The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-21 00:00:00

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH CABLE.

The commanding officers of the several ships com-
posing the Atlantic squadron, and Cept. [Lamson, who
,has recently been appointed to the future command of
the Great Eastern steamship, attended a meeting of the
board at the company's offices yesterday (Thursday),
having been specially invited to express to thd directors
their opinions are! advice, drawn from their several ob-
servations and experience, as to the efficiency of the form
of cable adopted by the company, as to the suitability of
the machinery and appliances for paying out, as to any
obstacles of a nautical or physical character that exist in
the way of the enterprise, and as t the alterations and
amendments it is desirable to make in all or any of the
plans for performing the work with greater safety and
security on the next occasion.
There is but one unanimous expression on the part of
the naval officers in reference to the cable itself ; they
are with ono consent of opinion that a form of submarine
telegraph could not be devised more suitable in every
respect to the object intended to be accomplished ; its
lightness, toughness, and fl-extbility adapt it in every
way for Transatlantic purposes, and they are unwilling
to recommend its rnodificatien or alteration in any re-
-spect. They are also of opinion that no natural obsta-
cles of any moment exist to prevent its being successfully
laid, and their views as to the future, based upon past
experience, are hopeful and sanguine.
With regard to the machinery, they were of opinion—
also unanimously—that the form of controlling power
adopted, and the mode of lubricating and adjusting the
brakes, are capable of very considerable improvement,
and, in conformity with this opinion, the directors have
forthwith ordered an inspection and report to be made
by three independent nautical and mechanical engineers
upon the best form of accomplishing this object.
With regard to future operations during the present
year, the directors bad the advantage of Captain Har-
rison's great k nowledge of the state of the weather, for,
ice, &c., in the North Atlantic, and liis experience en-
ables bin to say that the month of October and the fiat
portion of the month of November, more particularly
when the preceding eqainotrial gales have been severe,
are usually free front any state of sea or atmosphere that
would be injurious to an expedition like the present.
Somewhat diverse opininons were prevalent among
the ruiners present as to the practicability of recovering
portion of the cable already submerged, but all
a%lraereg: that the shore
heantd
jeunryn
top iandtee
encotyed,
eu4scateyntbeoftaiiki
andl' that a further length of the smaller portion can be
determine,
E seat
or ten days will yet elapse before the various
ofic.L
detail referred to the inquiry and investiga-
vhaalutileedtx.
waiters(tles Rub-committees can be reported upon to the
board, and consequently before any authorita-
tive statement can be made as to future ra •

THE FORGERY OF ADMIRALTY NAVY tPAY-BILLS.—
The prisoner, Charles Holloway, who stands charged
With having uttered a forged navy pay-bill of the value
of 46i. 83., purporting to be drawn by Lieutenant W. 0-
H. Morgan, and. endorsed 'by Captain Charles Frede-
rick and Paymaster li. S. Dyer, late officers on board
her Majesty's ship Pre-ident, 50, paid off at Chatham
underwent a final examination before the Earl of
Darnley and the county magistrates at Rochester on
Wednesday. The evidence against the accused fully
bore
.out the facts which were given in Da Sun on the
occasion of his being apprehended at Chatham on pre-
senting the document for payment. The magistrates
committed the prisoner for trial for forgery, the Admi-
ralty prosecuting. Bail was refused.

Thomas Diamond Evans, of 15, Bush-lane, City, and
Captain Henry Thorn, of .No.ll, Pall-mall, were yesterday
brought before Mr. B;adon,-at Marlborough-street Police-
court, on a summons obtained by the Hon. Frederick Wil-
liam Cadogan, for " having on the Bth of August last, un-
lawfully published a certain letter addressed to the editor
of the Times newspaper, containing certain libellous and
defamatory wordS and sentences of and relating to the said
Hon. F. W. Cadogan ; and also for having threatened to
publish the said libel ; also for havinn offered to prevent
the publication of the said libel containing certain matters
and things touching the said Hon. F. W. Cadogan, with
intent to extort money from him, and also for having there
and then combined and conspired and confederated and
agreed to injure, oppress, and aggrieve the said Hon. F.
W. padogan," _ _

