Steam Communication With ...
The Times, 1824-06-28T00:00:00

On.Safutaday Meeting was held at the City qf London Tavern, ,or thepurpose of establishing'airere direct commxunication.between read Britain snd Ireland and America. ' At one o'Clock there we'e assembled, thec ilarqisiq of Lansdown, he Earls of Aleath and Ormond, Lord Carbery, the Boa. C. H. 'utchinson, '11. P.,. thc Right Hon. Mfaurice Fitigerald, Al. P., the Knight of Kerry), Sir William Adam2, and.seieral other gen. :lemen connected with the American tratle. Shottly after one )'clockt several persons who were expiected not having arrived, Mr. SI.unycE FITZGERALD addressed the meeting, and re- luested i short delay for the arrival of AMr. P.andolph, whIo had just irrived from America, and whio wascapable of communicating much information whicih vwould be useful to the object of the meeting, and MNr. Spring Rice, who was interested iii the project ; both of whom were shortly expected. hI'le object for which the meeting wabs convetiegl was explained in S prospectus, from wYhichl the following are extracts It is proposeAl to establish a line of packets, to sail weeklv from the excellent harbour of Valentia, in the saouth-vvet extremnity of Ireland; to the city of New York. " The harbour of ValcRtia is the nearest point of Europe to the American Continent. From the high lands near it, and the new light-house on the Skellig;Rock, nine miles to seaward, it is easily made from the sea. It is perfectly Rafe: is capable of containing large vessels; has two entrances in ditt'erent dlirections, so that ves. sels may enter anid depart in all winds. Ballast cargoes may be obtained there in slates, butter, and coarse linen, for the American markets. There is a revenue establishment, and there are no port charger. rt is 202 miles more westerly than Falmouth, and may be reached from London in fifty honrs2 and forty from Livernool, by a traveller, who will thus save all the disagreeable risks of th'e Chat- nel navigation. No delay can arise in the sailing of the packet, in any wind even those which shut the harbours in the West of Eng- land; an? it is well known, that by fair th'e greater part of the delay and danger of the Passage fron Falnouth or Liverpool occurs within the C(hannel and the Bay of Biscay, which bv this li eare avoidedl." The remainder of the prospectus is taken up with pointing out the local facilities which the port of Valentia affbrds ; the roads, and mail coach conyeyances to all parts of the empire which open to it, and olther advantages, which are forcibly pressed upon consideration. At two o'clock Lord Carbery took the chair, and opened the busi- ness of the meecting. lIlI. Itl. r TZGERALD tLen atlaressen tilemceting, and explained the information which fIe wasi capable of affording from his local knowledge of that part of the south of Ireland from wlhich the pro- posed communication with America was intendel to be opened. It ivas unilecessary for him to dwell upon the verv important advan. tages of American commerce with Great Britain and Ireland, and mnrc partictilarly since the late changes which had taken place in South America. Tbe present commercial intercourse was chiefly carried on bv well-furnished sailing packets from Liverpool. Well as these were conducted, it was nevertheless obvious that she pre. vailing impediments to sailing packets were an injury to commerce, and that the communication might be better mtnaged by straui-ves- sels. In carrying itito effect this project, they ought to be guided by two leading principles-the first, that the line of communication shoutld be formed between the nearest convenient points of Ireland and America. It was quite obvious thit it was impossible for any port connected withl the American trade to enter into competition with Lviverpool fron a preponderance of commercial intercourse, and that thRt port niustt have a decided advantage in that respect, if per- sonal intercourse were ineparatble from the business of freight.ige; but that was not in his opinion requisite, and from the rapi(t means of personal intercourse which the proposed plan wvould afford, he had no doubt that passengers would decidedlv prefer embarking in their voyage at the south-western coast of Ireland, to which they had at present. by the Irish mail steam packets, so rapid and certain a conveyance, tian to embark in the first instance at Liverpool, and traversc the narrow sea between England and Ireland, and expose themselves to the tardy coast veyage. The Right Hon. G3entleman pointed out