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keen competition brought fares and rates of freight down wonderfully; within two years of the establishment of the Collins line the rate of freight was reduced from 77. 108. to 41. per ton. Up to this point it looked as if the efforts of the Americans to outdo the Cunard line were about to be crowned with the most complete success. They had gone in for increased speed, and they had attained it. As Mr. Rae, to whom we are indebted for many particulars in connection with Atlantic steam navigation, tells us, Senator Bayard informed Congress that they must have speed, extraordinary speed, a speed with which the Collins steamers could overtake any vessel which they pursued, and escape from any vessel they wished to avoid; they must be fit for the purpose of a cruiser, with armaments to attack their enemy-if that enemy were Great Britainin her most vital part, her commerce.' Apart from the bombast and exultation displayed by displayed by Americans of the Bayard stamp, there was much to be said in favour of the Collins line of steamers, and had it not been for the lamentable disasters which befell the leading ships of this line, the venture might ultimately have been a financial success. was not to be; the Collins steamer Arctic came into collision on the 1st September 1854 with the French steamer Vesta, and out of 233 passengers and a crew of 135 on board the Arctic, only fourteen passengers and thirty-one of her crew were saved, Mr. Collins's wife, son, and daughter being amongst those who were drowned. This was a sad blow to a comparatively new undertaking, and was before long followed by another of almost equal severity. The Collins steamer Pacific,

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carrying forty-one passengers, a crew of 141, and a cargo valued at half a million sterling, left Liverpool on the 3d of January 1856, and was never heard of again. The losses thus sustained by the Collins Company were too great to be overcome, and the result was that in 1858 the Collins line of Atlantic steamers was altogether relinquished. Many other attempts have since been made by capitalists and shipowners in the United States to establish lines of Atlantic steamers which should vie with the English lines; but repeated failure has attended their efforts, and at the present time what is known as the American line, which was started in connection with the Pennsylvania Railway, and sails between Philadelphia and Liverpool, is the only line which the citizens of the United States can regard as having to any extent successfully competed with the English companies in the work of connecting Great Britain with the American continent. Mr. Vanderbilt made a desperate attempt to establish an American line, and a Boston company made a bold venture in the same direction, but both enterprises failed. But although such little success has attended these various undertakings projected by the United States companies, the Canadians have been more fortunate. Messrs. M'Clean, M'Clarty, & Lamont of Liverpool contracted with the Canadian Government in 1852 for the conveyance of the mails between Quebec and Liverpool; and after this arrangement had been in existence four years, Messrs. Allan took the contract up, and the prosperous undertaking now known as the Allan line, running between Quebec, Halifax, Portland, and Baltimore on one side of the Atlantic, and Liverpool and

Glasgow on the other, was established.

To return to the Atlantic steam navigation enterprises which have originated in the United Kingdom, it is necessary to mention the unfortunate Galway line, which was started with such a flourish of trumpets in Ireland in 1860. This line, which was expected to do so much for the Irish, and in aid of which the British Government granted a subsidy of 3000l. for each voyage out and home, was undertaken by a company formed under the title of the Royal Atlantic Steam Navigation Company. The collapse of this venture, however, was more sudden and more disastrous even than that of the Collins enterprise. Within the short period of eleven months the Galway line lost one of their finest steamers, the Connaught, and had two other steamers, the Hibernia and the Columbia, so seriously injured as to be rendered unfit for further employment; and the upshot was that a service which had been started under such favourable auspices on the 27th June 1860 was finally abandoned in the month of May 1861.

Meanwhile other steamship companies had sprung into existence in Liverpool to meet the ever-growing traffic between this country and the United States. Prominent amongst these was the Inman undertaking, which was originated by the Liverpool, New York, and Philadelphia Steamship Company, of which Mr. William Inman was the managing director. Mr. Inman led the way in adopting iron as the material for building Atlantic steamers, and in resorting to the screw as the propelling medium. It was not until 1852 that the Cunard Company launched their first iron screw

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steamer. The first Inman iron steamer, the City of Glasgow, left Liverpool for Philadelphia on the 17th of December 1850, and from that time to the present the powerful and splendidly equipped vessels of this line have continued to make the Atlantic trip in rapid succession. The Inman steamers made fortnightly voyages between Liverpool and Philadelphia until the year 1857, when New York was made the Company's principal port on the United States side. From the first this company's fleet has comprised some the finest and swiftest vessels afloat, Mr. Inman having always insisted on the employment of the best available engineering ability and the adoption of the most recent improvements. The City of Berlin is probably the largest passenger steamer in exist. ence, being 525 feet in length and affording accommodation for 1702 passengers and a crew of upwards of a hundred. Other favourite ships of this line are the City of Chester, the City of Brussels, the City of Richmond, and the City of Paris. It was to this line that the unfortunate City of Boston belonged, which sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Liverpool in 1870 and was never heard of again. In spite of this and other disasters, however, the Inman Company have, by the enterprise, energy, and ability which they have brought to bear upon their undertaking, been able to keep in the foremost rank of Atlantic lines, and have at the present time as efficient and well-managed a fleet as could be desired.