Mr. Gifford, instructed by Messrs. Humphreys, Son and
Morgan, appeared for the prosecutor ; Mr. Warrand, of 73,
Baeingball-street, attended for Captain Thorn; and Mr.
Robinson for Thomas Diamond Evans.
In order to make the case clear and intelligible it will: be
neeoseary to refer to complaints which have been recently
made, to the effect that private individuals were enabled to
obtain earlier information than the Government in matters
connected with the East. In the City Article of the Times
of the Ist of August some remarks were made which were
presumed to reflect on the Submarine TelographCornpany.
On the 3d of August a letter from Sir J. Carmichael, the
chairman of the company, was
_published in the Times,
which letter was pi efaced by some observations by the
editor, to the effect that Government had caused inquiries
to be made into the cause of the delay in trausmittiug the
information in question to, the public authorities, twenty.
four hours having been consumed in that which usually
required only four hours, th .t the news was in private
hands before it was furnished to the Government, and that
if those private persons received the information by the
same line as that which transmitted the Government news,
then there was a case of gross • delinquency on the part of
some one; and the editor added, as the Government had
been unable to get any satisfactory explanation of the mys-
tery, it was hoped that the affair would be thoroughly
sifted. The letter of Sir J. Carmichael appeared, in which
this explanation was given in one of the paragraphs of the
causes of the delay in the messages transmitted to the East
India House and Lord Clams ion, " I as yet know nothing,
and couseeuently, unlike the Jimes, will not hazard an
opinion, or even a suspicion. But Ido know that during
the Crimean war the telegraph wires were not found at
fault in the important duty of conveying messages to the
British Government. And I may state that, since the
establishment of our first telegraphic communication with
France, no person in the service of the company has hitherto
been suspected of betraying the trust reposed in him by
the public, nor has any message been either tampered with
or delayed in any ono of our office e, though of course we
have been liable to our fair ahem of delays from acci.lental
causes, for which we expected and received blame." Im-
mediately after the appearance of this letter, Captain Thorn
called upon the Hon. F. W. Cadogan, the deputy-chairman
of the company, with a letter purporting to have been writ-
ten by the defendant Evans, and after a long conversation
gave him a copy of it. This letter, which forms the basis of
the charge of libel, was sen to the Times, put into type,
but its fin Cher publication withheld on account of contem-
plated police proceedings.
Mr. Giffard then proceeded to address the Court in sup-
port of the SMIMII3II9. He appeared for the Hon. F. W.
Cadogan, deputy-chairman of the Submarine Magnetic
Telegraph Company, and also one of the managing directors.
The deteudant Evans, he believed, was a bill broker, and
formerly in the service of the Telegraphic Company as
superintendent. Captain Thorn was not known to the
prosecutor. Tho defendants were jointly Charged with
having published a libel on the Hon. F. W. Cadogan, and
the ony coneeiveb!l native for the publication was, that
money might be extorted from the prosecutor. The case
were one which involved a great and important public ques-
tion. Tee huel imputed to ie raous holding a high p sition
in the Submarine Telegraph Company was that they had
di: regarded their duty to the public and ter the world, by
tampering with despatches sent to their office for trans-
mission, by delaying information improperly, by making
use of information for their private ends, and by favouring
several personal friends in giving their messages precedence
in transmission over other messages sent earlier to the
office. The learned gentleman then brifly detailed the evi-
dence, and concluded by stating that Mr. Cadogan had felt
it duo to his own character, aid to the character of the
company with which he.was connected, to give the most
unqualified contra fiction of every assertion contained in
the letter, which formed the libel in question.
The Hon. F. W. Cadogan sworn : I am deputy-chairman
and one or the managing directors of the Submarine Tele-
graph-Office, French and English. The chief office is in
corntiill. The defendant Evans was iu 1351 in the com-
pany's service as one of th<, clerics, but was discharged some
time since. I reside at 136 Piccadilly, and on Saturday,
the Bth of August, about three o'clock in the afternoon, I
received a communication from Mr. Courtney, the secre-
tary of the company, in consequence of which I went to the
office of Mr. Sampson, a gentleman connected with the
Tames newspaper, and had some conversation about a letter
sent, or about to be sent, to the Times. The same evening,
about seven o'clock, the defendant Thou called on me,
anal stated that he was a friend of the defendant Evans,
that Evans was laid up with indisposition it Gravesend,
and had given him a letter to deliver at the (Alice of the
Times newspaper, that having seen the contents of the
libel he suggested that I should read it, at the same time
placing in my hands a letter which I read. From circum-
stances that came into my mind, I saw the defendant in
the presence of Lady Cade an. I read the letter out loud,
and then handed it back to Thorn, with a request that he
would let me have a copy. The defendant said I should
have a copy that night, but he must consult some friend
first. During the interview Captain Thorn repeatedly
said that he had been mixe I up with Mr. Evans iii heavy
pecuniary engagements with gentlemen at this end ef Lon-
don, but was not at that time with Evans. I asked him
why he came to me on the subject. His reply was that he
thought it right I should know of the existence of this
letter---that it must be to my interest and the interest of
