The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-27 00:00:00

You will see in them that the Ministers are fighting with
each other (alluding probably to the duel between Lord
Castlereagh and Mr. Canning) ; that there is a revolution
and perfect anarchyin the Ministry. Words cannot describe
the folly and inconsistency of those men. They have just
caused from 25,000 to 30,000 men to perish in the most
horrible country of the world, and so pestilential are the
marshes of Walcheren that they might as well have thrown
those men into the sea. In Spain, too, they have lost great
numbers. General Wellesley has had the extreme impru-
dence to get himself into the heart of Spain with 30,000
men, having on his flanks three corps d'armee forming 90
battalions, and from 40 to 50 squadrons of cavalry ; and in
his front the artr7 commanded by the King, and of equal
strength. Ono cannot fancy such presumption. It remains
now to bo seen what Ministry will take the place of the late
ono. The United States aro on the worst possible terms
with England, and appear desirous of approaching sin-
cerely and seriously to our system."

The last letter (Schonbrun, 15th October, 1809)
to the Emperor of Austria will, for the present,
close the specimens from the 19th volume :
Monsieur mon Frero,—l have received your Imperial
Majesty's letter of the 25th of September. I have seen
with pleasure Field-Marshal the Prince of Lichtenstein.
His mission has had the success your Majesty desired, and
peace was signed yesterday between us. Your Majesty
could not have a Minister near me more agreeable to me,
and more competent to arrange your affairs. This is the
fourth war terminated between you and me. lam about
to leave Vienna, and I quit it in the hope that all our dif-
ferences are settled, that peace will be perpetual between
us, and that war will never again break out. Let your
Majesty intrust the management of your affairs to Minis-
ters who aro well acquainted with the respective positions
of the two States. They will be convinced that the friend-
ship of France and peace can alone make you happy, as
well as your family and your people. The wars and the
hatred which your Majesty's Cabinet have hitherto
cherished against France have been the cause of great mis-
fortune to your Majesty; but peace and the friendship of
Franco will restore prosperity to all."

The New Atlantic Cable.

