The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-24 00:00:00

THE LATE ROBERT STEPHEN RINTOUL.

(From the Daily News.)
The death of Robert Stephen Rintoul leaves a gap in
the ranks of English journalists that will not easily be
filled up. The daily preSs, owing to the necessarily
large number of collaboratcurs, and the haste with which
much cf the labour is perf :rmed, affords comparatively
little scope for the display cf individual character. But
in the weekly press an editor of an original and energetic
turn of mind, unavoidably stamps his own impress on
his journal. And yet it is of comparatively few of the
editors of our weekly newspapers, since the commence-
ment of the present century, that this can be said.
William Cobbett, the brothers Hunt, Albany Fon-
blanque, and he whose unexpected loss has sug-
gested this remark, are prominent among the dis-
tinguished few. For some thirty years, the Spectator
has taken a high rank among our most iefluenial newt-
papers, and that it bas done so is owing, in an great
measure, to its having been so accurate an impression of
the mental and moral character of its editor. In the
news department the Spectator has been unrivalled ; its
successive volumes f irm an invaluable " Annual Regis-
ter," from the date of its first appearance. And its
dissertations on the topics of the day—literary, social,
and political—have been uniformly characterised by a
singular independence, perspicacity, and impartiality of
judgment. This was in part owing to the indefatigable
efforts of the editor to secure able coadjutors, but still
more to that indefatigable labour which made him the
informing spirit of ;every part of his journal. He sug-
gested the papers, he supplied suggestions as to the mode
of treating them, he carefully and critically analysed
every article, and urged its writer to revision with a
view to make it as perfect as possible. In the news
department there was the same labour ; in the selec-
tion, condensation, and arrangement of the intelligence
he took an active and unwearied part. He was em-
phatically a man of action : ever ready to co-operate
with any one for the promotion of a good object
zealous to the last degree in the assertion of hie, in.
dependpnce. The talent and energy he evinced, in con-
ducting a Liberal journal—at a time when snob an
empleywent was vastly more dangerous than now
—in the north of Scotland, attracted the notice of the
late Lord Paninure, Dcugias Kianaird, and other
distinguished Liberals, with whom ho became inti-
mately associated. It was, we believe, mainly at
the instigation of Douglas Kinnaird that he re-
paired to London, where, after successfully establishing
the Atlas, he, in consequence of some misunderstanding
with its proprietors, separated from the concern, and
founded the Spectator. This journal, in conformity to
the spirit of the time—when the temporary calm pro.
duced by the fusion of parties under Canning had not
entirely disappeared—was intended at first to be a
family, or non-political paper. When, however, the
Reform movement which followed the French Revolu-
tion of 1830 commenced, Rintoul, after mature delibera-
tion, threw himself into it with his whole heart, and might
justly lay claim to be considered as one of those whom at
effectually contributed to its success. There is not one
important reform—social or political—that has since
been achieved, in the discussion of which the Spectator
did not take a prominent part ; but perhaps i;s most
especial merit was the zeal and ability with which it ex-
pounded and promoted the principles of systematic
colonisation. In this field of social effort Rintoul is
entitled to the praise of having been the first to adopt •
the views of that truly original thinker, Edward Gibbon. • Wakefield, and to have contributed—with perhaps the
exception of the late Charles Buller—more than any
nun to the full and clear development and application
of these principles. Tine uncompromising independence
of the course he pursued in politic; and perhaps some-
thing of

A tardiness i nature,
Which often leaves the histor n y unspoke
That it intends to do,
often exposed Rintoul and his journal to uncharitable
a-id acrimonious attacks ; but they who have most
steadily and perseveringly watched his career are most
entirely convinced of his integrity and usefulness; and
those who have been brought most closely into conection
with him retain the most lasting impressiws of the true
and tender kindness which in him was partially cloaked
by a somewhat rough exterior. For thirty years it has
been our privilege to know Robert Stephen Rintoul--
,for part of the time most intimately—and a more just
arid shrewd appreciator of men and things, a more honest •
and sincere man, and a more kind and trustworthy friend,
we have never known.

NEW PAYING-00T MACHINERY OP THI4
ATLANTIC TELEGRAP.Ef.

