The Press. — London, England, 1858-12-11 00:00:00

- • . 1212 THE WEEK. We have just had our notice directed to a very remarkable scheme for new telegraphic communication between the Old and New World. In a few days, we understand, a Prospectus of its objects will be in the hands of the public, but our readers may be glad iu the meantime to have some general idea of the conception. The following is the Line of Communi cation which it will be proposed, we are informed, to lay down : Starting from the neighbourhood of Falmouth, touching at Cape Finisterre, Lisbon, Cape St. Vincent (with a branch to Cadiz and Gibraltar), the Canaries (with a branch to Madeira), the Cape de Verdo, the islands of St. Paul and Norontro, it will arrive at or near Pernambuco, in the Brazils. A land telegraph will continue this line through the Brazilian territory, as far as Para; whence a submarine line will be carried to the British town of Demarara, in Guepana ; from here a combination of land and submarine wires will be constructed through the principal West- Indian islands to New Orleans, in the United States, where it will join the network of existing telegraphs belonging to the American companies. This undertaking certainly appears to possess advantages far exceed ing any other scheme of a like nature, having for its object to unite the two hemispheres. One of its main features is, that while it offers probably the most efficacious and practical method of opening telegraphic correspon dence between Europe and the United States of North America, its utility is not bounded by this one object, nor are the sources of its revenue con fined to the produce of a single country. Probably the most important point, whether regarded in a national, political, or commercial point of view, is the joining the West-Indian Islands and British Guyana to the mother country, to both North and South America, and to one another. The main line passes through the principal islands, and the remainder can be connected by short branches. This line will also open the vast and im proving empire of the Brazils to telegraphic communication with Europe, and also with North America, with both of which continents it already carries on a very considerable trade, and which such facilities as telegraphs offer cannot but augment. The importance of the amount of English capital invested now in the Brazils in railway, mining, and other opera tions, renders this communication at the present moment of great value. Physically the raute proposed by this new scheme is far preferable to any that has yet been suggested. With the exception of about 900 miles, the entire line will be laid in depths of under 1,000 fathoms, in the execution of which there will be scarcely more danger than in laying a cable from Dover to Calais. The line in most places follows the coast, so that the engineer will be enabled, by approaching or receding from the shore, to select the depth he considers the most expedient, and to lay his cables so that, while they may be beyond all chance of injury from anchors, they may be easily recovered in case of accident. The longest link in the pro posed system is between the Cape de Verdo and the Island of St. Paul, a distance of 890 nautical miles. This will insure against a greater loss than of so much cable from any one failure. The risk upon the South At lantic Telegraph, therefore, will be much less than upon a line composed of one single but long stretch. The general order issued lately from the Horse Guards, and published this week in the Times, is another evidence of the practical and thorough character of the Duke of CAMBRIDGE'S administration. The duties of which a knowledge is now to be a sine quit non for the promotion of subalterns, are among the most irksome, but probably the most necessary, incidental to a soldier's life. Many a good linguist, many a master of HANNIBAL'S or TURENNEB campaigns, would break down in a knowledge of those ordinary details on which so much of the comfort and efficiency of the common soldier depends. And it is possible that many abuses in our army might have been remedied earlier, had the regimental o ffi cers been better able to appreciate the complaints laid before them by the men. The primary importance in action of a familiar acquaintance with all the regimental evolutions on the part of the junior officers, is obvious, nor, to do them justice, do they seem generally to have been deficient in this particular. Many a hard-fought battle in the Peninsula and elsewhere testifies to the coolness and steadiness of the British infantry in the most trying emergencies, and after all the senior officers had fallen—virtues that must in some measure be attributable to the capability of the juniors to direct the movements of the men. One very good regulation in the new order is, that no candidate shall be examined by a field-officer of his own regi ment—a provision analogous to that by which at the Universities no candidate is placed in the hands of an examiner belonging to his own college. Our courts of law have been occupied this week with three cases of a more than usually disgraceful character. Of the disgusting details in "Evans and Evans" we may probably congratulate ourselves on having heard the last. The Davidson and Gordon case, however, comes on again next Wednesday. But the moral which this particular exposure carries with it has long since been extracted, and any further remarks upon the hollowness of the commercial morality on which we have hitherto prided ourselves would now be superfluous. But the third case upon our list proves unhappily that the evil is spreading upwards—or downwards, we hardly know which is the more correct term. It depends, perhaps, upon whether we regard Mr. HERBERT INGRAM as a Member of Parliament or simply as himself. But be this as it may, there is something startling in the disclosures made before Lord CAMPBELL on Thursday last. here is an eminent London tradesman, who could not even plead the excuse of poverty—one, too, who had long, through the medium of journalism, been THE PRESS, DECEMBER 11, 1858. preaching purity to his neighbours—confessing his complicity w ith a tra m action which we cannot call by its proper name because it would be libellous, but which we may