PACKET STATION COMMITTEE, 
 
 APPOINTED AT 
 
 A MEETING HELD ON THE 21st AUGUST, 1851, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN, 
 
 THE RIGHT 1 HON. THE LORD MAYOR 
 
 IN THE CHAIR. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 JAMES MCGLASHAN, 50, UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. 
 LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY, AND 
 EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 
 
 MDCCCLII. 
 
REPO R T 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC 
 PACKET STATION COMMITTEE. 
 
 'KQ 
 
 lov 
 
R E P 0 R T 
 
 OF THE 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC 
 
 PACKET STATION COMMITTEE, 
 
 APPOINTED AT 
 
 A MEETING HELD ON THE 21ST AUGUST, 1851, 
 
 AT THE 
 
 MANSION HOUSE, DUBLIN, 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR 
 
 IN THE CHAIR. 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 JAMES MOGLASHAN, 50 UPPER SACKVILLE-STREET. 
 LONDON: JAMES RIDGWAY, PICCADILLY, AND 
 EFFINGHAM WILSON, ROYAL EXCHANGE. 
 
 MDCOCLir. 
 
PRINTED BY JOHN FALCONER, 32 , MARLBOROUGH-STREET, DUBLIN. 
 
Cls(X *Ajj i Zsty 0(k/v\j 
 
 3^^ 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 REPORT, .7 
 
 Appendix A., ......... 21 
 
 Communication, addressed by Lord Monteagle to the Right 
 
 Hon. the Lord Mayor, on the Packet Station Question, 23 
 A Second Communication from Lord Monteagle, on the 
 
 same subject, .... .... 30 
 
 Appendix B., ......... 33 
 
 Report on the Transatlantic Packet Station Question, 
 prepared by Mr. Whiteside, with Appendix, ... 37 
 
 

REPORT. 
 
 The Transatlantic Packet Station Committee, in now 
 presenting their Report, desire, in the first instance, to 
 recall to the recollection of the public the circumstances 
 which led to their appointment. 
 
 A public meeting having been convened by the Right 
 Hon. the Lord Mayor to consider wh&t course should 
 be adopted to insure to Ireland the important advan¬ 
 tages of a direct steam communication with America, 
 it appeared desirable to many influential persons anxious 
 to forward so important an object, but entertaining 
 different views as to the most eligible mode of proceed¬ 
 ing, that, as a preliminary to the public assembly, they 
 should endeavour, at a private conference, to remove 
 the difficulties in the way of cordial co-operation. 
 These difficulties mainly arose from differences of 
 opinion as to the particular Port which would be best 
 suited for a Transatlantic Packet Station. To obviate 
 this source of disunion, it was proposed that a Com¬ 
 mittee of Gentlemen not connected with any of the 
 special interests concerned, should be requested to 
 
 B 
 
8 
 
 undertake the task of promoting a Joint Stock Company 
 to carry out the great national object in view, but that 
 the selection of the Port should be left for the future 
 Company to be established, to decide on their own 
 judgment. Accordingly the names of your Committee 
 were unanimously agreed on, in the majority of instances 
 without the previous assent of the persons so proposed, 
 and the following Resolutions were recommended to, 
 and adopted by the public meeting, after it had been 
 distinctly stated by the Lord Mayor, from the chair, 
 that the Committee should not have authority to decide 
 which should be the Port, but that that question should 
 be reserved for the Directors to be elected by the 
 Company, which might be formed:— 
 
 At a Meeting held at the Mansion House, Dublin, on Thursday, the 
 21st day of August, 1851, to consider what course should be 
 adopted to ensure to Ireland the important advantages of a 
 direct Steam Communication with America; 
 
 The Right Hon. the Lokd Mayor in the Chair; 
 
 The following Resolutions were unanimously agreed to: — 
 
 Proposed by Mr. Edward Grogan, M. P.; seconded by Mr. 
 Napier, Q.C., M. P.: 
 
 Resolved—“ That it is important to the interests of the United 
 Kingdom that the shortest and speediest communication with 
 America should be established.” 
 
 Proposed by Mr. John Ennis, Cha'rman of the Midland Great 
 Western Railway Company of Ireland; seconded by Sir Edward 
 M‘Donnel, Chairman of the Great Southern and Western Railway 
 Company of Ireland: 
 
9 
 
 Resolved—“ That the Geographical position of Ireland, and the 
 capabilities of her Harbours, demonstrate that the point of 
 communication on the part of the United Kingdom should he 
 an Irish Port.” 
 
 Proposed by Colonel La Touche, D. L.; seconded by Mr. W. 
 Goold, M.P.: 
 
 Resolved—“ That it behoves the Irish people to adopt some 
 practical means to secure the advantages which must naturally 
 result to every interest in this country from the establishment 
 of a Transatlantic Packet Station on our Coast.” 
 
 Proposed by Mr. St. George, M. P.; seconded by the Lord 
 Mayor Elect: 
 
 Resolved—“ That, with these convictions, it is the opinion of this 
 Meeting that a Joint-Stock Company should be at once 
 promoted, with a Capital of £500,000, to carry into effect 
 this desirable object.” 
 
 Proposed by Mr. James Power, D.L.; seconded by Mr. John 
 Sweetman : 
 
 Resolved—“ That the following Gentlemen be requested to act as 
 a Provisional Committee, to institute the necessary measures 
 for the promotion of the proposed Company, and that they 
 be instructed to adopt the largest basis consistent with its 
 security and efficiency, in order to combine the sympathy and 
 co-operation of every class and interest in Ireland:— 
 
 The Lord Mayor. 
 
 The Lord Mayor Elect. 
 
 Colonel La Touche, D.L. 
 
 Mr. Barlow, Governor of the Bank of Ireland. 
 
 Mr. Moylan, Governor of the Hibernian Bank. 
 
 Mr. G. A. Hamilton, M.P. 
 
 Mr. Jonathan Pirn. 
 
 Mr. Napier, Q.C., M.P. 
 
 Mr. Whiteside, Q.C., M.P. 
 
 Mr. Patrick Sweetman. 
 
 Mr. F. Codd, Hon. Sec. Chamber of Commerce, Dublin.” 
 
10 
 
 Your Committee having entered upon the important 
 trust confided to them, learned with regret that three 
 of their most intelligent and influential members, Mr. 
 George A. Hamilton, M.P., Mr. John Barlow, and 
 Mr. Patrick Sweetman, would not be enabled to take 
 a part in their deliberations. At the instance of 
 Mr. Sweetman, his brother, Mr. John Sweetman, was 
 substituted for him. 
 
 At an early stage of their proceedings your Committee 
 encountered a serious difficulty;—after a most careful 
 and anxious inquiry they became convinced that, on 
 the one hand, the public generally were not prepared 
 to adventure their property in the project unless the 
 Port was previously named; while, on the other, large 
 and influential sections of the country were strongly 
 impressed with the advantages of special localities, 
 and could not be expected to become supporters 
 of an undertaking unconnected with the particular 
 Port which they considered best adapted for the 
 purpose. 
 
 This state of public feeling will excite but little 
 surprise, when the obvious effects of local influences 
 are considered in connexion with the facts, that several 
 Ports in Ireland might be safely selected for the 
 projected Station:—that no practical movement had 
 been made on the part of the country to decide the 
 question of preference, by testing the relative advan¬ 
 tages of these Ports, and that the only authority which 
 had ventured to pronounce an opinion on the subject, 
 
11 
 
 viz., The Packet Station Commissioners, was one which 
 did not possess the confidence of the country. 
 
 Your Committee were restrained from attempting to 
 direct the public mind in this particular, not only by 
 the limited authority under which they acted, but by 
 their own convictions of their incapacity for performing 
 such a duty. The question was not whether any 
 particular Port would be suitable for general commu¬ 
 nication and traffic between this country and America, 
 but which Port of Ireland would present most advan¬ 
 tages and fewest disadvantages for the Postal and 
 Passenger Communication between this Empire and 
 the New World, and which would present them so 
 incontestably that public opinion, as yet imperfectly 
 informed on this question, and therefore undecided, 
 would become enlightened, concentrated, and irre¬ 
 sistible. 
 
 Upon the general question, whether the Postal and 
 Packet Service of this Empire would be promoted by 
 a Transatlantic Packet Station on the coast of Ireland, 
 your Committee hold, as had been affirmed by the 
 Resolution at the public meeting, that, fairly and 
 impartially considered, it does not admit of reasonable 
 doubt. 
 
 The real question, as just stated, your Committee 
 conceive, can best be decided by actual experiments, 
 conducted under well considered arrangements, and by 
 experienced and trustworthy agents. 
 
 The Committee apprehend, therefore, that to 
 
12 
 
 originate a Share List at present, for the purpose 
 proposed by the Public Meeting without naming a 
 Port, would not he a prudent course to adopt; and 
 even if empowered to name a Port, it might only- 
 secure a local and not a national support for that pur¬ 
 pose in the present undecided state of public opinion. 
 
 The Committee, moreover, upon a calm and anxious 
 consideration of the general subject, are impressed with 
 the conviction that, although at no distant period this 
 great project will prove not only a source of national 
 advantage, but of commercial profit, yet, under exist¬ 
 ing circumstances, they could not, consistently with 
 their duty, recommend it as likely to prove immediately 
 remunerative to the proprietors. 
 
 It is not to be overlooked that a powerful Company 
 already exists, subsidized by the State for the carriage 
 of the Mails to America, and sustained by very large 
 and most influential portions of the Empire. Messrs. 
 Cunard and Co. receive from the Imperial Treasury 
 £145,000 per annum for this service, under a contract 
 which has yet many years to run; they have a large 
 and well appointed fleet of Steamers prepared to sail 
 from any port the Government may direct, they enjoy 
 all the advantages of long experience, complete arrange¬ 
 ments, and established connexion, and they must 
 naturally be influenced by the ordinary instincts of trade 
 to preserve a lucrative monopoly. 
 
 It appears to your Committee, that to rush into com¬ 
 petition, nay, into necessary conflict with a Company 
 
13 
 
 so influenced and so sustained, would he hazardous and 
 unwise, and that the course which sound discretion 
 and a wise regard to the ultimate success of the cause 
 would suggest, is one which would concentrate Irish 
 energy, convince English judgment, and lead the public 
 mind to general co-operation for an imperial purpose. 
 
 To attain this object your Committee are of opinion 
 that a Steamer of the largest size should be con¬ 
 structed, with special reference to postal and passenger 
 communication, and therefore to speed, combining every 
 improvement which modern science and skill could 
 supply. It has been stated by persons most competent 
 to speak authoritatively on the subject, that such a 
 vessel could attain the speed of 16 miles an hour. 
 
 This vessel should be employed for a sufficient period, 
 in a series of voyages between those ports of Ireland 
 and America which present the most obvious advan¬ 
 tages for packet communication. 
 
 The result of these experiments would convert theory 
 into fact; and, unless existing evidence be utterly fabu¬ 
 lous, it would demonstrate, beyond mistake or cavil, 
 that the point of communication between this Empire 
 and the New World, which interest and convenience 
 demand, is that which geographical position and the 
 hand of nature indicate—a port on the western coast of 
 Ireland—and it would define that port so distinctly as 
 to subdue every local prejudice or local interest. 
 
 These great results once achieved, and the judgment 
 of the Empire convinced, that intelligence could be 
 
14 
 
 ordinarily conveyed to England 24 hours quicker than 
 under existing arrangements, and with a still further 
 despatch by the operation of the Electric Telegraph, 
 no less important consideration, no interest of indi¬ 
 viduals or of Companies, would be suffered by the 
 Government, or by the Legislature, to interfere with 
 the consummation of this project;—a project, be it 
 remembered, which concerns not merely the commer¬ 
 cial and manufacturing enterprise of these countries, but 
 the interests of the human race, for your Committee 
 respectfully submit, that this would be only one link 
 in the chain with which science and enterprise are 
 now binding nations by easy intercourse, softening 
 hostilities, removing jealousies, and promoting the 
 free progress of civilization, religion, and peace. 
 
 The question then arises—how should such an ex¬ 
 periment be made ? Your Committee unhesitatingly 
 answer'—by the Nation. An experiment pregnant with 
 such vast results should be tried with the aid of the 
 national resources, and with all the assistance and appli¬ 
 ances which they could command—it should not be 
 abandoned to private enterprise, especially to private 
 enterprise, cramped and fettered by an opposition, 
 subsidized by the State, and interested in defeating 
 the project by every available means. 
 
 Your Committee would earnestly impress this 
 view of the subject on the serious attention of every 
 man , whose position entitles his opinion to in - 
 
15 
 
 But Ireland has special interests in the success of 
 this great undertaking; long the victim of misrule— 
 her people divided—her resources neglected—her trade 
 and manufactures discouraged, she is but just begin¬ 
 ning to feel the influence of impartial government, 
 and to acknowledge the duty of self-reliance; to her 
 every project which can develop her capabilities, 
 or stimulate her hardy and intelligent people in the 
 race of improvement is of peculiar interest; and it 
 is difficult to conceive one more important than the 
 establishment of a Transatlantic Packet Station on 
 her coast. 
 
 She ought not to wait till Government can be moved; 
 it would become her to originate the practical solution 
 of this great question herself. A vessel such as has 
 been described can be constructed for £120,000. Your 
 Committee would suggest, that a Company should be 
 at once formed for this purpose, under the auspices of 
 a Directory interested in carrying out the measure with 
 a capital of £150,000,—and they are persuaded, that 
 if this capital were judiciously and economically em¬ 
 ployed, no portion of it being invested in buildings or 
 works of any kind, no considerable loss could be sus¬ 
 tained. They would hope that amongst the great 
 Companies so deeply interested in the success of this 
 undertaking—amongst the landed proprietors and com¬ 
 mercial men so intimately concerned in the prosperity 
 of the country—and amongst the public generally who 
 have felt and spoken so energetically on the subject, it 
 
16 
 
 would not be difficult to raise that necessary sum, even 
 without the certainty of immediate remuneration. 
 
 It may he argued that the course suggested would 
 occasion delay; the Committee venture to reply, that 
 delay should he preferred to defeat—that the experi¬ 
 ment, as they conceive, should only he tried hy a vessel 
 of the superior power and character described, and the 
 interval which its construction would require, would 
 naturally he employed hy the different Irish interests 
 concerned, in improving their respective harbours, and 
 supplying their various localities with useful and fitting 
 appliances; and what your Committee conceive more 
 important still, time would he afforded to convince the 
 judgment of the English people, hy disseminating cor¬ 
 rect information, and removing erroneous impressions 
 on the whole subject. 
 
 To an effort of this kind, the Committee feel it their 
 duty to restrict their recommendation for the present; 
 they could not, for the reasons already assigned, take 
 upon themselves the responsibility of advising the form¬ 
 ation of a Company, of a more extensive character. 
 
 They have not arrived at this result without the 
 most anxious deliberation and extensive inquiry. Not 
 content with a careful consideration of the mass of 
 evidence published hy the Packet Station Commis¬ 
 sioners, they have communicated and corresponded 
 with some of the best informed individuals in this 
 country, in England, and in America; and the delay 
 in making their Report has been the result of the 
 
17 
 
 magnitude of the subject, and of the importance of the 
 duty imposed on them. 
 
 Before concluding this Report the Committee are 
 anxious to direct public attention to considerations 
 which appear to them important. 
 
 It should be carefully borne in mind that Postal and 
 Packet Communication is essentially different from 
 Traffic Communication between distant countries—nay, 
 that they are to a great extent antagonistic; the first 
 requires the strictest regularity, and the greatest pos¬ 
 sible speed consistent with security; the necessities of 
 the latter are in a great measure satisfied by safety, 
 moderate despatch, and cheapness of carriage—the one 
 should be peculiarly the object of public solicitude, the 
 other of private enterprise. For instance, it is plain 
 that any arrangement which would lead to the transit 
 of letters between this Empire and America in eight 
 days instead of eleven, would be an object of vast 
 national importance, entitled to national support; 
 whereas, to expedite the transit of goods from Liver¬ 
 pool to New York, from eleven days to eight, would 
 not be a desideratum so great, in the present state of 
 constant communication, as to induce a merchant to 
 pay any considerable additional freight for the increased 
 despatch; hence it follows naturally that vessels built 
 with reference to speed, and not to cargo, should be 
 selected for the service of the Post Office, and the 
 travelling public; and that all necessary facilities 
 being available, they should be despatched from the 
 
18 
 
 nearest point to tlie port of destination—while to local 
 mercantile interests should he left the care of their 
 own concerns. These principles, which cannot he 
 fairly controverted, would leave to London, Liverpool, 
 and Glasgow, to Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Limerick, and 
 Galway, the care of supplying suitable means of transit 
 for the trade of their own localities, while it would 
 impose upon the Government and the Legislature the 
 duty of providing for the most effective discharge of 
 the Postal Service of the Empire. 
 
 It was by overlooking these considerations, and by 
 confounding the distinct requirements of the public 
 service and of private enterprize, that the Packet 
 Station Commissioners were induced to disregard all 
 the advantages of despatching the Mails for America 
 from a Port on the West of Ireland:—the geographical 
 position of this country—the delay and danger of the 
 Channel Navigation—the despatch and safety of the 
 route across Ireland—the economy in fuel—in room— 
 in insurance—and in sailing expenses—the saving of 
 time in crossing the Atlantic—above all, the powers 
 of the Electric Telegraph were ignored, or rather 
 postponed, as of less imperial consequence than the 
 supposed convenience of a great manufacturing district 
 of England. 
 
 Your Committee having requested Mr. Whiteside, 
 Q.C., M.P., to undertake the duty of making an 
 Analysis of the Evidence published by the Packet 
 
19 
 
 Station Commissioners, with a view to show that their 
 deductions were not sustainable, he has prepared the 
 valuable and interesting document published in the 
 Appendix. The Committee, however, have felt them¬ 
 selves precluded from giving any opinion on this 
 document, considering, for the reasons already stated, 
 that it discusses subjects on which they were not 
 authorised to enter, but fully appreciating the import¬ 
 ance of the matter which it contains, they present it 
 to the public on the responsibility of the learned 
 gentleman. 
 
 They also desire to direct public attention to two 
 very important communications addressed by Lord 
 Mont eagle to the Lord Mayor, which will likewise be 
 found in the Appendix. 
 
 {Signed) 
 
 BENJ. LEE GUINNESS, {Chairman). 
 
 JOHN D’ARCY. 
 
 DAVID CHAS. LA TOUCHE. 
 
 JOSEPH NAPIER, Q.C. 
 
 JONATHAN PIM. 
 
 DENIS MOYLAN. 
 
 FRANCIS CODD. 
 
 JOHN SWEETMAN. 
 
 The Mansion House, Dublin, 
 
 9 th day of December, 1851. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 

 
APPENDIX A. 
 
 LORD MONTEAGLE TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR. 
 
 (No. 1.) 
 
 “Exchequer, 15^ October , 1851. 
 
 “ My Lord, —I rejoice that a press of business and other cir¬ 
 cumstances, should have led me to delay answering your Lordship’s 
 letter of the 2nd instant, as I perceive, from the public prints, that 
 during this interval of time, the Mansion House Committee have 
 visited the ports of the Shannon, and of Galway, and have been thus 
 enabled to judge from observation what are the relative advantages 
 of each; my letter will thus be made, I hope, more to the purpose. 
 
 “ Upon the relative merits of those ports it is therefore unnecessary 
 for me to enter. Besides which, being myself a party interested, 
 and, therefore, one to whom perfect impartiality would be difficult, I 
 prefer addressing myself at once to the more comprehensive argu¬ 
 ment, namely, the general case of Ireland, in which I have a common 
 cause with my fellow-countrymen of Galway, Kerry, and Cork. 
 