An inspection of the new machinery designed for the
paying out of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable will amply
repay scientific curiosity . Nothing apparently can work
more freely and admirably than the whole apparatus.
We understand that it has been inspected by some of •
the first mechanical engineers, who have expressed their
unqualified approbaCon of the arrangements which have
been made to avoid all the untoward accidents to which
the cable may be subjected.
Our readers will remember that it was owing to some
Meet in, or mismanagement of, the paying-out appara-
tus that the failure in laying down the cable last year •
took place. The tension to which the cable is subjected
in paesing out of the ship, is owing to the weight of that
portion which has not as yet touched the bottom and
constitutes the force by which the other portion is un-
coiled from the wheels or drums over whieh it is passed
in its evolution from the hold of the ship. The greater
this tension, the greater the speed with which
it
pans out of the ship, if means be not taken to chec its
progress. Mechanical aids were devised to obtain this
check, and accommodate the paying out of the cable to
the rate of the ship's motion. These consisted of friction
drums, so appointed as to retard the progress of paying
out. The friction being regulated by breaks, as the ship
rose and fell with the sea, the pressure on the cable wag
necessarily increased or diminished. When the swell
caused any sudden descent of the stern of the vessel, it
was necessary to ease the breaks. In the old machinery
the handle of the break could be turned so as either to
increase or diminish its power. The man in charge of the
break, instead of turning, so as to ease it, is supposed,
in
the excitement of the moment, to have turned it the
wrong way. Thus the fatal rupture was made. To ob-
viate such a calamity as this, for the future the whole
paying-out apparatus has been remodelled. The breaks-
man can ease the retarding apparatus, but can add
nothing to its power. Any addition to the frictional re-
tardation can only be made, and with the full cogni-
sance of, the principal engineer in charge. The friction
breaks are applied to the circumference of wheels firmly
attached to the axles of the paying-out apparatus. They
are self-adjusting breaks invented by the ingenious Mr.
Appold, to prevent prisoners condemned under the system
of crank labour from having more than their fair share
of work to do. This contrivance has been adapted to the
paying-out machinery by Mr. Field, of the firm of
filaudslay, Sons, and Field. The details have been
brought into working order and numerous mechanical
-lifficulties overcome by the zeal and energy of Messrs.
Bright and Everett, aided by the great experience of
Mr. Amos as a practical mechanician.
The paying out apparatus consists of two large wheels,
`.he circumference of which are indented by four deep
ermves. Both wheels are of the same diameter. One ie
placed at a little distance from the other, both in the
same plane and with their axles parallel to each other.
The axles of these wheels work in a stout and firm frames
e hich is so constructed as to resist any tendency of the
cable to draw the wheels towards each other. The cable
after coming out of the hold of the ship in which it is
coiled, is passed over the first groove of one wheel and
then over a groove of the other, until the four grooves
of each wheel are occupied. Each wheel has its circum-
ference passed over by four portions of the cable, each
portion of course increasing the friction or bite of the
cable on the surface of the wheel. This is sufficient to
prevent the cable from slipping over the surface of either
wheel without causing it to revolt e.
Any means which can be devised for checking the re'
volution of the axle or the wheel will retard the motion '
of the cable over its circumference. For this purpose•
two friction-wheels, or drums, are firmly fixed to the
axle of each wheel. These drums, whose external cir-
cumference is of plane iron, have a band to which
wooden blocks are attached, which, by means of levers,
can be made to clasp the surface of the drum. The
frictiorebreak thus consists of a surface of wood pressing
on a surface of iron, with a pressure which can be in-
creased at the will of the engineer. The clasping appa-
ratus is regulated by weights attached at the end of rode,
which act so as to tighten or loosen the break. The
rode work in pistons, so as to keep the action of the
weights always in the proper direction, irrespective of
the motion of the ship.
Tian heat produced by the friction of the break is kept
from rising to any injurious height by a portion of the
drum revolving in a constant supply of cold water. The
weights by which the friction ofithe breaks is regulated
are fixed to the rod, so that they can only be increased
or diminished by the principal engineer. The friction or
retarding force is thus so far self-adjusting that it can
never be increased except by the engineer allowing addi-
tional weights to be attached to the rods. With one exs
ception, it is constant. This exception is, that at any
instant when required, the whole frictional of the
break can be immediately eased.
The cable, after passing four times round each of the
wheels of the paying•out apparatus, passes under a
grooved wheel or pulley, the axis of which is attached to
a weighted rod waning in a piston. This grooved wheel
is so arranged that it can rise or fa 1 in a frameworks
according as the tension of the cable which rues under
its circumference, arid over another fixed pulley, by which
it passes out of the ship, is greater or less than the weight
sf the pulley and its weighted rod.
This apparatus is in point of fact a dynamometer,
which marks the tension of the rope as it is being payed
out of the ship. This tension is indicated by a pointer,
which marks on the graduated frame of the pulley the
position to which its axis is raised or depressed. A roan
stands before this, in charge of a wheel, by turning the
spokes of which ho can immediately take off the pressure
of the fixed weights on the break apparatus, and ease the
whole the moment a dangerous degree of tension is indi-
cated by the index of the dynatnotneter, but the ape's'
ratus under his charge cannot by any perversity of fear
or stupieley be made to apply any greater strain then
the engineer may think expedient and safe. He can thus
instantly ease the breaks, but cannot commit the fatal
error at a wrong moment of increasing their power.
We sincerely hope that these improvements in the paY'
ing-out apparatus will be found to work so successful!):
in practice as to conduce to the success of the In"t
gigantic mechanical and scientific experiments of the.
age.

The Treasury, in reply to a memorial from 116511-
ehEster, have &abed to ikstie five shilling B°',d
pieces, on the ground of the probable deterioration of
the coins.