The Sun.
London, England, 1850-09-02 00:00:00

mina glut.
LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1850.

A more important inquiry has seldom taken place
before a criminal tribunal than that which was held
before the' LORD JUSTICE CLERK, at Edinburgh, on
Thursday and Friday last, into the conduct of the
master and mates of the Orion steamer
on the occasion of the loss of that unfortunate
vessel, i❑ June last, and which has terminated in the
conviction of Captain HENDERSON, the master, and
JOIN WlLLiams, the second mate, after a patient
and protracted investigation, continued during two
entire days. The charge was withdrawn against
GEORGE LANGLANDS, the first mate, at the close of
the case for the prosecution. His evidence, therefore,
became available on behalf of his fellow-prisoners,
who were thus enabled to present their cases in the
most favourable light to the jury. It was, however,
insufficient to exculpate the parties, who were, as we
have already stated, convicted of a culpable neglect of
duty, for which the captain was sentenced to 18
months' imprisonment, and the second mate to seven
years' transportation.
The circumstances of the melancholy transaction
must be perfectly familiar to our readers.
The vessel left Liverpool on a beautiful day
in June ; numerous passengers, full of joyous
anticipations, and looking forward to a delight-
ful passage, were on board. There was nothing
that could terrify even the most timid ; the sea was
unusually calm, and there was scarcely a breath of
wind. A slight haze hanging over the land towards
the Mull of Galloway was the only inauspicious
omen, and even that did not prevent the land from
being visible all the way between Dunman Head
.and the ?dull. The passengers, having no conception
of the dangerous consequences of their undue prox-
imity to the coast, had retired to rest, expecting to
arrive at their destination in the morning. Even
the master, to whose protecting care the
lives of so many human beings and so
much valuable property was entrusted, had
left the deck, and was fast asleep in his cabin at the
time of the catastrophe. Nothing occurred to disturb
the general confidence until the striking of the vessel
on the rock, which happened fifteen or twenty, minutes
after the Portpatrick light had been reported to the
officer of the watch, JOHN WILLIAMS. Then, indeed,
there was a scene of wild tumult and confusion : the
passengers, aroused by the crash and the fearful in-
telligence that the ship was in danger, hurried on
deck and increased the confusion ; there were life-
boats in which many might escape, but
as if they had been prepared rather for
"ornament than use," they were " covered up,
and no knives " were prepared for the purpose of
cutting the covers. The number of persons who
crowded into these boats, and " the stiffness of the
tackle," considerably enhanced the difficulty of
launching these boats; and the t° starboard" one, un-
fortunately, got under the paddle-wheel and was

swamped. •
It is due to the captain and mates to state that,
frOm the moment of the accident, they behaved them-
selves with the greatest propriety, as became British
seamen. They retained their composure throughout,
did all that experience suggested to save the lives of
the crew and passengers, and were among the
last to leave the ill-fated vessel. It was, however,
but too painfully perceptible that there had been
gross incapacity or criminal negligence somewhere.
All the circumstances of the fatal transaction dis-
tinctly proved that fact, and that the lives of so many
British subjects and so much valuable property had
been literally sacrificed to the carelessness or incotn-
eetence of some one or more of the officers in 'charge
of the vesEel.
The captain and second mate pleaded specially.
The former alleged that he had gone below to take a
little rest, leaving the vessel in charge of a
competent officer, and twat afterwards the accident
arose from causes which he could not control.
The second mate alleged that he had steered the vessel
to the best of his jddgment, and that the accident had
arisen from the "defective state of the ship's compasses,
or other machinery." LANGLANDS, the first mate,
who had given up his watch to WILLIAMS, and gone
to rest, merely put in a general plea of " not guilty.''
Although, however, Captain HENDERSON was asleep
in his cabin at the time of the accident, he could.not
thake off the responsibility of his position, or tratusfer

it to the officer of the watch for the time being. It
is the duty of a master of a vessel at all times to
exercise a vigilant superintendence, to guard against
every emergency, to be on deck at every moment when-
ever there can be the most remote danger. This is
especially the case when running so fearfully close
to the land, more particularly if there is the slightest
appearance of fog. Captain HENDEUSON reposed a
blind confidence in his second mate. He came on
deck for a few minutes between half-past twelve and
one o'clock, after WILLIAMS bad twice changed the
course, directing the vessel more in shore on each
occasion ; he even looked at the compasses,
that must have shown the peril of the course,
but returned to his cabin without giving any order.
WILLIAMs was even more culpable. He had been
in charge of the vessel, and was bound to call the
master in any case cf difficulty. He took upon him-
self to direct the change of course, which brought
her into the dangerous proximity to land. Captain
ROBINSON, R.N., who had bcen making a hydrogra-
phic survey of the coast, and was therefore well
acquainted with the locality, declared his opinion,
" that no person in his sound senses, looking to the
nature of the _ coast, and going up the Frith of
Forth, wculd keep his vessel only a length off to
secure its safety." His was, therefore, the greater
fault, and it was justly visited with the more stringent
penalty. On the whole, the result of the trial will
have a most salutary effect, as showing the nature
of the important duties undertaken by masters and
mates of merchant vessels, and the certain punish-
ment that awaits any negligence or incompetence on
their part, leading to an injury to the ship or cargo,
or the lives of the crew or passengers.

The intelligence brought from India by the Over-
land Mail, which arrived" yesterday, is of such a
character as to occasion even a still stronger feeling
of regret than that we have hitherto expressed at the
retirement of Sir CHARLES NAPIER from the office
of Commander.in-Chief. It appears that the
Afreedees have violated their recent engagements,
and have recommenced their acts of plunder.
On a former occasion the patrons of piracy and
plunder in this country, who make it their business
to excuse the atrocities of savages of all sorts,
provided only the said savages are black, and
are ignorant of the usages of civilised life, took these
Afreedee robbers under their special protection,
and declared that but fur the tax on salt they would
be the mildest and most peaceable of neighbours—the
salt-tax is removed, and behold here we have them
again, at their old game of murder and robbery. As
the Lahore Chronicle very justly observes :
"The present Afreedee outbreak will show that the
last was not owing to any increase of the salt-tax. In
fact, as mere carriers (for their own consumption of
salt is small), they were but little interested in that
measure. It, however, answered as a pretext for con-
cealing the real one—their objection to having a gun-
road made through their pass. Yet many people at the
time insisted that their only object was to lower the
price of salt."
We trust that neither the Government nor the
public will suffer themselves to be misled by the
clap-trap common-place of the humanitarian stump
orators, whose crass ignorance of the nature
and polity of the semi savage races of Asia is only
equalled by the glib complacency with which they
oracularly retail their crude notions as to the
manner in which such races should be treated.
It is abundantly evident that the Afreedees must
be in the first place inspired with a
wholesome fear of the British name, and that the gun-
road must, coute qui coute, be run through their
mountains, and a safe and regular communication
be established between Peshawur and Kohat.
The Afreedees are now much in the
same state that the Scotch Highlanders were
at the beginning of the last century, and what the
road of Marshal WADE has done fur the High-
landers the gun-road will do for the Afreedees. It is
much to be regretted that at this particular time the
Marquis of DALHOUSIE should have considered it his
duty to pursue such a course of conduct as to impose
upon Sir CHARLES NAPIER the absolute necessity of re-
tiring from the command of the Indian army. There is
a prestige attached to his name which is worth whole
regiments against such enemies as the Afreedee hordes,
and in which, however perfect may be the strategy of
his successor, that successor Must necessarily be want-
ing. We regard the retirement of Sir Cuent.ss
NAPIER from the command of the Indian army at
the present moment as a great public calamity.

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