 “ We are but wasting our time and strength in discussing the 
 relative claims of Irish Ports , till the case of Ireland itself is made 
 out and demonstrated. I should have expected that the admitted 
 gain of 300 miles, more especially for steam navigation—the economy 
 of fuel, and the saving of time, in my mind under-valued by the late 
 Commission, would at once have determined the question. This is 
 unfortunately not the case with the Commissioners, and their opinion 
 has been given in favor of Holyhead. 
 
 C 
 
24 
 
 “ This opinion should not only be controverted, but it should he 
 disproved. This is the primary object to be accomplished; as the 
 official Report, so long as it remains unanswered, will constitute, I 
 fear, a conclusive objection against Government support and co¬ 
 operation, and a formidable objection to private enterprise. 
 
 “ An answer to that Report can, I am convinced, be given from 
 the evidence taken before the Commissioners themselves; but this 
 should be done without determining relatively the advantages of the 
 Shannon or of Galway Bay; but using the case of each as against 
 Holyhead, not as against each other, and leaving the preference 
 between those ports for after consideration. If this be done frankly 
 and sincerely, we shall carry with us in our principal contest the 
 unbroken strength of all Ireland. With this we shall find it difficult 
 to win — but without it we shall fail inevitably, and not very 
 creditably, as our failure will be justly attributable to conflicting 
 local and personal jealousies. 
 
 “ A well reasoned reply to the Report, founded on these compre¬ 
 hensive principles, is therefore the first thing needed, and I rejoice 
 to think that it is likely to be undertaken by a gentleman of the 
 eminent talents of Mr. Whiteside; one, who from his legal habits, 
 is so competent to make a judicious use of the evidence taken. 
 
 “ When this reply is completed, it should be brought forward and 
 recommended to the public in every way, and through every channel. 
 The Reviews, the Magazines, the Newspapers, should be stimulated 
 to consider, and to argue the question. Opposition should be courted, 
 rather than discouraged; the more closely our case is considered, 
 the more accurately it is weighed, the better for the cause of truth, 
 and therefore for the cause of Ireland. 
 
 “ Everything will, however, depend on the ground taken. If we 
 contend that the produce of Great Britain and of North America are 
 likely, to any great extent, to make their way by Railroad across 
 Ireland, and that we can hope to receive any large amount of 
 ordinary mercantile freight, I am assured that we shall err in two 
 most important particulars: we shall fight in a wrong position—we 
 
 shall be opposed by conclusive reasoning—and we shall also aggravate 
 
 * 
 
25 
 
 the British mercantile jealousies, which are the most formidable 
 obstacles to our success. It should be our business to argue on 
 grounds on which Glasgow and Liverpool, Bristol, Southampton, and 
 London are likely to join, rather than oppose us. It is as a question 
 of postal and telegraphic communication, not excluding the subsidiary- 
 benefits of the transmission of troops and passengers, that our argu¬ 
 ment is to be urged. % Nor should the point be raised, or even hinted 
 at, of a necessity of transferring Cunard’s ships from Liverpool to 
 Galway, or the Shannon. We should rather urge the creation of a 
 new line altogether, by vessels expressly built to ensure the maxi¬ 
 mum of despatch and punctuality between the old world and the new. 
 I shall revert to the question of expense hereafter. 
 
 “ Now if this position be correct—if it be vain to dream of such 
 a line, independently of Post Office purposes, we can only succeed 
 by carrying the Government and Parliament with us. It is suicidal, 
 therefore, to deal with the project as one merely interesting to 
 ourselves and the United States. Unless the British North American 
 Colonies are brought primarily forward we shall obtain no countenance 
 at all. Nor does this involve any real sacrifice of the interests of 
 the United States, but the very reverse. Halifax is undeniably the 
 first port to be made, and the Irish case is then made on nautical 
 grounds more arguable, than if the American port chosen was New 
 York. But when the Great North American Railways are com¬ 
 pleted from Halifax to Boston, &c., on the one side, and from 
 Halifax to Quebec and Montreal on the other, there can be no doubt 
 but that Halifax will ensure the most rapid transit for correspondence 
 both with the Eastern States, and with the far West. Therefore, 
 including always the United States in our views and in our arguments, 
 it is the height of impolicy to make them a primary object, or to put 
 them prominently forward. It is not under the Stars and Stripes 
 that you are to march, if you expect the victory. I wholly disregard 
 the expectation of much pecuniary help coming from beyond the 
 Atlantic ; whatever does come will be solely on grounds of direct 
 pecuniary interest, and nothing else. If it were now for the interest 
 of the States to place their packets on an Irish station there is 
 
26 
 
 nothing to prevent them from doing so. They have no local 
 favoritism for Liverpool or Southampton, and Collins’s line would 
 be fixed at Galway or the Shannon if 40 cents additional on each 
 passenger and each bale of goods could be gained by the change. 
 There may be noisy meetings of sympathizers got up at New York, 
 Philadelphia, and Baltimore, but when it comes to investing some 
 hundreds of thousand dollars, the question of profit will, and ought , 
 to decide the speculators and the capitalists—and, depend upon it, the 
 ties between the producers and the consumers of cotton are too strong 
 to be broken by the Irish emigrants or the Irish at home. 
 
 “ I may here allude to the proposal of an experimental packet 
 establishment, of which I have seen some symptoms. I very much 
 doubt the policy of this, so long as we are antagonistic to the 
 present establishments at Liverpool. No experiment seems necessary 
 to demonstrate that 300 miles of saving in a steam voyage will be a 
 great gain. This is undeniable. But to bring this to a practical 
 issue, for the purpose of ascertaining what the saving will be, in 
 time and cost, is riskful, unless we are entirely convinced that the 
 experiment will he fairly tried. Is there not a danger that an 
 experimental establishment, starting against the enormous power 
 and experience of Cunard’s and Collins’s lines will scarcely start on 
 even terms. By sacrificing something in cargo—by a lavish expen¬ 
 diture of fuel and other resources, I think the present lines will by 
 a desperate effort make an exceptional passage appear to be an 
 average one, and that by so making a common cause, the English 
 and American Companies may lessen the advantage which, without 
 any experiment at all, we have against them, at the present. 
 
 “ Besides I doubt whether on other grounds we are quite prepared 
 for this test. As yet the indispensable requisites for a safe winter’s 
 run into Galway are not provided. Neither have we of the Shannon 
 provided our Railway extension to Foynes from Limerick. The 
 one or the other are wanting to give us our full advantage over 
 England, and both would be highly useful on general grounds, even 
 independently of Transatlantic communication. The utmost energy 
 of the people of the West and of Munster should be stimulated and 
 
27 
 
 exerted for this purpose. I presume the Mullingar and Galway 
 Company would largely assist in making the harbour of their Atlantic 
 Terminus. I cannot hut imagine that the Great Southern and Western 
 and the Waterford and Limerick would find a great interest in the 
 extension of their lines to Foynes, as well as in its future working. 
 On the completion of each port, by these operations, sea works at 
 Galway, a line of Railway from Limerick, would depend the chances 
 of these ports as between themselves. 
 
 It may be said—determine the preferable port first, and its com¬ 
 pletion will necessarily follow. Granted, for the sake of argument. 
 Now this will require a more impartial investigation and judgment 
 than persons locally and personally interested can pretend to give or 
 to pronounce. It is left unsettled by the Commissioners’ Report. It 
 demands a further and more authoritative investigation than it has 
 as yet received. Nautical men responsible to the Government should 
 be entrusted with the duty placed in a first-class steamer during the 
 winter season, fairly to test the two ports in respect to their relative 
 safety, and their capacity for receiving large steamers running in 
 from the Atlantic in a gale of wind, and bound to enter and leave 
 their mails. It might thus be determined whether the lee side of 
 Mutton Island or of Foynes was the safest port; and whether the one 
 anchorage or the other could be made complete with most certainty 
 and safety. I should, for one, be quite willing to abide the result 
 of this experiment, fairly tried; for I can assure you, in all sincerity, 
 that if it should be proved that Galway is the better port for the 
 public service, and for Ireland, nothing would induce me to raise a 
 voice for the Shannon. 
 
 “ The whole question with the Government will, at first sight, 
 turn on the question of expense. My financial plan of meeting this 
 difficulty is as follows: I have already said that if we cannot prove 
 our case in reference to the Post-Office, we have no practical case 
 on which to rely, all else, if unsupported by the question of postal 
 communication, will, I believe, be found a sheer delusion. This 
 will decide the whole question. To gain anything considerable in 
 time for correspondence is of the first importance for Great Britain 
 
28 
 
 and Ireland, for North America, and for Northern Europe. The 
 beneficial consequences to all commercial transactions would be 
 enormous, and would affect all the parties I have named. Then 
 why should it not be considered to be such an international object as 
 to be one justifying international support? The sea postage might 
 be divided—the land postage taken by each country over its own 
 territory ? This would lighten the burthen and increase the benefit. 
 Liverpool and all the great interests of England would have their 
 present system undisturbed for commercial and direct passenger 
 traffic, whilst the new line would be an incalculable benefit superadded 
 to the existing system—not substituted for it. 
 
 “ This I feel hopeful might be obtained, if made the matter of 
 friendly diplomacy. But the case of Ireland should first be made 
 out. I am sure Mr. Whiteside will see the obvious fallacy of the 
 Holyhead scheme. It is similar to what in logic is complained of as 
 a substitution of terms. A departure from Liverpool, touching at 
 Holyhead for Mails, would practically be a voyage from Liverpool 
 to North America, and would be exposed to the delay and risk of a 
 Liverpool voyage. It also perpetuates the use of Steamers built for 
 commercial purposes rather than for despatch. It renders a larger 
 amount of fuel necessary, and therefore diminishes the amount of 
 spare tonage for passengers. For these, and for other reasons, all 
 propositions for merely touching at a Westward point are fallacious, 
 if disconnected from the question of the real bona fide port of 
 departure or arrival. 
 
 “ If my scheme is too large, and depends on two many con¬ 
 tingencies, the simple plan would be, after an appeal to Parliament 
 and the Government on the general question, should the decision 
 turn on the relative merits of Galway and the Shannon, to pray the 
 Government either to renew the Commission, or, what would be 
 better, to issue a new one, composed of nautical men, to consider 
 the relative merits of the two ports—the deficiencies of each, 
 how those deficiencies can best be remedied, and at what probable 
 expense. 
 
 “ I really was surprised at the very one sided argument of the 
 
29 
 
 Belfast Town Council. They as completely passed over the case of 
 the Shannon as if no such river merited attention. Let them send 
 some of their able and intelligent merchants to inspect both ports, as 
 your Lordship and your Colleagues most wisely have done,—let them 
 throw over-board the exaggerated scheme of direct Railway com¬ 
 munication by or from Londonderry, Enniskillen to Galway, and 
 even from Limerick to Galway, as highly improbable, if not wholly 
 impracticable,—let them remember that from Belfast through Dublin 
 to Limerick is now complete, except for an interval in Ulster itself; 
 and that all that is further required is a short extension to Foynes, 
 which can be executed with the greatest facility, over a limestone 
 plain without cutting or embankment. 
 
 “ Should your Committee or your Lordship be desirous of consi¬ 
 dering the question of Foynes more closely, I beg to refer you to a letter 
 addressed by me to the Ballast Board of Dublin, on the 2nd October, 
 in which you will find all the references to evidence and to public 
 documents which are necessary for an appreciation of that part of 
 the case; your Lordship will, I have no doubt, easily obtain from the 
 Ballast Board a copy of that document. 
 
 “With many excuses for the length of this letter, which I rely on 
 the importance of the subject under consideration to justify, 
 
 “ I have the honor to be, my Lord, with sincere respect, 
 
 “ Your Lordship’s very faithful and obedient Servant, 
 
 “ Monteagle. 
 
 “ The Right Honorable 
 “ The Lord Mayor of Dublin, <kc., <kc.” 
 
30 
 
 LORD MONTEAGLE TO THE RIGHT HON. THE LORD MAYOR. 
 
 (No. 2.) 
 
 “ Clifton, Bristol, 
 
 “November , 1851. 
 
 “ My Lord, —The date of this letter will be an explanation, and 
 I hope an apology, for the delay which has occurred in answering 
 your Lordship’s last letter. I have been absent from London for 
 some time, and some irregularities have consequently arisen in my 
 correspondence. 
 
 “ My letter on the subject of the Transatlantic question is quite at 
 your Lordship’s command, and may be used in any manner you think 
 conducive to the national object which we have equally at heart. 
 
 “ I continue to feel apprehensive that we shall not be found to act 
 practically, or to reason logically, if we do not all apply our united 
 efforts to make out the case for Ireland, before we enter upon the 
 separate merits of Galway, the Shannon, or Cork. 
 
 “ But if in error in this respect, I should still submit to your 
 Lordship that our mode of proceeding, in respect to the relative 
 merits of the several ports requires much thought and discretion. 
 All that I, or persons interested for the Shannon, could say or 
 do on the subject would be but inconclusive. We are parties 
 interested, and therefore our experiment, or our reasoning, would be 
 received with mistrust as subject to a bias. The case of the other 
 ports would be similar. What we require is the consideration of 
 parties at once competent and impartial. This, it appears to me, 
 could be obtained only in one of two ways : the first, by an applica¬ 
 tion to the Government, founded on the incompleteness of the 
 Commissioners’ Report: we might request, and I think we might 
 persuade them, so far as the relative advantages of Irish Ports are 
 concerned, to institute a new, or rather to resume and complete their 
 past inquiry, and to send competent persons, both nautical and engi¬ 
 neering officers, to visit the two ports which they have preferred— 
 Galway Bay and the Shannon — and to report — 
 
31 
 
 “ 1.—On their relative advantages in their present condition. 
 
 “2.—On the additional works which may be required to render them 
 efficient as Transatlantic ports. , 
 
 “ 3.—On the probable estimate of such works, &c. 
 
 “ 4.—On their relative advantages, supposing such works to be completed. 
 
 “ If the Government, on its responsibility, were to undertake such 
 an inquiry, appointing, as they doubtless would, men fitted for so 
 high a trust, I cannot help thinking that the conflict of opinion at 
 present existing would cease. 
 
 “ If the Government declined taking such a step, why should we 
 not ourselves make an effort towards its attainment. Is it so entirely 
 impracticable that Irishmen should concur in an object, reasonable 
 in itself, that it is out of the question for the parties interested to 
 suggest to your Lordship’s Committee the selection of men of high 
 experience and character—nautical and civil engineers, who, on our 
 behalf, would undertake the functions which I have already proposed 
 to be assigned to the Government. We should have in their 
 Report that which would be authoritative for our guidance and 
 government. 
 
 “ I, for one, should feel ashamed of myself were I not ready to lend 
 my best efforts in favor of Cork or Galway, if convinced that such 
 a decision were the best for Ireland ; and I should feel it most pre¬ 
 sumptuous were I to claim credit for more disinterestedness than 
 would be shown by parties connected with the rival ports. 
 
 “ But if we enter into a struggle without some authoritative mode 
 of procuring an impartial judgment, we shall not only lose hy our 
 divisions all power of acting on public opinion, or influencing either 
 the Government or the Legislature, but we may very soon discover 
 that we possess each the power of frustrating the expectation of the 
 other, without necessarily advancing or establishing our own case ; 
 and the only result will be adding strength to the formidable British 
 interests which are, and must continue to be, arrayed against us, 
 until the case is argued on proper grounds. 
 
 “ I hope I have at least shown that I am recommending a course 
 in which both parties might fairly be expected to concur—that is, if 
 
32 
 
 they are willing to set aside local interests in favor of those which 
 are higher and nobler, because they are national. 
 
 “ If we have to contend for Galway, or for the Shannon, without 
 first coming to the conclusion, on the highest authority , with respect 
 to which of the two is the most eligible, we shall fail, and deserve to 
 fail. On the contrary, if we act on wise, because disinterested prin¬ 
 ciples, though we shall have a hard battle to fight, we may ultimately 
 hope for success. 
 
 “ I have the honor to he, my Lord, 
 
 “ With sincere respect, 
 
 “ Your Lordship’s very faithful servant, 
 
 “ Monteagle. 
 
 “ The Right Hon. the Lord Mayor of Dublin, 
 
 “ The Mansion House, Dublin.” 
 
APPENDIX B. 
 
 REPORT 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TRANSATLANTIC PACKET STATION QUESTION, 
 
 PREPARED AND SUBMITTED TO THE 
 
 MANSION HOUSE COMMITTEE, 
 
 BY JAMES WHITESIDE, ESQ., Q.C., M.P., 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE 
 
 AND PRINTED BV AUTHORITY OF THE COMMITTEE, ALTHOUGH NOT ADOPTED BY THEM 
 FOR THE REASONS STATED IN THEIR REPORT. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 Reasons for recommending Galway as the Port in Ireland best 
 adapted for a Transatlantic Packet Station, 
 
 Condition of Irish Railways,. 
 
 The Connecting Lines of Railway described by Messrs. Perry and 
 
 Mulvany,. 
 
 Advantages of recommending Galway,. 
 
 The Claims of Liverpool and Holyhead considered. 
 
 Rate of Speed to be attained by a Steamer, constructed according 
 to the design of Mr. Penn, ...... 
 
 The Electric Telegraph, ........ 
 
 Finding of the Commissioners as to it, canvassed. 
 
 Reference by the Commissioners to Whitehaven noticed, 
 
 The interests of British America, as to Steam Packet communi¬ 
 cation with England, considered, ..... 
 
 Lord Durham’s Despatch describing the British Provinces in 
 North America, ......... 
 
 Major Robinson’s Report on the Halifax and Quebec Railway, . 
 The state of North American and British American Railways 
 in reference to this question, ...... 
 
 Halifax best suited to be the centre of communication with America, 
 Newfoundland noticed, ........ 
 
 European communication through Ireland, .... 
 
 Evidence to sustain the finding of the Commissioners as to Galway 
 
 considered, . *. 
 
 Captain Bedford’s Evidence, ....... 
 
 Defects in Galway Harbour, ....... 
 
 Lieutenant Dunlop’s Evidence, ....... 
 
 Captain Wingrove’s Evidence, ....... 
 
 Lieutenant Tumour’s Evidence, ...... 
 
 Commander Kelly’s Evidence,. 
 
 Mr. P. O’Halloran’s Evidence, ....... 
 
 Page 
 
 37 
 
 39 
 
 39 
 
 40 
 
 42 
 
 43 
 
 44 
 46 
 49 
 
 49 
 
 50 
 
 51 
 
 52 
 
 52 
 
 53 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 58 
 
 59 
 
 60 
 60 
 61 
 61 
 
36 
 
 Page 
 
 Commander Burke’s Evidence, . 61 
 
 Lieutenant O’Malley’s Evidence, . . . . . . 61 
 
 Lieutenant Broad’s Evidence, ....... 62 
 
 Commander Hutchison’s Evidence, ...... 62 
 
 Mr. John Thomas’s, R. N., Evidence, ..... 63 
 
 Mr. Mulvany’s Report to the Commissioners fully examined and 
 
 analysed, . 64 
 
 The Railway Commissioners’ Report, . . . . . 73 
 
 The Postal Question discussed, ....... 73 
 
 The claims of Ulster, in reference to a Packet Station at Galway, 
 
 considered,.74 
 
 The Emigrant Question examined,.78 
 
 Mr. Cunard’s theory of Average Voyages investigated and ex¬ 
 posed, .......... 79 
 
 Electric Telegraphs recommended through Ireland to Scotland, . 79 
 
 Some general matters touched on, ...... 80 
 
 The Charter, incorporating a Company, considered, ... 80 
 
 The final recommendations, ....... 80 
 
 DOCUMENTS IN APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Petition to the House of Commons of the Council of the 
 
 Chamber of Commerce, Belfast, ..... 83 
 
 II. Extract from Report submitted to the Belfast Town Council 
 
 by the Mails and Mail Packets Committee, ... 85 
 
 III. Statement addressed to a Member of the Committee by Mr. 
 
 James Kennedy of Belfast, on the 29th October, 1851, . 87 
 
 IV. A further Statement from Mr. Kennedy in reference to'the 
 
 Manufactures of Ulster, and Exports to America—their 
 value and importance, ....... 89 
 
 V. Colonial legislation on the Railway question, affirming the 
 
 principle of the Report, ....... 93 
 
REPORT, ETC. 
 
