The Sun.
London, England, 1857-11-27 00:00:00

SCREW STEAMERS AND SAILING

VESSELS.

(From the Times.)
Never was there a contest in which the victors
owed so little to what is called " luck" as that which
seems now to be drawing to a close lee India.
Everywhere the governing race was surprised, out-
witted, and reduced to the most terrible straits.
Everywhere fortune seemed to go against them—
the fortune of position, of opportunity, and of sea-
son. The largest cities, in which were concentrated
the strongest forces of Sepoys, fell into the hands of
the enemy ; Delhi, Agra, Lucknow, and Cawnpore
seemed irretrievably lost. The time was one when
the British force in India was unprecedeutly small,
since within a few years kingdom after kingdom
had been annexed without any corresponding in-
crease of European troops. Then the mutiny broke
out in the early summer, when the natives of a
temperate climate are least able to bear exertion, •
and a long march or a hard day's fighting may be
expected to lay up nearly every man in bQspital.
Our countrymen seem, in fact, to have been placed
by fortune under every possible disadvantage, an ,
to have plucked safety and victory out of danger
only by the exercise of the highest faculties neces-
sary to war. Perhaps the most surprising fact con-
nected with this great history is that success has
been won without the slightest aid from home.
When Delhi was stormed, and the Residency at
Lucknow relieved, more than 40,000 men were
tossing on the ocean, but not one had reached the
scene of war. In every kind of steam or sailing
vessel which could be adapted to the conveyance of
troops, the forces of England had been shipped off
batch by batch during three Icing months, but even
the swiftest sailer had hardly arrived in thellooghly
before the fate of the war had been decided. Now,
though we have in this case happily fallen on our
feet, and though the British name will even receive
a higher lustre from the scantiness of the numbers
who have won the battle, yet it is not unimportant
to point out the fault that has been committed in .
sending reinforcements by such slow and antiquated
machines as the ordinary class of sailing ships.
By the last mail we have intelligence that a num- •
ber of vessels, containing about 5,000 mon, had ar-
rived at various ports of our Indian possessions up
to the 22d Oct. It is to the difference in the length
of these passages that we would call attention. It
may, however, be remarked that all the sailing ves-
sels have made passages far more tedious than the
average, and that winds and waves seem also to
have been in a conspiracy with our enemies. We
even bear of calms on the Line lasting for nearly
four weeks. There had arrived, however,
at Calcutta when the mail left, the steam-
ships Thebes, Golden' Fleece, and Caledonian.
The Thebes sailed on 31st July, the Golden Fleece
August 8, the Caledonian, July 26. Thus all these
steamers had accomplished the voyage understhree
months, and the Golden Fleece, one of theslargest
and finest vessels afloat, had arrived in about ;two
months and a half. The mail steamer passed the
ships Areta and Bucephalus the former of which
left England as early as the 18th of June, while
the other sailed on the Ist of July. Thus the
Golden Fleece, which sailed more than seven weeks
after the Areta, arrived at Calcutta before here beat-
ing the Bucephalus also by more than flue weeks.
Now, the event has been fortunate, but if it had -
been otherwise what would the world have thought '
of an arrangement which produced so intolerable
delay ? Seven weeks I What might not have been
done in that time ? The mines under Lucknow'
might have been finished, and Havelock might
have come too late for the rescue; the Punjaub or
the Bombay Presidency might have broken into .
revolt through a belief that the English succours
that were so long talked about had no existence.
In fact, the whole fortune of the war, and perhaps
the destiny of India, might have been changed by
the neglect to use the most familiar application of
science at the critical hour. At Madras were the
Carthage and United Kingdom steamers, the for-
mer of whica left England on the Ist of August,
and the latter on the 4th, of the same month.
At the latest dates no sailing vessel had reached
Madras. At Galle there had arrived on the
23d of October the steam-ship Australian, which
left England on the 16th of August, and had
hi2dstthhetrhee-
fora made the passage in 69 days ;
Csndia arrived in 71 days,
while only d
s
sailing vessels from among those earliest etched
.e p
had made their appearance.. on
two or thine
On the whole, it may
be said thatstahilg vesselseinaveragedffaned therenc steamersebetweenwthilel pas.pro-
bably
sages of the
be found considerably to exceed a month. Of -
course, in this estimate we do not include large clip-
pers like the Lightning and the Jamesßaines, which
were taken up at a later period, but only the ordi-
nary sailing craft in which the troops were de-
spatched during June and the early part of July.
Now, there can be no doubt that the whole of the
troops might have been sent in steamers without
any sacrifice to the country. The great impulge -
which the building of screw-steamers had received
would have enabled the Government at any tint'
to commandthe services of a dozen or more first-clasS
vessels. The owners are always willing to land if the
Government will hire. Nor can we believe that the
additional expense ought to weigh for a moment in ,
the choice. In fact, it is doubtful if steam tnensport
is not in reality cheaper than by. the ordi-
nary sailing vessels. The passage is shorter, ,
and the ship may be returned to its owners
within a less time. The loss of the soldier's ,
services by a long voyage must also be- taken iuto
account, aad the chance •of sickness induced by
protracted confinement on board. Viewed even ad
a matter of money, we may say that the prompt_
arrival of troops is necessarily the first considera•
tion. But here the emergency was most presskrig►
and yet in defiance of remonstrance troops were
sent in ships which have lost seven weeks on the .
voyage.
If we are rightly informed, the Queen's Govern-
ment has not been primarily to blame in this affair.
The East India Director, have been the- partisans
of that method of marine locomotion which best
accords with their antique traditions. - In fact, the
first batch of troops was sent out upon the requisi-
tion of the Company, the Government being 014
concerned so far that it furnished the men. •Aci'r-
taM number of troops were made over to the Com-
pany, which transported them in its own manner.
It was only when the danger became extreme that
the Directors were prevailed upon to take up the
best vessels and to send out the men with the
utmost despatch. Of course, the reasoning of
the Directors and their partisans has been that
Ind;ft belongs to the Company, and that. all
which the Government should do is to supply at
a fair remuneration men to defend it. But the
cenntry can no longer submit to such fictions.t
The double Government, which is theype of
obstruction and circumlocution, has had its
day, and must now give way to some•
thing Le•• ter suited to the present time and
to actual wants. We are happy to say that as soon
as Parliament meets for the despatch of general
business the total abolition of the Company's Go-
vernment will be proposed by Ministers. India
will be brought immediately under the control of
the Crown and Parliament, with such a machinery
of administration as shall be though.; conducive to
its welfare. The greatest dependeecy of the empire
will receive the benefits of direct Ministerial respon-
sibility. Under such a system we cannot doubt
th rt the nation which has conquered and recon-
quered India will soon urge it onward with neW
force in the path of improvement.

