The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-01 00:00:00

risk. The result of all this has been the loss 0:

hundreds of lives and millions worth of property.
As a matter of economy it is obvious that the
underwriters of LLOYD'S should do something, and
we are glad to learn that their eyes are at length
opened to the fact that their own interests as well
as those of hamanity are involved in the question
whether ships shall in future go to sea efficiently,
equipped or no. Last Thursday a number of scien-
tific gentlemen, at the Proving-house of LLOYD'S
committee, in the New-road, Poplar, met for the
purpose of witnessing the mode designed by Mr.
T. M. GLADSTONE, C.F., of testing the merits of
chain cables and anchors. This Proving-house was
erected last year, under the direction of this gen-
tlemen, the engineer to the Committee of LLOYD'S;

its ostensible object being to enable the owners ct
vessels who require certificates of the efficiency of
their anchors and cables to obtain them readily.
They have, therefore, made arrangements for prov-
ing all chains and anchors brought to the Proving-
house, and arrangements are now being made with
a view to the construction of similar houses at the
principal seaports. The establishment at Poplar is
about 500 feet in length, and a chain cable of 75
fathoms can be proved in one operation, whereas
formerly it was necessary to test- it in sections of
12 to 15 fathoms, a tedious and less satisfactory
process. Mr. GLADSTONE deserves great credit for
his tegenuity, and for the thorough and scientific
manner in which all the details of the work are
carried out. By the use of a travelling crane of
peculiar construction, styled the "Dromedary," all
the work is performed in a few minutes, but little
manual labour being required. Thus far the work
has progressed satisfactorily. It yet remains for
commercial enterprise and sagacity to enact and
enforce laws for the protection of life and property,
which hitherto the House of Commons has been too
indolent or too indifferent to enter on the statute-
book. Let it be once clearly enunciated by in,

surance companies that the production of a test
certificate is a me qua non before a claim for in-
demnity can be entertained, and let this rule be

strictly enforced, and the employes at the Proving-
houses will soon have plenty of work on their hands,
and the strength of Mr. GLADSTONE'S dromedaries
will be tested more severely than ever were those

of their namesakes on the sands of Egypt. Life
and property will be more secure in our coasters,
and the wives and sweethearts of our small traders
and sailors will not run so great a risk of bidding
them a long farewell when they leave port on a
few days' voyage,

All great discoveries and inventions, especially
those from which large profits may be derived, are
for a long period retarded in their deve;opment,
both by factious opposition and by the obstinacy of
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terest may be best served by the application of
only a certain portion of it. It is not to be sup-
posed that the electric telegraph has escaped this
trial any more than other great discoveries. As
regards the lines of communication which traverse
all parts of the civilised globe, the competition of so
many electricians, extended as it hos been over so
vast a field, has resulted in the great improvement

and simplification of electric telegraphs. We wish
we could say the same regarding the submarine
telegraphs. Money has not been wanting to carry
out these undertakings on a large scale. Fortune
seemed to favour such enterprises; for just when
doubts were being raised as to what substance
would serve as an insulator, and yet resist the strain
and wear and tear to which a marine cable would
be subjected, Nature solved the difficulty, and gotta
percha became at once an article of commerce, and
was generally adopted for marine telegraphs. Yet
since the first attempt of the kind, undertaken
Within a comparatively recent period, to lay down
a connecting link between England and France,
which, although a failure in the first instance, was
shortly
afterwards successfully accomplished, but

little progress has been made in developing the
efficacy of electric currents,under advantageous ar-
rangments, to transmit intelligence along the bed of
the ocean. Great difficulties have no doubt been
experienced by electricians and engineers in pur-
suing this complex and novel subject, but we cannot
shut our eyes to the fact that progress hasbeen greatly
retarded by petty jealousies and sordid motives.
In too many cases private interest has carried the
day, to the detriment of the general public. Where
many projects and plans are started, all cannot be
right, and some will do doubt be found wanting.
We therefore think that, in justice to proprietors
(to say nothing of th© public), engineers and direc-

quisitor saying to the heretic, The truth or death,'
is as odious to me as the French terrorist saying to
my grandfather, itberty, fraternity, or death.'
(Acclamations.) The human conscience has the right
to insist that those hideous alternatives shall never
again be presented to it. (Fresh applause.)'' And
whose heart is there amongst us here in England,
that is not moved to its innermost depths by these
penetrating and most persuasive accents, that will
not thrill as with the reverberation of the
plaudits extorted by the utterance of those
words, extorted by the genius of the great orator
who uttered them to the four thousand fellow-
mortals assembled together to hear them only a few
days since in the old Belgian city of Malines?
Such as they are, those eloquent words, those pene-
trating accents, those beautiful and beneficent
utterances, we commend them to the attention of
all alike, no matter what their creed or country,
their prejudices or their predilections.

We are happy to see that the effort made by Mr.
LAIRD, last session, to introduce a bill to render it
compulsory on shipowners to supply their vessels
with proved cables and anchors has not been with-
out fruit. It is true that from the factious opposi-
tion of wealthy and interested individuals the bill
was so mutilated that Mr. LAIRD very properly
withdrew it, expressing, at the same time, his inten-
tion of introducing a similar one next session, but the
ventilation given to the subject by thel debate in
question has aroused the dormant energies of the
committee of LLOYD'S. They have at length done
what we have pressed on them, time after time, and
taken the matter into their own hands. Life and Fire
Insurance Companies require certain stipulated rules
to be observed, otherwise the policies are null and
void. When a steam engine is on the premises in-
sured, if flooring, or rather combustible material be
erected in too close proximity to the furnace, the
office is not held responsible for the loss sustained
in case of fire. Why should not Marine Insurance
Companies act on the same principle with regard
to anchors and cables ? The first step in the right
direction has now been taken. Heretofore, while
the Government, the India Board, and the Emigra-
tion Commissioners refused to charter any vessel
unless a certificate were produced showing that the
anchors and cables had been tested up to the Admi-
ralty proof, merchant vessels have been allowed
to proceed to sea, fully insured, with defective and
worn-out cables, a fact of which owners, crew, and
captain were alike cognisant. The owners had
nothing to fear, as in many cases a loss might prove
a gain. The captain and crew hcd no voice in the
matter, they had only the alternative of sailing in
the ship as she was, or of giving place to others,
less particular, who were willing to run the