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

TELEGRAPHIC 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 supposed danger alone belonging to
each which re luirs to be balanced, but the rely -
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 r. ad before the
British Aociation in Dublin last September. I
thought•at that time, as I do now, that the East
India Company should lay down a cablefrom 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 companie.
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 tbe southern coast of Arabia and aga'n b--
twee❑ headland and headland to Suez.

As concerns the oiler line, a cable could be laid
aloeg the Persian Gulf to the estuary of the Euph-
rate., and thence either by land or in the bed of the
Tigris to Bagdad; and again from the latter city to
Constantinople. The greatest part of this distance
is as safe as if it were in Ebgland. Between Bag-
dai and Diarbakir 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
Colistantioople, 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 awhotity, the late Sir F.
Beaufort, I suggested to the Government that the
broken cable might be purchased and laid down
between Kurraenee and Ras El Had, and this fur
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 ) show the iinpractica-
bility of the other, and thus losing sight of the main
question, th it we urgently. and, I mly aid, impe-
ratively.
.require both; for which reason each shout'
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 Ling
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 peifectly ready 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, log, and the Turks,
t pinking it would be a very lucrative concern after-
warda decided t o keep the wires in their own hands,
an ad i believe Col. Bithlulphs of the Royal
Attil-
lery, a most energetic man, is now laying do vi.n the
wires for the Turks, and, taking into account 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 complete as
oucerns our national interests without an ether or
oven a third line, which, I would suggest, should
be opened across the Black Sea to Asia Minor, and
thence through Soothern 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
conviction " that the interests of this country de-
mand that telegraphic communication with Endia
should 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 hositility to the Persian
Gulf,- one of the two routes considered possible,
thatl am compelled once wore to request the favour
of your according me space for a few observations.
The objection urged by Mr. -Badger against the
Persian Gulf route is simply .the danger that may
expe.:ted from the Arabs to a line of telegraph
which is now being, or is immediately about to be
made by the Turkish Government between Con-
stantinople and Bussorah.
Mr. Badger assumes that the telegraphic wire
will be carried from Constantinople by Aleppo to the
Persian Gill°. This is a mistake—the line will follow
the road by the towns of Siva, Diarbekir, Mosul,
and Bagdad, passing through a settled country
under the control of the Turkish Government. On
the road between Bagdad and Constantinople, a
,v-gular postal communication is established, and
there are pout-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 no•hiog, than the po4t-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 are 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 4 had 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 he delivered a mail regularly for some
years between Busslrah and Damascus, without
experiencing any material interruption.
Sir Henry Rawlinson (a good authority on this
subject Mr. Badger will admit) stated in the House
of Commons on the 15th ult , when moving for
copies of the correspondence that had taken place
with regard to the line between Constantinople and
Bussorab, that "if he had made any statementthat
night, the object of it would have been to show
that telegraphic communication between England.
and India by the Red Sea was of the utmost diffi-
culty, if not impracticable, while through Turkey
it would be quite easy."
Mr. Badger states the difference of dis'ance be-

tween the Red Sea and Persian Gulf routes to be
800 miles in favour of the latter. The Turkish Go-
vernment, the rev. gentleman must be well aware,
has provided the materials for the line between
Constantinople and Bussorah ; there, therefore,
only remain 1,200 miles of cable to be supplied
for the telegraph from the latter place to Kurra-
dice. The distance between Malta arid Kurrachee
via the Red Sea is upwards of 5,000 miles (the chair-
man of the Red Sea Company, in his letter to Lor,l
Palmerston, dated July 15, 1857, states the dis-
tance between Suez and Kurrachee to be 5,000
miles), not a mile of the cable for which has yet
been ordered. The difference therefore seems to mQ
to be 3,800 miles in favour of the Persian Gulf
rout e.

Having tow, as I believe, effectually disposed of
the objection advanced against the Persian Gulf
route, by the testituony of gentlemen more exten-
sively acquainted with Asiajo Turkey than Mr.
Badger is, I le.►ve the public to judge, putting the
quez=tion of expense entirely aside, whether it is
more advantageous to the interests of this-country

to commencJ the construction and subtn rsion of
5,000 rai!es 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 Kurrachoe telegraph, to be submerged in a
shallow sea, and in which' the Indian navy have

d-am,-Sir, your most

-stations already established.
Obedient servant,
W. P. ANDREW, Chairman.
European and Indian Junction Telegraph.
Company, Gresham-house, Old Broad-
street, London, May 25.