432 COLONIAL AND TRANSATLANTIC , or on the Lawrence, was also more difficult for steam-vessels than that of the . The commander of one of the steam-packets that ply between Dublin and Liverpool, has crossed the more than thirty times. I have gone over with him several times to Dublin ; and twice, during the winter of 1826, he declared to me that he never witnessed worse weather, nor such an abrupt dan¬ gerous sea on the , as we then experienced. I believe most naval officers will bear me out in these observations. Masters of merchant ships, few of whom know much either of the arts or sciences, cherish a strong prejudice against steam-vessels; yet they readily admit that the sea rises more dan¬ gerously, during tempestuous weather, in the Irish and English" Channels, in the , and in the Gulf and River of Lawrence, than it does in the main ocean. Those seas are, however, all safely navigated with steam-ships ; and why not cross the also by the power of steam ? It was the intention of the company to establish an intercolonial, as well as a Transatlantic, steam- navigation. It now remains only for them to do the latter. The colonies have already commenced the former ; and if the latter be much longer neglected in England , it will assuredly be undertaken in . The legislatures of all the colo¬ nies voted certain sums to encourage intercolonial steam navigation. The House of Assembly of Lower Canada voted L .3000 to persons or companies, who