The Sun.
London, England, 1865-08-18 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVEMNG, AUGUST 18, 1865.

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 18, 1865.

The return of the Great Eastern has at length
set finally at rest the various conjectures and

anxieties to which the mysterious stoppr ge of tele-
graphic communication had given rise. The news

of the breakage of the cable can hardly be said to

have occasioned any disappointment, since it had
become palpably evident that some failure had oc-
curred, but the particulars which the Great Eastern
has now conveyed to us are calculated to encourage
rather than to depress the hopes of ultimate success.
The feasibility of laying a submarine cable across
the Atlantic may now be considered to be fully
established, the very difficulties and hindrances
which have been encountered showing that the
obstacles are by no means insurmountable. The
great ship was actually within six hundred miles of
her destination; that is to say, having accomplished
in safety two-thirds of her momentous voyage. The
experience of the trip has been highly satisfactory
in several important particulars. In the first place,
there can be no doubt that the Great Eastern is
admirably qualified for the office of laying the cable
from her size and consequent steadiness. In a sea
which washed over the Terrible scarcely any motion
was perceptible on board the Great Eastern, her
greatest roll being only 71 degrees to her greatest
pitching, 1 to 11 degrees. The unanimous opinion
of those engaged in the expedition is that, having
to this steadiness of the great ship and the better
control obtained over her by the use of both the
paddles and the screw, it is possible to lay an At-
lantic Cable in any weather. This is very encour-
aging, and the general approval of the Cable itself
and of the paying-out machinery is not less so.
The story of the catastrophe is very simple ; and
although the expedition has resulted in comparative
failure, it does not the less reflect honour on those
who had the management of it. Every one remem-
bers that the very day after the Great Eastern was
lost sight of came a stoppage of the communications,
which was subsequently explained as having re-
sulted from the perforation of the gutta, percha
by a piece of wire cut off in the splicing. A day
and a half was lost in recovering the necessary
length and cuttings and the part affected. For
four days and a half there was no further diffi-
culty ; but another defect in the insulation,
again occasioned by a piece of intruding
wire, arrested the progress of the vessel
once more. It was again rectified, though it is
worthy of notice as evidencing the extreme diffi-
culty of hauling in the cable from such a depth,
that it took nineteen hours to recover the part
affected, though it was only two miles and a quarter
from the ship. Four days passed, and, as we have
have said, the vessel had only a third of her journey
to accomplish when the last disaster occurred. The
hauling in of the cable was begun again, and two
miles of the cable were recovered, which, however,
was no more than the distance from the ship to the
bottom. Unfortunately, the cable in coming in
chafed on the hawse-hole of the ship, and broke
about ten yards in board of the wheel at the bow.
It seems the more to be regretted, as the damage
was inside the ship, that the loss of the cable could
not have been prevented, but the original flaw was
still at the bottom of the Atlantic. The managers
of the expedition, however, were not going to be
daunted even by the loss of the cable, and accordingly
they made repeated efforts to recover it. The cable
was hooked on the 3d, the accident havinghoacucluedrreidn
on the 2d, and 2,200 yards of rope were
when a swivel gave way and 2,800 yards of rope
were lost. A second attempt produced the same
result, but both efforts proved the possibility of re-
covering the cable, since on the first occasion it was
lifted 1,200 yards, and on the second 1,000. Two
more attempts were made by the persevering engi-
neers, but in vain, and the stock of rope becoming
exhausted they were obliged, unwillingly, to aban-
don further efforts, and to return for a larger and
stronger supply of tackle. Those engaged in the
affair declare their belief that if the Great Eastern is
supplied with sufficiently strong tackle and hauling-
in machinery for depths of 4,000 or 5,000 yards, there
is little doubt of the possibility of recovering the
lost end of the cable, and completing the line al-
ready two-thirds laid.
We have now to consider what precautions it
may be desirable to take to guard against future
misadventure. In the first place, we should strongly
recommend the careful inspection of all cable now
on board the Great Eastern. It should be over-
hauled scrutinisingly foot by foot, that any defects
or injuries may be detected before it is paid out.
The p:evious flawa .7erc, evidently in the cable
ssheu it was laid, and the first piece of wire

