Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-08-29

SUBMARINE TELEGRAPHs.---The project of con-
meeting, Geographically, England and America,
is, at the present moment, seriously engaging
the attention of scientific and commercial men.
The more daring engineers are sanguine of
the practicability of laying submarine cable
directly across the Atlantic, from Galway to
Cape Race in Newfoundland. Now that we
have Lieutenant Maury's authentic determine
ton of the existence of a shelf across the North
Atlantic, the soundings on which are nowhere
more than 1900 fathoms, the feasibility of the
project is tolerably certain. The principal
question is, whether if line were laid. an
electric current can be passed through 5000
miles OF cable. No doubt, by the expenditure
OF enormous battery power, this might be ac-
comphshed through wires suspended in the air,
but 1t is a question whether it can be done
along vast length of gutta percha coated wire,
passing through salt water. There is such q
thing as too great an Insulation. Professor
Faraday has shown that, in such circumstances,
the wire becomes Leyden jar, and may be so
charged with electricity that a current cannot.
without the greatest difficulty, move through it.
These are the objections to direct cable be.
tween the two continents; if, however, they
can be overcome, doubtless the ocean path
would in all possible cases be adopted where
communications had to be made between civil
lied countries having intermediate barbarous
or ungenial lands. 10 escape this at present
dubious ocean path, it is proposed to carry the
cable from the northern-most point Of the
Highlands of Scotland, to Iceland, by way OF
the Orkney, Shetland, and Ferroe islands-to
lay it from Iceland across to the nearest point
in Greenland, thence down the coast to Cape
FAREWELL where the cable would again take to
the water, span Davis's straits, and make right
oNu / ahrad ~. l.
Quebec. Here it would lock in with the North
American mesh-work ofwires, which hold them
selves out like an open hand for the European
grasp.
This plan seems quite feasible, for in no
part of the journey would the cable require to
be more than 900 miles long; and as it seems
pretty certain that sand bank extends, with
good soundings all the way to Cape Farewell,
there would be little difficulty in mooring tn,
cable to level and soft bottom. The only oh
stace that we see is, the strong partiaity Of tn,
Eslnimaux for old iron, and it would, perhaps,
be tempting them too much to hang thei
coasts with this material, just ready to their
hands. The want Of settlements along this
inhosptable arctic coast to protect the wire, is
we must confess, great drawback to the
scheme; but we fancy posts might be organ
izod at comparatively small cost, considering
the magnitude and Importance of the under
taking. The mere expense of making and
laying the cable, would not be much more thar
double that Of building the new Westminster
bridge across the Thames.
Whilst England would thus grasp the Yves,
with one hand, her active children have plotted
the seizure of the East with the other 1t is
determined to pass cable from Genoa to
Corsica, and from thence to Sardinia From
the southernmost point of the latter island,
Cape Spartivento, to the Gulfof Tunis, another
cable can easily be carried. The direction
thence latter giving off a coast branch TO
Algeria) will be along the African shore, BY
Irpoli to Alexandria, and eventually across
Arabia, along the coasts of Persia and Beloo.
chistan, until it enters Scinde, and finally Joins
the wire at Hydrabad, which in all probability
by that time will have advanced from Burmah
across the Indian peninsula, to welcome it.
America will shortly carry her line of tele-
graph to the Pacific shore, and run it up the
coast as far as San Francisco. Can there be
any reasonable doubt that, before the end OF
the century, the one line advancing towards
the east-through revolutionized China and
Siberia-will gradually approach each other
so closely, that short cable stretched across
Behring Straits viii bring the four quarters of
the globe within speaking distance of each
other, and enable the electric fire to "put
girdle round the world in forty minutes 2"