^> IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I ■a 128 |2.5 L25 i 1.4 Nil 1.6 SdffliCf^ £ \.J\J\, ' Corporation 33 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 ^IP^ 4(R^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut c&nadisn de microreproductions historiquas Tachnical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes tachniquaa at bibliographiquas Tha Institute has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy avaiiabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba bibliographically uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagas in tha reproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual method of filming, are chacicad balow. L'Institut a microfilm* la maillaur exemplaire qu'il lui a it* possible da se procurer. 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Les cartes, plenches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre ffilmte d des taux de reduction diff^rents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, 11 est filmA A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mAthode. 1 r 2 3 t^- : : t « 2 3 i' 4 5 6 %.-^ ,^^ ^-6^-^ Cy^ TRANSATLANTIC PACKET STATION. ELECTRIC AND POSTAL ATLANTIC TRUNK-FERRY, AND « THE COLONIZATION THEREBY OF BRITISH NORTH AMERICA. LONDON: TRELAWNEY SAUNDERS, 6, CHARING CROSS; AND HODGES AND SMITH, DUBLIN. 1861. TRANSATLANTIC PACKET STATION. The Commissioners appointed by Government to report on this subject have, in their search for information, circulated a number of queries, but from the manner in which various points are involved in each other, they do not admit of direct seriatim reply. They also contain some irrelevant matter, especially with reference to the conveyance of goods. The inquiry does not appear to be sufficiently concentrated upon the subject under investi- gation, which subject is the determination of a Packet Station ^ and although this inquiry will legitimately and necessarily involve digression into several collateral matters, the conveyance of goods is clearly unconnected with it. The conveyance of goods is an affair for producers, and consumers, and shipowners, to arrange for themselves. It will seldom happen that the best Packet Station shall be found to be the medium whereby goods can be sent profitably to market ; but it is an affair with which the public, and consequently the Packet Station Commis- sioners, have no concern, and need have no solicitude. According to Dr. Johnson, a packet means a post- ship, not a sea-wagon ; and all that the public avowedly interfere in is the transmission of intelligence by Packets, or post-ships, which cannot undertake the office of sea- wagons, without detriment to their efficient performance of their primary duty. B [ 4 ] Tlie Dovor and Calais Packet Stations, or the Holy- head and Kingstown Packet Stations, are not selected and appointed with reference to the conveyance of eggs, butter, silks, or satins ; and neither must trans-Atlantic Packet Stations be selected and arranged with reference to the conveyance of laines and linens, notwithstanding the jumbled ideas of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, and many other such bodies, on the subject. The Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, for example, in their memorial against the establishment of an Irish trans-Atlantic Packet Station, allege that it would have the effect of "throwing by far the largest por^.ion of passengers and goods traffic into the hands of the Americans direct from Liverpool." Perhaps it would— but if artificial arrangements are desirable for averting this anticipation of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, a side wind or dodge is not the proper weapon. Let it be openly considered and discussed whether an undis- guised, straightforward new Navigation Law, with dis- criminating duties, or bounties, against foreigners, calcu- lated to have the desired effect of giving a heavy blow and great discouragement to American steamers in the trade with England, ought or ought not to be enacted ; but, if this be sought for, let it be done aboveboard on its merits, instead of the real, pure. Packet Station question and subsidies being obscured and mystified by the dodge of making them a stalking-horse for cargo bounties to select squadrons of British mercantile steamers. If shippers of goods and shipowners be left to themselves, without any paralyzing influence of this kind, the sea will socn swarm with mercantile sea-wagons. [ 5 1 ■with auxiliary screw power, by which goods will be con- veyed as required from the sources of their production to New York, or wherever they may be in demand. That an open discussion will quash the idea of bounties being given to cargo steamers there cannot be a doubt, and the only incidental employment of mail steamers deserving any degree of public support will be found to be the conveyance of emigrants and their connections, and other passengers, between the mother country and the British Colonies. It will be found that the most perfect system for con- veyance of intelligence between the Old World and the New can be most harmoniously combined with the economical promotion of an enormously improved system of emigration, affording what has generally been deemed an unattainable desideratum in regard to that object. An extract from a speech of the late Sir Robert Peel, on the introduction of the Irish Poor Law Bill in the House of Commons, on 13th of February, 1837, will serve to shew how he could not have failed to appreciate wliat will in the sequel of this paper be shewn to be now attainable. Sir Robert Peel, in the speech alluded to, said : — " The hon. and learned Member for Dublin has asked why the Government, in the case of Ireland, do not follow the example of the United States? 