The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-13 00:00:00

tppeared, but there are still portions of stone floors supported
m arches, at the east, or tower end, forming platforms, now
th crass. We ascended by a broken and rather
to the upper story, whence we (lb-
surrounding country, which,
enriched by several finely-
arge portion of the centre of the
has dropped out, leaving the
:h side, without key or inner sap-

dan:erot

.ned a delightful vi

and east i
A

wooded n.

arch it

overhan

It derives from the excellence of the mortar.
The interior of the higher'portion of the ruin is thickly woven
over with ivy, by the stems of which one of my companions
—the stair being demolished by the ruthless hand of time—
wished to ascend to the highest peak, a further height of
perhaps twenty feet. He was so bent on his daring adven-
ture, that I was constrained to pull him back by the legs,
remarking that I had no mind that my remembrance of our
ramble should be sallied by my being called upon to appear
at a coroner's inquest. He afterwards expressed a strong
desire to gain and explore a small dark closet-looking apart-
ment, formed in the upper walls of the north-west corner of
the pile, by scrambling along the inside of the building, hold-
ing on by the pieces of stone on which had rested the beams
of the decayed floors, but this more dangerous freak of the
fearless youth I also overruled. He pointed out a perpendi-
cular square opening, or well, through the masonry of one of
the walls into the river beneath, into which (as a convenient
mode of execution) the peasantry still believe the lords of the
earth were wont, without the intervention of a judge or jury
to throw their prisdners or refractory retainers. A purpose
for such an opening, by no means so sanguinary, is, however,
more reconcilable with probability. The return by the dila-
pidated stairs required a steadier foot than the ascent ; but
we reached the sward that surrounds the venerable ruin in
safety, and having found our other companion on the river
side, plying his rod in patient but vain expectancy of the
finny inhabitants taking a fancy to his flies, we sat down on
a knoll, and partook of a lunch of the plainest fare, with that
enviable gout which is the result of purity of air and buoy-
ancy of spirits. We returned to town, partly by a varied
route, and though somewhat fatigued by the heat, highly
gratified by our ramble to Castle Troy.
. _

t, save

The whole of the county of Limerick is, it may be said,
bristled with interesting remains of feudal and ecclesiastical
grandeur and antiquity ; and the tourist should not omit to
visit Castle Connell, on the south bank of the Upper Shan-
non, about six miles from the city. It is one of the most
charming villages in the district, and the most popular resort
of the citizens on days of recreation. Here are found in a
pre-eminent degree all the materiel of the beautiful and pic-
turesque—in wood and water—in magnificent ruins of ancient
times, and elegant mansions of modern date. The rapids of
Doonass below are thb most remarkable on the whole line of
the Shannon, from its source in the " far north" of the island
to its confluence with the great western ocean. Carrig-o-
Gunniel, about four miles below the city, on the same side of
the stream—an elevated stronghold of the once celebrated,
but now extinct, Earls of Desmond, the last of whom gave
name to the " Geraldines"—is also a place of great interest ;
and not far distant are Croom, Kilmallock, Pallas Kenry,
and Adare, all deeply interwoven in the historical records and
traditionary lore of by-gone times. The opposite (Clare)
shore is scarcely less interesting in this respect; but I must
reserve such particulars as can be inserted within the pre-
scribed limits of these sketches for my " Trip down the
Shannon from Limerick to Kilrush."

EXTENSION OF STEAM NAVIGATION IN

SOUTH AMERICA

(From the London Journal of Commerce.)

The perusal of that part of the report of the committee of
the House of Representatives of the United States on the
state of their navy which points out the necessity of that
country bringing its steam fleet for protection or war nearer
in power to that of Great Britain, and the great efforts made
in this way by Russia and France, give at present great addi-
tional importance, beyond the mere increase of commercial
facilities, to every new line of powerful steamers carrying
the mails from this country to distant, and particularly to
such transatlantic countries whose principal commerce is as
yet in our hands, and which may be by this means more de-
veloped and better secured to us.
For this reason the now some years' pending proposal for
the establishment of a steam line to supersede the present
sailing packet to South America Proper, by which we parti-
cularly comprehend the southern hemisphere of America,
deserves the fullest attention as a really national enterprise ;
and with this view we shall refer to some documents which
reached us last week from Brazil, proving the desire of the
Government of that country to connect its commercial and
political relations with this country closer than with any
other.

It appears, then, that with the assistance of a gentleman
favourably known in connexion with the material improve-
ments of Brazil, Mr. William Morgan, of the firm of Messrs.
Ackraman, Morgan, and Co., of Bristol, has succeeded in
obtaining from the Government of that country a contract of
such a kind as alone could permit the establishment of such
a mixed naval and mercantile steam line as alone can be ef-
fective for all purposes which it ought to fulfil ; for the steam-
ers, though contracted for with a company, like Cunard's,
will, as those fine vessels, have to carry the Queen's pennant,

inasmuch as they will convey the royal mail on board, which
is always.under the protection of an officer of the navy, and
carronades of a sufficient calibre to protect them in case of a
sudden outbreak of war ; being liable, by the contract, in the

latter case, to' serve as war-steamers, and to receive, at home
and abroad, at a moment's notice, commanders and the full
equipment of men and guns from her Majesty's navy ; while,
in the performance .if their contract in times of peace, and
in order to give commerce the benefit they are so eminently
oaioulatad to give, and to diutinish the great expense of their
maintenance, they must be able also to carry goods and mer-
chandise to a certain amount, which, if not in some manner
exempt in foreign ports from the dilatory forms to which
car,'oes by purely pr /ate shipping are incessantly subject,
would become an impediment to that quick despatch in the
various ports touched at, without which a steam communica-
tion, comprising, as the one proposed, nine different ports of
sixteen nations, would be perfectly useless.

