The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-17 00:00:00

LOCKE KING'S motion would give; and he shoived, '
by an obviously correct calculation, what we know
to be true in point of fact, that the £lO
householder in the county must be a man of £5O a
year rental. When, however, the county franchise
is thus extended, and extended with the protection
of the Ballot, the county constituencies would be
as popular and independent as those of the towns.
Mr. BRIGHT, however, points to the House of
Lords, and asks, what do they represent—them-
selves only, or the counties in which their immense
estates arc situate ? If the former, then the in-
quiry is forced on us, what right have some 400
persons to set themselves, whenever they sec fit,
against the wish of the whole nation, as expressed
by its representatives ? The Crown has long sur-
rendered all pretensions to veto the demands of the
nation; it has not rejected a bill for perhaps
150 years. Can it be tolerated that the Lords,
if they repreSent themselves only, should assume
this power, as they did lately for instance, for years
together, in regard to the Jew Bill—the House of
Commons having, moreover, no kind of control
over them, as they have over the Crown by
stopping the supplies. But if the Lords
represent the landed estates of the county,
what becomes of the demand for more representa-
tives for the counties ? Mr. BRIGHT has certainly
given Mr. NEWDEGATE a puzzle which he will not
easily find a key to. The less the landlords say
about defective county representation the better,
unless they are prepared to discuss at the same
time some radical change in regard to the House
rf Lords.

The extraordinary enterprise displayed by the
Atlantic Telegraph Company renders it, we cannot
but think, exceptional—entitles it, we still con-
ceive, to more than ordinary consideration on the
part of the Government. Hitherto -that remark-
able enterprise has been baulked by means of a
most untoward casualty. An apparently irrepar-
able flaw in the cable• actually laid down between
Valentia and Newfoundland closed the electric in-
tercourse between the New and the Old World
within a week or two from the date of its esta-
blishment along the bed of the vast ocean sepa-
rating the two hemispheres. That intercourse, it
cannot very speedily be forgotten, was wonderfully
established for an interval, so that the opposite
shores of the Atlantic were literally brought
into all but instantaneous communication. The
feasibility of this hitherto fabulous and even, when
accomplished, scarcely less than miraculous project
—its practicability (if not its permanence) was
distinctly and practically demonstrated. Until
then it was no more than a splendid day-dream.
But after those magical needles had simultaneously
vibrated by means of the connecting thread of two
thousand miles of wire submerged in the Atlantic,
that glorious day-dream was
_actually realised.
Granted. that the marvel continued in working order
during only a comparatively brief interval—during
that interval it was incontestibly in operation.
Rapidly though the time passed away, it
was still sufficient to afford proof positive
that the wondrous feat could actually be ac-
complished. For that—England and Canada, rather
it should be said Europe and America, all the
nations of the earth civilized, and uncivilized, are
beholden to the enterprise of the adventurous, and
seemingly to many doubtless, at the onset, merely
visionary association. The Atlantic Telegraph
Company, though they have failed as yet to connect
the two hemispheres permanently—though they
lost a fragment of a cable at the first venture and the
whole of the cable at the second venture—have
established incontestibly the fact that the New
World and the Old World. can be, simply because
they have been, brought together by means of elee-
trio-telegraphic intercommunication.

It is ungenerous and ungrateful, we think, at this
stage to insist that the. Atlantic Telegraph Com-
pany ought to be placed in the same category with
all other companies that may from this time forth
be organised for the laying down of submarine
cables. It is invidious, moreover—it is even mean—
to argue that if any one Telegraphic Company
ought to be encouraged by a direct guarantee from
Government, that company ought to be
the one having for its aim the establishment
of a line of electric intercourse eastwards and
not westwards—to the Indian Peninsula, and not
to the North American Continent.

