The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-24 00:00:00

AUSTRALIA.

-- —ARRIVAL OF THE LIGHTNING.
• ' - - LIVERPOOL, MONDAY.
It is with much satisfaction that we announce th
- arrival; after an extraordinary run of 63 days, of
the celebrated Black Ball clipper 'Lightning, Cap-
tain James Nicol Forbes, from Melbourne, and by
her we have 20 days' later news from the Austra-
lian colonies.
• Her dates are—Melbourne, 20th August ; Laun-
ceston, 16th ; Hobart Town, 11th ; Sydney, 7th ;
and Adelaide, 3d.
. She brought 40 passengers, and 40,000 oz. of
- gold, besides a large quantity in the hands of pas-
sengers. She has brought answers to the English
letters of the 12th June, making a course of post
of only 132 days.
- The Lightning sailed hence on the 14th May,
and has made the voyage out and home, including
the detention of 20 clear days at her anchors in
Hobson's Bay, in 5 months 8 days and 21 hours,
- mean time, from passing the Rock Light till she
- was back in the river again ; thus performing the
- voyage in upwards of three days less timethan the
t Red Jacket, notwithstanding that she was at an-
- chor in Hobsan's Bay for a period of five daysmore
• ban that vessel. •
The Lightning anchored opposite Sandridge,
- three miles from Melbourne, on the afternoon of
the 31st July, and her mails were delivered, after
- she had anchored, at the post-office, Melbourne,
at. half-past five o'clock on the afternoon of that
day, which entirely contradicts the report of her
1 'having been towed into Hobson's Bay on the fol-
- lowing day.
The time occupied by the Lightning in making
the round voyage to Australia and back, consider-
- ing her detention in port, is unprecedentedly short,
notwithstanding that the outward run, from the
nature of the winds experienced, occupied longer
. than might have reasonably been expected from the
t. well-known qualifications of the ship and the great
c ability of her commander. Her run 'from the
. Mersey to the equator occupied 25 days, and from
the parallel of the Cape to Port Philip Heads 30
days ; indeed such was the nature of the winds,
_that the topgallant sails never had occasion to be
furled during the entire passage, neither was there
. occasion to reef the- topsails. iith the exception
of five. days, when the ship logged 332, 348, 300,
- 311, and 329 knots respectively per day, no extra-
- :ordinary distances were logged. Cape Otway Light
was made on the night of the 29th July, Port
• Philip Heads on-the 30th ; and she cast anchor, as
L above stated, in Hobson's Bay, on the 31st, her
X e run having occupied 774 clays mean time.
•g" On the 20th of August the mails and passengers
-being embarked, and everything ready for sea, the
t): 'anchor was hove up, and the Lightning was taken
• in tow by the steamer Washington as far as the
1': Heads, which she passed at 4 p.m., a smart north-
-7 .
L west breeze blowing at the time, and by noon of the
i 21st 268 miles were logged, .Swan Island Light,
Banks' Straits, having been passed at 11 a.m. On
.1 the 24th, at 4 a.m., passed a large ship, supposed to
, be the Mermaid, which sailed two days previously
• for Liverpool ; and at I 0 p.m., same day, passed
. the Auckland Islands. From thence to the 28th,
when the ship was in lat. 57.20 south, long. 124
- W., fresh westerly and south-westerly breezes
were experienced, and the ship went nobly along,
seldom logging less than 14, and frequently 181
and .19 knots per hour.
1- At 11 p.m. on the 23th, whilst under a heavy
• press of canvas, a violent squall from the SW.
caught the ship, and carried away the foretopmast
• studdingsail boons, the foretop,. foretopgallant, and
foreroyni yards, and blowing all the sails to pieces,
and the ship was obliged to go under easy canvas
for the succeeding four days, until the yards
- and sails had been replaced. From the Ist to
the Bth September fine westerly winds were expe-
rienced, and the ship averaged close upon 300
miles per day, as'per log. On the Bth, at three
p.m., Capo Horn bore NW. distant about
50 miles, being a run of only 19 days mean
time from Port Phillip Heads, by far the fastest
ever recorded either under canvas or steam. On
the 10th, 11th, and 12th, N.E., E., and S.E.
winds were experienced, and but moderate dis-
tances were logged, the ship having to be fre-
quently tacked to make a fairway course. On the
13th and 14th strong S. and S.W. winds were expe-
rienced, and she ran 351 and 354 miles per day
respectively. From the 15th to the 20th light and
head winds were met with, and only from six to
seven knots per hour were averaged. On the 20th
she was in lat. 29 13 S., long. 31 40 W., and from
thence to Pernambuco, which port was passed, at
a distance of six miles, on the morning of the 28th,
nothing but light N.E. and N.N.E. winds were
experienced.
The Equator was crossed at 9 a.m. on the 30th,
in long. 34 30 W., the ship at the time being only
nut a little over 40 days, mean time, from Port
Philip—an extraordinary achievement, considering
the adverse winds encountered after rounding Cape
Horn. For the first five days after crossing the
Equator, light winds and calms were met with, ac-
companied by heavy torrents of rain, and the ship
made little or no progress. On the sth, in lat.
