The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-05 00:00:00

DIMARTURES.

--: --
May 19.—The Santiago, W. Eames, far Penang ; tla
Scotia, Ovirburg, for London.
_The Queen of the West, T. M'Mnrtrey, fot
raneßars, for Londors - •
Liverpool; Grayer, B. Siarkie, for Livir•
pooluay 24.—The Alison, W. Laws, for London.
Canaan,theba
May 25.—The Midi: Dab, D. Clark, for London ; ft e
:Sia;Yth2e°.
steamer Bombay Castle, A. C. Dando, for China.
May 26,—The Washington, R. Norton, for London

•

Thg

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 5. 1858.

THE ATLANTIO TELEGRAPH.

it is with deep regret that we announce another
accident to the Atlantic Telegraph, which it w.is
fondly hoped would have been completed during
the present summer. From a telegraph just
received from Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD, who was at
Queenstown, Cork, Ireland, it appears that the
Agamemnon and Gorgon had arrived at the Cork
harbour this morning, and that "on Wed-
nesday, the 29th of June, when these vessels
had 142 miles of cable paid out, and all on
board the Niagara was going on perfectly,
the signal from the Agamemnon suddenly ceased,
and front the tests the electricians say the cable
must have parted at or near the Agamemnon."
Under these circumstances no alternative remained
but to return home with all convenient speed, in
order that the best course may be decided on. It
is to be hoped that the accident, whatever it
may have been, will not stop the undertaking.
At present we have but little information
as to the cause of the mare temps. Doubtless
the Directors of the Company will take the best
advice, and act promptly and judiciously, as well
for the national interests as for those of their
immediate constituents. It is impossible to esti-
mate the advantages that would result from the
completion of the miraculous enterprise, which
would make almost instantaneous communication
between the Cabinets of London and Washington,
and the merchants of the British metropolis and
their correspandents throughout the entire Union,
practicable. They can be readily appreciated by
every politician, and every one interested in
Commercial affairs.

The full ext..3nt and nature of the accident
will, of course, be strictly investigated, and
it will be ascertLined Whether it was of a
temporary character that might be-averted by in-
Creased precautions, or whether it was such as to
prevent any well-founded hope of success, and
therefore lead to the relinquishment Cf the scheme.
A short time will tell, .and wo can only await the
report with deep interest and anxiety.

The Admiralty under Sir Joi P AKINGTON
not what the Admiralty was under Sir CHARD
WOOD—when merit went unrewarded, and when
birth or interest might alone invariably loi,k for
promotior. Everybody bears this painfully

enough in remembrance who is acquainted with
the particulars of the life and death of ROBERT
ROBERTS, late master of the Cyclops, who ought
to have lived to be an admiral, but who was
literally, if ever man was, done to death by the
denial to him of the recompense he had so richly
merited, namely, the rank of a Commander. In
contrast:to that melancholy narrative, upon which
we ourselves have deemed it our duty more than
once to comment, and that, moreover, upon oc-
casion, at considerable length, and with all the
fervour of unaffected indignation—the sorrowful
tale of the great services of Master ROBERTS, and
of the most low and cruel treatment by which
(thanks to men like Sir CHARLES WOOD and Sir
MAURICE BERKELEY) those great services were in-
famously doomed to expiation by death—there
are now visible abundant and most welcome evi-
dence that personal merit rather than powerful
interest, or high family connections, will hence-
forth secure recognition—i. e., honorary reward
and rapid promotion at the Admiralty. This
under the regUne (and honour to him for it) of
Sir JOHN PAKINGTON.

The latest, but not by any means the least,
striking testimony of the happy change here par-
ticularised is that afforded in the instance of the
gallant young officer who succeeded the late
lamented Captain Sir WILLIAM PEEL, R.N.,
K.C.8., as the leader of the Naval Brigade, at
the seat of war in Hindostan. According to one
of the most recent notifications in the London,
Gazette, this valiant young tar, Commander
VAUGHAN, late first lieutenant of H.M.S. Shan-
non, has just been nominated Companion of the
Bath, in consideration of his distinguished ser-
vices in the Naval Brigade; and it is now intimated
he has succeeded to the command of the above
versel, upon the demise of the heroic PEEL, his
friend and comrade in the alternate repose and
turmoil of the bivouac and the battle-field. This
nomination is another and appreciable stop in the
right direction. There is no tarrying here for
interest. There is no dawdling attention to the
idiotic and heart-breaking requirements of reu-
tine. The recompense is as promptly and spon-
taneously given and gracefully as judiciously.
Other departments besides the Admiralty might
well act thus in obedience to the wise and humane
old axiom, bis dat qui cito dat—an axiom espe-
cially -worthy of remembrance during the time of
actual warfare, when the honours awarded by a
gracious SOVEREIGN and a grateful nation may
come too late—as it is bitter enough even now to
remember that they actually did in the instance
of the late dauntless and lamented HAvELocK.

