
made to the wounded feelings of the country which
had been violently coerced, in the sight of its sub-
jects, by the fleet of a Power with which it was not
at war. On June 26, 1863, Count Lavradio, the
Portuguese Minister in London, made formal proffer
to the Courts of London and Rio of the good offices
of the King, his master, as mediator. The offer
having been accepted by both Governments, not
without some delay, M. Lavradio forwarded to Lord
Russell on May 27, 1864, a memorandum which he
proposed to adopt as a basis of reconciliation. Ye'.
capitulating the facts to which we have just brietlY
alluded, be maintained that some sort of satisfac-
tion was due to the Emperor of Brazil for the arbi-
trary proceedings of the officers of the British Go-
vernment. War had not been declared, but the
blockade of the port of Rio was an act of war. Re-
prisals were made on account of the affair of the
Forte as well as on account of the alleged plunder
of the Prince of Wales. They were thus carried out
in order to avenge an insult which, according to the
decision of the King of the Belgians, was never
offered. While the seizure of the ships in the har-
bour of Rio was an offence to the dignity of Brazil,
their being taken under guard to the Bay of Palms
was a violation of the territorial sovereignty of the
Empire. Accordingly, Count Lavradio proposed that
in order to assure a just, palpable, and full reconci-
liation, the British Government should accredit to
the Court of Brazil a Minister Plenipotentiary
charged with the following mission :—" 1. To assure
the Brazilian Government that the British Govern-
ment never intended to offend the dignity nor to
violate the territorial sovereignty of the empire of
Brazil. 2. That, whereas, by the sentence of the
King of the Belgians in the case of the arrest of
the three officers of the Forte, no insult had
either been intended or offered to the British navy,
her Britannic Majesty's Government declare that
they regret all the acts which were perpetrated in
order to resent an insult which never existed. 3.
That her Majesty's Government also declare that
they regret some of the events which accompanied
the reprisals. 4. That the English Government
consent that the claims for losses arising out of the
seizure of the five Brazilian vessels should be sub-
mitted to a mixed Anglo-Brazilian commission, or
to liquidation by means of arbitration." Lord
Russell replied to this memorandum on June 6,
1864, declaring that the question of the Prince
of Wales had been settled by the payment
by Brazil of the sum demanded, and that of
the Forte by the relinquishment of the demands
of her Majesty's Government, in accordance with
the award made by the King of the Belgians.
It was for Brazil, who had first broken off diplo-
matic relations, to take the first step towards re-
conciliation. A British envoy might be instructed
to apologise for the violation of the territorial
sovereignty of Brazil in the temporary detention of
the vessels in the Bay of Palms. A Brazilian envoy
must be dispatched simultaneously from Rio, and
no further reparation could be made by her Ma-
jesty's Government. This missive was answered by
Count Lavradio, who insisted on his terms, on which
followed another letter from Lord Russell, again
rejecting them. On February 2, 1865, the Portu-
guese Minister announced that his Majesty the,
King of Portugal renounced " with deep sorrow,
a negotiation which he felt that he could not
conduct to a successful issue. The Emperor of
Brazil had declared that he could not accede to
the terms proposed by the British Government.
It was just when this correspondence seemed
thus to have come to an end without any result that
Lord Russell, for once in his life, set himself down
to write a conciliatory letter, in which he said all
that he could say to sooth the amore propre of the
offended representative of Portugal, and of the
Government of Brazil, which he had so long affected
to despise. Giving up his demand of the simulta-
neous despatch of envoys from the two Courts, he
requested the King of Portugal to make the follow-
ing proposition :—" That her Majesty's Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Argentine Republic, Mr-
Thornton, should proceed on a special mission to
Brazil ; that he should then solicit the honour of
an audience of the Emperor ; that he should express
to his Imperial Majesty the concern with which her
Majesty has viewed the circumstances attend-
ing the suspension of friendly relations between
the two Courts ; that he should declare that her
Majesty's Government disavow most solmenly all
intention of offending the dignity of the Brazilian
Empire; that her Majesty accepts fully and unre-
servedly the award of the King of the Belgians, and
will be happy to appoint a Minister to Brazil when-
ever his Imperial Majesty shall be ready to renew
diplomatic relations." This proposal, after some
demur on the part of the Portuguese Government,
was submitted to the Emperor of Brazil, and ac-
cepted by him. Mr. Thornton has been accredited
as British Minister at Rio, and M. Moreira, Baron
de Penedo, has resumed at the Court of St. James's
the functions which he discharged for so long to the
full satisfaction of the Governments of Great Bri-
tain and Brazil. So ended a dispute which was
entirely of Lord Russell's seeking, from which, with
the kind aid of Count Lavradio, he extricated him-
self with much difficulty, and with small credit
either to himself or his country.