The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-02 00:00:00

SUBMARINE TELLTGRAPH COMPANY.

If all the myths of the old poets were reaiz d to-
' morrow, not ono of them would stand a chance with the
hard practical realities of the electric telegraph. The
boldest story-teller of Romo or Greece never dreamt of
annihilating time and space, oven for the express pur-
pose of making two lovers happy ; and the most extra_
vagant metamorphose ever imagined by Ovid might have
been readily believed a century ago by the sternest
philosopher of the age, if he could first have been made
to swallow and accredit the prophecy, that his descen-
dants could walk down to Cornhill and receive a reply to
a message to Paris in a minute. The celebrated Hiber-
nian bird, which contrived to exist in the flesh in two
places at once, must have encountered difficulties to which
the magnetic current is a stranger ; and, except that
ornithological phenomenon, of which no specimens at
present exist, there is certainly in art or in nature no-
thing more wonderful ;him this mastery, which man, by
the aid of a few plates of metal, some acid and wire, has
obtained over the subtle fluid, the effects of which are as
patent and striking as its source is mysterious. The
electric flesh—the type of all that is swift and destructive
in the elements—is here chained to the car of commerce,
or wielded by curiosity or caprice. The message flies
" ere one can say It lightens.'" The electric fire is
bottled up in little wooden cases with brass knockers and
screws, or is served out at will from oblong jars under
the counter, moulding itself into the inflections of every
language, and adapting itself to the exigencies of every
thought, and beating that old but remarkably fast person
—Old Time—hollow, whenever the race is long enough.
There are some dissatisfied people who wish they had
been born a little later—they want to see the full deve-
lopment, they say, of the twin giants steam and electri-
city—to listen to the first announcement of the great dis-
cover who shall pierce the darkness that hangs over the
birth-place of those family connections whose exact re-
lationship they as yet know not, and proclaim the parent-
age of Light and Heat, and lightning in its varied forms.
It is privilege enough for us to live in an age when,
science having ceased to be empirical and impious, de-
votes itself to the practical wants of man, and, astonished
at its success, confesses still how little it knows of its
future, without our grudging to those who may come
after the traits of its more matured enterprise and ex-
periment. There were many persons present yesterday
at the opening of the direct telegraphic route between
Cornhill and Paris, and yet there were comparatively
few of them who could not remember the starting of the
first seagoing steamer—but some, perhaps, who could
not recollect the inauguration of the first railway, and
not one who might not be able to call to mind the
time when Faraday first compelled the sly spark to
twinkle forth from the reluctant magnet. The interest
attached to the proceedings yesterday arose from the
circumstance that, though a telegraphic communication
has existed for some time between London and Paris, by
means of the submarine electric telegraph in connexion
with the wires on the Dover line and those on the
Northern of France, yet that this was the first attempt
to speak direct to Paris from Cornhill by the wires of
the Submarine Telegraph Company, and the European
and American Telegraph Company, which have laid
down a line of wires along the mailcoach road from
London to Dover, where it is connected with the sub-
marine cable, and thence is brought into communication
with the French line to Paris. The Submarine Tele-
graph Company originated in a concession gained from
the French Government, chiefly through the exertions
of Mr. Brett, and which was granted in 1849, to last for
ten years, ou condition that it was carried out at
the end of October, 1852. It will be recollected
that an experimental insulated wire was laid down
across the Channel to test the practicability of
the scheme, which answered the purpose and
proved the thing was feasible, though destroyed
a few hours afterwards. Thereupon the company ap-
plied to the public for money, but without effect, and
several capitalists, who were asked for funds, also re-
fused. Mr. Crampton, the well-known engineer, whose
locomotive obtained the Council medal at the Great Ex-
hibition, then undertook to carry out the project, in do-
ing which he risked not only his professional reputation,
but incurred the chief pecuniary responsibility. Trio
line was successfully laid duwn in time to save the con-
cession. It has stood for a year, without the slightest
deterioration, the action of sea-water, the storms of the
Channel, the tides and currents, and even the purchase
of a ship's anchor dragged across it in a gale of wind.
Mr. Crampton was assisted in the undertaking by Mr.
Wollaston, the other engineer of the company, and the
triumphant success of this first attempt may be the more
readily appreciated, when it is remembered that three
distinct endeavours have since been made to lay down
wires across the Irish Channel, all of which have
failed. Two of these have been complete failures, and
the third project is still in so imperfect a state that its
ultimate efficiency is at least problematical. Mr. Brett
was the contractor for the line from London to Dover,
Mr. Crampton (with Mr. Wollaston) being the engi-
neer, and Mr. F. Edwards, one of the directors of the
company, and Messrs. Davis and Campbell, solicitors,
carried out all the business arrangements in connexion
with the undertaking. At 1 o'clock the offices of the
company, at 30, Cornhill, were thrown open to all who
took an interest in the proceedings. A great number of
persons looked in during the day, which was " close"
holyday on the Stock Exchange and on the Paris
Bourse. Among them were Lord de Manley, Mr. Mas-
terman, M.P., Mr. Samuel Laing, M.P., Earl Cadogan,
Mr. Chaplin, M.P., Count de Flahault, Baron Kuhn,
Count Strelccki, C. 8., Mr. E. Bunsen, Mr. Samuel Gur-
ney, Sir James Weir Hogg, Bart. (Chairman of the East
India Company), the Astronomer Royal, the Hon. F.
