The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-20 00:00:00

THE GREAT EASTERN.

In commemoration of their recent visit to this
noble vessel the following very gratifying memorial
has been presented by the members of the House of
Commons who accepted the invitation of the Direc-
tors of the Great Ship Company :—" To R.
J. R. Campbell, Esq., chairman ; W. Jackson, Esq.,
M.P., deputy-chairman ; and the directors of the
Great Ship Company, Limited :—We, the under-
signed members of the House of Commons, having
had the opportunity of inspecting the Great Eastern
steam-ship, are desirous of expressing our admira-
tion of this effort of genius and mechanical skill,
one of the noblest which has ever been produced in
this or any other country ; also our high apprecia-
tion of the object for which this great ship has been
designed. She is not more remarkable for her size
than for the completeness of her gene4al arrange-
ments, which appear to us to be successfully carried
out in the minutest detail. 'The country is deeply
indebted to those gentlemen who have so zealously
and ably extended the principle of ocean naviga-
tion, an effort which we trust is destined to bring
about improvements in sea transport as important
as those which railways have effected on land.
While expressing our admiration we desire to con-
vey to the directors our hopes that this undertak-
ing, which is calculated to advance the cause of
civilisation, may be carried out with complete suc-
cess—Stanley, John Villiers Shelley, Cuthbert F.
Russell, James Pilkington, James Caird, W. H.
Sykes, Robert William Kinnaird, Wm. Williams,
George Hadfield, Francis T. Duncan, George S.
Beecroft, S. Grcgson, John Bright, Eliot Yorke,
Charles Gilpin, N. Ewart, William Ewart, Fer-
moy, J. Duke, Joseph Locke, Joseph Paxton,
David Salomons, Alfred I. Churchill, William
Finney, H. A. Herbert, Samuel Nale, Charles
Napier, Action S. Ayrton, George Lyall,
Thomas Conolly, J. E. Redmond, H. J. W.
Jervis, William Coningham, S. Morton Peto, R. M.
Bellew, Herbert Ingram, W. Nicol, J. F. Briscoe,
Robert Ingham, Henry Paull, J. P. Brown West-
head, G. Hayes, Edmund H. R. Lacon, Wm. Cu-
bitt, John Pritchard, S. A. Warre, Frederick North,
John Greene, W. Cowper,
W. H. Gregory, George
Bowyer Francis Pigott, Wm. M. Somerville John
Turner Hopwood, John Locke, Robert Dalglish, J.
A. Hardworthi A. A. Bathurst, H. R. Ferguson
Davie, J. Pope Hennessy, S. Hanbury, Stafford, J.
A. Turner, G. Gavin, Guilford Preston, C. Douglas,
T. H. Pakenham, M. R. Shaw Stewart, John D.
Acton, James Kershaw, Edward Grogan, Henry
Keating, W. 0. Foster, Humphrey Mildmay, and
J. M. Keeland." Since the presentation of this
memorial, Lord Palmerston, with the Duke of
Somerset, Lord Clarence Paget, Sir R. S. Dudnas,
Mr. Sidney Herbert, Sir George Grey, Captain
Carnegie, and Mr. Cardwell, paid a long visit to the
vessel, and partook of luncheon on board with Mr.
C& mpbell, Mr. Jackson, and Captain Harrison.

We are informed that the negotiation between
Mr. Lever, M.P., and the Great Eastern Steam-
ship Company is renewed, that gentleman having
offered further terms of the most liberal description.
Our readers are probably aware that Mr. Lever
offered to charter the Great Eastern for her
first voyage to America from a safe port in
Great Britain or Ireland, and to pay £20,000
to the company for the trip. Immediately after
this offer was made Mr. Lever paid a visit to
Ireland, having, as we are given to understand,
received an assurance from the chairman of the
Great Eastern Company that nothing should be
done with the vessel without giving him an oppor-
tunity of negotiating for her charter. On his re-
tail) he has made another tender, offering to coal
the ship as well as to pay down £20,000 cash on
the agreement being signed. The company by
accepting this offer would be relieved from all ex-
penses of commission, they would have no trouble
in case of a break-down of the machinery, and
would be in a position to clear a handsome net
profit without risk. It cannot be denied this is a
spirited offer, in which an outlay of not less thEM
£40,000, including the charterage, must be in-
volved.