In March 1860 we had the happiness of realizing the first effects of our works at the mouth of the Sulina. The entrance to the river deepened, under the influence of the floods, to 16 feet. This appeared to us, to justify the imposition of the tariff of dues which we were authorized to levy, as already vessels had benefited by the works which we had carried out, in being able to enter the river without lightening and to leave it with only partial lightening.

Hartley, who was at that time in Egypt, received with great delight our news of the effect which his work had produced, but, alas, that effect was not to last long, for when further high floods came down a great deposit was precipitated and the depth was again reduced to 13 feet.

It became evident that the effect of the one pier which alone at that time had been constructed, was not sufficient to secure an improved entrance. This experience was interesting, because an Austrian Engineer, Mr. Wex, had maintained that one pier was quite sufficient. As soon as Hartley returned he began the second or South pier, which had always been part of his project. Great progress was made in 1860 in carrying tht North pier to its length of 1800 metres, in leading out the South pier and in securing it parallelism of the extremities at 600 feet apart. During the summer of 1860 the Commission discussed the principles on which the tariff should be fixed, with the result that it was constructed on a double sliding scale, varying according to the size of tht vessels and the depth of the entrance. Vessels were classified according to their draughr of water as represented by their tonnage, and each class was taxed according to the depth of water at the entrance. The greater the depth, the more a vessel paid, buff vessels of small tonnage did not pay higher rates for depths beyond their average draught. This tariff was agreed to by the Commission on July 5th, 1860, to be put ill force from the 1st September of that year. It had been worked out principally by the Russian Commissioner, Baron d'Offenberg, and myself, that is, I adopted some of his suggestions in modification of my proposals and worked out all the detailed rates, a problem which it required some patience and ingenuity to solve. Very soon after putting the tariff in force the Commission became aware of the fact that the levying of the tolls on vessels of different nations according to their tonnage did not carry out the express stipulation in the Treaty of Paris that the flags of all nations should be treated on a footing of perfect equality; for it soon came to our knowledge that hardly any two vessels had adopted the same rule of measurement, and that consequently very unequal dues were being paid. The Commission had fixed tht English ton as the unit on which the dues were to be levied, and representations wert soon made to them that this bore unequally on different countries. In order to remedy this inequality as far as possible, I persuaded H.M's Government to take measurements according to English rules, of the vessels of foreign nations, so as to establish a t comparison between the English tonnage and that of other nations. The carrying out of this enabled me to submit to the Commission a comparative table by means of which f the tonnage on the papers of each ship could be corrected to its English equivalent. This system was brought into operation in the year 1861, but the Commission endeavoured to amend and improve the table by making the measurements themselves It at the mouth of the Danube, and the English Government was requested to continue the system, so as to provide further data for improving the factors of correction.

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It came to light that those decimal factors, though based on an average, bore very hardly on certain forms of vessels, and that it by no means established a perfect equality between ship and ship, though it gave roughly, what was demanded by the treaty. The question came often before the Commission, owing to complaints of individual shipowners, and led them to recommend that the different Governments should arrive at an understanding by which the measurements of ships should be based on certain rules fixed by international agreement. This was a motive which led me to study very carefully the question of tonnage measurement, and as will be seen, this led to important results in my career.

That summer I went to England, in order to see my younger brother, Francis, who had :; arrived home from Australia, and whom I had not seen since I went to the Cape in - 1845.

before leaving I took part in the revision of the different regulations which the Commission had put in force for the better government of the navigation. The range of their operations may be gathered from the list of rules, which comprised one for the police of the Port and Roadstead of Sulina, another for those of the river between Isaktcha and the mouth, and others for the pilotage of the lower Danube, and for regulating the service of the lighters.

On my way up the river I met two ladies, the daughters of Admiral Beaufort, who had been travelling in Egypt and Syria. One of them afterwards became Lady Strangford. ,~ She published a book on her Eastern travels which was severely criticized by Mr. Augustus Smythe, one of H.M.'s Diplomatic Corps, which criticism led to their meeting and eventually marrying. He became later Viscount Strangford. I found these ladies very agreeable companions, l also fell in with some pleasant Hungarians who persuaded me to remain a little time at Pesth. There was great excitement in Hungary at that time, as the Hungarians were making great efforts to obtain from the Emperor the recognition of their ancient rights as an independent Kingdom, under the Empire. The national .'. costumes were worn everywhere. I found many Hungarians speaking English, and they impressed on me their desire that the English Government should help them in their representations to the Emperor of Austria. At the balls to which I was invited I found the National dance, the Czardas, much in vogue and took part in it, much to the delight of my hosts. The dance begins with a minuet, changes suddenly into a lively waltz, the music ever getting quicker and quicker, until a pause comes and the sober minuet gives breathing time for another waltz. As the Hungarian Officers danced with their swords swinging and spurs clanking, the clash and excitement may be imagined. The difficulty of steering clear of these acoutrements was also great, but I did not see any accidents occur. After a very pleasant time in Pesth I went on to Vienna, where I visited the picture galleries and other places of interest and then continued my journey to England. <