in the strongest marner the advantages to personal intercourse withi America which the new plan of establish- ing steam-vessels betwecn the south of Ireland and America wouldI afford, and the ready commercial intercourse whi ch could be kept up by branch-vessels between the south of Ireland anti the other parts of the kingdom. He pointed out the ready supply of coals whichn might be had at Valentia from the Bristol Channel, and that by the steam-packerssafiliig fromValentia to the castern point of Nova Scotia, they there were within the coal su7ply from Cape Breton, to enable them to take in a fresh suipply for the voyage home. He was aware of the objection that existed to the establishnent of tie place of sailing fromn a part of the country where there was no existinig commerce ; biut he comibatted this objection by enumerating the local advantages which the place afforded, and the readiness with w*hich the cormimuniications might be these provided, for conveving merchiandise to every other part of England, Ireland, and Scotland. Hfe was perfectly aware that, however desirable were the adoption of this plan to the local interests of lreland, however valuable snightbe the general commercial advantages to whichl it ultimately led, that unless it could beshown to possess the probable means of returning a speedy profit for the investnent of the capital requisite for the undertaking; it would he idle to expert the assistance of the British capitalist. Butall the details whics he had seen convinced him of the immediate profit whichl must be realized from the establishment of the plan ; and on that account he was ready to submit it to the public support. Air. Nim:no, the (overnmetst ciyil engineer, whio wvas employed in various public works in Ireland, and who hadi sur- veyed the Ihole southern ant western coast, woald corroborate his assertion of the profitable prospect which the plan held out for the investment of capital. Mlr. Nisra o then addressed the meeting, and produced maps of thic coast in the part of Ireland where Valentia is situate? and lie pointed out from them the geographical advantages which that part of the country afforded for directly trading with America. He tien enumerated the great improvement made of late years in the application of steain to navigation ; and he estimated, that with vessels of one thiousand tons burden (which would carry all the ne- cessary coal), they couldI navigate the Atlantic from nValentia to the iisost eastern cape of Nova Scotia in less thais a fortnighst. Four ihundre-d tons of coals would (lo for the voyage. lie only intended [that thelarger steam-vessels should sail between Valentii anslNova Scotia. At the latter place smaller vessels could be appointed to carry on the navigation throughout all the channels which were open [ to all partrof Canada, NewiYork, &c.: and the smaller steam-vessels which brought coals from the British Channel to the south of Ire. land for the use of the larger packets, could also convey the mer- chandise brought in the latter to its proper consignment in other parts of the kingdom. He gave in, at the suggestion of Mtr. Spring Vice, an estimate of the proposed expense of the outfit of the esta- blishment, whiels was referred to a commsittee. Several gentlemaen herc enteretI into a conversation upoR the mnerits of the plan, and declared their approbation of the outline. Lord CAUDERY suggested that the port of Valentia should not be finally fixed upon without the concurrence of the greatcoommercial interests engaged in the American trade. The Afarquis of LANSDOWN approved of Valentia, as being free from port charges, and not requiring any expenditure for local improvement, it being completely ready for every purpose of navi- gation and security at present. The HonourabJe C. H. HUTCHI5}5OW enlarged upon the in- estimable adrantages which must accrue to Ireland from the in- vestment of Bntish capital, and argued that the state of the coun- try ought not to ileter the capitalist from embarking his money in Ireland, where he would find the people grateful and kind when they were employed anil well treated. His desire to see English capital embarked there was so great, tnat he overlooked for the moment the consideration whether Valentia was the fittest port in the south of Ireland as the point of sailing from. This might, how- ever, be afterwards settled. After some further consideration, a Committee was appointed to consider the plan, and the Mteeting adjourned at half-past four. STEAM COMMUNICA TNOY WIPfT AM8UCA