was said to have been forced into the gutty
percha by the weight of the coil as it lay in
the tank. Again, in hauling in the rope, it would
surely be possible to provide nippers outside the
ship, so that in case of another breakage the cable
may not be lost. It was a great pity that some such
precaution was not taken on the previous occasion,
since the choping of the rope must, one would
think, have been perceptible on board, and the pro-
bability of its snapping must have occurred to them.
The Great Eastern should have been provided with
better tackle with a view to possible contingencies,
and, in fact, the whole of the disaster is traceable
to what may be termed unnecessary causes. The
failure at any rate was not owing to wind or weather
or to any inherent obstacle in the nature of the task.
In any case, we strongly recommend the careful
overhauling of the remainder of the line ; and as
the experience of this voyage has shown those con-
cerned what are likely to be the risks and require-
ments of the expedition, they will be able to provide
against them before starting. The company has
shown no signs of discouragement, and the public
generally will learn with great satisfaction that
their confidence in the ultimate success of the At-
lantic Cable is warranted rather than contradicted
by the story of the recent expedition.

A letter has been addressed to the Commissioners
of Customs by ARTHUR HELPS, for the purpose of
enforcing the provisions of the Order in Council for
the prevention of importing " diseased cattle." In
this he informs the Commissioners that it is deemed
advisable to suspend the authority previously con-
veyed concerning the relaxation of the regulations
of admitting and examining foreign cattle. Mr.

HELPS desires that the necessary orders be given to
the various persons in authority to insure the " rigid
enforcement of the provisions against the admission
of diseased cattle contained in the above-men-
tioned Order in Council." These precautions are
wise and necessary, but there is doubtless much
to guard against at home and abroad. Mr.
PARNELL has written a letter on this subject,
in which he states some curious facts that will
interest many. It appears from his communications
that he attended a case in 1863, which had all the
appearance and symptoms of the present disease,
and the case was fatal in a few days. Another
case occurred last year, which was also fatal ; and
a third case is also mentioned as falling in last
September, in which the cow lived six days. In
each of these cases "the symptoms were the same.
These particulars may show—" Whether the disease
in question has been brought from Russia in the
first onset, or whether it is infectious or contagious,
also whether it is possible for it to generate in
England." The writer of this letter declares that
the animals referred to had never been within
a hundred miles of any docks where foreign cattle
are unloaded, and, indeed, not near any foreign
cattle at all. In conclusion, he gives it as his opinion
that the bovine tribe " has specific diseases" of its
own, as well as other tribes, and that peculiar in-
fluences induce them to appear. When it is con-
sidered that this summer has been very hot and op-
pressive for cattle, and particularly unfortunate for
cows in London sheds, it may be questioned whe-
ther such a disease as this cattle plague may not be
generated in this country as well as in foreign lands.
These remarks are worthy of attentive considera-
tion, and it must be admitted, at any rate, that peo-
ple have not done their ',utmost to prevent such a
calamity occurring by due care and the exercise of
proper caution. It is to be feared that many of
those who have the charge of animals do not per-
form their duties in an efficient manner. What with
their desire to make money and their unwilling,ness
to exert themselves, they go on from bad to worse,
and the consequences of their neglect entail many
serious evils upon the community at large. If there
be no decided disease in the foreign cattle at the
time they are bought, the manner in which they are
treated is sufficient to occasion all kinds of complaints
before they arc brought to the markets for human
food. It is not too much to expect that after all the
astounding revelations that have been made we
may witness a better course adopted in future. It
would be well if inspectors could often visit many
places, besides merely examining the cattle brought
over from foreign tracts ; but as there is now ample
opportunity afforded for inquiry and investigation,
it will be very hard if much valuable information
is not derived. So far the calamity at present,
causing such anxiety, may prove of eventual service
and ultimate benefit ; but in order to realise as
much good as possible from the evil, it will be
necessary for persons to make the affair a common
cause, and not allow prejudices or ignorant assump-
tion to prevail.