What is known as the National line, originated by the National Steam Navigation Company, was started in 1863 with a fleet of steamers of very large size. These vessels run between Liverpool and New York, and are held in

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great favour by the public. to the present time this company has been as free from disaster as the Cunard Company, and success has attended their enterprise.

The Anchor line, projected by Messrs. Handyside & Henderson in 1865, began by running steamers between Glasgow and New York; they subsequently extended their operations to London, and now have weekly sailings both from Glasgow and London. This is essentially a Scottish line, and carries large numbers of north countrymen across the Atlantic every year, the arrangements for emigrants being of a very superior kind.

The year 1866 saw the establishment of the Guion line, which sends steamers from Liverpool to New York, and vice versa, every week. This line was started by the Liverpool and Great Western Steamship Company.

In the year 1870 Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, & Co. made the most vigorous attempt which has been witnessed in recent times to found an additional line of Atlantic steamers, and that attempt has succeeded beyond anticipation. The two leading lines up to that period had been the Cunard and the Inman lines; but Messrs. Ismay, Imrie, & Co.'s steamers at once took their place as equal with the best, and their White Star line has from that time to this enjoyed a deservedly high reputation for the magnificence of its vessels, the thoroughly capable way in which they are

equipped and managed, and the comfort and convenience which are afforded to passengers. The White Star steamers were in some respects an advance upon any previously-built vessels, and were constructed by Messrs. Harland & Wolff of Belfast.

In regard to all the combinations which go to the creation of a successful line of steamships, the Cunard line is able to claim the possession of these perhaps in the most complete degree. A forty years' incessant service, without the loss of a single ship, a single passenger, or a single letter, is a stronger claim to public confidence than can be set up by any other line whatsoever. Added to this there are these further facts: the Cunard fleet has been the largest engaged in the Atlantic trade; it sent out the first mail steamers that were despatched from this country to the United States; and whatever improvements have been made in the science of shipbuilding that could increase the comfort and safety of their passengers, or give additional facilities of any kind, have been taken advantage of: thus we have realised for us all the conditions that constitute a steamship company of the first rank. The men who have built up this gigantic undertaking have, while making fortunes for themselves, done much on behalf of the world's commercial progress, and their names will remain for all time indelibly inscribed in the records of England's maritime history.

THE MYSTERY IN PALACE GARDENS.

BY MRS. J. H. RIDDELL.

CHAPTER XXI.

LADY MOFFAT AT HOME.

MEANTIME preparations for the ball were going on apace. What Lady Moffat said was quite true. Miss Banks had given herself up to the matter heart and soul; she threw herself into the business as though she were the leader of a forlorn hope bound, in the interests of those delightful new people the Moffats,' to scale and carry the loftiest walls of society.

Sir John looked on in wonder. He had never known before what a woman could do in the way of spending money when she got 'her head; and, in fact, he did not know yet what two women might in that way be able to accomplish when they elect to go together along the wide road of foolish extravagance and prodigal expenditure.

Truly Lady Moffat and Miss Banks were going a pace, had he only been aware of the fact; but then the affair was to be on a scale of unprecedented magnifi

cence.

There never could have been a house built for the occupation of a private gentleman better designed for the reception of company. All the apartments on one floorsplendid ballroom, magnificent terrace, convenient garden, such a hall for promenading, such facilities in the way of entertaining a large number of people!

It would be flying in the face of Providence, dear Lady Moffat,' said Miss Banks, 'to make it a

sort of hole-and-corner affair;' and accordingly, from pious motives and perhaps from some others, it was decided that the ball should be the 'sensation' of the season.

To get a sufficient number of acceptances was clearly the first and most important part of the proceedings, and to this end Miss Banks made perhaps more calls within a week than she had ever done before in any seven days of her life.

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'What are you not going?' was her pet formula. O, throw everything else over and go. You may never have such a chance again; for it is not likely they will get another such entertainment up in a hurry. Unique in every respect, I assure you! Holyrood House will be like fairyland.'

'Have not been asked,' was generally the reply.

'Not been asked! How is that? How can such an omission have occurred?'

Very easily accounted for, I should say. We don't know them.'

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