The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-06 00:00:00

LOWERING SHIPS BOATS AT SEA.

Whilst our coltim►:s are full of the melancholy details
of shipwrecks and their sad accompaniments, exposura
and loss of life, we are glad to have it in our power to
give publicity to any means that can help to alleviate the
misery of our fellow creatures ; and it is to bs hoped that
those whose duty the Legislature has made it to see that
necessary precautions are taken, and to apply remedies
for known evils, will act with equal alacrity, and see
the same enforced.

The Admiralty, alive to the importance of a simple
and practical ratans of lowering ships' boats at seat
which, once applied, would prevent half the loss of life
',hat occurs, have had repeated trials made of Clifford's
new apparatus, which have been attended in every in-
stance with perfect success. The last and most severe
test was made only on Saturday last, in the gale then
blowing, by Admiralty order, from H.' M. store-
ship Dee, Master Commander Pullen. In our naval
intelligence it will be seen that "shortly before sbe was
brought to anchor, and while she was steaming at full
speed, her starboard cutter, which had been fitted with
Clifford's lowering apparatus, and was hanging immedi-
ately abaft the paddle-box, was manned with ber full
crew (nine men), was instantly and safely unlashed,
lowered, and entirely freed from the ship, by one of the
crew only in the boat. It was scarcely possible to sub.
ject the plan to a more severe trial, from the severity of
the gale, which was blowing at the time, and which was
expressly chosen. The result has been pronounced ex
tremely satisfactory, not a single drop of water having
entered the boat."

UNCONTROLLABLE CIRCUMSTANCES !

(From the Examiner.)

We respect Lord Panmure. He is an able and honest
man, somewhat opinionated and obstinate, perhaps—errors
on the right side of earnestness. Generally, whatever he
says bears the stamp of conviction, and, whether right or
wrong, it is felt that he speaks what he thinks. An excep-
tion to this impression must have struck every reader of
this passage in his speech at the Forfar dinner respecting
the Crimean mismanagement :
" I saw, as others did, the state into which, from cir-
cumstances over which no man had any control, the army
in the Crimea had unfortunately fallen, but I saw, too,
that that army was rallying from these circumstances.
And I bad such reliance on the British soldiery, and
on the intelligence and energy of the officers of the
British army, that I was quite sure any responsibility I
might have with regard to the army itself would be light
if I would only trust to the army and those who composed
it. There were circumstances certainly connected with the
army in the Crimea which called for immediate and active
measures. I have stated to you, and Sir J. Ogilvy has re-
peated it, that the army in the winter of 1854-55 had fallea
into a condition which aroused the indignation and excited
the deepest sympathy of the British nation. No man
seemed well to know to what circumstances to attribute so
heavy a disaster, and I made it my duty, with the consent
of my colleagues, to send out two gentlemen to inquire into
the nature of these circumstances—not for the purpose of
seeking victims for public indignation to punish, for I
think that has been somewhat misconstrued, as the inten-
tion of the appointment of Sir J. M'Neill and Col. Tulloch
—but to gain information, so that we might know the
errors which ,had been committed, and be able to avoid
them on all future occasions. Gentlemen, the people of
England are not raturally a vindictive people; they desire
to see public men properly discharge their public duties;
they desire to see the officers of th army discharge their
duties efficiently ; but they can make allowances for diffi-
culties. And.now that these circumstances have passed
away I trust that justice will be done to the officers, for I
do believe that every one of these things in the Crimea arose
from circumstances over which no man had control; and I do
hope, now that they have passed, and that we have read
the lesson, and studied the lesson, the people of England
will let the matter drop asleep, and not avenge on a single
individual that which was the result of a system rather
than the fault of any single individual. I have not had
any opportunity of recording in public the approbation of
the Government of the report of these two gentlemen.
1 The information in the report was accumulated under
many difficulties, made with great fidelity, made, not with
the intention of injuring the feelings of any British officers,
but of telling the truth. And neither Sir John M'Neill
nor Colonel Tulloch, in placing the statements in my
bands, and before the British public, had the slightest in-
uring the feelings of any one."
appear from this statement that Lord Panmure
in-
tention
would
o ;lolfainj
had come to the conclusion that the disastrous circum-
stances of the Crimean campaign in 1.851 5 were circum-
stances over which no one had any control, before he sent
out the commissioners, Sir Johu M'Neill and Colonel
Tulloch, to gain information as to the facts. Wanting
this knowledge, let us ask, by what process had Lord
Panmure arrived at the conclusion that no one was to
blame, and the system only iu fault? Whether this was
1 true or not, it was rather soon to discover it, before the
information was obtained for which the commissioners
were sent out. There was a foregone conclusion. It was pro-
settled in the mind of the Minister of War that no one was
in fault for the everything that was wrong in the Crimea.
Sir J. M'Neill and Col. Tulloch might have received
their commission couched in these words, "Go and find
what is amiss, and that no one is answerable for it. Toll us
all that is wrong, and that every one has done his best in
bringing about a disastrous result."
The commissioners, however, did not find blame imper-
sonal. They found men at fault as well as the system, and
Lord Lucan's subsequent publication shows that they ra-
ther understated than overcharged the representation of
mismanagement and culpable remissness.
The publics, Lord Panmure truly says, is not vindictive.
It does not call for punishment; it only protestshagast
wards of the unworthy and incapable. It sees with profound
and, while incapable
leiyisenffii
ontccioceomuncPsyae
disgust all thechiefactors in the Crimean tragedym
promoted, and placed in stations d honoured,
oe re
whichd,
they may continue their ill offices t?otfh
peo-
ple of England are traitors to their oe:
nsinerivnitceer.esTteh,ei a srno It btt hol ye
let service
e them
hvr
eis cmee
the matter drop asleep."
Lord Panmure hopes, they
"lethile incapable men are blaz-
ing
I hay© consented to let
Bygonesw ith cannotdecorations, b bygones
depends.entrusted
'Thewit hp duub tl ii ec s
wouldn p obwhtilcil
thi
for conduct' ls. -
it was faulty,
eeaoslidly;scaupe-goat system,
ing or wor ing a
. can those weak men possess who succumbed
up downeastiblye.se As sisfdocretrhs 3
tbeinut what ptitude
übnneotdtdeeorrutsbhYte; defects of the old system, if they did not pro-
duce idts
mbilsawme rki
of ngthie. system, and nothing but
An
the system, and nothing better than a cant. Was it the
mwhich assigned a yacht in Balaklava harbour to a
fitigadier-General as his quarters, seven miles from his
rfeaaillulyrothbyis
troops, liable to be called out at any moment to take the
field against the enemy? And are the pledges for the im-
proved new system the Quartermaster-General and Inspec-
tor of Cavalry ? Out upon it.

The Board of Customs have appointed Mr. Cockshoa
to the vacant office of Chairman of Surveyors in the
port of London. This is a post of some importance to
the mercantile community, as a large number of ques-
tions, bearing upon the importation of foreign goods,
which arise not only inLondon, but also in the whole of
the outports, are constantly being referred to the chair-
man, by whose practical knowledge the commissioners
must in a great measure be guided. Mr. Cockshott was
the first to bring the decimal system of weights into
practical operation in this country by its partial intro•
duction into the Customs, a step
which has given great
satisfaction.