THE DEATH OF COMMODORE GOODENOUGH.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 433, 2 November 1875, Page 3

THE DEATH OF COMMODORE GOODENOUGH.

The London Correspondent of the Argus says : • 1 w The information we have at present concerning the death of Commodore Goodenough is very scanty. Sir Hercules Robinson’s telegram to the Secretary of State for the Colonies merely states that Commodore Qoodenough had gone ashore to open friendly intercourse with the natives at Carlisle Bay, and that after being an hour ashore everything appeared to be proceeding satisfactorily, and the party were preparing to return to the ship, when a native commenced the attack by firing an arrow at the Commodore, that then the boats at once shoved off, receiving several flights of arrows, and altogether seven were wounded, including Sublieutenant Hawker ; and that the Commodore and two of the crew had subsequently died of their wounds, whilst it was not yet known what the result would be in the case of the others. The telegram was dated 23rd August, and since then no further intelligence has reached us. All the daily papers have commented on the event, ;and, remembering the death of Bishop I’atteson, have pointed out how, in the present case also, the catastrophe may be attributed to the evil impression that has been made upon the minds of the islanders bv the wrong doings of some of our countrymen, and how, therefore, they look upon all . Europeans as -their , natural enemies. Amongst fother circumstances in Commodore Goodenough’s career, to which has been drawn special attention within the last few days, allusion has been made in the columns of the Daily News to the generous assistance he gave in the distribution of the Daily News French Peasant Relief Fund. The writer says : '• ' 1 ‘ ' “ At the dreariest period of the gloomiest of November, when autumnal rains were giving place to snow and sleet and frozen winter fogs, and we whose business it was to convey food aqd clothing over the slippery and almost impassable roads to the destitute in the villages about Sedan were almost in despair at the task we had : undertaken, and were in sore need of encouragement, there came an answer to our appeal for assistance —a man the very sight of whom communicated new difef to us." ’ When the news ; of Commodore Goodenough’s death reaches the villages about Sedan, where he labored, there will be grief as genuine as his friends and his country must feel for him, and grief which he himself would have valued not the least amongst the tributes to his memory.; The Army and Navy Gazette seems to think that a mistake was made in allowing the boat’s crew to laind unarmed, for it assumes that such was the case, and it says if the boat’s crew had been provided with revolvers, or if a few marines well armed had landed, no blood would have been shed, and we should not now be regretting the loss of one of the foremost men in the service, whom we could ill afford to lose. It is to be hoped that a peremptory order from home will be issued to the effect that in future no boats shall be permitted to reconnoitre any unknown country without being armed. Mistakes may sometimes occur, but it is far better to err on the right side. Englishmen are not in the -habit of wantonly taking life, and success is more likely to attend a conference with savages if those who corrt it be provided with the handy little inventions of Colt or Adams, than if they be merely ornamented by dirks or swords. The Daily News considers that the event reads more like a chapter out of the annals of the days of Captain Cook than like what might be expected to occur on the occasion of a visit of a

British commodore to a savage island in the present day. The Times considers that perhaps the most lamentable circumstance is that alihost everything that happened might have been distinctly foreseen by any persons possessing an ordinary knowledge of previous events, and it is of opinion that a distinguished and promising officer, really holding high rank in the Royal Navy, has fallen a victim to his imprudence After referring to Bishop Pattesou’s intercourse with the Santa Cruz islanders, and his untimely fate, the leader winds up by saying :—“ Where the Southern Cross was repeatedly repulsed, an ;English man-of-war may well anticipate terror, resistance, and treachery. Under existing circumsta->f^f, none should venture upon communication with the islands where danger may reasonably be anticipated without special qualification for the task. Further and full particulars of the event will be eagerly looked for, as we shall then see how far the criticisms passed upon the commodore’s proceedings have been justified by what really took place. No doubt, after the fate of Bishop Patteson, the attack upon the Pandfly last year, and the well-known character that the islanders have borne since the group was first discovered, at the close of the sixteenth century, it was not to be expected that the natives would prove very willing to hold intercourse with us ; but still those who were on the spot may be considered to have been best judges how far they could trust them, and in any case, whether the commodore erred on the side of confidence or not, we may all be assured that he was actuated by a thorough desire to disabuse the natives of the idea that all white men came there to do them mischief. In doing so he has added another name to the long list of martyrs of civilisation.”