Happily, our naval heroes may now look for
prompt reward, and we doubt not also for speedy
promotion, now that the Admiralty has passed
from the malign influence of Sir CHARLES WOOD
to the genial and rational regime of Sir JOHN
PAKIWTON. The recipient of this doubly valuable,
becau&3 spontaneously proffered, badge of the C. 8.,
has w-on the distinction for himself on the battle-
fields of India—Commander VAUGHAN having
served in all the various actions fought under Sir
COLIN' CAMPBELL against the Bengal mutineers,
and, what is yet more, having on every occasion
recei•Ted the warmest thanks of Sir COLIN through
his despatches as Commander-in-Chief. Remem-
bering all which, the young leader of the Naval
Brig ade may surely now entertain a confident
hope of his promotion to Post Rank, so soon as
he sir: tll have served a sufficient time as Com-
mander. He has every reasonable chance of fair
play at any rate, now that the Admiralty is pre-
sided over by an administrator, endowed at once
with sagacity and magnanimity. Qualities, those
too, do which his immediate predecessor could make
asstuNdly but small pretension. Gladly, however,
should we recognise, in addition to his own acts
of grace, one or two signal acts of reparation
adventured upon by Sir JOHN PAKINGTON —re-
paration for the great wrongs inflicted by that
same predecessor of his during the existence of
Lord PALM.ERSTON'S Government. There is the
ease, for example, of the widow of Master
ROL:ERTS, RN., the humble hero already speci-
fied. Might not the relict of that true sailor—
we earnestly put this to you, Sir JOHN !—receive
the pension to which she would have been en-
titled had she been what she ought to be, the
widow of a Commander ?

There was a general hope that, before the close
of the present session, a private railway bill would
receive the legislative sanction, by which public
convenience would have been greatly promoted.
It was proposed to construct a terminus near
Lower Belgrave-place, Pimlico, from whence a
railway should be carried along the line of the
Grosvenor Canol, and thence across the river a
little below the lately opened suspension bridge to
Battersea-park ; a junction would then be effected
with the New \Vest-end and Crystal Palace line,
a little above the terminus thereof.

It is needless to expatiate on the many advantages
which would result from the completion of such
an undertaking. It would greatly relieve the
routes, now crowded by excessive traffic, afford
extraordinary facilities to every tourist to :he
continent or South-Eastern counties, and add
materially to the value of the land reserved by
Government in the vicinity of Battersea-park. It
would be a great inducement, not merely to specu-
lative builders, but to private individuals ready to
erect commodious dwelling-hous,'s in that rising
locality, if they could be certain of conveyance by
railway across the river and into Pinalic9, from
whence they might proceed by omnibus or cab in
any direction. The land would rise so much
in value as to justify
the abolition of the pedes-
trian tolls across the suspension, and to make
Battersea a peoplu's park to_all intents and pur-
poses.

Everything looked fair and auspicious for this
important measure. The unqualified assent of
Sir BENJAMIN BALL 41 been obtained. The
purchase of the Grosvenor Canal had been con-
cluded on very advantageous terms. The bill was
introduced and passed through all its stages in the
House of Commons with comparatively
trifling opposition—had gone to the Lords
and been road a second time. All " went
merry as a marriage bell." The share-
holders were congratulating themselves on
their excellent speculation--the general public on
the great facilities that would be afforded. But
" there's many a slip 'twist cup and lip." At
the eleventh hour, when all the expenses had been
incurred, and after large sums of money had been
invested on the faith of the official, and all but
legislative sanction that had been obtained for the
judicious project, a dark cloud appeared in the
horizon that threatened to blast all their rea-
sonable anticipations. Some sinister influences
were in operation, which prevailed with the De-
partment of Woods and Forests ; and Lord JOHN
MANNERS, the First CommiSsioner, was induced to
enter a most unexpected opposition to the scheme.
Bat there was still ground for hope. The time
had passed by for so doing. A well-consi-
dered standing order, founded on justice and
equity, prohibited auy opposition, under such
circumstances, and if ever there was a
case where the House should have abided by its
established rules and regulations, it was the one

