The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-24 00:00:00

THE WEST INDIA MAIL STATION

We resume our remarks on the home station of the West
India mails, considered principally as a nauticaul question.
And, first, with regard to

A PORT OP CALL.
It appears, from several parts of the evidence elicited be-
fore the parliamentary committee, that the government, from
the first, contemplated a port of call, or second port, as far
as possible to the west of the original port of departure, on
the supposition that the latter were selected eastward of the
coast of Cornwall. Whether Portsmouth or Southampton
(nearest to the metropolis) had been selected as the termi-
nating home port, the only ports at all likely to the westward
of either were Dartmouth, Plymouth, or Falmouth, to all of
which strong objections were stated, and particularly to the
two latter, from the difficulty, risk, or impossibility of access

,
at certain times. Dartmouth was considered decidedly the
best in point of safety and accommodation ; but it is the most
easterly of the three, and therefore not nearly so suitable as
Falmouth to secure the grand desideratum (advocated by
many of the witnesses) of having the mails carried as far as
possible " on four wheels ;" and an opinion being expressed
by several of the pt.rties examined, that there would be con-
siderable uncertainty and delay in touching at any second
port, the committee appear to have entirely abandoned the
idea, at least in considering Southampton as the station.
Captain Chappell, marine superintendent of the Royal Mail
Steam Packet Company, expressed his disapproval of any
port of call, as having hitherto been found to be impractica-
ble, and maintained his assumption (for so we must call it) by
a sort of side-wind slap at the port of Liverpool. He states
that, fourteen years ago, the mail steam packets between this
port and Dublin called at Holyhead in going and returning,
and that this plan, after being persevered in at great risk and
cost, and without any adequate advantage, for some years,
was at length given up. But this illustration was most in-
applicable to the case in point. We readily admit that Ho-
lyhead is not a practicable port of call. It is, with northerly
winds beset with a heavy sea, and the bay is withal so dan-
gerous, the access so difficult, and the accommodations, both
natural and artificial, so inadequate (notwithstanding its new
pier and other improvements) that it can scarcely be called
even a port of refuge for small coasters, much less for vessels
of large burthen. Its position is good, from its being on an
apex or point of land, or rather rock, forming the extreme
southern boundary of the channel into Liverpool ; and it has
been nurtured principally as a telegraph station, and the
nearest port of North Wales to Ireland, but will never be-
come a safe or extensive port. The inference to be de-
duced from his evidence regarding it is, however, to the
uninitiated, that, because it is an unprofitable and unsafe
port of call for the Liverpool and Dublin steam mail ships,
were Liverpool selected as the station of the West India
mail ships, we could find no available port of call any more
than Southampton. But the voyage (properly a mere coast-
ing one) to Dublin has no reference to the voyage to the
West Indies, and if he had cast his eye upon the chart he
would have found that a port of call from Liverpool could
have been found, much superior to Holyhead, for all the

purposes of conveying passengers and correspondence to and
from the West Indies. We allude to the south and the south
west extremity of Ireland. Why did he overlook Cork ?—one

f the finest ports in the kingdom, accessable in all weathers

capable of accommodating the whole squadron at a time, and
which may be left in all weathers by such vessels, if we ex-
cept the rare contingency of a hurrican from the south, when

they could not leave even-Southampton. Cork is moreover
in the direct course hence to the West Indies. There is,
however, another port still more applicable, and not far
distant from Cork, which he has also overlooked—namely,
BEERHAVEN. in Bantry Bay, situated at the south west ex-
tremity of Ireland, and in every respect suitable for the
purpose, particularly when a railroad across the island is
formed, of which there is every probability. It is, besides,
in the direct course, and close to Cape Clear, the point of de-
parture of all vessels sailing from this port, or from the
north of England, or Wales, (as far south as the Bristol
Channel,) to the West India Islands. The committee were
informed of this fact. Captain George Evans, R.N., said
that he had been appointed to inspect the west coast of Ire-

