The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-18 00:00:00

National Finance.

The amended financial bill for funding the public
debt, which passed the Senate on Thursday, July
19, is very simple in its provisions, and excludes the
objectionable features contained in the M'Culloch
bill, introduced by Senator Sherman, which pro-
posed to pay Jay Cooke and Co. forty millions of
dollars for negotiating the sale of Five per Cent
Bonds.

The present till appropriates $180,000,000 per
annum for the purpose of paying the interest on the
national debt ; and so much of the same as is not
required for interest shall be applied to the pay-
ment of the principal of the public debt. The pre-
sent interest-bearing debt, exclusive of the com-
pound interest legal tenders is, in round numbers
$2,000,000,000, and the annual interest thereon
amounts to $125,000,000 ; the interest on the afore-
said legal tenders to $16,000,000, payable when
they become due next year.
The amount the Secretary of the Treasury will
be authorised to pay annually on the principal of
the debt will be $55,000,000 per year, and the
interestsaved, which next year will equa153,330,000.
The year after the saving of interest will exceed
$7,000,000. The third year there will be nearly
$12,000,000 of interest saved by the rapid reduc-
tion of the principal of the debt.
The bill contains another highly important pro-
vision. Section 4 declares that from and after
January 1, 1867 (that is to say, five months hence)
the lawful money required to be held on hand by
the National banks, for the redemption of their
currency, shall not consist in whole or in part of
interest bearing legal tenders. The national
banks hold almost the whole issue of interest
bearing legal tenders as their reserve fund for
the redemption of their circulation. The effect
of the bill, if it become a law, will be to compel
the banks to substitute greenbacks for interest
bearing notes, which will contract the volume of
currency in circulation by more than $100,000,000.
This is the object the Senate had in view when it

incorporated this provision in the bill. It is a long
step in the right direction toward resumption of
specie payments.
The second section of the bill directs the Secre-
tary of the Treasury to notify the holders of 7-30
Bonds that they must give notice to the Treasury
Department four months before their bonds mature
whether they choose to exchange them for 5-20
Bonds or to be paid legal tenders for them. The
great bulk of these bonds will he unquestionably
converted by the holders into 5-20's. A few may
be presented for redemption in cash, but none will
be unless the value of 5-20's fall below par, which
is not probable.

The Secretary of the Treasury is already offering
to exchange 5-20's of 1865 for 7-30's, but as each
class of bonds are almost of equal market value,
not many swaps may be made for a time.

The expenses of the Government for the present
fiscal year are estimated as follows :

Interest to be paid on Debt 5141,000,000
Support of the Army, Navy, Pensions, Civil
service, and miscellaneous of all kinds 145,000,000

Total Expenditure
The receipts are estimated as follows :
From Tariff 5140,000,000
From Internal Taxes

Total Income
*0 5390,000,000
This would leave $104,000,000 to apply in pay-
ment of debt. Many sound financiers estimate the
receipts of the Treasury at $450,000,000 instead of
$390,000,000. And others contend that the expen-
diture will be not less than $320,000,000. But in
either event there will be a large surplus to apply
toward paying the public debt.—Chicago Tribune.

Diary of the Atlantic Telegraph Expedition

The Great Eastern, laden with a freight in which
the whole civilised world was interested, took her
departure from Berehaven, Bantry Bay, at 6.30
p.m., on Thursday, the 12th of July. During the
week she lay in that safe and capacious harbour her
coaling was completed, and mechanics and artificers
of all kinds were busily engaged in adjusting and
testing the new machinery, which had been planned
and executed to meet requirements and to guard
against contingencies which the experience of last
yoar's expedition suggested. The deck presented a
very animated scene of active labour, and one could
scarcely have believed that so much work could have
been got through in so short a space of the time.
The live stock had this year to be shipped in Ire-
land, which occupied a considerable time. 10 bul-
locks,
turkeys,k s ,
1 llsloiloclifocls
ovl\v,, 114 sheep, '2O pigs, 29 geese, 14
were brought on board at Bere-
haven. There was dead stock, too, which consisted
of 28 bullocks, 4 calves, 22 sheep, 4 pigs, 300 fowls
—a goodly supply for the inhabitants of the float-
ing town we live in. The public already know all
that occurred during the passage of the ship round
from Sheerness. She left her anchorage at noon on
Saturday, the 30th of June, and a telegram from
Mr. R. A. Glass, the managing director of the Te-
legraph Construction and Maintenance Company,
from Valentia, put them in possession of the fact
that the shore end of the cable, haying been suc-
cessively landed by the William Cory steamer at
Foilhommerum Bay on Saturday, the 7th of July
had been buoyed on the following morning about 27
miles from the land. At 6.45 a.m. on the 12th our
convoy,
consisting of her Majesty's ship Ter-
rible, 21 guns, and the screw steamers Albany
and Medway, both vessels about 1,800 tons
each, left the anchorage at Berehaven,
with instructions to proceed to where the
ofthe
Great William
Cory left the buoy, and await the arrival
Great Eastern. On the evening of the same day,
having got up her monster anchor, the big ship
steamed majestically out of Berehaven, accompanied
by H. 11.5. Racoon. It was about 50 miles from
Berehaven to the buoy placed over the shore end.
The night was very thick, so much so that the fog
whistle was kept constantly going. Wind from the
south.