While we heartily concur with those who, upon
principles deprecate the notion of submarine tele-
graphs generally being subsidised by the State,
we are yet prepared to insist upon the advisability,
to say the very least of it, of making the trail of
the first permanent cable to North America and
the trail of the first permanent cable to Hindostan
great and resplendent exceptions. It does certainly
appear to us that there is ample justification for
this double plea under the circumstances. Recol-
lect, for example, in regard to the former enter-
prise, that the first grand sub-oceanic cable ever
attempted to be laid down is this very one which
has already been submerged, and for a while suc-
cessfully, by the Atlantic Telegraph Company. The
enterprise here, in its way, was as entirely without
precedent as the immortal enterprise of the first
American navigator. Voyages of discovery had
been made before COLUMBUS—but never before,
such a voyage as that ! Submarine cables had been
submerged before the one laid down between Va-
lentia and Newfoundland—but none before that one
in any degree comparable. The first attempt on
that occasion was a failure, by reason of the
stormy weather and the snapping asunder of the
electric cable shortly after it had begun to be paid
out into the depths of the Atlantic. The second
attempt was a failure later on-7-ft was a failure only
after it had been a brilliant and unparalleled
success—after messages had thrilled to and fro
along the cavernous abysses of the ocean—messages
first of all expressive of homage to the SUPREME
BEING, and afterwards of goodwill and fellowship
between man and man, between nation and nation
—signals of peace and courtesy flashing, under all
that world of waters, between the American PRE-
SIDENT and the British SOVEREIGN. " The third
is the charm"—the third attempt would, in all
human probability, be not only eminently, but
pre-eminently- successful. Of this we have
within our grasp, as it were, substantial gua-
rantees, in the encouraging and incontrovertible
truths established during the first momentarily
successful realisation of the undertaking. Every-
thing combines to satisfy us that there are valid
reasons for Government still continuing to act to•
wards the,Allantic Telegraph Company as one in
every respect exceptional. This project is the first
attempted to be carried out upon so grand a scale
—and as such, until its designs have been fully
realised, it is, to our thinking, in a manner entitled
to direct encouragement from the State. So also is
it, from a variety of weighty considerations, with
reference to the proposed company for the laying
down a chain of electric cables in the opposition
direction eastwards, instead of westwards—bring-
ing England into momentary communication with
her vast Asiatic possessions. The North American
line, and the East Indian line ought both of them,
as a matter of prudence and of justice, of economy
and magnanimity, to be laid down under the direct
encouragement and guarantee of the Government.

The former, because, as already intimated, it is the
first enterprise of the kind of such magnituile.
The latter, because it is the first projected in that
direction upon the very morrow of Hindostan being
brought under the sway of the British Sovereignty.
Afterwards let all other lines of submarine wire be
paid out, if you will, by bold, unaided, and perfectly
independent speculators. But—until the prac-
ticability of these undertakings shall have been
not merely proved, but securely established—it is
but due to our imperial interests that the line
eastwards to Hindostan and the line westwards to
Newfoundland should be laid down under the
direct encouragement, superintendence, and gua-
rantee of her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government.

A cry for Protection has gone forth. The British
shipowners declare that they are unable to meet
foreign competition, and that unless the Govern-
ment are prepared to enter on a retrograde policy,
they must succumb to the difficulties of their
position. They do not apply to Parliament, or
appeal to the country. They know that the demand
would be worse than useless. Unfortunately, how-
ever, there is a mode by which the matter may be
managed without legislative interference, and they
seem to think that Lord DERBY and his col-
leagues will consent to be dragged through
the mire at their heels. At the time of
the repeal of the old Navigation Laws
a matter demanded alike by justice and expedi-
ency--what was termed " a reciprocrity clause" was
very injudiciously inserted. This enabled the
Sovereign without consulting Parliament to
place restrictions on the vessels of any nation that
imposed difficulties in the way of British shipping.
This was both unfair and unconstitutional—uncon-
stitutional, as it was, such as divested both Lords
and Commons of their legitimate functions; and
unfair, because it might have occasioned consider-
able difficulty to future Administrations. Had it not
been for this most unwise provision we should have
heard nothing of the present agitation, and much
futile labour would have been spared to orators,
and considerable annoyance to the nation.
We should have thought that if there were any
class in the community that could fearlessly have
engaged in " unrestricted competition," it would
have been the shipowners of the United Kingdom.
It is true that the thoroughbred English sailor may
require better food, kinder treatment, and higher
wages than a foreigner ; but if he costs more his
services are more valuable, and it is a sound rule

that the best article is cheapest in the long run.
It is not altogether pure patriotism that now
induces the British shipowner to employ
his countrymen. He finds that it pays better than
hiring men that will consent to be under paid and.
badly fed, and who cannot be relied on in• situations
of difficulty or danger.
Besides it must be remembered that all classes
in the United Kingdom have had their cycles of

prosperity and adversity since the passing of the

Bank Charter Act. Manufactures have been sus-
pended, mills and factories closed, merchant
princes changed into paupers, and houses of
unquestionable solvency, which had stood the
test of ages, compelled to suspend payment.
Why should shipowners hope for any exemption
from the general law ? During the wars in the
Crimea, in China and in India, there was an
extraordinary demand for transports. We believe
that it is not too much to say, that in those palmy
days the first cost of a vessel was nearly defrayed
by her first year's earnings. Then " all went
merry as a marriage bell." But when these
exceptional circumstances were altered, when the
extraordinary traffic in Government stores and
troops, which " are not included in the
shipping returns of the United Kingdom," is taken
into account, it cannot be regarded as matt? of
astonishment if the large profits-- so recentliob-
tained could not still be realised. There has, how-
ever, been no serious attempt to show that the
shipowner does not still receive a fair—nay, more,
an ample return for the capital invested, or that he
could make a better investment than in English
ships. It is not a single year that is to be:looked
to,•but the average of a reasonable number, and
whether five or seven years be taken, we believe
that the shipowners will find themselves much
better off than they would wish the public to
believe.

