The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-23 00:00:00

THE StTN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, N'OVEIII3ER 23, 1857.

a ton. So great is the expense of coal,which fluctuates
in price, that in some of the English mail contracts th e
government engage to compensate the packet
owners when the price of coals advances beyond a
certain limit. Hence the desideratum for steam-
ships to be able to carry sufficient fuel for the out-
ward and homeward voyage. It seems an oppro-
brium to this age of enterprise and skill that we
cannot reach our Australian colonies from Eng-
land in much less than 60 days. We can get to
New York from Liverpool or Southampton—a dis-
tance of 3,000 miles—in 9 days ; but we cannot get
to Australia, four times the distance, in 36 days.
How is this ? Four steam-packet companies have
attempted to run from Southampton to Sydney in
eight weeks, and all have failed. Almost every
route has been tried—the Cape, the Singapore
route, and the Ceylon route—without success.
Enormous rewards have been offered to steam-ship
owners to carry the mails from England to New
South Wales in 60 days punctually. The present
Australian Mail Packet Company receives nearly
200,0001. a year, and scarcely a mail has been taken
out, or brought home, in time. Yet the Australian
colonies are our choicest possessions ; and they are
filled with a population that have the most inti-
mate relations with this country. Glutted
markets, bankruptcy, and ruin in Australia have
been the result of a defective mail communication
with the mother country. There cannot be a doubt
but the Imperial Government, and the local
governments of New South Wales, Victoria, South
Australia, and Tasmania would subscribe at least a
quarter of a million of money annually for any steam-
ship company who could establish a mail commu-
nication between England and Sydney, say in 50
days. Twelve millions sterling of gold is exported
yearly from Australia to England, which would
st probably all be sent in the mail packets. The
freight of this at 3 per cent. would be 350,0001. a
year; a vast sum is lost in interest of money and
insurance on this Australian gold, in consequence of
its being sent in sailing ships. If such a mail com-
munication were established, so that persons could
run to and from England and Australia in the same
time proportionately that they can run to New York,
hundreds, if not thousands, of wealthy passengers
would travel by the mail packets, paying very high
fares. But it is vain to expect that any such -om-
munication can be established by any of our pre-
sent steamships. Toattempt it would belikeplaciug
our Peninsular packets on the Atlantic service. The
fact is, when the distance of a voyage is materially
increased, the magnitude and driving power of
steamships must be increased in an almost geome-
trical ratio.

The steamship Leviathan is about twice the length,
three times the horse power, and five times the ton-
nage of the largest mail packet in existence ; but this
is scarcely so great a contrast as ;hat between the
steamers employed by the great mail packet com-
panies 20 years ago and those employed at the pre-
s-.nt time. The reason why the Leviathan has ex-
cited such intense interest and curiosity as compared.
with that caused by such ships as the Persia and
Atrato, is the gradually increasing size of steamships
up to the time those ships were launched. Thus,
for instance, in the Ripon, Indus, Oriental, Nia
gara, Canada, Europa, Asia, Tamar, Tyne, Nubia,
Alma, Africa, Arabia, La Plata, Orinoco, Magda-
lena, Parana, we have steamers varying from 1,300
to 3,000 tons burden. But between a 4,000 ton
ship and the Leviathan of 25,000 tons there is no
intervening magnitude to mitigate the wonder with
which the latter is looked upon. There cannot be
a doubt but that the Leviathan, with her beautiful
model, her immense length, and enormous engine
power, will average 20 miles an hour, nearly 500
miles a day; and that she will run to Lisbun from
England in a day and a half, to Gibraltar in 2
days, to Malta in 3 days, to New York in 6 days,
to Rio de Janeiro in 8 days, to the Cape of Good
Hive in 10 days, to Australia in 26 days, and
round the world in two mouths. One such ship,
starting from England for Alexandria, and another
waiting for her arrival there in the Red Sea, could
take out 10,000 troops to Calcutta in less than
three weeks, or to Bombay in a fortnight. The
Leviathan will be able to carry coals sufficient to
go round the world, and fullyfreighted, for a couple
of months' voyage, with mails, specie, passengers,
troop., and cargo, her earnings would be enormous.
For months past the attention of all people in-
terested in maritime affairs has been directed to
the Leviathan, as if she were destined to mark some
important epoch in steam navigation.
It is on the sea that Englishmen have had their
greatest struggles and won their most glorious vic-
t _aims, and it is well that they should be foremost
in ruling the waves in peace as well as in war. In
ship )uilding, at least, they maintain their unex-
pected superiority.