The Portland daily press., 1869-07-02

New York. landed at the famous "Mill-
wall Dock yard where the "Great Eastern
was built 1t covers don't know how many
acres, and has every variety of machinery con-
nected with making iron and building ships.
When in full blast they took in pig iron and
out of it made iron-clad ships of war. But it
has been outstripped by its more thrifty COM
petitors on the Clyde. The iron-clad monster
steamer northumberland" was its last vessel.
1 am sorry to say it, but the truth is, am
becoming persuaded that my efforts in Con-
gress to have ship materials admitted free of
duty, if successful would not.have accomplish
ed my purpose of restoring the old supremacy
of the Maine chip. She has had her day
Painful as is the conclusion, there is no avoid
ing it that the wooden sailing ship is a thing
of the past The man who invented the screw
propeller gave the fatal blow. The advantage
of the screw over the side-wheel in economy of
fuel and in capacity for slowing cargo, although
not great-'not so deep as well nor so wide
as church DOORS enough to do the busl-
ness for us and drive us off the ocean. And
then the screws are full rugged and can help
themselves along by canvass almost as well as
cur ships. M
Mr.. Lynch's committee should take steam at
New York and come over to London. They
would then find out what the matter is with
u.s. They would see ON the way some of the
hundred steamers between New York and
Europe--steamers averaging perhaps two
thousand tons, and each Of them doing the
work of sailing vessel four times its tonnage,
thus practically running up an enormous ag-
gregate. I notice that one of the lnman line
last month made the round trip from Liver
pool to New York and back in twenty-four
days. These steamers are carrying almost all
of the four hundred thousand emigrants who
go to America this year, and have possessed
themselves of about the whole of the North
Atlantic carrying trade.
Statistics are excellent. have taken pains
to make myself familiar for years rast with
the figures connected with shipping. But go
ing round among these rivals of ours gives me
new ideas of their power. Here they not only
do foreign business by steam, but the coasiing
trade is falling into the same hands. Our
well-informed Consul, Mr.. Morse, tells me
that Goals from Newcastle are brought round
to London by steam. Will not the same thing
be duplicated with us, and the Pennsy lyania
anthracite come to us in New England by pro-
pellers? And is the lumber trade entirely
safe from their grasp?
| As things 60 we must resign the ocean to
| foreign steamers. The English pirates drove
us off during the war and now these steam de-
mons prevent our getting back. 1t has been
| all along supposed that sailing vessels must
take the low priced freights such as coal, lime
and the like, but it is not so, Iron goes over to
us in propellers and they have for some time
been bringing our cotton into Liverpool. The
| Mediterranean fruit trade has gone in good
degree into the hands of the English propel-
lers and the same dirty craft is making its
| way into the West Indies and South America.
HOW SHALL WE RESTORE OUR COMMERCIAL
| SUPERIORITY.
What shall be done? 1t is necessary to pre-
sent full diagnosis of the disease, bat equally
essential to give the remedy. 1t is clear that it
| is no use to toriG against it. We cannot, if we
would, revive the old system OF differential du-
ties Our fight against steam, foreign and do
mestic, with sails is too much like putting
pack horses and stage coaches into the lists
against rail cars. 'sThe spirit of the age -
whatever that may be,--demands rapidity and
certainty and of course steam answers the pur-
| pose better than the tickle winds.
But we in Maine must not be behind hand.
| 1t is no use to moan or grumble These
worn out governments and stationary COM
munties must not be allowed always to rule
the seas and Maine must see to it that they do
| not. But in order to compass this we must not
whimper about the loss of wooden sail vessels
Let them go. Get something better. We
shall be distanced in the great sDerby'' of the
| ocean if we stick to sails. Sails are pretty and
poetical but steam is the stuff to rule the
ocean with. could mourn over the decay of
that thing of beauty, the marine ship, as l
wosr1R a.ss~zss~-----.-a
but this competing for the control of the
ocean is no mere matter of sentiment. Black
clouds OF smoke from unsightly chimneys are
to be the embems of power on the ocean
hereafter, ugly and mighty.
If war should come on refusal to meet our
just demands for indemnity for the piratical
cruisers it would restore our maritime superior
ity by the creation of a steam marine; and es-
pecially if France and Spain were to join Eng
iaAlus w = ohOuiu tICu pC OliNOA uy lVASC INV
steam.-and we should undoubtedly end the
war by the annexation of the Provinces and not
impossibly add so much to the English debt
and cripple English manufacturers SO badly
as to endanger the permanence of an aristo-
cratic government whose prerogatives will not
bear the criticism, excited by popular suffer-
ing and discomfort.
But war involves sacrifices, taxation and
distress which our own people are in no mood
to think of, till the strain of their resentment
rises much higher than it has yet for such
by-gone affronts as the Alabama's depreda-
tions. But it would do the job. And in the
present position of parties here and the tenn
per of the people, it would not be difficult 10
get up a war if we wanted to. L find them
more .fghtish than supposed.
CONGRESS MUST LEGIsLATE so AS TO ENcOUR-
AGE THE BUILDING OF AMERICAN
MERCHANT STEAMSHIPS.
Let Congress give us cheap iron and coal
and after awhile we can do the rest. 1t would
be a slower process than the other, but we
should work it out But cheap iron and coal
we must have. They are the only two ele-
ments of English superiority. Mr.. Gladstone
reckons that in hundred years England will
lose her coal advantage, but we cannot afford
to wait for that. We want the Nova Scotia
and Cape Breton coal and the English iron.
With them and cheaper food and greater nae
chanical ingenuity - as the Patent Office
shows-we should work up an opposition, but
it would take time. And of course Congress
will repeal the copper outrage of last session.
Much more might be said, but / did not set
down to write a letter ON political economy or
the tariff. 1t provoked me to be obliged to
come across the Atlantic under the British
fag-or rather that there was no steamer fly
ing our flag that could be had-and when
got here to see the British superiority on the
ocean so well established and SO rapidly ex-
tending ITSELF War OF course would be horri-
BILE, and not the least SO because its evil effects
would fall most severely upon our friends
The operatives in Yorkshire and Lancashire
deprived of both supply of cotton and market
for manufactured goods in the United States,
would suffer more severely than anybody e'se
in England by an American war, while the
landed proprietors by the enhanced price of
food would rather be gamers by it. And we
recollect how heroically the workmen stood by
us, under the lead of John Bright, although
starving, wnile the aristocratic land owners