'See,* says the hon. and learned gentleman, * how widely ex- tensive, and wonderfully beneficial, is the system of emigra- tion acted upon in the United States of America.' No doubt many and great benefits have resulted from the system in that country ; but it must never be forgotten [ 6 ] that the question of emigration here is vastly different to what it is in America. There, the emigration consists only of a removal from one part of a great continent to another ; here, no emigration can take place except by a long passage over sea, attended with many exj)enses, much inconvenience, and the depressing notion of a complete separation and alienation from one's fathers. All these afford, in England and Ireland, obstructions to extensive emigration — obstructions not known in the United States." Now it fortunately happens that the most perfect trans-Atlantic Packet system that can be devised for the transmission of intelligence, at a speed which will leave the Cunard pretensions as immeasurably in the back ground as they left their sailing predecessors, can be combined with affording the means of personal inter- course, to and fro, to a v^^t extent, at so small a cost per head as entirely to dissipate all these drawbacks, pictured by Sir Robert Peel, to emigration in connection with the British North American Colonies, and bring those undervalued provinces and the United Kingdom into the same practical contiguity with each other, as subsists between the different states of the American Union — commencing a new era in colonization and the progress of the British trans-Atlantic possessions. Alien- ation, and final separation of relatives, will cease to be a necessary adjunct of emigration. Although cargoes cannot be carried cheaply at high speed, the case is radically different with passengers, pro- vided that the passengers are sufficient in number to occupy large vessels ; for, the weight of passengers being t 7 ] inappreciable, their carriage does not, like goods, neces- sarily preclude the use of fast steamers for their con- veyance ; and although the absolute cost of a large steamer, going at a high speed, must unavoidably be great, if measured annually, such steamer can perform so many voyages in a year, and can carry so many people each time, that the cost per passenger need not be by any means so heavy as might be anticipated. A large scale being essential in a steam-vessel towards obtaining high speed, the arrangements necessary for cele- rity in the transmission of intelligence, and the arrange- ments for accomplishing the grand national anti-Malthusian desideratum of making British America and British Europe practically one country, become thus identical. Not merely the conveyance of emigrants, but unlimited personal intercourse to and fro, of all classes, will thus exist ; — there would be no gulf between those who go and those who stay behind, with its depressing notions ; and emigration, such as has been longed for, but feared to be unattainable, could then go on. It remains to submit a scheme and estimate for such a line of Colonization Packets as ought to be established between the West of Ireland and Halifax. So great are the advantages possessed by steamers on a large scale over smaller vessels, ccsteris paribus, that concentration at one trunk-ferry is dictated. The expense and probable employment of the available accommodation of the ships, is the only limitation to their size. Upon the whole, it would probably be found that vessels of 2,000 to 2,500 tons, and 800 to 1,000 horse power, would for some time to come be found the most suitable size. Vessels of this [ » ] size, if specially constructed for the c^ nveyance of intelli- gence and passengers for the length of run between Ireland and Nova Scotia, can be made to maintain an average speed of 15 knots, for that distance, thus per- forming the passage in six days. They would never make a tedious passage. In this latter circumstance would be one of their great merits. Such gales as would retard the ill-constructed Cunard vessels several days, would bo scarcely felt by these contemplated vessels ; and if their passage ever extended to eight days, it must be under such exceptionally adverse weather as might extend a Cunard passage to 15 days. That celebrated naval architect, Mr. Oliver W. Lang, of Her Majesty's Dockyard, Chatham, has, at my suggestion, in concert with Mr. Penn, the eminent marine engineer, of Greenwich, (known as the constructor of the best engines in the Royal Navy, and elsewhere,) designed a vessel calcu- lated for this service. All the information to be derived from this design will be at the service of the Packet Station Commissioners, and at the service of other parties desirous of promoting the object in a bond fide manner. As regards the cost of a combined Post Office, Electric and Colonization intercourse by means of such vessels, it would probably be as follows. It may be assumed that the service required would embrace a weekly mail each way during eight months of the year, and a fortnightly mail during the four winter months. This would be 88 passages per annum, and, making allowance for con- tingencies and ships being sometimes under repair, it could be sustained by five vessels. (If five vessels were in uninterrupted work, they could perform together 130 I 9 ] passages annually, and it may be considered that in practice they could easily fulfil the required duty of 88 passages.) The cost of the five ships would be ... . £500,000 The annual expense of 88 