my company that the letter should not appear in print,
and that he thought Evans had been indiscreet in a citing
such a letter. The defendant added that Mr. Evans
had given him the papers to deliver at the Times office,
leaving the matter entirely in his hands. Capt. Thorn
went away, and returned about nine o'clock and asked me
to release him from his premise to give me a copy of the
letter. I told him I would not, and he again spoke of his
pecuniary position with Evans. 'Capt. Thorn made a cern'
of the letter iu the presence of Lady Cadogan and myself,
and after signing it with his initials gave the copy to me,
which I afterwards ,with
to Mr. Dobie, solicitor, of Lan-
custer-place. The former was as follows and was in reply
to Sir J. Carmichael's letter to the Times, this letter being
directed to the editor of the Times :
" Sir,--I beg to say I was superintendent of the instru-
ment room of the Submarine Telegraph Company form
November, 1852 to 1834, when I resigued. That during the
above period one of the directors of the company, the Hon.
F. W. Cadogan, was in the habit of visiting the iustrument-
room, and waiting in the board-room daily, say from three
to four o'clock, and I had special instructions from him
to send up all messages of importance, and as a Consequence
I can instance one particular dispatch from Lord Stratford
de Reeciiffe to Lord Clarendon, dated Constantinople,
December 3d, received via Brussels, when within half an
hour after the message, had been seen by Mr. Cadogan the
Feuds fell per cent. Mr. Cadogan suddenly quitted the
office, and almost immediately afterwards we received a
message from Edersheim, London, to JaCqUOlllllll, Paris,
touching the particular fall. There could be no possibility
of these parties having obtained information any way but
through us, and I can say that none of the ch rks quitted
the office. Mr. Cadogan frequently looks at the contents
of the forwarded and received continental messages. Mr.
Cadogan gave instructions for news to be sent to his pri-
vate residence, and on one occasion the Indian news for
the Times was forwarded to Mr. Cadogan Another ,time
I forwarded a despatch ,to Mr. Seymour Clark, by order
of Mr. Cadogan. Again, on the arrival of important
continental news there occurred either a fall or rise in the
Funds, and the result was that a rush was made by the
leading stockbrokers to send message.. Mr Cadogan be-
ing in the instrument room, said to me ono day, Are
you busy,' and I replied in the affirmative ; whereupon
Mr. Cadogan took up the pack of messages, 25 in number,
which was lying by my side, and taking out from near
the bottom of the
.parcel a message from Rothschild of
London to Rothschild of Paris, placed it on the top of the
pile, and requested me to give it precedence.' I told him
that all the messages were sent out in the order in which
they were received, and to alter this arrangement was do-
ing the public a great injustice. He desired me to do so,
and I obeyed. • This can be proved by reference to the file
of messaocs, as on the original messages will be found a
note of mine of the fact in ink. 1 have not stated a
single fact which I am not in a position to prove by the
officer cr servants who have been in the employ of the
company and. by reference to ley diary. I will con-
tent myself wills the foregoing statement, which you
will no doubt consider completely answers the paragraph
in Sir J. Carmichael's letter, and will al. o prove to the
chairman and directors of the company. and to the public
that you do not hazard opinions based on rumours.
T. W, EvAtrs."
The statements in the letter are false from beginning to
endCapotn,eT. Thorn asasicide:lrreempeetehdelr this is a private yto make the interview
a private
com-
munication. I purposely evaded giving him a reply. After
saying that he did not think he should send the letter to
the Times, Captain Thorn left. Captain Thorn said his
residence was at 11, Pall-mall. The envelope of the letter
was directed, " Prince of Wales Club House, Leicester-
square."
Cros,-axamined by Mr. Baadon-1 did not mention pe-
cuniary matters to Captain Thorn.
Cross-examined by Mr. Warrand—Captain Thorn might
have
nothing more t
satliathowoo do it
uhl give the
it.
theletter back to Evans, and
have
Samuel Trigg, wino merchant, 47, Mark-lane—About
three weeks after the publication of Sir J. Carmichael's
letter in the Times, Evans asked me if I had seen the cor-
respondence relative
,to the submarine telegraph in the
Times, and said he was going to answer the letter, and to
see Mr. Sampson of the Times on the subject. On the 18th
t o Mr.
Sampson of the Times, to see if any alteration could be letter Evans
August I saw Evans agaiu by accident near the Blackwell
Railway. I said I have not seen your letter in the Times.
Evans said he had got the letter in his pocket, and would
show it to me. I read the letter, and to the beat of my be•
lief the letter just real is a copy of it. Evans knew I
told me
wag
o
acquainted
h o w withas
going
itnhge
to Telegraph
show
the Company.
suggested.
Charles Jotscham, clerk in the employ of the company—
I have examined the letter. The body is not in the hand-
writing of the defendant Evans, but the signature I believe
to be his.
Mermaduke Sampson, of the Times, examined—l have
the management and conduct of the City news. On Satur-
day, the nth of August, about two oclock in the after-
noon, the defendant Evans brought me the letter just pro-
duce t, Captain Thorn was with him.
Cross-examined—l bad seen Evans on the Wednesday
previous, and bad told him to put his communication in
the form of a letter, and to send it to me. It waa,in con-
sequence of this suggestion that he came to me with the
letter in the following Saturday-
Mr. Robinson, for the defendant Evans, contended that
there was nothing to answer, as no case had been made out.
Mr. Warrand, for Captain Thorn, argued that no one
e eept he was insane would give a copy of a letter in th