The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-07 00:00:00

STEAM NAVIGATION.

We are reminded by a document which has been laid
before us, that the Brazils and Argentine States are the
only countries of any commercial importance that do not
enjoy the advantages of steam communication with
Great Britain, although scarcely surpassed by the United
States in the extent of their traffic, the annual value
being computed at six millions sterling. The West
Indies, North America, and the • Mediterranean, have
received the assistance of our Government in the esta-
blishment of lines of steam-vessels, and similar en-
couragement is now claimed on behalf of South
America. The Brazil mails at present are carried
by the Government sailing packets, the voyage out
to Rio and home occupying, on the average, by
Post-office calculatioe, twenty weeks, which, were
steam to be substituted, would be more regularly
performed in eleven weeks, including the additional
trip to Buenos Ayres. The Brazil packet service is
suppoSed to cost England, under the existing system,
from 50,000/. to 60,0001. annually, and yet so uncertain
is the degree of despatch, that a large proportion of the
mercantile correspondence passes through private chan-
nels, the French with their quick sailers participating
not a little in the benefits accruing from the intercourse.
What additional outlay the country would be subject to
in the adoption of steam communication with these por-
tions of the great western continent we are not prepared
to say ; but parties interested in the question consider
that it would not greatly exceed the expenditure in-
curred upon the defective principle now in operation, and
this only in the first instance. Vessels of large ton-
nage have received the sanction of the public as the
safer and more commodious class of passenger ships.
These, therefore, are recommended, the snore particu-
larly as they will be readily convertible to war purposes,
if required. Alive to the superiority of steam navi-
gation, and anxious for its •introduction in connection
with Europe, the Government of Brazil have entered
into a contract with a Mr. William Morgan, acting for
parties in this country, as an inducement to him to carry
out the object, granting to such company as he may or-
ganise, the same privileges and advantages as are now en-
joyed by the Royal vessels of war. The attention of the
British authorities is, under the circumstances, especially
called to the matter, the greater urgency being used on
the ground that a speedy determination must be come to,
as the time allowed by the Brazilian contract for carrying
the scheme into effect was no more than sufficient. Mr.
Morgan's plan is said to have the full approbation.of
the heads of our Post-office. He proposes that steamers
should depart at stated intervals from a British port to
land and receive mails, both outwards and homewards, at
Madeira, the Canaries, the Cape de Verd Islands, Per-
munbuco,; Bahia, Rio Janeiro:), Santa Catharine,
Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres ; the mails for Ma-
rauham, Para, and other ports on the coast to be de-
livered by the Brazilian steamers now on the spot ; the
Peninsular mails to be conveyed from Gibraltar and Lis-
bon to Madeira, and vice versa ; mails to the several set-
tlements on the coast of Africa, and for her Majesty's
cruizers, to be forwarded to St. Vincent's, in the Cape de
Verds, and return mails taken from thence ; that six
large steamers be built solely for this purpose, which
would give a monthly mail, reserving one boat in ordi-
nary for emergencies. _ _

The French Government have, according to the late
estimates, an intention of occupying this line, for which
some vessels are already in preparation. The reason for
the non-adoption of Mr. Morgan's proposition by our
own Government is believed to be based on economical
grounds, and those alone. If such be the fact, the mann-
lagturers have surely much greater cause to complain of
the long course of financial misrule pursed by the
Whigs...than of the protection afforded by the •Legis-
lature to native agriculture. The extra expense
of a few thousands a year in the acceleration
of our commercial intercourse with friendly nations
of the vast capabilities of Brazil and Buenos
Ayres ought not to be grudged, if the advan-
tages derivable from it are likely to be such as to afford
employment and the necessaries of life to additional
millions of industrious persons ; not that, in saying this,
we would commit ourselves to the expression of any po-
sitive opinion as to the merits of the project under consi-
deration, however rational it may look on paper. The
right claimed by Brazil to send by the proposed
Company's packets goods, stores, &c., from one part of
the empire to another gratuitously, though with certain
limitations, and persons to Europe to be instructed in
the sciences, or for any other object, at half the charge
of other passengas, seems to us to be unreasonable,
The presence of ten half-passage money students or
apprentices, the privilege in favour of whom would be
at all times availed of to its fullest extent, will be objec-
tionable to the better class of travellers, and too profit-
able a drawback on the independence and profits of the
Company. The grasping demands of Brazil in these
particulars, and in several others, are not to be tolerated;
and it is surprising that they should have been for an
instant entertained. Appreciating, in a more grateful
spirit, the incalculable benefit derivalfe to the Republic
from the establishment of steam on the shores of the
Pacific, the Chili= Government never thought of impos-
ing like burdens on the Company organised by Mr.
Wheelwright. On the contrary, every practicable faci-
lity and protection appear to have been throughout ex-
tended to it.

CHICHESTER.—On Sunday, after the evening
service at the Independent Chapel, the Rev. W. Malden
invited his congregation to remain a few minutes while
he laid before them a communication he had lately re-
ceived from Manchester on the subject of the repeal of
the Corn-laws. It appears that twenty-eight Dissenting
Ministers, of various denominations, who have held a
preliminary meeting in that town, have issued an ad-
dress to their brethren throughout the United Kingdom,
inviting them to a conference on this momentous ques-
tion. Having read the papers before him, which pro-
duced a very serious impression on the people, Mr. Mal-
- den said he had not the most distant idea of going to the
convention ;• but because he approved of the object, and
because he would act courteously towards his brethren
in the north, he had thought it his duty to read their
address, &c. On leaving the chapel, however, he was
met by, some of the leading men of the congregation,
who said to him, "This subject must not end here. Will
you go, Sir, to Manchester ? The ways and means
shall be provided, and you must represent us in the con-
ference." It was understood that Mr. Malden consented,
and would join the conference, whose sitting will com-
mence on the morning of Tuesday, the 17th instant, at
ten o'clock, at the Town-hall, Manchester. We hope
the Baffin-lane congregation will send their minister,
the Rev. John Fullagar, that the' convention may not be
deprived of the weight of his influence and the power of
his talents. A thousand ministers are expected at Man-
cheeer on the occasion, and we cannot doubt that the
decisions of such a body of men will exercise a benign
influence over the nation at large.--7Brigkton Guardian.
The Great American Aloe, which is said to
flower but once in a century, and very seldom blooms in
this country, may just now be seen in great perfection at
Ham Green,' about five miles from Bristol, the residence
of H. B. Bright. F..sq. , The flower-stem is at present 23
feet high, with 27 brandies, on which there are upwards
of three thousand blossoms. The last of these plants
so. whichpowerful
was t
flowered in
attraction,
accottit(inn t, thry4t visitors
was at BCaine
from a
distance of fifty miles to obtain a sight of it.