It is very evident that much of a faulty character
exists in the management of our cattle, and the
sooner those entrusted with their management will
learn their duties more effectually the better.
Another important thing to be observed is that
people have a tendency to hush up awkward affairs,
and in their anxiety to conceal any disease that
has occurred they prevent the proper steps being
taken in time, by which preventive measures can
stem the tide, and check the fatal spread of infec-
If there was more knowledge about con-
cerning the sanitary laws, and health and disease
were not quite secondary in many minds to
individual advantage and commercial gains, much
more might be done. Meetings are constantly tak-
ing place over the country, in order to consider the
best means of preventing the spread of the evil.
At Bristol Sir W. MILES made some very pertinent
observations, which are most deserving of considera-
tion. With respect to the order in Council, he
said that it gave no power until the disease was at
our doors, and that it would be better to pass a re-
solution to the effect that it was necessary to pre-
vent the spread of the evil, and another resolution
that the Mayor should have the power to appoint an
inspector to examine, put by, and slaughter every
beast that he considered infected. The truth conveyed
in this passage cannot be too fully recognised. " There
must be no flinching about it, all private ends must
give give way to the public advantage." Nothing
will Serve to extricate us from the confusion into
which we are now plunged, and avert the serious
losses and dangers which threaten, but unanimous
efforts being made, and it is very conducive to these
ends that the resolutions previously referred to have
been adopted, and they have been forwarded to the
Secretary of State for the ll3me Department. It
is to be trusted that Sir Sir G. GREY will pay heed
to them, and take the necessary steps to give
them force. It stands to reason that the
most speedy measures in the matter will
be the most effectual, and indeed it is
only surprising that this suggestion of Sir W.
MILES should not have occurred to any one in
authority before now. Partial measures can never
suffice when the evil has extended so far, and it is
high time that all should be done that can be done.
Doubtless had half the care and thought been given
to the subject that are now lavished upon it some
time since, long before this we should be quite free
from the disease. Dr. BL'DD, of Clapton, stated an
important fact, that cannot be too much considered
cr acted upon, which waz that all i.:.fecto.J. ar.i.naalz
should be Main and buried at once siz feet deep, as

tion.

the infected animals are the source of the poison,
and cannot be put away too soon or too effectually
to prevent evil consequences.

The Cattle Plague and the Turkish Bath.

The following extracts from the supplement to
Sir John Fife's Manual of the Turkish Bath, en-
titled " The Bath in the Farm," will be read with
particular interest now during the distressing pre-
valence of the murrain popularly known as the
Cattle Plague :

" Tho bath commends itself to every farmer on six
several grounds :
" 1. Cure of sickness in cattle, sheep, and pigs.
" 2. Saving of mortality in young stock.
" 3. Fortifying the horses engaged in ploughing and
draught.
"4. Increasing flesh and milk.
" 5. Increasing the productiveness of stock.
"6. Collateral advantages :—Drying harness, clothes,
saving damaged grain and seeds, saving of sickness to farm
servants, and also to the farmer himself and his family."

" Cows—lf only for the cure of one disease—distemper
—this subject demands the attention of every stock owner
in the country.

" Lord Kinnaird's experiments on distemper in cattle are
so conclusive that I shall quote a report from the Scottish
Farmer,' Sept. 1862 :
" Lord Kinnaird's Bath at Millhill, designed for t
treatment of cattle, is largely made use of by the people i
the neighbourhood. The curative properties of the bat
have already been demonstrated in a marked manner in the
case of several calves suffering from scour, &c.; but still
more wonderful is the influence it has had upon two
or three feeding stots affected with pleuro-pneumonia.
Out of three patients, two that we saw have every
appearance of progressing towards perfect health. They
eat well, walk about with seeming comfort and ease,
the cough has lost its nasty metallic sound, the dis-
charge from the nose is stopped, they are no more hide-
bound, and their coat has no longer the staring aspect of
disease. The third patient, a larger animal than the other
two, is not yet so far recovered, but the beast is a great
deal better than it was. The heat required to produce a
favourable impression in cases of pleuro needs to be very
great—up to 200 to 212 degrees—boiling point, in fact.
At a loss temperature the curative effect was not very
visible. In other diseases, less dangerous, but, if neglected,
hardly less fatal, the bath has been found a perfect cure.
It can be erected and carried on at a comparatively trifling
cost—one that, wo think, would repay largo stock owners
to expend.'
" Dysentery among dairy stock, so injurious to their
milking, yields readily to heat. On the fourth day after
the beginning of an attack I have frequently had cows
back to their full milk.

