The Sun.
London, England, 1853-10-31 00:00:00

morning.
The successful performances of the Argo, both
out and home, will, it is expected, establish a new
era in steam communication with Australia, and
restore that confidence to steam travelling which
has been forfeited by the unfortunate and protracted
voyages of the ships belonging to other companies.
The Argo has made a voyage round the world in
the short space of five months and 19 days, and of
this time upwards of six weeks were spent in Aus-
tralia. The actual time under steam and canvas
has been only 121 days ; the total distance run out
and home has been 27,900 miles ; giving an average
per day of nearly 230 miles, or slightly over 9i
miles per hour. In the annals of steam navigation
no such satisfactory result has hitherto been pre-
sented. Steam power has only been used as an
auxiliary, when the winds happened to be light or
adverse. The consumption of coals during the
whole passage has therefore only amounted to
2,105 tons, of which 845 tons were expended out-
ward, and 1,260 tons homeward, giving an average
of rather more than 17 tons per die,m. Owing to
these ships being fully rigged, the greatest advan-
tage can at all times be taken of favourable winds,
and the steam power is during these circumstances
completely dispensed with. In the present voyage,
with fair winds and with all canvas set, the Argo
has made 13 and 14 knots an hour for days to-
gether, and close-hauled 11 to 12 knots, in both
cases with the screw feathered. This apparatus
has, we understand, answered remarkably well,
and has enabled the screw to be adjusted to such a
pitch, when the engines have been at rest, as to
offer no impediment to the great speed of the ship
produced by the sails alone.
Out of the crew of seamen who left Southampton
in the Argo but six have returned. Captain Hyde
had to give 501. for the run home to able seamen,
equal to 251. a month. Many of the seamen
had returned from the mines, and possess con-
siderable amounts of gold, the result of their indi-
vidual success at the goldfields. One of them has
over 2,0001. The passengers also brought con-
siderable quantities besides the large freight on the
manifest, but these amounts are always concealed
to prevent freight from being charged.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Euxine, with the bulk of the Australian mails,
conveyed by the Singapore and Suez route, is ex-
pected to reach Southampton on the 3d proximo.
These dates extend to the 28th of July from Syd-
ney, and to the 2d of August from Port Philip.
The Argo has consequently beaten the overland
route in the delivery of mails from Sydney no less
than 20 days, and from Melbourne 28 days. It is
proper, however, to state that a delay of 12 days
took place at Singapore of the mails brought up by
the Chusan, that steamer having arrived there on
the 4th of September, four days after the departure
of the China steamer, which, it will be remem-
bered, was dispatched from Hong Kong and.
Singapore five days before the appointed time, in-
consequence of the moonsoon season. Had the
China steamer, therefore, left at the proper date,
the Chusan's mails would have reached Singapore
just in time to be sent forward by the mail which
arrived a fortnight since. These delays will in
future be obviated on this route, inasmuch as the
Australian steamers are to commence running
direct from King George's Sound to Ceylon, instead
of to Singapore. Nevertheless, even if this be the
case, it is doubtful if the oceanic track can be per-
manently beaten, if voyages like that accomplished
by the Argo continue to be made, as the frequent
stoppages and chances of delay will impair the effi-
ciency of the India route, and render it useful
merely as a supplementary service, and one of
more benefit in maintaining a communication be-
tween the Australian colonies and India and China
than with this country. The splendid results of
the Argo serve additionally to prove the correctness
of the opinions, long entertained here, that the
best long sea route is that outwards by the Cape
and homewards round Cape Horn.

