The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-07-06 00:00:00

LAUNCH OF A NEW HOLYHEAD MAIL
STEAMER.

On Wednesday last there was launched, from the
building-yard of Mr. John Laird, North Birkenhead, a
beautiful steam-ship called " The St. Columba," built
for the Government, and intended to run with the mails,
and passengers, between Holyhead and Dublin. She is
one of a series of four new vessels for the station, con-
structed by different builders, with a view, we presume,
to enable each to exhibit his respective merits as an able
and faithful naval architect. On this point, we think,
Mr. Laird need fear little competition, if we may judge
from the beauty of the model, the completeness of finish,
and the superior strength in the workmanship. She is
very sharp at the extremities, with a fine length of floor-
ing, and all her lines so beautifully blended, that no lumps
or depressions are anywhere to be found, the whole being
symmetrical and elegant.
The following are her dimensions, &C. :
Length over all, about .
on the water line
Beam between paddle-boxes ft.
Depth amidships
Burthen, new measurement 634 tons.
She will have engines on the good old beam principle, of
360-horse power, built by our townsmen, Geo. Forrester
and Co., with comparatively narrow, but deep paddle-
wheels, (of 27 feet diameter,) on a principle somewhat
similar to " Morgan's " patent, by which much of the
backwater, or lift, is obviated,—the floats impinging per-
pendicularly on the water.
We were much gratified by an interior inspection before
the launch of the ship, and particularly her engine-room.
The sleepers, or kelsons, upon which the engines and
boilers will rest, are especially strong, as are the midship
floorings. The former are of box-formed strong plates
of iron reaching to the outward skin, and there is a
double-plated central kelson on edge. These are addi-
tional securities against any spring or instability in the
bottom. The whole of the ribs,. indeed, are so close, and
so well placed, as to resemble the bones of a herring,
without incurring extra weight of material. There are
also two stringers of strong T iron running fore and aft
throughout, which must afford great additional strength
to the hull. _ _ _ _ _

The St. Columba has a neat bust figure-head of the
saint from whom she is named, who, we believe, was a
Scottish religionist of the basaltic Island of Staffa, in the
Hebrides, or western isles of Scotland. She has an el-
liptic, or flattened. round stern, and will be decorated
with carved scrollwork. There are six water-tight bulk-
heads, which divide her into seven compartments, and
give great strength, as also security against water-logging
in the event of accident by rocks or collision.
The launch took place shortly before high water, and
the vessel was named in spirited style, and with the usual
formality, by the lady of Mr. Wm. Laird. She went off
beautifully, majestically, and without the slightest demur,
into her destined element, and floated lightly and nobly,
drawing only 8 feet forward and 9 abaft, being an average
of 81 feet ; the entire, weight of the hull, and about 100
persons on board, being only about 295 tons, as indicated
by the displacement. Those on board endeavoured, by
running from side to side, to throw her so down that the
bilge launching pieces, that had stuck to her, might sepa-
rate from her; but such was her stiffness that they failed
in the attempt, being unable to surge her over only a few
inches from the water line—a proof of her great stability.
The spectators in the yard and on the neighbouring
shores were numerous, and all were highly delighted.
The vessel was decorated with Admiralty and other flags,
that at the main bearing her name. She was immediately
towed off down the Pool, and into the Morpeth Dock, it
Birkenhead, to be fitted up—the first vessel of large ton-
nage built on the Cheshire side, that has been taken into
the docks of that new port.
After the launch, several of the gentlemen present re-
tired to the office, and partook of wine and buiscuits,
when, as a matter of course, the health of the builders,
and prosperity to the St. Columba, were drunk with en-
thusiasm.
In the same yard there is, fully ribbed and partly
plated, a fine large steamship for the Holyhead Railway
Company, to run between that place and Dublin—the
shortest navigable route between the two islands.

(Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) Yet in that there is a dif-
ticulty, because those duties amount to, I believe,
£5,000,000, and are considered requisite to maintain the
fiscal integrity of our country and the honour of the na-
tion. But, 1 firmly believe, and that from looking at what
has occnred in the case of coffee, spirits, and other arti-
cles-I firmly believe that, in a very short time, if the
duty on tea were reduced one-half, we should have an
equal amount of duty to what we have at present paid,
upon the larger consumption, into the hands of the go-
vernment. (Hear, hear, and applause.) I And what would
be the result ? A great increase to the comforts of the
poorer orders ; and here I may take the opportunity of
saying that I am most anxious to do all things that are
.practicable for the raising of the poorer orders in the scale
iof society. (Great applause.) Ido not want to pull down
the upper ranks to those that are lower, but, for the hap-
piness of all, to raise the lower so far as it can practically
be done; and any measure tendin,g to that end shall be
sure
,of my hearty and honest concurrence. (Applause.) i
Now, I believe a reduction of the duty on tea will do a
great deal towards the promotion of domestic comfort, by
inducing you, gentlemen—as most of you, lam sure, are
inclined already to do—to enjoy the society of your wives
and families, instead of as some have done, rather too •
much have done, resorted to public houses ;- and though it
is not lawful for me to attempt to bribe any of you—(a
laugh)—yet that I have no hesitation in saying that I am
for giving all your wives, and children, and sweethearts
tea at half-price. (Laughter and cheers.) Gentlemen,
these are the principal points upon which I wished to ad-
dress you. lam not a speaker. I tell you what is in my
heart, and I tell it to you honestly—(hear. hear) ; and
shall not detain you longer than to say that, if honoured
by being sent by you to parliament. I can faithfully pro-
mise that the business of your great city, public and pri-
vate, shall be diligently discharged. Ido not pretend to
be equal to that excellent representative (Lord Sandon)
who is your member, but who is, I understand, about to
retire. I heartily wish that his principles on the subject
of religion had not rendered it necessary for many of his
ardent and zealous friends to quit him on thisoccasion. But
you have preferred principle to every other object, and you
have shown it nobly, and in the face of England, by procur-
ing the retirement of one of the best members that ever re-
presented Liverpool. (Hear, hear.) It is due to that noble
lord to say so much for him; but if you honour me by re-
turning me to Parliament, it will be doubly my duty to
endeavour to follow his steps in all that relates to business,
and perhaps, by the blessing of God, 1 may arrive suffi-
ciently near him to answer your purposes. (Hear, hear.)
With these observations, I take my leave for the present,
hoping, on future occasions, to meet you, and to speak on
other points upon which you may desire to hear my senti-
ments. I desire to maintain the integrity of our religion,
—and if returned to Parliament what I have spoken of
as my principles, though I make no pledges, will be car-
ried out to their full extent, and you will not have reason
to complain of my flying from any of them. (Hear and
cheers.) I earnestly solicit the honour of your votes; and
I can assure those who may not, from various causes,
think it right to support me, that, if returned by others,
ther interests will be as carefully attended to as if they
had been my warmest supporters.
Sir Digby who was listened to throughout with the most
marked attention, here withdrew, amid very considerable
applause. Immediately after,
An ELECTOR asked what the gallant candidate's opinion
was relative, as we understood him, to the Irish Railway
Bill?

Sir DIGBY replied that this was just one of those points
interesting to Liverpool upon which he should make some
inquiries. (Hear, hear.)
There were here loud calls for Mr. Horsfall, but the
worthy alderman declined to address the multitude, it
being then near four o'clock; and the proceedings ter-
minated.

MR. FREDERICK DOUGLAS AND THE AGENTS
OF THE HALIFAX STEAMERS.

