The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-13 00:00:00

he subject lately discussed by us of permitting
American citizens to own and register as American
foreign built steamers is receiving marked atten-
tion. The National Board of Trade, which has just
held its annual meeting have urged the modifica-
tion of the Navigation Laws on the attention of
Congress, and almost simultaneously in his yearly
report Secretary M'Culloch reiterated his former
recommendation to the same effect. The question
resolves itself into the abandonment of all share in
the ocean carrying trade, at least of the Atlantic,
or the modification of this law to the extent of
granting Atneric in registers to vessels owned by
American citizens, prohibiting those from engaging
in the coasting trade, or between American ports
which are foreign built. It is a pernicious delusion to
hold that the foreign c trrying traic of the Unite 1
States can be revived by protection and subsidies ;
as beyond the ports of the States protection being
impossible, competitio❑ is open to the world,
and Amcricar.s are weighted to the extent of the
difference between the cost of a foreign built
steamerand one American built of the same capacity.
The protection to the ship vtight under present cir-
cutnstances is ruin to the American marine, a
terrible cost at which to build up even a thriving
manufacturing business. If then the result were
activity in the American yards, it would still be a
question whether that activity was not purchased at
too high a price; but the fact is that instead
of fostering shipbuilding in America the re-
verse is the cAse. Some years ago the clipper
ships• of America were substituted for the boxes
which carried the commerce of England, the,
injurious Navigation Laws and system of taxing
British vessels having led to a construction best
calculated to make tracks to the bottom than any-
\where else. The English saw their error and re-
pealed the law ; the American models were eagerly
bought up by them, and soon after they began to
turn out vessels from their ship-yards which could
hold their own with the swift ships from the other
side the Atlantic. Using the American ships, sail-
ing and living in them, and having them always be-
fore their eyes, they could scarcely fail in imitating
them, in detecting their own deficiencies, and making
up for shortcomings. llad the change then not
been from wooden sailing vessels to iron steamers,
nor had the war deranged the interior economy of
the Union, England would have held her own, be-
cause every facility was given to her inhabitants to
use their means and energies to the best advantage.
The position has now been reversed by some strange
freaks of fortune, and America should consider
closely the course by which England was enabled to
maintain her commercial status in the carrying
trade of the world against the enormous advant-
ages then possessed by the United States. Pas-
senger vessels of a fine class are built on the
Clyde at about half a million dollars in green-
backs. The same class of vessel if built in any
port of the United States would cost little less than
a million dollars. No steam line then formed in the
States could hope to work with American built
steamers against those constructed in Great Britain,
as this difference is absolute prohibition ; and it fol-
lows that no company of rational businessmen would
be found to attempt it. Hence the vessels are not
built, the yards remain silent, and the law, without
doing the American shipbuilders any good, does
the American merchant and sailor much harm. It
is not so clear, however, that the modification re-
commended of this law might not prove, if tried, of
advantage to American shipwrights, for vessels would
be repaired in the home yards and supplied with
many fittings, while the very fact of Americans
using them, living in them, and having them as
their property constantly before them, would pro-
duce the same result as in England, in pointing
out deficiencies and making up for shortcomings, and
eventually of America might begin to turn out iron
steamers as cheap as those of the Clyde. The worst
of making no effort is that the Atlantic trade is
falling wholly into the hands of foreigners while
even the neucleus around which the revival

must gather will be lost, and it is a very different
thing to inaugurat3 a new industry from fostering
into strong life one alrea ly existing. No doabt

something may be dine to keep alive what exists by
liberal subsidies, but yet it is a fatal system, taxing
the people to supply the me -ins for carelesa manage-
ment of the favoured company, strengthening
a ricketty fabric with Government props in the

place of a healthy, sound, and self-supporting trade.

There is now before Congress an application for th©
mail contract, by which a New York Company

will bind itself to run four steamships a week

across the Atlantic of an American-built fleet, the
subsidy being obtained from the mail, which is

not likely to reach £lOO,OOO. This would be found
on trial not to pay, as a few figures would show, if
the di-iproportion between the cost of a Clyde-built

fleet and that of one built in New York be accu-

rately stated. The truth is that the power to corn-
pete in shipbuilding of this class can only be gained

by degrees, and the first step is thoroughly to un-
derstand the reasons why American yards cannot
compete with British yards in supplying the de-
mand for the class of vessels required. It would

not be wise in the United States, while the remedy
was being applied which must take years, to allow

even the feeble life of their ocean-carrying trade to
die out, and we rejoice to see attention earnestly
directed to this point.—Anglo-American Times.

