The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-13 00:00:00

THE SIPN, LONEON, riIUIiSDA EVIE.'.`-“NG Auousr 13, 1857

lelieving it ou'' lit to be the principie on which divorce
should proceed.
Lord J. MANNERS addressed the committee at con-
siderable leneth in support of his amendment.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that the bill was
confided to him on the principle which he distinctly
again stated, that of embodying the t xisting law in
regard to divorce. It was true two years desertion
and cruelty did now give a claim to divorce,•
but with that'exception his statement was substantially
true, and he complained of the language that had been
used against him in reference to the bill. The amend-
ment would be most apposite if the committee were dis-
cussing, the foundation of the marriage law, but that
was not the case, and on the terms on which the
bill had been committed to his care he could not
enter on the larger question. He approved of the
equality contended for, but the committee was limited
to the embodying of the present law. (Hear, hear.)
Legislation need not stop with this bill, but be pro-
ceeded with in a fature session of Parliament. (C'aeers.)
He replied to the censures that had been passed
upon him by those who appeared to have suddenly
awakened to the woman's wrongs. He asked how the
country could place any faith in those who on the
second reading of this bill opposed the dissolubility of
marriage, but were now the hollow advocates of the
enlargement of the law of divorce by introducing
other crimes for a divorce a vincula. The
hon. and learned gentleman then referred to what
he termed the gilded propositions of hon. members, in
which no one could could believe they were sincere.
Mr. GLADSTONE said that the remarks of the right
hon. and learned gentleman would not deter him from
doing his duty in regard to this measure, which was
now beginning to show it was not a fit sub-
ject for discussion in that house. He complained
of the remarks of the Attorney-General in reference to
the sincerity of hon. members, and said that that learned
gentleman very nearly, if he had not in fact, crossed the
line, when he ought to have been called to order by
the Chairman as a disorderly member, who had
abused the liberty of of speech. (Hear, and laughter.)
It was not usual for one member to challenge the sin-
cerity of other members in the propositions they advanced.
The statement of the Attorney-General, in reference to
this, measure, showed that he did not appear as an inde-
pendent English gentleman in the debate, but the official
organ of another, and that the observations he had
made did not emanate in his own breast and conscience,
but that they were delivered as the pure organ of a
commander, who sent his command from above. The
Attorney. General had, however, given tongue in refe-
rence to the bid, and whilst admitting the equality
of man and woman, he was determined to precipitately
pass a measure that would place women in an inferior
and unjust position.
Lord PALMERSTON defended the conduct of
the Attorney-General, and said that if those , who
voted against the second reading of the bill new voted '1
for the amendment, they would be making, in effect,
a recantation of their previously expressed opinion of
the indissolubility of marriage. (Cries of "No, no.") He
hots ever, repeated the assertion, and proceeded to
say that he was opposed to the equality of man
and woman, in reference to divorce, from a be-
lief that there was a difference in the nature
of the social cffence of adultery. He opposed
the amendment from a belief that it would give rise
to opportunity of collusion between the parties,
and much assist the husband and wife who wished
to get rid of each other by a legal process,
more easy under the amendment than the bill as it now
stood. He agreed with the Attorney-General that it
would be better to pass the bill as it at present
stood, but being anxious to pass the bill he would
not press the question to a division, but give way,
protesting however against his giving way being made a
precedent in more obj.-ctionable cases.
Atter some remarks from Mr. HENLEY, remarking
that the Government had given way in two points, that
of the County Court,.' and the noble I)rd's amendments.
Lord J. RUSSELL said he was glad the noble lord
(Lord Palmerston:) had acceded to the amendment,
which was necessary for the improvement of the bill
from the difficulty likely to arise under the word "de-
sertion." When a man in the higher classes brought
home a mistress and the wife was competed to leave her
home she would have bad no remedy under this bill. He
considered the taunt of inconsistenty against honourable
members, which he thought, however, of but little
weight, because in committee honourable members
had a right to discuss and alter the details of a
measure on the prlsess.le of which they agreed.
He thought the Government ought not to have called
on the Attorney-General to support propositions in
which he did not agree. He undereto id on a former
occasion that this was to be a permanent measure, and
he regretted to find that in another eeslion a question of
such great importance was again to be the subject of
agitation, the same as the "Limited Liability" Bill of
a former session. Legislation on marriage divorce
should be conducted in a manner consonant with its
gravity and importance, and should be of a permanent
character. Continual legislation on this subject was
likely to shake our social relations to the foundation—
(bear, hear)—and ought not to be adopted by any Go-
vernment.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL thought the amend-
ment of the noble lord would not accomplish what was
desired. It should not be for mere adultery once com-
mitted, and he moved to amend the amendment that it
should be adultery committed by a husband with a
mistress in the Pane house in which his wife resided.
Mr. HENLEY thought the amendment of the At-
torney-General would fail in the object desired. No
man would be such a vitlian as to take his mistress horse.
The relief should be given where adultery was com-
mitted with the servants, as was often the case.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that he had no
desire to propose anything that would set aside the de-
cision of the committee. His object was to give the
relief not to one act of adultery, but in cases of habitual
adultery. The present law gave a wife relief for habitual
adultery committed in the conjugal residence, and it was
to preserve the principle of the present law that he pro-
posed this amendment, He, however, would withdraw
the amendment.