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On my arrival, I found that my Brother Frank, the boy of 13 whom I had left at school in 1845, had become a man as tall as myself, with a great beard, and so much resembling me at that time, that I would sometimes be startled at meeting him. We stayed together at the Vicarage at Staines, my Brother Edward's living, where also our Mother and sister lived; the dear Father's death, a few months before, having compelled them to leave Cobham.

After a very pleasant two months in England I saw Frank off on his return journey to Australia, which he made by way of America. My youngest son, Alfred was born on the 14th of October.

I was back in Galatz early in October. I found that the works at the mouth of the Sulhna had made satisfactory progress. In 1860 the Commission were requested to examine into the conditions of the fisheries at the mouth of the Kilia, and the different Commissioners had to obtain the authority of their governments to enable them to take up this question. In 1861, all being provided with full powers for the purpose, they entered upon the matter, and some very interesting discussions ensued.

It was evident that Russia, even then, was endeavouring to regain a footing at the Kilia mouth, in resisting which efforts the Austrian and Turkish Commissioners acted with me.

The winter was a very severe one and I passed a part of it in shooting the roe-deer with a party in the Debrudscha hills, where I had had built a rough cottage in the forest near a little Russo-German settlement. The village was called Czukurova, and there we spent happy holidays at different seasons. The sport was good and adventurous, as went after wild boar and wolves as well as deer. In the summer my children could there enjoy the change from the dust laden air of the town to the health-giving mountai 1 breezes. In March 1861, when the ice on the Danube broke up, and navigation was resumed we were pleased to find that the provisional works, which were then If approaching completion, had produced a fine channel across the bar, 18 feet deep; and the Commission began to look forward to finishing them in the summer.

In the early part of the year the Governments had decided to relinquish, for the present at any rate, the idea of improving the St. George's branch. This furnished to the Russian Commissioner, who was always desirous of restraining the activity of the European

Commission within the narrowest limits, and of getting rid of it as soon as possible, a pretext for attempting to bring about the cessation of its functions altogether. As the arguments which he and the French Commissioner put forward had a plausible appearance they met with support from both the Prussian and Sardinian delegates. I had therefore, in the absence of my Austrian colleagues, to contend single handed against this proposal, and successfully staved off any decision until his return in June, when he put forward certain proposals which met with my entire support and Checkmated the Russians. My contention had always been that, if the permanent unprovement of the St. George's branch was to be given up, we ought to perfect, as far as possible, the Sulina works, and deepen the insufficient channel, so that vessels entering might be able to ascend the river to the grain ports of Galatz and Ibraila. M. Becke adopted this view, and suggested that the Commission ought to make clear to all ahe world the great improvement which it had already effected at the mouth and in the general conditions of the navigation, and that, to this effect, they ought to consolidate in the Public Act the regulations and the tariff which they had passed. M. Becke's rguments produced the effect of setting aside for a time the Russian proposal, and

eventually led to its being forgotten altogether; for it took quite 4 years to get Turkey and the Governments into agreement as to what this Public Act was to be. He also proposed that there should be a striking official function, declaring the opening of the mouth of the river to vessels of large size.

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ln August of this year, 1861, the proposed festival took place. The Commission made preparations on a large scale to entertain officials from the Riverain States and from Turkey; a formal procession was made down the river and through the piers, after which a banquet was given in a pavilion temporarily erected for that purpose, and speeches were made, describing all that had been done. Reporters were present, so that accounts of all these proceedings might be published in the European papers. My own part in the speech-making was confined to proposing the health of the Sultan, Abdul Assiz, who had recently come to the throne. The whole thing went off very well, and thenceforward the Commission was occupied in considering works for the nprovement of the channel of the Sulina, and in preparing the Public Act, which was future to be the law for all navigation in the Lower Danube.

