The Sun.
London, England, 1858-08-05 00:00:00

EAST INDIA HOUSE, August 3, 1858.
THE COURT of DIRECTORS of the EAST
INDIA. COMPANY DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, That they
will be PREPARED, at or before 12 o'clock, on the 17th day of
August instant, to RECEIVE TENDERS for a LOAN of £3,579,000
' for five yean, on security of Debentures (being the residue of the
amount authorised to he raised under the provisions of the Act 21
Victoria. cap. 3), such Debentures to be of the respective amounts
of £l,OOO and £5OO, and to bear Interest at the rate of Four per
Cont. per annum, payable by Coupons attached, half-yearly, at the
Treasury of the East India Company, in London, on the Bth day of
April and the Bth day of October in each year.
The Tenders to be for sums of not less than £l,OOO, and to state
how much will be given for every £lOl of the said Loan.
So much of the amount tendered to be paid to the Company on
the 23d of August, as will leave 75 per cent, of the capital to be
paid as under, viz.:—
I 25 per Cent, to be paid to the Company on the 20th day of Sept., 1858.
25 Do. Do. - Do. 18th day of Oct., „
25 Do. Do. Do. 15th day of Nev. „
from which dates the Interest of Four per Cent. per annum upon
the respective instalments will beealealated ; but parties who so
desire may r+3, up in full, and will be allowed a.discount at the rate
of Three per Cent. per annum upon the anticipated payments.
In cases of equality of Tenders beyond the amount required, they
w.lll be subject to a pro rata diminution.
Scrip receipts will be given to the parties entitled, to be delivered
up in exchange for the Debentures when prepared.
The Tenders are to be deli!ered in, sealed, at the TreasUry in this
House, and to specify the proportions of each denomination of
Debentures required by the subscriber; a deposit of Five per Cent.
upon the amount tendered must at the same time be paid to the
Company's cashier, to be returned in the event of the Tenders not
being accepted, and parties tendering must be careful not ttt errlose
the deposit in the sealed Tender. -
No Tender yvilalacreceived-after "P 2 Iftlock cn the said 17th day of
August, nor tml6-,s upon a printed form, which may be obtained at
the Accounts Branch of the Secretary's Office, in this House, or of
the Company's Stockbroker, Mr. Henry Scott, 16, Throgmorton-
street. J. D. DICKINSON, Secretary.

NORTH RHINE COPPER MINING COM-
PANY of ttOUTII AUSTRALIA (Li.
Capital £60,000, in 60,000 Shares of £1 each, ss. thereofrsited) to be paid
on application for shares, and a further sum of ss. per share at the
expiration of two months from the date of allotment.
DIRECTORS.
Charles Cleve, Esq., (Crosby-squaro, London, late of Adelaide.)
Francis Cope, Esq. (Messrs. Cope and Scott, London.)
GeorCoge Hay Donaldson, Esq. (Messrs. Donaldson, Lambert, and
~ London.)
Philip Levi, E.N. (Messrs. P. Levi and Co., London and Adelaide.)
William Paxton, Esq. (Linden House, Chiswick, late of Adelaide.)
COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
John Beck, Esq., Director of the I Alfred Watts, Esq., J.P., Local
Burra-Burra. Director of the Bank
of Ans.. Edmund Levi, Esq. tralla.
CONSULTING ENGINEER—J. 11. Clements, Eaq,
SOLICITORS;

London—Messrs. Pattison and Wigg, 1, Lincoln's-inn•Helds, and
10, Clement's-lane, City.
Adelaide—Charles Fenn, Esq.

BANXERS. •
London—Messrs. Hankey, Fenchurch-street.
Adelaide—South Australian Banking Company.
BROKE KA.
Messrs. Cope and Scott, 7, Lothbury, City.
Thomas Fenn, Esq., 3, Royal Exchange-buildings, City
MANAGER—T. Hancock, Esq.
Offices—l, Charlotte-row, Mansion-house, London.
This Company is formed for the purpose orpurchasing and work-
ing the valuable freehold mineral property known as the North
Rhino Mine, situated in the hundred of that name, near Adelaide,
South Australia.