10 N., long. 34 W., gentle N.E. trade winds were ex-
perienced, which continued until the 10th, in lat.
30 N., long. 37 W. On the 11th and 12th she had
moderate S.E. winds, and at noon of the latter day
was in the latitude of St. Michael's, and long. 30 W.,
being only 4 months and 29 days out from the
time of leaving Liverpool. Front the 12th to the
19th the winds were E.N.E. and N.E., very light ;
and during the intervening seven days the ship
reached lat. 46 15 N., long. 28 W.., and at 10 p.m.,
on the 19th, a strong northerly breeze sprang up,
which continued until her arrival off the Old Head
of Kinsale at 4 a.m. yesterday. At 10 a.m., off
Mine Head, signals were exchanged with the
Royal mail steam-ship Arabia, hence for New
York ; at 3.30 p.m. Tuskar Light was passed ; at
8.33 p.m. Holyhead Light was passed ; and at
10.30 p.m. the ship was abreast Point Lynas, where
she received a pilot. The ship was kept under easy
sail during the night, waiting a sufficiency of water
to cross the bar, and arrived in the river at 9.30
this morning.
The steam-ship Great Britain arrived at Mel-
bourne on the 18th August-67 days from Liver-
pool—and was ordered into quarantine, there being
small-pox on board.
The Black Ball clipper Ocean Chief, Tobin,
arrived at Melbourne, Aug. 7-72 days from
Liverpool.
The screw- steamer Lady Jocelyn, with the
Euglieh mills of the 4th June, had also arrived
at Melbourne.
The Governor-General, Sir Charles Hotham, was
at Geelong, where he was entertained at a banquet,
and made the following speech :
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,—The peculiar posi-
tion in which I am at present placed will be some
excuse far my not occupying your time for a longer
period than is usual on such occaiiicns. I feel, indeed,
that my position is a very peculiar one, so sudden and
so vast have been the changes in the colony whose
government I have been called on to assume. I stand
between two systems of government-:-the present and
the pregnant ; and in all probability it will shortly he
my duty to wind up the one and Commence with the
other. (Cheers.) The people of this colony have adopted
one of the most liberal constitutions, compatible with
monarchy, that a people could have. It is a consti-
tution of your own civ”ing, formed by your own repre-
eentativee., lauded by the press, and admired by ninny
erille•litened statesmen, and it now lies before the Seve-
reign waiting for her final sanction. But when you
adopted that constitution yon telopted with it the prin-
ciple from which it springs—that all power proceeds
from the people. (Cheers.) It is on that principle Viet
I intend to conduct my admin.letratien. (Cheers.) The
first element of that principle le publicity. I intend no
reff.ction by wilcit lam no :v going to say. I simply
Eel hewed to state my firm conviction that, in the pre-
sent day, a government cannot be conducted with na•
tisfactiun to the people without the fullest and freest
couniunication with the people. (Cheers.) It is on
this principle teat the new constitution is based ; and if
you did not intend to adopt that principle fairly and fully
you had no right to found your constitution upon it.
When the government of this colony was first offered to
me, the secretary of State said, offer to you the third
most important colony in the British Empire.' I am
not going to divulge state secrets, and I shall not there-
fore mention what were the other two colonies ; but this
I will say—that neither of thequal to liictorie in
commercial importance em .
accepted the trust reposed in
me with a determination to do my duty (Cheers.) MY
i
first act was to go into the *
Cty—the City of London—
and seek the opinion ef the
big Victoria. The mosttemerchante of the City regard -
consulted gave it as their opi'nolionnen thatmerchants whom I
t
toria were not in a satisfactory
atit the affair.; of Vic-
c ver-trading, and that a munerel-p—Chat there was
feared. This topic was very well
haindiectirisis was to be
given by the Mayor of Melbourne the other
the dinner
think it was satisfactorily shown that it WithdaY, and
I
the colonies, but the people at home, who SOnot you in
sent out enorinous quantities of goods,
that
trecwklessly
blame. The second unsatisfactory circumstance were
eleitzo
Cone I by the merchants of Londe!, was the fact of the.
colony being in debt ; and it certainly did Strike
those shrewd and practical men with surprise that a
c deny gifted with such resources as Victoria should be
in a state of debt. There is nothing so easy as to fine
fault ; and it would be most unjnst in me not to make
e -ery allowance for the position in which my prede-
cessor was placed. That gentleman was exposed to
• great ; gold-full after bold-geld was dis-
vet•ytrials
covered ; the people abandoned their usual avocations ;
the whole surface of society changed, and the necessity
arose for creating many nee, offices, and aiaptirg
the old order of things to the new order of things thus
suddenly created. It would, therefore, be most unfair
to compare a colony so situated with Canada, the Cape 1
of Good Hope,long-establishedcolony or any other ;
and allowance must be made for the meat trials that had
to be contended with, and the great obstacles that had
to be eurinounted. This brings me to the important
eitiostion—What is to be done for the future ? Gentle.