The facilities and coramercial immunities granted by the
Brazilian government ►o this projected line are the paramount
advantages of the cor.rract—for without them neither speedy
dispatch in the ports, nor speedy travelling, would have been
obtainable ; and had private efforts not succeeded in obtain-
ing these favours from a government so well disposed to fa-
vour the movements of commerce, and of a friendly national
intercourse with us, diplomacy would probably have been
employed in vain to obtain such essential advantages, mutual
to be sure, but which, in its hands, rarely escape becoming
objects of national jealousy and suspicion.
The proposed plan is that steam vessels of a large size
should depart at stated periods from a British post, to land
and receive mails BOTH OUTWARDS and HOMEWARDS, at
Madeira, Canaries, Cape de Verds, Pernambuco, Bahia,
Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catharine, Monte Video, and Buenos
Ayres.
The mails for Maranham, Psra, and other ports on the
coast, to he conveyed by 'the Brazilian steamer now on the
spot.
The Peninsular mails to be conveyed from Gibraltar and
Lisbon, to Madeira, and vice versa—mails to the several
settlements on the coast of Africa and for her Majesty's
cruisers, to be conveyed to St. Vincent's, in Cape de Verds,
and return mails taken from thence.
That six large steamers be built solely for this purpose,
which would give a monthly mail, as under, reserving one
boat in ordinary for emergencies.
Conveyed onwards from a port in England to Madeira,
Canaries, Cape de Verd Islands, (whence a branch might be
dispatched to the coast of Africa,) Pernambuco, Bahia, Rio
de Janeiro, Santa Catharina, Monte Video, Buenos Ayres.
Returning to England via Monte Video, St. Catharine, Rio
de Janeiro, Bahia, Pernambuco, Cape de Verds, Canaries,
Madeira.

By the projected arrangements, each vessel will have a
period of four weeks at Buenos Ayres to refit, and six weeks
in England for similar purposes.
The Brazilian government, in consideration of services to
be performed by the projected company, such as conveying
between the ports of the empire a small amount of tonnage,
and a limited number of persons to Europe for instruction
in .arts, science, or trade, on payment of a moiety of the
ordinary passage money, will pay to the company, during
fifteen years, 6,000 milreis for each monthly voyage, and have
granted it the privileges of conveying goods and passengers
from one to the other of the imperial ports, prompt dispatch
for the receiving and /anding, without any impediment what-
ever, of their passengers and goods, the free importation of
all articles necessary for the use and navigation of the steam-
ers, and exemption, throughout the empire, from the pay-
ment of all port charges and dues whatsoever.
All the countries of the world, except the western coast of
Africa, the Cape, and the coast of America, from the
Amazons to La Plata, are now connected with us by steam
communication, and both these extensive and important
shores may be served by the line proposed—for nothing is
more feasible than to make it correspond with one from the
Cape and from the Niger or Sierra Leone, as the plan is that
the main trunk shall touch at St. Vincent or some other
island of the Cape de Verds. If this is effected we may in-
deed. call ourselves steam bewinged abroad as we are iron
bound at home.
The advantage to our government of such a line is indeed
incalculable—punctuality in all its foreign communications
standing foremost, next the shortness and limitation of time
in every negotiation abroad, the prevention of misunder-
standings, the means of amending or altering measures or
instructions with rapidity, and of keeping tip an almost
telegraphic communication between every one of our men of
war in all the South Atlantic Seas.
We are not await that our government has as yet evinced
any readiness to attend to the frequent and pressing repre-
sentations and petitions repeatedly made by the merchants
of London, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, Birmingham,
and of many other towns interested in the commerce with
Brazil, Monte Video, and Buenos Ayres; but we may trust
that so important an opportunity as the one now offering by
the above most propitious arrangement will no longer remain
nnheeded ; the more so as it is evident that the preparations
necessary for the working of such a line will take full two
years, at least, while France will have its government mail
steamer to Brazil, ready by July, 1842.
The effect of such a line upon the disorganised states of
Monte Video and Buenos Ayres, which now waste their sub-
stance in a warfare as sanguinary and destructive of property
as it is obliterative of every trace of good feeling between man
and man, of civilisation, and of commerce, will in our opinion
cease on the establishment of this steam communication,
which will act upon them as a harbinger of peace. It may
safely be maintained that the whole of the expense of these
wars fall chiefly upon the commercial and manufacturing in-
terests of the country--on the commercial, because the coun-
tries owe to our merchants the amount of several years of
their consumption, and either the native merchants, ruined
by these civil and international wars, cannot pay, or those
who
o remain standing, pay only in deteriorated paper cur-
rency, such as the Buenos Ayres dollar, worth now about
two
pence ; the manufacturing and shipping interest of this
country loses by the great diminution which their poverty
and unsettled state produce, and it might safely be asserted
that, after assumingmerce of X.1,00h,n o a fixed and irrevocable loss to our com-
about £109,000 per up to this time, an additional loss of
ifannumt at least is added to this country
by I,lle continuance
the
fratricidal quarrels of Buenos
kyres and Monte Video, toughr a diminution of trade with

thew
Are we lookin
g for-consumers of our laulmfactured goods ?