The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-17 00:00:00

The Transatlantic Carrying Trade.

The Fulton and the Arago are to be sold, and
with them will disappear the last Transatlantic
steamships flying the American flag. This occurs
at the moment the demand for transport, both of
passengers and goods, is the greatest ever known
between America and Europe ; so great, indeed,
that new lines are being projected, and numerous
steam vessels ordered to meet the rapid increase of
traffic. The Round Table, in an article on " At-
lantic Travel," discusses the disappearance of the
American flag from the vessels employed between
the continents as a subject of little or no impor-
tance. The only question for the public, in its
opinion, being the three desiderata of safety, swift-
ness, and comfort. "It would assuredly be gratify-
" ing to national pride to have two or three
" fleets of splendid steamships carrying the stars and
" stripes across the sea, but this is a pure question
"of sentiment. It matters little to the pleasure-
" seeker or to the commercial traveller what flag
" floats over him, provided the ship takes him ra-
pidly to his destination, and feeds him well by the
" way." We quite agree with the Round Table in
these remarks as far as they go. But the question
has two aspects, and the Round Table only treats
one of these. The view individual passengers take
is one thing—the view the nation takes is another.
The commercial traveller or the pleasure-seeker will
secure hispassage in the ship which carries him fastest,
at the lowest charge, with the greatest comfort and
safety,whether the banner of the Grand Turk, Imaum
of Muscat, France, England, or the United States
floats over the vessel. There is, however, some-
thing more than a mere sentiment involved. The
individual seeks his pers:mal comfort and interest—
the nation looks to the interest and well-being of
the public as a whole. It may not much matter
to the commercial traveller what flag the ship flies
so long as the terms and conditions of the passage
suit him. But the case is widely different when
the nation considers the telling fact that the end
has come of their last Transatlantic line, and that
henceforth, unless a change be wrought, not one of
the magnificent steamers plying to Europe will be
registered as a vessel of the United States.
The United States has been so absorbed with its
weighty political questions, that minor details—
such as the rapid disappearance of the American
flag from the seas—have been suffered to pass with
little notice. Thera was a time when the fact we
are now discussing would have aroused the spirit of
the whole nation—induced an earnest inquiry into
the cause, and led to instant remedial measures.
We have little doubt but that time will soon come
again. There is more than a question of sentiment
involved ; although such questions may have, and
generally do have, a high national degree of impor-
tance. The flag itself—the glorious Stars and
Stripes—is a mere question of sentiment. But
in this case we are concerned to know
the cause. The citizens of the United States
acknowledge no people their superiors as sea-
men, and even at the moment that their ocean car-
rying trade is on the eve of failing they accomplish
some feats of nautical daring and skill which have
excited the admiration of the world. While the last
American steamers are about to disappear from the
Transatlantic, the nation gives a convincing proof
of its skill in shipbuilding by sending three yachts
in mid-winter across the Atlantic which accom-

plished passages that would be considered fair in
powerful steamers. How is it that shipbuilders so

good, and sailors so enterprising and skilful, cannot
hold their own in competing with European
nations for a share of their own carrying
trade ? There was a time when American
ingenuity remodelled the construction of ves-
sels, when they built so well and cheaply that
the most vigorous spur ever given to ocean traffic
came from their side of the Atlantic, and when
it would have been considered a safe prediction,
that in a few years the carrying trade of the world
would be mainly
performed by vessels flying the
American colours. That so great a promise should
end in so lamentable a failure must, sooner or later,
excite the attention of the nation. The main cause
is to be found in the fact, that at the present high
rate of wages, and enormous cost of material, the
shipbuilders of the United States cannot compete with
those of Europe. By the American Navigation Laws
the Americanflag is onlypermitted to cover American-
built ships. If, therefore, ships can be built much
cheaper elsewhere, the company that organises a
line between a port in the United States and one in
Europe, whether mainly worked by American
capital or not, must register as a foreign company,
and their ships fly a foreign flag. Under existing
circumstances we consider this law to be a mis-
take, and the United States would find it so if in-
volved in a great naval war. A mercantile marine
is the nursery of a navy, and the ownership of
powerful ocean lines, which could be diverted to