The Sun.
London, England, 1859-06-02 00:00:00

THE 30TH REGIMENT.

The ceremony of depositing the old colours of
this gallant corps in the great hall of the Royal
Hospital, Dublin, took place at half-past two o'clock
yesterday, in presence of their Excellencies the
hordsLieutenant and the Countess of Eglinton, and
many other distinguished personages. It was at
first intended that the ceremony, in accordance with
bygone usage, should not be of a public character,
but the Commander of the Forces havin 0. signified
his desire that this intention should not be adhered
to, arrangements were made to invest it with a
greater degree of eclat than has hitherto character-
ised such events. A party. of the 30th, under the
command of Lieut. Connell, bore the old colours,
and, preceded by the band of the regiment, perforna-
ing the "British Grenadiers," marched into the
inner square soon after two o'clock, and were draWn
up some distance from the Great Hall. Imme-
diately in front of the latter, a party of the
pensioners, under command of Captain Gibbons,
was also drawil up, for the purpose of rec,eiving the
colours. Their Excellencies arrived at half-past
two, attended by the Honourable Colonel
Lindsay, private secretary ; Captain Warburton,
A.D.C. ; and accompanied by Lord Viscoutit
Gough, Gen. Lord Seaton, Gen. Gascoigne, the
Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, &c. Capt. Chadwick,
the adjutant of the establishment, was also present,
having previously superintended the preliminary
arrangements. Capt. Lockwood, of the invalids,
who carried the old colours at Badajoz, and who
subsequently received a severe wound at 117-uterine,
in consequence of which he was obliged to submit
to the operation of trepanning, was reluctantly
obliged to absent himself, owing to severe illness.
After the reception of their Excellencies, two
ensigns of the 30th, bearing the colours, on a signal
from the officer in command, advanced from the
ranks in slow step towards the body of pensioners,
to whom they surrendered their charge, the band
performing the National Anthem. The colous
were received by two old sergeants of the 30th
(now inmates of the hospital), who carried them
within the hall, there to be deposited side by side
with the many other similar mementos of well-
fought fields, which adorn that fine building. This
terminated the ceremony, after which,their Excel-
lencies and the company invited were entertaincd
at a dejeuner in the hall.

CRUELTY TO SAIL ORS IN AMERICAN

SHIPS.

The commanders and mates of our merchant ships
are gaining, or we may with greater justice say
have gained, a most damaging reputation for
cruelty to the seamen under their charge, and if
this reputation should be confirmed, as we have
too much reason to fear it will be, from the frequent
reports that are-made of the maltreatment of the
crews on board our ships, the difficulty of manning'
our merchant navy, which must be the consequence,
will seriously affect our commercial prosperity.
The records of our Marine Court exhibit a fearful
history of cruelty and savage persecution on the
part of our shipmasters and their mates towards
their crews ; and these cases of cruelty and
barbarous treatment are the rule, and not the
exception, on board our ships. Last year,• when
the captain of an English ship was hung in
Liverpool for the inhuman murder of one
of the sailors under his charge, the masters of the
American ships in that port displayed their colours
at half-mast on the day of the execution, in token
of their disapproval of the punishment of the
murderer and their sympathy with him. Within
a few days reports have been received here of shock-
ing outrages committed on board of our ships in
various parts of the world. The commander of one
of the ships of the Paraguay squadron has been
court-martialed for having by his cruelty driven
one of his sailors to jump overboard to escape the
wanton persecutions by which the poor wretch was
harassed. In Liverpool the captain of an American
ship was arrested for causing the death of a sailor;
and in San Francisco last month the captain of the
American bark Sarah Park was arrested for having
treated his crew in a manner that transcends
belief. One of the wretched creatures under the
charge of this modern Blackbeard had been made a
lunatic by the cruelties inflicted upon him ; and two
of his sailors had been brought to the office of the
United States' Marshal in the last stages of starva-
tion, their bodies horribly lacerated, and their whole
condition pitiable in the extreme. The alleged
cause for the horrible barbarities practised upon
these poor wretches was the crime of pilfering a
piece of biscuit from the ships' stores when they
were placed upon short allowance. Besides the
cruelties practised upon these miserable creatures,
the master of the barque was accused of the murder
of one of his crew, who was thrown overboard.
This last was an extreme case, no doubt, but there
have been too many which bore a resemblance to it,
and it stands the great mass of our shipmasters in
hand to do something to free themselves from,
the reproach which their repeated acts of barbarity
bring upon them as a class. Our countrymen are
not naturally of a cruel and vindictive nature and,
if they were, their proverbial shrewdness ought to
be sufficient to preserve them from the unprofitable
blunder of maltreating the very men upon whose
lives their own safety and welfare depend. Our
shipmasters are renowned for their generosity,
frankness, and hearty good nature on shore; and
we are continually receiving reports of their gal-
lantry and noble conduct at sea • passengers delight
in making them presents of silver trumpets in
testimony of their gratitude for courtesies received,
and every now and then her Britannic Majesty
sends a gold chronometer to one of our shipmasters
as a reward for his humanity in rescuing some of
her subjects from the perils of shipwreck- on the
ocean. As a class, we believe that our shipmasters
are a very worthy, humane, and gallant set of men,
and it is puzzling to know that there can be • any
such inhuman monsters, whose cruel natures and
savage dispositions are only developed when they
get off soundings, and who are so utterly wanting
in common prudence as to starve, beat, maim, and
wantonly persecute the men without whose assist-
ance they could not navigate their sh ips. New York
Times.