The property comprises 366 acres, and contains one of the
richest deposits of copper ore yet discovered in this well-known
mineral district.
Upwards of 100 tons of copper ore have been raised from this
mine, and the yield of the malachite and blue cm bonato has shown
upwards of 70 per cent. oxide of copper, giving an average to the
ore of 32 to 31 per cent. fine copper.
Prospectuses, with map, may be obtained on application at the
offices, or from the Brokers.

THE ISTMMUS OF SUEZ CANAL.

We have been requested by Mr. Robert Stephen-
son to publish the following letter addressed by him
to the editor of the Austrian Gazette :
" Sir,—The Austrian Gazette of the 18th of June pub-
lished a letter under the signature of ' The Chevalier de
Negrilli, Engineer,' on the subject of a speech delivered by
me on the Ist of June last, in my place in the Commons'
House ,of Parliament, in the course of a debate on the Suez
Canal.
"Fora long time I have considered it most dignified and
becoming to pass without notice the various statements,
anonymous or otherwise, which have been published on this
subject; but the letter tf M. de Negrelli, with whom I was
associated in the first investigation of the practicability of
piercing the isthmus, and who, questioning my statements
in Parliament, has now for the first time declared himself
at issue with me both as to my facts and conclusions, renders
it imperative that I should declare in a formal manner what
are the facts of this case, and by what circumstances my
opinions, are supported.
'ln the year 1846 eI was solicited by my friend M. Tale-
bot, one of the most eneinent engineers of France, to heves-
ticate with -him the pracTicabtiity of piercing the Isthmus
of Suez for a ship canal. The project had been suggested
to M. Talabot by Linant Bey, a French eneineer, who had
been for many years resident in Egypt. The statements
submitted by Linant Bey were so remarkable that they
engaged my co-operation In the interests of science, and, M.
de Negrelli having been secures by M. Talabot as a cowl-
jutor, we entered into a formal agreement to share the
labours and the cost of a preliminary investigation.
".The construction of a canal through the Isthmus of
Suez involved two classes of engineering works :-1, The
construction and proper maintenance of the canal itself;
2, the formation and proper maintenance of sea ports and
deep entrances to the canal both on the Red Sea and in the
Mediterranean. It has been generally believed that the
ancient canal, of which vestiges may still be seen near Suez,
WAS filled neither by the waters of the Red Sea, nor of the
Mediterranean, but by the waters of -the Nile, obtained at
Cairo; and history had declared that Alexander the
Great, in founding the port of Alexandria on the west side
of the Delta of the Nile, had been influenced by considera-
tion of the fact, that along the coast of the Levant there is
an almost invariable current from west to east, carrying the
debris poured from the mouths *f the Nile into the Bay of
Pelus:um and thereby rendering the maintenance of a deep
harbour in that bay as difficult as at the mouths of the
Danube and the Rhone. Bet, on the other hand, Linant
Bey submitted to us that the French engineers under M.
M. Legere, who had accompanied the expedition to Egypt
in 1799, had satisfactorily:established that there was a differ-
ence between the levels of he Red Sea and the Mediter-
ranean of no less than 9.00 metres. Under such circum-
stances it was apparent that nothing would be easier than
to open a channel and establish a sufficient current from
the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, with a velocity
which it was assumed, would keep the canal open by
its scour, and maintain a clear channel, not only in the
canal itself, but in the harboer in the Mediterranean.
"Undoubtedly, it was under the impression of the exist-
ence of this difference of level that M. Talabot and myself
entered on the inquiry; and, as M. de Negrelli would not
have been engaged in it save at M. Talabot's instance, it is
tolerably evident that the same primary consideration must
have influenced him. Th'itt such was the case is addition-
ally a; parent from the fact that our first joint act was to
take measures to confirm the difference of level reported on
M. Lepere's authority. Under the direction of M. Talabot
a corps of scientific engineers was sent. to Egypt to take the
levels, upon which they were occupied from about Septem-
ber, 1840, until January, 1847, when M. Bourdaloue, the
chief of the expedition, reported to M. TalttOot that it had
been ascertained beyond the possibility of doubt, uncertainty,
or question, that M. Lepere had been mistaken; that no
difference of level whatever existed between the two seas;
and that, consequently, a canal capable of being scoured by
the waters either of the Red Sea or the Mediterranean was
impracticable, especially as Loth those seas may be said to
be nearly tideless.
' " Upon the acccunts and levels submitted to him M. Tala-
bot made a report, which, whether considered in an histori-
cal, scientific, or engineering point of view, is at once the
most comprehensive and logical document that has eren
appeared upon the subject. After reporting an the non-
existence of a difference between the levels of the seas and
on the effects of the current along the shores of the coast,
he concluded that the maintenance of ot channel, and of an
entrance in the Bay tei Pelusium, to the east of the
Delta, was e tined ift eulte insurniontable :' and from this
he went on to show that, evens supposing an entrance could
be established to a canal in the bay, the prevalence of north
winds during nine months of the year on that pat of the
coast would prevent ships from attempting with safety
ofe r
.being
heieestablisheddifficulty
otoonf s
eaa
xveelce
te:
t-hisenl ngo r e
either to make it, or to leave it, unless a harbour of refuge
froma d t
n, he
afcteornseaquuuednicnegs
such works, he says—
' I tun persuaded that to construct in the Bay of
Tinele a safe roadstead, and a conveniently situated channel,
as much would have to be expended as for making the
whole of a canal by the way of Alexandria, and that only to
obtain a pass of uncertain success, or, rather, one that is
certainly impracticable. And M. Talabot concluded that
the result was ' to exclude every project which shall end in
the Bay of Tineh' (Pelusium).
" Concurring most entirely in these conclusions, and re-
garding the project as wholly at an end, in consequence of
the premises on which it was based having been found to be
entirely erronecus, I paid from my own personal means the
share of the expenses attending the inquiry, for which I had
undertaken to be responsible (one-third of about £4,500),
and all correspondence on the subject ceased. Several years
afterwards—in August, 1833, during the Exposition—l had
the pleasure of meeting both M. Talabot and M. de Negrelli
in Paris, but so utterly was the Suez Canal project doffed
and abandoned that, as M. de Negrelli tells you in his
letter, 'no word passed between us on the subject.'
" You will here permit me to mention a personal matter,
which M. de Negrelli has elevated into importance. In
the autumn of ,1850, fatigued by the labours of an arduous
year, I sought health and recreation in a yacht voyage to
the Mediterranean. Arrived at Alexandria, I determined
to made a persoital investigati in of the district in which
four years previously I had been so deeply interested. Pro-
ceeding from Cairo by the usual route to Suez, accompanied
for some distance by Captain Lindquist, then the agent of
the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company, I turned
thence northwards into the Desert, e felted the site of the
Bitter Lakes now dry and desolate), encamped for two
days at Lake Timsah, and thence proceeded over the high
•
greund towards Lake Balla!), travelling on foot—aa, indeed,
it is difficult to traverse otherwise a large portion of the
Deserts. From that ridge of comparatively elevated ground
1 was enabled to overlook the district towards Lake Menza-
leh, which, during the period of high Nile, becomes a shal-
low lagoon, stretching along the coast and far into the
Desert. Then, returning westward, I entered the
Ouadee Toumitat, at Sababler, and, following the
course of the ancient canal, I travelled in the
direction of Bulbies and of the ruins of the
ancient Bubastis, visiting the higher grounds to the north
and thence returning to Cairo. Altogether I spent 15 or 16
days in the district, and all that I saw and ascertained on
this expedition confirmed my convictions as to the Suez
Canal project, and the finality of M. Talabot's report. On
my retuen to England I gave, on the 20th of May, 18,51, an
account of this expedition, in the course of a discussion on
a paper read at the Institution,of Civil Engineers, stating
emphatically the opinion at which I had arrived, that it was
evitkut that It would not In puicticahic to keep opcu g level

