The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-15 00:00:00

,(et—e..c.._.._c_..s,:'

As to the contract itself, we must revert to our
original- conviction—that it would be far more eco.
nonaical to divide, the subsidy among any number
of deserving gentlemen that might be selected for
the purpose than to give it to the existing com-
pany. Mr. Gregory made a very good speech last
night, but, like many another good speech, it was
a speech of excuses. It was an apology for the
Galway Packet Company. . The very stars have
fought against that company from the beginning.
Both the parliamentary and the natural heavens
have concentrated upon it their utmost malignity.
" Lurid smoke and frank suspicion" in the shape of
storms that raged nowhere else, and an economy
directed against that enterprise alone, have blighted.
it in the bud, and thwarted every attempt to retrieve
its lost fortunes. First one threatening motion in
the amuse, then another—one Treasury frown, then
another, paralysed not only the company but the
contractors as well, weakened the very plates and
ribs of, their huge ships, and loosened the rivets
and bolts out of their sides. Persecution did its
worst, and distrust broke the back both of the com-
pany and its ships. The directors dropped their
heads, and the ships swayed and twisted with the
waves, and long before the packets reached the
swell of the Atlantic they trembled and shivered
and gaped at the prospect of the Parliamentary
trials that awaited them. That they never once
did their voyage out in the stipulated time, and
only twice did that on the return journey, is to
and inauspicious
se Scotch.
t e h .
some of
more than was to be expected %oral;
a commencement. Grant, then, that the enterprise
Powerful a s Iri s h ,
and the
highly-favoured uwraesd English
companies,
the largest cities in the empire, men of immense
wealth, and, above all, national selfishness, porn-
bined agaidst this attempt to let Ireland have her
own. Such influences were too strong for the com-
ptiacnisym. T
to do its
to a considerableworki nheface
exofatuennit it did failversailseep
of its work may be admitted, when even the
Royal Mail Company failed for years to anticipate
the conveyance of news from the 'West Indies
round by New York, and yet had its subsidy. In
fact, the Galway Company is the only one that
has been brought to book, and treated with rigour.
It has been fined, and its subsidies withheld,
till what it has received is a mere trifle, -which
goer a very little way to compensate it for the
trouble undertaken, upon Government account.
So far as regards the way in which this company
has discharged its obligations, a Select Committee
cannot be expected to throw very much light on a
result which Mr. Gregory himself describes as an
actual failure. The general question of an Irish Packet
Company is still open, and on this point no English
or Scotch prejudice should be allowed to stand in the
way. Mr. Gregory states it to be a fact that Ireland.
alone can maintain a packet line; that its letters, its
passengers, its goods, are quite enough to make
a fortnightly line amply remunerative, though a
subsidy would, of course, be very convenient to
begin with. This is just one of the points
that a Select Committee would be able to
ascertain. As to the transmission of news by
telegraph, there can be no doubt, we should
think, that a line of steamers doing the distance
between Galway and St. john's in six days would
render that the precise interval, in point of news,
between London and New York. But we should
think it not unlikely that the committee will direct
its inquiries chiefly to the convenience of English and
Scotch passengers and goods. On this point there
can hardly be two opinions on this, side the Irish
Channel. No gentleman with an unbiased regard
to his own convenience, intending to go to the
United States, would prefer a voyage to Dublin and
a journey across Ireland preparatory to embarking
in a transatlantic steamer, to a journey to Liver-
pool and a walk on board the packet in the Mersey.
Ireland, after all, is only a province of the empire, in
the same sense as Scotland and Yorkshire, or the
Western counties, none of which claim a direct line
of steamers for themselves ; so we must fall back on
the general eonvenieuce of an Atlantic port for the
Transatlantic line. We can only. consider Ireland
a natural breakwater lying before the real ports
of the empire. Ports of embarcation are matters
of personal and commercial ; cattvenienie; and the

attempts to make them in spite- of distance, insular
separation, and other natural disadvantages, would
only lead to a large expenditure in vain. The
homeliest view of such a question is the
best. Government would only be helping to
dupe the too willing Irish 'enthusiasts if it encou-
raged them to invest their small savings in the for-

nation of a port which could only be kept up at ,
very great cost, and which would fall into decay as
soon as the favour of Government was withdrawn.

Gregory is Of opinion that a candid inquiry
must terminate in assigning to Galway the palm
of convenience. That is his private opinion, which
ho avows with becoming modesty. The time may
come when Galway, and half a dozen other
ports, will each send its own steamer and letters

to the States, but that time has not come yet, and,
apparently, is still far off in the future.—lames,

RAILWAY ikivrELLIGENCE.

