The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-05-23

ture OF large amount, TO discontinue the work from
wany OF means, applied to the parties now compos-
ing the New York. Newfoundland and London Tele-
grapn company and induced them to purchase the
rights acquired under said charter to pay about
then existing, and to undertake the completion Of
the enterprise.
necessarily since 1854 and in the face of the
greatest ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS, SAID Newfoundland Com
pany has energetically pushed forward the under
taking.
Their lines through the province Of Newfoundland
and the Island OF Cape Breton were constructed
exceeding as your remonstrants are prepared to
show, by more than tenfold the cost OF lines Of like
extent in the United States.
In 1856 their efforts to lay q cable across the
| Gulf OF st. Lawrence was unsuccessful. &C.
cond cable was procured and laid in the following
| year.
They have already expended more than $500 900.
and have realized no return from their investment:
but on the contrary, the line is now worked at .
loss.
In 1855 the Atlantic Company was formed in
England, through the earnest efforts Of one Of tho
directors Of the Newfoundland Company, who mani
tested his confidence in the enterprise by mourning
individual responsibility for more than $780, 900 q
its stock.
RIGA, but not share taken by the memoralists,
who now demand that the government shall secure
to them advantages likely to result from the risks
incurred alone by some among your remon:traDts
and others with whom they are charged to be i'm
properly confederatng.
Your remonstrants beg leave to say that the direo
or above referred to has, in addition to the sacrifice
stu holds no less than $50 900 Of the stock Of the
Atlantic Company, making his individual outlay, in
Guiding his investment in the Newfoundland Com
pany to exceed 100000, no part OF which is ssyss
After the sacrifices he has made and the
risks he has taken to secure the success
OF this most important undertaking Of ths
is most unjust that he should be assailsd.
he is in said memorial and that un worthy insinna
| tions OF mercenary motives should be thrown out
in regard to him, when he 80 richly merits distin-
| His individual investment in the hazardous exps-
riment of establishing telegraphic communication 30
| tween the continent of America and Ireland. Ia
greater than the actual cost Of the whole of the lines
| owned by the memoralists.
| Your remonstrants respectfully submit that the
the representations of the memOriasts, that inor
dinate gains are to be reaped by individuals from
the Atlantic line, based wholly estimates Of
probable profits, and form no good reason for egis
lation likely to embarrass the enterprise, at time
when the result is uncertain, especially as the 60
vernments have reserved the right to regulate the
| tariff Of rates.
Your remonstrants are aware of the great benefits
conferred upon the enterprise of the Atlantic tele-
graph by the governments Of Great Britain and the
4
their navies TO assist in the great work but neither
| government has been called upon to contribute any.
thing further towards the cost of the work. and the
annual sum which they have agreed t. pay for tho
| transmission of their dispatches does not begin to
accrue until the line ia in successful operation And
so soon as the enterprise yields return of six per
cent to the company, the amount which each go
vernment is bound to pay is limited to fifty thousand
| dollars per annum.
The Atlantic Company has, as yet, received no
appropriation of money In aid Of its undertaking,
! from any source.
Shares Of the Atlantic Company which cost the
subscribers 600 each have been freely offered as
low as f500, and many of the original shares are
now upon the market at price far below their cost
1t Is not known to your rem0nstrants that any un-
derwriter of responsibility in the world will insure
| upon the next attempt to lay the cable.
Your remonstmnts beg leave further to state, that
while individuals among their number have made
great exertions to the successful completion
Of the Atlantic line there have been parties,
ragged, as your remonstrants believe, by the memo
rialsts, who have sought first from the Legislature
| of the State of New York and subsequently from
the Provincial Parliament OF Canada, charter for
| n rival Atlantic line.
Your remonstrants do not deny that, under these
circumstances, and the mpossibility Of obtaining
| the necessary capital without some such arrange
| ment the Newfoundland and Atlantic Companies
| did obtain from Eastern States and Provinces
surances which were cheerfuy granted, that they
should enjoy alone, for specified period, the right
Of connecting an ocean line to the coast in order
that their investment might be saved from utter de-
stuction, If hsply a successful issue should crown
| the Atlantic enterprise.
| To this extent only the companies named open
TO the charge of monopoly prominently set forth
| in said memorial.
Your remonsfrants respectfully submit that IL il
not unreasonable that work OF such vast cost as
the Atlantic telegraph, being wholly Of an expert
mental character, should receive at least as much
encoura cement as an invention for which patents
ale granted. The memoriaists in the enjoy
ment Of a patent which has been made to cover
| period Of twenty Que years.
The lines of the memoralists extend eastwardly,
only 20 Boston, and were erected many years ago,
with no reference whatever 10 connection with
Europe.
| Having hazarded nothing in the experiment Of
the Atlantic line, ~ In the costly constructions Of
| the Newfoundland Company, but, on the contrary,
having opposed the former to the limit of their
power, the memoralists pJw demand, Tor their pro-
lection that they shall be permitted to share In the
| prospective benefits OF these undertakings.
Confidently believing that Congress will regard
the general considerations first presented 10 which
others equally forcibe might be added, n In them
selves amply sufficient to require the denial Of the
prayer Of the memorial, your remonstrants respect
| fully submit that the peculiar circumstances Of the
case AFFORD important additional reasons In opposi
| ton 10 the desired enactment.
PETER CooPER,
Wilson q. HUNr,
Committee Of the American Telegraph Co.
ArRm 20, 1855.