The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-01-15 00:00:00

vessel, but can never, under any circumstanc(s, materially
diminish it ; and, had this method been applied in the first
instance, there would ;have been no more risk in sending

power to America, twenty
years ago, than there is now in navigating them to France
or to Ireland.

steamers o

ordinary size and

' When we have been exposed to a heavy cross sea, even in

power, we could not hear,-ivithout some degree of nervous
ness, the thundering shocks which the engines had constantly
to sustain, while, perhaps within a mile to leeward, the sea
has been going bodily over the bold rocks of an iron-bound
coast, from which nothing could have saved us had our ma-
chinery given way; but, in a similar situation, in the Ar-
chimedes, no anxiety need be felt ; the engine would perform
its duty with the some steadiness and regularity as before,
or, if stopped, the vessel would he perfectly competent to
continue her course with scarcely diminished volocity, (wind
abeam,) under a press of canvass alone.
" It may occur to some of our readers, that, as other steam
ers carry sails also, surely they could manage to keep off the
land as well as the Archimedes, in the case of damaged ma-
chinery ; but they will understand us better, when we tell
them that, under the circumstances just detailed, the Ar •
chimedes, supposing her to be able to carry all sail, would
go probably nine miles an hour ; (Captain Chappell states,
that " in going from Southampton to Portsmouth, her speed,
under sails alone, never was reduced below eight knots, close
upon a wind ;) while we may venture to state, that no steam-
ers, now navigating the British Channel, would be able, insuch, sucli a case, with the additional drag of her paddle-wheels
and boxes, to go above three miles in the sari:clime, which
being insufficient to counteract her lee-way, she would in all
Drobability drift ashore in less than an hour.
" As we have considered this point of distinction the most
interesting to society at large, we have dwelt more upon it
than we originally intended ; and will now describe more
briefly the advantages, in point of convenience, which the
screw-propeller possesses over the side-paddle-wheels. The
first of these is, in our opinion, the ready obedience of the
' vessel to her helm in turning. Every one who is accustomed
to travel by steamers, must have been repeatedly annoyed by
the tediousness of getting the vessel into her berth or landing
place : even in wide rivers, affording considerable room, the
running a-head and backing a-stern are often continued for
nearly half an hour, before the shivering and impatient pas-
senger can put his foot on terra firma. Now, it seems the
Archimedes will make a complete round turn in two minutes
and a half, and in a circle whose diameteris about twice her
own length—a most material consideration; and when we
remember the many fatal accidents which have happened, by
steamers running into each, other, even when one party has
seen and hailed the other in its approach, (as in the case of
the Britannia and the Phoenix, so lately.) her great supe—
riority in this respect is evidently more than a convenience.
Paddle-wheel steamers obey their helms readily enough for
ordinary purposes, and the vessel's head may
be easily veered
a point or two in either direction ; but they are incapable of
performing a rapid manoeuvre : probably, one of our Irish
packets, when running with the full power of her steam,
would not accomplish a circle much within the circumference
of a mile ; it is impossible to say how much this circumstance
may have contributed to the losses of the Water Witch and
the City of Bristol: the error, in both cases, was discovered
before the vessel struck, and the helm shifted, but not suf-
ficiently soon to enable them to escape the danger.
"The next ground of preference of the Archimedes, is her
having no external paddle-wheels, to agitate the water, or to
impede the crowded traffic of our river
" The great number of accidents, -
life, which have happened in the Thames, from th
of steam-vessels either coming in contact with wherri _
river-craft, or causing an everpowering swell in the imme-
diate vicinity of deeply-laden boats, render it somewhat sin-
gular, that the London authorities generally, and the H umane
Society in particular, haveuot hitherto made any public de-
monstration, in favour of a plan which obviates all the evils
of the old system. .

attended with loss of
dies
Ind

" A steamer on the Archimedes' plan is neither of greater
breadth than a sailing vessel of similar tonnage, nor does she
cause a greater swell ; and she is so much the safer in thread-
ing her way among boats and vessels, from.. it
ready obedi-
ence to the helm in either direction : and it tbe ascertained,
that the business of steam navigation can be done, without
tti ,t -pr to the lives of boatmen and

