Note 300 — Chapter I · THE STEAM-SHIP “QUEEN”—THE ORKNEYS AND MAES HOWE—THE SHETLANDS AND THE FÆROE ISLANDS.

After many years of the “quousque tandem?” state of mind, my astonishment at the amount of legal murder authorised and sanctioned by authority in England, and my wonder that abuses so hideous did not become a public scandal, have been explained away by the sacrifices which the patriotic Mr Plimsoll found necessary before he could obtain a hearing. The manner in which his small inaccuracies of detail have been made to obscure the whole “palpitant question,” the counter-charges of sensationalism and ultra-philanthropy which have been brought to refute the main charge, and the notable worship of Mammon and vested abuses, are hardly encouraging to the optimist’s view of “progress.” But the day is now done, let us hope, when crews of “murdered men” can be sent to sea in floating coffins insured at thrice their value. The simplest preventive would be an order that every consul should report all flagrant cases, with the express understanding, however, that he should not be punished nor be made to suffer for doing his “unpleasant duty.”