Yiittrapoliff.
The Great Eastern made a move on Monday in the right direction. Some three or four hundred visitors, composed of Members of Parliament, merchants, and distinguished engineers, assembled to witness the first trial of the gigantic paddles and screws of the big ship, which, in their united efforts, exerting a power of 12,000 horses, are to propel her at the rate of twenty-three miles an hour. A luncheon was afterwards served, over which Lord Stanley presided.
At half-past one the engines were at work—" there was no noise, no vibration, nor tho slightest sign of heating, and the tremendous frame of ironwork sprang as at once into life and motion with as much ease as if every rod and crank had been worked for the last ten years." The engines turned slowly, six revolutions per minute, a minimum speed, but sufficient to test the strength of Trotman's anchors with which the vessel is moored, and to bring forth a "pungent atmosphere" from the foetid Thames. The Great Eastern's outward garniture is complete, the internal arrangements not so far advanced, but the chief saloon has been furnished by Mr. Grace in traceries of gold and colour, mirrors, gilding, carpeting, and silk curtains, at the coat of 3000/. The whole ship will be fitted up regardless of expense. Four double cranes will enable her to hoist on board 6000 tons of coal in twenty-four hours; she carries twenty boats " about the size of sailing cutters ; " and she is ex- pected to make the voyage to Calcutta in thirty-three days, and to carry nine or ten thousand persons, including crew, affording to each comfort- able living room. Lord Stanley, in proposing the toast of the day, said:— "I am afraid, gentlemen, that to a very large number of those whom I attempt to address I shall, of necessity, be altogether inaudible; but I now rise to take upon myself a task which, imposed as it is upon me by those who have a right to claim my humble services, I do not feel myself at liberty to decline, and which I undertake upon the present occasion with more than common pleasure. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, I think we who meet here today will all agree that we ought not to part without expressing that which I know we all of us think and feel with regard to the magnificent vessel which we have been permitted this day to inspect, and the great undertaking which that vessel has been constructed to carry out ; and of the energy and perseverance of those by whom that undertaking has been earned to its present point of success. You have all heard or read what the great Eastern has been built to do, and what are the peculiar qualifications which she possesses for doing that work. You are aware that she is calculated, according to the reckoning of her projec- tors, to make the passage from England to Calcutta in thirty-three days. We know that she is intended to foam, her coals both for the out- ward and the homeward voyage, so as to save that enormous time and expense which at present arise, of necessity, for establishing coal &pats in distant parts of the world. You know that she is calculated to carry a population of not much less than 10,000, including her crew,—a population so large that I almost wonder the company have not applied to the House of Commons to have the Great Eastern included in the new Reform Bill, in the list of Parliamentary boroughs for the new schedule. (Laughter.) You are aware of the circumstances under which this great enterprise has been un- dertaken. You know that if that enterprise shall succeed—and we all know that nothing has been left undone to insure its success that can be effected by inventive genius, by mechanical skill, and by steady perseverance through unexampled difficulties—you know, I say, that if this experiment sucsucceeds-and far be it from me, speaking in this room, to anticipate any other result—it will constitute one of the most remarkable experiments of the time in which we live. It will achieve great results for commerce and for civilization. It will have reduced by one half the distance in point of time which now divides continents and nations, which nature has separated by intervening oceans, but which science and trade are as it were, tending, in despite of nature, to unite. (Cheers.) You know that if this grand experiment succeeds, it will be a greater step, a greater progress in the art of ship building than has ever been accomplished in one generation' from the day when man first began to traverse the sea. You know that if the experiment succeeds it will render the passage over the stormy ocean to re- mote countries as easy and as free from discomfort to the landsman, and even to the landswoman, as the ordinary railway train is at present. You know, also, that the experiment, if it succeeds, will stimulate and develop trade to an almost incalculable extent ; that it will enable this country, if un- happily the occasion should again arise, to pour into our great empire of the East reinforcements and aid with a rapidity equal to that of the overland line, and by a route which England has always claimed as her own peculiar highway, and over which no foreign potentate can exercise control. (Cheers.) I would say, also, that the success of this undertaking will—I do not say tend to solve that great political problem of our time which is known as the Eastern question, but at least that it will render the solution of that problem a question of far less practical importance to England than it is at present. Because it is well recognized and understood by any English statesman that the principal interest—I do not say the sole interest, but by far the principal interest—which England has in Egypt and the countries immediately ad- joining Egypt, arises from the necessity of possessing, at all times and under all circumstances, an uninterrupted and rapid communication with the British possessions in India. That communication it is now proposed to supply with greater independence and with equal rapidity by a new line, and, so far, it is hardly too much to say that you will have for all practical purposes superseded the overland route. I need say no more with respect to this undertaking, but I may be permitted before I sit down and before I give you the toast which I intend to propose, 'which is "Prosperity to the Great Eastern "—I may be, I say, permitted for an instant to advert to the name of a gentleman who is at the head of this undertaking. We are well aware that the enterprise which has now so nearly reached its completion was not attended throughout with unbroken prosperity and success. There was a time of difficulty, a time of despondency—a time when success seemed doubtful and failure more than probable--and at that time Mr. Campbell and his colleagues came forward. They brought their commercial knowledge to bear, their knowledge of the requirements of Indian and of English commerce, and they undertook to insure the commercial success of the work, provided mechanical success was assured; and they induced the capitalists of the country to place faith in their exertions, and the result is that which you now see around you today." (Loud cheers.) He proposed "Prosperity to the Great Eastern," and to Mr. Campbell and the directors.
Mr. Campbell acknowledged the toast, and pointed out that if the great ship had been completed two years ago, hundreds of lives and literally millions of treasure would have been spared in the late mutiny in India.
Mr. Jackson, M.P., and Mr. Scott Russell also addressed the meeting. Mr. Brunel was absent from indisposition.
A meeting was held in the Hanover Square Rooms on Wednesday, Mr. D'Iffanger in the chair, to support by a manifestation of public sen- timent the efforts of the National Army Sanitary Association.
The Court of Bankruptcy has granted an application for leave to appea. against an order of the Chief Clerk in Chancery, directing that the name of Colonel Waugh should be placed upon the list of contributories of the Lon- don and Eastern Banking Corporation, in respect of nearly 400 shares. Mr. Linklater said that the claim of the Eastern Bank had been resisted by the assignees on the ground that the debt was incurred during the period when that corporation was engaged in illegal trading. In granting the applica- tion, Mr. Commissioner Fane said, "with reference to the bankrupt it comes to this—that a person who takes away the money of others—who commits robbery, in fact—can go into Spain and live there for the rest of his life, out of the reach of his creditors."
A short time since a man and woman, calling themselves Mr. and Mrs. Web- ster, took lodgings in a house nearBall's Pond. Last week the woman was taken ill; the landlord suspected something wrong, and called in a medical man. Suspicion grew stronger. Mr. Webster rushed into the garden and cut his throat. An investigation took place and disclosed the lamentable fact that the woman had died from the effects of an attempt to procure abortion. The man succeeded in killing himself. Their names were not Webster, but Elizabeth Freshfield and Clement John Carnell.
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