,ne necessity of constant flange.._ Now, sir, 1 appeal to you, and, through you, to the public,
their passengers, in our rivers, it behoves those whose duty and will ask you and they, is this impartial conduct?—is this
it is to provide for the public safety, to take measures for the usual etiquette of public meetings I—is it usual for men
establishing it on such a footing. We should be sorry to see to request the attendance of the public, and then "deny them

the right of eatrassing

ward F

n:•cs r:.ie!, are brought for-

If such is the manner in which public meetings are con-
ducted, I confess my error : but being convinced that the
contrary is the fact, that the humble operative is ever justi-
fied in opposing any and every measure calculated to injure
him and his fellow men, I still consider myself as fully justi-
fied in proposing amendments to the resolutions which were
brought forward by the " League," and re-echoed by their
creatures, the spirit of which (it brought into operation) be-
ing calculated not only to injure materially the working and
agricultural classes, but to subvert and destroy the constitu-
tion of this country.

These being the covert objects of the parties who convened
that meeting, which I was prepared to prove from their own
statements, and as every working man, who has given the
subject the slightest consideration, is capable of doing the
same, I would earnestly entreat the " Anti-Corn Law
League," at the next meeting which they may hold, to can-
didly avow that the foundation, on which their principles are
based, is of such a fragile nature, that they fear to expose it
to the view of working men.—l remain, sir, your obedient
servant, JOHN PALMER.

Franklin Club, January 14th, 18-11

CHINA

(Prom the Morning herald.)

We have received the following intelligence from a quarter
from whence authentic information may safely be expected,
as well on account of the locality as of the means which we
know the writer possesses for assuring it. But as it varies
considerably from all the news recently published concerning
China, and as the writer evidently miscalculates the time
necessary for the transmission of intelligence from the north
of China to Europe (which barely exceeds three months),
we publish it with the reservation of not holding ourselves
responsible for its perfect accuracy, though in many points
the statements, based upon commercial returns, are evidently
correct:--

(From a Private Correspondent at Moscow, Dec. 17.)

We Moscovites, placed, as we are, in the very centie of
Russia, and by means of our commercial relations with
Kjachta (or Kbadchta), the utmost point on the frontiers of
our eastern possessions, cannot but receive news from China
much later in date than those arriving by way of Bombay
and Suez. Letters from Pekin arrive at Kjiichta in less
than a month, and the mail from Kjiichta is regularly for-
warded to Moscow in 28 days, so that we are enabled to get
news from the capital of that enormous empire, inferior in
circumference only to our own, in two months' time, while
those arriving by way of India will take from four to five
months. Now, our latest intelligence from Kjiichta, dated
about the middle of last month, speaks of events tending to
impress the whole political and commercial world of Europe
with the importance of the Anglo-Indian expedition to those
distant countries. The English, having accomplished the
occupation of Chusan, had disembarked their troops some-
where on the coast of China, where they were making rapid
progress ; hence the news, rather unauthenticated, that
Pekin itself had fallen into the hands of the foreign invaders.
One thing we know with certainty, the taking of a Chinese
fleet, consisting of 45 junks, live of which had rich cargoes,
mostly tea, on hoard; whether on the Peiho or on the Yan-
Ke-Kiang river, our correspondent does not write. Procla-
mations had been profusely distributed among the inhabi-
tants, in which the English announce their coming, in order
to liberate the people from the galling yoke of the Mantchou
dynasty,•which is said to be hated by the nation in general.
Partial insurrections had broken out in consequence of these
proclamations, and the situation of the empire was designated
as being very critical. ,This news must be very disastrous
for our commercial relations with China. Already the price
of tea has been raised to 70 roubles banco per chest of 641bs,
and a further advance is expected. In former tinws, the
Chinese were accustomed to send their cargoes by sea ;
now, for fear of the British, all have been sent by land, so
that the transports will arrive in March or April, instead of
January, as was formerly the case. Last year more than
100,000 fibroks (chests) of tea were purchased at Kjachta ;
this year no more than 40,000 are expected. Our own ma-
nufactures will not suffer less by this critical state of things.
Our cloths and velveteens will lie in the magazines of
Kjachta without being asked for. The annual export of
Russian broad cloth to China was estimated at more than
40,000 pieces, and the import of tea at 80,000 or 100,000
fibroks a-year.