The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-20 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sin,—From the recent Parliamentary Reports on the
failure of submarine cables, the prevalent opinion seems to
be that there must be an end of all submarine attempts
until some entirely new processes shall have been discovered.

Permit me to remark that the cables that have been laid
were constructed upon principles which answer very well
across the Channel or such like short lengths, but which
in long lengths become perfectly useless from the fact that
india rubber and gutty percha are absorbents. _

It is not by incorporating tar or rosin with gutta percha,
or in outer coverings of such like materials, that will assist
in rendering the core perfectly insulated, but by applying
to the insulating material a pressure of six or seven tons
per inch at the time it is encased round the conduc-
tor, which consolidates the insulator, and thoroughly closes
up all the pores, and to prevent absorption a coating of
collodion (which is known to be as impervious as glass), is
applied, without which no deep sea cable can be thoroughly
insulated.

It remains to be seen what effects the application of this
system will have upon the future destinies of deep sea
telegraphy, or will directors continue to allow shareholders
and the country to be plundered by continuing the old sys-
tem, which is clearly proved to be useless.—l am, sir, your
obedient servant,
Aug. 18, 1860.

J. MACKINTOSH.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston received
at dinner on Saturday last, at their residence in Piccadilly,
his Excellency the Austrian Minister, his Excellency the
Portuguese Minister, the Duchess of Inverness and Miss
Gore, the Earl and Countess de Grey and Ripon, the Earl
of Shelburne, General Lord Clyde, Viscountess Jocelyn,
Lord and Lady Harriet Ashley, Lady William Russell, the
Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood, the Right Hon. Sidney and
Mrs. Herbert, Colonel the Hon. Strange Jocelyn, the Hon.
Frederick Byng, and Mr. A. Russell. Lady Palmerston,
later in the evening, received a select circle of friends, in-
cluding his Excellency the Turkish Ambassador, the Duke
of Argyll, the Earl and Countess Spencer, Count Corti, the
Lord Chancellor and the Hon. Misses Campbell, Lord
Rodesdale and the Hon. Miss Mitford, the Right Hon. W.
E. Gladstone, Baron Lionel de Rothschild and Miss de
Rothschild, &c.

Lord Stanley, M.P., left St. James's-square on
Friday for Cheuening Park, Kent, on a visit to the Earl
and Countess Stanhope.
THE DIPLOMATIC BODY.—Mr. Sandford now
unpaid attache to her Majesty's Embassy at Paris, and
temporarily attached at Frankfort, is appointed unpaid
attache at Turin. Lord Edward St. Maur, now unpaid
attache at Vienna, is appointed unpaid attache at Madrid.
The British and North American Royal Mail
steamship Africa sailed from Liverpool on Saturday for
New York ; besides the usual mails and a large and vela-
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handsome parish church of Boston, one of the noblest
ecclesiastical edifices in the country, particularly attracted
the attention of the Prince, as did the venerable cathedral
of Lincoln. The Prince who travels incog., seems very
assiduous in collecting all the information he can on the
peaceful topics, science and art, to which his mind has long
been devoted.
THE PROROGATION OF PARLIAMENT.—The white-
bait dinner, at Greenwich, is generally fixed for the Satur-
day before the prorogation. It will be held on Wednesday
this year, although the session is not therefore to be ter-
minated within the week. A great effort was made yester-
day to finish the voting of the estimates in the House of
Commons by a morning sitting kept up till 6 o'clock p.m.
The estimates were at last got through—the report on
supply brought up—and the appropriating clause can now
be proceeded with, and carried through during the week.
The House of Commons will adjourn probably on Saturday
for three or four days, to allow the Lords to assent to the
formal stages of the remaining business, and to send the
commission for proroguing Parliament for the Queen's sig-
nature, which will itself take three whole days. The cal-
culations, therefore, now are that the prorogation can take
place on Wednesday, the 29th inst.—Observer.
THE LATE SIR JOHN FRANKLIN.—A bronze
statue of the late Sir John Franklin is about to be erected
at Spilsby, Lincolnshire. The statue will be placed on a
granite pedestal. The Arctic hero was born at Spilsby,
and hence the townspeople are anxious to pay a tribute of
respect to his memory.