Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-07-16 00:00:00

LANTIC TELEGRAPH.

The Right lion. John Stuart Wortley, chairman of the
tlantie Telegraph Company, attended a public meeting at
lasgow the other day, and made a lengthened statement
garding the position of that undertaking. Re 'noticed
.e difficulties which had to
obe met with in the laying of
e first cable, the advantages which had now been gained

d the inventions of men of science, and

the prospects there were of being able successfully to
establish telegraphic communication between Great Britain
and America, if the necessary amount of capital were ob-
tained. In order to enlist the interest and support of all
sses, it had been resolved to reduce the amount of shares
each, and the gentlemen present were urged to re-
n the past by making fresh exertions

d
had 1

into w

An arrangement

xrantee of 8 per cent was obtained according to certain
cified conditions, and the directors had obtained the

cordial co-operation of several eminent scientific gentlemen
who would form a consulting committee to investigate and
advise the directors and responsible officers of the company
nent of external form, specific gravity,

and electrical construction of the next cable, the laying of
which was to be done by contract. Mr. Wortley, after

some few introductory remarks, said

They were aware that the present direction—more
especially since its reconstruction—were not " responsible
for any of the errors which might have been committed at
the outset of the company. He was not, therefore, about
to enter into any explanation or apology with reference to
any mistakes which might have been made in the mode in
which the company was originally formed, in which officers
were engaged, or in the course taken ; but at the same tim(
he felt it would be a great injustice to those who had the
direction of affairs at that time, not
difficulties under which they laboured

.111, sacau
The field on which

was one vast and attractive in its extent

and character, but it was a field hitherto untrodden and
untried ; and so far from its being any reflection on them
that they did not succeed in all they undertook, it would
have been wonderful and unaccountable if, on the first
attempt of such an enterprise, some errors had not been
committed. Since Nov. last, however, such a course had
been taken as would prevent the recurrence of these errors,
and protect the resources of the company from any Waste
consequent on ill-adjusted and ill-advised proceedings.
With that view they had not proceeded hastily. Some
had thought them sleeping at their posts, and that they
had not been sufficiently active since the last failure of the
cable ; but the number of directors in London who had the
power of attending the board was limited, and these had
been most assiduous in their attention, and in endeavouring
to resuscitate and make prosperous this great company.
There were gentlemen even in Glasgow, he dared say, who
considered the directors had been too inactive ; but he only
begged of them to reflect upon the history of the last 18
months to be cautious of the difficulties which necessarily
presented themselves. This great enterprise, though suc-
cessful up to a certain point, had unequivocally failed ;
the Rubhc, mind was depressed, and then came the com-
mercial depression, enhanced by the alarms of war
which broke out • and they had only to look at these
facts to see the difficulties they had in endeavouring to
come before the public and induce them to assist
them. The capital originally subscribed—subscribed more
from a public spirit than from any commercial speculation
of great prospective advantage---had been spent and
exhausted, and beyond a limited sum at their credit
the directors had no capital which they could apply to
experiments or active operations. During that great
depression, it would have been most injudicious to have
come forward with any scheme, and endeavoured to raise
the necessary capital ; but now that these clouds had passed
away, and English commerce had.-shown itself elastic, they
flattered themselves that . they came at a time when they
had more' chance of enlisting public support to this great
undertaking. (Hear, hear.) It was a happy circumstance
that they had the news of the present temporary cessation,
at all events, of the unhappy war which had broken out
in Italy, and with that, and the prospect of ultimate peace
which the present suspension of hoitilities afforded, com-
merce again returned into its natural stream, and
British enterprise_ revived and resuscitated, they antici-

pated meeting with greater success now in their endea-
yours to carry out the work. Besides, if there was
any fault in being inactive, they had had the benefit
of additional experience. They had seen the operations
of other companies more favourable than themselves,

and would be able to profit by their success and
the means by which they had attained it, as well as by the
experience of their shortcomings and failures. They had
therefore, now, the advantage of great additional experience,