LONDON AND SOUTH-WESTERN.

The adjourned Wharncliffe meeting of this com-
pany was held yesterday at the Waterloo Station,
to consider a bill authorising a lease of the Margate
Railway to the London, Chatham, and Dover Com-
pany, and for other purposes—Capt. Mangles in the
chair.

Mr. BIRCHAM, the solicitor, read the heads of
the bill, and explained that it contained clauses
authorising working arrangements with the South-
Western and three other companies, subject to the
approval of the respective shareholders and the
sanction of the Board of Trade. Thq London,
Chatham, and Dover, (Metropolitan Extension)
Railway would form junctions with the South-
-Western Railway in Battersea-fields, and it was
therefore considered desirable to have power to
make traffic arrangements.
The CHAIRMAN stated that the company coull
not make any of the working arrangements referred
to in the bill without the assent of the shareholders
at a meeting specially convened for the purpose.
He concluded by moving a formal resolution approv-
ing the bill.
Capt. JOHNSTON seconded the motion, and it was
carried unanimously.
This concluded the business for which the Wharn-
cliffe meeting had been convened.

THE PAPAL-AUSTRIAN RIOT AT

FLORENCE.

" Who do you suppose," we read in a private letter
from Florence, " was the O'Donoghue of this dis-
graceful demonstration ? Why, no less a personage
than one of the clerical heroes of St. George-in-the-
East, whose' harmless' name is much milder than
his manners. He has just hurried away for his
life, and when he reaches England will no doubt
relate with holy pride to his friends the Jesuits of
the English Church how, while enjoying as a guest
mt
name
Roma
n de°
hf
vi
s;Eirilnwl idglighari
atoi nn
worthy
17:1
the gentle hospitality of this fairest city of the
Italian kingdom, he, an English gentleman and
clergyman, shouted ' Viva it Tedesco!' (Long live
the Austrians), and was chased by the mob, who
soon found out his name, and calling it out inanit.s
Italian pronunciation, hunted'
.him pale, a
trembling, to his hotel, into which he scrambled
vengeance. Here,
hiHleerteh,ehopweoepvleer,
to.huitsspidreecwiofeurs.espveocwimmeng
os
ef natnl Englishmany appeared
taken him off as the ringleader of a J.:,
oh ough thought
gendarmes, hi ms e
wl f
who would
riot,,
übbluadt_hparve;
selfth e
in miserable
his
e x probationertrem ity
e.f fr
theo
Double blasphemer of his ern:"
11 bring this affair
We all trust Lord Norman y
___-----.,
ivobfeeftysee.
hero,the H
andou s
thee of
clientr d so. f
thelb The
dcvaouesaete.i's'

fromN TAT
the CLAYEIack
THE
FEARFUL
efforts
to
ge t -COLLIE
outh
continued night and a
-ay- During the
three ShaleC R s
ares Pit.—
he
I:lmve baps
men been
and three ys l'
of Wednesday and Thursday the en •
whole glues and pumps
were supplemented by the use of buckets, and it
was hoped
that the pit would be dry on
g established
early yes-
terday morning. It is now conclusively that
phitt, but no hopes
are entertained that they will
be recovered alive.
PROSPECT OF THE HOP CROP OF 1861.—The
great failure of the growth of hops of last season very
naturally excites the
hopes and fears of hop-growers re-
lative to the prospects of a hop crop of the approaching
season. The present period is a critical one in hop plan-
tations, for in a few days the most promising crop may be
destroyed. In Surrey, where the choicest quality of hops
are grown, and in the adjoining counties, Berks and
Hants, the hop-gardens now assume a most verdant and
flourishing aspect. At Farnham and Woking the hop
grounds are in good condition, and in other districts the
crop is healthy. The root, although later than usual, has
made strong shoot, the bine grows rapidly, and sets well
to the pole, and up to the present time no serious indica-
ultrehsfAedt
aiC.wnyCatlnthDeierE
tion of the hop flea has yet shown itself on the bine.
last few days of wet weather partial blight
has set th
ine, which too frequently is the 'precursor of
the hop flea, and which last year destroyed the hop crop.
But dry and warm weather may yet avert the pestilence
of the fly. As yet it is impossible to conjecture the aver-
age bulk of crop, although considerable betting has emn-
menced as to the amount of hop duty;
bat it is satisfac-
tory to be able to state that in +log hop districts generally
of the southern countief, cp. very fair prospect exists for au
L abundankgaawring At the coming hop 13050/2.

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THE GALWAY CONTRAdT
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