Icut or canal without any current between the two seas, and
that the project was abandoned.
"A rep In of my speech on that occasion will be found in
the publiehed Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution
of Civil Engineers,' vol. x., Pp, 10-13, a book which M.
Negrelli may find in the public libraries of Vienna. The
circumstances cf my expedition, though made without
any ostentation, are well known; both in England and in
Ee'YPts I am astonishes!, therefore, at what I must Cali
the audacious assurance with which M. de Negrelli in-
sinuates in his letter—first, that I have never been in the
locality at all ; then, that if I have I 'can cnly have seen
that part of the scheme which is near to Suez.' Our hon-
ourable friend,' he' writes, Pretends to have travelled
on foot the whole isthmus between the two seas; but in
Egypt, where the preparations fora journey in the Desert
always attract attention, no one has ever heard of
this journey of Mr. Stephensort.'-Imusts be permitted to tell
M. de Negrelli that the sense uf. honour which prevails in
Englannd forbide our presuming to doubt the word of a gen-
tlema without havingcion
at least some foundation for suspi-
s And that when, without foundation, he insinuates that
I could be base enough, before tho institution of which I.
have been:president, and, seven years after, before the Come
mons of England, of which I am a member, to make state-
ments .as deliberately false as ridiculously objectless, he is
attributing to me a course of -comluet utterly unknown to
his honourable friend.'
"It curiously enough happens that my journey over this
district in 1850 was not my (nib* expedition to it. In the
year 1851 -my yacht was burnt at Cowes, having. on
board all the specimens had collected at the Bitter
Lakes, Lake Timeab, and the elevated ridge to the north,
In the winter of 1854, being at Caire-, I telt a desire to re-
place these'specitneas, and I started for the district under
the escort of a cavass of his Highness the Pasha of Egypt,
and accompanied as far as the Bitter Lakes by Mr. Ayrton,
an- Ettglish gentleman resident at Cairo. On this occasion
I pursued the same mute with little variation; renewing
my ecquaintance esthe phical features of the country,
Anil still further confirming m ysy
-views as to the soundness
of M. Talabot's report. _Everything that M. Talabot gave
the key to I saw for myself, and,
.jedging for myself, with
his report and maps in hand, I felt confirmed in the cor-
rectness of his views respecting a direct canal across the
Isthmus of Suez.
"It was, I believe, in the year following this expedition
that certain gentlemen waited on me in London, and pro-
posed to re-open the scheme for a canal across the Isthmus
of Suez. They had no new facts to offer to my considera-
tion,, and in all that they stated I found nothing that
engaged any share of my confidence, or that in any way
changed my viewas to M. Talabot's report and the character
of the project. In dealing with the multitude of schemes
from time to time submitted to me, I have uniformly de-
clined to allow my name to be associated with any plan in-
volving the subscriptions of my fellow countrymen for which
I did not see good prospect of success. Acting on this prin-
ciple, and feeling that the Suez Canal project on such foun-
dations was not a sound undertaking, I declined to be in
any way connected with the scheme. I communicated this
resolution to the promoters civilly and courteously. I know
not why my persistence in it has given them so much of-
fence. For some years past, however, I have been pursued
by these parties, in their hired organs, with weekly attacks
on both my personal and professional character. As I have
said before, I bare thought it most dignified to leave such
itteens nonotieea, knewiag nlienee they prcceeded; indeed,
they appeared beneath notice. Under- uo circutestarces
trill they ever engage my attention, and it is only when I
find a former colleague leagued with my assailants that it
appears to me to be necessary to correct his misstatements.
de Negrelli tells you in his letter, For my part, I
considered the results of the surveys (of M. Talabot)
favourable to the direct union of the two seas; the fact
of their being on the same level rendering the construc-
tion of locks unnecessary.' However,' he says, I reserved
my opinion until my ideas should be confirmed, which did
not occur until after the month of December, 1855,' when M. de Negrelli now declares that he pronounced
himself in favour of the direct union of the two sees by a
free canal.' M. de Negrelli has a perfect right to his own
opinion; I only regret that he does not concede to nie
my right to mine. But, apart from matters of opinion, I
cannot but observe that the elaborate attempt of M. de
Negrelli to fix the periods during which he 'reserved' and
at which he pronounced' his opinion appears remarkable.
From the termination of M. Talabot's experiments in
January, 1847, to after the mouth of December, 1855 (i.e.,
January, 1856), nine long years, M. de Negreill reserved
his opinion.' Through all these years, and even down to
the date cf his letter to you, he permitted his former col-
leagues and the world at large to believe that he concurred
in M. Talabot's report, and that, together with M. Talabot
-and myself, he had abandoned the project altogether. Even
when we all met in Paris in August, 1855, on the very eve
of his pronunciamento, he did not communicate either to
M. Talabot or to myself the doubts he entertained or the
opinions he reserved.' It was only after the month of
December, 1855,' that '11!s ideas were confirmed.' It was
only 'after the month of December, 1855,' I believe that the
company to which M. tie Negrelli has now openly lent the
influence of his name and the weight of his authority as-
sumed a commercial shape.
" But M. de Negrelli, I have said, has a right to his
opinions. I only wish he would allow me the same right to
mine.
"' I do not share,' he says, ' the opinion of my hon.
friend in England, that the canal without a current must
become a ditch where the ;water will be perpetually stag-
nant.' S Thu canal can owljt,be considered as the continua-
tion of the two Fees, whose waters meet in the basins.
If my hoz. friend will look from the windows of the
building in which be has developed such singular hydraulic
knowledge, he will see that the reflux of the Thames as far
as Windsor is caused by the rising of the tide and the agi-
tation commnuicated to the river. Notwithstanding that
Windsor is many leagues from the sea, the influence of the
tide of the interior waters is regularly felt. In the same
manner the Mediterranean and the Red Sea will agitate the
Suez Canal. The waters will rise and fall; in one word,