FRIDAY, July 13.
At a quarter to 3 a.m. we sighted the Terrible,
and the Racoon about a quarter to 4. Shortly
afterwards we saw the Albany and Medway, and at
5.50 a.m. the buoy was made out astern of the
Albany. We came up close to it at 7. Signals
were made to the Terrible and other ships to send
boats. The Terrible's cutter came and made fast to
the buoy, which was now about a cable's length from
our stern. At 9.10 the Albany's boat arrived, and
at 9.30 we made the end of the drum-rope on to the
buoy-chain and commenced to haul in the mooring-
chain on the end of the shore end cable. There
was a good deal of strain on the chain, which was
at a considerable angle on the port side. The wind
was on the port quarter, canting the ship to star-
board, the left-hand screw working astern. Capt.
Anderson, seeing the position of the chain, gave
orders to Mr. Beckwith, the chief engineer, to dis-
connect the port paddle-wheel, and to reverse full
speed with the starboard. This order, which was
executed in about 18 or 19 minutes, brought the
stern of the ship in line with the cable, which was
speedily "up and down." At 11.30 the end was
brought on board—by 11.40 it was on the drum.
This was the first practical test of the new pick-up
machinery, and the steam-engine attached thereto,
made by Messrs. Penn and Son, of Greenwich,
and nothing could be more satisfactory than the
manner in which it did its work. Preparations
were now inade to make the joint. The cover-
ing-wires having been taken off the rope, the
skilled workmen from the Guttapercha Works
soon settled themselves under shelter of Mr. Can-
ning's office on deck (it had been raining in torrents
since 9 a.m.), and completed making the joint at
1.30
p.m. Mr. Willoughby Smith, the chief elec-
trician, lost no time in testing the insulation of the
cable to shore, which was found to be perfect. The
making of the splice was now commenced ; by 2.30
p.m. it was completed and coiled in the after cable-
tank. Just as the hands of the clock indicated 3.20,
Greenwich time, the Atlantic Telegraph Cable of
1866 commenced to pass over the wheel at the stern
of the great cable ship. A hearty cheer from those
who witnessed thus far the success of the start, the
firing of a couple of guns, the hoisting of the en-
sign, and of that compound flag of nationalities, the
union-jack and the stars and stripes, which had been
in the service of two previous Atlantic telegraph ex-
peditions, made up all the demonstrations which
could be mustered. The Racoon gave us one parting
gun, and availing herself of as fair a wind as could
well blow in her favour, set every stitch of canvas
and left for Valentia. The course of the ship was
now settled IV.N.W. for 33 miles, to be changed
about 9 o'clock to N.W. by W., which will take us
quite clear to the southward of our mute relative of
1865. The following programme of pro3eedings for
laying the Atlantic Telegraph Cable of 1866 had
been prepared by Mr. Samuel Canning, the chief
engineer, so far back as the month of May last, and
approved of by Mr. Glass, the managing director,
It will be seen that punctuality up to the present
moment has been pretty strictly maintained :

PROGRAMME OF PROCEEDINGS FOR LAYING
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE.

1. The screw steamer William Cory, having re-
ceived on board the shore end for the Irish coast and
machinery at North Woolwich, will leave the
Thames not later than the 30th inst., and proceed to
Berehaven to be in readiness to lay the shore end
when the weather is sufficiently flue.
2. The screw steamer Albany, having her re-
covering machinery, ropes, buoys, and stores on
board, will leave the Thames on the 26th and pro-
ceed to Cardiff, fill up with coals, and go from
thence to Berehaven to assist the William Cory in
laying the shore end. She will afterwards accom-
pany the expedition to Newfoundland.