 Reasons for recommending the adoption of Galway as the site for 
 
 a Transatlantic Packet Station. 
 
 1st. Good faith ought to be the basis of all commercial speculations: 
 and we feel that a Committee appointed by their fellow citizens to 
 report upon the general question of Transatlantic Communication 
 with Ireland, ought not to withhold an opinion deliberately formed 
 as to the particular port to he recommended. 
 
 2nd. It has forced itself upon the Committee that it would be 
 impossible to expect that all persons willing to enter into this great 
 project, would be equally willing to do so, no matter what the Irish 
 Port chosen might he. 
 
 3rd. That no individual should be invited to join an undertaking 
 of a commercial character, without the fullest information which it 
 would be possible for such a body as ours to afford. 
 
 4th. That the harbours generally mentioned as suitable for trade 
 and passenger traffic with America, cannot he equally accessible and 
 equally advantageous, and that the longer conflicting claims are 
 undetermined, the more distant the commencement of that combined 
 exertion which can alone ensure success for any. 
 
 5th. That the commercial and manufacturing men of Ulster will 
 not lend their powerful aid towards the advancement of this under¬ 
 taking, unless satisfied that their important interests will be respected. 
 
 6th. That to perfect the great scheme in contemplation, works of 
 
38 
 
 a practical engineering kind may require to be effected to complete the 
 harbour preferred, and the sooner that harbour is chosen, the quicker 
 may be the execution of these necessary works. 
 
 Influenced by these considerations, we have arrived at the con¬ 
 clusion, that it is our duty to recommend the Port best situated for 
 Transatlantic Communication, and which would, in our opinion, be 
 most advantageous for the general interests of Ireland, and of the 
 Empire; and to submit our recommendation to the approval or 
 disapproval of our fellow citizens, and we accordingly name Galway. 
 
 But as the mere expression of our opinion might be deemed ill- 
 considered, we feel it incumbent on us to lay before the public the 
 grounds of that opinion. 
 
 We have sought and received information in various quarters, for 
 which we desire to record our gratitude. We have carefully studied 
 the Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire as to the 
 proposal of an Irish Packet Station to America, and the valuable 
 documents appended to that Report, and it appears to us that our 
 recommendation is fortified by the evidence of the most competent 
 witnesses, and by facts which cannot be controverted. 
 
 We admit and commend the excellence of many harbours in the 
 South and West of Ireland, such as Crookhaven, Berehaven, and 
 Valentia; but, independently of other weighty considerations, it is 
 obvious that no Port can be selected which is not accessible by a 
 Railway leading directly to that Port, and which is not available for 
 the manufacturing and commercial interests of the entire kingdom. 
 
 Regard must also be had to the convenience of passengers from 
 Ireland, Scotland, England and Europe ; to the conveyance of mails, 
 and to the transmission of intelligence by the electric telegraph. 
 
 Considering these important matters, it will occur to any impartial 
 inquirer, that the choice of an Irish Port must be made from the 
 Harbours in the Shannon, Cork, or Galway. 
 
 The painful truth is established by the evidence printed by the 
 Commissioners, and by our own inquiries, that the goods manu¬ 
 factured in Ireland, which are exported to America, are almost 
 
39 
 
 entirely manufactured in Ulster; therefore the bulk of the com¬ 
 mercial correspondence and transactions between Ireland and America, 
 (including North and South, and the West Indian Islands,) springs 
 from that Province. 
 
 We fully admit that we ought not to adopt a partial view of this 
 great question, but, on the other hand, we are bound to consider 
 carefully the advantage of the largest manufacturing interest in the 
 kingdom. Considering first the Railway communication of Ireland, 
 we find that the distance from Belfast to Foynes is 245 miles; 
 from Belfast to Cork 2771 miles; from Belfast to Galway, by the 
 present route, 2394 miles; and from Belfast to Galway, via Cavan, 
 192 miles, and that there is no railway as yet constructed from 
 Limerick to Foynes. 
 
 We see that the Railway completed from Dublin to Galway bisects 
 the Island—that the Railway from Belfast to Dublin is on the eve 
 of completion—and that there are other lines through Ulster which 
 either are or will soon be in connexion with the capital of that flourish¬ 
 ing province. Therefore there is at this moment direct Railway 
 communication between Belfast and Galway, and thereby the capital 
 of the North is brought within ten hours distance of the capital of 
 the West. 
 
 But we cannot omit the all-important view of the question, so far 
 as Ulster is concerned, put forward in the evidence of Mr. James 
 Perry, a Director of the Midland Great Western Railway to the 
 Commissioners. At page 153 of the Report, that gentleman states—* 
 “We expect a communication to be established between our Midland 
 Railway and the Northern Railways, which, though not very direct, 
 will give continuous Railway communication from Belfast to Galway. 
 (Question) :—You contemplate making that Junction ?—Yes. (Ques¬ 
 tion):—And there is no great difficulty in it?—No. I have no 
 doubt that if Galway were established as a Packet Station, that 
 communication would be made; indeed, independently of that, I think 
 it would be made in two or three years under any circumstances.” 
 
 The evidence of Mr. W. T. Mulvany, Commissioner of the Board of 
 Works, touches the same important topic. In page 186, thatgentle- 
 
 D 
 
40 
 
 man states —“ One argument to which I omitted to call attention 
 was the fact, that Galway seems better adapted to meet the wants of 
 the country in this respect than any other port on the West coast of 
 Ireland. The very Lines of Railways which it is necessary for the 
 country to make for local purposes will facilitate communication with 
 Galway. I represented that upon the plan which I sent. I showed 
 that as regards Belfast, for instance, which I consider is the most 
 important place in Ireland, you have a Line of Railway already 
 formed from Belfast to Armagh, and I believe a Bill has passed for 
 a Line of Railway from thence to Clones; and Bills exist for Nor¬ 
 thern Lines from Londonderry and from Dundalk. A Bill also exists 
 for the extension of the Railway from Mullingar to Longford; and a 
 Line to Sligo has been laid out. All that will be wanted then to 
 connect the North of Ireland directly with Galway, would be a con¬ 
 nexion across from Clones by Cavan to Longford, a very short line, 
 thirty or forty miles.” 
 
 We believe the Junction here suggested would be calculated to 
 introduce and establish the manufactures and staple trade of Ulster, 
 in the province of Connaught. 
 
 The prospect Mr. Mulvany’s evidence opens for the development 
 of the industry and of the resources of Ireland is vast, and yet it 
 appears to us to be certain of realization. In recommending, there¬ 
 fore, the adoption of Galway as the port best fitted for communi¬ 
 cation between the whole of Ireland and America, we believe that 
 we most effectually promote the ultimate success of this great national 
 undertaking. 
 
 The consequences likely to follow from a decision in favor of Gal¬ 
 way, we may expect to be, the hearty support of the merchants 
 of Belfast, because Belfast will ultimately be brought within six hours 
 distance of Galway—the support of all the Northern counties, and 
 their interests, agricultural, manufacturing, and commercial, because 
 each and all of these interests will be materially and immediately 
 benefitted; and the support of all the Northern towns, because they 
 will be connected by Railway with Belfast, and therefore with Gal¬ 
 way. But if we look beyond Ireland to Scotland, it will appear to 
 
41 
 
 be equally the true interest of Glasgow to support this undertaking, 
 because it is impossible to secure for Belfast the advantages of a 
 speedy communication with America, and to withhold them from 
 Glasgow—and if Glasgow can be brought within twelve or thirteen 
 hours distance of Galway, Glasgow and Scotland, through it, will 
 gain equally with Ulster and Ireland. 
 
 It is not denied, in reference to England, that a gain of time would 
 be secured by having a Packet Station for America in Galway; the 
 dispute is as to the extent of that gain, and as to the expediency of 
 making a change from England, considering the inconvenience of 
 railway transit through Ireland. We believe these inconveniencies 
 enormously exaggerated; and we entertain no doubt, that judicious 
 arrangements adopted by the Directors of the Railway Companies in 
 Ireland could obviate most of them; and we recommend strongly to 
 the Directors of the Dublin and Kingstown, and Midland Great 
 Western Railway Companies, to adopt and execute the plan of con¬ 
 necting these Lines in Dublin, sketched by Mr. Mulvany, page 186 
 of the Report. We believe the completion of this connexion would 
 be a great step towards the success of our undertaking, and we there¬ 
 fore submit Mr. Mulvany’s evidence in reference to it to the directors 
 and the public :— 
 
 “ The connexion which is of the greatest moment to this question as regards 
 Galway is the one between the Kingstown Railway and the Midland Great 
 Western Railway. As regards Limerick, it would be the important connexion— 
 as between the Kingstown and the Great Southern and Western ; a line which 
 has been often strongly pressed, along the Grand Canal, will afford that advan¬ 
 tage. The connexion with the Midland Great Western would be either by a 
 short line to Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, and a ferry to the Royal Canal Docks, 
 to which that company are about to extend their lines; or, better still , by a line 
 starting from near Westland-row, passing near St. Mark’s Church, across the 
 Liffey, east of the Custom House, to the Drogheda Railway Station, from which 
 a connnexion would be made with the Liffey branch of the Midland Great 
 Western, close to the Royal Canal, Thus the Northern, Western, and Kings¬ 
 town Lines would be joined. This latter line would pass through property of 
 very little value ; and by having a high level bridge , you would pass the railway 
 over the high level bridge, and pass the traffic under it, on a bridge much 
 required for the city.” 
 
42 
 
 That some change for the better, in reference to Transatlantic 
 Packet Communication, might be made as regards England is con¬ 
 fessed by the Commissioners; because, in their Report, page 14, 
 they expose the glaring defect in the port of Liverpool, (admitted by 
 Mr. Cunard in his evidence, p* 127), in these terms :— 
 
 “ At present the departure of the Packets from Liverpool depends upon the 
 fluctuating period of tide ; and mails and passengers leaving London in the 
 evening, and arriving at Liverpool on the following morning, are detained for a 
 length of time, varying from six to seven hours.” 
 
 Some change, therefore, is to be made; but as to the policy of 
 making Holyhead the port of departure for America, instead of 
 Liverpool, we have a very curious piece of evidence from the lips of 
 Mr. Cunard:— 
 
 “ What is your opinion of Holyhead as a point of embarkation for America ?” 
 
 “I do not see any particular objection to Holyhead as a place of call on the 
 homeward passage, provided a safe pier is set apart for our use, which must not 
 be otherwise occupied at any time, as our steamers come in as frequently at 
 night as during the day, and the berth should be always free. But in going to 
 America it would deprive us of the use of the northern passage, which is of very 
 great consequence, and would frequently delay us more than twenty-four 
 hours. Formerly we did not use the north passage, but latterly we have seen 
 great advantage, and use it constantly ?” u The only disadvantage would be in 
 going outward by the northern passage!” "That is certainly the great dis¬ 
 advantage, with a south-west gale (and it is the prevailing wind) : we can run 
 north, and along the Irish coast, with an off-shore wind and smooth sea, 300 
 miles, before we could get 100 miles from Holyhead in a south-west gale ; 
 and the northern passage is actually the shortest.” 
 
 The Commissioners propose as a mitigation of the incurable defect 
 in the Port of Liverpool, the departure of the Mails from Holyhead, 
 which they say would give to mails, and passengers, and merchandise, 
 the advantage of a fixed instead of an uncertain period of sailing, 
 while it would secure to the outward-bound packets a complete day¬ 
 light run through the Irish Channel. 
 
 This suggestion is made in order to save time. It appears, how¬ 
 ever, from the evidence of Mr. Cunard, that if acted on, it will, under 
 certain circumstances, enable the public to gain a loss. It is probable 
 
43 
 
 that the drawbacks to Holyhead, as compared with Liverpool, are 
 here over-estimated by Mr. Cunard, but his incidental admission 
 that any south-west gale whatever can reduce the speed of his boats 
 to 100 miles a-day, or four knots an hour in the Irish Channel, is not 
 unimportant; for such improved vessels as are now projected for the 
 Transatlantic service from Ireland, would certainly not have their speed 
 reduced below twelve knots an hour under the same circumstances. 
 
 We should observe, if it he of consequence, as the Commissioners 
 admit, to secure a daylight run through the Channel, it must he of 
 still greater consequence to escape the delays and dangers of the 
 Channel navigation altogether, and this the recent accident to the 
 Africa on the Copeland Rocks demonstrates. 
 
 But we think the calculation of speed adopted by the Commissioners, 
 viz., eleven miles an hour, is radically wrong, if meant to be applied to 
 the distance between such Ports as Galway and Halifax, and to vessels 
 constructed to secure certainty and speed; because the evidence before 
 the Commissioners establishes incontestibly that the shorter the sea 
 voyage, the more rapid the rate of steaming to he attained. 
 
 Mr. John Penn, (vide p. 119—145), after deliberating with Mr. 
 Lang, (Chatham Hock-yard), pledges himself to the construction of 
 a steamer, perfectly safe and convenient, to run the ferry between 
 Galway and Halifax at the rate at least of fifteen miles an hour. 
 
 That eminent, practical, and scientific engineer, Mr. Penn, of 
 Greenwich, having been consulted, gives the following as his 
 opinion, viz.:— 
 
 “Having been consulted on the subject, 1 do not hesitate to say, that an 
 ocean steam emigrant ship can be constructed capable of conveying two thousand 
 people, and maintaining an average speed of at least sixteen nautical miles per 
 hour, between Ireland and Halifax (a speed of sixteen nautical miles per hour is 
 five and three-quarter days for the passage from Ireland to Halifax), and under 
 favorable circumstances the speed would be much greater. I would stake my pro¬ 
 fessional reputation on accomplishing fully this performance. A naval architect, 
 who also anticipates the above result from the power applied as I propose, remarks, 
 in one of his communications in reference to it, that ‘ the advantages attending 
 such a vessel, as regards comfort, over the finest vessels now in existence, and 
 the certainty with which the voyage would be made within the stated time, 
 almost to an hour, together with the almost total freedom from sea sickness, 
 
44 
 
 would render this conveyance as preferable to the present class of vessels as 
 the railway train is to a wagon, with the additional advantage of a cheaper 
 fare.’ The result would be splendid. 
 
 (Signed) “John Penn, Engineer , Greenwich. 
 
 “ January 1850.” 
 
 We entertain little doubt that this may be accomplished; and the 
 fact that it can be done destroys the calculation of the Commissioners, 
 by reducing the distance between Galway and Halifax to six or five 
 and three quarter days, and establishes the necessity, in reference to 
 imperial interests, of establishing Galway as the port of departure of 
 the Transatlantic Mails. 
 
 There is, in reference to England, another view of this great 
 question now to be placed prominently before the public mind, and that 
 is, the transmission of intelligence by means of the electric telegraph. 
 This matter was brought under the notice of the Commissioners, but 
 has been by them, in the most unaccountable manner, slurred over 
 in their Report. We cannot believe the commercial and manufac¬ 
 turing classes, or the Government of the country, will longer remain 
 insensible to the immense advantages to be derived from the appli¬ 
 cation of this great discovery of modern science to the shortening of 
 the transmission of intelligence between America and the British 
 Islands. The Americans are alive to its importance. Mr. Gregory, 
 page 113 of the Report, states:— 
 
 « I may mention that when I was in the House of Commons, the construction 
 of the Galway Railway was under consideration, and Mr. Uniacke, the Solicitor- 
 General for Nova Scotia, one of the most intelligent men I ever met with, being 
 in the country, the subject of this Galway Railway was frequently discussed 
 between us. He said, ( the very first object that the Americans have is the 
 transmission of intelligence in the speediest manner, and that positively there 
 is no expanse that they are not prepared to traverse with the electric telegraph, 
 in order that they may get the speediest communication with the Western 
 States.’ With reference to their bread stuffs, he said, 6 the importance of that 
 could not be over estimated, and that they would go to any expense for the gain 
 of even two days in the transmission of news.’ ” 
 
 The evidence of Mr. Howe, Colonial Secretary in Nova Scotia, 
 
45 
 
 upon the use and importance of the electric telegraph, is of the 
 highest value. At page 116, he thus presses the matter upon the 
 attention of the Commissioners:— 
 
 “ Permit me to say, having listened to the evidence which has been given, and 
 the views thrown out by the gentlemen here, that this question does not appear 
 to me to be clearly understood by a good many persons who take a great interest 
 in it. I speak of course without reference to any gentleman whose opinions 
 have been expressed here. It divides itself, in my mind, into two or three 
 branches:—first, with respect to the transmission of intelligence. You on this 
 side of the Atlantic, are not aware of the importance attached to it on the other 
 side. I will give you a simple illustration. It was proposed, two or three years 
 ago, to build an electric telegraph across Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into 
 the United States territory, to communicate with their lines. The Government 
 of Nova Scotia felt that this was likely to become an American engine to be 
 worked as against you and against us in a variety of ways ; for instance, suppose 
 the price of corn rises here, or suppose the price of cotton rises here a halfpenny 
 per pound, the American speculator, who has that information an hour before 
 the rest of America, makes his million of dollars almost at once. In a variety 
 of ways, therefore, the inhabitants of these islands would be injured, and made 
 to pay by the monopoly of that instrument of the conveyance of intelligence in 
 the hands of American speculators. We have, therefore, passed a law by which 
 we will not allow any American gentleman to come in and compete with our 
 line. We say, run as many wires as you please, but we will have the control of 
 it. Now mark the effect of that. That line was scarcely completed, before 
 several agents of American Companies in New York and Boston, would have 
 purchased the control of that line at any amount of money. It cost us something 
 under £5,000. We could have had £10,000 the instant it was completed, or any 
 amount we chose to name. But we kept it in our own possession. Now you 
 may determine to choose an (Eastern) American port for your Packet Station ; 
 the interest of Liverpool or Manchester, or some other interest may overbear 
 the interest of the right place ; but I am sure that if you withdraw your bounty 
 of £140,000 for carrying the mails, and leave the market open, and give me a 
 monopoly, with the right to transmit across Ireland the electric telegraph wires, 
 I will undertake to form a European American Company in a week that would 
 undertake the whole business, and transmit letters and intelligence. Because, 
 suppose cotton is up a halfpenny a pound, a man who knows it one hour before 
 his neighbour (to say nothing of ten hours), can pocket his million of dollars. 
 So with corn,jand so with a variety of goods—iron for instance; the price of corn 
 rising 20s. or 10s. in the English market, is immediately a matter of large con¬ 
 sideration to speculators on the other side. Therefore, as regards the transmission 
 
46 
 
 of intelligence, it will make its own channel. The nearest and most practicable 
 points, I take it, will be seized upon by the speculators in commercial industry, 
 no matter what the decision of this Commission may be, provided the British 
 Government does not step in and give, as it now does, a bounty of £140,000 
 a-year for carrying letters and intelligence from an inland place. That might for 
 a time embarrass Ireland or embarrass the British provinces in our com¬ 
 munication, because the competition is conducted against unfair and unequal 
 advantages.” 
 
 Lord Monteagle also inxited the consideration of the Com¬ 
 missioners to the important fact, that there is an electric telegraph 
 already in operation from Halifax to Quebec, and from Halifax into 
 the United States’ territory, to the south and south-west. A con¬ 
 clusive case is thus established, as to the immense importance of 
 securing the use of this wonderful instrument for conveying 
 intelligence between America and the British Empire. The public 
 must he surprised to read the vague and inconclusive finding of the 
 Commissioners upon the foregoing evidence, p. 16. 
 
