The Sun.
London, England, 1853-09-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 21, 1853.

imperfection exists, it will be useless to prognosticate
any great things of the Panama route to Australia, and
a large traffic will never flow through it. Another
drawback will be the inconvenience to which travellers
are to be exposed by trans-shipments. Under existing
arrangements, passengers will have to start from South-
ampton for St. Thomas, where they will be transferred
to another steamer for conveyance (touching at Santa
Martha and Carthagena) to Colon, the station on the
Isthmus. After crossing this narrow neck of land by
rail, the Pacific steamer will be gained, and the voyage
thence to Australia commenced. Besides the inconve-
nience of trans-shipments, the delay will, with other
causes, be fatal to the complete efficacy of the route.
To provide a remedy, some of the existing arrange-
ments which are now so detrimental to the West India
mail service should be discarded. The trans-shipment at
St. Thomas must be abolished, and to effect this a dif-
ferent class of ships from those now employed would
have to be provided. The distance from Southampton
to the Isthmus is 4,740 miles, and this voyage should
be accomplished in one uninterrupted run, broken only
by a stoppage of a few hours at St. Thomas to transfer
branch mails to intercolonial packets. That this can
be done is undoubted. Many eminent ship-builders
in this country, if unfettered by restrictions, would
guarantee to produce steam-ships, either on the screw
or paddle-wheel principle, capable of reaching Chagres
in fifteen or sixteen days from Southampton, with-
out coaling at any intermediate point, unless compelled
e
to do so by unusual roughness of weather.
coaling stations of the Transatlantic line of packets
would then be merely at Southampton and Chagres, or
Navy Bay, and, till such an arrangement is made, such
ships provided, and the smaller packets employed in
conveying branch mails compelled to reach St. Thomas
before the main line ships are due there, the West India
mail service will never be efficiently conducted ; and the
prospects of the success of the Australian Pacific line
will be cloudedbyimunmceeerteaei?rtyaffiaendthdaot would doubt.
be securedt.
Looking at the
to the Southampton and Chagres line, arising, (in addi-
tion to the Australian traffic) from the increased com-
munications to flow across it from Central America, Ca-
lifornia, and the Southern American States, it is not too
much to declare that a more rapid line of steam ships
from Panama to England is one of the great necessities
of the age. The outlay of half-a-million of capital in
providing it should be considered as nothing when com-
pared to its importance, and it will only be when ar-
rangements of this kind have been placed in force that
the service of the West India Mail Company will be
carried out with that celerity which the urgency of the
übject demands, and the traffic to Australia and other
.rnportant points by the western route will till then re-
main comparatively undeveloped and in its infancy.
It is expected that the Australian Pacific Company's
;hips will secure the bulk of the communications, both
is regards passengers and treasure, between the United
States and Australia, as well as provide a useful corn-
uunication to and from many places on the west coast
if South America, already possessing extensive business
relations with Australia. The main object of the enter-
prise, however, is to establish the most swift and direct
means of conveyance to and from Europe and Australia,
Ind if this point be achieved all other subsidiary ad vantages
will follow. It is well known that the Australian colo-
!lists have repeatedly expressed their conviction that the
Panama route was the only one which would serve their
aurpose with that measure of superiority which is due to
the astonislling commercial progress which Australia
presents to the world. Constant representations in fa-
vour of the scheme have bean received from Australia.
Let us hope, therefore, that there will now be no disap-
pointment. It will be a pity if the success of the enter-
prise should be marred by the inadequate measures for
securing an efficient steam service from England to Pa-
nama (the first stage of the route) by a company which,
judged either by its long standing, great respectability,
command of capital and resources, or by the enormous
;rant of the public money which annually flows into its
,ioffers, should possess the finest and fleetest steamships
that can be produced, should eclipse all' other companies
in the result of their operations, and in steam navigation
take the lead of the world. To a company so situated,
with such boundless prospects of solid and tangible good
to be derived from the exercise of enterprise and judg-
ment, hesitation at this juncture is tantamount to defeat,
and the virtual and ultimate extinction of the company
is rendered certain, because in the coming era of great
enterprises, other and more energetic competitors will
spring up to enjoy the fruits which want of enterprise
may have left unplucked.—Times.

THE QUEEN AND THE IRISH EXHIBITION.

The following letter has been addressed by Lord Pal•
merston to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland :

"Whitehall, Sept. 12.

"My Lord.—lt is my pleasing duty to express to
your Excellency, by commrnd of the Queen, the entire
satisfaction which her Majesty derived from her late
visit to Ireland, from the moment of her landing to her
re-embarkation at Kingstown.
" The loyal and affectionate attachment to Her
Majesty's person and throne evinced by her Irish sub-
jects on the present, as well as on a former occasion,
has not failed to make a deep impression upon the minds
of her Majesty and of the Prince her Royal Consort,
and has tended to confirm, and, if possible, to increase
the strong interest which they have ever felt in the pros-
perity and happiness of the people of Ireland.
" I am further commanded to assure your Excellency
that' her Majesty and the Prince have viewed with the
greatest admiration the varied and interesting collections
displayed within the Great Industrial Exhibition which
now adorns the city of Dublin, and her Majesty feels
convinced that, under the fostering care of your Excel-
lency's administration, the spirit of enterprise which has
produced this noble undertaking will be fully developed,
will he fruitful of valuable results in the progressive im-
provement of the condition of all classes of her Majesty's
Irish subjects, and will thereby conduce to the general
welfare and prosperity of Treland.
"I am, my Lord, with great truth and regard,
"Your Excellency's very obedient servant,
" PALMERSTON.
"His Excellency the Lord Lieutenant,
Dublin Castle."