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PMENT OF OUR PACIFIC POSSESSIONS: THE PACIFIC MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS HISTORY, SERVICES, LARGE MATERIEL, AND USEFULNESS: THE UNITED STATES MAIL STEAMSHIP COMPANY: ITS RAMIFIED AND LARGE EXTRA SERVICE: EFFECT UPON THE COMMERCE OF THE GULF: ITS HEAVY LOSSES, AND NEW SHIPS: STEAMSHIP STOCKS GENERALLY AVOIDED: CONSTANTLY FAR BELOW PAR: THE COLLINS LINE: A COMPARISON WITH THE CUNARD: ITS SOURCES OF HEAVY OUTLAY, AND ITS ENTERPRISE: THE AMERICAN MARINE DISASTERS COULD NOT HAVE BEEN PREVENTED BY HUMAN FORESIGHT: THE VANDERBILT BREMEN LINE. It is not my intention to notice the various lines in detail, or in any wise become their apologist, eulogist, or prosecutor. As a general thing they have discharged their obligations to the Government and the people in the most creditable manner; in a much better manner than could have been expected of them, considering the novelty of such enterprises in this country and our total want of experience either in steamship building or ocean steam navigation. It is a cause of great gratulation and satisfaction that springing into the great arena of the mail and passenger strife at a single bound, our steamers at once took the lead in the race, and have ever since distanced those of the whole world in speed, comfort, general accommodations, and cheap transit. This may be asserted as a rule without a single exception. The Collins steamers and the steamer "Vanderbilt" have beaten the Cunarders by nearly a day and a half on the average voyages; the Havre and Bremen steamers make just the same time as the Cunarders; and the California steamers of both lines have signally beaten those of all the English lines in the West-Indies, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific and Indian oceans. Indeed the triumphs of our steamers generally and specially have been so decided in every valuable point that we have great reason to be proud of the attainments to which the legislation of 1846 and '47 led. We have nothing to record to the credit of our legislation since that period. The Havre and Bremen services were the first established in the United States; and as the pioneers in our mail steamshipping they have both proven themselves valuable to the country. The Bremen line went into the hands of Mr. Vanderbilt during the present year, on the expiration of the old contract; the "Ocean Steam Navigation Company" being unwilling to attempt the performance of the service on the sma
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