The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-21 00:00:00

THE PRE S S, AUGUST 21, 1 0 believe in him to walk in. Thus, then, l° ranee comes to be a blessing and irrespon virtue. Intellectual progress like mor ability a al independence, in the subjects of the r a pacy, in th , e lay portion of communities, must h e purchased by a species of rerebellion.lt is not easy for the imagination even to take in all at once the vast operation of such a polity on ce successfully established in the world. To b r ing the moral sense of mankind to compound ,for real vices in their greater horror and hatred o f constructive sins—to tuna separate virtues into main sources of degradation for the body politic —to bring the whole influence of religion and all the authority of conscience to do the work of s ubjugating kingdoms and peoples to the dominion of a segregated, distinct caste—is surely one of the grandest, if it be the most malignant, of conceptions possible. To win the poor, the iid and the sorrowing by sympathy, and the rich and the prosperous by indulgence—to make subjects contented in their disfranchisement and o ppression, and sove rei g ns res p onsible only to the priest—to share the counsels of princes, to be the depository of the secrets of the fireside and the bedchamber —to mould minds from the cradle and dictate their last wills to the aged and in firm—all this was little less than for the clergy to have men for their flocks and herds, and the fairest portions of every land for their inheri tance. In a barbarous or semi-barbarous age of faith (perhaps, indeed, in any age of faith, ac cording to what ROME calls faith), there was no help for independent civil government, but it must needs enter into some sort of alliance with a Supreme Pontiff. Despots might be dealt with by him as high traitors, and poison or the dagger be held a sentence as righteous as the axe ; democracy might be made to do the work of de spotism, and be called the ordinance of GOD ; or a race of monarchs might be invested with a portion of priestly sacredness. The enormity of the alliance between the Emperors and the Pontificate soon showed itself. MAximus developed jus divinum as logically as Aor.tvivA or URQUEMADA could have done. lie was probably the first who let no consequences lag behind his premises, and bravely gave the example of that new virtue which, some eight hundred years later, raised FERDINAND of CAS TILE to the honours of the altar, and makes him to this day worshipped as a saint. He was pro bably the first who did that act which the Spanish Jesuits have taught us to call emphatically the art of faith : he burnt heretics alive for heresy. Such tyrants as THEODOSIUS and himself asked only for impunity : for the sake of that they thought no price too high to pay, and they gained it at the price of their own independence and all the great interests of their people. But they gained it only for a time, even in those base days. The pretended Government of Cron on earth wanted experience of rule. The wars of ambi tious sects within the I'opcdom, and the strife of contending claimants of the Holy Seat, far more than the luxury, and profligacy, and pride of prelates, undermined the influence of the priesthood, as the priesthood had disorganzied and destroyed the Empire; and ALAnic and his Goths, GENSERIC and his Vandals, came and drove out both Emperor and Pope. There is no need to tell the tale of those vile times, or of a Christianity which was just the reverse of Chris tian, and seemed only to add intolerance and bloodthirstiness to other ordinary vices. But adversity had better uses than prosperity, and Rome, sacked and resacked, abandoned, impover ished, dependent, turned once more to her true arts of government, and grew in time to more than all her former power. In the eighth century We shall see her fairly start again upon the career which she began with CONSTANTINE. WEIN TELEGRAPH COMMUNICATION. 'Writ has been said on the subject of electric communication with America and India; the advantages derivable therefrom have been mag nified to considerable proportions; and it may be admitted that in whatever relation of life we look at it there is no limit to the benefits that may be realized by the great human family by the means of such instant intercourse. All writers and speakers on the subject admit so much, and to dwell on them or paint them in new and different colours would be a mere waste of time and in genuity. But the question that arises out of these im portant facts is simply, How shall this instanta neous intercourse be accomplished and continued ? and may be considered advantageously under three different heads. 1. As to whether the depth of water and length of cable across oceans, which count by thousands of miles, arc bars to the transmission of messages. This is answered by the successful laying down of the present cable from Valentia to Newfoundland, and though the communication is slow, and, probably, im perfect, there is no reason why such imperfection should be attributed either to the depth of water or extreme length of the cable ; the wonder is, rather, that the cable, running out at the pace and with the tension it did, should be as perfect as it is. The electric wire in this cable is com posed of several minute wires twisted together, which here and there may be broken, but as all of them are not likely to break off at one and the same place, the continuity is still maintained ; but such breakages may account for the weakness of the electric communication. The second head of the question is with refe rence to the description of cable. The Atlantic Company may now fairly admit that their cable has not completely realized the anticipations founded on former trials. It is therefore of the greatest importance that the cable which is best calculated to overcome the difficulties experienced in submerging the present one should be carefully selected for the next essay. Whilst the complaints against the Atlantic cable have been loud and numerous, there are only two gentle men who have come forward to enlighten the public on this all-important subject. Mr. ALLEN has, with much ability, laid his cable before the Society of Civil Engineers in an elaborate form, and from the discussion induced on the occasion, it is plain that his plan is a step in the right direction. The other is Mr. W. Row Err, who has