The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-14 00:00:00

MONDAY F,VEINING

the favour of a furlough in England as the want of
health alone.

" Moreover, if such furlough were obtainable at
moderate intervals, and with greater facilities than at
present, the number of sick certificates would assuredly
be immensely decreased.
"It is probable that after a while they would almost
wholly disappear.
"The evil done, both to England and to India, by
the present furlough regulations, is incalculable.
" A large proportion of the Indian officers who can
now return to England is composed of those worn out
in the service—of the aged, the feeble, the sickly, the
di-contented, the idle, and the lazy ; while the energetic,
the active-minded, the able, the zealous, and the strong,
are compelled for the most part to remain at their work
in India, without any intermission, without a day of
real rest, until their failing vigour qualify them also for
the indulgence of a visit to their native land.
"In English society, by reason of this state of affairs,
India is not fairly represented.
" The real working men of India, the soldiers, the
magistrates, the statesmen, all those men of clear heads,
strong minds, and active habits, by whose practised
intelligence and honourable labours our Indian empire
is held together, have little connexion with, or influence
on, the English public. They are very rarely seen in
England. •
" From this cause it proceeds that in the imagination
of tho people of England the idea of an Indian officer,
military or civil, is always connected with those of rice
and curry, and diseased livers.
" Ft om this case chiefly results the deplorable ignor-
ance) regarding Indian affairs which prevails even among
educated gentlefolk in England.
"Flow easily might all these evils be rectified.
"Let ns have recourse to a principle as old as the
-history of man—the institution of the Sabbath. This
at once satisfies all our wants and meets every difficulty
in every single point, while no objection whatever can
be brought against it save by those who would wiab, if
possible, still to retain a dark veil between India and
England for their own supposed private advantage,. bat
to the grievous injury of both countries.
" My proposal is to give every officer, civil ormilitary,
every seventh year to himself, if he wished to avail him-
self of the indulgence, to allow him, during that period,
to go wherever it might please him to go, whether in
India or any other part of the world, to allow him during
that year to receive his full Indian allowances, to retain
his staff appointment if he held one, but during his
absence not to receive the staff salary, which should go
to the officer who might officiate until his return. If an
officer should wish to remain in India, even in the very
camp in which he was serving, and there to enjoy his
sabbathical year, he should be allowed to do so. The
year should be his own to employ as he pleased.
" If an officer chose to allow his sabbath to pass by,
and to wait till he had served 12 years, he should be
allowed two years rest on furlough ; after 18 years' un-
interrupted work, three years should be allowed, and
so on.

" The consequences of this arrangement would be
great and numerous, and all of them good—good for the
Government, good for the people, and good for the ser-
vices. The amount of vigour infused into Indian society,
by this means would be almost incredible. Hope, look-
ing forward to the enjoyment of the sabbatb, would sti-
mulate even the lazy and the idle to work hard during
the six years of labour.

" The continual return to England and reflux into
India of the tide of Europeans would be to the body
moral and politic, exactly what the circulation of the
blood is to the animal body. England would be our
lungs, the old blood would be there aerated, and new life,
health, and strength thereby sent flowing vigorously to
every cornet and extremity of our empire. Energy and
health would take the place of langour and disease.
" The outcry for more Europeans would be at an end,
for those now in the service would be bound willing and
able cheerfully to do well doable the amount of work
which is now thought to tax their powers too highly.
. " There would be a far more equal distributiou of the
emoluments of staff appointments by reason of the num-
ber of officiating men. There would also be a far
greater number of men well acquainted with and ready
effici-ntly to perform the duties of such appointments,
to the great advantage of the service, which now often
suffers from the inexperience of new incumbents.
" Society in the two countries would become one, and
all manner of blessings would indirectly idlow.
"Let any man of sound common sense, and a tolerable
knowledge of the subject think over the matter, and he
most be convinced at once of the truth of the conclusions
set forth above.

" The doctrine is founded on the laws of nature, and
its truth will be the more apparent the more those laws
are studied. "JOHN JACOB,"

HORRIBLE MURDER OF A LADY IN LEIGH
WOODS, NEAP CLIFTON,

BRISTOL, SATURDAY.