they will take part in all the movements of the sea.'
"If' my bon. Mend' will stand on the walls of the city
from which he has developed such singular hydraulic know-
ledge,' he will see in the tideless stream below him nothing
of the character he describes as occurring in the
Thames, which will probably account for his statements,
which are, indeed, as wide of the mark as possible; because
to suppose for a moment that there is any analogy between
the Suez Canal, 300 feet nide at its mouth, in an almost
tideless sea, and a river like the Thames, no less than six
miles broad at the Nore, with a rise of tidal water of from
16 to 20 feet, is really, to use a favourite phrase,of M. de
Negrelli, merely to 'pretend' to a knowledge of hydraulics.
"And if my hon. friend' is wrong in ;his analogy, he is
equally unfortunate in his special illustration. If, without
a shadow of foundation, M. de Negrelli questions my ever
having been at Suez, it is not without foundation that I
shall question his ever having been at Windsor. Or if ever,
as his language appears to suggest, he has travelled up the
river Thames past the windows of the building in which I
developed such singular hydraulic knowledge,' to visit the
Royal castle at Windeer, from whence he saw the reflux of
the Thames. the rise of the tide, tied the a,gitation commu-
nicated by the river,' he must forgive me for suggesting
that the vision must have been under circumstances most
dazzling to his clear perception ; for, while it is quite true,
as M. de Negrelli says, that Windsor is many leagues from
the sea,' it is equally certain that the influence of the tide
there is' not 'regularly felt,' inasmuch as it is arrested by
Teddiroston lock. Moreover I must inform M. de Negreili
that Windsor is 26 miles above the reach of the Thames,
and that at no period of tlie history of the river, even before
the construction of the locks, was the tide known to reach
iodenuesinaleeici:.l eos;
.athllvfal
friend
graver
within 22 miles of that town. In the same manner, there-
fore, as the tide agitates the waters at Windsor, M. de Ne-
grelliwill agitate the Suez Canal.' On this point Ido share the
t(ntc:
hi
0, tjuee
question
ti? Mediterraneans
sharett t
ir6)iaka
ht9.Austria.'
phoep artn andiori
watersss.
cf:l. he Red Sea
uo will
rile
rtfton.otf:hni
ot
st theuiep
p ocsa
move-
mentsnnagl
that there was au action of the water the extent of two feet
in the Mediterranean, and r f six feet in the Red Sea, which
is supposing ay extreme case, what effect would such action
have on a canal nearly 80 miles in length, with the inter-
vention
of the extensive basin of the Bitter Lakes ? The
matter is easily to be settled by calculation ; and I leave it
to my hon. and ingenious friend to amuse himself with in his
leisure hours.
" I believe that I have new replied to everything requir-
ing an answer in M. de Negrelli's letter. I regret that,
after leaving MoTalabot and myself to imagine, fur S 3 long a
period, that be concurred in the conclusion at which we ar-
rived, after the investigation of 1847, he should now have
• pronounced ' a contrary vies-. It is some satisfaction to
me, however, "to reflect that in the interval our opinions
have been confirmed by the investigations of highly scientific
and experienced individuals. Among other important in-
quiries on the suljset, I would refer to a document issued by
the Hydrogrophic-office of the Admiralty, under the autho-
rity of Capt. Spratt, R.N., a Comp anion of the Order of the
Bath and a Fellow ef the Royal Society, who in 1857 made
made an inquiry into the soundness of M. de Lessep's rea-
sonings and arguments on the practicability of the Suez
Canal.'
"This eminently scientific officer has arrived at the con-
clusion, after 20 years' hydrogrephic experience of the Medi-
terranean, and after the late einberate surveys and charts of
the Admiralty, showing the wave motion and the currents,.
that the establishment of a canal ''dependent upon or secon-
dary to the practicability of making and maintaining a deep
entrance to it from the tideless Mediterranean, is not
feasible. 'lt is necessary asd just,' he concludes, to the
commercial interest desiring to embark in the project of M.
Lessepe to know these important facts ere they risk their
millions in the undertaking, instead of discovering them only
when swamped in the sands they will have to contend with,
and then to discover also, when too late to amend it, that
Alexander the Great was wiser than,M. Lesseps admits when
he listened to the local opinion regarding the influence of
the Nile upon the harbour if formed to the eastward of it.'
"The opinions expressed by Captain Spratt serve, to
some extent, to counterbalance and to conssle me under the
defection of M. de Negrelli. I only regret that toy former
colleague should not have been permitted to join his Hew
friends without cantribnting to an attack upon myself. I
must frankly say, that such an attack from his pen appears
to me to be especially ungenerous, unfair, and unprovoked.
What word of unkindness has passed my lips with respect
to M. de Negrilli? When did I attribute to him false pre-
tences and absurd scientific ignorance? So little cause, in-
deed, had M. de Negrilli for assailing me, that I entertain a
belief, almost amounting to conviction, that he never can
himself have penned the scurrilous letter of which I com-
plain, but that it was the work t f some others, who obtained
to it his signature, given without due consideration.
"In conclusion, Sir, I will only say that I have—indeed,
I can have—no hostility to a maritime canal through the
Isthmus of Stiez. If I could regard such a canal as com-
mercially advantageous, I have already shown that I should
be the first to give the advantage of my time, my money,
and my experience. It was because after elaborate investi-
ga'ion, and in cohjunction with such men as M. Talabot, I
arrived at a clear conclusion that the project was not one
which deserved serious attention, that I refused to give it
support. I should be delighted to FCC a channel like the Dar-
denelles on the Bosphorus penetrating the isthmus that
divides the lied Sea from the Meditteranean ; but I know
that such a channel is impracticable,—that nothing can be
effected, even by the most unlimited expenditure of time and
life and money, beyond the formation of a stagnant ditch be-
tween two almost tideless seas, unapproachable by large
ships under any circumstances, and only capable of being
used by small vessels when the prevalent winds permit their
exit and their entrance. I believe that the project Will prove
abortive in itself and ruinous to its constructors; and enter-
taining that view, I will no longer permit it to be said that
by nbatnining roma pproming [anvil fills on thy subject

