The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-26 00:00:00

TELgGRA PHIC COMMUNICATION WITH

INDIA.

The following communications have been ad
dressed to a contemporary

Sir,—lt is with some reluctance that I am in-
duced to address you, in consequence of the appear-
ance this day in your paper of a letter from the
Rev. G. P. Badger, advocating the establishment of
a line of electric telegraphs to India by way of the
Red Sea, and objecting to the one now about to be
laid down through Turkish Arabia.
I have not been in any way personally connected
with either of these projects, but I am sufficiently
acquainted with each personally to be able to say
that there is not any serious difficulty attending
the construction of either. I feel that their several
advocates will be found correct, as to some, at any
rate, of the difficulties which are stated to belong
to the rival line. In fact, I quite expect that each
will in practice experience temporary interruption,
but this only for a brief space of time • and the ob-
jections are so nearly balanced that I should find it
almost impossible to decide which deserves the pre-
ference, if only one line were to be established.
Nor is it the t.upposed 'danger alone belonging to
each which re pins to be balanced, but the rela-
tive advantages should also be seriously weighed,
such as having a complete command in the case of a
line by sea, if adopted, while the one by land
would include Constantinople, Asia Minor, Bag-
dad, and Persia." also.

It is, however, quite unnecessary for me to enter
into these and many other considerations, because
I take the simple English view of this question,
and I confidently expect you will repeat your ad
vocacy of it, that Great Britain requires both lines
of communication with India in order that there
may still be communications with the East, when,
through accidental or international causes, the
wires are broken or cut.

I have already on two occasions advocated the
establishment of a double line of communication
with India. One was during a lecture delivered
by me at the United Service Institution towards
the end of July last on the military and commer-
cial bearings of our communications with India ;
and the other was a paper which I read before the
British Association in Dublin last September. I
thought at that time, as I do now, that the East
India Company should lay down a cable from Kur-
rachee to Ras El Had, for the common use thus far
of the double lines by way of the Red Sea and
Turkish Arabia, leaving the task of laying them
down to the rival companies.
Cap'. Pullen's examination has confirmed the
statement which I made on the occasions alluded
to, that neither the depth of the water nor the coral
rocks would cause any particular difficulty in lay-
ing down cables, which should, I presume, pass
along the southern coast of Arabia and agaqn b:-
tweeu headland and headland to Suez.
As concerns the oiler line, a cable could be laid
alceig the Persian Gulf to the estuary of the Euph-
rates, and thence either by land or in the bed of the
Tigris to Bagdad; and again from the latter city to
Coustantin-ple. The greatest part of this distance
is as safe as if it were in England. Between Bag-
dad and Diarbekir it may be otherwise, but the
strong hand of Omar Pasha and the favourable dis-
position of the Sheikh of the Shammar tribe cause
me to feel much more confident regarding the secu-
rity of the wires than I felt at one time. Indeed,
the Sheikh of the Shammars sent me a message to
Constantinople, expressing his readiness to give me
some 5;000 workmen and other assistance as soon
as I reached his territory.
When the Atlantic cable snapped last year, in
conjunction with a high authority, the late Sir F.
Beaufort, I suggested to the Government that the
broken cable might be purchased and laid down
between ICurra,chee and Ras El Had, and this for
common use of the Red Sea and Arabian lines ; but
nothing was done at that time, nor has there been
subsequently, with the exception of the advocates
of each line endeavouring t r show the impractica-
Witty of the other, and thus losing sight of the main
question, that we urgently, and, I may add, impe-
ratively require bath; for which reason each should
support its supposed rival, or—what would be still
better—unite the two companies and urge the Go-
vernment to give equal countenance and support
to the two projects.
I cannot close these remarks without expressing
my regret that the question of a communication
with India by electric wires was not taken up 1 mg
ago. When I was at Constantinople in Sept., 1856,
about the railroad, I thought it right to enter upon
the question of electric wires, and having done so
in a general way to anticipate other applications. I
found the Porte perfectly le.aly to grant a conces
sion for this purpose, and this I made known in
London without desiring to take any other part,
The opportunity was, however, lost, and the Turks,
thinking it would be a very lucrative concern, after-
wards di aided to keep the wires in their own hands,
and I believe Col, Bidslulph, of the Royal Artil-
lery, a m )st energetic man, is now laying do-xn the
wires GI. the T.irks, and, taking into acciunt the
support he will have from Omar Pasha, 1 think we
shall find that ere long there will be a communica-
tion with India, Still, it cannot be comolofe as
concerns our national interests without another or
oven a third line, which, I would suggest, should
be opened across the Black Sea to Asia Minor, and
thence through Southern Persia to Bushire. I
shall not enter upon the details beyond saying that
such a line would be easy of accomplishment, not
expensive, and quite secure.—l am, sir, your obe-
dient servant, F. R. CHESNEY.
Athenaeum, May 25.