In the administration of the navigation of the river the Commission had experienced great difficulties in controlling the police. It was not thought desirable to bring the vessels of war, on whose support they depended for the maintenance of their authority, into direct contact with other vessels, on account of the variety of flags, and because there was a risk that vessels of one Power might interfere with vessels of war of another Power. The Commission determined therefore, to appoint an Inspector General of the Navigation, with sub-inspectors under him, who, armed with the authority of the Commission, should take care that the regulations published by the Commission were properly obeyed. The Turkish Commissioner, however, could not at once take part in this decision, and it was not till the latter end of 1861 that the Commission were able to appoint their Inspector- General. For this post they accepted the nomination by the Sublime Porte of M. Drigalsky, a Polish officer in the Turkish service. This man who was a son-in-law of Col. Malinowski, proved to be a very efficient and active officer Under his authority and that of his four subordinate agents the Commission was able to obtain complete control of the navigation from Isaktcha to Sulina. The judgemenls rendered by M. Drigalsky, in accordance with the regulations of the Commission, were subject to an appeal by offenders against those regulations, to the European Commission of the Danube, as Supreme Court. That body, therefore, held the somewhat unusual position of legislating for the navigation, administering the laws by its agents and, finally, judging the cases on appeal. This system was confirmed, and received the authority of all the Powers of Europe. It may appear somewhat anomalou % but it worked most satisfactorily and has never, so far as I am aware, after 37 years of its operation, given rise to any complaints.

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My chief amusements throughout this period consisted in shooting. Quail, partridges, hares, woodcock and snipe abounded in the country round Galatz, wild fowl in the Delta, and wild boar, wolves &c in the hills of the Dobrudscha. In the summer Bz drove about a good deal, and had picnics and much cricket. We used to send the children away for the hottest weather, sometimes to Czukurova, sometimes to the Adapt Convent, or to Mehadia in the Carpathians; once they went to Kustendjeh and once to the Princes' Islands.

In May my youngest child, Constance, was born, and in that summer I took the older children, Georgina, Charles and Arthur, to England to place them at school. My headquarters there were at my brother's house at Staines. I also visited Mr Holland, the Member for Banbury, and his wife at their house, Dumbleton, in Gloucestershire, with my daughter, Gina. The boys were placed at school at Blackheath, on the recommendation of my brother who had also been at the Proprietary school there. Mr Selwyn was the Headmaster.

During my stay in England my niece, Margaret was born, and I had the pleasure elf standing sponsor for her in the Church of Staines.

During this visit I often stayed at the house of my wife's Father, in Cleveland Square. f He was very ill, and in fact, died a few days after I left. I returned to Galatz early in September and, as he died on the 6th, our life for some months was a very quiet one.

In March 1863 a very great and lasting sorrow fell upon me. I had heard during the : winter that my brother Edward was out of health, and seeking by rest and frequent c hange of air to recover strength, but I had no idea, nor apparently had those about him, that he was in any danger. On the 19th March I received by telegram the news of his death. We had been so much to one another all our lives that it was a terrible grief, and the news came quite suddenly in that simple announcement of death for I had nothing to enlighten me as to its cause. I immediately started off, reaching London before the end of the month, to find the poor widow and my Mother and sister in great tribulation. My sister had, a short time before my brother's death, become engaged to be married to the Rev. James St. John Blunt, the Vicar of Old Windsor, near Staines. As the home at Staines must be broken up, it seemed better that the wedding should not be deferred for more than a short time. My first and particular care was to relieve my sister-in-law as much as possible of the pain and trouble of leaving Staines, and to arrange that all her furniture should be stored where it would be well cared for. I escorted her and her child to Oxford, where she remained for a time with her friends, and took a house for my Mother at Old Windsor, not far from my sister's future home, and then went with her to stay at the Vicarage, to help to prepare for the coming bride and bridegroom. The wedding took place on the 1 3th April, and was performed by the Bishop of Oxford who had been a great friend of my brother's; the wedding was, of course, perfectly quiet and simple.

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While at Old Windsor, I had a horse at my disposal to ride about the country which I did with Miss Blunt, through the beautiful woods of Windsor Park, of which they had a key, and eventually I had the great pleasure of seeing my sister and her husband return . from their honey-moon. General and Mrs Seymour (afterwards Marquis and Marchioness of Hertford) Col. and Mrs. Howard-Vyse (at that time "Silver Stick") took the lead in organizing a most hearty welcome, accompanied by addresses and the assembling of the parishioners, which showed that the Vicar was very much beloved in his parish.