The following letter furnishes some details of the negotia-
tions which have been carried on during the past two years
by the Indian Junction Telegraph Company, under encou-
ragement from the British Government, far the construc-
tion of a line via the Tigris and the Persian Gulf, and which
have been allowed to result in disappointment and loss. It
appears an expectation is now entertained that the company
-will be empowered by the present Cabinet to lay the cable
from Kurrachee to Bussorah, while the Turks are making
the- land and-river line from Constantinopletoßussoralt, and
that means may'eteillet be adopted to hasten the latter
portion of the wark by British co-operation
European-and Indian Junction Telegraph Company,
• London August 3, 1858.
"Sir,—As your remarks in the City Article of yesterday
might give the inipression that it was propcsed•to abandon
- the route by Asiatic Turkey and the Persian Gulffor placing;
India and Englaltd in telegraphic communication, I beg that
you will do me the favour of giving insertion to the accorn-
panyino letter; which I addressed "to the present Govern.,
ment,laving, at the same time, good reason to believe that
it would he well received. To this letter I have received no
ansvier, the proposal contsined•in it being still, I believe,
under consideration and reference: The Treasury minute
on my letter, and the answer of. the India .Board thereto
(dectking on behalf of the East India Company to lay the
eakio, will show the extent of the official action on this most
imp:lila-lit 'natter, as puttlislied in a recent blue-book.
"I quite agree with yon that my shareholders have been
apparently egregiously trifled with by Government, but that
ceases to be surprising when the magnitude of the public
interests at stake failed to induce the prompt and energetic
prosecution of a work casting a trifle not worth weighing in
the balance for a moment against what one single vibration
of its silent tongue' might have saved during the stirring
events of the past year.
"I am bound, however, to state that I received in my
lengthened negotiations with the late Government cordial
co-operation from the Treasury (vide minute No. 113, an-
nexed), and that I experienced on all occasions the greatest.
personal courtesy from Lord Clarendon.
" Lord Stratford de Redcliffe wrote to me to say that be
was prepared to lend our agent at Constantinople the weight
of the embassy in his negotiations with the Porte, which he
nobly exerted, and yet an influence adverse to the interests
of this country was suffered to prevail ; but I am not with-
out'hopes that an arrangement may still be effected with the
Turkish Government satisfactory to all parties, and I may
add that the character of the present President of the India
Board leads me to hope for an early decision on the Persian
Gulf portion of the route.
"I have the honour to be, Sir,
" Your most obedient servant,
" W. P. AND REW."

