The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-14 00:00:00

RAILIVAT S AND PUBLIC COMPANIES.

ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

The Right Hon. Stuart Wortley, Chairman of
the Atlantic Telegraph Company, met a number
of the principal citizens of Glasgow on Tuesday in
the Religious Institution Rooms, for the purpose of
making a statement in regard to the present posi-
tion of that company. The chc.ir was occupied by
Mr. James Hannan.
The CHAIRMAN said they all knew the object of
the meeting, and he had therefore simply to intro-
duce Mr. Stuart Wortley, who would explain the
position of this grand national attempt, if he might
so call it, to span the Atlantic. The attempt which
was so far successful clearly proved that the plan
could be carried out.
Mr. STUART WORTLEY stated that his principal
object in asking them to meet him was that he
might have an opportunity of affording them the
fullest information of all that had been done, was
doing, and was likely to be done, by those who had
the direction of this company, He said,—You
are aware that the present direction, more especi-
ally since it has been to some extent reconstructed,
is not responsible for any errors which may
have been committed at the outset of this company.
I think it would have been wonderful if in the
first attempt of so great an enterprise as this some
errors had not been committed; but our object has
been, since I had the honour of being connected
with the direction, to take such a course as would
prevent the recurrence of those errors, and protect
the company and their resources from any waste
consequent upon ill-judged and ill-advised proceed-
ings. During the last 12 months the directors have
gained much additional experience, and a large
number of inventions for improving every element
of the enterprise have been, and are still being sub-
mitted. It is within the range of possibility cer-
tainly, if not of probability, that the old cable may,
by the application of science, be resuscitated : but,
at the same time, I do not think there is much
chance of available assistance being got from it.
The very laying of that cable in itself was a great
success, and if we eventually should succeed in lay-
ing a cable efficient for its purpose, and lasting
in its conditions, we shall owe much to the
great exploit by which it was ascertained that
it was possible to lay a cable across the Atlan-
tic which should convey from one shore to
another the thoughts of men as quickly as the light-
ning that flashes through the heavens. It has been
recommended to us that we should adopt the route

by Belleisle to Blanc Soublanque, instead of by
Valentia to St. John's. We have made full inquiry
into the merits of this route, and I may read to you
the following letter from Capt. Becher, the hydro-
grapher to the Admiralty, on this subject :

".11ydr_ograpyie-office, Admiralty, June 25.

" My dear Sir,---Yo-u ask me my Opinion as to the danger
of an electric cable through the Strait of Belleisle. I have
never been in that strait, but after knowing what that
experienced officer, Admiral Bayfield, has said on the sub-
ject of its navigation, I think there cannot be two opinions
among naval men, that it cannot be considered safe there
from one day to another, owing to the irregular and rocky
character of its bottom, the general current down from the
northward through the strait bringing numerous icebergs,
the tides on each shore keeping the ice drifting either way.
All this would tend to place a cable in perpetual danger
from the ice in motion ; and then, should it be fixed (which
it may be occasionally), the part where it lands would incur
the additional risk of being torn away, frozen in it, from
the shore whenever the ice moves—a pleasant prospect for
shareholders I think that would be, and nothing more likely
to happen ! So that, what with ice in motion or fined; the
current, and the tides both ways, the depth varying sud-
denly from 70 to 20 fathoms, on ice and rocks, the poor cable
would have an unquiet and hard bed. Have nothing to do
with it, I might enlarge on these several difficulties, but
depend on this, there is no exaggeration in what I have
stated, and that, if you adopt the Strait of Belleisle, you
will regret some day not having followed the advice of
yours truly, "A. B. BECHER."
"Cyrus Field, Esq.
I could multiply authorities, but theyare unanimous.
That distinguished officer, Capt. Back, who made
one of those wonderful Arctic expeditions, told me
personally that the notion of going by Greenland
or Iceland to Labrador was perfect madness. There
is a third route mentioned—namely, that by the
Azores, which I think is not at all a likely
route, because the whole of the mid-Atlantic is
altogether unsurveyed, and where a survey was
made no bottom whatever was found. Besides, we
know that the Azores and the Canary Isles are
volcanic, and, therefore, there would be great dan-
ger in attempting to lay a line in their direction.
I have been collaterally fortified by a simultaneous
application from the British Association and other
men of science, urging on Government the necessity
of surveying, for the purposes of submarine tele-
graphy, the whole of the Atlantic. Mr. Wortley
said that the following number of despatches had
been transmitted by the Atlanric Telegraph :
From Valentia to Newfoundland, 97 messages, con-
taining 1,102 words, containing 6,476 letters. From
Newfoundland to Valentia, 269 messages, contain-
ing 2,840 words, containing 13,743 letters. Total