with great confidence challenged discussion by publishing a pam phlet* onithe subject, which not only suggests the kind of cable which he maintains is the only one suitable for the work, but with great clearness points out the most conclusive reasons for adopting such. This pamphlet has not been contradicted, which is a tacit acknowledgment on the part of the engineers of the correctness of the views he has so well laid before the public, evidently combining as they do con siderable experience in nautical matters as well as engineering. No doubt the subject may be looked at front various points of view, but it is remarkable that these are the only two who have fully brought forward the public dis cussion. All parties are agreed that many wires must be laid to America, and others to Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria ; others to the Cape of Good Hope, taking the Cape de nerd Islands, Sierra Leone, Cape Coast Castle, and various commercial ports along the coast of Africa in its way. These, and many other demands for electric communication, will as a matter of course arise. This leads to the consideration of the third head we proposed— viz., the cost of so many cables, and their advan tages, not only in a commercial point of view, vast in importance as this object alone must be, nor with reference to matters of imperial govern ment, which is probably still more important, but in the still broader and more comprehensive sense which embraces the advantages which will be gained by the merchant and diplomatist. If to these interests so much importance is to be attached to the ocean telegraph wire, how much more important must it be to have the complete control of an engine the dimensions of which cannot even now be estimated, but which will grow in importance with every step that is taken in the general civilization of the world ! Having taken the lead in the enterprize, our duty as a nation seems imperative to secure by the appli cation of capital—whatever amount may be re quired —the immediate e stablishment of lines over every ocean as soon as they can be made; and in three years it is possible every ocean may be covered by the wire, when, supposing it would occupy a capital of ten millions sterling, the pro fits to be derived by such investment would be secured to the country,--not drawn from our own people alone, nor from Europe and America, but * Ott ill e lleß liabularine Telegraph Cable. London: C. WiISCID. 1858. 797 the four quarters of the globe would contribute in their several degrees to England's wealth. Conflicting interests are inseparable from the carrying out of such enterprizes with safety to the adventurers. One line might be remunerative, whilst another, from accident or improper management, might result in loss ; but as in the aggregate a good dividend is sure, and as there are lines which are essential for imperial pur poses, but commercially unremunerative, it may be said if the public Exchequer sustained such lines, it would be only fair that it should also profit by those which gave a good dividend upon the outlay. The solution of this difficulty may be disposed of by the incorporation of a limited number of companies, on which would devolve the management of the several lines under Parlia mentary control, making the shares in each company small—a limited number only to be held by any individual, and in all cases guaranteed a certain rate of interest by Government ; for this guarantee each company should contribute according to its net income. A proper remunera tion to the Exchequer by these arrangements would be inevitably available ; public confidence would be secured, and, above all, the control of every line would be in the hands of England as well as the profits. TILE " LIBERAL" SOPHISM. IF Mr. BERNAL OsnonxE anticipated praise or popularity as probable returns for his Dover ora tion, he has been " pretty particular considerably" disappointed. Ilis indignant outcries against the men who dared supplant his all-accomplished patron have awakened no echo; his announce ment of the sacrifices he would have made—if a little thing had not prevented him—has gained no credit. Instead of flattering consolations for the loss of office and the " craving void left " aching in the breast" by a blank quarter-day, he is received even by the Opposition press with a greeting similar to that which Milton records as given to the first Whig on his return to ran demonium—" One universal hiss." On all hands he has partaken largely of what is familiarly known as " monkey's allowance." We confess to having been especially diverted by the lesson in trisyllables read to him by the liveliest of our weekly contemporaries. As an argumentum ad hominem nothing could be more appropriate. Truly there can be little regret for a " Liberalism" which was attested only by total abstinence from useful reforms and a systematic connivance at jobbing. It ought, however, to be observed that other great authorities besides the Palmerstonian " spruch-sprecher" have abused their favourite trisyllable most grossly, as well as obstinately declined to deal fairly with the longer word " Conservative." The ambiguous term Liberal —sometimes a common term of praise, sometimes the rallying-cry of a most heterogeneous party — has been freely used as an implement of sophistry by the Opposition press for several months past ; and even our contemporary aforesaid has not wholly abstained from " paltering with it in a " double sense." We have heretofore expressed our wish that the application of the word " Liberal" as a party name were less vague— less suited to denote an apparent connection be tween politicians of extreme views, like Messrs. BRIGHT and Fox, and more moderate men, like the Peelites (who are Conservatives historically as well as in principle) and the remnant of the old Whigs. Doubtless, the Opposition gain an unfair advantage from the use of a common de signation, which i gives them a pretence for claim ing a majority n general, while practically they find themselves in a minority on almost every particular question. But the fallacy to which we would now call the attention of our readers, and which Conservatives ought to expose in argument as they have often refuted it in fact, arises not from the vagueness of the tern; " Liberal," but from its ambiguity—not from its having too comprehensive a meaning, but from -4 I