The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-04-30
Foreign Notes.

The best proof Of the success of the Suez Canal
is the statement received by the last mail. that the
steamship Europa, $500 tons burthen. had arrived
at Marseilles, March 18th. from Bombay, with
thirty-seven passengers and a full cargo. She left
Marseilles January list, and consequently accom-
plished two passages of 6,OO0 miles, unloaded and
loaded cargoes in Bombay, and arrived back at
Marseilles in 20 days.
While referring to this great work, we may add,
that VI. de Lesseps' last report as to the condition
Of the Suez Canal states that the much-discussed
rock at Sarapeum, which had not been removed
when the canal opened. has been cut ont. and that
very large ships can now pass without interruption
from sea to sea-that is. from Port Said to SueZ;
not such monsters as the Great Eastern and the
Great Britain (the latter now a passenger and
freight transport between Liverpool and Aus
tralia) but large vessels in the mercantile marine
service. Sir Stafford Northcote, who was Secretary
for India in 1s67-s, and went TO Egypt with the
express intention of carefully examining the Suez
Canal, is satisfied that its success will be great and
permanent. 1t must greatly shorten the distance
from Europe to the.East. From London to Calcutta
by the cape route is 1I.74e miles by the canal,
s,o7O miles. From London to Bombay by the
cape route is II 900 by the canal route, 5000
miles. The saving in time and money will be i'm
mense. -
In striking contrast with the inhuman conduct
of Captain Eyre, of the Bombay, was the first act
in the life of Midsbipman Williams. of the Inflated
Oneida. OF that act, VIM. Harcourt, now living
in Baltimore, gives the particulars thus lit was
to save the Captain and crew of the British ship
Cleopatra. off st. Johns, \. b., in the year 1853.
while Mr.. Williams was attached TO the United
States sloop-of-war Decatur, on the night of the
2sth of July, 1853. The Cleopatra was in a sink
ing condition. Midshipmen Kimberly and Williams
volunteered to go aboard of her with a crew of
fresh men and try to save her and get her into
Quebec, but she filed and capsized and had to be
abandoned. 1t was n dark. stormy night, and after
much danger and exposure the officers of the i'll
fated ship were got on board our ship with safety.
Midshipman E. III. Williams was in charge of the
boat that brought them to us. and upon getting on
board, Captain VIM. C.. White asked if all were
safe? Williams replied Il have saved every
soul, sir!' And he had" The revival of this
event ought to cause those on the Bombay to blush
for shame. -
A Boston clergyman lately denounced church
exclusiveness from his pulpit. The same day an
other pastor, in the same city, admonished the pro-
prietors of pcws in his highly fashionable church
against the unchristian habit of not opening their
doors to strangers seeking seats. Many had re-
Duheu IDelT SEXTON lot earring 10 introduce persons
unlimited into their pews aud once a lady, who
rarely occupied her seat in the afternoon. appeared
there Unexpectedly, found a stranger sharing the
slip, and angrily withdrew to take another seat in
which she was herself an intruder. There is in
many churches a spirit of unhospitality and a dis
position as the Boston Advertiser says "to regard
religion as a costly lsxury, no more to be thrown
open to the unknown stranger than ones private
wine cellar or wardrobe, which acts to the injury
of the churches. and gives occasion for just such
hints from outspoken pulpits as those we have
mentioned" -
Now that we are soon to have a Pacific tele-
graph. it may be well for those who wish to invest
in it, to know that the dividends of the ocean tele-
graph companies, whose lines are owned or con-
trolled in England. are very large. The London
Times recently showed that of all investments
those in cables offered the highest inducements to
eapitalists-their average profits being not less
than 25 per cent. per annum. In swelling the
growth of English ommerc these cable lines
have bad an effect that must be called stupendous.