The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-07 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The Madrid journals of the 2d contain no politi-
cal news. The _Espana publishes a long article
insisting on the necessity of making war on Morocco
in order to put down definitively the pirates of the
Riff. The Queen had not left Ferrol. The colonels
of the regiments composing the garrison of Madrid
had assembled to examine a new system of military
tactics proposed by the Marquis del Duero. The
Cronica had been seized.

The Nord recently published a telegraphic de-
spatch, stating that the consular agents of France,
Russia, the United States, and Greece had been
murdered at Stanchio, in the Archipelago ; but as
we looked on the account as an erroneous state-
ment we refrained from giving it. It is now found
that the intelligence so given was completely
unfounded.

Count Nesselrode, ex-Chancellor of the Russian
Empire, arrived at Berlin on the Ist, and alighted
at the hotel of the Russian Legation. On the fol-
lowing day he dined with the Prince of Prussia.

TILE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The announcement made by the Secretary
of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in your impres-
sion of yesterday ought not, I am told, to be allowed
to remain unnoticed by me.
As early as the fourth day after the landing of
the cable at Valentia, I felt it my duty to urge in
the strongest manner upon the directors the imme-
diate necessity for protecting - the home end of our
light and fragile cable, warning them of the lin'
pending injury, and of the certain interruption of
communication that would ensue therefrom. Of
this no notice was taken by the directors.
A few days later I again brought the subject to,
their attention in the most forcible manner, both by
post and telegraph. The injury which I had fore-
seen, and of which I had forewarned them, had
then commenced close to the shore ; I had detected
and proved its existence, and for some considerable
time all communication hence to Newfoundland
ceased, though from obvious causes their signals to.
us were not equally embarrassed.
Left in responsible charge of the Valentia-station►,"
without support or advice, without assistance of the
engineer, and without the presence of a single direc-
tor, I took upon myself the onus of raising and re-
pairing the faulty part of the cable, which was.
easily accessible ; free intercommunication was thus
re-established, and early the next morning the Pre-
sident's reply to her Majesty's message, which had
been long waiting at Newfoundland, was trans"
mitted from that station by the use of my
ments (carried out by the Niagara), and was re"
ceived at Valentia and recorded under my oWn
patent. I then again, in language as forcible as I
could command, declared to the directors my con-
viction that this interruption might be expected to
occur again at any time, and that we could not de-
pend upon our cable for a single day so long as the
slender part, prepared- and fitted for deep sea use
only, remained unprotected and exposed to the full
force of the Atlantic swell on the Irish coast. 1
also felt it my duty to point out, in unmistakeable
langaage, the necessity for the presence of some
part of the executive body at the seat of operations.
Up to this period—the fourteenth day after the
landing of the cable—neither chairman, vice-chair-
man, director, nor secretary had visited Valentia•
Professor Thomson, who had most handsomely
supplied my place during the expedition (which I
was peremptorily forbidden by my physician to
join), and also Mr. Bright, who had both landed
there from the Agamemnon, having left, the one
very shortly for London, the other a day or two
afterwards for Glasgow.
The whole of the details connected with this
subject will probably erc long be laid by me before
the public. Suffice it here to say, that intimately'
connected as I have been with the first and every
electrical operation or communication night and
day between the two countries (as, indeed, they
had been wholly under my direction), my name'
seems to have been on all occasions studiously sir
pressed, while my most earnest wishes for the wel
fare of the undertaking have been misunderstood,
and my actions condemned without inquiry.
My duties as electrician-projector of the Atlantic
Telegraph (my medical adviser having, as I have
just stated, positively prohibited my joining the
expedition) had been fulfilled, when I had demon-
strated to the world, by the use of my own instru-
ments, after years of anxious toil, in spite of most
grave doubts entertained by some of the highest
scientific authorities of our day, the fact of the
transmission of intelligence through the submerged
cable between Europe and America, with absolute
accuracy, and at a speed sufficient, under good ma"
nagement, to ensure a brilliant commercial success
to those who had hazarded their capital in the
enterprise.
With this consciousness I now looked for a well-
-earned and honourable repose from the more press-
ing official details of my position, as indeed ,the
terms of my agreement with the company had
allowed. Instead of this I received from the
hands of one of the directors an extract
from the minutes of a recent Board, drawing
my attention to the fact " that my engage'
ment as electrician of the company terminated
when the cable was laid," and intimating to me that
" my authority as an officer of the company had now
ceased," this being conveyed in such terms and in
such a manner as to amount in fact to a summarl
dismissal.