Mr. CLAY alluded to the difference of opinion ex-
presssd by society with reference to the crime of adul-

tery in man and in woman. He thought it was unde-
sirable to give too great facilities to woman to dissolve
the marriage tie, especially in what might be considerol
the accidental irregularities of the husband. He sug-
gested that the clime should be amended, giving woman
divorce where adultery was habitually committed in the
conjugal residence.
Mr. GLADSTONE said that crime in men and wo-
men was tinged with their relative position. In the
ease of drunkenness and many others, the crimes were
considered worse in woman than in man, but yet legisla-
tion affected them equally, and why should it not be the
same in this Ca'e. He thought there would be a diffi-
culty in proving habitual adultery, and referring to the
words of the Attorney-General's amendment he said that
terms varied so much there would be a doubt in affixing
a true meaning to the word "mistress," because in pre-
sent society mistress was the wife.
Tee ATTORNEY-GENERA.L withdrew his amend-
meet.

After some remarks from Lor 1 J. MANNERS,
Mr. MALINS appealed to the noble lard not to pro-
ceed further with the bi'l after the discussion. that bad
taken place on the clause, and the principle acceded to
by the noble lord (Palmerston).
Mr. STEUART supported Mr, Malins' appeal to Go-
vernment. •
The amendment was then agreed to.

Sir W. HEATHCOTE called the attention of the
committee to the words in the clause giving power of
divorce to the wife on proof of bigamy on the part of the
husband. The words, as they stood on the bill, would
apply to bigamy on the part of the husband only. He
moved the omission of the words. Bigamy was a stattr-
able offence, and did not constitute adultery without
cohabitation.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said he understood
the word bigamy in the clause to mean cohabitation with
a woman to whom a man bad been secondly married.
Mr. GLADSTONE said the meaning of bigamy in law
was merely proof of the perft,rmance of the marriage
ceremony on the first and second occasion, but by this
bill a new meaning world be given to it. To give di-
vorce for bigamy without adultery in a bill where divorce
in certain cases of adultery was to have been withheld
would be a gross, shameful, and disgraceful binder.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed to amend
the clause by adding after bigamy, followed by cohabi-
tation.

Mr. GLADSTONE said that would not meet the
difficulty. It it was to to bigamy, followed by cohabi•
tation, it ought also to be applicable to bigamy preceded
by cohabitation.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed to amend
the clause with the words "adultery and bigamy."
Mr. AYRTON said that under those words the
adultery might be committed by one person and bigamy
by the other. (Laughter.) He suggested the words
should embrace bigamy and adultery in the same
persons.
After some further discussion,

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL proposed the words
should be " bigamy and adultery with the same
persons."

itA dissension ensued on the application of the words,
and it being four o'clock, it was arranged that the chair-
man should report progress, and resarne again at six
o'clock.

The other orders were disposed of, and the house then
suspended its sitting.
The house resumed at six o'clock, and was

[LEFT HITTING.]

CABINET COUNOIL: A Cabinet Conn cil was held
yesterday, at the official residence of the First Lord of
the Treasury, in Downing-street.
The steamer Atlantic has brought 72,8001. in specie
from Now Yorko• a portion of which is probably on
French account.

