The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2, 1861

can measure a farm by the produce of a year in 1
which you have not had an abundant harvest—by
the bills that have been carried in a particular
session, yet I say that among those 150 acts that
we passed into law there will be found many which
were the result of labour and the offspring of
thought, and although they were not the subject of
party conflicts or keen disputes, nevertheless, by the
consent and co-operation of politicians of all shades,
they were inserted in the statute-book, and will, I
believe, confer lasting benefits on the whole com-
munity. (Hear.) But, gentlemen, your popular
institutions, of which the House of Commons is the
chief, and that free press which, co-operating with
them, so collects and-distributes the united intelli-
gence of the whole people, that England now pre-
sents the spectacle of a country in which the reason
and enlightened conviction of the entire nation pre-
vail and govern in the last resort—l say that those
popular institutions give to your councils in the
eye of the world a weight and a force which no
other institutions have ever given to the councils of
any other State, and which even among ourselves
were, probably, never raised to a greater height
than they are at this momenta (Hear, bear.) Gen-
tlemen, if you look to the narrative of events in
China
to which my hon. friend and colleague has
referred—a narrative which, whether you speak of
' its horrors or of its triumphs, is so tinged with the
colour of eastern fable that you can scarcely believe
it is a record of facts that you are reading—you
see there the energetic arm of popular institutions
carrying on almost at the antipodes a great expe-
dition with as much success as if it were conducted
at within one day's sail from our own arsenals and
sources of supply; and you see nothing left to be
desired in the skill of the commander, the heroism
of the troops, or the wonderful effect of those arms
of precision which have now been tried for the first
time, which are destined to exercise such an impor-
tant influence on the result of all future conflicts,
and of which England, the metropolis of art and
science, is so naturally the mistress, that you may
depend upon it the main command of those weapons
will ever remain with this favoured and powerful
country. (Cheers.) But, with your permission,
gentlemen, I would touch for a moment upon other
triumphs which we have been enabled to achieve
during the past year. First, I would refer to the
treaty with France, to which my hon. friend and
colleague has adverted, and from which I sincerely
trust we are destined to reap signal advantage. It
was by an unfortunate commercial treaty which
this country once concluded that the mischievous
separation between England and France, which has
now happily been terminated,was originally created.
You know that down to the beginning of this year a
wall of protection, as impassable as the rampart
which the Tartars built on the frontiers of
China, fenced in the commerce of France, and
separated England and France, the two countries
in the world most formed for friendship and mutual
assistance. (Cheers.) Well, gentlemen, by whom
was that wall erected ? There used to be commer-
cial intercourse between England and France, but
the historians of the last century tell us that by a
treaty which, with mischievous ingenuity and in-
comparable skill for evil, our negotiators contracted
with Portugal we succeeded in securing for our-
selves the commerce of that comparatively small.
country, and excluded ourselves from the benefits
of that great commerce with France which I trust
is now by another treaty about to be opened to
England. But, gentlemen, great as are the mate-
rial advantages of increased trade between France
and England, in my judgment they sink into insig-
nificance in comparison with the other and higher
benefits that may be expected to follow in their
train. How can you be surprised if the experience
of the last and the early part of the present century
has been hostility between the two greatest and
foremost countries in the world, when ill-contrived
legislation shut them out from the reciprocal advan-
tages of commercial interchange? But now, break
down the barriers between them, invite the people
of both countries to increased intercourse and
freer trade, and you bind them both in the re-
cognisances of commerce to amity and concord ;
and I trust the civilisation of the world is
destined to receive blessings yet unimagined from
their extended relations. (Hear, hear.) My hon.
friend has spoken to you of Italy. You have
watched with interest and hailed with delight the
results of the conflict in which that noble people
have been engaged. You have seen the clergy and
the laity, the rich and the poor, side by side con-
tending to shake off the tyranny to which they had
been so long subjected. What does the great Mi-
nister of Italy tell you is his aim and object ? Why,
to raise his country after the example and according
to the model of England, which he truly designates
" the classic mother of liberty." (Cheers.) And,
gentlemen, you know that with Italy the struggle
is not over when the strife of arms has ceased, but
the real question is whether when the victory in the
field is won, her people will be able to build up for
themselves those peculiar institutions by which they
desire to be governed, which they have to create by
their own wisdom and their own exertions, and
which you, by the blessing of Providence, have de-
rived as an inheritance from your ancestors, and
mean to transmit unimpaired to your posterity.
(6eheers.) So far, then, gentlemen, for the position
of this country in the face of Europe. Nov let us
turn to the other side of the Atlantic. During the
past year it was your pride and privilege to have
resident among you the heir apparent of the Throne.
You watched, therefore, with special interest and
affection the visit which he paid to the colonies of the
Crown and that great Republic in another hemi-
sphere, whose origin is the same as ours, whose
laws, language, and literature have descended from
our own. You can appreciate better than others
the effect which that visit has produced, and you
will agree in rejoicing, at a time when the Ameri-
cans appear to be threatened with many clangers from
internal dissensions and disunion, that the common
fueling of the whole Anglo-Saxon race has by that
auspicious event been drawn more closely and united
more firmly to the common mother, from whom all
its virtues and all its honours have sprung. (Hear.)
Gentlemen, at home we have not, indeed, been
blessed with a favourable, season, but such is the
industry and such has been the policy of
the country, that we can now meet an adverse
season without being shaken to our centre, as we
used to be in former times ; and, notwithstanding
the difficulties with which we have to contend, we
have on every side a loyal, a prosperous, and a
contented people. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, in
these blessings I am happy to tell you that the
sister island shares in a signal and remarkable de-
gree. (Hear, hear.) Ireland has been more severely
tried, perhaps, by the harvest of the year which has
just closed than her richer sister, England. The
time is not long gone by when her warm-hearted
population had not the pueauits of industry open to
them, for there were no means of obtaining wages
for the labour of the day. But those times are now
happily past, and in Ireland there is growing up a
spirit of industry, a desire for improvement, and a
thirst after knowledge and the blessings of educa-
tion which bid fair year by year to raise her more
and more in the scale of nations. Depend upon it
that, side by side, the two sister kingdoms will
continue to flourish and improve, forming one united
empire, the envy of surrounding nations, and the
happiness of the people who inhabit them. (Cheers.)
Gentlemen, we have marked the progress daring
the past year of that Volunteer movement upon
which my hon. colleague dwelt with so much force.
We have seen this country rising like one man, de-
termined that at whatever sacrifice, either of person
or pocket, that should be done which was most
conducive to the honour of the Crown and the in-
terests of the nation. In this we have witnessed a
spectacle such as I venture to say no other country
at this moment could present. (Hear.) Gentlemen,
in conclusion, I thank you heartily for the kindness
with Which you have received me, and I beg to assure
i
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to honour
your warm
marks of public confidencle wbietlhiewvehicthhayto,unaortewgiotohd-
Standing the short-comings, whatever they may
which we are privileged to live is teloauvnetbryeein,; of the year just expired, the favoured
des-
tined to be more and more the cause of happiness
to the subjects of the Queen, to be the object
of admiration and imitation to the other nations of
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the globe, and to be—thaiks to its popular and
free institutions—the arr of rational and well-
ordered liberty. (Loud deers.)
Several other toasts aprropriate to the occasion
followed, after which the 3ompany separated.