[and by the Post-oi=fiee Enquiry COmmission, and to point out

the btst port for the Amersin and West India packets. He
did so, and recommended Beerhaven, as in every respects
suitable "for the landing and embarking of all the Irish and
Scotch passengers and correspondence," as it was very little
out of the way from Brean Down, (in the Bristol Channel.)
We may add that it is not at all out of the way from Liver-
pool. Captain Evans also said that " Bantry Bay is an open
place,—Beerhaven has two entrances, and there is no wind
that a vessel would attempt to go to sea in, in which she
could not go in and out of Beerhaven." He added that
even in the night, vessels might go round Cape Clear into it,
with safety, if there was a light fixed there, which there was
not at present; and that there were two good channels, one
the eastern and the other the western, which permitted in-

gress and egress in all weathers—even in strong southerly
zales when vessels could not put out of Cork. Cape Clear,
close by, was, moreover, not only the best point of departure

'or the Nest L►dies, but the safest headla►id to make in com-

ing home. We need scarcely add that after making Cape
Clear, the West India mails would, in running for Liverpool,
be in the same safe position as coasters. The course up
channel is direct and well-defined all the way by headlands
and lighthouses. Beerhaven is a frequent port of refuge for
our Liverpool vessels. The letters and passengers from all
Scotland to the West Indies could, even now, (before a rail-
way is constructed,) be readily conveyed to it or to Cork, by
the mails,—through Donoughadee or Belfast ; and those of

Ireland, without a long journey from any point, and no part
of the transit by water. It is in fact in the direct and nearest
line from the north of England, from Scotland, and from
Ireland, to the West India Islands.
So much, therefore, of advantage for Liverpool over
Southampton, as regards a port of call.

SUGGESTED PUBLIC MEETING

Having now shown the superiority of Liverpool over
Southampton as the home station of the West India mail
fleet, not only as regards the transmission of correspondence,
and the transit of passengers, to and from the populous ma-
nufacturing districts in the north of England, and in Scot-
land, as well as with Ireland, with which it is in daily and
rapid communication, but as respects its capabilities and ac-
commodations on a large scale, for all the purposes of steam
navigation, combined with the advantages (should that be
required) of a suitable port of call,—having, we think, es-
tablished those points beyond dispute in the minds of all truly
disinterested, commercial, and nautical men who have given
their attention to the subject, it only remains for us to throw
out the suggestion promised at the close of our last remarks,
with a view to induce the government to re-consider and
amend the decision to which they have, we apprehend, pre-
maturely arrived, in selecting Southampton as the exclusive
port. _ _ _

What we propose is, that public meetings of the merchants,
traders, and other inhabitants of the towns of Liverpool and
Manchester, Hull, Leeds, Glasgow, Dublin, Cork, &c.,
should be held, respectively, or by deputation, at one or more
of them, to consider and adopt the best means of placing the
claims of Liverpool (to which the others are decidedly favour-
able), before parliament, at an early period of the approaching
session. Evidence of a much stronger nature than that ad-
duced before the committee might be brought forward at such
meeting or meetings, which it would he scarcely possible—
taking all the relative advantages of this port into account—
for any government, looking to the general good and the
effective and economical working of the mails, to resist. All
we desire is a common measure of justice, and if, after a
full, fair, and practical investigation of the question in all its
bearings, we fail, conjointly, to make out a case entitling us
to a preference, we shall be contented to forego the point at
issue, and leave, if for a national good, a comparatively small
port to the enjoyment of all the advantages it may derive
from its being the home station of these ships.
We could furnish much additional " practical" evidence
in behalf of Liverpool, but shall refrain from further discus-
sion of the subject until the question is again generally
mooted, or brought before parliament.

LITERARY I''OTICE.

The National Church of England : Ancient ; Apostolic ;

The above is the title of a sermon preached by the Rev.
Robert Eden, minister of St. Mary's Chapel, Lambeth, for
the Winchester Diocesan Church Building Society, and we
are happy to say that the discourse very ably maintains the
thesis without any admixture of those exclusive or bigotted
theories which so strikingly characterise that school of
churchmanship lately set np, or revived by the Rev. Doctor
Pusey, and his associates. We have read the publication
with much pleasure ; the views put forth are moderate, sen-
sible, seasonable, and judicious; and we hail all those who
advocate them as the truest friends, not only to our most
holy church, but to the church of England, as, perhaps, its
very best expounder and teacher. We recommend this ser-
mon to those who would wash to examine our ecclesiastical
constitution by the light of scripture, and to reconcile a de-
cided preference for its polity, with a tolerant and charitable
consideration for other forms, and other Cbristisn communi-
ties, not of our kindred.