 “ The use of the electric telegraph has been much relied upon, as rendering 
 such a change desirable ; and there is no doubt that by means of this invention, 
 combined with the establishment of a Packet Station on the west coast of 
 Ireland, the interchange of intelligence with North America might be considerably 
 expedited. Under present circumstances, supposing that an Irish port were 
 substituted for Holyhead, as the Packet Station, twenty hours would thus be 
 gained in the correspondence of places on the east of St. George’s Channel, and 
 twenty-five hours by that of Dublin with North America. If a continuous fine 
 of electrographic communication existed between Holyhead and the Irish port 
 the saving for the former place would be twenty-five hours ; but the establish¬ 
 ment of this mode of correspondence between Holyhead and Dublin is a task of great 
 difficulty , and one which has yet to be accomplished .” 
 
 Since the publication of this unsatisfactory conclusion, the electric 
 telegraph has been successfully laid down between Dover and Calais; 
 can any doubt he entertained that it may be laid down between 
 Great Britain and Ireland, thus making the west of Ireland and all 
 Europe one place as regards intelligence. The evasive Report 
 already noticed cannot alter or affect the value or the force of fact. 
 It is a fact that the electric telegraph has been established between 
 England and Prance, therefore it will between Great Britain and 
 
47 
 
 Ireland; and as there is already telegraphic communication from 
 Halifax throughout North America, by steam communication between 
 Halifax and Galway, the transmission of intelligence between 
 America and London, and Europe, must be quickened, not by twenty- 
 five hours, as stated by the Commissioners, but by several days; yet, 
 if only quickened by twenty or twenty-five hours, is that of small 
 consequence, when, according to the evidence of Mr. Howe, priority 
 of intelligence in the commercial world of one hour may cause the 
 gain or loss of millions of dollars. This portion of the argument, 
 proving the necessity of establishing a Transatlantic Packet Station, 
 on the south-west coast of Ireland, is impregnable. With regard to 
 the feeling in America upon the subject of shortening the passage 
 to Europe, Mr Archbold, F.R. S., (of Portland-place), has, amongst 
 others, given important evidence: at page 167 of the Blue Book he 
 states:—• 
 
 u I have been in the habit of crossing the Atlantic, almost every year, and I 
 can testify to the great desire which exists on the other side of the world, that 
 some point, I do not mean to say what particular point, on the West of Ireland, 
 shall be selected as being a desirable and convenient port for the departure and 
 arrival of vessels.” And in answer to the question —“ Will you state how that 
 desire has been manifested?” Mr. Archbold said—“From my acquaintance 
 with our own provinces, and the United States, I can state that Halifax is re¬ 
 garded as undeniably the best point on the American coast, and I know that 
 the feeling exists in the United States in the minds of parties largely interested, 
 both in steamers and sailing vessels, that so soon as a line of railway shall be 
 completed from Halifax to the great lines of railway in the United States, their 
 own packets will have to touch at Halifax. There is a strong sense of the im¬ 
 portance of shortening the sea voyage by every possible means, and therefore it 
 is that they look to some point on the West of Ireland as desirable for arrival 
 and departure.” In page 168, Mr. Archbold further states—“ But I know from 
 many parties there (New York), that the moment a Packet Station shall have 
 been selected on the coast of Ireland, their own ships will tend towards that 
 port, they are so sensible of the danger and difficulty of the channel passage; 
 and I may speak from some little experience in the matter, when once we are 
 off Ireland, one-half of the danger, and one-third of the voyage, are considered 
 over; and so when we come from America, when we reach the coast of Ireland, 
 the wish always expressed is, that we could land there, and the remainder 
 of the voyage becomes more irksome and tedious.” 
 
48 
 
 With regard to a Railway from Halifax, Mr. Archbold stated in 
 his evidence—- 
 
 (i I have heard parties interested in the existing lines say, that when once a 
 Railway is made from Halifax to communicate with the main lines, they will 
 be compelled to make Halifax the port of departure. There is a desire to 
 annihilate distance even greater there than exists in this country. I am satis¬ 
 fied that nineteen out of every twenty of the passengers, on arriving at Halifax, 
 would take the railway, if there were one running to their destination.” In 
 answer to the question—" What time do you apprehend would be saved by going 
 on the steamer to Halifax, instead of going to New York ?” Mr. Archbold’s 
 answer was— “About fifty or fifty-two hours by the west of Ireland .” The next 
 question was—•" When do you anticipate that there will be a railway made 
 between New York and Halifax 1” The answer was—■" As soon as the Govern¬ 
 ment of this country gives sufficient encouragement to lead to its construction.” 
 The evidence continues thus :—" Are you connected with Nova Scotia 1” Answer 
 —“I am.” "You are acquainted with Mr. Cunard and Mr. Howe?” "Yes, 
 intimately. I am a native of Nova Scotia ; and my late father held the highest 
 offices in that country.” " What do you think of Whitehaven as the port to be 
 selected instead of Halifax ?” " I have a strong opinion that Halifax is by far the 
 best port, and that Whitehaven is about the worst that could be selected. I 
 have inquired of many practical men, and that is the opinion they have all 
 expressed.” Further on in his evidence, at page 169, Mr. Archbold states :— 
 " I have a very strong opinion that, within a few years, whether the Govern¬ 
 ment of this country promote it or not, a line of railway will be completed from 
 Halifax, to communicate with the great trunk lines in the United States.” At 
 the same page/ in answer to the question—" Is there any other information 
 that you can give the Commissioners connected with the general ^subject ?” 
 Mr. Archbold’s answer is—" I am not aware that there is. I can only speak 
 to the great desire which exists, and a very natural one, to shorten as much as 
 possible the ocean voyage.” A little further on in his evidence he adds—“ If 
 the Government Packet Station were to be established on the coast of Ireland 
 I think that the Americans would immediately avail themselves of it. They 
 are far more impressed with the importance of shortening the sea voyage, as 
 far as regards the passenger traffic, than we are.” At the conclusion of his 
 evidence, (page 169), with regard to freight, Mr. Archbold’s statement is— 
 " The freight outwards is better than the homeward freight; but I think the 
 passenger traffic and mails have now become of sufficient importance to justify, 
 and in fact to oblige, the introduction of a class of steamers suited for the ocean 
 voyage, without reference to freight at all. If freight can be conveyed to the 
 point of departure by smaller vessels, or by any other means, well and good ; 
 
49 
 
 but the traffic in passengers , with the mails, is sufficient to let that be a matter by itself; 
 and between a western port of Ireland and Halifax, a description of vessel, 
 larger than could be introduced into the narrow seas, might in that case be 
 employed.” 
 
 Evidence might be accumulated to show the intense anxiety of 
 our brethren in America to shorten the sea voyage. It is observable, 
 this witness proves, that Halifax is the port preferred in America, 
 and that connexion between it and the trunk lines of railway of the 
 United States, will he forthwith effected upon the announcement of 
 Halifax being made a port of departure from America. The Com¬ 
 missioners in their report, p. 14, notice the project of connecting 
 New York with Whitehaven, by railway, as not probable. Now the 
 project not only probable, hut certain of realization, is the connexion 
 of Halifax with New York; the mention of Whitehaven by the 
 Commissioners as the port desired in Nova Scotia, is only calculated 
 to mislead the reader, and confuse a very simple matter. 
 
 We desire not to undervalue the zeal and energy of the American 
 people, and we are grateful for their cordial support of our under¬ 
 taking, hut we prefer to consider this as a British and Imperial 
 Question, and, therefore, we are anxious that Halifax should he the 
 port of arrival, rather than New York. Whatever argument there 
 is in favour of a western European Station, must he equally applicable 
 in favor of an eastern American Station. 
 
 Viewed in this light it is evident that the Atlantic ferry best for 
 British interests, will be that which will have both its abutments in 
 the British dominions. 
 
 This cannot be interrupted by foreign influence, foreign interests, 
 or foreign power. We feel it, therefore, our duty to draw the 
 attention of the public to British America, and to the immense 
 importance to the whole Empire, of connecting Halifax with Galway; 
 Mr. Howe, of Nova Scotia, at page 116 of the Report, addresses the 
 Commissioners thus:— 
 
 “ I may say, however, that we feel upon the other side of the water, a deep 
 interest in this question; we consider that Great Britain owns, in America, a 
 territory as large ‘as the whole of the United States—as large as Europe— 
 
50 
 
 covered with forests, filled with mines, surrounded with the best fisheries in the 
 world; in fact, containing in its bosom, and around its coasts, the elements of 
 national wealth. We consider that we have a freehold inheritance for every 
 unoccupied man in England, Ireland, and Scotland, and that we can take into 
 our forests, and new settlements, and advantageously employ every man who is 
 now able to work, and yet is maintained by the property and industry of the 
 three kingdoms. And therefore the question of how we are to get your surplus 
 labour into our surplus land, is one which I think ought to interest you as much 
 as us.” 
 
 Here within our reach, if we will seize it, is a country capable of 
 feeding millions, shall it be occupied and civilized by our hardy 
 emigrants, or shall they he permitted, without an effort, to transfer 
 themselves and their allegiance to a foreign nation, to the aggrandize¬ 
 ment of the United States. The crown lands of these provinces 
 amount to nearly fourteen millions of acres, opened up by a railway 
 from Halifax; our people may find within six day’s steaming from 
 our shore, within the limits of the British Empire unbounded means 
 of employment and sources of wealth. 
 
 The description by Lord Durham, from a report to the British 
 Government, of these countries, possesses interest from the character, 
 and station, and knowledge of the writer. 
 
 “ No portion of the American continent possesses greater natural resources 
 for the maintenance of large and flourishing communities. An almost boundless 
 range of the richest soil still remains unsettled, and may be rendered available 
 for the purposes of agriculture. The wealth of inexhaustible forests of the best 
 timber in America, and of extensive regions of the most valuable minerals, have 
 as yet been scarcely touched. Along the whole line of sea coast, around each 
 island, and in every river are to be found the greatest and richest fisheries of 
 the world. The best fuel, and the most abundant water-power are available 
 for the coarser manufactures, for which an easy and certain market will be 
 found. Trade with other continents is favored by the possession of a large 
 number of safe and spacious harbours; long,"deep, and numerous rivers, and 
 vast inland seas, supply the means of easy intercourse, and the structure of the 
 country generally affords the utmost facility for every species of communication 
 by land; unbounded materials of agricultural, commercial and manufacturing 
 industry are there ; it depends upon the present decision of the Imperial 
 Legislature to determine for whose benefit they are to be rendered available. 
 The country which has founded and maintained these colonies at a vast expense 
 
51 
 
 of blood and treasure, may justly expect its compensation in turning their 
 unappropriated resources to the accoun of its own redundant population ; they 
 are rightful patrimony of the English people, the ample appanage which God 
 and nature have set aside in the New World for those whose lot has assigned 
 them but insufficient portions in the old.” 
 
 The admirable Report of Major Robinson of the Royal Engineers, 
 on the Halifax and Quebec Railway, presented to Parliament, in 
 February, 1849, confirms in every particular the statement of Lord 
 Durham, adding, “ that for any great plan of emigration or coloni¬ 
 zation, there is not another British Colony which presents such a 
 favorable field for trial as New Brunswick.” 
 
 It is through such a country, abounding in deposits of coal and 
 iron, that the Railway from Halifax to Quebec will run. 
 
 As to the American Railways in connexion with this project, a 
 Convention has recently been held at Portland-in-Maine, consisting 
 of delegates from the New England States, and from the Provinces, 
 with the view of organising a plan to which the designation of the 
 European and North American Railway is given. The objects of 
 this scheme are—first, to complete the existing railway eastward 
 through Maine, to the eastern boundary of the State; second, to 
 continue the line through New Brunswick to the City of St. John’s, 
 and thence through the Yale of Sussex, to the eastern boundary of 
 this province, in the Sackville Marshes; third, to prolong it thence 
 through Nova Scotia, to a point near the Gut of Canseau ; and lastly, 
 to establish a line of magnificent quick steamers from that point to 
 the Harbour of Galway in Ireland. Between these points the 
 distance by sea is 2,000 miles, while the shortest from Boston is 
 2,600, and from New York 3,100. The sea voyage will thus be 
 lessened 1,000 miles, and the journey from London to New 
 York will be accomplished in six or seven days. The legislature 
 of Maine, and the Provincial Governments, have entered warmly into 
 the plan, and if it can be executed, it must be productive of great 
 material benefits to the whole of North-Eastern America. 
 
 With the view also of rendering more easy, cheap, safe, and healthy, 
 the transfer of the poorer classes of emigrants, and in general of 
 
52 
 
 promoting the intercourse between the home islands and the North 
 American Colonies, it is proposed to establish a line of Emigrant 
 Steamers under Government contract, as the Cunard line is main¬ 
 tained. Such a line of boats as this, would, no doubt, be productive 
 of many benefits, both to the provinces, and to the mother country. 
 
 We believe the state and prospects of the North British and United 
 States Railways may he described thusThe railway projected from 
 Halifax to Quebec, a distance of 635 miles, would be continued thence 
 to Western Canada; a fork from this railway is also projected towards 
 Portland, on the coast of the United States, and from Portland there 
 is already connexion with the railway system of the United States. 
 This Portland branch will diverge from the Halifax and Quebec line, 
 at the frontier of Nova Scotia, about 120 miles from Halifax. This 
 first 120 miles of the Halifax and Quebec line will therefore be com¬ 
 mon to all the traffic, from Halifax to the Continent of America. 
 As to the prospects of the completion of this line, it seem to us to be 
 rendered secure by Lord Grey’s letter of the 14th of March last, to 
 Mr. Howe, and to the government of the North American provinces, 
 wherein his lordship announces the’readiness of the Imperial Govern¬ 
 ment to advance the funds for the construction of the line from 
 Halifax to Quebec and Montreal; and also of the fork towards Port¬ 
 land, so far as it goes through British territory, on terms to which 
 there is little doubt the provinces will assent. We may anticipate 
 the portion of the line which will be first completed will be that 
 connecting Halifax with Portland, and then 600 miles of sea voyage 
 to New York will be saved, on the American coast, and nearly 300 
 between Liverpool and Galway, and the passage across the Atlantic 
 ferry reduced to 2,160 miles, or to less than six days. The advantage 
 to the whole empire, under such circumstances, of running quick 
 steamers from Galway to Halifax, cannot be doubted or disputed. 
 It is obvious the completion of these lines is not necessary to impart 
 value to a line of packets from Ireland to Halifax. Halifax is not 
 out of the course to New York, and steamers may touch at Port¬ 
 land or Boston, from both of which places there is railway communi¬ 
 cation to New York. These great towns of Boston, Portland, and 
 
58 
 
 New York are rivals for the Canadian commerce, and are contending 
 with each other which of the three shall first have a railway opened 
 from the Atlantic to the St. Laurence. On the commencement of 
 these great works now projected in British America there must be 
 a vast additional demand for labour which will imperatively require 
 suitable means of transport by steam to Halifax; and these means, as 
 already shown, can he afforded with a great increase of comfort and 
 diminution of expense, and risk to the emigrant. In the report of 
 Major Robinson, already referred to, it is stated, that in 1847, 
 89,738 persons emigrated to the British provinces, of whom 5,293 
 persons perished at sea, and 10,000 are said to have died after their 
 arrival, he adds—“ By embarking and disembarking at Halifax, 
 all danger and inconvenience from the Gulf navigation would be 
 avoided—time and expense would be saved—and the seasons might be 
 disregarded.” 
 
 But all the advantages to Halifax of a system of railways would 
 be of small value unaccompanied by steam navigation from the West 
 of Ireland ; Halifax is but little out of the shortest course to Jamaica ; 
 and the communication between Halifax and Jamaica will, when the 
 Quebec Railway shall have been undertaken, be secondary in impor¬ 
 tance only to the communication with the United Kingdom; and we 
 believe, if justice be done to Halifax, it must become one of the greatest 
 places in the world. The concentration of the intercourse at one 
 point has everything to recommend it. The ferry between the West 
 of Ireland and Halifax will fulfill all the desiderata of a packet 
 station. It is a short run between the two hemispheres, and therefore 
 a class of vessels of a speed higher than could by any possibility be 
 obtained on a longer voyage, can be introduced; and, consequently, a 
 greater number of passengers can be conveniently and cheaply accom¬ 
 modated. We therefore conclude, that in reference to British America, 
 and to the United States, the necessity and advantage of large and 
 quick steamers from Galway to Halifax is as clearly proved, as in 
 reference to England, Ireland, and Scotland. We cannot avoid re¬ 
 marking on the omission of the word “ Newfoundland” by the Com¬ 
 missioners in their Report, for although it could not be made use of 
 
54 
 
 as a stepping stone for the transmission of intelligence to the Continent 
 of America, owing to the obstruction of the harbour by ice at certain 
 seasons, yet there is no reason why there should not he direct steam 
 navigation between Newfoundland itself and the United Kingdom; 
 and as the Port of St. John’s is only 1,600 miles from the West of 
 Ireland, the utter neglect of this important British colony, in the 
 report of the Commissioners, is a glaring instance of the imperfect 
 nature of their inquiries. 
 
 We cannot quit this branch of the inquiry, without noticing the 
 unsatisfactory manner in which the Commissioners have disposed of 
 the British-American railway question; in their Report they say at 
 page 14—“It has been urged by the advocates of the proposed 
 change, that mail steam vessels might be constructed, which would 
 he capable of a much higher rate of speed than are those at present 
 in use, but that their profitable employment would he contingent on 
 the establishment of a packet station on the Irish coast, owing to the 
 greatly increased expense which would be incurred in the construc¬ 
 tion of such vessels for the longer voyage between Liverpool and 
 America, supposing the calculations to he sound upon which this 
 reasoning is based, we may observe, it is advanced upon the suppo¬ 
 sition, that a continuous line of railway will shortly be in operation, 
 connecting New York with Whitehaven and Halifax, the port 
 which is nearest to Great Britain—a work, the accomplishment of 
 which does not seem at present probable,—so long as the mail 
 packets are of the class now employed; the probable or possible con¬ 
 struction of the proposed line of railway does not appear to affect the 
 question under consideration.” 
 
 But the railway is certain of completion between Halifax and 
 Portland, just as the electric telegraph communication has been com¬ 
 pleted between Dover and Calais; our complaint is, that the Mail 
 Packets are of the class now employed. The evidence before the 
 Commissioners proves that steam ships could be constructed upon 
 principles ensuring increased accommodation to passengers, with 
 speed and safety, and therefore, the finding of the Commissioners, 
 could they have mustered resolution to make it, should have been 
 
the converse of what it is—Blue Books however cannot alter truth, 
 or arrest the progress of science. We ought not to omit noticing 
 the communication between the rest of Europe and America. The 
 Commissioners have published, at page 322 of the Report, a Map, 
 being the plan for completing steam communication from St. Peters- 
 burgh to Halifax across the British Isles, and certainly drawing a 
 line from St. Petersburgh to Galway ; the line denoted deserves the 
 character of being the straightest in the world. It appears to us, 
 that not only the North of Europe, but Paris and Vienna, are equally 
 interested in the shortening of the sea voyage, and the acceleration 
 of intelligence between America and England. 
 
 We cannot doubt that the establishment of a line of quick steamers 
 between Galway and Halifax, and the completion of the railway from 
 Halifax to Waterville and Portland, must attract a great portion of 
 the passenger traffic of Europe to America through Ireland, the 
 shortest route. This view of the subject, we observe, was forcibly 
 urged upon the Commissioners by Mr. M‘Cullagh, at page 112 of the 
 Report, but we regret to add, with no effect. 
 
