The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-08-31

| iHE ATLANTIC CABIE--IHE ACCIDENT, TIE
| CAUSE AND TIE REN.DY.--It Is u matter not ociy
of intense interest, but of vital Importance 70
The public, to know the reasons why the first at
ttrpt 20 lay the Atlantic cable has failed II
To communication Of COR special correspondents
| on board The Niagara, pubiiahed In our coluuioe
tc'day, viii be icunc a detailed account OF
the proceedings eA board that vessel from the
moment when the cable was safely SECURED to
the Irish coast. at Va.ei.ia TO her return to Ply
mouth after TIC disaster, already recounted, had
occurred.
Ihs is the fullest account Of the transactions
| which tsanspiTed auraDg that eyen.it1l ia.eryai
that has as yet appeeseo in any journal, eishec
| in the United States or in Great Britain One
fact has been established by this trial-a,tended
though is was with failure-and that Ia, thai no
| obstacle exlsts to the sue cessful laying Of a
TRANSATLANTIC cable equal to the realization of
every hope entertained in regard to it, except
difiDg deficiency in the machinery used in pay
ing out The line. which little time aud little
prudence, aided by the experience gathered from
The late unsucCs ssful trial, Cannot easily remove.
From the toDe Of Tie English press il is evil
den. thet no feaEs are entertained il England Of
the ultimate success of the project
1t will DC seen by the statement Of our cor
respondent that the accident is attributable
alone 10 the impeifection of the machine used
IL paying out the cable, especially to tho brakes,
winch I'll parties engaged in the work pronounce
not only worthless bu. mischieyoas AT the
moment when the cable parted pressure of
three thou, and pounds was suddealy put upon
IT by peraor temporarily substituted for the en-
! gineef who was compelled to retire nom exaaus
tion; enc tbis too, while the stern Of the vessel
| was down in the trough of the sea In one Of
those heavy swells the magnitude of which any
one who has crossed the Atlantic must be ac-
quainied with. Ia addition to the enormous
strain already on the cable, several miles Of
which must have been at that moment IN suspcp.
son. with q pressure upon IL which it was never
calculated TO sustain, the application Of the
brakes was necessarily runous II was sho VA
Or The Indicator, which worked with remarkable
accuracy that three hundred pounds was the or.
binary strain on the cable IN its descent; and
which was, in all previous trials, Increased at
iarthest, by the application Of the brakes, to If
/ teen hundred or Two thousand pounds II need
! not elicit any surprise, then, that the inautous
| application OF strain Of three thousand pounds
should cause the cable TO snap.
IL Is satisfactory to know that the experiment
has proved, beyond controversy, the fact that it
is quite possible to lay the cable between the two
| continents, and that with few improvements
/ in the machinery used TO pay OFT. the line,
! the mode adorted il precisely the one TO
carry Il out successfully. During the whole
period Of the Ningara's voyage in which
three bandrcd and thirty-Gye nautical miles of
cable we're laid down. tire electric current was
transmitted TO the Irish coast, thus establishing
tie perfection of the insulation, aud proving be-
soId question that neither the depth of tue
water nor Inc length OF the cable was an oh.
staclo TO the tTaosnisrion Of messages IT no
thing else was gained by the first trial, this fact
is all important 20 The future cbaoces OF success.
The chief engineer Of the Niagara was OF opia.
iun that the speed OF the steamship should have
been decreased when The strain on the cable be-
came apparent; but we think be was mistaken;
for ii is evident that according to their own
showing, there wat an immense length OF cable
then in suspension, upon which the pressure mus!
have been almost incalculable, and in that case
the advance Of the vessel, added TO judcious
use Of the brakes to prevent ,be cable running
cut toe fast would have helped TO deposit The
floating portion Of the cable on the bottom, and
thus relieved il from the strain which unhappily
il appears II was unable to sustain
Every fact drveloped bv the frs. attempt al
laying the cable only goes TO prove the practical
blity Infringing the enterprise to successful
conclusion; and whether the undertaking be re
pewed this year or next, We may calculate or
establishing telparapbc connection betwecr
the Old and the New World and that bcfor,
long.
One OF THE lssrEs oF THE MKT STATE EiEC
TON IN INV YoRK-Tne conduct Of Matteson
.