The Sun.
London, England, 1869-03-30 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 30, 1869

211 E ROUTES 7 0 CHINA.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)

The article in the Economist of last Saturday on
this subject would have been good had it only been
all true. Were it not for a little mistake of over
ten days in the time of the Peninsular and Oriental
Company from Southampton to Hongkong the
argument would have been perfect, but it is as-
tonishing how so trifling an error vitiates all; for
the heading of the table, " via Marseilles and Bom-
bay," is a mere imaginary road. The question is
whether on the opening of the Pacific Railroad the
transit from Europe to Eastern China, Australia,
and New Zealand, will not pass over that route,
changing the direction from east to west. The
Economist thinks not, because the time is not short-
ened, at least not further than this, that the San Fran-
cisco boats and the Peninsular and Oriental Co.'s
boats, whose passengers left England together, would
arrive at Shanghai about the same time. Were
this true, the Economist would have made a strong
point, although we are prepared even then to
show cause, as in former articles , why the route
through the United States should still be preferred.
But the Economist has made an extraordinary mis-
take for a journal devoted to the facts and figures
of commerce. According to it the time by the
Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer is 39
days to Hongkong, but the time from South-
ampton to Victoria, that is from port to port, the
only fair mode of reckoning is given in the time-
table of the company itself at 50 days. The
steamer which leaves Southampton at 2 p.m. Jan.
4 is due at Hongkong on the 25th February ;
that leaving on the 4th Feb., is due on the 26th
March ; the 4th March one should arrive on the 25th
April, and so on. The steamers which start on the
20th Jan. ought to get to Hong Kong on the 11th
March. From this time six days may be deducted
for the passenger route, allowing carpet bags
only via Marseilles making the run for the
mails at the quickest 44 days ; but we maintain
the calculation ought only to be made on the
through route for valuable cargo and for the mass
of passengers, or, as we before observed, from the En-
glish port to the Colonial port. The Economist rightly
estimates the time to Yokohama across North Ame-
rica at 38 days and between that city and Hong-
kong the boats of both companies intermingle on
waters common to each ; we may, therefore, take
the passages between Yokohama and Hong Kong
as the same. The question then is decided by the
time each takes to reach its first port iu Chinese
waters. If the American steamer takes 38 days to
land the passenger from London in Yokohama,
and the Peninsular and Oriental Company can land
its passengers in 39 at Hong Kong, it follows that
ttohejya
pwainll
smhoeeutldabgooubt miyth cel wAle;rilcieanncerotuhtee,tartvnldeltlheer
traveller to Hong Kong by the Mediterranean and
the Red Seas. This is substantially the concluiion
arrived at by the Economist, and it would be fair if
its statements were correct. But supposing that by
the most hurried carpet-bag line the time to llong
Kong is 44 days, and to Shanghai 48 bv the Pen-
insular and Oriental Company, while to Shanghai it
. _ _

s 43 by the American line, it follows that the travel

ler from London to Shanghai gains by the Eastern
road five days in time over the Marseilles route, and
eleven over that by Southampton. If this be true, and

the figures are taken from the Time-Table of the
Peninsularand Oriental Company, and from the Eco-

nomist, as regards the Western road, then the great
commercial organ is altogether wrong, and ought