 We have declared our opinion to be, that Galway offers facilities for 
 a sufficient and convenient harbour. This appears as well from the 
 Report of the Commissioners as from the evidence of competent wit¬ 
 nesses: the Commissioners say—“We are of opinion that the Harbour 
 of Galway and that of Foynes, are those best adapted for a North 
 American Packet Station, of the two which we have selected, Galway, 
 were the requisite works constructed, would be most free from objec¬ 
 tions of a nautical character.” The evidence to sustain this finding, 
 is full and various. Captain Bedford, Commander in the Royal Navy, 
 and Admiralty Surveyor, testifies to the general advantages of starting 
 from a port on the western coast of Ireland, and to the particular 
 excellence of Galway; he says—“ The advantages seem to be acce¬ 
 leration of transit, arising from the shortening of the sea voyage, com¬ 
 bined with the greater speed of land locomotives on a railway, as 
 compared with that of steam vessels. The acceleration of passenger 
 traffic, and delivery of mails in London, might, I conceive, amount to 
 20 or 24 hours over the present route by Liverpool, and by means of 
 
 E 
 
the electric telegraph, and presuming the practicability of forming sucli 
 a communication across the Irish Channel, intelligence might reach 
 the British capital, about 33 hours sooner; and furthermore, should 
 circumstances demand an immediate reply to any communication 
 received in London from a port on the western coast of Ireland, or 
 the despatch of a vessel or fleet, (supposed to be in readiness at such 
 port,) there would result in this case, by the use of the electric 
 telegraph, a saving of more than two-and-a-half days; the importance 
 of which, considered in reference to the political, belligerent, or mer¬ 
 cantile relations which exist between Great Britain and America, 
 must, I think, be evident.” As to Galway Harbour he proves— 
 “ The approach from the ocean to Galway Bay is well defined, and 
 unmistakeable; it possesses an expanded entrance 20 miles wide, 
 while the magnificent natural breakwater of the Arran Islands, 
 occupying about 14 miles of this expansion, arrests the force of the 
 Atlantic swell, and leaves on either side navigable channels, 3| and 
 4 miles wide, together with two smaller sounds between the Islands, 
 each about a mile broad, which gives to this spacious inlet an advan¬ 
 tage shared by only one other (viz., Westport Bay,) of the numerous 
 bays, which, on the western coast of Ireland, face the Atlantic.” 
 
 Again, at page 56, this witness proves that he has been in Galway 
 Bay frequently, and at all times, between April and November, for 
 the last six years, and with regard to the facilities for approaching 
 or leaving the port of Galway, he states:—“ I consider the facilities 
 for approaching or leaving the Port of Galway to he as great as any 
 with which I am acquainted. It is not customary to employ a pilot, 
 unless by an entire stranger; indeed, there are no regular pilots 
 except for entering the dock (this being compulsory). Fishermen 
 casually met with, may be employed by one who has never entered 
 the port. From my experience of the mouth of the Shannon, I 
 consider the sea to be higher there than at the entrance to Galway 
 Bay, produced in part by the very strong tide that issues from the 
 river. I have frequently entered the Port of Galway during the 
 night, and under various circumstances of wind and weather, without 
 difficulty; also two or three times into the estuary of the Shannon. 
 
57 
 
 I would fearlessly run for Galway Bay whenever it were prudent 
 to run for any port , and with far greater confidence than I could 
 for Liverpool with all its outlying dangers. The prevalent winds 
 being westerly, would render it more easy to reach the Port of 
 Galway than Cork, for in the latter case a disabled paddle steamer 
 might be blown past the port.” 
 
 At page 91, Captain Bedford adds,—“ Comparing the several 
 ports under consideration, where is the one whose natural facilities 
 equal Galway, or in which there is a less demand for artificial works 
 to render it both a magnificent harbour and an eligible port for 
 Transatlantic Communication?” And at page 92, Captain Bedford 
 emphatically states,—“ And lastly, to compare the spacious inlet of 
 Galway with Liverpool, the second commercial port in Great Britain, 
 with its six lighthouses, their light vessels, and forty-four buoys and 
 beacons, to render navigable its very intricate channels, which are 
 only accessible at certain times of tide . We might well be astonished 
 at its present exalted position, if we were but ignorant of tbe fact, 
 that, bad as it is, it is perhaps as good as any of the natural harbours 
 to be found along the western coasts of England and Wales, Milford 
 Haven excepted; and its proud pre-eminence is a monument of the 
 indomitable energy, skill, and perseverance of the Saxon, whose 
 commercial spirit will find an outlet through every difficulty. Liver¬ 
 pool is a bar harbour; its channels are continually undergoing 
 changes; old ones are filling up, while new ones are opening out, so 
 that pilots are essentially necessary, and they and the port surveyor 
 must be ever on the watch to mark these changes, and to maintain 
 the light ships, buoys, and beacons in their positions, on the stability 
 of which depends the navigation of the port.” This witness adds,—• 
 “ I lately extracted from a newspaper the following paragraph:— 
 
 “ ( Liverpool, 24 th Nov., 1850. 
 
 “ ‘ The British and North American Royal Mail Steam Ship Canada, Captain 
 Harrison, which arrived off the North-west Light Ship, at 7 30 this morning, 
 arrived in the Mersey at 11 30 a.m.’ 
 
 “ Now it is just one hour’s steaming, or about twelve miles from the 
 
58 
 
 North-west Light Ship to Liverpool, so that there was a detention of 
 three hours in reaching the port, consequent on the state of the tide, 
 which, at the time of her arrival at the light ship, was within half an 
 hour of low water; had she, therefore, reached the channel entrance 
 an hour or two earlier, the delay would have been so much the 
 greater. To the difficulties and delays in reaching the port of 
 Liverpool must be added the risk of the coast and channel 
 navigation between it and Ireland, a distance of more than 300 
 miles, or about one-eighth of the Transatlantic voyage—arriving oft 
 Cape Clear in thick weather, unable, perhaps, to verify your position 
 by a sight of the land or coast lights, the continuance of the voyage 
 must be attended with considerable anxiety and risk, a fact which 
 has been so recently exemplified in the running on shore of the 
 America, Transatlantic packet ship on the coast of Cork; the 
 deviation of a point of the compass to the eastward of the proper 
 course from Cape Clear to the Narrows of the channel between Point 
 Carnsore and the Smalls, would carry a ship towards the latter 
 danger, or on the Welsh coast, a contingency by no means improbable 
 in a run of 180 miles, through varying currents; wrecks sometimes 
 occur under most extraordinary and unaccountable circumstances, 
 as, for instance, the Great Britain , in Dundrum Bay; and whatever 
 may have been the cause of this untoward event, it is highly impro¬ 
 bable that a similar accident could result to a ship leaving a port on 
 the western coast of Ireland, having no intervening dangers except 
 such as are common to ocean navigation.” To this testimony we 
 must add the recent accident to the Africa , which struck on the 
 dangerous reef, the Copelands, on the north-east coast of Ireland; 
 providentially no lives were lost, and the ship was saved, although 
 injured. A steamer, which struck on the same rock, a few years 
 since, went to pieces. We deem it right to extract Captain Bedford’s 
 specification of the defects in Galway Bay, and of the means of 
 remedying them (page 93):— 
 
 “ The only dangers to be apprehended in approaching the anchorage of Galway 
 occur about two miles below Mutton Island; these are, the Blackrock on the 
 North side, and the Marguerita on the south; on the former there is a beacon, 
 
59 
 
 and on the latter a buoy, to mark the rock, on which there are but 11 feet at low 
 water of spring tides, with a shoal of 18 and 20 feet, extending half a mile to the 
 westward of it; the narrowest part of the channel, in which the depth exceeds 
 five fathoms, is here nearly six-tenths of a mile in width, and leads in a direct 
 line to the anchorage. In hazy weather, such as to obscure the beacons, or 
 Mutton Island light, there would naturally be a danger of running on them; 
 but this would be obviated by a small light on the Blackrock, or by a light vessel 
 moored near it. This should have been done long since. When Mutton Island 
 light can be seen, there cannot be any difficulty in keeping in a channel more 
 than half a mile wide by the bearing of that light. The natural capabilities of 
 the harbours on the Western coast of Ireland are undoubted, but the artificial 
 works are deplorably deficient.” Captain Bedford further states his opinion, 
 “ that a steamer of 20 or 30 horse power, 50 tons burthen, and drawing 3^ or 4 
 feet of water, would at all times of tide and weather, (except in those fierce gales 
 which occur two or three times in a year, and in which all business on the water, 
 wherever it may be, necessarily ceases),, convey the passengers and mails to and 
 from the packet, within a very short distance (say 100 yards) of the dock steps, 
 which landing is less than one-third of a mile from the railway terminus, to 
 which a road leads.” 
 
 We think it essential to ultimate success to examine the defects 
 in the port to he selected, as closely as the advantages; for if, owing 
 to any want of foresight, in correcting evils capable of correction, an 
 accident or misfortune should occur, the success of our great under¬ 
 taking might be irreparably damaged. The opponents of an Irish 
 Packet Station would desire nothing more than an exhibition of undue 
 haste, mismanagement, or want of forethought, in the promoters of 
 the project. We therefore recommend the practical suggestions of 
 this skilful officer and engineer, for the improvement of the Harbour 
 of Galway, to the attentive consideration of any committee hereafter 
 to be chosen by our fellow citizens. 
 
 Captain Hon. E. Plunkett, R.N., says—“Galway is good, and easy 
 of access, but small in the part suited to large ships; a considerable 
 space could be gained by running out a short pier or breakwater.” 
 Lieutenant Dunlop, R. JS - ., proves he has been 20 times in Galway 
 Bay, that he has entered it, and sailed from it at night, when blowing 
 hard, with thick weather. This witness also suggests a small peril, 
 and the mode of obviating it; “ Galway requires more care, until 
 
60 
 
 the Arran Islands are passed, when the only danger is a small 
 rock to the southward of the entrance, lying about two miles 
 off shore, which has a buoy on it, with about 12 feet low water 
 spring tides, and I should think there would be but little difficulty 
 in blasting it away.” Being asked if a steam vessel’s machinery 
 was out of order, damaged, or defective, would it be prudent, in 
 bad weather, to run in the night for either of these ports—Lieu¬ 
 tenant Dunlop replies at page 59—“ Yes ; the Shannon is perfectly 
 clear of all danger, until Carigaholt anchorage is passed, which 
 roadstead has good anchorage and protection from all westerly 
 winds ; or Tarbert Light, on a proper bearing, will clear all dangers. 
 Galway is also a good port to run for, being well lighted. In the 
 day time I wonld run for any port except Long Island or Dunmanus 
 Bay, unless well acquainted with the two latter;” and to question 
 14, under such circumstances, in making a run from America, from 
 what port in Ireland would you steer?—he replies, at page 59— 
 “ Galway or the Shannon.” Captain H. E. Wingrove, R. N., who 
 was only once in Galway, but twenty-three times in Cork, thus 
 expresses himself as to Cork, at page 60 of the Blue Book.—“ Cork 
 is rather an awkward port to run for from America, as, after making 
 Cape Clear, there are upwards of 50 miles of dangerous coast navi¬ 
 gation. Her Majesty’s Steam Vessel, Blazer , was once caught in a 
 southerly gale, dead on shore off Baltimore, on her passage to Cork, 
 and with great difficulty got into Castle Townsend Harbour, after 
 splitting her sails, a heavy sea got up in a short time.” Lieutenant 
 Tumour, R. N., at page 68, in reference to Galway, states—“ Galway 
 has excellent holding ground, but there is a great swell in south-west 
 gales. I have often steamed into Cork Harbour at night, and several 
 times when the atmosphere was so dense that I could not see more 
 than two ships length a-head; I have also steamed to and from 
 Galway at all hours of the night, and in all weathers, with perfect 
 confidence With reference to Cork Harbour, this witness says, at 
 page 69—“ It is easier of access and more commodious than any of 
 the other ports, except Galway, and when inside, affords shelter from 
 all winds; to run for Galway in a south-west gale, would not be more 
 
61 
 
 difficult, but the vessel would be exposed to a heavy swell, after she 
 had brought up at the proper anchorage. And further on he states— 
 “ Having once made the land, I should not be deterred from pro¬ 
 ceeding, either to the Shannon or Galway, though the night should 
 be dark, hazy, or tempestuous, but I should not attempt Yalentia or 
 Long Island, nor even Bantry Bay.” Commander Kelly of the 
 Royal Navy, 40 years in active service, and stationed at Galway 
 three or four years, states, at page 71 of the Blue Book—“ Galway 
 is a spacious fine bay, about 30 miles deep, with the Islands of 
 Arran acting as a natural breakwater, and three good clear channels 
 for ingress and egress, and has a good roadstead inside of Mutton 
 Island, (or Galway Roads), with good holding ground, and sufficient 
 water;” and in answer to the question No. 5, at page 3—Did you 
 ever enter or sail from any of the above ports in the night, and if so, 
 state how often, and under what circumstances ? He states, with 
 regard to Galway—“ Frequently, in and out under all circumstances, 
 and in various weathers.” Mr. Patrick O’Halloran who has been 
 for years surveying the harbours and bays, and employed in making 
 out Sir A. Nimmo’s Chart of the North-west Coast, states, at page 
 72, in his answer to the question—Would you fearlessly, in a dark or 
 hazy night, in the depth of winter, in a steam ship drawing 191 feet 
 water, in all weathers, run for Galway, the Shannon, Valentia Ban- 
 try Bay, or Long Island?—he answers—“I would, for Galway; there 
 is a strong fresh tide out of the Shannon; I would not run for the 
 Shannon, particularly in winter; Yalentia is narrow; Bantry Bay 
 is better than the Shannon or Valentia.” Commander W. H. Burke, 
 R. N., at page 77, with reference to Galway, states —“ Galway is 
 sheltered from the Atlantic swell by the Arran Islands, bold to run 
 for; at present it has not accommodation for vessels drawing 191 feet 
 water; by running out a pier from the south side of Mutton Island, 
 and filling up the sound between it and the main, which dries at low 
 water, a safe harbour could be made for a Packet Station.” Lieu¬ 
 tenant T. O’Malley, R, N., Commander, states, at page 78, 
 with reference to Galway—“ Galway is a noble bay, and well shel¬ 
 tered by the Islands of Arran, which form a breakwater at the entrance 
 
62 
 
 of it, with sufficient water for the largest ships;” and in answer to 
 the question at page 3—In making a voyage from America in a 
 steam vessel, drawing 19| feet water, which of the ports would you 
 prefer running for in the winter season ? he answers at page 78—“ I 
 would decidedly prefer running for Galway, in any season.” Lieu¬ 
 tenant W. H. Broad, R. N., Commander of Revenue Cutter Harpy, 
 with regard to the Port of Galway, states at page 80 of Blue Book— 
 “ I am of opinion that steam vessels, once inside the Arran Islands, 
 could approach Galway Roads at all times without danger.” Com¬ 
 mander Hutchinson, R. N., has been for 71 years on official duty at 
 Galway, the following is his opinion as to Galway Port, at page 82— 
 “ Galway is one of the finest bay's, and most safe harbours, and I 
 consider, from long observation and practical experience, and the 
 localities attached, to be most desirable for the following reason. It 
 must ever prove beneficial for a public establishment, in saving the 
 lives of hundreds; and to the mercantile world, I have no hesitation 
 in asserting, it would be of the greatest possible advantage in pre¬ 
 serving both ships and property, being the nearest and most safe in 
 approach for the Atlantic, and in avoiding that most dangerous part 
 of the Irish Channel, approach safe by day or night, at all times of 
 tide and wind, by good navigators.” In answer to query 11, at page 
 3—Would y r ou fearlessly in a dark or hazy night, in the depth of 
 winter, in a steam ship drawing 19^ feet water, in all weathers run 
 for Galway, the Shannon, Valentia, Bantry Bay, or Long Island? he 
 replies, at page 82—“ Galway certainly.” In answer to following 
 question—Would you run for Cork ? he answers—“ No. ” In answer 
 to question 13—If a steam vessel’s machinery was out of order, 
 damaged, or defective, would it be prudent in bad weather, to run in 
 the night for either of these ports? he answers—“ Safely for Galway 
 Bay, if the wind was fair.” To question immediately following the 
 above—under such circumstances, in making a run from America, 
 for what port in Ireland would you steer? he replies—“Most cer¬ 
 tainly for the first and safest, which I conscientiously believe Galway 
 to be, from my constant personal observations and experience, during 
 the above seven years and a half.” We conclude the evidence of the 
 
G3 
 
 nautical witnesses, with that of Mr. John Thomas, Master in the 
 Royal Navy. At page 22 he is asked—Is there any shoal water in 
 Galway Bay that makes it dangerous to enter? he answers—“There 
 is no danger in Galway Bay itself, it is in making the land that there 
 is danger.”. From page 222 we give the following extracts of the 
 questions addressed to, and answered by, this witness. Have 
 you seen the water break very heavily about Galway Bay in 
 a gale of wind? “No, I never did, it is too deep outside to 
 break, there is a long roll of the sea, such as there is in the Bay of 
 Biscay.” 
 
 “Is there smooth water all the way up to Galway?” “Yes.” 
 “ What kind of anchorage is there?” “ The anchorage in Galway 
 is very good; the shelter is Mutton Island.” “What water have 
 you there, close to Mutton Island ?” “ There are about four fathoms 
 and a half, and the ground is tough.” <f> Would you rather take 
 Galway Bay in a gale of wind than the Shannon?” “I should 
 prefer Galway Bay.” “ For what reason ?” “ There is more scope 
 to make the land; there is a better way of making the Islands of 
 Arran than making the narroAv point of Loop Head.” “ When it 
 was blowing fresh from the south-west, when you were lying in 
 Galway Bay, could you land in safety at all times of the tide?” 
 “Yes, you can land at all times.” “At all times?” “Yes.” 
 “ If it was blowing a heavy gale of wind from the westward, and the 
 great Atlantic was running, would you consider it safe to heave one 
 of those heavy steamers to for sounding?” “Quite safe.” “To 
 round her to ?” “ Yes. I have made eighteen voyages in steamers 
 
 across the Atlantic.” “Into Galway Bay?” “No, into Bristol; 
 I think they are perfectly safe in any way.” “ Is there a heavier 
 sea on the west coast of Ireland than in running along the south 
 coast of Ireland ?” “ Much heavier.” “ But you think that there 
 
 would he no difficulty in heaving a large steamer to for deep-water 
 sounding?” “ None whatever.” “ You would then lay her broad¬ 
 side on to it, would there be no difficulty?” “None whatever.” 
 “ Have you ever commanded a steamer?” “ Never; I was in the 
 Great Western eighteen voyages as mathematical instructor.” “ Did 
 
64 
 
 you ever heave to for soundings in her when running for Bristol?” 
 “ Yes; and frequently in making the coast of America.” 
 
 If we refer to the evidence taken before the Commissioners of 
 Western Harbours in 1834, we find the most decisive confirmation 
 of the testimony already quoted. Captain Beaufort, hydrographer 
 to the Admiralty, the Duke of Wellington, Mr. Charles Williams, 
 Captain Burgoyne, Captain Evans, and Sir John Franklin, were 
 unanimous in opinion, and equally decided in the expression of it,— 
 that the establishment of a communication by packets between 
 America and a western part of Ireland, would be of great advantage 
 to England, to Ireland, the Colonies, and America, the examination 
 of Sir John Franklin cannot be read without interest at the present 
 moment. “Do you conceive the establishing a communication 
 between the British Empire, and the North American Colonies, and 
 North America generally, through Ireland, would be of essential 
 benefit?” “I think so decidedly.” “Is it your opinion that it 
 would also be attended with advantage to the empire in general?” 
 “ I think it would, inasmuch as it would greatly improve Ireland 
 itself; the very circumstance of the employment, and the facilitating the 
 means of conveyance from one place to the other in that country, would 
 be advantageous.” “You conceive the facility of conveyance between 
 this country and America would be facilitated by its passage through 
 Ireland?” “The time would be saved very much; and if there 
 were certain ports prepared to receive ships, I think many vessels 
 that now come round to Liverpool and other places, would have no 
 objection to bring cargoes to the western ports of Ireland, supposing 
 there were pilots for each harbour, and they were properly lighted 
 and buoyed.” The evidence of nautical and naval witnesses must 
 naturally attract attention and deserve respect; but we have been 
 greatly influenced in our judgment by the elaborate document 
 prepared and transmitted to the Commissioners by Mr. Mulvany of 
 the Board of Works, and extending from page 277 to page 289. 
 This valuable report is accompanied by a letter addressed to Sir John 
 Burgoyne, in which the writer thus expresses himself :— 
 
 “ No doubt you and your colleagues are inundated with partisan and interested 
 
65 
 
 views from a multitude of places, and perhaps the only inducement I can offer 
 you to entertain my memoranda, is the total absence of partiality. 
 