under notice. If the Crown had been interested,
the Right Honourable Gentleman by whom it had
been represented had given a well-considered and
wise assent to the project, and the usual etiquette
should have rendered his successor very chary of
interfering therewith, if it had not absolutely
prohibited any movement on his part. But the
Crown was not concerned. There was not, as
Lord CHBLMSFORD declared, the slightest neces-
sity for obtaining the Royal assent to the preamble
of the bill. Why, then, should the House be
required to suspend its standing orders ? Why
should it lend itself, on what we cannot help desig-
nating as most frivolous and untenable grounds,
to an interested opposition ? The effect of the
resolution of Friday evening will be to materially
increase the expenses of the company, and pro-
bably to postpone their operations for another
year. But it is not of the injury to the share-
holders, although they have just grounds of com-
plaint, but to the community at large, that we com-
plain. They are deprived of a great convenience.
Every West-end traveller to the South-Eastern
districts or to the Continent, will have to waste
time and money at the very commencement of his
peregriiations. He will also be liable to lose his
train by the closing up or stoppage of some of
the overcrowded thoroughfares, and experi-
ence the inconvenience and uncertainty of
travelling, at its very earliest stage, starting
with his disposition soured, and half the enjoy-
ment of his holiday taken away. Surely these
are no trifling annoyances, and some regard
should be exhibited by those who have handsome
private carriages and ample time for their less for-
tunate fellow-subjects.
And what are the pleas on which this tardy op-
position, the right to which was forfeited by the
lathes already exhibited, proceeds ? First, that
the toll on Battersea-bridge may be in some
degree diminished by the railway ; and, secondly,
that the view of the suspension-bridge may be
prejudiced ! Now, we fearlessly take issue on
both points, although asserting that, even if well-
founded they would not be sufficient, under the cir-
cumstances, to justify the opposition. In the first
place, the railway facilities would be more likely
to bring than to detract from the traffic of the
new bridge. Many persons tempted by a cheap
and rapid access to the Park would be disposed
to walk home, and we believe that the number
thus attracted would far more than compensate for
those drawn away by the railway. But certainly
a pound or two per diem, more or less, should not
affect a question in which no private rights
are concerned. The general convenience and the
railway passengers' tax which would be received,
although in another department, together with the
improved value of the lands, would more than
counterbalance any deficiency in the halfpenny
tolls.

As to the -stlietic part of the case, we can only
say that doctors differ in matters of art as
in every other vexed question. The tubular
bridge across the Menai—the great triumph
(,f engineering skill—has not spoiled the view
of the suspension bridge connecting Anglesea
with Carnarvon, and we really believe that
a far larger number will consider it an im-
provement than otherwise. On the whole we
trust that the opposition will not prevail, and the
bill which has already passed the Commons, will
receive the Legislative sanction before the close of
the session.

Great complaints are made in the City at the unne-
cessary delay experienced in the delivery by the Post
Office authorities of the foreign nevspapers, merchants,
and others interested in the colonial and foreign trade
being thereby debarred from the only source of informa-
tion open to them. -
The report of the directors of the Australian
ura' Company, issued in anticipation of the annual
nifetinz, which is called for the 13th inst., recommenes
a dividend of 153. per share, out of the funds in hand
hers, amounting to 18,6591.
Th 3 fifth ordinary meeting of the shareholders of the

City Bank is called for the 20ih inst. ; and the annual
meeting of the shareholders in the Western BaLk of
London for the 29th
LEGAL COSTUME: IN CAPE COL3NY.—The chief corn•
unissioner of Kaifraria has issued the following :—"No
Kaffirs will hencsforth be allowed to enter or remain in
King Williatn's Town unless; they are decent:3r dressed in
Europcan clothing. The police have received instruc-
tions to retnev.) from the town any native not complying
with this notice."
The announcement that the Lord Chief Baron is to

retire from the Bench, at the close of the present sit-
tings, is entirely without foundation. We are happy to
say that the learned judge is in the fua enjoyment of
health, and that he Las not the slightest intention of
abdicating his high judicial office in the Court of Excite
quer.
GOLD FROM NEW ZEALAND.—The Duchess of L,3inster
bas arrived from Nelson, New Zealand, with 2,500 oz.
of gold, consigned to the Union Bank of Australia. This
is, we believe, the first 'shipment of the produce of the
newly-discovtrz:d gold-fields in that c.-,lony on any large
scale, although con',iderabls quantities have from time