" European and Indian Junction Telegraph Company,
Gresham-house, Old Broad-street, London, April 19.
sir —F,6jiwz ncsitred that her Majesty's Government
participates in the anxiety felt by VIP imblo to have India
and England placed in telegraphic a LU:blitae. tioll 4t
earliest possible period, I have the honour to request that
you will be good enough to bring to the notice of the Earl
of Malmesbury the following particulars, with the docu-
ments noted in the margin relative thereto.
" 2. As chairman of the only company incorporated by
Act of Parliament with a subscribed capital for connecting.
England and India by a line of telegraph through Asiatic
Turkey, I have to state that as the Turkish Government have
determined to construct a line of telegraph from Constanti-
nople to Bussorab, at the head of the Persian Gulf, and have
already, as I am informed, despatched the whole of the ne-
cessary materials to Asiatic Turkey, the company I represent
would be prepared, on certain terms and conditions, to com-
plete the telegraphic system to India within one year from
the execution of a contract with Government, by con-
structing and laying down a submarine cable between Bus-
sorah and Kurrachee, the port of the Indus which either is
at this moment or is about to be in telegraphic communica-
tion with all parts of India.

" 3. With reference to the lengthened correspondence I
have had with the late Government on the subject of tele-
graphic communication with India, I may briefly state, for
the Information of Lord Malniesbury, that the project of
this company for connecting the telegraphs of Europe with
those of India, by carrying a wire from the' shores of the
Mediterranean to the bead of the Persian Gulf, was ap-
proved by the late Government and by his Excellency
Viscount Stratford de Redeliffe, and was examined by a
committee of the House of Commons, of which Lord Stanley
was chairman, and a report of the evidence then taken is ap-
pended. A preliminary agreement having been entered into
between the Government and the company on the '22d of
January, 1837, a copy of which is annexed, a large expendi-
ture was incurred by despatching officers and telegraphic
stores to the Turkish territory, and the line might now have
been in working order bad not some extraordinary and un-
expected influence prevented the formal granting of a con-
cession which had been promised to the company by the late
Grand Vizier Redschid Pasha, and had been unanimously
recommended to the Turkish Government ly the Council of
Tanzimat.