Dr. Livingstone Was to have embarked for Portugal
yesterday at Southampton in the Peninsular mail
packet. The last advices from Lisbon, however,- con-
vey so fearful a representation of the ravages of the
epidemic there that the doctor has thought Tight to
postpone his visit to that capital.
The aggregate number of patients relieved at. the Me-
tropolitan Free Hospital, Devonshire-Aquare, city, dur
inL, the week ending Saturday, Nov. 21, was--medical,
624 ; surgical, 340 ; total, 964.,

BIRTHS. •
OP A NON.
On the 23d inst. at 2, Chester-square, the wife, of Sir-
Justin Shell, •
On the 22d inst., A Douglas, Isle of Man, the wife of
Sir Henry 0. R. Chamberlain, Bart., of the Hon: OOP°
of Gentleman at Arms.

OF A DAVOTIMP;
On the 24th inst., at King's-road, Brighton, the wan of
John Brady, Esq., M.P.—prematurely, sti b orit.
On the 25th inst., at the Terrace, Camberwell, the wife
of Herbert Barry, Esq.
MARRIED,
On the 25th inst., at St. James's, Spanish-place, and
afterwards at St. George's, Hanover-square, Joseph Byron
Blackett, M.R.C.S., 28, Oreen-street, Grosvenor-square,
second son of the late Powell Charles Blaekott, R.N , to
Caroline Mary, youngest daughter of Mr. Cutler, 8,
over-street, Hanover-square.
DIED.
On the 25th inst., at Cearles-square, Hoxton, JoshuaHaldren, Esq., aged 76.
On the 25th inst , at Hagley-road, Edgbaaton, near Blv
mingham James Christie, Esq. aged 72.
On the 25th inst., at Ashford', Kent, suddenly, T.
Startup, aged 75.
On the 24th inst., at Howeham, Yorkshire, George
Cholmoley, Esq., aged 75.
On the `24th inst., at Farnham, Essex, Mr. John Parris,
aged G 5.
On the 23d inst., at Apsley House, near Woburn, BOP,
Lieut.-Colonel C. Hervey Smith, aged 74.
Ou the 22d in,t., at Potter's Fields, Southwark, Mr. J.
Graves, aged 69.
On the 25th inst., at Laura-place, Clapton, Joseph
Curtis, Esq., aged 88.

LONDON: Printed and Published by lefUltDO YOUNG•
of No, 112, Strand, Printer, at The Sun Office, 1
112, Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the county
of Altddlesez, Friday, November 27, 107.