3. The screw steamer Medway, having all her
coals, cable, and machinery on board, will leave the
Thames about the sth July, and proceed to Bere-
haven to join the Great Eastern, and be ready to
accompany her in laying the cable.
4. The Great Eastern will leave Sheerness on the
30th June for Berehaven, to complete her coaling,
and be ready to steam out to the buoy on the shore
end on or about the 10th July. The splice to the
main cable will be made on board the Great Eastern.
5. After the shore end is laid by the IVilliamCory,
and buoyed, if the weather is fine she will remain
by the buoy, and the Albany will return to Bere-
haven for the Great Eastern.
6. Upon commencing to la the cable from the
y
Great Eastern, the position of the Terrible will be
ahead of the Great Eastern, on the port or starboard
bow, to keep other vessels out of the course, and
the Medway will be on the port, and Albany on the
starboard quarter, in readiness to pick up or let go
a buoy, or other work as may be signalled from
the Great Eastern.

7. All the accompanying ships to keep their
allotted positions, and within signalling distance of
the Great Eastern.

8. The speed of the ship over the ground, in
paying out the cable, should in no case exceed six
knots per hour.

9. In laying the cable of 1865, the average slack
paid out through the deep water was 15.6 per cent.,
at an average speed of ship of 6.34 knots per hour,
and with a strain ranging from 10 to 14 cwt.
10. The total length of cable taken out this year
being 2,721 miles, it will be seen from the following

estimate that 764 miles will be left to complete the
line, 1865 :

Distances. Cable required,..
Shoal Dee Shoal
Dee
P
p7h Wr,
Per ate
20 per
Water. Water. Slack. n
Valentia to Heart's Content, 1,670 1,960
1866.—Valentia to end of
Shoal Water, lat. 54 deg.
21 min., long. 14 deg
40 min 164 - 175.5
Deep water — 1,333 1,599.5
Heart's Content to end of
Shoal Water, lat. 49 deg.
17 min., long. 49 deg
40 miu 173 185
Totals for lino of 1866
Distance 1,670 miles. Cablel,96otniles
1863. --From the end of
cable of 1863 to Heart's
Content
Totals for line of 1865
Distance 6OO miles. Cable 697.5mi1e3

'faking this 697.5 miles
of cable left, and the cal
grappled and spliced tai
end.

from 764 we have 66.5 miles
)10 of 1865 must therefore be
thin this distance from the

11. In the event of any unforeseen occurrence in
laying the cable of 1866, by which the cable could
not be recovered in the deep water, it becomes
necessary to fix upon the length remaining on board
with which it would be prudent to start again from
the point lat. 52 deg. 51 min. N. long., 14 deg. 40
min. "W., or 164 miles from Ireland.
Taking the figures in the previous paragraph with
20 per cent. of slack through the deep water, and
7 per cent. through the shoal water, the length of
cable required between Ireland and Newfoundland
is 1,960 miles ; this taken from the total length 2,724
miles, leaves 764 miles which could be payed out, and
yet have sufficient cable left to begin again if an acci-
dent happened at that place ; but as the cable can be
grappled in between 200 and 300 fathoms depth at
lat. 52 deg. 21 min. N., long. 14 deg. 40 min. w.,
this would give 175.5 miles to be added to the 764
miles, making 939 miles, which Might be payed out
and yet have sufficient cable to commence again at
the above position and reach Newfoundland ; but,
in deciding upon a point of such importance, I con..
Bider a larger margin ought to be allowed, and
should not therefore advise re-commencing at the
end of the shoal water if more than 130 miles had
been payed out when the end of the cable was lost.
In the event of such an occurrence the expedition
must first return to Berehaven, or some other port,
where the cable can be transhipped from the Medway
into the G reatE astern before making another attempt.
12. The disconnecting gear on the Great Eastern
should be tried on the passage round to Berehaven
to ascertain how she will answer with both paddle

and screw.
13. In case of a fault being discovered a signal
from the testing-room will be immediately made by
gong to the bridge and paying-out machine to
reverse the engines, and by electric bell to the coil,
and as soon afterwards as possible, with safety to
the cable, to commence hauling back.
14. Should a fault occur, a buoy, placed ready at
or near to the stern, will be immediately attached
to the cable to buoy up the bight. The ship would
then be kept as near this position as possible,
and other buoys can be attached at intervals, if
necessary ; and if the weather is such that, from
the drift of the ship or other causes, too much cable
is being lost, and it is necessary to cut the cable,
the end will be moored and buoyed with a large
ocean buoy.
The latitude upon which the cable will cross each
degree of longitude to be given to each officer in
charge of the Medway and Albany, in order that,
should the ships part in a fog, any ship having
missed the Great Eastern, can steam ahead to a
meridian where she can be sure the Great Eastern
cannot have reached, then steam slowly back,
with the view of picking up with the Great Eastern,
which may be engaged recovering a fault.
Both Marryat's and Colomb's signals to be used,
the latter method having been already applied to
the codifying of all probable signals.
At any time the Great Eastern may be heard
firing guns, it is to be understood by the accom-
panyvik ships that they are desired to close with the
Great Eastern.
In case of fog on approaching the Newfound-
land coast, the Terrible will keep close ahead to the
Great Eastern, and direct the latter to alter course,
by firing one gun to port helm, and two guns to
starboard same, three guns, danger ahead. If the
Great Eastern fires one or more guns, attendant
ships to close in with her.