Byng, the Hon. Colonel Dawson Darner, Chevalier Col-
quhoun, Sir James Carmichael, Bart., the Hon. F. Cado-
gan, Mr. John Greene, M.P., Mr. W. Gladstone, Sir
Claude Scott, Bart., Mr. J. R. Tuffnell, Mr. Charles
Knight, Chevalier Hebeler, Mr. Baring, Mr. C. Klin-
glerman, the lion. E. Canard (Member of the New
Brunswick Provincial Assembly), Colonel Morse Cooper
Captain Douglas Galton, R. E., Colonel Chauncey, Ma-
jor Carmichael Smith, Mr. Crampton (engineer), Mr.
Davies, Mr. Campbell, &c.
On going upstairs into the instrument-room, at one
o'cloek, we found the French machine, invented by
Brequet, whose name is so well known here, at work, in
direct communication with Paris. The appearance of
the instrument is attractive; instead of the dials, with
double needles, now so famiiar to most of us in the or-
dinary" speaking" part of the electric telegraph, there
is a small black arm working in jerks from the centre of
a white dial, so as to describe angles of 46 and 96 deg.,
with a fixed vertical line passing through the centre,
performing, in fact, the action which any one walking
past tho Admiralty might have seen in full play when
the semaphore on the top was at work. The motion of
the handle which governs the electric current, and the
motion of the arm are necessarily rotatory also, and the
little arm moves round very quickly, indicating the let-
ters by the various angles it forms with the centre line.
The reason why this system was employed reflects
some credit on the French Government. It is well
known that the semaphore system was very exten-
sively used in France, and, as the electric wires dis-
placed these comparatively slow means of communica-
tion, the Government, anxious that the ern/e'en& under
the old plan should not be thrown out of work, and that
their skill and experience should be made subservient to
the uses of the State, adopted this rotating arm on the
dials of the telegraphs, which perform in petto all the
motions of the old semaphores or signal-posts with arms.
The French Government had sent over this machine
under the care of MM. Guichon and Deshayes, being,
en doubt, pardonably jealous of the reputation of France
in such matters, and anxious that their own plan should
he adopted on the new lino as it prevails from Calais to
Paris and all over France ; but whether it was from the
unfavourable character of the weather or some other
cause—the extreme delicacy of the apparatus, and the
difficulty of obtaining the proper balance of power for it
were suggested as a likely one—it did not seem very
successful. Indeed, the French gentleman in charge of
it said that the very perfect insulation of the submarine
cable was against them, for it returned the current
in the wire. It is also to be observed that this machine
was worked by a very large galvanic combination,
consisting, apparently, of 25 or 30 batteries of 12 plates
each. Several communications took place by this appa-
ratus ; but the working of it was said not to be so satis-
factory as that of Wheatstone's. A wire having been
secured for the ordinary double needle telegraph, after
the exchange of some preliminary talk, the following
message was received almost instantaneously after the
announcement that the communication was completely
in working order, by means of the French machine, from
Paris to London :—" M. Foy (Director-General of
French Telegraphs) presents his compliments to the
Hon. F. Cadogan."
Shortly afterwards a message was received, "Foggy
in Paris.
A message was transmitted from London to Paris,
4. Strangers ere visiting the London office. Please send
a few words."
The answer was " Wait."
After some further experiments, the following message
was received from Paris :—" This day is very unfavour-
able for transmission between London and Paris. The
atmosphere is very damp. We are to try a double-
needle instrument in direct communication between
Paris and London."
At 10 minutes past 2 (London time) the question was
asked of Paris, " What time is it ?"
The answer was, "2.10 p.m."
An inquiry was then sent to Arras, 120 miles from
Calais, as to the state of the weather.
The answer, received immediately,
and dull." was, " Overcast
Inquiry was made of the name of the transmitting
clerk. The reply was, " Brassard."
Several other messages were senttirndesantsowleegrsrarpecheiwveads
during the day, and when Wheatns
brought into play the action on
of
fe
cownifruessionseetmooekd
somewhat better. A good
in
such a day of preli-
minary as was veil' the various
minary experimentalnizaitnuga_between.
ma-
chines, and we are scarcely sure if the statement is
correct, that Wheatstone's telegraph had a wire to
itself, while ft is
quite
_certain that a great deal of
speaking went on
with Calais to obtain a separate wire,
'
not only for that teleeraph, but for Brett 'e printing tele-
graph,
which was also in op
oerattio.h. Early in the day
the following message was sent Paris. It will be seen
the directors of the company have been the first body in
this country to acknowledge the Empire ;
h The directors of the Submarine Telegraph Company
beg leave to approach his Highness the Prince President
with the expression of their best thanks for the assist-
ance which ho has uniformly given towards the estab-
lishment of this instantaneous means of communication
between France and Great Britain.
h May this wonderful invention serve under the Em-
pire to promote the peace and prosperity of the world.
" Dated Ist November, 1852, 30
Up to midnight the president had, Cornhill,
notsent Lndn"
o o.
any reply,