Semi-weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1853-18??, 1860-08-15
From Hsrpers weekly.l
THE NGREAT EASTERN. :,

success here would not be true. She has certalH-
" attracted great deal Of attention more than any
other ship that ever anchored in the bay of New
York She has been VISITED by several lu dfed
thousand people, who have paid their money to see
her. Her enormous size her wonderful structure,
her colossal capacity her huge engines her marvel
Gus internal arrangements have each and all ecieeo
the admiration, not only the crowd, but OF those
who are best fitted to Judge of such matters Al tne
same time it would not be correct to say thar sne
has been success or that we part from her with
much regret
Fer the fact is that from first to last the great
| ship has be n misnlauaged--most wahtoniy mis-
| managed-by those who had her in charge. From
| the hour she crossed the bar at Sandy Hook, ana
received on board the visitors no went 70 meet ner
| at Mr. Grinnelrs invitation to the present moment
| the aim of her managers seems to have been to en-
deayor to disgust our people with the ship, her own
ers, directors officers, and agents. And, whatever
they have done in other respects in that particular
| they have succeeded admirably.
Ofthe feelings of the visitors who boarded her IN
the lower bay the 2Sth June last we do not care
| to say anything; time may come, perhaps, when
something may be said on the subject but that some
thing must be said by the American consignees-
At the time not a word of complaint was uttered,
even by those who had the best to feel annoyed;
for every body wanted the big ship to have a fair
chance and to achieve the object for which she came
here-namely, to make money by exhibiting herself
ing of her friends was again damped Judicious
suggestions from experienced quarters, with regard
to the exhibition were met by cool replies that the
directors knew their business, and did not need
American advisers. So the exhibition was opened;
and the system followed being. in every particular
distinctly English, il was, and deserved to be ail-
ure There were silly features about it and there
were disgraceful features. No lady could go on
board without q sacrifice of modesty, which appear
ed to have been ingeniously contrived, and which
was heartily relished by men in the employ of the
ship. This shameful Inconvenience has never been
thoroughly removed, though attention has been
called to it more than once, and the proper remedy
suggested The ship was as dirty vessels are in
the Thames, and many lady visitor paid for her
visit with the loss of her dress. Placards of almost
an insulting character to the visitors hung in vari
Gus places the demeanor of the officers and crew
that of potentates suffering outcass to approach
their footstoo, while they were in reality mere me-
mails of British spectators who were the glad recIp
tents of American dollars. To all friendly remon-
strances the Englishmen's answer was the same:
ave managed matters so in England and do you
expect us to come here to be taughtY' 1t was mere
waste of breath to try to convince them that Amer
lean ladies did not like either to spoil their dresses
or to be forced into indicate positions before the
eyes of parcel Of grinning satyrs, and that when
American gentlemen paid their money to see show
they considered themselves entitled to ordinary CIV
ility on the part of the showmen.
After time, the obvious failure of the exhibition
compelled the managers to adopt suggestion which
hal been urged upon them from the first by their
American friends; the price Of admission was re-
duced, and, in consequence, the show began to
draw. In the course Of few days more tickets
were sold in a day than had been sold in England
in a week. Still the show was rendered incon-
venient as possible. Visitors were passed one by
one through turnstile which it required some dex-
terity to turn; it seems that the Engshmen had no
whom they could trust to take the tickets with
out mechanical check. The inconvenience Of this
arrangement when ten and fifteen thousand persons
were crowdng board in the course of few hours,
can be conceived. Children were charged half
price; every half hour the throng was arrested and
delayed several minutes by an angry discussion
about ages between the Briton who kept the stile
and the parent of some well grown child. On board
the officers continued to illustrate the well known
poteness of John Bull; as our artist says, Adams
bears were fools to them. STILL the directors made
money; which was what they wanted.
Last of all came the Cape May expedition. This
was widely advertised and the price-$10-loudy
proclaimed. 1t was not till the day of sailing that
it became generally known that the SO did not in
clude food, or bedding, or the use of a wash-room
or any thing but a mere steerage passage. If an
American ship had perpetrated such an act the
British papers would have rung with abuse of
Yankee swindlng." When the ship sailed mat
tiers were far worse Not only were the passengers
not provided with food at the expense Of the ship
but they couldn't obtain any by paying for it
There was nothing to eat, and hardly any water to
drink board; twenty-five cents for glass of
ter without ice, freely paid by gentlemen who
had had the misfortune to take ladies with them
Not only berths not provided by the directors,
but money couldn't hire them Most of the passen-
gers slept the decks on the cabin floors in hen
eoops any where 1t rained in the night and
many-men and women-were drenched as they lay
helpless. The managers could not be found; the
stewards said to have been drunk; the walters
were saucy and independent and openly declared
that they would wait on one till they had been
paid in advance. In one word, sooner had these
Engshmen succeeded in enticing several hundred
of our unhappy countrymen into their clutches on
board their ship, than, from the highest to the low
est they all fell to plundering and outraging them
! like very Arabs or Druses.
| One is almost inclined to wonder that some OF
these fellows have not been treated to coat Of tar
and feathers.
So the story ends for the present II is time. II
is time, too we think, that the Great Eastern-or,
at all events, her directors, officers and crew-went
back to their own country. They are charming
people; but we have seen them, and paid our mon
ey, and we need say no more about it In England,
perhaps they are the right in the right place
II zoe had ship like the Great Eastern, should
try to put at least one two people on board who
| had the manners of gentlemen and the c;vlty oil
Christians. But let them pass. When rrenchmen,
Germans, Italians Spaniards, Russians, and Orien
tails say-as they all do-that they hate Englishmen
because Englishmen are rude coarse boorsh, mean
and pig-headed, We Americans are apt, for cousin
ships sake to stand up for poor old John, and put
in word for him. But we don't think it likely
that any of the Americans who have experienced
the tender mercies of the Great Eastern will have
much to say in Johns behalf hereafter
AN INDIAN FUNERAL Fort Riley correspond
ent of the Pittsburg Dispatch gives description o