" Heat in the skin and loss of appetite are got over the
day they appear. _ _

" Hardness in the udder, and stoppage of the teat, are
thought little of here. These diseases require careful
shampooing.
"I have never had a fully developed case of 'black
quarter' since the bath has been built. Before that I lost
several fine calves by this disorder.
"In swelling of the head in calves we have found it
most effectual."

The Late Mr. Parkes.

The remains of the late Mr. Joseph Parkes, of
whom a brief notice appeared in our impression of
Saturday last, were yesterday, at 12 o'clock, interred
in the cemetery at Kensal-green. The funeral was
of quite a private character, and was attended only
by two mourning coaches, containing the immediate
relatives and friends of the deceased gentleman.
The Rev. Mr. Ham read the burial service, and the
coffin was then placed in one of the catacombs of
the cemetery, where it is to rest for the present. The
illness of which Mr. Parkes died was congestion of
the lungs, from which he had been suffering for
about a fortnight previous to its fatal termination
last Friday evening. He was in his 70th year, and
for more than half his long and useful life he had
devoted himself to politics with a zeal which ad-
mitted of no flagging, but which was always tem-
pered by a sound judgment. Ir. early manhood,
while practising as a solicitor in Birmingham, he be-
came a member of the Birmingham Political Union,
whose action in the fierce struggle for Iteformhe felt
it to be his duty at times rather to restrain than to
stimulate. While as eager as any man could be in
his advocacy of Liberal principles, he never suffered
himself to be betrayed into taking any rash step
with a view to promote them. This mixture of
earnestness and sagacity soon recommended him to
the notice of the great leaders of the Liberal party,
and when, immediately after the passing of the
Reform Bill, he settled in London feelings of the
warmest personal regard were added to those arising
out of mere political relationship. Mr. Parkes was
the confidential friend and adviser of Lord Mel-
bourne. To the late Lord Durham he was attached
by the ties of a close intimacy. With Lord Brougham
he was, up to the day of his death, on terms of fre-
quent and unreserved communication. Indeed,
there was scarcely a man of eminence on the Libe-
ral side of politics during the last 35 years, of whose
friendship he could not boast and whose esteem he
did not secure. It would be strange if it were other-
wise, for he brought to the common cause a single-
ness of purpose, a frankness of manner, a knowledge
and ability which could scarcely fail to win regard.
But it was not only by the members of his own party
that he was held in high estimation. His good sense
and wise moderation caused him to be respected
equally by those to whom in politics he had always
been unflinchingly opposed. He could count the
late Lord Lyndhurst, the strenuous opponent of
Reform, as well as Lord Brougham, its early advo-
cate, among the number of his friends. The posi-
tion which Mr. Parkes achieved for himself in the
ranks of the Liberal party was mainly the result of
his disinterestedness and the unselfishness of his
devotion to the principles which he espoused. While
others shared among them the honour and rewards
consequent upon success, he was content to remain
unknown to the general public, satisfied with the con-
sciousness that he had done everything in his power
to contribute to the victory. He, however, reaped
a rich reward in the trust and respect by which he
was on all sides surrounded.

In his own profession Mr. Parkes had at one
time a very lucrative practice as a Parliamentary
agent, but, owing chiefly to the death of his
only son, and the impaired state of his own
health, he gave it up in 1847, and accepted the
office of Taxing Master in Chancery, which he held
up to the time of his death. In the comparative
leisure which he now enjoyed he devoted himself
to those literary pursuits in which he had always
taken delight, and which he at no period of
his life completely neglected. In his well-chosen
library in Wimpole-street the hours not demanded
by the duties of his office or the claims of his party
were cheerfully passed in adding to the information
which he had already acquired. There he had for
the last seven or eight years been engaged in writing
a " Life of Sir Philip Francis," a work for which he
had been furnished with ample materials by the
Francis family, but which unhappily he did not live
to complete. In this work he would have sought
to exhibit Sir Francis to the world in the light of a
precursor of the great Reform movement, while in
the famous controversy as to the authorship of the
" Letters of Junius" he would be found on the side
of Lord Brougham, Lord Campbell, Lord Stanhope,
and Lord Macaulay, his conviction being that proofs
could be adduced from the papers placed in his
hands which would settle the question beyond all
dispute in favour of Sir Philip Francis.
In private life Mr. Parkes was distinguished for
the unusual warmth and kindliness of his disposi-
tion. To young men starting in the world and seek-
ing to make their way in his own, or indeed in any,
profession, he was ever ready, not only to speak
words Of encouragement and advice, but to lend
assistance in a more substantial form. It is not to
be wondered, then, that possessing as he did so many
rare qualities both of head and heart, his death should
be so deeply and so generally regretted. Mr. Parkes
has left a widow and a daughter, Miss Jessie Parkes,
whose name is already favourably known to the
public as a writer on social subjects.—Times.