It has been said that statistics can be got up in
support of almost any proposition. If, for instance,
you strike an element from one side of an equation,
omitting the corresponding one, there will, of
course, be an excess. When the increase of foreign
shipping in English ports is harped on, without
any allusion to that of British shipping in foreign
ports, it is manifest that there is a fallacy
somewhere We have a sincere regard for
the maritime interests of Great Britain. We wish
well to its enterprising shipowners and hardy sea-
men. But we would tell them that the way to
achieve prosperity is to deserve it, and that they
should rather set their own shoulders to the wheel
than put forward unavailing petitions to the
ITEnctLEs of Downing-street, whose tasks are suf-
ficiently onerous without assuming their burdens,
in addition to those whichle is compelled to sus-
tain.

THE PRINCE OF WALES.—His Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales reached Dover, from Ostend, in the
Black Eagle, at 11 o'clock last night. The Prince was
received by the naval and military authorities of the port,
and conducted to the Lord Warden Hotel, where his royal
highness passed the night. The Prince left Dover early
this morning en route for Osborne.

The Right Hon. Major-General and Lady Alice
Peel returned to town this day, from visiting the Marquis
and Marchioness of Salisbury, at House. ..-
The Duke and Duchess of Manchester intend to
leave Kimbolton Castle for town on Monday next, en
route for Germany.

The Duchess Dowager of Somerset entertained
his Excellency the Ambassador of France and the Duchess
de Malakoff, and a select circle, at dinner, last evening, at
her residence in Park-lane.

The Marquis of Hertford is shortly expected at
his mansion, in Manchester-square, from Paris.
The Earl of Malmesbury, who has been staying
on a visit to the Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury, at
Hatfield, since Monday last, has gone to join the party
visiting the Earl and Countess of Hardwicke at Wimpole
Hall.
BAHAMAS AND HAVANNAH.—After the despatch
of the packet of the 17th inst. the mails for the Bahamas
will be forwarded via New York, •• instead of via St.
Thomas, and will be conveyed from New York to Nassau
by a branch steampacket under contract,with her Majesty's
Government. The first mail under the new arrangement
will be made up at the Post-office on the evening of the
24th inst. for transmission from Liverpool on the following
morning by the British mail packet for New York, and
subsequent mails will be forwarded from Liverpool
on the following days in the year 1859 :—Saturday,
Jan. 22 ; Saturday, Feb. 19; Saturday, March 19;
Saturday, April 16 ; Saturday, May 14 ; Satur-
day, July 11; Saturday, July 9 ; Saturday, August 6 ;
Saturday, Sept. 3 ; Saturday, Oct. 1; Saturday, Oct. 29 ;
Saturday, Nov. 26 ; Saturday, Dec. 24. The branch packet
from New York, after landing the mails at Nassau, will pro-
ceed to the Havannah, and letters, &c., addressed to Cuba
may be forwarded by this opportunity, if specially addressed
" via New York and Nassau. Letters and newspapers sent
to Cuba by this route will be liable to the same rates of
postage as those forwarded by the West India mail packets.
Mails from Havannah and Bahamas will be due at Liver-
pool by the packet from New York appointed to arrive on
the 17th of February next, and by each alternate packet
from New York.

JAMAICA EXPORTS FOR 1857-58.—A Custom-
house return received by the West India mail shows.the
following as the exports from the island, of the principal
staple articles of produce, during the year ending on the
30th of September last :—Sugar, 33,032 hhds. ; rum,
18,193 puncheons ; cotton, 5,8761 b. ; coffee, 5,237,6891 b. ;
gimento, 9.465,2611 b. ; ginger, 7”,620113. ; arrowroot,
72,0231 b: '' 16-0-b-od; 12;538 'toils;- honey, 8,108 gallons
beeswax, 794 cwt. 1 qr. lllb. ; cocoa nuts, 784,4221 b. ; lead
ore, 23 tons ; copker ore, 40 tons.