used their utmost exertions in attempting to save
the crew. It appears that it is the duty of the Coast-
guard to give every necessary assistance to all boats
or vessels in perilous situations, and it would seem
that Mr. Williams did his duty as far as possible in
going to the spot when the accident took place. He
also sent his men and lines for the purpose of assist-
ing the poor unfortunate fellows out of their diffi-
culty. From the evidence of Mr. Williams, it
appears that a steamtug came to the assistance of
the men on board the ship, and was attached to the
schooner, but from some cause unknown to us she
left the schooner and went to Plymouth, but what
about we cannot ascertain. I regret we have no
opportunity of ascertaining that, and I also regret
that the steamtug did not communicate with the
admiral at Devonport, so that he might have sent
assistance. But we must look at it in another way,
and must not attach all the blame to the Admiralty
or the Government men. When Mr. Williams got
to the place he found the vessel was not in that peri-
lous position he afterwards imagined she was, The
first thing he saw was the men bailing the boat
out, and then his attention was directed to the posi-
tion they were in then, and found it was more
perilous than before from the fact that the five
men shortly after got into the boat and pulled
away from the ship. He said they pulled away
eastward, and he thought their lives would have
been saved, but unfortunately they turned in
a different course and were destroyed. In
this instance I do not fancy there was so
much blame attached to the Government officials
as to the poor men themselves, because it is evident
they ought not to have left the ship, for if they
had not they would not have lost their lives.
The law upon such matters is that if any one
is placed in a post of responsibility, and he
fails, either through negligence, or wilfully, or
through ignorance, to perform his duty, he is
guilty of a criminal offence ; so that if a Coast-
guard man does' not do his duty to the extent he
ought, he becomes culpable. But Mr. Williams,
who is the responsible person at the Coastguard
station, did do his duty; and he told them that the
surf was so great that no men could have gone out
in a boat to the assistance of the shipwrecked crew.
It was of no use for him to throw the lines out,
because the men would have been drowned in pull.
ing them through the sea; therefore I think, so far
as Mr. Williams and the coastguard are concerned,
he has done his duty so far as Government will call
upon him to do so. I think the principal censure
you have to cast upon any one is on the officers:and
men of-the steamtug. I believe she is not a Govern-
ment steamer, but a common harbour one that goes
up and down for the purpose of assisting vessels in
the harbour. Still he could not help thinking that,
if the men in the steamer had understood that the
crew of the Speedwell were in a perilous position,
common humanity would have compelled them to
return again to their assistance in order to get
either the vessel off or to have taken out the crew.
Therefore I will readily give them credit for huma-
nity, and will believe they did not think the schooner
was in peril. But any one would have thought it
was their duty either to have communicated with
the Government officials, in order to get something
sent out to their rescue, or else to have returned
again themselves. However, you can give no other
verdict than that of " accidental death," but it is
for you to admonish those officers of the steamtug,
or to make any remark upon the officers in Ply-
mouth and Devonport.
The Coroner then dismissed the jury to another
room in order that they might consider their vet,
diet; and after an absence of about ten minutes
they returned again into court, when
The Foreman, addressing the Coroner, said—
' The verdict we find is that of " accidental death,"
and we wish to say at the same time, that Mr.
Williams and his men did the utmost in their power
to rescue the men; but we think that a great cen-
sure should be laid on the commanders of the men-
ef-war in the Sound, and also to the harbour-
master, for it is evident that the ship, having laid
where she was for so many hours, must have been
seen by the harbour-master and the commanders of
the vessels.

