The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-24 00:00:00

BY TIIE DANISH ROUTE.

2,650

Miles.
653

London to Inverness
Inverness, across the Sutherlandshire mountains,
to Cape Wrath
Cape Wrath to Faroe
Faroe to Iceland 3OO
Across Iceland
Iceland to South Greenland... ..
Across Greenland
Greenland to Labrador
Over the unexplored country of Labrador, by the
nearest route, to join the American system, at
___

_
least

3,478

Add 15 per cent. of slack to the sea portions of the
line .. 295

3,773

To work this line of nearly 4,000 miles at any re-
munerative speed would require relays at each
broken point,—in all not less than 14 sets of relays
to be worked in synchronous connection, each with
each. These continuous sections, owing in a great
degree to their circuitous course and their constant

change of position in reference to the magnetism o
the earth—the first links being south to north, then
east to west, and, lastly, north to south,—would
more than in any other quarter of the earth, and in
a greater ratio than any direct line, be subject to
the adverse influences of earth currents, magnetic
storms, aurora borealis, the chance of accidents, and
other disturbing causes, always more incident to
long and frequently broken circuits, and any one of
which would destroy for days the synchronous
working of the relay system, and reduce the opera-
tion at best to one of slow and tedious repetition
from station to station. The statement, therefore,
that the minimum, or even the average speed,
through a circuit of such a character would be any-
thing like 20 words a minute is, to say the least, a
very bold assertion.
But by the Atlantic cable a message would leap
at one bound from the Old World to the New, and
could be transmitted at the rate of 20 words per
minute, if necessary, through a new cable con-
structed in accordance with the advanced state of
science. It would also find at Newfoundland direct
wires and special facilities for its transmission on-
wards with the greatest attainable rapidity.
The whole question of deep sea telegraphy has,
however, during the past eight months been under
careful investigation by a committee appointed by
the Government for that purpose. Every gentle-
man whose position and experience enabled him to
afford information has been examined. Experi-
ments have been conducted with a view to clear up
important points, and the result verbatim will be
shortly laid before Parliament, and will illustrate
the perfect practicability of deep and long sea tele-
graphs.
My only object in these remarks has been to place
the Atlantic Telegraph Company in its fair position,
as an earnest and original labourer in a great and
well-considered work, and to remove as far as pos-
sible the injurious impressions which have been
created by depreciatory, but inaccurate statements.
I hope especially that it will be understood that
these remarks do not arise out of any spirit of hos-
tility to an efficient survey of the Northern Atlantic
or any other telegraphic route. On the contrary,
the Atlantic Telegraph Company itself some con-
siderable time since applied to the Government on
the subject of further ocean surveys, and it is only
a feeling of deep interest in the ultimate and per-
manent connection of England and America by
telegraph which induces me to observe while upon
this p9int that if her Majesty's Government does
consent to incur the expense of making Arctic or
other surveys, great care should be taken that those
surveys are made in a perfectly independent and
complete manner, and that the results should be
accessible for the benefit of the whole world.

I would further remark that any survey of the
Greenland coast, with the view to ascertain its
capabilities as a cable station, would not be at all
conclusive or satisfactory if it does not embrace at
the very least eight or nine months' resident exami-
nation of the coast, both on its eastern and western
sides ; as the practicability of that route for tele-
graphic purposes must depend, not merely upon the
bare possibility of laying a cable there during one
particular month in a Greenland summer, but upon
the probability of its remaining intact during the
stormy seasons, and the facilities for rapidly repair-
ing it when broken.—l am, Sir, yours truly,
GEO. SAWAItD, Secretary of the Atlantic
Telegraph Company.
22, Old Broad-street, May 19.

THE GROWING CROPS. The weather since
Saturday has been fine and warm, and a heavy continuous
ground rain having fallen on the 12th and 13th, the growing
crops have greatly improved in appearance in Norfolk and
Suffolk. Wheat, which in some districts looked thin and
unhealthy, has made a start; and barley and oats have MO
advanced rapidly. The improvement has pervaded the €.4-
tire vegetable world, and the promise of fruit is abundant.
A Worcestershire letter states that in that county it is
likely to bo " dirt cheap,"