and- they should have less- excuse if they did not proceed
now in the right direction. As the organ of the company,
he could not but entertain the hope, if sufficient funds were
collected; that, according to the predictions of men of
science the Convictions of all practical men, and from the
knowledge possessed of electricity in 'connection with the
laying of submarine cables, this great work, whether done
to-day or to-morrow, would be accomplished in a short space
of time. Men of scientific ingenuity and practical skill had
been applying their minds, since the failure of the cable, not
only to account for this occurrence, but also to devise means

prevent its

nventiOn§-

ter invert

1 submit

to the directors

ind were still being sub-

<lifted, for the purpose of improving every element of their
enterprise and affording them safer means of accomplishing
without referring to any higher assistance, that they would
be more fortunate in respect to the season, and in the
selection of a lighter and better cable ; that they would be
favoured by the elements and by Providence, and saved
from all the injurious strains and accidents attendant on
'-st occasion. Another advantage had been that other
hinds had been set in a position to start rival com-
3, but hitherto without success. They had been
to change their plan, and to abandon the route they
,ken and adapt others. There were those, whose
he did not like to designate, who, having been
connected with the company, had done everything they
could to thwart and injure them, and had toed to devise
the means of setting on foot some new scheme which
• lmt vAnthr .;thont success: and

though, by the influence of one great organ, publicity, and
like credit, had it been given to one of these
_ there was reason to believe that, in substance,
ch a company did not exist, and if 'the present company
could command public confidence to get the necessary
capital, the other would have no chance. The directors had
not been n

designs, N

lectful of inquiring into the nature of the other
routes proposed. With reference to one of these—which
the pretended company' he had refered to spoke of, viz.,
from Land's End throun'h the Strait of Belle Isle, they had
applied to Capt. A. B. Becher, who, judging from what had
been said on the subject of the navigation of that strait by
that experienced officer, Admiral Bayfield, "thought there
)e two opinions amonm naval men, that it could

could
not

oe considered safe there from one day to another, owing
co the irregular and rocky character of its bottom, the
general current down from the northward, through the
strait, bringing numerous icebergs, the tides on each shore
keeping the ice drifting either way. All this would tend
to place a cable in perpetual danger from the ice in motion;
and then should it be fixed (which it might be occasionally),
the part where it landed would incur the additional risk of
being torn away, frozen in it, from the shore, whenever the
a pleasant prospect for shareholders ! and
more likely to happen. So that, what with ice in
ion or fixed, the current, and the tides both ways, the

depth varying suddenly from 70 to 20 fathoms, on ice and
rocks, the poor cable would have an unquiet and hard bed!"
lie urged them to "have nothing to do with it," and added
that "if they adopted the Strait of Belle Isle they would

regret some clay not having followed his advice." Another
route proposed was from John o'Groat's to the shores of
Iceland or Greenland, and on this route also they had had
the advice of Capt. Becher, who, in a letter which they had
received from him, dated at the Admiralty, 23rd June last,
said—" I perceive you are for going north about in your
present plan. Do you know what you are running against ?
I suspect fire and water in the shape of ice. You are aware
of the proximity of llecla to the south shore of Iceland, off
,ast there are some rocks (volcanic, I have no
at were all but favourable to the yacht FloWers of
when my friend, John Barrow, made a trip to that
id told us all about the extraordinary geysers of
Then, as to ice, you will have enough of it there,
"---ewell, where I can hardly suppose it can be
er earnestness to take an electric cable—a
lity which I apprehend is rather fitted
medium temperature of quietness, and neither

be disturbed and bruised by travelling ice, nor
armed to an undue temperature by volcanic emissions
ch as that which I mentioned to you of the Azores, or
hich, I suspect, has affected the Malta and Cagliari cable.

D the crows—" Don't go Mere :" You will be
do ! I need not tell you how beset are those
,lond and Greenland with is for many months

there. So, after all, I
nest." The opinions of

)rities h

Ito the same effect. Yet
zliblv by person who had