The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-28 00:00:00

COMMUNICATION WITH INDIA.

The Times of Indta expresses the hope that by April
1870 there will be direct, and, more important still, trust-
worthy, telegraphic communication between England and
India. The arrangements connected with the Red Sea
cable—to settle which Mr. Gibbs, of the Malta and Alex-
andria telegraph, visited Bombay—are complete. The selec-
tionof aplace at which to land the shore end of the cable—
apoint of difficulty and importance —has beenmade,and thus
all preliminaries are decided upon. The cable is already in
course of manufacture, and the Great Eastern, with a
portion of it on board, will leave England for Bombay in
November next, and on arrival at Bombay will imme•
diately commence the laying of the cable to Aden.

(From the Anglo-American 2 imes.)

Mr. Jenckes, of Rhode Island, has published his
last speech in favour of Civil Service Reform in a
pamphlet form, and he intends to agitate in favour
of his bill by getting up meetings in various parts
of the country to discuss the measure. Some of
General Grant's appointments have been severely
condemned, and as he acted on the principle that to
the victor belong the spoils, in certain instances turn-
ing out excellent and able public servants to make
way for politicians, he has done much to impress on
the country the necessity of effecting the change
by the force of public opinion. The Commissioner
of Patents in effect already acts on what Mr. Jenckes
proposes. A board has been organized to examine
the clerks now in the office rigorously in history,
geography, arithmetic, natural philosophy, astro-
nomy, and mechanical arts. It is thought that a
large number of clerks will fail to pass the examina-
tion, and if so they will be dismissed, and their places
supplied by others. If in the Patent-office, why not
in others ? for the same principle applicable to one is
applicable to all, though, it may be, not in an equal
degree.
The telegram received from Washington on
Tuesday to the effect that the Secretary of War
had modified the recent order for retrenchment,
and 100, instead of 400, clerks are to be removed,
must have relieved many minds in that city, where
the intention was announced of vigorously pur-
suing the plan of retrenchment begun by the War
Department with the advent of General Rawlins as
Secretary. The barracks and army storehouse,
known as Lincoln Depot, after having been kept up
since the war at a great expense, have been vacated,
the buildings and property being sold by auction.
The order also dispensed with the services of a large
number of men then employed at the Department.
It was reported that the Secretary of the Trea-
sury was about to change his policy of selling gold
and buying bonds, but as this story is in per-
petual circulation, it would not have received
attention had it not been contradicted by the
Treasury Department itself. It was also re-
porte3 that, during Mr. Boutwell's absence from
Washington, no further gold sales would be
made. It may be, in the face of the Indian War
now raging, that the Secretary has ordered that,
after the 30th instant, the Government sale of a
• million dollars in gold, and the purchase of a mil-
lion dollars of bonds, will be made on alternate
weeks instead of weekly. Of the elasticity of the
American revenue (which to so extraordinary a
degree once marked the English revenue) the re-
turns for the fiscal year will give abundant proof.
The receipts, as calculated up to July 1, the three
weeks still to run being estimated, amounted to