Of the specie brought from New York by the Vander-
bilt, about 49,0001. yesterday reached London, of which
a portion consists of Mexican dollars. The gold will
probably be sent to the Continent.
The following vessels have been taken for the con-
Toeryaneceeyolof.t
Atheline tor' the
to the East :—The Hydaspes steamer
the Scotia steamer and the Matilda
The deanery of her
Kurrachee. Bombay, and the Alipure and Athlete for
Majesty's Chapels Rlyal, ren-
dered vacant by the d
Aurhoop of London.
conferred upon Dr, Taltathßiosf Bishop Blomfield, will be
DIE GREAT SALE AT
of the sale is now almost ovil T°l‘3llB6
During the week the
—The interest
attendance of visitors has beenvdescriptei? small, the articles
anritzesisting chiefly
sold being of an ordinary
and with the sal,l?
uslensdore useful
of the contents of bed-rooms, and
of
of
than ornamental. Saturday witnessed
the last lots in the catalogue ;
excellent collection of plants in the garden .. the
• incurs.
Christie and Manson's duties will have dosed.

TRIAL OF SPOL LEN FOR THE MURDER

OF MR. LITTLE.

-

ACQUITTAL OF SPOLLEN.
DUBLIN, TUESDAY EVENING.

Chief Justice Monahan summed up this morning elabo-
rately and impartially. He referred to the extent and na-
ture of the wounds and the weapons with which the mur-
der was probably committed. He dwelt strongly on the
circumstance that access to the building might be had by
others besides the prisoner ; although, doubtless, Spollen
had much greater facility than any other person, from the
nature of his employment. The learned judge regretted
that the servant, Catherine Campbell, was not produced,
and observed that no evidence was given to connect the
hammer found in the canal with Spollen. The facts con-
netted with the razors, his lordship said, were important ;
but the identification of the sun-bonnet was the principal
feature in the case. The statement of the prisoner to In-
spector Ryan, that he returned home at half-past 5 o'clock
on the evening of the murder was disproved by the chil-
dren's evidence, which deserved the most serious attention
of the jury. His lordship then read over the deposition
and evidence of Joseph Spollen, commenting upon the dis.
crepancies between it and that of his sister. Throughout
the judge's charge, the prisoner maintained his usual calm
and collected bearing.
The charge of the learned judge occupied more than four
hours and a-half in delivery, and the concluding portion of
it was delivered in a most solemn and impressive manner.
The razors, hammer, and calico rag having.been banded
to the jury, they retired to consider their verdict at 20
minutes to three o'clock. The prisoner was then removed.
Having remained in consultation for an hour and a half,
the door of the jury-room was opened, and the prisoner was
then placed at the bar. He was paler than when he had
been removed, held the rail in front of the dock with a
nervous grasp, and watched the jury with intense and evi-
dent anxiety.

THE LAT.& JOHN WILSON CROKER.