Finding that Mrs Blunt was anxious as to the future of her grand-son, Harris Bigg Wither, a nice boy of about 16, so I offered to take him out with me to the Danube, and towards the end of May I started with him, and we arrived on the I st of June.

My wife was in a very poor state of health, and it was thought necessary that she should go to the Baths of Aix-la- Chapelle and thence to England. At the same time, we . decided to send the children, with their governess, to Zaizon, in the Carpathians. This journey was similar to the one I had taken the previous year. Little Constance was a delicate child, and it was thought that the air and baths of this place would be beneficial. to her. I sent our interpreter Mr. Flamm, to take charge of the party, who, with all their goods, were packed up in a tented waggon which was drawn by post-horses. They had to be very careful about what they took with them, as the Austrian Custom-house was very particular as to the admission of certain articles. Before the party started, M. Flamm said to me "I hope they have no tea with them, as that will involve trouble". They already had packed several pounds of tea, but I gave orders which were unluckily forgotten for it to be left behind. When they got to the frontier the question was asked "Have you any tea?" M. Flamm of course said "No". However, they opened one of the bags and there, sure enough, they found some. This produced a most pernicious effect and though it was sundown and the party were some distance from their next halting place the men opened out all the bedding &c and strewed it about the place. The declaration had been made in perfect good faith, but the servants were to blame.

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The stay in that country was very beneficial to the children. They went on, afterwards, to Kronstadt, and had a very pleasant time, returning to Galatz after about two months absence. It had by that time been decided that my wife should not return until the following year, as her health required great care; and she took lodgings in London, as her Father's home had been broken up after his death. The winter of 1863-64, passed very quietly in the absence of the mistress of the house, and in my deep mourning.

The work of the Commission presented no striking features and in the early summer of 1864, my wife returned, very much improved in health. The summer passed without any special incident, but the autumn of this year was marked by the very serious illness of our daughter Edith. After leaving Sulina, where the children had passed a part of the summer, she became ill with an attack of typhoid fever, and for three weeks was in a most critical condition. It was on the 21st day of her illness that Dr. Serfioti gave her up. That evening however, a change took place, and she went on gradually improving. Her beautiful hair had been cut off, and she was a sad contrast to the bonny creature she had been before she was taken ill, but thanks be to God, she got well again without a check.

The winter of 1864-65 was very much enlivened by the arrival, towards the end of the autumn, of Mr. Standen's two sisters, for whom he took quarters near our house. We had also, at that time, a very pleasant set of Officers on board the "Weser" and the "Cockatrice". Capt. Johnstone, of the "Weser", was a most agreeable companion. Mr. Ward, who had been Consul since 1860, with his wife and three sisters, had also added to our numbers, as had Mr. and Mrs. Samson; so that the English community in Galatz had increased from various causes, and in the winter of 1864-65 was the largest we had ever known there.

In the preceding summer, I had obtained from Russia two very fine riding horses, for my wife and myself, and I was in the habit of putting them as leaders to the carriage horses and driving four-in-hand. The winter proved a very severe one, and the roads were famous for sleighing, so I used to harness the horses to my sleigh and we had many pleasant drives.

One day early in January, Mrs. Theologos, an English lady married to a Greek, called on us, and I asked her if she had ever sleighed on the Bratish - a lake formed by the overflow of the Pruth a tributary of the Danube. She said she should never think of going on it as it was too dangerous. I said that I had sleighed there the previous winter again and again, that it was delightful going over the smooth ice covered with snow, and suggested that she had better come with us. I started off my sleigh and made her follow in hers, some Naval Officers, with hired sleighs, also accompanied us. I had with me my wife and three other ladies and Mr. and Mrs. Standen who stood on the board behind. When I got down to the lake, I was astonished not to find the beaten track along which the peasants usually travelled to bring the reeds from the opposite shore for their huts &c. As, however, we had had frost day after day for the last six weeks, I felt convinced that the ice was perfectly safe, put my horses to it and dashed along. We were far ahead of the others. When we had got half way across the lake, which stretched 8 or 10 miles before us, we suddenly came to a ridge of ice, which made me pause as I could not understand it. Mr. Standen said "Let me get down and look". "no, no" I said, "there's a clear place where I can pass" - I had hardly turned my horses when the leaders went through. Before I could think how to get them up, the wheelers were in too, and there we were left in the sleigh on the edge of the thick ice, with four horses struggling in the water before us. We immediately got the ladies out of the sleigh, and detached it from the horses, which we then endeavoured to get to the edge, but without success. Presently one of the wheelers struck his leader on the head with his rough-shod hoof and the horse sank dead. The wheeler came to us at the edge of the ice and with the aid of our companions who had now come up with us, positively lifted him out by sheer strength, without breaking the ice.

