LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE WITH FREE STEAM- NAVIGATION ON THE THAMES.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
Bugsby's Hole, lit June 1843.
SIR—As you have taken such a decided part in defending my respected friend and competitor " Hampstead Heath" from the tender mercies of Sir THOMAS MARTON WILSON, I trust that you will exert your powerful pen in protecting me from the patronage of the Blackwell Railway Company.
My case is a very simple one, and can be briefly stated. From time imme- morial I have been the free and common highway of the citizens of London, from the realms of smoke, fog, and mud, to the health-inspiring breezes of Gravesend, Margate, and Ramsgate. In modern times, the number of pas- sengers I have conveyed has been greatly increased by the use of vessels pro- pelled by vapour; and at present millions of toil-worn artisans and citizens annually bless JAMES Warr and myself, as, borne on my bosom, they glide swiftly and safely between the rich plains of Essex and verdant hills of Kent, and are landed at the smiling villages and towns that line my banks, for the tenth part of the cost in time and money that their grandfathers paid for the privilege of suffering a martyrdom of horrors on board Margate boys and Gravesend wherries.
This great improvement in navigating my waters has been accomplished without assistance from her Majesty's Government, in the shape of bounties, premiums, or exchisive privileges of any sort ; and often when carrying up a lot of bearded and mustachoed foreigners, I have chuckled, or rather bubbled with pride, when they expressed their astonishment on being told that steam-navigation on the Thames owed every thing to the skill and private enterprise of individuals, and nothing to the Government but thanks for leaving it alone. I felt, Sir, then, in my deepest waters, that I was a British and not a Conti- -mental river.
Some years ago, I had a narrow escape from a Whig Commission, composed of several half-pay R. N.s, anxious for permanent long-shore employment; who made up a Blue Book, entitled Steam-vessels Accident Report," which so satisfactorily proved that the percentage of loss to life and property since the introduction of steam-vessels on my waters had materially diminished, that even their employers in Downing Street were forced to let well alone and give up the intended job. Since then, my children, the Sons of the Thames, have gone on year by year improving, and competing with each other' so that their vessels now exceed all others in the world ; and the fame thereof being noised abroad, foreigners have resorted in annually increasing numbers to our engi- -neers and shipbuilders for vessels for the navigation of all the great rivers in Europe. I am now in danger from a Committee of investigation of the London and Blackwell Railway, who recommend their shareholders to apply to Parliament for liberty to use their surplus capital in dabbling in steam-navigation on my waters: and if they do so, and succeed, from that moment will all improvement be stopped, and the property that has been invested by private individuals in bringing steam-navigation to its present pitch of perfection be completely destroyed ; for it is impossible for any set of men to compete against others whom the Legislature has armed with exclusive privileges, particularly that most unfair one of limited liability. That this is what the Committee aim at, a perusal of their report will satisfy any one ; and I need hardly add, that the first effect of their getting the permission they seek from the Legislature, will be to create a close monopoly of the river-trade, and ultimately, by preventing competition, limit the accommodation the public would otherwise have offered them. That my fears are not groundless, I may state that I have bad fre- quent conversations with my mother the Sea, at the Nore, on the effect Government contracts and exclusive privileges have had on ocean steam-navi- gation; and she confirms all my apprehensions. The watery world, she affirms, Is parcelled out into four great preserves : the Northern or Eurcpean, extending from Brest to Hamburg, belongs to the General Steam Navigation Company ; the Peninsula Mediterranean, and Eastern Hemisphere, acknowledges the Peninsula and Oriental Steam Navigation Company as exclusive proprietors; the North Atlantic bows submissive to the British and North American Steam Navigation Company ; the West Indies and South America are the property (not a very good one) of the Royal Mail Steam-packet Company. Our Government pay these great concerns some 400,000/. per annum ; and to three of them has given the privilege of running in debt to any amount they can without being liable to pay more than their subscription ; by which means all competition is most effectually put down, and with it all improvement. That such might not be the result on my waters, the old lady, weeping, recommended that my case should be laid before you; and the flood-tide making at the moment, I tore myself from her embrace, and now deposit this unvarnished statement on the steps of that "Bridge of Sighs" whereon I have often seen you "deeply pondering.". Trusting that the Spectator will not look unmoved at an attempt to limit my usefulness, I remain, from the Nore to Cterteey, your constant friend,
FATHER THAMES.
see a "John Bowring " signs his name as Chairman of the Com- mittee : surely this is not THD Dr. BOWRING of St. Stephens? That great oracle of Free-trade, I am convinced, would sooner jump into my embrace on a December night from one of the Bridges, than propose going to Parliament for exclusive privileges.
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