TILE VICTORIA SCREW CLIPPER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Siu,—As the builder of the screw clipper ship Vic-
toria, I have to thank you for the notice you have taken
of her, having made the quickest run ever yet accom-
plished between England and Australia.
I hope you will do me the further favour to notice the
great superiority of this achievement of the Victoria over
that of the Argo, which has been made the subject of so
much praise. The Argo is said to have accomplished the
distance between England and Australia in 64 days. The
Victoria has really run the distance in 59 days 221 hours,
including two days' stoppage at St. Vincent's, thus beat-
ing the Argo by more than four days. The exact dates
are as follows :—Left Gravesend June 19, 5.30 a.m. ;
reached Adelaide August 18, 4 a.m.-59 days 22. hours.
Now, the 64 days in which the Argo is said to have
made the run are from Southampton to Port Philip,
being about the same distance.
At Adelaide the Victoria remained 2 days 13 hours,
and afterwards sailed for Port Philip, which she reached
in 64 days.
I can only suppose that the reason why the Argo is so
much eulogised for her voyage of 64 days, and the Vic-
toria not at all commended for her voyage of 59 days
22i hours, is that the real facts were not exactly brought
out.
Do me one more act of justice. The Adelaide steam-
ship is a sister ship to the Victoria—identical in her hull,
identical in her screw, identical ia her machinery, and in
all qualities the same as the Victoria. The one (Vic-
toria) has made the fastest, the other (Adelaide) one of
the slowest passages on record. As builder of the Ade-
laide I was blamed for all the disasters of that ship. I,
on the contrary, attributed those disasters to mismanage-
ment, and staked the issue upon the result of the Victo-
ria's voyage. The public can now judge which was in
fault—the ship, the builders, or those who had charge of
vessel.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
. SCOTT RUSSELL.

37, Great George street, Westminster, Oct. 29.

G. asyt.emveanriyngs,, tLheewSioshciaeraty,
a true and excellent peal of triples, upon Stedman's o f CHANGE
CollegeYouthsß nirGl"
accomplishedatu Saturday
prin-
ciple, containing 5,040 changes, in three hours and two
minutes, being the first peal in the method upon the
bells. It was composed by Mr. Thurstans, of Bir-
mingham, and conducted by Mr. W. Cooter. Weight
of tenpr, 22 cwt.
.D.Ear,oF THE BISHOP OF DERBY.—A vacancy has
been le On the Irish Episcopal Bench by the death of
the Hon. and Right Rev. Dr. Ponsonby, Lord
Bishop of Derry and Raphoe, which took place at the
episcopal palace on Thursday. The deceased prelate
was a supporter of the national education system, and 1
his political principles were those of the liberal party ;
but the natural suavity and unobtrusiveness of his
manners, and the perfectly unbiassed mode in which he
exercised his patronage, were such as to secure for him
the esteem of all parties. His lordship had, for the
last few years, been in delicate health, having arrived at
an advanced age. While he held the dignity of Dean
of St. Patrick's, he was a very popular preacher, his
pulpit discourses being remarkable for chasteness and
beauty of composition, and his appeals to the sympathies
of his audiences for the principal charities of the Irish
metropolis were found most effective, never failing to
elicit a liberal response. In the year 1828, Dr. Ponson-
by was elevated to the episcopal bench, having been
then appointed Bishop of Killaloe and Kilfenora. He
was translated to the diocese of Derry in 1831, and on
the death of Dr. Bissett he succeeded to the see of
Raphoe, the two dioceses being united under the Church
Temporalities Act. The income of the see is about
7,0001. per annum. It is said that Dr. Pakenham. the
Dean of St. Patrick's and brother-in-law of the late Duke
of Wellington, is likely to be the successor of Dr.
Ponsonby.
DEATH OF Loan CLONCURRY.—Another of the men
who figured remarkably in the troublous period which
preceded the union between Great Britain and Ireland
has passed to his final account. Lord Cloncurry died
on Friday night, at his residence county Dublin, at the
advanced age of 80 years. His lordship published his
own memoirs about four years ago. From this book and
other sources we learn that he was at all events suspected
and openly charged by the government of the period
(1798) with being a disaffected person. He suffered a long
imprisonment, but was not brought to trial. How he was
taken by the hand by the Marquis of Anglesey, when that
over-credulous nobleman was Viceroy of Ireland, and
how he and other persons of the same peculiar political
opinions succeeded in ruling his Excellency in return,
will be found detailed with perfect candour in the work
referred to, viz. :—" Recollections of the Life of Lord
Cloncurry," published by M'Glashan, Dublin. In 1803
Lord Cloncurry was married to the daughter of Major-
General Morgan, and some years afterwards the lovers
of scandal were entertained by a trial for crim. con. in
which his lordship was plaintiff and Sir John Bennet
Piers defendant. His lordship obtained heavy damages,
and that marriage was dissolved. He then married the
daughter of Archibald Douglas, Esq., who died in 1841.
His lordship is succeeded in his titles and estates by
the Hon. Edward Lawless, a deputy lieutenant of the
county Dublin.