John Wilson Croker was a conspicuous man
during a long course of years in politics and litera-
ture. He was widely known as Secretary to the
Admiralty —which office he held for one-and-
twenty years; as a member of Parliament for
twenty-five years; as an industrious and accom-
plished author ; and, abov©. all, perhaps, as the
wickedest of reviewers ; that is, as the author of
the f ml and false political articles in the Quccrterlg
Review, which stand out as the disgrace of the
periodical literature of our time. His natural
abilities, his capacity and inclination for toil, the
mingled violence and causticity of his temper, and
his entire unscrupulousness in matters both of
feeling and of statement, combined to make him a
remarkable, if not a very loveable personage, and
an useful, though not very honourable member of
a political party.
He was the son of the Surveyor-General of Ire-
land, and was born in that Connaught which was
then the "hell" of the empire. "To Hell or
Connaught," was still the imprecation of the day
when Croker was born; that is, in 1780. He was
always called an Irishman ; and very properly, as
Galway was his native place ; but he was of English
descent. As for temperament, we do not know that
either England or Ireland would be very anxious
to claim him : and he certainly was sui generis—
remarkably independent of the influences which
largely affect the characters of most men. He was
educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and was called
to the bar in 1802. His first publication, " Fami-
liar Epistles to F. E. Jones, Esq.," shows that his
proneness to sarcasm existed early ; but the higher
qualities which once made him the hope of the Tory
party were then so much more vigorous than at a
later time, that the expectations'excited bythe outset
of his public life were fully justifiable. It was in
1807 that he entered Parliament as member for
Dowupatrick, and within two years hewas Secretary
to the Admiralty. He bad by that time given high
proof of his ability in his celebrated pamphlet on the
" Past and Present State of Ireland." The author-
ship was for some time uncertain. Because it was
candid and painfully faithful, the Edinburgh Review,
so early as 1813, could not believe it to be hisawhile,
on the other band, there was the wonder that the
man who so wrote about Ireland should be so
speedily invited to office by the Government under
Perceval. That Irish pamphlet may now be re-
garded as perhaps the most honourable achieve-
ment of Mr. Croker's long life of authorship.
Just before this he had joined with Mr. Canning,
Walter Scott, George Ellis, Mr. Morritt, and others
in setting up the Quarterly Review, the first num-
ber of which appeared in the spring of 1809. The
Edinburgh Review had then existed seven years ;
and while obnoxious to the Tory party for its poli-
tics, it was not less so to the general public for the
reckless ferocity of some of its criticism, in those
its early days. If the Quarterly proposed to rebuke
this sin by example, it was rather cm ious'that Mr.
Croker should be its most extensive and constant
contributor for forty years—seeing that he car-
ried the license of anonymous criticism to
the last extreme. Before he bad done his work
in that department, be had earned for himself—
purchased by bard facts—the following character,
calmly uttered by one of the first men of the time :
"Croker is a man who would go a hundred miles
through sleet and snow, on the top of a coach, in a
December niglat, to search a parish register, for the
sake of showing that a man is illegitimate, or a
woman older than she says she is." He had actu-
ally gone down into the country to find the register
of Fanny Burney's baptism, and revelled in the ex-
posure of a mis-statement of her age ; and the other
half of the commentary was understood to have
been earned in the same way. He did not begin his
Quarterly reviewinewith the same virulence which
grew upon him in his later years. That malignant
ulcer of the mind, engendered by political disap-
pointment, at length absorbed hie better qualities.
It is necessary to speak thus frankly of the temper
of the man, because his statements must in justice
be discredited ; and because justice requires that
the due discrimination be made between the hon-
ourable and generous-minded men who ennoble the
function of criticism by the spirit they throw into
it, and one who, like Croker, employed it at last
for the gratification of his own morbid inclination
to inflict pain. The propensity was so strong in
Croker's case that we find him unable to resist it
even in regard to his old and affectionate friend
Walter Scott, and at a time when that old friend
was sinking in adversity and disease. He reviewed
in the London Courier Scott's " Malagrowther
Letters," in 182 G, in a way which called for the
delicate and touching rebuke contained in Scott's
letter to him, dated March 19th of that year—a
rebuke remembered long after the trespass that
called it forth was disregarded as a piece of " Croker's
malignity." The latest instance of this sort of con-
troversy called forth by Mr. Croker's public vitu-
peration of his oldest and dearest friends, was the
series of letters that passed between him and Lord
J. Russell, after the publication of Meore's Diaries
and Correspondence. UP to the last his victims re-
fused to believe, till compelled, that the articles
had proceeded from his pen—well as they kit ,tw
his spirit of reviewing. When he had been
staying at Drayton Manor, not long before Sir
Robert Pool's death, had been not only hospitably
entertained, but kindly ministered to under his in-
firmities of deafness and tad health, and went home
to cut up his host in a political article for the forth-
coming "Quarterly"—his fellow guests at Drayton
refused as long as possible to believe the ar icle to
be his ; and in the same way, as Lord John Russell
informed him, Mrs. Moore would not for a long
time credit the fact that the review of the poet's
" Life" was his, saying she had always understood
Mr. Croker to be her husband's friend. It was in
the " Quarterly" that the disappointed politician
vented his embittered feelings ; as indeed be him-
self avowed. He declirecl, when Lord Gray came
into office, that he did not consider his pension
worth three mouths purchase ; that he should
therefore lay it by while he had it, and make
his income by " tomahawkin" liberal authors in
the " Quarterly." Ile did it, not only by writing
articles upon them, but by interpolating
other people's articles with his own sarcasms
and slanders, so as to compel the real reviewers, in
repeated instances, to demand the republication of
their articles in a genuine state and a separate
form.