 “ It is, however, a subject to which, as you are partly aware, I have given 
 occasional attention for the last 15 years—I have long felt it to be important, in 
 a national and peculiarly in an Irish point of view, and in the performance of 
 my various public duties connected with public works, harbours, fisheries, &c., 
 I have taken every opportunity to become personally acquainted with the capa¬ 
 bilities and circumstances of our seaports, conducted the actual survey of some, 
 as in the lower Shannon and Galway, and since you left Ireland, frequently 
 examined others that I was not previously acquainted with. 
 
 Mr. Mulvany commences his evidence in these words:— 
 
 “ Since the publicatiou of the Report of the Irish Railway Commissioners, the 
 improvement in Transatlantic steam navigation, the extension and completion of 
 many railways throughout Great Britain and Ireland, with the recent comple¬ 
 tion of the tubular bridge across the Menai Straits, and the extended use of the 
 Electric Telegraph, even to submarine communication, have materially altered 
 the premises under which this question has to be considered, and justifies a new 
 and independent inquiry into the subject.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany assumes that a preference will he given to that port 
 which, with its railway, will he self-supporting; and, in addition to 
 packet communication, has, or is well adapted for, extensive commer¬ 
 cial intercourse and trade, possesses the means for extensive accom¬ 
 modation to shipping,—manufacturers or manufacturing powers to 
 repair, fit out, victual, and otherwise supply the packets, accom¬ 
 modate passengers, troops, <fcc. 
 
 He submits also, that regard must he had to the central position 
 of the station selected, so that, whilst it shall be most suited, and 
 most nearly in the direct route from the centre of government and 
 mail communication, as established to America, it shall be least 
 removed from the centre, and most convenient of access from all the 
 other parts of England, of Wales, of Scotland, and of Ireland itself, 
 hut especially from the manufacturing and trading portions of each 
 respectively. With regard to the selection of a port, on the south¬ 
 western portion of Ireland, he says— 
 
 li Their want of central position, as regards mail and electric communication, 
 with England, and especially the north of England, and Scotland, and with other 
 
GG 
 
 parts of Ire]and, appears in itself to preclude a selection of any of them, even were 
 the local circumstauces and facility of access from the interior far more favorable 
 than they are; whilst, even supposing these expensive difficulties overcome, the 
 gain in time, as compared with the self-supporting ports, a full degree of longi¬ 
 tude to the east, would not, perhaps, exceed an hour or an hour and a half, a 
 matter of very small amount in such a voyage, to be gained, not only at enor¬ 
 mous original outlay, and constantly pressing heavy expense to the country, but 
 also to the probable prevention of the establishment of a considerable commer¬ 
 cial trade, which must inevitably be the result of selecting a port which would 
 be suited for the double purpose of a packet station and a fit centre for commer¬ 
 cial traffic.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany states it as his opinion— 
 
 “ That the discussion for selection will ultimately be confined to the com¬ 
 parative merits and capabilities of Coi’k, a port in the lower Shannon, and 
 Galway, as the really available parts for a Transatlantic Packet Station ; Limerick 
 itself has been mentioned, - and though possessing great capabilities for foreign 
 trade, and considerable existing trade, which no doubt will go on increasing, no 
 matter what station is selected, yet it is hardly probable that a tidal port, at the 
 head of an estuary, 60 miles in length, and the last 12 or 15 of which are 
 embarrassed with shoals, rendering the navigation only available at high 
 water, can ever seriously be considered as suitable for a packet station, at least 
 suitable for that rapid and certain despatch of mails and electric despatches 
 which are becoming essential necessaries in our communications with the world, 
 and the conviction of which necessity urges, mainly, the change from the 
 present system.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany then truly writes— 
 
 “ The situation of Ireland is peculiarly favorable for the purpose of Trans¬ 
 atlantic communication. It lies, as nearly as possible, opposite the centre of 
 Great Britain, and the centre of Ireland is opposite to the centre of the 
 manufacturing parts of England, and in the direct route to America—and 
 through it to the whole of the western continent, for mail and electric tele¬ 
 graph communication, Holyhead, nearly in the centre of England, has, after the 
 most mature investigation, both by Committees of the Legislature and examina¬ 
 tion by competent authorities, been established as the mail port from England 
 (and consequently from France, and the rest of Europe) to Ireland : and the 
 construction of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, with the tubular bridge over 
 the Menai Straits, may reasonably be deemed to consummate its establishment; 
 Dublin, therefore, necessarily becomes the corresponding Irish port, even 
 independently of its central position, and its claims as the metropolitan city, 
 seat of government, centre of Irish railway system, and Irish mail communi- 
 
67 
 
 cations. Again, as regards the north of England, and the whole of Scotland, 
 Belfast, either through Port Patrick and Donaghadee, or possibly through 
 Lough Rhynn and Larne, naturally and necessarily becomes the Irish entrepot 
 of passenger, mail, and electric communication. There can be little doubt that 
 through either, and probably through both of these routes, from Holyhead to 
 Dublin, and Scotland to Belfast, the system of electric telegraph communication 
 will be, ere long, extended to Ireland. Belfast, and the adjacent manufacturing 
 districts of the north of Ireland have, perhaps, more communication with the 
 Transatlantic world than all the rest of Ireland; and independent of the 
 position of Belfast as the port for Scotland and north of ‘England, the 
 interests and convenience of the north of Ireland should receive the fullest 
 consideration in selecting a Transatlantic Packet Station. Thus then it appears 
 Dublin and Belfast, on the east coast, are the great centres from which the 
 communications and passengers from Great Britain, and probably from a large 
 portion of Europe, should have to proceed to America, and by which to return; 
 and the question is, should the route from America to Dublin and Belfast be by 
 Cork, by Tarbert on the Shannon, or by Galway \ Were the directness of the 
 route and the central position of the port the only considerations, there could be 
 little hesitation in choosing Galway, as will be seen from an inspection of the Map 
 of the British Isles, on which I have drawn radial lines from Galway to the 
 extremes of Great Britain, to the centre of its manufacturing and commercial 
 districts, and to other places of importance ; and a little examination of these 
 lines will show how remarkably near the established routes, or those either in 
 progress of formation, or necessary to be formed for the internal traffic of the 
 country itself, these direct or radial lines approximate.” 
 
 With regard to Cork harbour Mr. Mulvany states:— 
 
 “ But the entrance of Cork harbour is, it is submitted, far too much to the 
 eastward , with a long line of coasting navigation westerly, to offord adequate 
 advantages for changing from the present system ; and would, as regards those 
 facts alone, fail to fulfil the expectations and demands sought by the establish¬ 
 ment of a Transatlantic Station ; whilst, instead of being in or near the centre, 
 it is in the southern extremity of Ireland —a longer journey from Dublin than 
 ports fully a degree further west , and involving almost the longest possible 
 journey from Belfast, though lying only about two degrees of longitude west of 
 Dublin and Belfast.” 
 
 In reference to the ports of the Lower Shannon, Mr. Mulvany 
 states:— 
 
 “You are aware that in 1836-7 surveys, in very minute detail, were made 
 for the Shannon Commission, under my personal directions, of all the available 
 
68 
 
 harbours on the Lower Shannon ; and should you wish to refresh your recol¬ 
 lection with reference to them you will find them lithographed in the plans 
 appended to the Second Report of the Shannon Commission of Inquiry, dated 
 5th December, 1837, and presented to Parliament. These details, upon which 
 entire reliance may be placed, with any good chart of the Lower Shannon, such 
 as Hobb’s—or, better still, that of the Admiralty, which is now published, 
 will bring the whole of the estuary before you. Though, no doubt, a noble 
 estuary, I cannot, with a very intimate knowledge of it, but feel that the strong 
 tides which prevail in it are more suitable to the purposes of purely commercial 
 traffic, which would allow of vessels waiting to avail themselves of the flow or 
 ebb, than to packet communications which, to ensure regularity of despatch and 
 arrival should be, as far as possible, independent of tidal influence. Now the 
 tides of flood and ebb, all through the Lower Shannon, are very strong, and to 
 proceed either up or down such an estuary for twenty or twenty-five miles, 
 against a tide that makes so strong as it does in the Shannon, would be a serious 
 draw-back in time against any advantage obtained by the westerly position of the 
 port ; whilst, also, such an estuary is not so free as open bays from fogs. The 
 steamers that ply on the Shannon, from Limerick to Kilrush, almost invariably 
 go with the tides, and make the voyage, I think, in three or four hours : when 
 accident causes them to stem the tide, the delay is very great. The shorter 
 distance up the estuary the packets have to go the better. Carrigaholt, the 
 nearest practicable place to the mouth, is in itself, in my opinion, unsuitable ; 
 and with Kilrush, or any other place on the north side, must, as it appears to 
 me, be rejected, from the expense and want of facility of access by railway from 
 either Dublin or Belfast. The next available port up the estuary is Tarbert; 
 and as it is, or could be made, available there is, under the circumstances 
 detailed, no justification for bringing packets more to the eastward or higher up 
 the estuary ; and the merits of the Shannon as a Transatlantic Packet Station 
 may most fairly be tested by considering the sutability of Tarbert as the port 
 for the purpose.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany gives his reasons for not preferring Tarbert to 
 Galway, they are: — 
 
 “ 1st. The want of local combination of packet station, and port for trade and 
 commerce.” 
 
 «2nd. The want of central position in respect to the great centres of mail, 
 passenger, and electric communication, and consequent loss of time.” 
 
 «3rd. The long estuary approach, with the increased difficulties of strong 
 tides, and short dangerous seas to be encountered, often in storms, in thick 
 weather, or in dark nights.” 
 
69 
 
 “4th. The want of all the necessary works and adjuncts of a packet station, 
 and the cost of constructing a railway to approach it.” 
 
 “ It remains then to consider the claims of Galway, and detail the reasons why 
 it should be preferred as the Transatlantic Packet Station, and in doing so it 
 appears convenient to refer to them under the separate heads of its central 
 position, the capabilities of the bay and harbour, and the capabilities of the town 
 and its vicinity for commerce, as well as for packet accommodation.” 
 
 With reference to the central position which Galway occupies, 
 Mr. Mulvany states:— 
 
 “ In referring to the accompanying map of the British Islands, I have already 
 adverted to this subject, and the map shows that in a general way Galway may 
 be considered as nearly equidistant from Londonderry, Belfast, Dublin, Water¬ 
 ford, and Cork; and still more equidistant from Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, 
 or Wakefield, Hull, Birmingham, Bristol, and Plymouth, whilst it will be seen 
 that a straight line drawn through or near Hull, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, 
 Holyhead, and Dublin, passes through Galway on the direct route to the nearest 
 available port in America; the direction of the great main trunk lines of railway, 
 and their principal branches, favor in a somewhat remarkable degree, by their 
 convergence, the selection of Galway as a suitable centre, the establishment of 
 which, as a Transatlantic Packet Station, would interfere least with the great 
 portion of the railways already constructed, and would rather beneficially 
 decide the direction of other local lines required, than otherwise effect them. 
 Reverting to the establishment of Dublin and Belfast as the Irish ports for 
 mail, electric, and passenger communication with England and Scotland, it 
 is clear that whilst Galway is on the direct route from Dublin to North 
 America, it is, at the same time, the available port least out of the direct 
 course from Belfast and the North of Ireland generally, whilst it is equally 
 favorable as regards directness, for Waterford and the south-east of Ireland.” 
 
 With regard to the capabilities of the Bay and Harbour of 
 Galway, Mr. Mulvany’s statement is:— 
 
 “ The Bay, whether regarded with reference to its extent, depth of water, 
 general freedom from obstruction, facility, and I would say from its leeward 
 position, safety of access, or the sheltering influence of the Arran Isles, is, in 
 my opinion, one of the best, if not the best, on the west coast of Ireland, for the 
 double purpose of steam and sail navigation; it has from twenty to thirty miles 
 of comparatively sheltered navigation, yet with plenty of eea room, exemption 
 from injurious tidal influence, and numerous adjacent inlets, and harbours within 
 itself, or near the northern entrance, available in case of need. The only 
 
70 
 
 obstruction to be met with from the Arran Islands to the Roadstead, is the Black 
 Rock, marked by a beacon, close to the north shore, and the Santa Marguerita 
 Rock, (having two fathoms at lowest water of springs) marked by a buoy on 
 the south side, but these are close to the Roadstead, within the limits of the 
 pilotage, well known and defined on Nimmo’s chart, with plenty of space 
 between them, and good leading marks to avoid them, which may be still further 
 improved, if found necessary, or possible; the Santa Marguerita Rock itself may 
 be cheaply removed by blasting.” 
 
 “The Bay of Galway,it will be observed, lies between the 9th and 10th degree 
 of west longitude; in fact the Roadstead of Galway, is situated about two statute 
 miles to the west of the 9th degree of longitude, and is only about thirteen 
 statute miles to the eastward of the longitude of Tarbert; so that taking into 
 consideration the difference in length of railway from Dublin to the two places, 
 with the injurious effects of tides, and estuary navigation for twenty or twenty- 
 five miles, at least, to the westward of Tarbert, as compared with the fair open 
 Bay of Galway, there is no doubt on my mind that (even independently of the 
 question of the north of Ireland and Scotland) there would be a great gain in 
 time by the Galway route. But should Galway be selected, after mature con¬ 
 sideration, and established as the Packet Station, I would, both for the purposes 
 of packet accommodation and the commerce of the place, think necessary that the 
 mole or break-water so often spoken of, from the shore to Mutton Island, should 
 be constructed to increase the shelter, and improve the roadstead and harbour 
 generally. I have often considered this subject during and since the years 1834, 
 and 1835, and to make the project complete, am of opinion that the mole should 
 be extended, as I have drawn it on the maps, into deep water (five fathoms) to 
 the south of Mutton Island, and thereby not only increase the extent of sheltered 
 anchorage, but by its direction serve to turn aside the force of the sea in heavy 
 weather, and afford the means of constructing a pier and inner jetty, from which 
 the steam packets would directly receive their freight, passengers’ and mails.” 
 
 “ I have shown on the plan how a short extension of the railway may be made 
 from the present terminal station, across the river Corrib, along the mole to 
 the steamer jetty at Mutton Island; every facility exists in the locality for the 
 construction of this mole; a large portion of the bank or shoal between Mutton 
 Island and the land dries every tide, and at low water of spring tides the whole 
 dries, so that people go on foot into the Island.” 
 
 With regard to the capabilities of Galway for commerce, Mr. Mul- 
 vany remarks as to the early history of Galway, how— 
 
 “ In former times Galway had considerable trade with Spain and Portugal, and 
 some slight intercourse still exists, since the construction of the floating dock, 
 
71 
 
 the trade of various kinds to the place has considerably increased, notwithstand¬ 
 ing the greatly depressing effects of the late famine.” 
 
 He alludes to the improvement in progress through the town to 
 Lough Corrib ; he says— 
 
 u The general features of the Lough Corrib improvement measure, is to con¬ 
 nect the natural navigation of Lough Corrib, about 25 miles long, with the sea 
 at Galway, to connect Lough Corrib with Lough Mask by a canal of about 3^ 
 miles, and a lockage of about 36 feet, and thus extend the navigation up to Lough 
 Carra, and to the town of Ballinrobe, close to some of the richest lands in Mayo , 
 while a vast extent of lands now injured by floods are to be drained along 
 these lakes and their tributary rivers, to the remote parts of the counties of 
 Galway and Mayo. In connexion with these measures of improvement is the 
 formation of very important and powerful mill-sites at Cong, between Loughs 
 Corrib and Mask, with 36 feet of available fall and permanent supply of water 
 from Loughs Mask and Carra, (containing 22,000 acres of reservoir) and their 
 tributaries, whilst at Galway the whole water supply of the existing mill and 
 factories is being remodelled, and nearly quadrupled in power, and new mill- 
 sites of great power formed.” Mr. Mulvany states that there are 27 mills of 
 different kinds, and remarks—“ That so badly was the water power arranged 
 previous to the interposition of the Board of Works, that many of these mills 
 were wholly unable to work at some periods in summer, whilst a large river was 
 flowing by them unemployed to the sea. With such advantages as these, the 
 stimulus of a railway to Dublin, an inland steam navigation of forty miles into the 
 interior, an important and hitherto only partially worked fishery, the drainage of 
 many thousands of acres of the best land effected; it is rational to expect, that 
 however unlikely it might now appear to a stranger, Galway must quickly become 
 a place of considerable trade, and especially with the American Colonies and the 
 United States. 
 
 “ If adopted as the Transatlantic Packet Station it appears to me the best 
 calculated to fulfil the condition of a combined packet station and port for com¬ 
 merce.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany then touches upon the subject of emigration— 
 
 f “Another consideration, that no doubt will have its due weight with the Com¬ 
 missioners, is the tide of emigration that continually flows from the United 
 Kingdom to the western world. No doubt, upon the establishment of a packet 
 station, with the rapid advances now making in the appreciation of time, and 
 the profit to be made by cheap and quick communication, steam power will be 
 made available on sufficiently moderate terms to accommodate even the poorer 
 
 F 
 
72 
 
 classes. But whether steam or sails be used, it is clearly important that the 
 port of departure should be central; and in this point again the position of 
 Galway seems peculiarly favorable, especially when so large a proportion of the 
 emigration takes place from Ireland. From all the information I have been 
 enabled to get, and my own knowledge of the lines, I think it will be quite prac¬ 
 ticable, by the Galway route, for mails and passengers to get to the tenth 
 degree of west longitude, or nearly abreast of Slyne Head, one of the most 
 westerly points of Ireland, in 19, or at most in 20 hours from London, and pro¬ 
 portionately from other places. Independently of all the dangers, delays, tides, fogs, 
 and chances of collision with vessels in the channel navigation, this would be such 
 an important acceleration in time, that one can hardly now anticipate any such 
 retrograde step or check upon the determined spirit of the times, as the selec¬ 
 tion of a port on the west coast of England for a Transatlantic Station. No; the 
 Electric Telegraph is the fact of the day —the last news, whether in time of peace 
 or war, which it will be possible to convey from Europe to America, the West 
 Indies, and perhaps ultimately to places still far more remote, or vice versa , is 
 becoming every day more and more a necessity; and once the electric communi¬ 
 cation is effected across the channel, either by submarine line, or even by quick 
 steamers, and thence across Ireland, it will be indispensable that American 
 packets shall start from and arrive at the most westerly available port in the 
 West of Ireland, and the most easterly available port of North America.” 
 
 Mr. Mulvany, in a second communication addressed to General Sir J. Bur- 
 goyne, alludes to the difficulties which may be started in consequence of vague 
 notions as to the expense necessary to be incurred at Galway ; and in answer to 
 these difficulties he states—“ Consideration and inquiry have satisfied me, that 
 for a very few thousand pounds, the dock and dock entrance may be made suit¬ 
 able to receive the Transatlantic steamers. That the opening a cut into Lough 
 Athalia, and making it available as a tidal basin, is by no means a very expen¬ 
 sive business; but that, at all events, there is no present necessity for it until 
 the confirmed business of the port proves it, and that then it may very legiti¬ 
 mately be left to the enterprise either of the Railway Company or local 
 parties. And that as regards the main object, a mole to Mutton Island, which is 
 properly a public work, I conceive it may, with a small jetty off the island east¬ 
 ward, (towards the roadstead) be constructed for a sum not exceeding £30,000; 
 whilst the more extensive and completed work, into 5 fathoms water, would 
 not, including the mole, cost more than about £60,000 or £70,000, if executed 
 under good arrangements. There are few places, perhaps, where natural cir¬ 
 cumstances so favor the completion of a large, deep, and perfect harbour at so 
 small a cost.” 
 