to time been forwarded to Sydney and Melbourne,
through which the hulk of the Now. Z3aland gold must
come, as the opportunities for direct shipment ara rare.
—Australian and New Zealand Gazette.
'llll4 LIVE GUARDS.—Uorneteies in the Life Gum&

arc at a discount. There are, we believe, six or seven
cornets' commissions for sale and no one will purchase
in the regiment. Ether the expensive style of living
oyerates as a bar to the ambition of poor men, or it is felt
that, in the dreary round of duty from Windsor to Lon-
don and back, varied with a fieldday at Wormwood
Scrubbs or Hounslow, there is not much scope for mili-
tary enterprise.— Unitel Service Gazelle.
TrIE WEATHER IN PARIS.—SATIIIMAY, July 3, 6 p.m.
—For the last four or five days the weather has under-
gone a very sensible and not gradual change from in-
tense heat to the coolness of early spring. Yesterday
and the (lay before) the mornings and evenings were
actually cold. The fierce heat which prevailed the
greater part of June was mitigated by one or two abun.
dant and beneficent showers of rain, which, though the
parched earth soon drank it in, yet relieved us consider-
ably. Ent we had not, at least in Paris, any of those
violent thunderstorms which were experienced in some
of the departments. This day, however, it has been
otherwise. The morning was lowering, a heavy shower
fell at mid-day for nearly an hour. Is then cleared up
for a space, but the sky soon again grew dark, and at
three o'clock the rain, mingled with large hailstones,
came down like a cascade and delaged'tho streets, Loud
claps of thunder followed, and the lightning was fre-
quent and most vivid, and continued, with slight inttr-
vala, till four o'clock. The rain, however, continued to
fall. It ceased at fi4e, but the sky still looks menacing.
PEOGRESS IN STEAM NAVIGATION.—Sinc3 1850 the
time occupied by steamers crossing the Atlantic between
Liverpool and New York is shortened by two days. The
amount of fuel °mourned by the steam-ships which' er
form the voyages so shortened is twice that which was
required by the steamers which ran between New York
and Liverpool previous to 1850. _

MUMMY POWDER. —One of the oddest things ever ie•
traduced into Materia Media-6 was the celebrated
Mummy Powder. Ee, ptian mummies, being broken
up and ground into dust, were held of great value as
medicine both •for external and internal application.
Boyle and Baeon unite in commending its virtues : the
latter' indeed, venturing to suggest that "the mixture
of balms that are glutinous" was the foundation of its
power, though common belief held that the virtue was
more in the Egyptian than in the spice." Even in the
seventeenth ceututy mummy was an important article
of commerce, and was sold at a great price. Oao Eastern
traveller brought to the Turkey C)mpany six hundred
weig,htl,of mummy broken into pieces. Adulterationicame
into play in a manner which would have gratified the
Lancet commission : the Jews collecting tho bodies of
executed criminals, filling them with common asplialtem
which cost little, and then drying them in the imp, when
they becaree undistinguishable from the genuine amide.
And the maladies which mummy was held to cure are set
forth io a list whida we commend to the notice Of Pro-
fessor Holloway. It was "to be taken is decoctions of
marjoram,
thyme, elder-flower, barley, roses, lentils,
jujubes, eureeeke-seed, carraway, saffron, cassia, parsley.
with oxytnel, wine, milk,
butter, eletor, and mulherriee.)!
Sir Thenias Browne, who was a good deal before his are,
did not approve, of tba use of the mummy. The world
has come round to the great physician's way ofthinking,
and mummy is not included in the pharteacopcela of
modern days. —,Prceser's Magazine.
A series of raures published by the Gardener's
Chronicle of Saturday indicate a much earlier harvest
than has been witnessed fer many year. Peas and
vetchee, generally a very poor crop, are bell g already
cut in some places, and the earlier sown and Talavera
wheats will be ready in a fortnie,ht or three weeks all
through the southern counties. Late sown oats and
b aley have suffered from the unusual drought and beat,,
and beans are generally reported as promising below an
average yield.
THE AMOUNT OF DUTY PAID AT THE BELFAST CUSTOM
HOUSE; for the week ending June 26, was 4;9731. 15s.
6d ; again: t-6:907/: 5& gdt the previous week,' and
5,9621. 7e. 41. the corresPondiog period of last year.

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