The Coroner—l think you are perfectly right. I
shall take your verdict.

One of the jurymen said he thought great praise
was due to the Preventive men, who acted so nobly
on the occasion.

TIIE POPE'S ALLOCUTION.

There is a noted case on record of a Presbyterian
parson having prayed for " the puir Deil ;" perhaps
we may even come at last to hear prayers from
zealous Protestants for " the poor Pope." The " Al-
locution of Pope Pius IX." delivered recently in
Secret Consistory, and now published to the world,
would almost melt the heart of Martin Luther, and
throw into grim derision the wrath of John Knox.
When other people are shaking hands and congra-
tulating each other upon a prosperous year past
and a hopeful year come, when nations are happier
and strifes have ceased, when rational liberty plays
joyfully over many lands, and there is general pro-
mise of peace and goodwill on earth, there are three
greatexceptions to the general joy. The Hapsburg,
the Bourbon, and the Pope lie mourning in sack-
cloth and ashes. The Pope is the saddest of the
three. He goes to his Cardinals in a state of osten-
tatious helplessness, and, instead of wishing them
" merry Christmases" and " Happy New Years,"
or treating them to new hats all round, he does
nothing but unfold his griefs to them. This sad
conclave looks out upon the merry world as discon-
tentedly as a colony of rats might peep from behind
a skirting-board upon cats and kittens frolicking
in the fire warmth. While all the rest of the world
is full of joy the hearts of the Pope and his vene-
rable brothers are " full of anguish." Cruel events
have come to pass, and no bounds have yet been
placed to the great calamities that are over whelm-
ing them. It is not that the temporal sovereignty
of the Prince-Priest of Rome has passed away, and
that he is compelled to surround himself by French
bayonets in order to moderate the too affectionate
caresses of his Italian sons. This is a grief which
must be numbered among those recollections of the
past which fill him with a chronic anguish. Each
day brings with it new sorrows. The case is now
getting so bad that his spiritual dominion threatens
to follow his temporal sovereignty, and he tells his
Cardinals—and with a freedom which passes the
bounds of ingenuousness, and seems to border upon
fatuousness he tells the world—that " the principles
of the disastrous Reformation have acquired almost
the force of public law."

