Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-11-09
The Atlantic Telegraph
for Next Year.


By the last mail from Europe we learn that
active preparations are being made with the
view of laying the Atlantic submarine cable
next summer the month of June having been
selected as the most favorable for the work
The company have ord, red the manuf ctnre
of four hundred additional miles, which will
be ready for shipment, if necessary. in January
with the understanding that if they should
not succeed in their attempt 10 recover the
three hundred and forty miles now su6rner
they are 10 have as much additional cable
made within twenty eight DAYS as NAV be
considered necessary to supply the deficiency
The length of the cable at present in course
OF storage in the Keyham dockyard, near Ply
mouth, where it is being discharged from the
Niagara and AgamemnOn, is something over
twenty-five hundred miles, so that with what
has been ordered, and the portion already
laid. the company will have nearly three
thousand miles with which to make the next
attempt-an attempt which, by the aid of the
valuable experience they have gained, will
undoubtedly be successful. Some fears are en-
tertained of the company having the means to
carry ont the great enterprise in which they
are engaged, but few facts will show how
Rroundless they are. In addition to the TWEEN
ty-two hundred miles of cable which they
have-and all of which has been paid for
they have over three hundred and seventy
ed; aud after they shall have paid for what
has been ordered, they will have a surplus of
one hundred and seventy thousand dollars in
hard cash something of a surplus, it must be
admitted, in these hard times.
The British Government has signifed its in
tentiOn to detach two of their vessels from
their service next year to assist in the great
work, and will appoint the AgamemnOn and
Leopard for that purpose. These are the ships
which were engaged in the last expedition, the
reason of their reaPpOnInent being the expe-
rience which their commanders, officers and
men have already had in the management and
laying of the cable. For the same reasons our
own government will Of course detach the Nj
agara and her former escort, the Susquehanna,
both best adapted for the work. There is also
another reason, perhaps more cogent than any
other the Company have spent a large sum
Of money in preparing the Niagara for the
coiling and paying Out Cf the cable; and tie
withdrawal Of her from this service would not
only be attended with great peCuniary loss
but would seriously lessen the chances If sue
cess. The result f tie last expedition has
proved that she was better fitted for the work
than any vessel that could lie employ
ply on account of her rmarkable seadness in
a heavy sea and the great ease with which she
can be managed. On these grounds, rs well US
on the ground that our government has Joint
interes, with the British in the undertaking,
they will be not only justified but bound by
their obligations to send both those ships next
year.
In connection with this enterprise there is
one important consideration which forces itself
UPON our attention at this particular time.
Had the attempt which was made last August
to lay the Atlantic telegraph cable been sue
cesstul, the great mercantile and commercial
community the other side of the ocean
might have been enabled to have averted many
of the disastrous consequences which, in the
early stages of the present crisis, must have
attended their misapI rehension of its extent
throughout this country. AS it is, they have
been obliged to work almost entirely in the
dark, with no knowledge of the actual state of
things here, or IF the terrible depression under
which business of all kinds is now laboriug
All this misapprehension, aud much of the
evil effects which have followed, would have
been avoided had the Atlantic telegraph been
successfully laid. The pecuniary benefit alone
which it would have been 10 the English com
mercial W, rid would have paid for the laying
Of dozen Atlantic c., bles, and have left a large
surplus over. Its value, in fact, can hardly be
estimated in dollars.-N T. Herald.