During the last few days the Telegraph Con-
struction and Maintenance Company have begun,
in real earnest, work upon the new Atlantic cable.
Little had been done since the return of the expe-
dition in August last, as there was no reason -why
the cable should be ready very much sooner than it
will be- needed. The Great Eastern still lies at her
moorings in the Medway, with the remainder of last
year's cable on board ; and this will again be used
during the present year, when that part of the cable
which will have then enjoyed a twelvemonth's rest
on the bed of the Atlantic will be grappled for. Cap-
tain Anderson will once more have charge of the
big ship, and he will again have the invaluable 'as-
sistance of Mr. Halpin, the chief officer. Mr.
Canning and Mr. Clifford will be, as in last
summer, in charge of the laying of the cable, and
Mr. De Sauty will be again in charge of the electrical
department. Thus, so far as skill goes, there is
everything in favour of the success of the coming
expedition, which will set sail in the beginning of
June, bearing with it the good wishes of all
Europe. As at present arranged the Great Eastern
will carry the new cable, will lay it to Newfoundland,
will there coal and return to the mid-Atlantic, where
she will, with her consorts, grapple for the lost end,
the locality of which can be ascertained within a
quarter of a mile, through the observations taken
last summer by Capt. Anderson and Capt. Mori-
arty. It is not intended that the part of the old
cable which now lies in the Great Eastern's tanks
shall be again stowed in her hold on the outward
trip. It will be carried in another vessel until it is
needed. The grappling will be done in this way.
Three vessels, including the Great Eastern, will be
provided with grappling apparatus. Last year, it
may be remembered, the grappling was done with
makeshift appliances. In fact, the grappling lines
were only buoy ropes, and the swivels which broke
while the cable was being hauled up were never in-
tended to bear any such strain as that to which they
were subjected. In the new grappling tackle there
will be no swivels ; perhaps even no shackles. Each
line will be, if possible, in one place, certainly not
in more than two joined together by a strong
shackle. There is, therefore, little fear that if the
cable is grappled, of which there can be no reason-
able doubt in the mind of any one conversant
with the subject, it will be brought to the
surface. And there is the more probability of this
because the cable will be grappled in three places,
at intervals of about two miles. One vessel will
grapple, and, if necessary, cut her end by means
of a steel blade set in the grappling iron ; the
middle ship will haul up, and the third vessel will
also raise the cable to lessen the strain. There
will therefore be three bights on the cable, or two
bights and an end, and this end will be prevented
from slippling by the formation of the grappling
iron in which the cable will be jammed. No one
connected with the project appears to entertain
the slightest doubt about the success of this section
of it. When the end is recovered and a message
sent through to Valentia, as a test of the electrical
condition, the splices will be made with the cable
now lying in the Great Eastern, and then all will
be plain sailing, except in case of another accident
similar to that of last, year, when all would have to
be done over again ; but this would be the worst
damage. If one grappling is successful there
is no reason why a second should not be, and even
a third and a fourth, if it should come to that. The
laying of the old cable may therefore be considered
a certainty, so far as anything about cable laying
can be certain. But hope deferred will probably not
make sick the hearts of shareholders beyond next
July.
The new cable, which is to be laid first, is very
different in appearance from that of 1865. That
was black, but not at all comely. This is fair to see,
in point of colour, but rough withal, and fibrey----to
coin a word for the occasion. But, save that there
is no dark composition soakedinto the Manilla hemp
which forms the covering . of the outer wires, this
cable is identical with the last. So far, however, as
strength goes, the new rope will bear a strain of
from 15 cwt. to a ton more than that of last year ;
and, as is obvious, this additional strength may just
make the difference between breaking and holding,
if it should unfortunately be necessary to haul back
to the ship at any time. The reason why it is pos-
sible to dispense with the composition for coating is
that in the new cable the outer or protecting wires
are galvanised. About 160 miles of the new cable
have been already made, and when all the machinery
is set to work, as it soon will be, the manufacture
will proceed at the rate of 100 miles a week. By
working overtime this immense speed could be nearly
doubled ; but, of course, overtime will be avoided if
possible. In all departments of the machinery the
capacity has been much increased since last year.
For instance, there are double the number of tanks
which hold the core of the cable ; and there is one
new machine which alone turns out four miles per
day of completed cable.
It is unnecessary to enter at any length upon a
description of the process of manufacture, as the
subject has been so frequently treated in these
columns, but a short summary of the method may
not be useless. The core is received from the gutta-
percha works on great reels, four coats of gutta
percha enveloping the seven copper wires which form
the conductor; and these reels are at once placed
in tanks until required. An ingenious machine coats
this core with Manilla hemp, prepared with a com-
position ; and this rope is coiled away in tanks until
required for the next stage. The ends of the galva-
nised wire for the outer covering are united by scarf
joints, which are cut in a die, then whipped with
smaller wire and brazed, so that the joint, if well
made, becomes actually stronger than the wire.

This wire is then covered with five strands of Ma-
nilla hemp, of which four tons a day, spun and
reeled on the premises, are now used, and this quan-
tity will be shortly increased. The machines which
twist these strands round the wire will produce from
160 to 180 miles per day, eight or nine miles being
finished by each machine in the ten hours during
which the men are at work. The unfinished cable,

which we left in tanks, is then put on one of the
large machines, and 10 strands of this Manilla

covered wire are twisted round it, the spiral being

lin 12. As it leaves this machine the cable is

finished, and is conducted to the large tanks, in
which it will be under water until it is payed out to

she hulks for conveyance to the Great Eastern.
In a mile of the cable there are, therefore, besides
.he Manilla which holds the composition, seven

miles of copper wire, four miles of gutta percha,
ten miles of galvanised wire, and fifty miles of