When he entered parliament, he was an admi-
rable debater—ready, acute, bold, and well fur-
nished with information, and not; yet so dangerously
reckless as to make him feared by his own party.
It is rather strange now to find his name foremost
in the list of parliamentary orators in the books of
foreigners visiting England after the peace. He
was listened to by the house as an inferior kind of
Disraeli, for the amusement aff,rded by his sar-
casm ; and foreigners mistook this manifestation of
the old bull-baiting spirit for an evidence of the par-
liamentary weight of the satirist ; and a House of
Commons that enjoys that sort of sport deserves
the French commentary—the imputation of being
led by a Croker. There were occasions, however,
on which he apiSeared to advantage on other
grounds than his sarcastic wit. It should be re-
membered that it was he who, in 1821, before Ca-
tholic Emancipation could be supp,ised near at
hand, proposed to enable the crown t') make a suit-
able provision for the Catholic clergy. Lord Cas-
tlereagh opposed the motion, which was necessarily
withdrawn ; but Mr. Croker declared that he con-
sidered the principle safe, and should bring forward
the measure till it should be adopted. He was
steady to the object, and in 1823 actually obtained
a majority upon it in the Commons ; and there is
no question of his earnestness in desiring a mea-
sure of considerable relief to the consciences and
liberties of the Catholic body.

He held his ground with the chiefs of his own
• party by other qualities tlian his official ability.
His command of detail was remarkable, and so were
his industry and his sagacity within a small range.
His zeal for party interests was also great--a zeal
shown in his eagerness to fill up places with party
adherents, from the laureateship (which he pro-
cured for Southey) to the lowest office that
could be filled by an electioneering agent ; but
he was also a most acceptable political goss;p.
It was this which made him a frequent guest
at the
,Regent's table, and an inimitable Ac-
quaintance at critical seasons of ministerial
change, when such men as he revel in the inci-
dents of the day, and in the manifestation of such
human vices and weaknesses as come out, together
with noble virtues, in the conflict of personal
interests. The congenial spirit of the Beacon news-
paper, which made such a noise in 1822, made him
the proper recipient of Scott's confidence on the
matter ; and to him therefore Scott addressed his
painful explanations, as they stand in the " Life."
It is probable that the intercourse between him and
Scott, though not without an occasional ruffle, was
about the most cordial that the survivor ever
enjoyed. Scott's real geniality
and politic obtuse-
ness to offence enabled him to bear more than most
men would : and in their literary relations, he
contrived to show himself the debtor. He avowed
that his " Tales of a Grandfather " were suggested
and modelled by Croker's "Stories from the His-
tory of England ;" and he was aided in his "Life
of Napoleon," by Croker's loans of masses of
papers. He met cabinet ministers, by the half-
dozen at a time, at the Secretary's table ; and re-
ceived from them reports of handsome sayings of
the Regent's about him. The cordiality could not,
on Croker's side, withstand the temptation to
insult a friend through the press, as he showed at
the very time by his remarks on Malagrowther ;
but on Scott's side it was hearty. When the
political changes of 1827 were going forward, his
first thought seems to have been for crolier. "I