 It appears to us the reasoning of Mr. Mulvany, combined with his 
 
 \ 
 
73 
 
 knowledge, experience, official station, and impartiality, give to his 
 testimony irresistible weight. Mr. Mulvany, at the outset of his 
 Report, alludes to the publication of the Report of the Irish Railway 
 Commissioners. We give an extract from that Report, published 
 thirteen years ago. It alludes to the importance then felt of shorten¬ 
 ing the distance in steam navigation. The Report says:— 
 
 <( If the question were limited to the consideration of the facility with which a 
 voyage could be made from port to port, the answer must necessarily be in the 
 affirmative.” (This remark is made with reference to the question they were 
 examining, namely, u Does Ireland, as compared with England, offer any peculiar 
 facilities for a steam communication with America V 1 The Report continues :) 
 “ For not only are the southern and western harbours of Ireland nearer to 
 America, in lineal distance, but they are also more favourably situated as regards 
 the prevailing winds and currents of the Atlantic. This fact has been so 
 thoroughly established in the Parliamentary Reports on the Western Harbours 
 of Ireland, in 1834, and in the first and second Reports on the Public Works of 
 Ireland, as to render any further inquiry on the subject in this place quite 
 unnecessary. A saving in distance is always an object of importance in steam 
 navigation ; but it is of peculiar value when the entire voyage is supposed to 
 verge on the point which will scarcely admit of the carriage of sufficient fuel, 
 exclusive of any other cargo.” 
 
 Whatever force such considerations may have possessed thirteen 
 years ago, has not in that interval been lessened by the completion 
 of railways which were not even then projected in Ireland, or by that 
 increasing desire for rapidity of communication which peculiarly 
 marks our age. 
 
 Postal Question, 
 
 The evidence we first turn to on this branch of the subject is that 
 given by Mr. Rowland Hill, which, from the official position of this 
 gentleman, deserves particular attention. At page 138 of the 
 Report we find the Commissioners thus addressing Mr. Rowland 
 Hill:—“Have you anything to suggest on the subject ?” Answer. 
 “ I have turned my attention to the subject since I received Lord 
 Hobart’s note; but it is not one to which I have attended very 
 much. It appears to me that, so far as the convenience of the Post 
 Office is concerned, the port for the arrival and despatch of the 
 
74 
 
 American mails cannot be too far to the west; that the further it is 
 situated in that direction the better, so long, at least, as it is not 
 beyond the reach of railway communication. This is partly because 
 of the progress by railway being quicker than by steam packet, and 
 partly because a more westerly packet station would enable us to 
 serve the western parts of the empire better than at present. If, 
 for instance, the port were situated on the western or south-western 
 coast of Ireland, it would be possible to bring the mails to Liverpool, 
 London, and all parts of England and Scotland, probably ten or 
 twelve hours earlier than at present; while as regards Ireland, which 
 receives about one-third of the whole correspondence in question, the 
 time saved would be still greater.’’ 
 
 This gentleman seems to think the change to Galway would be 
 attended with ad/Iitional expense to the Government, but ultimately 
 expresses himself as less certain on this branch of the inquiry. 
 
 He does not appear to have considered the effects of competition 
 in this as in every other department of human industry. 
 
 Being asked which would have the greatest effect in increasing 
 the number of letters between the United States and England—the 
 doubling the number of departures or doubling the speed of the 
 passage, he answers —“doubling the speed.” 
 
 He thinks, that assuming the packet sails at the rate of ten miles 
 an hour, about ten or twelve hours might be saved by its delivering 
 the letters at Galway, provided express trains were used. 
 
 Mr. Hill properly declares he feels incompetent to speak on the 
 nautical part of the question. He admits the saving of time as to 
 Ireland by having a Western Packet Station would be great. Having 
 suggested the arrangement as to calling at Holyhead, ultimately 
 adopted by the Commissioners, the following question demanding 
 the attention of the Irish public was propounded to Mr. Hill. 
 
 “ Will you be so good as to state how much, under ordinary 
 circumstances, the town of Belfast would benefit in their postal 
 arrangement with reference to American letters, by the establish¬ 
 ment of a Western or South Western Packet Station in Ireland, as 
 compared with tlie existing arrangement, and also as compared with 
 
75 
 
 an arrangement for landing the mails at Holyhead?” Answer. “As¬ 
 suming the Packet Station to he Galway, and the railway thence to 
 Dublin to he completed, I find that, as compared with existing 
 arrangements, the town of Belfast would, under ordinary circum¬ 
 stances, benefit to the extent of about forty-one hours —and that, 
 as compared with an arrangement for landing the mails at Holyhead 
 the saving would be about twenty hours. 
 
 “In making this comparison I have assumed that no special con¬ 
 veyance will be employed, except occasional trains, as already 
 described between Liverpool and Holyhead; also that the voyage to 
 Holyhead is longer than that to Galway by the distance from Cape 
 Clear, and that the packet sails at an average rate of eleven nautical 
 miles per hour.” 
 
 The facts admitted in reference to the capital of Ulster is more 
 important than the calculations as to speed, of Mr. Hill, which are 
 manifestly erroneous. We wish to extract the exquisite morceau 
 from page 111, to prove the fitness of the Commissioners to judge 
 of the interests of Ulster. When the Rev. Mr. Daly of Galway had 
 pressed upon the attention of the Commissioners the peculiar claims 
 of Belfast, these gentlemen observed—“ What Mr. Daly mentioned 
 with regard to the interests of Belfast is something new to us, 
 and it would he very desirable for us to have that down in 
 writing, from the gentlemen of Belfast, showing what they consider 
 their special interest, and the way in which they would be benefitted 
 by this means of communication.” Thus the Commissioners had 
 taken down 111 pages of evidence before they accidentally learned 
 from Rev. Mr. Daly that the province of Ulster had any special 
 interest in the inquiry they were conducting. We do not find that 
 the Commissioners requested the attendance of even a single witness 
 connected with the manufacturing interests of the north of Ireland 
 to give evidence before them. 
 
 The admirable papers drawn up by Mr. Kennedy, a Belfast 
 manufacturer, and forwarded to the Commissioners, contain all the 
 evidence which they received upon the peculiar claims of Ulster to 
 consideration. 
 
76 
 
 We have also before us the Petition presented to Parliament by 
 the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, upon this subject—the statements 
 supplied to us by Belfast merchants most competent to assist us in 
 our labours; the clear resume of the question by Mr. Anketell; the 
 report submitted to the Belfast Town Council by their Mails and Mail 
 Packets Committee; and the resolution of that influential municipality. 
 
 It is of great moment to study these documents in order to 
 understand the whole truth in reference to Irish interests bearing 
 upon Transatlantic Communication; the documents referred to, prove 
 incontestibly the paramount claims which Ulster has to consideration 
 in the settlement of this question, and the flagrant injustice done to 
 Belfast by delaying her American letters, bills, money, and intelli¬ 
 gence, forty-one hours at present, and which injustice will be 
 perpetuated in principle by a removal to Holyhead, and that reform 
 which is threatened to be inflicted upon us. 
 
 It is not only the correspondence which is and will be withheld 
 from the busy people of the north, but the buyers from America are 
 and will be carried past their shores, to their manifest prejudice; 
 therefore it is that we yield to the force of these arguments and facts, 
 and in reference to the great interests of Ulster, we give to the 
 public by the selections in an Appendix, to which we invite attention, 
 the materials for forming a judgment, upon our recommendation, that 
 Galway should be chosen as the port for Transatlantic Communica¬ 
 tion for mails and passengers, and that it should be connected by 
 railway, via Cavan and Armagh, with Belfast. 
 
 Vide in Appendix. 
 
 1st. Petition to Parliament from Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 2nd. Report of Town Council. 
 
 3rd. Statement of Mr. Kennedy. 
 
 4th. Letter of Mr. Kennedy. 
 
 Expressing our opinion that the exports of Ulster may more 
 properly be despatched from Galway by screw steamers to be a 
 subject for arrangement hereafter, we have a right to estimate on 
 the postal question; the number of letters from Ireland, as appears 
 by an official return, printed page 90 of the Report. 
 
77 
 
 1st February, 1851.—Letters despatched from Liverpool by the 
 mail of that date amounted to 66,847, of which 27,861 were received 
 from Ireland, and it may also be assumed that a number of the 
 letters posted in Liverpool were Irish letters also. 
 
 It was proved before the Commissioners that one million of money 
 was remitted from America to Ireland during the last year. 
 
 Our exports to America from Ireland, and through Scotland and 
 England amount to three millions annually, and it is under these 
 circumstances that the Irish correspondence with America is con¬ 
 temptuously disposed of by Colonel Maberly as “mere gossip.” 
 
 That a change must be made in the postal system between Ireland 
 and America we believe. But it is not to be expected that the 
 Government will spontaneously do justice in this respect to Ireland, 
 to Scotland, to England ; the Government has made not a very 
 prudent contract with Mr. Cunard for a short term of years; they 
 are bound by it, and in a measure protected by the shallow report 
 of their Commissioners. 
 
 The Post Office authorities, and the Government, will therefore 
 do nothing , they may answer to the loudest appeal for justice in 
 this matter, your opinion is a mere speculation, as to the acceler¬ 
 ation of Transatlantic Mails; when letters are carried to Halifax from 
 Galway in five-and-a-half or six days by your projected steamer, then 
 talk to us about the mails, but not till then. 
 
 This would be the official answer under the circumstances; but 
 when the thing is done which we believe to be perfectly practicable, 
 then, whether the government or the great monopolists relish 
 it or not, the mails must be carried by the quickest conveyance and 
 the shortest route, therefore we recommend the construction of the 
 steamer that will make the passage within the time specified, and 
 will assuredly work a revolution in the present indefensible system 
 of postal arrangements of the empire. 
 
 It is impossible that the interests of Ireland, Scotland, England, 
 British and Republican America, in reference to the carriage of 
 Mails and Passengers, can be permanently sacrificed, to the main¬ 
 tenance of Cunard’s monopoly. The moment the quick steamer runs 
 
78 
 
 the Atlantic ferry within six days, the delusion maintained by 
 Cunard’s Sea Wagon ends, Imperial interests will be secured, and 
 Steam Packet Companies between such countries as America and 
 the British Isles will be paid, not under contracts for terms of years, 
 but according to the work they do in the public service, and the way 
 in which they do it. 
 
 We do not agree that Liverpool and Glasgow should not have packets 
 if they please for goods and passengers, but we exclaim against Boun¬ 
 ties and Monopolies, while we insist that the interests of the whole 
 empire demand that the mails should be conveyed by the shortest route, 
 which we are certain is that by Galway to Halifax, and as to 
 passengers, we believe, with the witnesses who have so proved before 
 the Commissioners, that once this is proved to be the best, because 
 the shortest and cheapest route, nineteen out of twenty Passengers 
 will prefer it, as Passengers under similar circumstances do all over 
 the world. 
 
 With reference to the value of the emigrant traffic from Ireland, 
 it will be sufficient to state that Lord Monteagle showed, (page 215 
 of the Report) to the Commissioners, that it had been proved by Mr. 
 Moreton, one of the greatest shipowners in America, when examined 
 before the Colonization Committee of the Lords, that the annual 
 value received by the American ship owners for the passage of 
 emigrants amounted to one million sterling; that the greater part 
 of this sum was paid by the Irish emigrants is certain; that, since 
 that evidence was given, Irish emigration has not abated is certain, 
 and that there is little prospect it will abate, we believe. 
 
 The evidence before the Commissioners, establishes that a better 
 class of emigrants from Ireland now appear in Liverpool, who select 
 their ship with much caution and circumspection, and there cannot 
 be a doubt, that when this description of passengers shall be ensured 
 a passage to America in one-fifth part of the time now exhausted in 
 the cotton ships—when that passage will be made with comfort, 
 regularity, and speed, in a spacious steamer, from an Irish port, 
 they will cheerfully pay a reasonable and a remunerating fare to 
 secure advantages so great. 
 
79 
 
 A voyage to America will lose its terrors—many of our countrymen 
 may then re-visit Ireland, to whom a return now is impossible, the 
 communication between the countries will be rapid, and safe, and 
 cheap, and therefore more frequent than ever. 
 
 We desire to notice and correct a very erroneous conclusion into 
 which the public might fall respecting what Mr. Cunard and the 
 Commissioners describe as “average passages;” the average passage 
 of six days, by the proposed boats, will consist of passages almost 
 always made within six days, and once in a year perhaps, extending 
 to eight days. 
 
 The average of, say nine days, by Cunard’s sea wagons, on the 
 other hand, will consist of a pleasing variety, extending now and then 
 to a fortnight. 
 
 We understand Mr. Cunard was thirteen days going to Halifax in 
 one of his steamers, in the month of October last, so that the difference 
 of a packet service performed by vessels making respectively average 
 passages of six days, and of nine days, is not in practice, to be looked 
 upon as a difference of only three days, hut the nine day average vessel 
 cannot be depended for delivering her mails and passengers within a 
 week of the six day average vessel ; and people making their 
 arrangements for absence from home, must average accordingly. 
 
 To a number of commercial passengers especially to be able to 
 depend on a short maximum passage, would be of the highest 
 importance. 
 
 We may consequently express our conviction, that a large and 
 the best portion of the emigrant and passenger traffic will he secured 
 by the Company, the formation of which we recommend. 
 
 Into the political, or military, or naval considerations connected 
 with the establishment of communications between Halifax and 
 Galway, we do not enter, while we admit their value and importance 
 to the maintenance of British power. We rejoice to find that the 
 Western Railway Directors have resolved to carry the telegraphic 
 wires between Galway and Dublin; we hope the example may be 
 followed throughout Ireland, and also that the public mind may be 
 disabused of the erroneous conception, that where there are not 
 
80 
 
 railways, there cannot be telegraphic communication. The example 
 of America proves what a mistake this would be. 
 
 We forbear to dwell minutely on objections put forward on the 
 score of want of sufficient docks in Galway for making substantial 
 repairs to steamers of large dimensions. To the alleged prevalence 
 of fogs—to the alleged necessity of using a small steamer to put the 
 passengers on board the packet; because we find the former of these 
 objections obviated by the evidence, (vide Mr. Loyd, 160—Lieutenant 
 Turner, 96,) and the latter, i. e., the use of small steamers for the 
 purpose specified, prevails at Liverpool, (vide Captain Bedford's 
 Evidence, page 94.) 
 
 We have now but to invite the attention of the public to the fact 
 that a charter has been granted to Messrs. Hartley, M‘Calmont, and 
 O’Flaherty, to incorporate these gentlemen, and such others as may 
 be associated with them, in a company, with limited responsibility, to 
 to carry on Transatlantic communication between Ireland and America; 
 and we believe the patriotic gentlemen named are ready to place 
 this charter at the service of those willing to unite for the effecting 
 the objects for which this charter has been granted. We beg to add 
 the expression of our thanks to Messrs. Hartley, M‘Calmont, and 
 0’Flaherty, for their proposal, which, if accepted, will materially 
 advance the action of the projected company, and we think the 
 names of these gentlemen will afford a guarantee to the public of the 
 soundness of this undertaking, and of the practical ability with which 
 it may be expected to be conducted. 
 
 Final Recommendations. 
 
 1st. That it should be pressed upon the Government to execute, 
 as a national work, the improvements suggested by Mr. Mulvany, to 
 make perfectly available the natural capabilities of Galway Harbour, 
 upon the same principle that the works at Kingstown, Dover, 
 Holyhead, and Portland Roads, have been executed by the state. 
 
 2nd. That the Directors of the Irish Railway Companies should 
 
81 
 
 be requested to adopt measures to connect the existing lines in 
 Dublin. 
 
 3rd. That the connexion by railway between Armagh, Cavan, and 
 Longford, should be looked forward to as part of the grand national 
 project, and that the counties interested should be earnestly invited 
 to concert measures for this object with the Railway Companies and 
 their Directors. 
 
 4th. That the attention of the Railway Directors, and the public 
 be directed to the importance to their own interests of constructing 
 a system of telegraphs through Ireland, connecting the same with 
 the telegraphic system in Great Britain, at a suitable point (it may 
 be) on the coast of Scotland. 
 
 5th. That the Midland Great Western Railway Company of 
 Ireland be required to specify what increased facilities they would afford 
 in the transmission of mails, passengers, and their luggage, and what 
 temporary improvements they would forthwith undertake in the 
 Harbour of Galway, to encourage the immediate organization of a 
 Transatlantic Steam Packet Company. 
 
 6th. That a Royal Charter of incorporation having been applied 
 for by, and granted to Messrs. James Hartley, Robert M‘Calmont 
 and Edmund O’Flaherty, in anticipation of the formation of a 
 European and American Steam Packet Company, it be recommended 
 that such Royal Charter should be now adopted and acted upon by 
 the projected Company as the foundation of its organization. 
 
 7th. That it be anxiously considered, what individuals should be 
 associated with the gentlemen named in the formation and direction 
 of the future Company, as upon the wise choice of Directors the 
 success of the undertaking must mainly depend. 
 
 8th. That it be a recommendation to the Directors to expend the 
 funds of the Company in the construction of suitable steamers only, 
 thereby obviating all danger of serious loss to the shareholders. 
 
 9tli. The Committee must express their opinion that success in 
 the result of this great project is reasonably to be expected, as, 
 notwithstanding the disadvantages of prosecuting an undertaking in 
 the face of a bounty enjoyed by others, the emigrant and passenger 
 
82 
 
 traffic, for which the contemplated Company would contend, is so 
 enormous, that the existing subsidized Company can not absorb it. 
 And the Committee are of opinion, advantages can be secured to the 
 public by ocean steamers, constructed on improved principles, in the 
 transit between Galway, Halifax, and Boston or Portland, as to 
 cheapness, speed, and certainty, which the sea wagons of Messrs. 
 Cunard cannot by possibility afford, and which must lead to new 
 postal arrangements highly beneficial to Ireland and the Empire; 
 and in conclusion, the Committee heartily recommend this undertaking 
 to the zealous support of the public—on National, Colonial, and 
 Imperial grounds, believing that it can be conducted to a successful 
 issue, and in its success must confer blessings incalculable upon our 
 country. 
 
 This Report was prepared by Mr. Whiteside, and by him submitted 
 to the Committee. It was supported by Mr. Napier alone, but not 
 adopted, for the reasons assigned in the Report agreed to by the 
 majority of the Committee. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Petition to the House of Commons of the Council of the 
 Chamber of Commerce, Belfast, 
 
 Sheweth, 
 
 That in the opinion of this Chamber, the establishment of an 
 Irish Transatlantic Packet Station will substantially benefit Great 
 Britain ; and, by increasing the emigration to her most important 
 and extensive Colonies in the western hemisphere, develop their in¬ 
 dustrial resources, and in an especial degree, promote the commer¬ 
 cial and manufacturing interests of this country. 
 
 That by such an arrangement, the merchants of this town will he 
 placed upon a fair and proper footing, by having their letters and 
 remittances as soon as the British merchants receive theirs. 
 
 That the sea voyage will be materially shortened, the risk of the 
 channel passage round the coast saved, the cost of passage, freight, 
 and insurance more than proportionably lessened, cheaper and shorter 
 routes opened up for travellers by the steamers proceeding to and 
 from England, Scotland, and Ireland, as well as the continent; and 
 that in consequence thereof, the intercourse between these coun¬ 
 tries and the west will be greatly increased, whilst the manufacture 
 of fancy articles, now made by the continental nations, will be extended 
 to our agricultural districts, where labour is cheap. 
 