passages would be — Coals £80,000 Wages, Victuals, Sundries, exclusive of 1 -q qqq Steward's department J * Insurance, Interest, Repairs, &c. ; Depreci-1 , of? OOO tion 25 per cent j ' Total Annual Cost of 88 Passages . £255,000 Though round numbers are here given, the figures are rounded off on the safe side, and there need be no dis- trust of the estimates on that ground. In return for this gross annual sum, there would be derived the performance of the Post Office services in a transcendent manner, — the Electric service, that is to say, the most rapid interchange of messages and intelli- gence between the extremities of the electric systems of the two hemispheres, — and the conveyance of a vast mass of passengers to and fro, the value of which it would be impossible to estimate with pretensions to accuracy. Towards enabling others to estimate its value it may be stated, that each vessel performing thjse 88 passages would have the elements of accommodation to the extent of 11,000 superficial feet of cabin floor; and that, ac- cording to the Passenger Act, one adult passenger is allowed to 10 superficial feet. As the Passenger Act re- gulations are framed with reference to sailing vessels, which are subject to very tedious voyages, it is clear that a modification of this Act might safely be made, so as to [ 10 ] allow steam-vessels occupying only a week at sea to take a much larger number of passengers in proportion to their space ; but in the following calculation no credit will be taken for such modification. Suppose then that the 11,000 superficial feet of cabin floor be allotted thus, viz : — 2,500 feet to 100 cabin passengers, at 25 feet each passenger. 3,000 feet to 200 intermediate class passengers, at 15 feet each passenger. 5,500 feet to 550 steerage passengers, at 10 feet each passenger. 11,000 feet. Supposing the rates of passage-money to be £10 for each cabin passenger, £5 for each intermediate passenger, and £2 for each steerage passenger — and suppose the vessels to be full on each of their outward voyages, and to have only 100 cabin passengers, 100 intermediate, and 100 steerage passengers on each homeward voyage, — The "^nnual passage-money would amount to . .£211,200 The gross annual cost of the line, as has been esti-1 ^-^ ^^„ mated above, being. Leaves as a charge against the Post Office £43,800 The co^t of passengers' provisions is not included in the above rates fpassage-money, but it would be a trifle — not more than 6*. a day per cabin passenger, 2*. 6d. a day for intermediate, and Is. & day for steerage passengers. It is not pretended that the foregoing estimate of the number of passengers should prove exactly correct. The number that may be expected is a matter of opinion. f [ 11 ] but looking at the existing number constantly going by sailing vessels, there are few people who will not admit that the foregoing estimate, considering the low fares assumed, is a very moderate one. Any one, however, can modify it according to his own judgment of probability. It will be more easy to magnify it than to diminish it. The traffic of passengers at this European and American Ferry will never attain its due expansion, however, unless the Halifax and Quebec, and Halifax and Portland Rail- ways be undertaken ; but, on their completion, the traffic would be ten times as great as the above estimate, and a very much larger class of steam-vessels would then be required. As regards the indirect prospective economy to the Post Office that would arise from this trans-Atlantic Trunk Ferry being perfected, it is to be observed, that the West Indies would be more speedily reached by this line, with an offshoot from Halifax, than by the Royl West India Mail route ; and here there would be the elements of a future saving of public expense on that line, to the extent of, at least £150,000 per annum. It is also to be observed, that with the proposed vessels in operation by the British Government upon this ferry, the whole, entire trans- Atlantic postage would be received by the Biitish Post Office, to the complete exclusion of the United States Mail Steamers, which on the voyage from New York to England could not approach in speed vessels adapted to the shorter ferry from Halifax. This point cannot be too forcibly insisted on. It is particularly to be hoped that the design of a modern steam-vessel suited to this ferry, as submitted by [ 12 ] Mr. Lang and Mr. Penn to the Commissioners, may. be scrutinized, and this branch of the subject probed. It ought not to be quashed by the incredulity of ignorance, or the pooh-poohs of interested parties, under whose withering influence British talent and superiority is at present hid under a bushel. It suits some parties to crush genius with their deadly monopolist paw ; and it is amazing with what voluntary ignorance and tameness the public submit, and are content with the undeserved eclat of the Cunard Company. Their outrageous efforts to hold back the advancing wave of science must be shewn to be as futile as was Canute's sceptre to turn back the waves of the sea. fo 1: r -i ./i • "' '■■■' r-^ruv • .) f?;' ■ - •- A • '' r ri ■ "*■ J-, _ I : _^' ■ " / .■^- . < ':•:'] lit ROBERT M^CALMONT.C> .ir; -J ! * ' ■ t , - '• ,....^K-:^ ;'^. \\. • •• ■(-:■ • .-; d f-j:,;:;- v;-', : it;i,p'i;;.^- ?..! ' ' ■y:r)f}]Uifi 1 30, Eaton Square, London, •■::^-'' i -. ■ ':''::} i]kha' a f\ .' ; '•> «: January 1851. . 1" * ' " ■ o "C't ' T r- ' ;; . :: } t ... J i I : : • ' ; '•' 1 ■ r- '. f ^ ^ ;y- ; - J >' i . ; f f V* * * r . , '•' ; ■..<' :•-■:.:.";:'> i - :t-;:: . ■:!l "'•' .' •! ':;'i :'[■) f!' ^''j •' . . 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