There is an article on American oratory in the
number just issued of Once a Week. The contrast between
the finished eloquence of such speakers as Sumner and
Fessenden is amusingly contrasted with the " highfaluten"
and " spreadeagleism" of some of the orators from the Far
West, who mistake extravagance and hyperbole for elo-
quence. The speech from which the latter term is de-
rived is given as an example. It was in the house a
quarter of a century ago that an honourable Repre-
sentative thus referred to the national symbol :
" Look, Mr. Speaker, at the American Eagle; that proud
bird, which is the emblem of American freedom, and
watches from her eyrie over the noble strides of this glori-
ous Republic ! See how she covers with her broad breast
this vast Continent! There she hovers, Mr. Speaker,
above us our protector and our pride ! With her beak
resting on the froien fields of Canada, her tail flapping
about in the Gulf of Mexico—with one wing hovering
over the mild Pacific, and the other gently swaying to and
fro above the turbulent waves of the Atlantic—who shall
despair, Mr. Speaker, of our Republic? Who shall dare
to lay a sacrilegious hand upon our Constitution ? Let
the despotisms of Europe, Mr. Speaker, shudder; let them
quake on their tottering thrones, for when the American
Eagle screams their day draws near, and the trumpet-
blast of freedom has gone forth."

George Francis Train arrived in robust health at
New York on the morning of Christmas Day, and was
welcomed by numerous Fenian deputations, each of which
presented him with a soul-stirring address, to which they
received the following reply :—" On board steamship
Australasia, Christmas Pay, 1868.—Dear Committee of
the F. B.; Pay or Fight—Release Citizens of War—
If short of cash, sell us Ireland for Alabama
claims." That is the platform on which I accept
these addresses of the Fenians. Ireland is all ablaze
with hope ; but rely on Ireland. They don't want your
money; they will only accept your guns. James Stephens
has been reinstated as Supreme Central. England shakes
with the palsy. The reading of this address under the
British flag shows you are in earnest. Russia and Ame-
rica are back of Greece. Farragut has all the soundings.
The monarchy and laws have gone up in England. As a
matter of hospitality you had better engage hospitals on
the Hudson for the dethroned monarchies. All right for
the great meeting at Cooper Institute, when I will bom-
bard England again with Bastille epigrams.—Sincerely,
GEO. FRANCIS TRAIN.—P.S. This little keepsake was pre-
sented to me by Mrs. Captain Mackay, who saw me off in
the steamer. Put it with the address.—G. F. T." The
excellent condition of the suffering patriot just released
from the British Bastille must have been a shock to the
sympathies of his Fenian admirers. lie is, however, the
better qualified for his lecturing tour on " Civis Am eri-
canus suns in a British Bastille." We cannot help thinking
little Sue Train is right in her call, "Father, come home."
Governer Ward, of New Jersey, is said to pos-
sess tho finest collection of pictures in that State.
THE MANUFACTURE OF WATCHES AND CLOCKS.—
A most interesting and instructive little work, describing briefly
but with great clearness, the rise and progress of watch and
clock makin has just been published by Mr J. W. Benson, of
25, Old Bond-street, 99, Westbourne-grove, and the City Steam
Factory, 58 and 60, Ludgate-hill. The book, which is profusely
illustrated, gives a full description of the various kinds of watches
and clocks, with their prices, and no one should make a purchase
without visiting the above establishments or consulting this truly
valuable work. By its aid persons residing in any part of the
United Kingdom, India, or the Colonies, are enabled to select for
themselves the watch best adapted for their use, and have it sent
to them with perfect safety. Mr. Benson; who holds the appoint-
ment to the Prince of Wales, sends this pamphlet to any address
on receipt of two postage stamps, and we cannot too strongly
tecomniewi it to theaetice Qf the intelaclinspurchsteer