Sir,—Having already stated on the 4th inst. my
convic'ion "that the interests of this country de-
mand that telegraphic communication with India
shou!d not be dependent on a single line,"l greatly
regret that the Rev. Mr. Badger's letter, which ap-
peared in your impression of to-day, should be con-
ceived in such a spirit of hostility to the Persian
Gulf, ono of the two routes considered possible,
that I am compelled once more to request the favour
of your acecx,ling me space for a few observations.
The objection urged by Mr. Badger against the
Persian Gulf route is simply the danger that may
be expected from the Arabs to a line of telegraph
which is now bing, or is immediately about to be
made by the Turkish Government between Con-
stantinople and Busaorah.
Mr. Badger assumes that the telegraphic wire
will be carried from Constantinople by Aleppo to th e
Persian Gulf. This is a mistake—the line will follow
the road by the towns of Sivas, Diarbekir, Mosul,
and Bagdad, passing through a settled country
under the control of the Turkish Government. On
the road between. Bagdad and Constantinople, a
regular postal communication is established, and
there are post-houses every 10 or 12. miles. Is it,
then, more likely that the inhabitants will destroy
a line of telegraph, the intrinsic value of which to
them is nothing, than the post-houses, from which
horses and other valuable property could be ob-
tained ?
Between Bagdad and the Persian Gulf I am as-
sured. by Capt. Lynch and others (who have gone
over the whole district to be traversed by the
Turkish telegraph, and not a portion of it only, as
Mr. Badger has done) that there is a line of country
in which the telegraph may be established where
there aro no Bedouins, of whom Mr. Badger appears
to stand in so much dread. Capt. Lynch, who sees
no difficulty in either the Red Sea or Persian Gulf
route, h s h id great experience of the Arabs, hav-
ing commanded the East India Company's vessels
on the Euphrates and Tigris, and had entire charge
of the postal communications, authorises me to
state that ho delivered a mail regularly for some
years between Buss-xah and Damascus, without
experiencing any material interruption.
Sr Henry Rawlinson (a good authority on this
subject Mr. Badger will admit) stated in the House
of Commons on the 15th ult , when moving la
copies of the correspondence that had taken place
with regard to the line between Constantinople and
Bussorah, that " if he had made any statementthat
night, the object of it would have been to show
that tiegraplvc c.nnmunication between England
and India by the Red Sea was of the utmost d ffi-
culty, if nut impracticable, while through Turkey
it would be quite easy."
Mr. Badger states the diff,rence of dis'ance be-
tween the Red Sea anti Persian Gulf routes to be
800 miles inTivour of the latter. The Turkish Go
vtratuent, the rev. gentleman must be Well aware,
has previded the materials f, r the line between
Constantinople and Buss.»ali ; there, therefore,
only remain 1,200 miles of cable to be supplied
for the te'egraph from the latter plac 3 to Kurra-
ohm The distance between Malta and Kurrachee
via the It-d Set is upwards of 5,0J0 miles (the chair-
!Lan of the Red Sea Company, in his letter to Lerd
Palmerton, dated July 15, 1857, states the dis-
tance b. twe n Suez and Kurrachee to be 5,000
miles), iu)t a wile of the cable fur which has yet
I) en orde: ed. The difference therefore seems to in,

t ) be 3,800 mi'es in favour of the Persian Gulf
rou'e.

Having now, as I believe, effecturdly disposed of
the objectinn advanced against the Pers;an Gulf
route, by the to tirnony of gentlemen more exren-
sively acquainted with Acia is Turkey than Mr.
Badgeris, I le tve the public to julge, putting the
question of expense entirely aside, whether it is
more advantageous to the interests of this country
to commence the construction and submersion of

5,000 miles of cable required for the Red Sea route,
the difficulties of which no person at all acquainted
with the risks incident to laying long lengths of
submarine cable can deny, or to undertake at once
the 1,200 miles of cable neces ary for the Bussorah
and Kurrachee telegraph, to be submerged in a
shallow sea, and in which the Indian navy have