I fear CrAcer will shake," he wrote, " and heartily
sorry I should feel fur that." The shaking, however,
I only shook C. oker more firmly into his place and
function. In 1828 he became a rrivy councillor ;
and he retained his Admiralty office till 1830. It
was the Reform Bill that destroyed him politically.
It need not have done so. There was no more reason
for it in his case than in that of any of his com-
rades ; but he willed political suicide. He declared
that he wou'd never sit in a reformed House of
Commons ; and he never did. He expectei revo-
lution ; and he thought it prudent to retire while
he could yet save life and fortune. His view is
shown by his mournful account in the House of
the spectacle of a Montmorenci rising in the French
Constituent Assembly, to propose the extinction
of feudal rights and dignities, such as his ancestors
had earned and been ennobled by ; and he let fall
no word to show that he recognised any grandeur
lin the act. He thought that pitiable which
to others appears the crown of the nobleness
of the Montmorencies. He proposed to grant no-
thing to any popular demand, because something
might at length be demanded which it would be im-
possible to grant; and before the shadows of the pos-
sible evils which he conjured up, he retired from
pnblic life, leaving its actual difficialties to be dealt
with by men of a higher courage and tk more disin-
terested patriotism. His political action, for the
rest of his life, consisted merely in the articles he
put forth in the Quarterly Review—articles which
(to say nothing of their temper) show such feeble-
ness of insight, such a total incapacity to compre-
hend the spirit and needs of the time, and such utter
recklessness abouttruthof both statement and prin-
ciple, that elderly readers are puzzled to account for
the expectations they once had of the writer. It
was the heart element that was amiss. A good
heart has wonderful efficacy in making moderate
talent available. Where heart is absent, the most
brilliant abilities fail, as is said in such cases, " un-
accountably." Where heart is not absent, but is
not good the consequences are still more obvious; t e
faculties waste and decline, and the lifo sinks to
nothing before death comes to close the scene. It
is impoSsible to avoid such reflections as these
while contrasting the strength and goodness of
Croker's early work on Ireland with his latest judg-
ments on public affairs in the Quarterly Review, and
his correspondence with Lord J. Russell on the busi-
ness of the " Moore Diaries." It may be observed
by the way how such a spirit as his stirs up the
dregs of other people's temcers. Lord J. Russell's
no' e, in allusion to Mr. Croker, in "Moore's Life,"
appears to be unnecessary ; he was moved to it by
seeing Mrs. Moore stung by the review ; and he
met speedy retribution. Pain was inflicted all
round ; and Croker was the cause of it all.
Hewas the author, editor, and translator of various
works, the chief of which is his edition of "Boswell's
Johnson," a book on which he' spent much labour,
and which was regarded with high and trustful fav-
our till Mr. Macaulay overthrew its reputation for
accuracy by an exposure of a singular series of mis-
takes, attributable to indolence, carelessness, or ig-
norance. That review (which is republished among
Mr. Macaulay's Essays) destroyed such reputation
for scholarship as Mr. Croker had previously en-
joyed, and a good deal impaired that of his industry.
His other works of bulk are the " Suffolk Papers,"
the " Military Events of the French Revolution of
1830," a translation of " Bassompierre's Embassy
to England," the " Letters of Lady Hervey," and
" Lord Hervey's Memoirs of the Reign of George
II." Mr. Croker was an intimate of the late Lord
Hertford ; and his social footing was not improved
by the choice of his friendships, and the revelations
made on the trial of Lord Hertford's valet. In brief,
his best place was his de k at the Admiralty ; his
best action was in his office ; and the most painful
part of his life was the latter part, amidst an ignoble
social reputation, and the political odium attached
to him by Mr. Disrael's delineation of him in " Co-
ningsby. The virulent reviewer found in his old
age the truth of the Eastern proverb—" Curses are
like chickens, they always come home to roost."
He. tried to send them abroad again—tried
his utmost severity in attacks in the Quarterly on
Disraeli's Budget. But it was too late, and the
painter of the portrait of Rigby remained master
of that field in which the completest victory is the
least enviable.

Looking round for something pleasanter on which
to rest the eye in the career of the unhappy old
man who has just departed, we may point out that
his name stands honourably on our new maps and
globes. He was Secretary to the Admiralty during
the earlier of the Polar expeditions of this century ;
and it is understoOd that the most active and effi-
cient assistance was always given by him in tho
work of Polar discovery. Long after politics! un-
scrupulousness and rancour. are forgotten, those
higher landmarks of his voyage of life will remain,
and tell a future generation, to whom he will be
otherwise unknown, that there was one of his'name
to whom our great navigators felt grateful for as-
sistance in the noble service they rendered to their
country and all future time.

TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH

lIVDI4.

