Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-09-27
0UR EUROPEAN CORRESPO NDENCE.
LETTER FROM BISHOP ATKINSON.
TuNBRIDGE WELLS, ENGLAND,
SEPTEMBER 5, 1867. !

GENTLEMEN:-In compliance with your
request that should write to you occa-
sionally during my stay in Europe, and as
means of satisfying the interest OF my
many personal friends who read your paper
and who desire to know the state ofmy rather
precarious health, and the events of my
tour, [ use this first day of entire leisure to
accomplish these objects. I sailed from
New York on the 10th of August, in the
line of steamships. This is a rival line to
that of Cunard, equal, probably, in the
quality of its vessels, and in the speed and
apparently the safety of it's voyages, for 1
was told by gentleman who is an under
writer at Lloyds, that the insurance is the
same on both. But there is certainly great
er luxury on the Cunard ships, and with
most persons, more absolute feeling of
security, so successful has the career of
these been, and so admirable their disci-
pine and their equipments. On the other
hand the passage money on the Inman
line, going and returning, is not much
more than half of that charged on the Gu
nard the former being $175 in gold for
both trips, while the latter is 500. The
expenses of these lines are SO great that
the charges do not seem exhorbitant. We
used in the Getty of Baltimore" about
IS tons of coal day, and we had about a
hundred persons belonging to the ship, in
Guiding officers, crew, fremen and stew
| rJc oil IF xuhn
as to secure the best hands. The Captain
told me that he estimated the expense of
the ship, going to New York and returning,
and including her own wear and tear and
that of her machinery, as being not less
than e1O, 600, or $50, 900. Yet both lines
do so large a business that the Cunard pro-
prietors have become very rich, and the
Inman's must be on the high road to the
same result, for they are continually en-
larging their operations
| We landed at Queenstown, after voy-
age which was, on the whole, very smooth,
although its monotony was relieved in
way very disagreeable to landsmen, by
storm of twelve hours continuance We pre-
| ferred to land at Queenstown, rather than at
Liverpool, in order to see something of the
South of Ireland, and especially of the far
famed Lakes of Killarney. We spent three
days very pleasantly at Cork, visiting one
or two points of interest in the neighbour
hood, among others the beautiful views of
Castle Blarney, of which the principal glory
is that it was the last place in Ireland to
surrender to him, whom the Irish so deeply
abhor, Oliver Cromwell. It boasts also,
the possession of the celebrated Barney
Stone, which, whosoever kisses, acquires
the gift, so common among the Irish of
fattering and cajoling any one they wish to
gain over. The interest of the place, how
ever, in my eyes, grew chiefly out of the
beauty Of the scenery around it and it's asso-
cation with other days and other forms of
life
q The hgh-raised battlements and lofty towers,
Thick wall and moated gate -
the narrow Sits in the walls, for arrow
shots to be discharged against assailants
the deep, dark dungeons, for the confne-
ment of criminals or prisoners even the
more studied than comfort, all indicated a
condition of society altogether unknown
among ourselves, except in romance or
poetry, and which even in Europe has for
centuries passed away, never to return, for
even were til re a recurrence of the same
lawlessness and violence, these safeguards
would not be again adopted, because they
would be so utterly powerless against mod
ern implements of war.
[ found the South of Ireland a much |
more beautiful and prosperous country
than I expected. The famine of 1917 was, |
in it's results, q great benefit to it. It
caused an immense emigration, and there
by diminished the supply of labor and in
creased the wages of the laborers. They
receive now eight OF nine shillings a week |
and their food-a sum very little, to be sure,
but perhaps double what they earned be- !
fore that event. There is now curious |
current and counter-current of population |
moving between Ireland and America
Some six hundred emigrants sail every
week from Queenstown and nearly as many
CASAL
were some two hundred returning emf
grants, mostly Irish, in the ship [ came
over in. They are disappointed in their
expectations, find that with higher wages
they have much greater expenses and can
save no money, dislike the climate, itmay be,
orlose some member heirfamily, become
disheartened and return. Others, on the
contrary, in ireland find work slack, get
encouraging letters and remittances of
money from friends in America and deter
mine to emigrate. The population in Ire
land, on the whole, continues to diminish.
Cork, am told, being, perhaps, an extreme
case, has sunk from one hundred and
twenty thousand inhabitants to eighty thou
sand, yet the country looks anything but
desolate. The fields are fertile, beautifully
cultivated, and very productive the resi-
dences of the gentry and merchants, with
their lawns and gardens surrounding