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The poor brute got on his legs but was so numbed with cold that it could hardly move. Presently, the other wheeler struck his leader in the same way; so both my riding horses were at the bottom of the lake. The heavier of the two wheelers now came to us, and we attempted to lift him out, but we were so exhausted that although we got him half way up, he fell back again. The horse almost spoke to us by his groan of agony at being let go. We fastened a rope to his tail and got one of the other sleighs on to the rope and as we again lifted the horse, we told the sleighman to draw gently and with this assistance we at last got him out. He was terribly exhausted with the cold, having been in the water for half an hour, and could hardly get on his feet. We took the harness off and let the two find their way home as well as they could.

By means of the reins, we fished up the two horses from the bottom of the lake. We took off their harness and let them fall in again. We put the ladies into the other sleighs and they were driven back; then we placed the harness in our empty sleigh and ran back dragging it by hand, very heavy-hearted as can be imagined. I set myself to think how this accident could have happened, and remembered that, after the lake froze early in December that year, there had been blocks of ice in the bend of the Danube below Galatz, which had made the waters of the Pruth rise and pour into the lake. This must have lifted the ice and made a rent across the lake, and the water, between the edges of the thick ice, had then frozen, but as the level fell again the ice sank and came together crinkling up this thin ice into the ridge I have spoken of, but leaving some places flat such as the thinner ice on to which I turned the horses. It was a happy circumstance that I did not see the open space at first, for I should have driven quickly on to it and the sleigh and all in it must have gone to the bottom. This state of things accounted for my not finding a road across the ice. The peasants had been crossing the lake at a point beyond where the crack had occurred. This accident was rather a damper, and destroyed our pleasure in sleighing for the rest of the winter, for the two horses that we saved were never fit for much and one of them eventually dropped down dead. However, in spite of this misfortune, we had a very gay Carnival. We got up private Theatricals in the house - the dining-room was fitted with a stage - and we played several pieces with the aid of the Naval Officers. My wife very cleverly arranged the costumes for the different characters, and we acted "Box and Cox", "Deaf as a Post" "Paul Pry" and "Bombastes Furioso". Our audience being principally foreigners, Greek German and French, they could not very well follow the dialogue, but we had epitomes, explaining the whole piece, printed and given to each guest. After the play was over we had a dance in the "Salon" above. To our rehearsals, before the pieces were given, we used to invite the sailors of the men-of-war to come up, and they of course, could enter into the fun of the plays.

The winter went uncommonly well, because, what with the preparation for the plays, and acting, the time passed very pleasantly. We also had our usual shooting trip into the Czukurova Hills where we had very good sport.

In 1864 it was decided to erect a lighthouse at the entrance of the St. George. It was lit for the first time in May 1865, and in the same month I accompanied some of my colleagues to the St. George's mouth for the purpose of examining it. We had a very interesting trip, and, on our way back, stopped at Toultcha in order to dine with our new President, Amid Rassim Pasha, who proved to be a very genial and agreeable colleague. He was not only President of the Commission but also Governor General of the Mouths of the Danube, and rose subsequently to even higher commands.

He served us a dinner in true Turkish style, - of fifteen courses - of which 1, for one, partook very abstemiously, but my Italian colleague, M. Strambio, who was rather a "bon-vivant", seemed much the worse for it the next day. Though a very pleasant and agreeable companion M. Strambio was not very courageous. He was extremely inquisitive, and put such pointed questions to our host that Ahmid Rassim indulged in a little revenge. Pointing to his body-servant, Agha, he said to Strambio, "There is a man so devoted to me that I have only to tell him to stick a knife into you and he would do it immediately." M. Strambio grew very pale upon this, as he had done on a previous occasion, during our excursion, when he thought the boat would capsize.

The year 1865 saw the completion of our Public Act. The Powers had all agreed, and the Sublime Porte at last consented to it, and thus it became part of the International Law of Europe. The Act reserved to the Commission the power of amending the different regulations and tariffs annexed to it, and already, in 1868-9 they were occupied in making amendments based on the experience gained.

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