THE LATE KING OF DENIIARK.--The Countess
Danner, morganatically married to the late King Frederic
VII. of Denmark, has just causd a monument to be erected
near the Chateau of Jacgerspruss, destined to perpetuate
the memory of that Sovereign. It is a marble bust placed
on a granite column above five metres high; on the base
is lic, following inscription :—"My force is in the affec-
tion of nay people. Oct. 6,1848.—N0v. 15, 1861"

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

LITERATURE.

Her Majesty's Mails; being a History of the Post-
Office. By William Lewina. One vol., pp. 839.
Second edition. Sampson Low, Son, and Mar-
ston.
A single twelvemonth has sufficed to bring Mr.
Lewins' History of the Post-Office to its second
edition. It is an honour to which the work, even
in its original form, was eminently well entitled.
Revised, corrected, and enlarged as the book has
been, however, by its painstaking and ingenious
author, prior to its appearance in the shape of this
elegant re-issue, it is especially welcome to us as an
authoritative republication. A considerable portion
of the work appears to have been entirely re-written.
Its accuracy as a record of the rise, development,
and general re-organisation of the whole of the
now gigantic and complex Postal System of
the United Kingdom and its world-wide
dependencies, has, above all things, been
cared for by the author or compiler with
the most scrupulous, and even, it might be said,
the most conscientious attention. Inscribed to
Lord Brougham—embellished by way of most ap-
propriate frontispiece with a photographic likeness
of Sir Rowland Hill—beautifully got-up even in
the tooling and gilding of its bevilled binding of
imitation-scarlet-morocco—exquisitely printed and
elaborately indexed : the work is entitled to take
its place now among the recognised authorities as
to the growth of our national institutions upon
the bookshelves of every lettered Englishman. "The
History of the Post-office" has been defined even in
the Encyclopxdia Britannica as a history of national
and international benefactions." And that history
within a history has been here related by Mr. Lewins
with all the minuteness, but with none of the dull-
ness, of a Parliamentary blue-boOk. The record, as
it will be found to have been thus penned by him,
has about it much of the interest of that most mar-
vellous of all kinds of romance, the romance of
reality. For, in simplest truth, is not that romance
of reality of all romances the most marvellous ? Let
an answer to this be given by a merely passing
reference to a very few among the actual achieve-
ments of modern science ! The Steam Engine—that
fiery dragon of the fairy-tales chained to our cars of
commerce and pleasure ! The Railway Ticket—better
than the Persian Carpet of the Arabian story-teller !
Photography—that magic mirror reflecting land-
scapes, battle-fields, street-views, the " human face
divine," and reflecting them permanently ! The
Electric Telegraph—enabling us, when hundreds of
miles apart from one another, to talk together, under
the depths of the sea, across kingdoms, across con-
tinents, through the thrill of an acid, through the
core of a wire, through the click of a needle !
Spectrum Analysis, again—that most marvellous
agency (born of the combination of some
among the subtler laws of optics and chemistry)
whereby we are enabled through the filmy
streak of a star-beam, scanned through the disc
of a microscope, to recognise the geological
formation of a fixed-star—the existence say of
iron in the material substance of an orb so remote
from this earth of ours as to be visible to us merely
as a flickering dot in infinitude ! Socially, no less
than scientifically, the changes wrought amongst
us of late years, within the first half of this present
century, justify us, quite as unmistakably, in defining
the romance of reality as in very truth the most
marvellous of all romances. And no distincter
evidence of this need anywhere be looked for than
the one here found ready to hand, by way of instant
illustration, in these pages of Mr. Lewins. They
are pages that go far towards filling up those "gaps
in the literature of social history" of which their au-
thor appears to have been conscious-- as not unworthy
of being filled up--before adventuring upon their
composition. Until the appearance of the first edi-
tion of his work last year, nothing whatever had
been attempted towards the recording of the
history of the Post-office, beyond the contri-