" 4. It will be observed that the effect of the prelimi-
nary agreement entered into in January, 1857, was that the
Government was only to pay far work performed, while the
entire risk was thrown on those who found the capital and
skill to execute the work. I think it right at once to bring
this prominently ferward, as In the event of the propos:3l I
have submitted being entertained, it appears but reasonable
to expect:that Government should accept some portion of
the risk (which the highest scientific authorities assure me
is little more than nominal) with those who will place in
their hands a political instrument of inestimable value. In
other respects the previous agreement above referred to
might be accepted as a basis for the execution of the con-
tract.

" ' 5. According to the rough estimate of those eminent
and successful telegraph cable contractors, Messrs. It.
Newall and Co., in their letter to me, dated 16th inst., a
copy of which is annexed, the entire cost would amount to
400,0001. This sum may appear large, but the details I
have reason to believe will be nearly as follows :
Cable, 1,500 miles at 1381. per mile
Four steamers and coals for nine months 12.5,000
Insurance - 20,000
Contractor's profit and risk laying down 48,000

£400,00
" The item of 125,000/. might be caved by Government providing suitable vessels and coals.
" G. In conclusion I have testate the desire of the direc-
tors that, in the event of an arrangement being entered into
between the Government and the company, the management
should be aided and controlled by the presence of an cx
officio director at the board, and that the cable should he
both constructed and laid down under the supervision of
any officer her Majesty's Government might be pleased to
appoint. _ _

