The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-29 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE Ulm.

Sir,—Your leader of yesterday upon the subject
of connecting England and India by means of the
Electric Telegraph contains the following para-
graph :
" Even then we had hardly stated the matter with
sufficient force, for after the arrival of reinforcements
has secured the communications between Delhi and
Calcutta, and after Alexandria has been connected, as
it might readily be, with Constantinople or Malta, there
is no reason why 24 hours should not suffice to put us
in possession of every event on the banks of the Ganges."
Upon this I beg to offer a few remarks, which,
however, I should not presume to do had I not
some pretensions to experience tin the matter. I
will suggest that I am one of the oldest in the pro-
fession of telegraphs, and that I had charge of lines
in this country before the formation of any Tele-
graph Company whatever. I have made the sub-
ject of telegraphs my study and occupation here
and in the United States of America, with little
exception, ever since.

Tlie extract above quoted supposes the fact of
the completion of the telegraph through to India ;
in which case, undoubtedly, there could be no
reason why 24 hours should not more than suffice
to put us in possession of every event on the banks
of the Ganges ; but if we are to judge from the de-
lays which have already taken place on the much
shorter distance, it is possible it would take still-
more time, while, in fact, an hour ought never to
be exceeded, the telegraph wire, of course, remain-
in intact and serviceable.
I have been present in the telegraph-offiee,-
Broadway, New York, when the European mail
intelligence has been transmitted to New Orleans,
and a reply received in one hour and a half, and_
this in the ordinary course of business with three
breaks or repeats occurring in the distance.
Yet more even has been done in the United
States by means of an instrument termed there a
" connecter"—about 1,500 miles of wire having
been telegraphed through, and reply received in a
few seconds. Now this distance, 3,000 miles, is
about equal to two-thirds of the distance to India.
I myself used such a means of communication some
years ago on the Darlington line of telegraph to
ring a bell at Newcastle from York which could not
be effect:d by any other means.
In this was a tete-a-tete should be held between
any two points however distant, allowing, of
course, for the restrictions put on messages passing
through f,reigu States.
The appa,:atus for accomplishing this, whether it
be the " connecter" I have spoken of as used in
America, or an invention of mine some time ago
patented and called a "repeater," is no secret, and
may in any form be used by the public. I ask,
then, why in our present position as regards India,
in the event of the telegraph being continued
through, should it be thought, cr even for a moment
tolerated, that 24 hours should elapse before know-
ing what transpires on the banks of the Ganges.
On the subject of the proposed route to India,
with the 2,000 miles of Atlantic cable laid as pro-
posed from Alexandria to Aden, there will still be
required somewhere about 3,000 miles of submarine
wire to complete the whole distance. If, instead
of this, the Atlantic cable were laid from Bombay
up the Persian Gulf and Euphrates River to Bus-
sora, and connected by oveland wires along the
" Grert Daseri," road to Aleppo, thence on to Con-
stantinople, the communication would then be cora-
pltte without additional submarine wire.
In favour of this route I could give many practi-
cal reasons, but to meet the objections of the faint-
hearted, and also of submarine wire manufacturers,
let me observe that the Americans will soon carry
a line of te'egraph over the Rocky Mountains and
Western Desert, and through hordes of hostile In-
diani—a much more formidable work than that I
propose, on a well travelled road from Bussora to
Constantinople.
This Persian Gulf route saves the use of 2,500
miles of submarine wire. I don't mean the cost of
it—that is not now to be thought of ; I mean the
risks of imperfect manufacture, laying, and of in-
sulation, and other matters which at present seem
to be entirely overlooked in the manufacture and
laying long and deep lengths of submarine wire.
_ .

ci now the from Varna to Bala-
klava ? How long did it last effective ?
The clima'e on the route I propose fur the over-
!awl wires such that 1,000 miles can be batter in-
subited than a like length of ben wise eveu if uu-
cessfully laid.
ThA distance proposed is less, the cost much less,
and the time required to erect it far less than would
be ellowel for the construction of a submarine wire.
If these remarks are in place—and I believe at
thig time it behoves every one who can to add a
mita to th 3 general progress—l trust you may give
them insertion.—l am, sir,_ your obedient servant,
J. WALKER WILKINS,
6, Horshoe-court, Ludgate-hill.

TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION WITH

INDIA.

FROM A KNOWN CORRESPONDENT.

The nonToterference principle has been adopted
by Lord Palmerston in cases where English capital
seeks employment in foreign countries, the only
exception made being for electric telegraphs con-
necting the mother country with her distant
colonies. These are considered, and we believe
jusily, as a parallel case to subsidising companies
to whom is entrusted the postal service, and this
principal can be safely and judiciously applied to
telegraphs whose course is along the bottom of the
sea,—the common property and highway of ,all
nations—only appearing above ground here and
there to renovate the electric power which distance
had weakened in its submarine course. Such a
telegraph requires no maintainance ; man entrusts
his work to the deep ocean and Neptune has hither-
to faithfully guarded his trust in every case where
it has been unconditionally placed in his care.
The temporary failure of the Atlantic telegraph
tends to prove this proposition rather than to refute
it, because the cause of failure was iu the inexpe-
rienced, and perhaps, under the circumstances,
unavoidable accident to the means of laying, not
the inefficiency of the cable when laid. If one mile
of subma, ino can be successfully laid in 2,000
fathoms, there is no reason why 2,500 miles should
not be laid ; it is simply a question of proper ma-
chinery and careful watching, wind and weather
permitting. It has been proved, and so far the pro-
ject of the Atlantic telegraph is full of hope, that
an electric shock will pass through the necessary
length of cable, and thus the conditions of insulation
and electric power are proved to be at man's com-
mand. Risk of laying and difficulty of working
increase, however, very rapidly when the distance
exceeds 500

These considerations are of great importance in
calculating upon the possibility and probability of
seeing out• most distant possessions brought into
immediate contact with ourselves, and in com-
paring the relative value of overland and submarine
telegraphs.
Last year we heard- with glee that our Indian
empire had a network of 4,000 miles of overground
telegraph, placing all the principal military posts
and commercial cities within a few seconds of each
other. The daily peaceful history of Indian rou-
tine was written as though distance was no more.
Looking, however, at the length of time which
must always elapse before we can have per-
sonal access to or from India, and that the
country has hitherto been governed by opinion
rather than by actual power, it becomes
have
a paramount importance that opinion should av
a fair field to found its judgment upon during
aany
d
crisis when its influence must rule
no ante of
decide upon the means of ruling.
of misguiding
what is doing is the surest
mannerituiflueurc:—thvoa lt flureinainuonos
judgment reports
action and the lesson forfirtureguidiraonmceFnantehaeys
are facts for history, as distinguished
owfi • tah
mutiny anxiety, a
übpuptr e stilles
ed withbut
of noticing with certainty the occurrences of the
which science we e
every can
wait
record
means
and energy
placesPatien patience,
itre(' sposal to know what is doing, whilst
the crisis is on and the remedy =applied. Accele-
rated. communication by means of steam can satisfy
day:traWin
the first condition ; the telegraph can alone fulfil
the second. We subsidise steamers to carry reports
and statistics, why not subsidise a telegraph to
conveysotii.sicdterss,
which may save or lose an empire?
Our Premier has so decided, d
an we heartily agree
with him. A
telegraph to India is to be made
through Government •
assistance, and the only ques-
tion is, which of the two competing projects shall
be favoured—tlie one down the valley of the
Euphrates, or the one by the Red Sea.
Both lines commence at Alexandria, and termi-
nate at Kurrachee. Arrangements have been
made to bring the Mediterranean system to Alex-
andria, and Kurrachee is already on the network
of Indian telegraphs. The Euphrates project is sub-
marine from Alexandria to Seleucia in Asia Minor ;
overland from thence to Koorna, on the Persian
gulf end submarine again to Kurrachee.
The Red Sea telegraph to India is the whole