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 the
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 haele in the river again ; thus performing the
voyage in upwards of three days less time than the
Red Jacket, notwithstanding that she was at an-
chor in Hobson's Bay for a period of five days mere
than that vessel. .
The Lightning anchored opposite Sandridge,
three miles from Melbourne, on the afternobn 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
-
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
well-known qualifications of the ship and the great
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. With 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
above stated, in Hobson's Bay, on the 31st, her
run having occupied 774 days mean time.
• On the 20th of August the mails and passengers
being embarked, and everything ready for sea, the
anchor was hove up, and the Lightning was taken
in tow by the steamer Washington as far as the
Heads, which she passed at 4 p.m.,
_a smart north-
West breeze blowing at the time, and by noon of the
21st 268 miles were logged, Swan Island Light,
Banks' Straits, having been passed at 11 a.m. On
the 24th, at 4 a.m., passed a large ship, supposed to
be the Mermaid, which sailed two days previously
for Liverpool ; and at 10 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 18i
and 19 knots per hour.
At 11 p.m. on the 28th, whilst under a heavy
press of canvas, a violent squall from the SW.
caught the ship, and carried away the foretopmast
studdingsail boom, the foretop, foretopgallant, and
foreroyal 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., Cape 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, Ilth, 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 Efaluator was crossed at 9 a.m. on the 34th,
in long. 34 30 W., the, ship at the time being only
out 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 live days after crossing the
Equator, lieht 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. From the 12th to the
19th the winds were E.N.E. and N.E., very light;
and daring 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 Lynes, where
she received a pilot. The ship was kept under easy
sail during the night, waiting a sufficiency of water
to crossthe 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
English mills of the 4th June, had also arrived
at Melbourne.
The Governor-General, Sir Charles Hotham, was
at Geelong, where be was entertained at banquet,
and made the &
following speech :
" Mr. Mayor and Gentlemen,—The peculiar posi-
. Lion in which I am at present placed will be soma
excuse for my not occupying your time for a longer
period than is usual on such occasions. I feel, indeed,
that 'my position is a very peculiar one, so sudden and
so vast have been the changes in the colcny 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 be
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 choosing, formed•by your own repre-
sentatives,
lauded by the press, and admired by many
enlightened statesmen, and it now lies before the Sove-
reign waiting for her final sanction. But when yon
adopted that constitution you adopted with it the prin-
ciple from which it ejminf43-7ethat all sower proceeds
from the PenPle• (Cht;ers.) It is on that priiseiple that
I intend to conduct ray administration. (Cheers.) The
first element of that principle is publicity. I intend no
reflection by what I din now going to say. I simply
feel bound to state my firm conviction that, in the pre-
sent day, a government cannot be conducted with sa-
tisfaction to the people without the fullest and freest
communication with the people. (Cheers.) It is on
this principle that 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 t o
me, the Secretary of State said, 'I offer to you the third
most
nott
important colony in the British Empire.' I am
going to divulge state secrets, and I shall not there-
fore mention what were
of
the other two colonies ; but this
I will say—
that neither them is equal to Victoria in
commercial importance. I accepted the trust reposed in
me with a deterrainat. • ep
e'
first act was to(Cheers.)
go
intoion to do my duty. MY
and seek the opinion of the City—the City of London—
and
Victoria. The motel, merchants of the City regard-
ingconsulted gave it as their eminent merchants wheal I
Vic-
toria were not in a satisfactoryinion that the affairs of Vic- i
ever-trailing, and that a commercialstate—that there was
feared. This topic was very well
lh crisis was to he
given by the Mayor of Melbourne atlliedled at the dinner !
other
think it was satisfactorily shown that
'tv day, and 1
the colonies, but the people at home, wliseas not you in
sent out enormous quantities of goads,
tahltreeklessly i
blame. The second unsatisfactory eircumsta were to i
tiened by the merchants of Lord..n was the fact' of'
tilen. 1!
c,aoby being in debt ; ana it certainly did strils ie
those shrewd and practical men with surprise that
-4;,
caleny gifted with such resources as Victoria, should be
in a state of debt. There is nothing so kasy ma to find
In tilt ; and it would be roost unja A in ins not to make
• eery allowance for the position in which my prede-
cessor was placed. That gentleman was exposed ta
very great trials ; gold-hell after gold-Seld . was dis-
covered ; the people abandonedtheir usual avocations ;
the whole surface of society changed, and the necessity
arose for creating many new offices, and adapting
the old order of things to the new order of things thus
suddenly created. It would, therefore, be =it unfair
to compare a colony so situated with Canada, the Cape
of Good Hope, or any other long•established colony ;
14 T: 04t5eallowance must be made for the great trials-that had
..
l-Tr'' —to contended with, and the great obstacles. that
Iset ' * surmounted. This brings
' -:37'.: ~ ..I"ista-‘
.:43 .
~,.: '.-.•,-..!_:_,,::', ,-,, ~ ;',i,
r had
• me to the important
What is to be done for the future ? Gentle..
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