 That, in the opinion of this Chamber, the port selected should, as 
 far as practicable, be a central one, with a railway extending from it 
 to Dublin, so that the time and expense of travellers having business 
 to transact may he saved as much as possible. 
 
 Petitioners also respectfully state, that our manufactures are dif¬ 
 ferent from those of England, consisting of linen goods, which, by 
 judicious management, may he still greatly increased, and which can 
 
84 
 
 be entirely produced in Ireland; and of sewed muslins and light tex¬ 
 tiles, formerly used on the Continent, and the first cost of which is 
 principally labour. 
 
 That these manufactures have of late years increased with extra¬ 
 ordinary rapidity, employing a large portion of our labouring popula¬ 
 tion ; and that, owing to this increase, Ireland at present consumes 
 a vast quantity of English manufactures and productions, together 
 with excisable articles, the duties on which, in the majority of 
 instances, are paid in England. Memorialists, therefore, submit, 
 that the more our manufactures are extended and prosper, as a 
 natural consequence, our connexion becomes of increased importance 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 Petitioners further observe that the great bulk of our exported 
 manufactures are sent to North and South America, and to the West 
 India Colonies; and as Ireland, from its geographical position, lies 
 in the direct pathway between these countries and Great Britain, 
 that foreign merchants should therefore, in justice, have an oppor¬ 
 tunity of landing on these shores, making their purchases here, and 
 going thence to England; instead of being, as at present, subjected 
 to the trouble, expense, risk, and loss of time consequent on coming 
 thence, and going back again; the result of which arrangement is, 
 that only a very few of them visit Belfast at all, thereby retarding 
 our prosperity, neutralizing our efforts, and placing our manufactures 
 on a most unequal and disadvantageous footing, and that the change 
 of the Station to Holyhead or any other English port will not lessen 
 the evils under which our trade at present unjustly labours. 
 
 Petitioners may also mention that they conceive that the passing 
 of this measure, by extending the commerce, promoting the manu¬ 
 factures of Ireland, putting to practical use her water power, now 
 valueless, and employing her superabundant population, will naturally 
 benefit the agricultural interests of this country, which at present are 
 in a greatly depressed condition. 
 
 Petitioners therefore humbly pray that Her Majesty’s Government 
 will take the necessary steps towards the establishment of an Irish 
 Transatlantic Packet Station; and by removing the present barrier 
 
85 
 
 to her success, and placing her on equal standing with Great Britain, 
 give free scope to the industry of her people, and the usefulness of 
 her merchants. 
 
 And your memorialists, as in duty bound, &c. 
 
 Signed by order, 
 
 JOHN F. FERGUSON, President. 
 WM. COATES, Vice-President. 
 SAMUEL VANCE, Secretary. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce , 
 
 8th May , 1851. 
 
 Extract from Report submitted to the Belfast Town Council , by the 
 Mails and Mail Packets Committee. 
 
 “ As more immediately concerns Belfast, and the northern parts of 
 Ireland, the advantages of a Packet Station in the west, must be 
 conducted towards us by means of an extension of the present system 
 of railroads, so as to connect our port with that of Galway; and so 
 steadily is public anticipation directed to the completion of the whole 
 project, that preliminary steps are, as your Committee have been 
 informed, already in process for connecting the counties of Westmeath, 
 Cavan, Monaghan, and Armagh, with the county of Antrim, by means 
 of a branch line from Mullingar, passing through Cavan, Clones, and 
 Monaghan, so as ultimately to unite with the Ulster Railroad at 
 Armagh, and thus carry through the communication to Belfast. 
 
 “ A further junction is likely to take place between this projected 
 branch, and the railroad from Londonderry to Enniskillen. The 
 details of these projects have been before your Committee, but, with¬ 
 out encumbering this Report with this minutiae, it is sufficient to 
 state their result; of eighty-one miles of new railroad, to connect 
 Belfast with Galway, negotiations are now in progress for constructing 
 one-half—and less than forty miles will suffice to connect Londonderry 
 with the main line east of Enniskillen; thus, by the formation of one 
 hundred and ten miles of new railway, the Port of Galway will be 
 brought into direct communication with Londonderry on the north, 
 with Belfast on the north-east, and with Dublin on the eastern coast; 
 
86 
 
 and a southern extension of the Galway Line will take place in 
 similar connexion with Cork and Limerick. 
 
 “ To the manufacturing and trading classes of the North of Ireland, 
 it must be a manifest advantage to he thus placed in communication 
 with the agricultural and pasture districts of the west—an advantage 
 which would be reciprocated, by affording to the graziers and farmers 
 of the central and southern counties a ready market for their 
 produce and cattle in Belfast, and the large towns of Ulster. 
 
 “ As regards the commerce of Belfast, and the surrounding dis¬ 
 tricts, your Committee are of opinion, that whilst the most striking 
 advantages would be realised by the transmission of correspondence 
 and telegraphic communications, and the acceleration of passenger 
 traffic, the ultimate conveyance of goods and merchandise is not to be 
 excluded from consideration; and from the inquiries which your Com¬ 
 mittee have made on the subject, they believe that our linens, and 
 plain and sewed muslins, would be generally shipped by Galway, 
 instead of Liverpool, and that by the adoption of proper precautions, 
 on the part of the railway companies the risk of damage would not 
 be increased. 
 
 “ The same remarks will, to a certain extent, apply equally to the 
 lighter manufacture of the West of Scotland, which might be expected 
 to be transmitted by way of Belfast to Galway; but the great object 
 to be secured, both for Scotland and Ireland, by a line of railway 
 connecting Belfast with Galway, as the port of shipment for America, 
 the transmission of telegraphic despatches, and the facilitating, in 
 rapid conveyance, passengers to and from the United States. 
 
 “ By means of this great line of communication, maintained from 
 Halifax to Galway, the merchants and travellers from the United 
 States, who are interested in the manufactures and commerce of 
 Ireland, will be conveyed direct to Belfast and the manufacturing 
 districts, instead of being carried, as they now are, past their point 
 of destination, and landed in Liverpool, with a further voyage of 
 three hundred miles back and forward, across the Irish Channel; 
 whilst, on the other hand, as the saving of time will always be a 
 leading consideration with the mercantile classes of every country, 
 
87 
 
 the foreign merchants who now make their voyages to America from 
 the ports of France and of Germany, will be induced to take this, the 
 most certain and direct route across the Atlantic, and thus, by bringing 
 Ireland and her manufactures more directly under the notice and 
 observation of new classes of visitants, add to the activity of her 
 industry, and the extension of her trade. 
 
 Statement addressed to a Member of the Committee, by Mr . James 
 Kennedy, of Belfast, on the 29 th of October, 1851. 
 
 The staple manufactures of the north of Ireland is, as you are 
 aware, that of linen cloth, of which, according to the computation of 
 our leading merchants, we export to the western hemisphere, each 
 year, about two-and-ahalf millions sterling. In the east scarcely 
 any linen is used, the inhabitants having been for ages habituated 
 to the wearing of cotton fabrics. The great bulk of the cotton 
 goods sent to the east are sent from Manchester and Glasgow, and 
 are woven, generally speaking, by the power loom. 
 
 About one third of our linen cloth exported to America is dyed 
 various colors, and used for travelling and summer dresses. This 
 article is preferred to their home-made cotton cloth ; it is stronger, 
 more durable, and, on account of the silkiness and density of the 
 fibre, it resists the dust of summer, and also rain, better than cotton, 
 which is more porous and rough; you will therefore easily see that 
 our manufacture, to a certain extent, supplants the heavy cottons 
 which are made in the United States, and in which they are at this 
 moment rivalling England, and will, before many years, surpass her; 
 because the Americans are erecting mills and factories in their 
 southern states, driving them by water poweF, working them by slave 
 labour, and saving in charges of transit on the raw material fully 
 twenty-five per cent. The labour in the manufacturing these cottons 
 is a mere trifle; and I may mention, as a well-known fact, that the 
 power looms of America are quite equal to the British, and that 
 some of the most important improvements effected on the British 
 power loom have been introduced by Americans. 
 
 G 
 
88 
 
 We also manufacture largely, plain, sewed, and colored muslins 
 used throughout the States for ladies wear. Nearly all these goods 
 go to America; and to produce them upwards of 4,000 men and 
 300,000 females are employed. A very considerable portion of these 
 goods are sold in England and Scotland as British manufactures, 
 though they are, as I have said before, made in Ireland. These 
 articles used formerly to be made in France, Germany, and Switzer¬ 
 land. The first cost of them is principally labour; and as our wages 
 are as low as on the Continent, whilst in our banking and other 
 facilities, which they do not possess, we are rapidly beating these 
 natives out of the foreign markets. 
 
 It may be asked why Irish manufactures are not all sold in 
 Ireland ? And I will illustrate my reply by supposing a case which 
 in reality is of weekly occurrence. A foreign merchant calls upon 
 me with a new style, and offers me an order for say 1,000 pieces; I 
 know I can make the goods cheaper and better than he can procure 
 them elsewhere ; nevertheless I must forego the order, for he requires 
 his articles to be ready at a fixed time to suit his season’s trade. 
 These goods must be given out to be woven throughout the country; 
 and to supply this contract in proper time I must make one-and-a- 
 halfi times the quantity, and I deliver the 1,000 pieces, as per agree¬ 
 ment, but I have 500 pieces left, which I must consign for sale to 
 some foreign market, and in all likelyhood lose more money on them 
 than I gained by the original transaction. If I lived in Glasgow, 
 and had the buyers from every market daily visiting me, there would 
 be no risks whatever in accumulating a stock, for I would have 
 frequent opportunities of disposing of the surplus. 
 
 The same principle applies to the manufacture of every fancy 
 article: take for example the calico printing: our printers are almost 
 entirely dependent upon the home trade ; if they want to get up a 
 new pattern, they must go to an expense of from £5 to £25 ; in 
 engraving rollers, if the pattern pleases, only a limited quantity 
 can be sold, and the roller is necessarily a portion of the cost of 
 production; if the pattern does not please, the expense of the roller 
 is nearly thrown away, and the goods produced must be sacrified. 
 
89 
 
 But the British printer has the home and foreign market at his 
 feet, he is able to sell, perhaps, ten times the quantity the Irish¬ 
 man can do, and perhaps, what may he considered a bad style for 
 our country is thought to be particularly beautiful in another. 
 
 This is the reason of non-success of the printers and poplin manu¬ 
 facturers of Dublin, and owing to these causes, the manufacture of 
 fancy articles cannot extend throughout Ireland, but if we had an 
 Irish transatlantic packet station bringing the foreign buyers to our 
 shores, we would have a Bradford, a Leicester, a Leeds, a Notting¬ 
 ham, in Ireland, each producing its peculiar manufacture, and saving 
 the continental neighbours the trouble of exporting their fancy articles 
 produced by their cheap labour. 
 
 I certainly feel grieved to see Irishmen disputing upon this im¬ 
 portant question,—all should unite in selecting the best and most 
 central port with the shortest voyage, by sea and land, to England , 
 Scotland, and to the North of Ireland. If this principle be not 
 adopted, the foreign merchants will, to a man, go by the Liverpool 
 route, and we will make ourselves as usual a laughing-stock to the 
 world; why, Belfast has a better claim than some of the contending 
 ports, but we are willing to give up these claims for the public good, 
 believing, as we do, that a measure of this kind, if properly carried 
 out, will radiate (if I may use the expression), blessings of peace and 
 plenty over Ireland, and fill her deserted harbours with foreign ship¬ 
 ping. Let Irishmen look at England, and they will see that not one 
 of the towns that manufacture the goods that are shipped by steamer 
 has a seaport; and if the people of Galway, Limerick, or Cork, think 
 they will be enriched by the profit arising from a packet station, they 
 labour under an extraordinary mistake, and suffer under a delusion 
 which an inquiry from a practical merchant will soon dissipate. 
 
 A further Statement from Mr. Kennedy, in reference to the Manu¬ 
 factures of Ulster, and Exports to America, their value and 
 importance. 
 
 ** The description of goods manufactured in the North of Ireland, 
 are linens ; plain, fancy, and sewed cotton goods. In the West, a 
 
90 
 
 considerable quantity of heavy linens are still manufactured, these 
 are suitable for an export market, but there was no way opened up, 
 either for the foreign buyers, or for the Belfast Merchants to see 
 these goods, till of late when the Galway Line was finished. Now 
 our merchants are turning their attention to the productions of the 
 West, and our largest purchaser of linens, Mr. Magill, was at 
 Galway a few days ago with some Mexican gentleman. Limerick 
 has long been famous for its laces, its gloves, and several articles 
 of ladies wear ; one of our Belfast houses has lately established a 
 factory there, in which he employs 500 girls, and intends to double 
 his production. Dublin produces silks, woollens, stockings, and 
 several muslins; and Cork, linens, woollens, and several kinds of 
 cotton goods; whilst Messrs. Malcolmson, Brothers, produce heavy 
 shirtings, that cannot be excelled, but are only equalled by one 
 house in England. 
 
 Linens .—If railways were established throughout the north of 
 Ireland, and connecting the north with the south and west, the 
 natural consequence would be a great increase in the growth of flax, 
 and in the manufacture of linen cloth. You are aware the flax must 
 be grown, then steeped, rippled, scutched, and prepared for spinning 
 into yarn; when spun the yarn is given out to weavers throughout 
 the country, to be wove into cloth; this cloth is sent to the bleach 
 green, and made up either for home or foreign use. In this way the 
 advantages derivable from manufacturing industry are spread over a 
 large track of country, and spinning and scutching mills, as well as 
 bleach green, require a large amount of steam power or water power, 
 the latter always being preferable. Men in business cannot afford 
 the risk and loss of time incurred in travelling by stage coaches or 
 public conveyances, nor will they entrust their property to be carted 
 about for days together, and send out branches of their establishments, 
 which they cannot get at, to see how their business is going on. I 
 may mention as a fact, that since the opening of the Ulster and 
 Ballymena Railways, Glasgow and Belfast manufacturers have 
 established branches in almost every town. If these lines were 
 extended throughout the country, I have no doubt but manufacturers 
 
91 
 
 would extend along their borders, and that a spirit of energy would 
 be diffused amongst our agricultural population, from their coming 
 into contact with men of business, who must depend upon their 
 energy alone for success. 
 
 You will see by the foregoing remarks that linen goods being 
 producible upon the soil, are much more profitable in a national point 
 of view than silks or cottons, from the value of which we must of 
 course deduct the expense of the raw imported article. 
 
 The manufactures to which I would next refer, are the plain and 
 coloured muslins we produce in Belfast, and I may here state that 
 almost every piece of these goods which are sold in Glasgow as 
 Scotch manufacture are made in this neighbourhood. I may safely 
 take my manufacture as a criterion for judging two-thirds of our 
 productions, and estimating importance to the country. There is 
 from ten to eleven ounces of cotton wool in each piece of our goods; 
 this quantity of cotton costs in America about 9d., hut the average 
 value of our manufactured pieces, which we sell to America, is about 
 10s. 7d.; there is, therefore, about 9s. lOd. spent in labour and 
 profit. 
 
 In coloured muslins the raw material bears a larger proportion ; 
 but in sewed goods the cotton is not 5s. per cent., so that, taking 
 the most unfavourable view of the matter, I am safe in asserting 
 that nine-tenths of the value of all our exports of cotton goods is 
 saved to the country. 
 
 In sewed muslins upwards of 300,000 of our females are employed; 
 in muslins 40,000 weavers; and, according to the opinion of our 
 most experienced manufacturers of our productions, linen and cotton, 
 there are three and a half millions exported annually to America, 
 nearly the half of all the British exports to that country; and the 
 half that is decidedly the most important to the British Empire, 
 because the exports of Britain to the west consist principally of 
 articles produced by machinery in which the raw imported material 
 forms the greatest portion of the expense. 
 
 Our claims, therefore, are—1st, We supply more than our propor¬ 
 tion of the exports to the States, and goods which used almost 
 
entirely to be made on the Continent. The more our trade is 
 encouraged we will be the better able to purchase and consume the 
 productions of England. 
 
 2nd. By landing on our shores, the sea voyage from the States is 
 shortened a tenth part, from British America a sixth part, whilst the 
 expenses of freight and passage are reduced 30 or 40 per cent, in 
 consequence of the part of the ship now filled up with coals being 
 filled up with goods and passengers. In the one case money has to 
 be paid away for the coals; in the other, about 100 ton of goods can 
 be taken extra, or their equivalent in passage money. 
 
 3rd. A saving in risk of life and insurance. Every body but Mr. 
 Cunard thinks there is greater danger near the land falls than in the 
 open sea; but I suppose he has now got practical proof of the 
 unsoundness of his views, for his new steamer the Africa struck last 
 Sabbath on the rocks off Donaghadee, and was towed by one of our 
 steamers over to Liverpool. She had on board 132 passengers, and 
 a valuable cargo, and had the weather been rough, she would have 
 gone to pieces. This is not the first mishap that has befallen his 
 steamers in the Channel, for I will introduce you to an American 
 gentleman, now located in London, who was on board on two 
 occasions when his vessels were damaged by sunken rocks, and 
 repaired without the injury having been publicly known. 
 
 4th. Mr. Cunard says the greater portion of the passengers are 
 Americans, Englishmen, and Scotchmen, and a very few Irishmen. 
 I remember the late Daniel O’Connell amusing the House of Com¬ 
 mons by producing an old Act of Parliament which enacted that 
 every body that wore a moustache should be taken for an Irishman, 
 and treated as such; and Mr. Cunard has set down every one as 
 an Irishman whose tongue does not betray him to be an American 
 or a Scotchman. If the published reports of the passengers and 
 their location, in the American papers, are a criterion to judge by, 
 there are three or four Irish passengers for one English: and this I 
 know, that there are ten Irish and ten Scotch merchants in America 
 for one English. In fact three large houses in Manchester and 
 Glasgow—A. and S. Henry and Co., (Mr. Henry is M. P. for South 
 
93 
 
 Lancashire), Thornton, Frith, and Co., and Crofts and Still, mono¬ 
 polize seven-eighths of the dry-goods trade; whilst the bread stuff 
 merchants, like these three houses, have partners resident in the 
 States. Englishmen have no occasion to travel to make sales or 
 push their business. 
 
 Letters, Remittances, and Telegraphic Despatches. —Into these 
 questions I need not enter, as I know you understand them better 
 than I do myself; but I cannot close without adverting to Mr. Cunard’s 
 opinion that at Galway there is no graving docks, &c., nececsary 
 for the repairing of these, <fcc. f steamers. My view is that Ireland 
 has a right to ask the Government to go to this expense out of the 
 general fund. The new houses of Parliament have been erected ; 
 the breakwater of Plymouth made; they do not hesitate to lay 
 out large sums for tubular bridges, and repairing Holyhead harbour; 
 and considering that the rental of our lands is spent in England; 
 that more than the half of the duties on the excisable articles in use 
 are paid in England; and that we import from England, almost every 
 article we have in our houses, or wear upon our backs, I think we 
 have an equitable claim for a small portion of the public funds. 
 
 Quebec and Halifax Great Trunk Railway . 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Howe’s Bill, providing for the construction, by the 
 Province, of the Nova Scotia Section of the Great Trunk Railway to 
 Quebec, was passed in the House of Assembly on the 19th ultimo, 
 by yeas 39, to nays 14. The passage of Mr. Howe’s Bill, therefore, 
 is equally as favourable for the construction of the railway to Portland 
 as to Quebec. The Bill has been sustained by the Assembly in all 
 its main features by large majorities. It is to be built by Govern¬ 
 ment, and one million pounds currency is to be borrowed on British 
 guarantee, at per cent, interest. Nova Scotia is to build from 
 Halifax through her own territory, and eighty-eight miles into New 
 Brunswick, who will assess three counties through which the road 
 will run for the right of way. The city of Halifax is expected to 
 make good a pledge for the interest of £100,000, or to take stock 
 in cross lines to that amount. 
 
05219700