circuitously describe as an unguarded effort t o shield an influential friend from the consequences of spirited bu t unfortunate speculations, the means adopted being the b eaut if ully simple fiction of supposing himself for the moment to b e the owner of a large landed estate which belonged to somebody else. The delusion differs in no respect from that of Christopher Sly, unless we attach any importance to the fact that in Mr. ING RAM ' S Cage i t was self-imposed—a quibbling distinction unworthy a man of l arge an d enter prizing views. We will briefly epitomize the facts. So me s i x years ago Mr. VINCENT SCULLY was the possessor of 10,0001. in cash, and 9,0001. more in the promises of the late Mr. JOHN SADLEIR. Being sanguine enough therefore to suppose himself the owner of 19,0001., he directed his debtor, who was also his solicitor, and "did his busine ss f or hi m, " to invest the said sum in the purchase of land. The Castle Hyd e estate, near Cork, being for sale, was fixed upon as an eligible property, and M r . SCULLY accordingly became the buyer in the name of his uncle, a Mr. EYRE, for the sum of 19,4251. Being anxious to complete the purchase money and keep the estate, Mr. SCULLY repeatedly asked for his 9,0001., but eventually told Mr. SADLEIR that if he would not repay him, he must re-sell the estate, and furthermore offered, that if he re-sold it at a profit, lie should have half the difference. Armed with these instructions, Mr. SADLEIR proceeded to London and arranged a re-sale of the estate, as he said, to Mr. IxGRANt, at a profit of 600/. But now a disturbing element intervened in the shape of a vacancy for Cork, for which Mr. SCULLY was induced to stand, and then, of course, it became an object with him to have the estate back again, We do not, however, quite understand in what sense Mr. SCULLY could have understood the terms of his solicitor's letter, dated London, March Ist :—" Mr. HERBERT INGRAM is the purchaser of the estate, " to re-sell. He understands our game, and agrees to say or do as I tell him." But whatever might have been the meaning of these mysterious words, one thing seems tolerably evident,—that soon afterwards 111 r. Scutax un doubtedly believed Mr. IsoftAt to have bought the property, and that he urgently requested SADLEIR to pay the 9,0001. he owed him, towards making up the necessary sum to repurchase it. It now, therefore, became needful to find out what Mr. LXGRAM wanted for his bargain. Mr. SCULLY accordingly came over to England, and saw Mr. INuat,tat on the subject, both at Rickmansworth and in the House of Commons. That gentleman, who was " difficult to be seen," expressed himself, when caught, to the effect that the property was increasing in value—shrewd man of business! — that Mrs. INGRAM "fancied the place "—affectionate husband !—and altogether seemed "reluctant to give back the estate" at even 25,0001. To cut a long story short, his "reluctance" is very easily explained. He hadn't got it to give. Whatever might be SADLEIR'S motive in not wishing Mr. INGRAM to accept the 25,0001.—whether inability to pay his own 9,0001. — whether he saw a better chance of profit in another quarter, and wished to prevent any one from taking possession in order that he might turn the property to his own uses—it is impossible to say, and now matters very little. But at all events, in February, 1853, Mr. SCULLY received a note from Mr. INGRAM in the following terms :—" I have spoken to Mrs. " INGRAM, and she is disinclined to part with the property before I see it." After this Mr. SCULLY, as he says, got disgusted, began to regard the whole affair as a shuffle, and finally gave up all idea of recovering the estate. Yet in the face of this evidence Mr. INGRAM'S counsel had the temerity to assert that "Mr. INGRAM never pretended that he had the " estate, but only that he had the option of purchasing it." Why, what does Mr. INGRAM himself admit ? " I might have asked him a price. At " the Reform Club I will not swear I did not ask the plaintiff 28,0001. for " the estate." But how can a man put a price on. property which is not his ? For not even so daring an advocate as Mr. INGRAM'S had recourse to the desperate pretence that Mr. SCULLY was asked to pay 8,50 01 - as a bonus to Mr. INGRAM for resigning his preference. The 28,0001., then, must have been represented to Mr. SCULLY as the price demanded by the actual owner, and under that impression he continued till 1856, when he discovered that Mr. INGRAM had never held the property for a day, and that SADLEIR had mortgaged it two or three times over for large sums of money. On the nature of the motives by which Mr. INGRAM may have been swayed throughout this transaction we forbear to speculate. ut we cannot refrain from quoting certain well known lines relative to the tempta tions engendered by too rapid a career of prosperity : The Tempter saw his time, the work he plied; Stocks and subscriptions pour on every side; Till all the daemon makes his full descent In one abundant shower of cent. per cent. Sinks deep within him, and possesses whole, Then dubs director, and secures his soul. Behold Sir Balsam ! now a man of spirit, Ascribes his gettings to his parts and merit; What late he called a blessing now was wit, And God's pod providence a lucky hit. In Britain's senate be a seat obtains, And one more pensioner St. Stephen's gains. The conclusion of Sir Balaam's story is well known, and must of course be familiar to a man of letters like Mr. lIERBERT INGRAM. But, however, there is time for him yet to pull up. SADLEIR'S suicide was a most fortu nate circumstance in his favour ; and since his evil genius has left him, let us trust that Mr. INGRAM has given up dabbling in such !Try equivocal transactions. We cannot help noticing that the damages given by the jury in this case seem somewhat strange. What proportio n does 3001. bear to the injury sustained by the plaintiff ? While thz amou nt does not in the slightest degree affect the stigma cast on Mr. INGRA M. But juries are actuated by calculations incomprehensible to ordinary men. The publication of the Birmingham Reform Manifesto has been fol lowed by a gush of political addresses in all quarters of the kingdom The gentlemen in question are modest enough in their demands— • L