The Sun.
London, England, 1858-01-23 00:00:00

INDIAN TEL EG tiA P .

•
(From the Times' City Aqicle.)
In the dispute between the India Company and
the Government the public would like to learn
where the fault lies of the neglect of telegraphic
communication. It limit be with one of their
bodi,,s, because the mercantile comrannity d d these
part long ago, and but fur indirec: °Vitae', s a. line
would almost at the present moment have been in
operation thro tghout the wlio'e distance. A short
description of the measures taken and deftat, d from
some unknown cause will assist the inquiry bt
showing that the fatal indifference exhibited has not
been shared in by the outside world. As long ago
as August, 1856, 013 Indian Junction Telegraoh
Comp any was started with a capital of 200,0001., the
whole of which was at once sub.cribed with a deposit
of 5 per cent. This was to carry a line from the
coast of the Mediterranean along the valley of the
Euphrates to Bagdad or Bussorah, whence the India
Company were to lay a cable through the compara-
tively shallow waters of the Persian Gulf toKurrachee
and Bombay. Nearly a year before the Indian mu-
tiny, therefore, the work was planned, and with the
zealous co-operation of the authorities it could
actually have been completed, so that the tidings
of that catastrophe might have reached us on the
instant. Of course, however, even the ordinary
legal and diplomatic formalities rendered such rapid
execution impossible, and it was not till the
following year,—namely, in August, 1857, that
the company obtained their Act of Incorpora-
tion. Meanwhile the evidence taken on the sub-
ject before the Parliamentary committee was ad-
matt d to have established the feasibility of the
work and the ease and despatch with which it
could be accomplished. Negotiations at the same
time were in progress at Constantinople for the
necessary concessi ,n from the Turkish Government,
all the assistance of the British Embassy haying
been promised for the purpose, and from the Home
Government and the India Company a subsidy was
obtained of 12,0001. per annum, or 6 per cont, on
the capital. The India Company also authorised
Sir W. O'Shaughnessy to accept the office of con-
sulting enginner, and commissioned, as an assistant
in the operations, Lieut. Hawes, of the Bengal
army, to whom and the other executive office's of
the company Lord Clarendon instructed Lmrd
Stratford and the British Consuls iu Asiatic Tur-
key to afford every help and countenance. Thus
far the whole affair seemed smooth, arid, as it was
evident that Lord Stratford earnestly desired its
success, no one had the slightest doubt it would at
once be proceeded with. The idea that Turkey,
for whom England had just completed a great war,
would venture to frustrate the design was never
entertained in any quarter. No means exist of
establishing telegraphs to India except either
through her Syrian or Egpytian territories, and it
was hardly to be supposed that she would be al-
lowed, as a return for what had been accomplished
on her behalf, to interpose herself as a bar-
rier, not merely to our natural intercourse with
our own possessions, but to the greatest facility con-
templated in modern times for the advantage of
Europe and the progress of civilisation. The re-
sult, nevertheless, showed the folly of relying upon
any ordinary calculations where political influences
are secretly at work. At first the application to
Turkey was cordially met, and on the 13th of Aug.,
1857, the necessary concession passed the Council
of Tanzimat, and was unanimously recommended
to the Council of Ministers. Sudden changes then
took place in the Turkish Cabinet, connected with
the questions which led to the subsequent visit of
the Emperor _Napoleon to Osborne, and the conces-
sion, which had actually arrived at the formal wage
in which it required nothing but the signature of
the Minister, was positively refused. The reasons
assigned were first, that the Turkish Government
could not protect the line—a duty which it had beat
hoped by the company they would never think of
performing, as the British employes bad no appre-
hension on that score—and next that they would
themselves undertake its construction. It will be
observed that these reasons contradict each other ;
of course, they answered the purpose, since
the public would know that the tree one lay much
deeper, and might prove inconvenient. Here, it is
believed, as far as the Euphrates Company are
concerned, the matter rests. Seemingly they have
toiled through all sorts of negotiations for nearly
two yea s, have been stimulated to considerable
outlay, and have now their labour for their pains ;
but it is hard to give the real history of cases of this
kind, as no directors or shareholders will ever com-
plain until all possibility of a rehabilitation of their
enterprise is at an end. But there is another com-
pany whose proceedings remain to be noticed—
the Red Sea Telegraph Company, with a proposed

capital of 700,0061. In this instance also some
encouragement was afforded up to a particular
stage, although it was not carried to such a definite
point as to enable the Board to raise their capital.
Ultimately, however, like its sister project, it fell
into the cold shade. The public unanimously de-
sired the simultaneous execution of the two lines,
it being seen that if only one existed and an acci-
dental interruption were to occur, we should, niter
we had brought all our habits into conformity with
this mode of communication, find ourselves in im-
becile confusion. Both companies are said to have
made every description of offer to modify their
plans in any way that may be deemed suitable to
combine all interests either political or commercial.
For aught that is known, however, the entire ques-
tion is now extinct. If Turkey will not permit her
Syrian territory to be crossed it is presumed her
Egyptian territory will be included in the same
policy. As to the intention on her own part to
construct either one line or the other it will doubt-
less remain an intention to the end of time.