The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-30 00:00:00

SUB 11ABINE T_ELEGRAP.II GOMPA..NI

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held to-
day at the London Tavern. The report of the directors,
which was unanimously adopted, stated that the number of
messages sent by the company's lines during the half-year
ending the 30th June last, amount to 104,593, while only
79,503 were transmitted during the corresponding period of
1860, being an increase of 25,090 messages. roe total re-
ceipts in money are, however, less by £1,236 tb an those of
the six months ending Dec. 31, 1860, whieJa deficiency
arises chiefly from the reduction of tariff, and notwithstand-
ing the large increase of business, the directors have, by a
judicious economy, been enabled to reduce the working ex-
penses in the past half-year, by about £9OO.

A QUA TICS.

DEAL REGATTA.

The annual regatta at Deal took place on Monday
Eight boats put in an appearance for the principal prize.
Amongst them were two crews from Hastings, one from
Newhaven, Deal, and Sandgate, and Bain's crew, of
Lambeth, who rowed in the Ariel, of Dover. The race
was fixed for three o'clock, and shortly after that hour a
good start was effected ; but the race was never in doubt,
as the Londoners took the lead and kept it to the end,
winning by more than 15 lengths. Distance, four miles.
Time, 23 minutes.

The winning crew then proceeded to Dover to row for the
Lord Warden's prize,

There were nine entries far this prize, amongst which
was Bain's crew, of Lambeth, who were so successful last
week at Antwerp.
Only three boats put in an appearance, viz., Hastings, of
Hastings ; the Widgeon, of Newhaven; and Bain's crew,
who rowed in the Ariel, of Dover. The Miter, although
the worst placed, were the favourites at starting. The
Hastings crew took the lead, but the Londoners only
played with them, as when they were near home they drew
away from them, and at last won any way they pleased.
The following are the names of the crew :—Alfred Hop-
kins, Edward Carter, James Chapman, Robert Bain,
stroke, and J. Hill, coxswain. Distance, three miles and a
half; time, 20 minutes.

After the match with T. W. Crout, jun., of Woolwich,
and John Young, of the same place, on Monday last, the
friends of Young were so annoyed at him being defeated so
easily that they again challenged the winner by matching
C. Webb against him for £25 a-side, which was at once ac-
cepted. They are to row from Putney to Mortlake, on the
Bth of October. £lO a-side is already staked.
Grout is under the care of It. Bain, of Lambeth.

DISAFFECTED SLAVES.—Many of the negroes in
Richmond are at present idle on account of the tobacco fee-
t oriesfehlt in re
aving been closed, and there is considerable uneasi-
nessgard to them by the wbite population. The
patrol and poli.te force, which parade the streets day and
night, always have their guns loaded, so as to be prepared
for any emergency. The negroes are kept well informed
of the course of events by the coloured waiters at the vari-
ous hotels, where the officers, over their wine and whisky,
discuss military affairs with more freedom than discretion.
A short time ago, three negroes were passing down one of
the streets of Richmond, when one of them complained to
the others of the treatment he had recently received from
his master, to which one of his companions replied "Well,
never mind ; Massa Lincoln will be here soon, and deg
it will be all right." This conversation having been
' overheard, the negroes were arrested, and each received
thirty-nine 1 tshes. On another occasion our informant
saw a negro drilling, in the outskirts of the city, after
the usual military fashion, some forty or fifty negroes.
He asked him what he was drilling the negroes for, to which
he replied, " Oh I everybody learnin' to be soldiers now ;
why not de darkeys, too ?" Not satisfied with this answer he
repeated the interrogatory, when the negro said, " Well,
really, massa, I don't like to say." It is a general com-
plaint among the whites that the negroes are much more
impudent than usual, and but little disposed to cheerfully
submit to the restraints which were formerly imposed upon
thern.—Philadelphia Press.
THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.—Another great ele-
ment of our present civilisation is beginning to make signs
of its existence in the South Kensington Museum. We
allude to the electric telegraph. Bakewell's copying ma-
chine is one of the most interesting of this class, as it brings
before the public eye the means that can be employed to
write with a pen thousands of miles in length. If the At
lantic cdble were in working order, for instance, a man
through its instrumentality could sit down to write a letter
in London, and feel certain that a fae-sitnile of his hand-
writing was at the same moment coming out of the tele.
graph office at New York. The manner in which this
astounding machine works is as follows :—The message is
originally written on a conducting material, such as tinfoil,
with resin or some non-conducting ink. Over the face of
this letVer, which is placed on a cylinder, a point of meta
revolves—this point is in connexion with the conducting
wire.; at New York, say, a piece of Chetniqatiy-prepared
paper is placed on a like cylinder to receive tine message;
both cylinders are made to move round by clockwork. As
the point at this end of the wire passes over thy© non-con-
ducting resin writing no current passes; hence the point
which moves synonymously with it at New York does not
change the colour of the paper, but all the other surface of
the writing tablet being a conductor, the currents pass and
deepen its colour by a chemical action on the far distant
recording tablet. The receiver thus obtains a perfect fac-
simile of his correspondent's handwriting done in white
upon a blue ground. Specimens off this electrical hand-
writing
a
aret placed beside the telegraphic machine in the
museum
—Rlensingtougn,
lightning
aftgord
gn.a: —Oncet a iv
admirable example of
theealigrapil yof the