The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

THE HERCULES EMIGRANT SHIP.

Mr. MielT IRiba;iTil alluded to Ws published facts,
that the Hercules had shipped emigrants at the Isle of Skye,
and that small-pox and fever breaking out on board, she
had put into Queenstown in distress, to the great consterna-
tion of the inhabitants, asked whether the government had
received any statement addressed to the Land and Emigra-
tion Commissioners representing the above facts, and if so,
what steps government proposed to take for the protection
and succour of the emigrants ?
Sir J. YOUNG said that having communicated with the
Land and Emigration Commissioners, be found the hon.
member's statement to be in the main correct. The Her.
cures, an old man-of-war, was sent to the Isle of Skye to
take on board a large number of emigrants, and when
some days at sea the small-pox broke out among the pis-
sengers, and the vessel put into Queenstown. Medical as-
sistance was immediately sent down,' and the small-pox had
entirely disappeared, hat in the meantime fever broke out,
and it was found necessary to send some of the emigrants
to the Military Hospital, in order that the vessel might he
s s s s

CANAL-DARIEN.

Mr. HUME wished to ask the noble lord the member
for London, a question on a subject which was of import-
ance not only to this country but to the whole world—it
was connected with the formation of a ship canal across the
Isthmus of Darien, to connect the Atlantic and Pacific
Ocean. (Hear, bear.) It appeared by the newspapers,
that communications had bean held with the President of
the United States upon the subject, and the question he
had to ask was whether government had received any inti-
mation on the subject of-opening a communication between
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, by means of a canal across
the Isthmus of Darien, sad if so, whether the noble lord
would favour the house with his views on the subject.
Lord J. RUSSELL—In answer to the most important
question of my hon. Mend I have to state that the com-
munications entered into, by no means encourage the be-
lief that the canal projected would answer the purpose we
have in view, namely, a Wendt for large ships from sea
to sea. The canal projeated was Se be of a restricted
depth, and only available hr wseardos vessels. The govem-
=Mt has °ammoniated with thepeseoment of the United
States, declaring that the plan we had entinally in view
would not be suited oat by the =mei
le Is anal. Lately
another plan boa balm make a ship
canna 30 feet deep ewer reillietbsten, sad having a suffi-
cient port at each end so as to wens* the two oceans.
The house will at once see how iniwiet the matter fa—
(hear, hear)—eo Important that the goemoment of this
country would be glad if the United BMWs ileviomment
should concur in carrying out such a plan, to a ensemeful
conclusion. Of course, Ido not give any opinion on the
engineering questions, but as far as the general outline goes
I think that ii the plan I have mentioned could be adopted,
it would tend very much to advance the commerce of all
nations. (Hear, hear.)
THE MAILS BY THE AUSTRALIAN.
Sir DE L. EVANS said he had learned that the mails
sent out by the steamer Australian had suffered various de-
grees of saturation and destruction. As many of his con-
stituents bad sent letters, and even monies, by that vessel,
he wished to know whether the damaged letters had been
transmitted by subsequent mails, or what had been the
method of the subsequent arrangement by the Poet-office ?
Mr. WILSON laid that no letters had been damaged
except thew contained in the Melbourne bag. That bag
was brought back to London, and, being found to be injured,
every possible means were then taken to dry the letters.
The whole of the letters, with a very small exception, were
sent by the overland mail of the 4th, ens Singapore, and
would probably arrive sooner at their destination than if
they had gone direct. About 70 letters were found to be
too much damaged for transmission, and these had been
sent to the dead letter office, where 20 had since been
claimed. The remaining 60 were at the dead letter office,
where they might be recovered by the persons to whom
they belonged.