The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-20 00:00:00

LITTLE JOHN FINALITY

There lives a lord, whom men they call
A morsel of mortality ;
In mind as well as members small,
Though Whigs extol the stature tall
Of little John Finality.
"Upon the Bill I fix my foot,"
Exclaim'd this sprig of quality ;
No further urge the rash pursuit ;
For, by the Gods of Lilliput,
I'll stand on my finality."
Thus John remain'd a year or so
Opposed to Radicality ;

many said 'twould prove no go,
ught this Whiggish world below

fickle for finality

Hard is the half-reformer's fate,
(As witness old Egalit6,)
From mobs who furnished him of late
He earns a double dose of hate
13y mentioning finality.

As weak as those who leave Brown Stout,
And take to Tee-totality.
John's friends no longer could hold out
Against the pressure from without
Which threaten'd their finality.

Then first the open-question plan
Made half his colleagues balloty ;
Through all their ranks the movement ran ;
Yet still 'twas thought our little man
Held fast his own finality.

But Walsall, Canterbury too,
And eke the Principality,
Now made the baffled Whigs look blue;
And John at last began to rue
His fondness for finality.

So, able to resist no more,
O'Connell with his wallet, he
Tries to throw open the franchise door,
And fill with Irish votes the floor
In aid of his finality.

But BULL begins his brows to bend
In wrath at such rascality ;
And soon, as many signs portend,
Resolves to make a final end
Of John and his finality.—Blackwood.

THE BRITISH QUEEN AND PRESIDENT

STEAM-SHIPS

(From the Naval and Military Gazette)

What must be considered the failure of the 2000 tons
steam-vessels British Queen and President, from which
so much was expected, has given rise to a good deal of
controversy in naval circles as to the cause which has
produced so unfortunate and unlooked-for a circumstance.
As no matter can be more interesting to naval men than
what relates to steam navigation, we have been at pains
to collect such data as will enable them to form opinions
and draw deductions with greater certainty than they can

do wanting this necessary information. Both the vessels
in question were built at Limehouse, by Messrs. Curling
and Young. Their dimensions and tonnage are some-
what alike, the British Queen being about ten feet longer,
but having a deck less than the President; the power of
the latter is represented as that of 600 horses, while the
former has only a power of 500, or according to some
450 horses. The engines of the President
were made by Messrs. Fawcett and Preston, of Liver-
pool ; those of the British Queen by Messrs. Robert
Napier and Co., of Glasgow ; and both are represented
s beautiful pieces of machinery. It is evident that in

accounts

these two vessels there is a great disparity of power for
tonnage ; but it is remarkable that, although both have
repeatedly made tedious passages, the President is the
most unfortunate of the two, and when she left New
York on the 11th ult. had only twenty-seven passengers
on board. The vessels provided by Mr. Cunard for the
Halifax line, which have made and continue to make the
passage so regularly, were built in the Clyde, by Messrs.
Duncans and Messrs. Steele, of Greenock, and Messrs. J.
Wood and C. Wood, of Port Glasgow and Dumbarton.
They are all, we believe, of nearly the same dimensions,
and about 1100 tons, with engines of 420 horse power.
We state these particulars in order that our naval friends
may be the better able to draw their inferences ; for in
steam navigation, like everything else, there must be some
rule of horse power for tonnage (supposing all vessels
be constructed on the best model), which will apply mr
the most profit, over or under which it would not
proper to go. On comparing the British and Americ
Company's vessels with Mr. Cunard's, there appear
very great disparity ; for the vessels of the latter have,
relates to the President one-third more, and in the case
of the British Queen nearly double the horse-power, to
propel the same weight in tons; and this on the face
it is enough to account for their greater speed, and

tainly of accomplishing the voyage in weather when the
others would be obliged to abandon their course, or una-
ble to make head against a gale. Cunard's vessels have
also the advantage of being built of scantling sufficient to
bear a heavy armament ; and this, so far from being de-
trimental to their speed or efficiency, turns out precisely
the reverse; for while the British Queen was obliged to
suspend work for some months, and undergo repairs
which cost several thousand pounds, after running for one
season only, the others have neither strained nor started
anything, and will, like our vessels of war constructed
with stout scantling on improved principles, probably
continue to run for years before the hull requires repair.

readers will recollect, that when Mr. Young (of the
firm of Curling and Young) sat in Parliament for Tyne-
mouth, that, gentleman never let slip an opportunity of
denouncing Sir William Symonds' system of ship-building.
We believe this was done from conscientious views, and
that he was imposed on by certain members of the ci-
devant school of naval architecture, who boasted that
they crammed him for the nonce. Now, we find how
much easier it is to preach than to practise ; for although
the draught of these vessels was, we believe, furnished
from Somerset House at the request of the company,
7hether owing to the want of strength, or size of
Titling, or other fault in the construction, we find that
-s became necessary in a very short time after the
left the builder's yard. It appears to us that ves-
-200 feet long and 1000 tons, with 400
horse power, are the best calculated for quick passage
across the ocean from point to point, and that when their
dimensions extend beyond.this an increased ratio of power
must be appended, to attain which would be most ex-
pensive ; besides that the machinery and fuel would
occupy nearly all the space in the vessel. The construe-
tion of these large steamers was designed on the score of
economy, on the assumption that the same establishment,
with a small increase of seamen and stokers, would suffice
to work a vessel of double the size. But this may be an
error. At all events, the experience to be derived from
the voyages of the British Queen and President does not
warrant us altering the opinion we recorded in these
7::"FWV•i*ein first those vessels were designed.

vessels
sels of