We thought that the question at issue between the
Messrs. Mc. Iver and Mr. Douglas was settled by the
letter addressed by the former gentlemen to the London
Times. It was clearly shown by that letter that it was
not on the ground of colour that Mr. Douglas was refused
a cabin passage in the Cambria. It was because, known
as he was to be an anti-slavery lecturer, his presence in
the cabin would most likely produce, as it had before pro-
duced, an interruption in the harmony of the passengers
most prejudicial to the interests of the proprietors. Some
people, however, are never satisfied with explanations;
and Mr. Frederick Douglas appears to be one of those
unreasonable people, and, if the epistle which he has re-
cently addressed to the Times, in reply to Mr. Mc. Iver,
be a fair sample, he is rather disposed to lose sight of
reason in the attempt to fasten a charge upon these gen-
tlemen. A quotation from his letter will show this.
Mr. Mc. Iver's letter, he says, contained the following
statement :

"The whole point of my remarks amounted to this—that he
(Mr. Douglass), when coming from the United States, some
months ago, in the same vessel, the Cambria, as a steerage
passenger, was invited by some of the cabin passengers into
the saloon, and was the cause, whether intentially, or uninten-
tially, of producing, by the observations he made use of, a
serious disturbance, which required the authority of the cap-
tain to quell, in order to restore peace and safety."
There is certainly nothing in this passage which shews
an ill-feeling towards Mr. Douglass or his class—nothing
to prove 'what was imputed to the company, that they
were willing to pander to American prejudices against a
black skin. Let us see his reply:—
"Sir, I deem this a serious charge. I have little in this world
but a character for uprightness, and, I hope, gentlemanly con-
duct, and trust you will not think me too anxious to preserve
that. In reply to the above statement, I beg to say (and regret
to be compelled to say it, for all contradiction is unpleasant to
me), it is not true that I went into the saloon of the Cambria on
the invitation of any passenger or passengers; so far from it, I
repeatedly refused to go into that part of the ship at their invi-
tation; and it was not until invited by the captain himself that
I stepped into the saloon ; I deny that I was the cause of the
disturbance to which the agent refers. The logic which would
make me such would make my stolen purse the cause of theft,
or my burning dwelling the cause of incendiarism. It is adding
cruelty to injustice to attempt to fasten such a charge upon a
man in my circumstances. There was disturbance, I admit ;
but who made it? Five or six republican slaveholders, setting
at defiance, on shipboard, as theyare accustomed to do at home,
all law andorder, and threatening to administer to me the code
of Judge Lynch, because I spoke a few zcords to persons who
wished to hear some account of the workings of American
slavery. For this some of the slaveholders gravely proposed to
throw me overboard, and might have executed their murderous
design but for the timely interference of the captain, who had,
on behalf of the passengers, invited me to the saloon deck.
This, sir, is the foundation of the charge of causing a disturb-
ance. In America, where the police are almost always with the
mob, I should probably be held accountable for the disturb-
ance, but in England it must be otherwise."
There is nothing her but, in the first instance, a paltry
quibble, and, in the next, a full admission of the justi-
fiable grounds upon which the agents of the line acted.
Mr. Douglas says that he was not invited into the saloon
by " some of the cabin passengers," but by the captain.
Some of the cabin passengers, however, had repeatedly
invited him ; and the captain no doubt invited him at
length at the request of those " who wished to hear some
account of the working of American slavery." He denies
too, that he was the cause of any disturbance, and yet
he admits that the disturbance arose "because" he
" spoke a few words to persons who wished to hear some
account of the working of American slavery." Of course
, he did not whisper,—of course there was a row ; and, as
it was most probable that in the saloon of the Cambria
there would have been, on the occasion when he was re-
fused a cabin passage, some other persons who would like
to know all the atrocities of American slavery, there
would have been a disturbance again. Much as we dislike
slavery in America or elsewhere, we cannot see why the
Halifax or any other steamers should be subjected to the
1 annoyance of these disturbances. If they did so submit,
we should see shortly somebody advertising a Line, "war-
ranted not to carry an anti-slavery lecturer."