, " I have the honour to he, Sir,
" Your most obedient humble servant,
"' W. P. ANDREW, Chairman
"' W. It. Seymour V. Fitzgerald, Eeq.,
M.P., &c., Foreign-office.' "

" No. 113—Treasury Minute, dated September 9, 18;:,7.
" Write to Mr. Hammond, with copies of this correspon-
dence, fur the information of Lord Clarendon, and state that
it is the opinion of this board that, whether the propseed
line of telegraph may ultimately succeed or not, it would be
most unsatisfactory if an object in which the British Govern-
ment has exhibited so strong an interest should be allowed
to fall to the ground by the refusal of a Council of Ministers
of the Porte to confirm the decision of the Tanzimat, and
that through the exertions of a party supposed to be inimi-
cal to British interes s and to be in favour of the commercial
rivalry of the French. State that my lords feel, after the
encouragement they have given to the company seeking this
concession, that every means which Lord Clarendon thinks
right to use should be put in motion to induce the Ministers
of the Porte to adept the usual course in this case of con-
firming the decision of the Tanzimat.

" 'tad= Mr. Andrew that toy lords have communicated
their views to Lord Clarendon upon this subject.' "

DESTRUCTION OF THE BOURSE AT
ANTWERP BY FIRE.

The Independence Beige of Tuesday evening contains
the following letter from Antwerp, dated Manday morning,
2.30 a.m.:—

" At the moment I write an immense disaster is occurr irg
in our city. The Bourse of Antwerp, that place to which
so many glorious souvenirs are attached, and which by its
late improvement, its fairy-like covering, bad become the
admiration of all foreigners, is nothing more than a beep of
rubbish and smouldering ashes. The glass roof fell with a
frightful crash, and the enormous pieces of the metal frame-
work broke like glass on falling to the ground. Every part
of the building, in fact, is destroyed, and it was with great
difficulty that the neighbouring houses could be preserved.
The civil and military authorities, the troops, the firemen,
every one indeed did their duty, but nothing could be done
as to the Bourse, which will be burnt to the lest fragment
of wood.

" The fire appears to have arisen in an upper room, on the
side of the Court Rue des Claires. It was there, at least,
that the flames were first seen, and in half an hour the place
was enveloped in fire. The Bouree contained the chamber
of commerce, the tribunal, and the record office, the syndi-
cal chamber of the stockbrokers; the syndical chamber of
the Antwerp brokers; and the telegraph bureaux. Nothing,
absolutely nothing, is saved. All the archives of these vari-
ous bodies are lost. * * ■ I hare just returned from the
scene of the disaster, and in spite of the united efforts of a
crowd of workmen and the engines the fire continues. The
ceilings which surmounted the arches of the interior gal-
leries have just caught fire, and part of the turret on the
side of the Place de bier has fallen.",

The Right lion. 'Frederick and Mrs. Peel left
town, yesterday, on a tour in Germany.
The Right lion. Sir George Cornewall Lewis,
M.P., and Lady Theresa Lewis and Miss Lister left Kent
House, on Tuesday, for their seat, Harpton Court, Radnor-
shire.

SPECTACLES.—SIGHT AND HEARING--DEAPNESS.
—NEW DISCOVERY.—At Messrs. S. and B. Solomons', op.
ticians and aurists, 09, Albemarle-street, Piccadilly.-ob-
serve : opposite the York Hotel.—The Organic Vibrator, an
extraordinarily, powerful, small, newly-invented instrument
for deafness, entirely different from all other; to surpass any-
thing of the kind that has been, or probably ever can be, pro-
duced. It rests within the ears without projecting; and, being
of the same colour as the skin, is not perceptible. It enables
deaf persons to enjoy general conversation, to hear dis-
tinctly at church and at public assemblies; the unpleasant
sensation of singing noises in the ears is entirely removed,
and it affords all the assistance that possibly could be de-
sired. Invaluable newly-invented spectacles • immediately
they are placed before extremely imperfect vision the most
aged detective sight is brought to its youthful, natural,
and original state. Also, the most powerful and brilliant
patent telescopes, camp, perspective, opera, and race-course
glasses, possessing such extraordinary power that some 31
Inches, with an extra eye-piece, will show distinctly Jupiter's
;Agony, Saturn's ring, sad thy doubly NW&