The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-12-31

respectively, Of vhe steamships of the Cc,iias,
Cunard and fEeuen lines east and west for the
year 1854. To nautical aai commercial men,
to the government and TO All parties Interested
in The progress of steam navigation, tnese
time tables Will be valuable "a exhibiting the
well sustained superiority Of the Collins liae
over all competitors, in all seasons of the year.
At this particular crisis we would especially
invite the attention of Congress to this subject,
and 10 few practic Il facts and reasons for the
continuance Of the appropriation allowed by the
government TO the Collins line The increased
speei, strength, capacity and safety which Mr..
Collins has thus contributed TO ocean steam
navigation are the substantial merits of his
claim for Congressional encouragement aud
support; and in connection with these primary
results, there are other important consdera-
tons which sbould NOS be set asiue.
Anterior 10 the Introduction of the Collios
line, ibe average time Of the Cunard steamers,
including eastern and western passages, through
the year, vas between fifteen aud sixteen
days. Now, mark the change effected by
the Introduction of the Collin line The
acreage eastern passages, for 1851, OF the
Coilius steamers has been eleven day s, ak hours
and six niont-s; Of he Cunar3ers eleven days,
fourteen honrs and tiity-siy minutes; making
an average difference in favor Of the Collins
ships OF eight hours and fifty niuutes During
be sau.e period, the average OF the Westera
lips OF The Collins line VS. twelve days, two
bonrs and thirty five MINUTES; and OF the Cunard
jnc, thirteen days. fifteen hours and forty mi
butes, showing an average gain Of the Collin
ships of one day. thirteen hours and five mi
Duies, which exhibits toe marked superiority OF
these ships over their rivals, agaios, the pre-
vailing westerly wiods In The aggregate, by
both lioes, the genius, skill aod enterprise Of
Mr.. Collins has secured an average gain in the
passage of the Atlantic of from three to four
days over the pre-, existing ocean steamship
system.
What lave been the consequences To say
nothing Of the impetus thus given to our com
mercial traffic throughout the world, directly or
indirecsly 10 grafton; to the Development
Of our natural resources of wealth and power
aud 10 say nothing of the moral effect in our
favor among all the po gefs Of Europe, resulting
from these steamship triumphs Of Mr.. Collins,
let us consider the actual savings to the
CONNIE rcial and financial world in this
gain of three or four days time in the
passage Of ihe Atlantic. The SUN OF the
annual commerce, in its largest sense, between
the Continent OF Europe, and the Continent OF
America, may be put down ut five hundred
millions of dollars, the bulk of which is be-
tween England and the United States. This
annual traffic Of five hundred millions is largely
represented in bills ofeychauge aud in tue trans
mission Of specie. In the transfer of these bills
and this specie, the aggregate saving of ID
terest from the gain oftbre. or four days ia the
Atlantic transit, viii amount, in the course Of
ayear, to perhaps not less thao two millions OF
dollars And this is saved to the commercial,
manufacturing, and agricultural community,
by the gam in time achieved by the Collius
steamers gain nearly three times greater to
the business world on both sides of the Atlantic
than the government contribution to the sup.
port of the Collins line.
But, again. We have no steam navy The
ew naval steamers that we do possess, are
sorry failures, slow and numbering, and cumoer-
and inefficient as the old fogies uoder whose
auspices they were built. Even poor old Spain
is ahead OF us, and far ahead of US, in
naval steamers no b in numbers, aud in
the individual efficiency Of the ships
Cuba Greytown, Hayti, or s,me other
question, under the bungliDg mismanage.
ment of this administration may yet bring us
10 blows with some European power, or two or
three Of them. In this view, Sebastopol and
the Cunard steamers will aoswer for the value
quick and safe transportation of large ma ses
Of troops, provisions and munitions of war
But for the contingent commercial steamers Of
England, and their invaluable services ia
throwing reinforcemeDts and army supplies into
the Crimea, we may safely say that Menschiko
would have put speedy aud disastrous ter
mination to the siege OF Sebastopol.
In the event of war between the United
States and any European power, or powers,
the contest will be mainly upon the ocean. Our
worldwide commerce wonld feel the first shock
We should have no adequate means for its de-
fence except in volunteer naval system But
ia the meantime, suppose that we should, under
crease the Collins line, and Introduce an ia
creased number OF similar ships into all our
ocean lines of steamers, subject, in the event of
war, to be drawn into government service, whai
would follow? Why, in less than two months
from these auxiliary steamers we might send
out upon the ocean the swiftest ana most ter
rihle de, upon its waves.
What lnac Canta;,, Nf,L ;ppon aynor;aunad
officer OF the British Navy. say of these Collins
ships? He says " an only doing justice to
these magnificent vessels, in stating that they
are hey ond any competition" (mark that be-
yond any competition "the finest, the fastest,
and the best sta boats in the world. am sorry
to be obliged to say this but as naval officer,
/ feel bound in candor to admit their great SUI
"A -, tv9 pa