This is almost hauling down the flag. The Pope
is, of course, astounded at the phenomenon. Poor,
terrified old man, he does not, perhaps, quite be-
lieve what he says. He thinks that he is startling
the world by revealing in an exaggerated form a
very startling profanity when he is simply stating
a very common fact. Ho recapitulates the
threatening facts which from day to day come
before him and denounces them as symptoms of
deep depravity in the world, and as "contrary to
the liberty of the Church," and " the result of the
false doctrine of Protestants." He sees the Church
of St. Peter filled by Roman citizens making de-
monstrations in favour of annexation to Piedmont,
and he thinks what wicked men the Roman citizens
must have become. He sees the Baden Concordat
swept away, and he bewails the lapsed faith of the
men of Baden. He looks forth once again to
France and there he sees another pamphlet as in-
famous and atrocious as that which not long ago
stirred his holy bile, and drew forth irreverend
words from those most reverend lips :—" A most
infamous pamphlet lately published in Paris has
come to add to our sadness. In that publication
there are so many things so completely opposed to
truth, so many absurdities and contradictions com-
bined by the author, that it is more fitting to throw
aside and despise it than to refute it. What is,
however, intolerable is the audacity and impiety of
this writer, who, not having feared to attack the
Civil and Ecclesiastical Principality of the Roman
Church, has endeavoured to contrive a particular
species of Church, to be founded in the French Em-
pire, and organized so that it should be removed from
the authority of the Sovereign Pon tiff and completely,
separated from it." This dreadful Protestant sugges-
tion goes to the root of all things. The poor Pope's
head seems to go round as he listens to such unheard-
of absurdities. They are actually saying now that
" the Church is a sort of corporation existing in civil
society, enjoying no rights, excepting those which
are granted it by the civil power." We are much
afraid that that is becoming the current notion upon
the subject. But how can this absurdity gain ground
when the Pope is convinced of it as he is of his own
existence that the Church has free power over all
men, without reference to States or civil powers ?
He can quote a text for it, and he does quote it in
this Allocution :—" All power has been given to me
in heaven and on earth." Yet here is the Pope
possessed of all power in heaven and on earth—for
if it was given him by the awful sanction be
blasphemously cites he surely would have it—yet
he is not able to burn a heretic, or lay a kingdom
under interdict. Pamphleteers are gibing at him
and provoking him so much that he cannot help
replying. Every assembly which has the least
popular clement in its constitution is protesting
against his Concordats and withstanding their
operation ; persons, as he bitterly says, who call
themselves " sons of the Church" at more like
" sons of darkness ;" his influence in every land
depends only upon female influence, or, in the
absence of that, strengthens or diminishes in exact
proportion as the rulers are nearer or further re-
moved froth dotage, or as civil liberty is nourishing
or depressed. There is an evil awakening of the
nation and—most wonderful of all the signs of the
times—the historic pi ecedent of Henry,Vlll. is com-
ing into fashion, and several of the Sovereigns of

Europe are trying on the separated Crowns of the
Pope's tiara. Pius IX. is amazed. He cannot under-
stand it. it is contrary to common senc that people
should doubt that all power has been given to him
in heaven and on earth. If this delusion should
spread, he bids fair to be left with his ecclesiastical
kingdom shorn as close as his temporal principality.
That "son of darkness" who calls himself " the
" Eldest Son of the Church" has just conquered
an enormous ecclesiastical dominion, and has con-
secrated his cathedral to the tune of " God save the
Emperor," just as the prayer for the head of the
Anglican Church might be read at Melbourne.
Austria is about to creep out of her Concordat.
The Pope does not mention this fact, but his special
lamentations over Baden have as an object, no
doubt, to curb the expected backslidings of his long
faithful Austria. " This state of things, as we know,
is the result of the false doctrine of Protes-
tantism." The Pope: communicated_ this know-
ledge to the Grand Duke of Baden, and has scolded
him in letters, and has set his Cardinal Secre-
tary to remonstrate. " But, as all our endeavours
and all our anxiety have come to no result, we have
deplored in your midst, as is our duty, that that
Convention has been abolished, contrary to all the
laws of justice, and without the consent of the other
party, and we have protested, within the limits of
our power, against the rights of the Catholic Church
and of the Apostolic See being violated—outrage-
ously annihilated." It is very hard upon the Pope
that the Baden people refuse to be fleeced, and tor-
mented, and plagued with priests, and have the
education of their children and the management of
their homes, and the expenditure of their money,
taken out of their hands, and should persist in their
resistance, even against the positive desire of "the
other party" to fleece and manage them. Nothing
can be clearer than that justice is all on the side of
the Pope. It is very wrong of the people not to
submit themselves at once to the Pope, that he may
screw down the heretics and screw up the luke-
warm, and empty the purses of the avaricious. But
they will not do it, and here he stands with his
fists in his eyes " deploring in the midst," weeping
bitter tears, even as a wolf might howl when a
lamb had skipped away and robbed him of his
dinner.

It's very sad. But, if it be really true that " the
principles of the disastrous Reformation" are at
the bottom of all this, we are afraid it is a bad busi-
ness. Those principles are very awkward things
for Popes to talk lightly about, and they are very
unwholesome things to get into Papal Allocutions.
They are, moreover, most insinuating things. They
creep or percolate into old institutions like ivy or
frost into old brickwork—the Pope might see the
operation in many of the old abbeys—and then
suddenly the strong walls will split, and the old
mass come crumbling down. If the Pope has
really discovered these " false doctrines of Pro-
testants" to be so rife all around him as he says,
we are afraid we cannot, honestly and with hope,
wish him " a Happy New Year." It is a very
bad symptom indeed; but, if it should indeed be
true that these " principles of the disastrous Re-
formation have acquired almost the force of public
law," it is much to be feared that it is time
for him to put his house in order. We must admit
that he cites some very strong facts,—" translations
of the sacred books everywhere scattered to corrupt
the faith, the removal from the authority of the
Bishops of the education of youth, and the erection
of Protestant temples in many cities of Italy." Can
it be true that these signs are marching through
Italy—toleration—education—the Bible ? Fold
your robe, old man ; your enemies are around you!
—22.711e5.