to write another arti&e to correct the erroneous
impression it has created. Even the Daily News
gladly picks up whatever tends to take the crow
out of these Yankees; but neither the one nor
the other paper would wish to disseminate any-
thing not strictly true. We admit that the passen-
ger via Marseilles will be able to reach Hong Kong
quicker in a Peninsular and Oriental Company's
boat than if he put himself into a North German
as it will be this summer—the American steamer from
aLml opytdo no.r But,ilam bwuhregnh the through A
mernica
rosutteeam isecromatpSloeutet—h-
Southampton will probably land him in Hong Kong
before the Peninsular and Oriental Co.'s steamer sail-
ing on the same day from that port. This, as a matter
of speed, would give the traffic of Chinafrom Shang-
hai as well as of all Japan to the American highway,
and enable it to compete with the Peninsular and
Oriental Company for the ports south of Shanghai.
The Econontiq consiJers that the time on the old
road is more capable of being acce:erated than on
the new ; that it has ,the advantage of more fre-
quent coaling stations, reducing the bul of fuel
required for the Ai bailie and Pacific steamers.
We grant this; but experience has shown that for
safety, comfort, and economy there is nothing like
big ocean fleets. They may not answer for the
navigation of narrow straits and the frequent calls in
shallow harbours, but we consider that the open sea
and the large boat more than compensate for numer-
ous coaling stations. There are two main advantages
connectedwith the American road which the Econo-
mist but lightly touches on. From London to Shanghai,
through the United States, the latitude of the Medi-
terranean is maintained after New York is reached.
Those who have endured the stifling heat of the
Red Sea, and know the discomforts arising from cli-
mate between Suez and Hong Kong, can appreciate
the value of maintaining some such latitude as
the 40th parallel. The passenger who steps from
the steamer at Alexandria into that at Suez walks
from the comforts of civilization into the discom-
forts of barbarism ; but there is no such change
along the American road. It is difficult to decide
whether the New York boats or the San Francisco
boats are best found, and the through cars of the
Union Pacific Railway will be moving hotels,
3herein the passenger will live as luxuriously as he
would in a steamer, only that he passes over land
instead of over water. The other relates to the
transfer of baggage and cargo. The Pacific
Mail vessels take in their cargo at Hong Kong,
at Shanghai, and Yokohama, transferring it into
the cars of the Pacific Railroad at a pier of San
Francisco, and from a pier of New York into the
English steamers, will be the only other transship-
ment. What may be the Peninsular and Oriental
Company's changes from Yokohama to Hong Kong
we do not know ; but the steamer from Hong Kong
is bound to Bombay, and transfers its China cargo
to the mail packet for Suez in the open harbour of
Galle. At Suez it is thrown into a small tender,
and carried miles to the wharf, and again in Alex-
andria the steamer being anchored in a bay instead

of lying in a dock. Putting aside all other routes
discussed by the Economist but that across the con-
tinent to San Francisco, for none of them threaten
a revolution but that, and putting aside also the
imaginary route via Bombay, our table from port to
port is this :

By P. & O. Co. By P. Rd.
Days. Days.
Southampton to Hong Kong 5O ... 47
71 ••• Shanghai
77 Yokohama 59 ... 38
The passenger by Marseilles can deduct six days from
the Peninsular and Oriental Co.'s time, and we have
reason to believe that this table then substantially
shows the comparative time. Surely the Economist
does not suppose that' a traveller would land in
Bombay, and proceed via Allahabad to Calcuttta
by way of reaching China, except a tourist on a
journey of amusement. For eight months the heat
of the line is frightful ; the expense would be over-
whelming ; the discomfort intense ; and what the
time would be we cannot tell, as we never heard of
any one who went such a journey.

LONDON COFFEE AND EATING-HOUSE KEEPERS'
13Exzvot.,ENT AssociAnoN.—Thomas Scambler Owden,
Esq., Alderman for Bishopsgate Ward, has kindly con-
sented to preside at their anniversary dinner, on Tuesday,
April 27th, at the London Tavern.
William Ropes, a venerable Boston merchant, has
just died in that city at the age of 84 years. His was
among the oldest and most noted firms in the Russian
trade, and on his first establishment of that connection in
1832, he resided abroad ten years, five :n St. Petersburg
and five in London. At that time to supply Hid want of
religious advantages in St. Petersburg he hired a hall
where every Sunday he rend sermons, off,red prayer, and
sang; and the American end nearly all the English resi-
dents attended. Though a supporter of Orthodox Con-
gregationalism in Boston, in his latter years ho was a com-
municant of the Episcopal Church.