Great sensation was created in this city and Clif-
ton last evening by a report that a murder had been
committed, apparently under very atrocious cir-
cumstances, in that romantic epot, Nightingale
Valley, Leigh Woods, near Clifton. Ou inquiry
we learn that about seven o'clock- last evening, as
a gamekeeper, in the employ of W. Miles Esq.,
M.P. was passing along the north side of Nightin-
gale Valley, near the rabbit warren, he was hor-
rified by discovering the body of a lady-like female
lying on the ground, with her arms extended, and
her face covered with blood, quite dead. The keeper
raised au warm, and on examining the body it was
found that her throat was cut from ear to ear and the
head nearly severed from the trunk. There is also
a wound on the right side of the head, apparently
caused by a bullet, though this eaut ba only ascer-
tained by a pest mortem examination. There were
no 'other marks of violence on the body, and no in-
strument of death was found near it. The deceased
female appears to be about 30 years of age ; she is
of diminutive stature, rather handsome, and is
dressed in a gray alpaca gown, frilled round the
neck and down the front, with kid boots, and two
skirts, one grey and the other white. She had no
bonnet. At present the deceased lady is unknown,
and there can be no doubt but that she has been
cruelly murdered. The gamekeeper states that he
passed the spot on Thursday afternoon in going his
round, and from this, as well as from the freshness
of the wounds, the crime was apparently perpet rated
in the course of yesterday. Since her death some
of the flesh of the throat has been torn away, it is
supposed by rats.
The holy has been removed to the New Inn,
at nownham Ferry, and information of the melan-
choly occurrence has been forwarded to the county
coroner, B. Fry, Esq., who will forthwith hold au
inquect. The body of the unfortunate lady may
probably
presentbe
in the course of this day, but
identified
-Live() been prolonged on some parties have taken place in
at prest tho deceased is unknown. During the
summer
vsoeod,
vefs,laupdie
occa-inns until midnight, and pars ns have taken
refreshment at the cottages in the wood, and then
strolled away to Nightingale Valley, and in many
-cases the females have-left their shawls and bonnets
at the cottages. This may possibly furnish a clue
to the identification of the body, and explain the
fact that the deceased was without a bonnet. The
crime has been committed in the county of Somer-
set, beyond the jurisdiction of- this city, but the
city police areon the alert. A married woman- is
.missing,-having eloped with a ticket-of-leave man,
with a sum of money in her possession, but the
husband believes, from the description given to him
of the dress and body of the deceased, that she is
not his wife. Ile will, 'however, be permitted to
see the corpse this morning.

THE _RECENT FEARFUL COLLISION, IN
TDB CLIANNEL.

We reported. in The St of Saturday the colli-
sion in the Channel between the steamers Sophie
and William Hutt. The chief Mate of the Sophie
has since made the subjoined report of the disaster :
"Left Rotterdam at 5 a.m., 10th, wind from the
W. S. W., fine, and proceeded safely until about 1.15
a.m. of the 11th, when off Dungeness, distant about
six miles, the light bearing N.N. W., wind N.W.,
thick, with, rain, and steering W., exhibiting the
usual steamboat lights, all of which were burning.
Mr. Eos (the chief mate) was on- the fore part of
the ship, and saw a steamboat approaching towards
them on the port bow about l cable's length of
them, when he hailed her, and ran aft to the pilot,
who put the helm hard a-port, but before the So-
phie could get clear she was struck by the steamer
between the fore bulkhead and the forem4st. The
Sophie making •making much Water, they endea-
voured ta clear the boats. They succeeded in
lowering the starboard boat, but in doing so stove
her. Four men got into it, and aitempted to stop
the leak. In the meantime others were engaged
in c'earing the other boats, but faded in getting
them clear, and in about smmutes the Sophie went
down.; Mr. Eos, who was in the boat, hailed the
strange steamer to save the crew, which she did,
and picked. up seven persons and took them ou
board. The steamer proved to be the William
Hutt, from Havre for Shields. The master of the
Sophie was J. Von Knapen. The pilot, George
"Barry, belonging to Bristol, the ship's carpenter,
steward; four. seamen, one fireman, the captain's
wife, one male passenger,-and the late engineer's
. wife, were drowned. The William Hutt brought
the survivors, consisting of the mate' chief ,erigi-
neer, and nine seamen, as far as the South Fore-
land, and then put- them on board a Dover pilot-
boat, which landed them. at Dover at 7 a.m."
The William Hutt 'sustained serious damage:to
her stem, and her fore. cotnparini.‘mt was reported
to be. full of water. Very fortunately she .was
light ; had she been loaded, the probability is that
she would have gone down with the Sophie.
The names of the-survivors are John Sambrook,
chief engineer; Morgan, second engineer; Milsom,
stoker ; Rex, seaman ; Vincent, stoker ; Breaden,
seaman ; Hargen, seaman ; Van Nauten, seaman ;
Kraal), seaman ; and Pajewski, seaman. The late
engineer's wife who was drdwned was on her way
toltristol, to endeavour to obtain the release of her
husbind, who .is in prison with the old crew on
some charge of smuggling. None of the bodies
have as yet been washed ashore.