A fortnight has elapsed since I claimed, as a
matter of justice, a hill and complete investigation
—towards which I am not aware that- any steps
have yet been taken. The Board, having sum'
moned me to London to dismiss me, have now found
it necessary to adjourn to Valentia:
The obstruction to the interchange of messages
to which I have already alluded, and the recurrene°
of which the directors had every reason, from nil
reports, to expect, has now, apparently, again moll'
fested itself.
I think it right, therefore, towards the public and
the shareholders, no less than as a duty to myself'
to state that the probability of this recurrence (".,
injury had been anticipated and predicted by ine
with the utmost confidence, with a view to its pre"
vention. There is, I apprehend, little real cause for
anxiety, nor is there necessarily, so far as I am at
present aware (for I know no details but those
which your pages offer), anything in this obstrue-
tion calculated to damp the most sanguine hopes °I
ultimate complete success. It is apparently
more than a repetition, from continued exposure t°
the same causes, of the fault or injury, already once
removed, and which ought by this time, so far es
human means admit, to have been prevented or
rendered impossible.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant,
EDWARD ORANGE WILDMAN WHITEHOUSE,
Electrician-Projector, and one of the Four
Original Promoters of the Atlantic Tele-
graph.
Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, Sept. 6.

SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW MBank
PIIIC CODE AND ABBREVIATIONS.

A correspondent of a morning contemporary
proposes the formation of a code of familiar phrases
and words, to be called the X-code the whole °
which might be easily committed to memory. The
reason why he selects the letter x is, that it does.
not commence any word in our language, .so that
whenever indicated, in the course of the transmis-
sion of a message, &c., the recipient would instantly
know that, it was a code signal. For example'
suppose the often-recurring phrase, "We hal,'
received the despatches," were always represented
by x-t ; or, " Her Majesty's ship ' by x-s ; or,
" The Governor-General of India ' by x-g-i, what
a vast amount of time -would be thereby pined ?,
Names of persons and towns might also be include('
in the code.

I would also have a system of abbreviations and
contractions such as are used in short-hand writing;
The terminations—ment, ing, tion, and ous, would
have represented respectively by the letters a, i,
and u, as there are but very few words ending With
either of those letters in the language. Take the
word " investment," for instance ; the telegraphic
rendering would then be invest-a, for having hav4,
for nation na-o, for serious serf-u. The terminating
letters would always be given in a_distinct manner'
followed by the stop always indicated upon the ter"
mination of words. A very little trouble wouldf
familiarise our operators with an arrangement of
the above kind.
As the telegraphic wires have now become Of
medium through which a vast amount of human
thought is daily conveyed, every effort, however
feeble, to facilitate their operations will,. I trim'
receive from the public that fair consideration wine'
their importance demands.

VISIT OF PRINCE ALFRED TO PRUSSIA.—NO°i
wicir, Sept. 6.—H.R.H. Prince Alfred having 'olitainct
two months leave of absence from the naval service, is in.
to proceed to the continent, on a visit to their Royal-DilAige.,
nesses the Prince and Princess of Prussia. The
wheel steam yacht Osborne, Master Commander G. 11.
Bower, has passed the Channel from Portsmouth, and \cid.
embark his royal highness and suite at Dover or Graves%
The Osborne will, it is expected, be accompanied b.1,,.cy
Vivid, Admiralty steam vessel; and probably by the nu'
Eagle, which vessel was at the service of his royal highlle'
during his recent cruise.
ose
Mr. Norris, the Canadian Envoy for the pnrl3,.,
of soliciting a Royal opening of the Canadian Great Erb
bition, has proceeded to Osborne en his mission. We
not say that the request made received the most the A.tie
cious consideration loom her Majesty, but there is 11' ce e
doubt that Ministers will advise the Queen that the PrTr.
of Wales is not yet old enough to take tart L. a publici,Te
menial of this kind. Mr. Norris was m the Isle of IN l
at the time of the Privy Council,. when the Croon o_
readily raw the oubject to the Nitustry,—C9ort sThorrig