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

TAB 4:I'44NTIV ',,el;--E6tl6lPll'.

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 (if
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 in'''.
pending injury, and of the certain interruption ef
communication that would ensue therefrom. °f
this no notice was taken by the directors.
A few clays later I again brought the subject to
their attention in the most forcible manner, both by

I A •••• •
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 vil°
easily accessible ; free intercommunication was thug
re-established, and early the next morning the Pre;
sidetit's reply to her Majesty's message, which 1134
been long waiting at Newfoundland, was trans-
mitted from that station by the use of my instill-
ments (carried out by the Niagara), and was re'
ceived at Valentia and recorded under my
patent. I then again, in language as forcible as
could command, declared to the directors my COil"
viction that this interruption might be expected t°
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 uste,
only, remained unprotected and exposed to the flu:
force of the Atlantic swell on the Irish coast.
also felt it my duty to point out, in unmistakeable
langaage, the necessity for the presence of sale
part of the executive body at the seat of operations.
Up to this period—the fourteenth day after tM
landing of the cable—neither chairman, vice-chair
man, director, nor secretary had visited Valenthi*
Professor Thomson, who had most handsoulel
supplied my place during the expedition (which
was peremptorily forbidden by my physician t,e
join), and also Mr. Bright, who had both landed
there from the Agamemnon, having left, the °lie
very shortly for London, the other a day or tW°
afterwards for Glasgow.
The whole of the details connected with this
subject will probably ere long be laid by me bef°e
the public. Suffice it here to say, that intimate
connected as I have been with the first and el
electrical operation or communication night
day between the two countries (as, indeed,- tlieJe
had been wholly under my direction), my 113°-
seems to have been on all occasions studiously OP;
pressed, while my most earnest wishes for the Iv e;
fare of the undertaking have been rnisundersto'
and my actions_condemned without inquiry. tic
My duties as electrician-projector of the Atlane
-Telegraph (my medical adviser having, as 1 heile
just stated, positively prohibited my joining
expedition) had been fulfilled, when I had Selne'
strated to the world, by the use of my own instriloi
inents, after years of anxious toil, in spite of Di%
grave doubts entertained by some of the high,e'e
scientific authorities of our day, the fact of wea
transmission of intelligence through the subnierg to
cable between Europe and America, with absoltir
accuracy, and. at a speed sufficient, under good lliss
nagement, to ensure a brilliant commercial Wet%
to those who had hazarded their capital in
enterprise.
With this consciousness I now looked for a lc
sy
earned and honourable repose from the more Preto)
ing official details of my position, as indeed. the
terms of my agreement with the company
allowed. Instead of this I received froul 'act
hands of one of the directors an -e%tr.4
from the minutes of a recent Board, aralVin,e-
my attention to the fact " that my ellgti
ment as electrician of the company tern:tine:a
when the cable was laid," and intimating to me fr-1,,
" my authority as an officer of the company had
ceased," this being conveyed in such terms anuari
such a manner as to amount in fact to a sunlit'

dismissal:
A fortnight has elapsed since I claimed, oo
tas.
matter of justice, a full and complete investigate
—towards which I am not aware that au)" so.
have yet been taken. The Board, having !old
moned me to London to dismiss me, have now 1°
it necessary to adjourn to Valentia.
mess
The obstruction to the interchanov of
to which I have already alluded, and the recurred
of which the directors had every reason, flora floi•
reports, to expect, has now, apparently, again 111
fested itself.
I think it right, therefore, towardsthe pub--c
the shareholders, no less than as a duty to 1015- of
to state that the probability of this recurrent 0e
injury had been anticipated and predicted bide'
with the utmost confidence, with a view to it%for
vention. There is, I apprehend, little real eau; at
anxiety, nor is there necessarily, so far as I aboe
i
present aware (for I know no details but r
which your pages offer), anything in this 6bst o
of
tion calculated to damp the most sanguine loPe so
ultimate complete success. It is apparen; to
more than a repetition, from continued exP°s °lice
the same causes, of the fault or injury, alreadiror 0
removed, and which ought by this time, se lei of
human means admit, to have been prey°
rendered impossible.
I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, $
EDWARD ORANGE WILDIVIAN WHITEIIO,IISof
Electrician-Projector, and one of the eir
Original Promoters of the Atlantic 'le
graph.
Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, Sept. 6'

SUGGESTIONS FOR A NEW TEL-Li- a
PHIC CODE AND ABBREVIAIO`.

• ottill
: A correspondent of a morning coUteraritrosesi
proposes the formation of a code of familiar tole 0,
and words, to be called the X-code, the 183' Vie
which might be easily committed. to memnrY.'t doc°
reason why he selects the letter x is, that 1 tot
not commence any word in our language, 000'
whenever indicated, in the course of the traltiotil
sion of a message, &c., the recipient would ins (tivie'
know that, it was a code signal. For eoVei
‘, The Governor-General
niadletollisoonfusilidnnidlhaet
suppose the often-recurring phrase, "lie pot&
received the despatches," were always repres' or;
by x-t ; or, " Her Maesty's ship " by s.-;8•10;
aN\a-ma set
Names of
amount of
at
in the code. ail
I would also have a system of abbreviatiPlot
contractions such as are used in short-hand Wfispor
0 The terminations—went, ing, tion, and ono, la, i, °I;
on have represented respectively by the letter sit
and u, as there are but very few words end,,,ii!,ce the
either of those letters in the language. MCA,
word ~ investment," for instance ,• the teleg 100
rendering would then be invest-a, for havillgioatilif,
for nation na-o, for serious serf-u. The tern' an'' labiesrYoebxlipg:aietitld'
letters would always be given in a distinct Plibe to
followed by the stop alwas indicated 1111°11, vit° I
urination of words. A very little troubJeopt
familiarise our operators with an arrange ~,c,'
P
the above kind. con'e iPli
As the telegraphic wires have now be-f hilll;.ef
medium through which a vast amount 0,00. t,
thought is daily conveyed, every effort, il 0401
feeble, to facilitate their operations will,' 0 Will
receive from the public that fair considerati°
- their importance demands.
_vos
iI.
VISIT OF PRINCE ALFRED TO PRUSSI)i-- obtfoilt
' wicii, Sept. 6.—H.R.H. Prince Alfred haven I'
two months leave of absence from the naval servifel,l PN,
to proceed to the continent,. on a visit to their 14 41
nesses the Prince and Princess of Prussia. i." 0:, AI,4V,
wheel steam yacht Osborne, Master CompiPPO,Ci , oVdpo'
Bower, has passed the Channel from Pertolollrore',o
tl
embark his royal highness and suite at Dover or .pa 1) i#o
The Osborne will, it is expected, be accorapailliiip 04
Vivid, Admiralty steam vessel, and probably b.3.liiiiirs'
Eagle, which vessel was at the service of his rO3 e;
during his recent cruise.
Mr. Norris, the Canadian Envoy ibr
of soliciting a Royal opening of the Cfmadtall G,, eat
bitten, has proceeded to Osborne on his mission. t the nitle
not say that the request made received the IP° e is 'tiiio°
the litittiPeei'
cious consideration foom her Majesty, buttthfrthe Pee'
doubt that Ministers will advise the Queen at oliio igo
of -Wales is not yet old enough to take part fa Ta 13 of '
monial of this kind. Mr. Norris: was in the -Lane.tieen °
at the time of the Privy Council, when the 7400
readily refer the subject tQ the xiatstry..--Cotir."