DuNvILLE and CO., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is ro
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exporta
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and Co.,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings
_Strand, London:
yertiment

DUELLING IN ITALY.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
FLORENCE, MARCH 23.
The parliamentary sitting of Thursday last was looked
forward to with considerable interest in consequence of the
feeling lately aroused by the three fatal duels which have
taken place at Bologna, Turin, and Faenza. An interpel-
lation on the subject had been announced by General
Bixio, and an additional piquancy was imparted to the
incident by the fact that the officer in question is himself
celebrated for the number of hostile meetings in which he
has been engaged as principal. It must be admitted that
the gallant officer, not usually remarkable for moderation,
tact, or prudence, acquitted himself of his delicate task
with no little credit to his moral courage and good feeling,
and came out of the discussion with flying colours in com-
parison with his adversary, the Minister of Grace and
Justice. He stigmatised the practice of duelling as worthy
only of a barbarous state of society, and condemned the
uniform neglect of the Italian authorities to apply to it
the penalties prescribed by the existing laws. The
Minister's reply was somewhat evasive, and General
Bixio declared himself dissatisfied with it ; upon which
the former, piqued into a certain amount of personality,
expressed his regret that his opponent should speak of
him as approving, in any sense, of the practice, remarking
that he had never fought a duel in his life, and was not
certain that other members could say the same. The
General seized this opportunity of making his recantation,
acknowledging that he had, unfortunately, been engaged
in many affairs of the kind, and adding, " I confess
frankly that I did wrong." The subject has been post-
poned until the counter proposal of Deputy Macchi—to
repeal all penalties against duelling—shall come on the
tapir. The fact is, that although the existing laws are
not severe, and prescribe nothing heavier than imprison-
ment for homicide in a duel, the magistrates cannot be got
to enforce them, and the only effectual remedies are to be
sought in the action on public opinion of an enlightened
journalism, so as to invest the practice with the ridicule
which now, happily, attaches to it in England, and, per-
haps, in the institution of some kind of tribunal of honour,
such as exists in Prussia. This tribunal, however, unfor-
tunately serves rather to decide whether a duel is abso-
lutely inevitable than as a court of final resort.
With regard to the proposed financial scheme, the pro-
visions indicated in my last letter arc gaining confirmation
daily ; and I am in a position almost positively to assert
that a general domestic loan does not enter into the com-
binations which Count Cambray Digny has at present in
view. M. Joubert and others, the representatives of the
new negotiators, are now here, and it is in this direction
that we must look for the proposed solution of the diffi-
culty, which is, indeed, a serious one, and takes the
Government and the nation, as the French would say,
" by the throat."

The Estimates remaining unpassed are those of Public
Works, Public Instruction, Foreign Affairs, and the
Department of Finance.
The Army and Navy Estimates have passed. In the
former case there is an increase over last year of between
one and two millions, in spite of many economies. This
is chiefly attributable to the introduction of breechloading
arms, and an augmentation in the pay of officers. Three
millions in excess of the Government estimate for the
navy were proposed by the parliamentary commission,
but, in consideration of the increased army expenditure
and the universal cry for economy, part only was carried.
The present naval force of Italy consists of 22 armour-
plated vessels, 22 screws, 22 paddle steamers, and 6 sailing
vessels of war of all classes.
The contract which existed between the municipality of
Florence and Messrs. Laidlaw and Co., of Glasgow, for
bringing into the town the water of the river Sieve, has
just been cancelled by mutual agreement, and the lawsuit
which. had been commenced between the parties is thus
disposed of. Whether or no it he true, as the munici-
pality allege, that Messrs. Laidlaw's pretensions were
exorbitant, is a matter of comparative indifference to the
Florentine householder. Not so the loss of the Sieve water.
That which we now drink is execrable when not filtered,
and good bye to the peace of mind of him who reads or
listens to what the learned have to say about its composi-
tion. All the wells, especially in the new and fashionable
quarter near the Lung Arno, receive infiltrations from the
river, and, independently of any other substances in
solution, there is an immense deposit of lime, which must
in the long run be prejudicial to health. Optimists, how-
ever, say that it is all a matter of fashion, and that their
forefathers have drank whatever there is that is unwhole-
some, and have, nevertheless, been a long-lived race.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.

now to be found in the Irish Chancery _Records.
Even supposing the list to be authentic, however,
Dr. Brady contends that it would supply no proof
that all the peers who were present in the 1560 Par-
liament voted for the Reformation. If all the nobles
voted for it, why, he asks, was that Parliament
broken up ? The Loftus MS. says that Parliament
was dissolved on the Ist of February "by reason of
aversion to the Protestant religion and their ecclesi-
astical government."