The public of England and India are deeply in-
terested in this question. Its importance, great
even in ordinary times, has become vital at this
crisis, when instantaneous communication would
prove a most powerful arm to aid the military ar-
-rangements upon which alone our hold over India
depends. Under these circumst Imes we are all
concerned in knowing at whose door is to be laid
the blame that a telegraph to India has not been in
operation at least since•the beginning of the year.
Prima facie one would imagine that a telegraph
to India would in the natural course of events pre-
cede a telegraph to America. Whether we regard
it in a political or a commercial point of view, the
Indian telegraph, connected as it is with the rapid
transmission of intelligence from Sincaporo, China,
and Australia, is at least equal in importance with
the American. its construction iseasier. The Ameri-
can telegraph has to traverse 2,000 miles of ocean,
the Indian only 500 miles at one stretch ; the feasi-
bility of the latter was‘therefore known several
yews back, and that again was a reason why it
should have had precedence. These are the broad
facts of the case. They suggest the question, how
comes it that the natural order of events has been
reversed, that the Atlantic cable is at this moment
be;ng laid whilst the manufac•ure of the Indian
c able is not begun ? We unhesitatingly say that
the Treasury are alone in fault that we have not for
many months been in telegraphic communication
with India. More than two years ago the East
India Company gave the'r adhesion to the Red
Sea telegraph project. With that support the Com-
pany applied to the Treasury. The cold shoulder
was turned upon them ; they were, in short,
snubbed, and plainly told they must abandon all
hope of Government aid. The company then
broke up, 0r,,t0 use the expression of the chairman,
remained in abeyance, after having despatched an
agent to Constantinople and Egypt to obtain the
necessary firmans. These he obtained with the sup-
port of the Foreign-office and Lord Stratford de
Redcliffe.

The Treasury, however, were not to be thus
foiled. During the agent's absence the Euphrates
telegraph project was started, and was subsidised
by Government, the East India Company guying a
reluctant assent. This was done on the opinion of
Sir W. O'Shaughnessey, who condemned the Red
Sea line, alleging that the coral reefs would cut
the cable. It must bs observed that though
Sir W. O'Shaughnessey laid 4,000 miles of land
wires in India in the short space of two years,
yet he knew nothing whatever about submarine
cables ; that an eminent firm of contractors for sub-
marine cables are, in spite of the coral, ready,to lay
the Red Sea line at their own risk, and deliver it
over in perfect working order to the cothpany at the
ordinary rate of charge ; that the Mediterranean
line to Corsica has been in permanent work for
several years, though it crosses coral in more than
one place ; and that in the Red Sea the coral is
confined to the shores, which the cable need only
approach twice, i.e., at Kossier and Jiddah, and by
taking careful soundings, it is expected that it can
be avoided even there.

We have frequently compared the two projected
lines by the Red Sea and the Euphrates. We shall
only state that the Turks, who may be supposed
to know their own country and their own power
over the inhabitants, have refused to sanction
the construction of the Euphrates line, on
the ground that they have no power to
protect it, naturally also refusing to allow the
Company to do so, and thus by degrees become
masters of the country. In fact common-sense at
once points out that isolated telegraph wires laid
before the completion of the proposed railway, and
without the protection of any established transit
route, would never be safe, even in times of peace,
and would inevitably be destroyed the first war that
occurred between any two tribes, or between any
t tibe and the Turks or Persians. The stations in
the Red Sea line only occur every 400 to 500 miles,
and will be at large garris,)ned towns, and on the
seashore, where they could be protected by a ship
if necessary.
The Treasury, however, having, against the opi-
nion of the East India Company, of the Foreign-
office, and Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, and without
giving the Red Sea Telegraph Company any notice
of the objections made to their route, or any oppor-
tunity of answering them, hastily subsidised the
Euphrates telegraph line, and given it the monopoly
of Government business, and two years to make
their atrangements and c3nstruct their line, say
that during those two years their bands are tied,
that they cannot subsid;se a competing line and pro-
mise it any portion of their business. If the Trea-
sury have made a mistake it lies with them to re-

medy.it as well "as they can. It cannot for a
moment be toleriVed that a feasible project of
this immense itnp,,rtance should b sukp,nded for
two y 'ars-longer by a projertt that is impractica►,le,
and to which the Porte has refused its assent.
We trust that the Eist India Company a►;d the
Board of Control will act independently of the
Treasury, and grant the pecuniary aid which will
enable the Red Sra lino to be executed within 12
months.—Daily A ewes.