The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-30 00:00:00

became not quite certain whether she would suc-
ceed in backing out of it ; who remember the
Persia on her first voyage racing against the
Pacific; and coming into port with her bows stove
in by a collision with an iceberg ; and who happen
to have heard that the Scotia this last summer nar-
rowly escaped being sunk in the harbour of Queens-
town by a collision invited by the obstinacy of Cap-
tain Judkins on a matter of marine etiquette. We
have a great respect for marine etiquette, but we
doubt whether the 250 passengers on the deck of the
Scotia at that moment cared whether the Scotia or
the England put its helm a-starboard, when both
seemed likely to go to the bottom."
It would be impossible for the Tribune to have
said anything more strongly in praise of the Cunard
vessels than these sentences, written as they are with an
animus. Here is a list of catastrophes, for the oldest
established Ocean Line, in which an enemy writing
to expose their shortcomings is only able to allege
that one ran too near Cape Race—another had to
back out of a field of ice, and a third was near
coming into collision with another vessel. Those
who wish to write down the Cunard Line had better
confine themselves to the inferiority of the accom-
modation—the short supply of sheets and towels,
the bad food—and such items, which may be easy
to assert and difficult to disprove. The Tribune
ought therefore to enlarge more than it does on
the shortcomings of the casino management,
and carefully avoid a topic on which the
Cunard is absolutely unassailable. That steamers
may be built with better accommodation, that more
comforts and conveniences may yet be supplied, we
do not doubt. We have seldom, however, heard
one word but in praise of the general comfort
and even luxury found on board these vessels.
The French Line between Havre and New
York are magnificent ships, fitted up and appointed
in the handsomest style, and so also are the vessels
from Hamburg, as well as the National Steam
Navigation Company, and those of that most liberal
of companies, the Inman. Still, in public estima-
tion, the Cunard maintains the lead. This is not ac-
complished by keeping its mishaps out of the news-
papers—an absurd idea, impossible to carry out, but
by guarding on all sides against mishaps. The
Tribune commences this article by the following
statement :

" Since the war ended, there have been two, and
only two, American passenger steamers plying regu-
larly between New York and any European port.
Those two were the Arago and Fulton, and they
were sold at auction on the 22d. As these vessels
were put up at auction for the avowed reason that
the line did not pay, we presume they are not likely
to be again started for Havre. With their sale the
American flag, so far as it covered any passenger
traffic between Europe and America, disappears from
the ocean. A nation which claims to be almost the
first in its mercantile marine seems about to with-
draw from all competition for the very large
and profitable business which steamers under
other flags are doing between the two Continents."
The Arago and the Fulton have not been sold,
and the line has not been discontinued, as was inti-
mated by the agents, Messrs. Starr and Co., in our
last number. From this error, the Tribune travels
into a general condemnation of the Transatlantic
Lines established, and the Canard in particular.
Whether these fleets be up to the mark or not,
.one
thing is certain, that they are the best Ocean Lines
afloat. There may be room for improvement in
them ; but if so, other Ocean Companies are a very
long way, indeed, behind the times. If the best be
bad, then the world has not reached at the point
of progress we had imagined ; but we are at a loss to
know what the standard is, by which the Tribune
has arrived at its judgment. —Anglo-American
Times.