366 messages, 3,942 words, 20,219 letters. The
telegraph was in operation only about three weeks
during that time. Probably the most of them were
aware that it conveyed not only the message of
congratulation from the Queen to the President,
and from the President to her Majesty, but also the
ne bvs of the conclusion of the Chinese treaty. It
also conveyed to the anxious friends of the passen-
gers in the Europa the news that her passengers
were saved. It conveyed two messages from the
Government of this country for the purpose of coun-
termanding the embarkation of two regiments from
Canada for India, and which probably saved the
country a sum of .£50,000 or £60,000. They felt
the great difficulty of raising further capital, and
found it was perfectly impossible to get any addi-
tional capital without the assistance of Government.
In the instance of the Red Sea Telegraph the Go-
vernment granted an unconditional guarantee of 4-1
per cent., wholly irrespective of the chances of suc-
cess, for the purpose of promoting the great national
object of electrical communication with our Indian
empire. They thought, therefore, that Goverment
would give them a guarantee of the same nature; but,
from some cause or other which he was unable to de-
scribe, a change came over the minds of those in the
Government, and they said that they might be called
upon to deal with the resources of the country for
the encouragement of commercial speculation if
they extended that sort of guarantee. He then ex-
plained the arrangements that had been come to
with the Government, the terms of which have
already appeared in The Sun. The shares which
were originally fixed at £l,OOO, had now been re-
duced to £5, in order to make the enterprise as
popular as possible. They had appointed new officers.
Mr. C. F. Varley, who in connection with the first
company showed great talent, was consulting
electrician, and Mr. Latimer Clark was engineer to
the company. It had been an important object of
his to enlist the feelings of some of the most distin-
guished men in the country in their favour, and he
was happy to say that he had succeeded in getting
a limited number of gentlemen, who, though very
unwilling to be named officers of the company, had
agreed to allow their names to be published in the
shape of a consulting committee. In the first place
thty had at the head Professor Thomson, who from
the first had given his best assistance to this enter-
prise. The names of the members of the consulting
committee were—Robert Stephenson, M.P., F.R.S.,
&c., Isambard K. Brunel, F.R.S., &c. ; Edwin
Clark, C.E. ; G. P. Bidder, C.E, ; John Hawkshaw,
C.E., F.R.S. ; James A. Longridge, C.E. ; Professor
Wheatstone, F.R.S. ;
William Allen Miller, M.D.,
F.R.S., and Dr. Tindall, who was under Professor
Farady, as officer of the Royal Institution. They
would therefore have a committee of men of the
most scientific ability. The first thing we intend to
do (said Mr. Wortley) if we can raise £30.000, is
immediately to attempt the raising of the old cable.
First of all, we shall endeavour to raise the ends of
the old cable, and shall also endeavour to discover
whereits defects are, and whether it is possible to
resuscitate it, or whether we can raise so much of
it at either end as will remunerate us and cover the
expense of raising that portion of it at least, and
probably leave something over to the company. I
have applied to the Admiralty to have three ships
lying at Newfoundland, near St. John's, and we
have every reason to believe that we shall get the as-
sistance of these vessels in raising the cable. The
next thing will be to lay the new cable. We shall
not commit the error of endeavouring again to lay
the cable ourselves. He then alluded to the inten-
tion of the directors to insure the value of the

cable by the ordinary mode of underwriting, so that
even in the case of failure the capital of the share
holders would not be lost in the bottom of the sea,
but would be made good to them. The exclusive
privileges which the company possessed would
enable thm, in the event of competition, to carry
their messages at a cheaper rate than any other
company. He concluded by urging the gentlemen
present to assist them by subscribing to the under-
taking. _ _

The— CI [AIRMAN read a letter from the Lord
Provost, stating that he would subscribe £2OO, and
from Sir A. Orr that he would subscribe a like
amount. He (the chairman) trusted that, after the
statement which Mr. Wortley bad made, many
would become interested in this subject. He thought
they were called upon to do something for its pro-
motion in Glasgow, not so much by subscribing
large sums as by getting a large number of sub-
scribers.

A Tote of thanks to Mr. Wortley concluded the
proceedings.

SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE.

A special meeting of this company was held at
Birmingham on Monday for the purpose of con-
sidering a bill now before Parliament authorising
the transfer to the company of the tramway of the
Birmingham Canal Company, a lease of the South
Staffordshire undertaking to the London and Nort-
h Railway Company, and authorising the
South Staffordshire Railway Company to raise ad-
ditional capital. Mr. Chawner, the chairman, pre-
sided.

The CHAIRMAN stated that the meeting was
called in compliance with the standing orders of
the House of Lords, but in consequence of the bill
not being sufficiently advanced in the House of
Commons, it would be necessary to postpone the
consideration of the bill till Monday, the 18th inst.,
when he fully expected it would be ready for their
approval or otherwise.

- The special meeting was then adjourned to Mon-
day next.

An extraordinary meeting of the company was
then held to consider the propriety of authorising
the directors to borrow on mortgage an additional
sum of £40,000 under the company's act of 1855.
On the motion of the CHAIRMAN a formal reso-
lution to that effect was carried, and the meeting
separated.