If, when near the land, our position or Trinity
Bay cannot be ascertained on account of the fog,
and the weather is calm, the Great Eastern can be
kept nearly in her then position with the cable ; or
if, for the safety of the ship, it is necessary to keep
further from the land whilst the fog lasts, the
cable can be cut, moored, and buoyed, and
watch buoys put down to facilitate in finding the
cable buoy.
This could also be done should a gale of wind be
blowing up Trinity Bay, or whilst making the splice,
so that it may be considered dangerous or unadvis-
able for the Great Eastern to go nearer the land.

As soon as the Terrible has taken in coal she will
proceed with the Albany to the position about one
mile from the end of the cable of 1865, and place
mark buoys for guidance in grappling. The Med-
way and Great Eastern will follow as soon as they
have coaled; but should they not join the Terrible
and Albany by the time they have placed the mark
buoys the Albany will proceed to grapple for the
cable, and if she succeed in grappling it she will lift
it as far as possible without approaching the break-
ing strain, she will then buoy the grapnel rope, and
grapple for the cable again further on. By con_
at inn ueinndg
ttoh itshseh e
surface,m a y s uac
and
ede db
ni no
yl i fitti n
ing
rtehaed
ibniegshst f
oo
rr
the Great Eastern.

Should the Great Eastern and Medway arrive be-
fore the bight or end of the cable is grappled or raised,
they will take up their position and commence
grappling.

If the three ships are grappling for the cable at
the same time their relative positions will be—Med-
way to the west, with the greatest lifting strain, the
Great Eastern in the middle, and the Albany to the

end will be secured
either by the Great
is broken by the Medway the
te so that if the cable
Eaosvi
ded with grapnels both for
cast, withiliel;siliftingrsntioarint
The ships will be
provided
cable.
breaking and holding ;he Albany.
prevent the possibility of
absoltdoof the cable, and a gale of
gsabulle to the surface, buoys are provided
raising the c
the grapnel ropes, and watch buoys
for buoying
sightingthegrapnel buoys,'
placed to assist in
winlidthspersinhips have
CANNiusiANaTiaGua,RgniAnyg,
in case
ships are driven away from their position.
J Engineer.uly 14. Director.
(Approved) R. A. GLASS,
(Signed) SAMUEL
the
(hsi
Course during the night N.W. by W., wind W.S.W. to
W.N.W. A homeward-bound steamer pa sed us about
11.30. About 2 a.m a message arrived from Valentia for
Mr. Canning from Mr. Glass, intimating that at a meeting
held yesterday on the island, at the instance and at the in-
vitation of Mr. Henry Bewley, of 'Dublin, and of Mr.ll:vau,
of London, for the purpose of invoking God's blessing on
those engaged in the undertaking, the warmest sympathy
was expressed towards all on board the Great Eastern. A
reply was sent by Mr. Canning thanking Mr. Glass for these
good wishes, and conveying the intelligence that everything
was progressing most satisfactorily, and that the greatest
confidence was felt in success. The paying out machinery
is working to perfection. The cable comes up from thlentank
with great ease and facility. The cable-watch are cthea
this expedition in canvass dresses, which fit over their ()nu._
.....

nary clothing. They are fastened from behind. The officer
in charge is clothed similarly to the men. The Terrible,
Albany, and Medway are keeping their allotod position.
Weather fine ; smooth sea. At noon, ship's time, we were
135.5 miles from Valentia and 1,533.5 from Heart's Content.
Had payed out 144.58 miles of cable. Lat. 52 deg. 0 min.
15 sec. ; lung. 14 deg. 0 min. 3 sec.

SUNDAY, July 15.

All through yesterday the paying-out machinery worked
so smoothly, the electrical tests were so perfect, the
weather was so fine, that fresh confidence in the ultimate
result has been naturally inspired. The recollection,how-
ever, of the reverses of the expedition of 1865 is always
before those who have the greatest reliance in success; and
there is a quiet repose about the manner of the chief prac-
tical MEM Qn board, which ii an earned that they will not