bution of a paper upon the subject by
Mr. Edward Edwards to the eighth edition of
the " Encyclopaedia Britannica," lof another paper
by Mr. Matthew Davenport llill to "Fraser's Maga-
zine," and of yet another, jointly written, we believe,
by Mr. Charles Dickens and Mr. H. W. Wills, in
the very first number of " Household Words." In
April of last year came from the press the "His-
tory of the Post Office," by Mr. William Lewins,
of the Post-office. Another year has now brought
us this second edition of the work—revised, cor-
rected, enlarged, and partly rewritten, as
already remarked. Errors of fact have been
carefully weeded out, or eliminated. Omissions
have been made good. Additions, here and there
of considerable value and importance, have been
very judiciously and very adroitly interpolated.
The history, as a history, is now as good as one
could well wish it to be. Mr. Lewins himself
modestly affects to regard it as merely precursory
to some more elaborate and lengthy compilation.
But to our fancy it is as full and comprehensive as
the most insatiable glutton of facts, dates, statistics,
could rationally desire. It begins with the
very beginning and carries the record of the sys-
tem that has thus grown up—at first little by little,
but latterly, one might far rather say, much by
much—to the actual state of things as they are
now in the great establishment at St. Martin's-le-
Grand. Passing over the first letter upon record
—conscientiously referred to, as such, by our author
in the very first number of the opening chapter of
Ilia History—passing over, that is to say, David's
letter to Joab sent by the hands of Uriah
the Hittite—beginning simply with our own
beginning, somewhere about the fifteenth cen-
tury, we come, even at the commencement of
the eighteenth, to the riding four miles an hour of
the postboys, just as they were afterwards described
by Cowper. It is curious, by tho way, to remark
how very notably Bath had to do with the develop-
ment of the postal system generally. To one
famous inhabitant of Bath, once its mayor, for
many years its postmaster--Ralph Allen, of Prior ,
Park, the friend of Pope, the uncle by marriage
of Warburton, the Squire Allworthy of Fielding—
to Ralph Allen, first and foremost among all our
post-office-reformers, we are indebted for the notion
of cross-posts throughout the United Kingdom!
To another celebrity of Bath, a celebrity of a very
different kind—John Palmer, first of all, brewer
and afterwards theatrical manager at Bath and
Bristol—to Mr. Palmer we are next indebted for
the setting on foot (and wheels) of the whole
of the once renowned, but long since
dead and gone, system of Mail-Coaches, in
those delightful old four-horse coaching days
before ever railways or electric telegraphs had
been dreamt of ! Then came the transition period
—the days of Sir Francis Freeling, the days of
Colonel Maberly—the removal of the Central Post-
office from Lombard-street to St. Martin's-le- ,
Grand, where Sir R. Smirke's noble Grecian-lonic ,
edifice was first opened for the transaction of busi-
ness on the 25th of September, 1829—till we
come finally, and to crown all, to the epoch
marked by the advent of Rowland Hill and ,
his scheme of the Penny Postage. Sir Row- ,
land Hill, we should say, and his bene-
ficent system of the Penny Postage—a system long ,
since adopted by and in actual operation in not only
England, but far and wide among all the nations of ,
Christendom. So beneficent has been the change
accomplished by this great Social Reformer. and ,
Practical Philanthropist, that his name is beloved
and honoured in the homes—not alone of these
islands, or even of continental Europe, but wherever
civilisation has spread in both hemispheres. A
Benefactor of his fellow-men, like Sir Rowland ;
Hill—a system like that which he has successfully I
established, the system now perpetually circulating,
as one may may say, all over the globe, like its
very life-blood, the system of the Post-office as it
is now in active and ceaseless operation—all this,
we say, deserved an Historian, and in William
Lewins, of the General Post-office, that desired and ,
fitting Historian has been discovered, happily for
all those who are in any way interested in the career
of Sir Rowland Hill, and in the establishment by
Sir Rowland of the system of the Penny Postage.

ISLE OF WlGHT.—There was quite a bread
famine in some parts of the island last Sunday and Mon-
day, in consequence of the influx of visitors conveyed by
the railway between Ryde and shanklin.