Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-10-27
From the Baltimore Sun,


 CONDITION OF THE CABLE.-A DIscoURAGING REPORT FROM MIR. VARLEY.-At last we have something official and inteliigible in regard to the condition of the Atlantic cable. Mir. Var ley, the electrician of the electric and inter- national telegraph company"-so he is styled by the company-has made report on the state of the cable as observed by him on the 9th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th of Sept, and the result Is by no means encouraging. He finds "a fault of great magnitude at distance of be- tween 2f5 and 300 statute miles from Valentia," and possibly in water of but 40 fathoms in depth. He finds the cable unbroken but thinks the power used will shortly eat away the es- posed copper wire in the faulty place by cleo trolytc decomposition. He is satisfied also that there is another fault'' more distant than this the approximate locality of which he could not estimate without communication with New. foundland. From authentic data shown him at Valentia he is also of opinion that there was fault Tn the cable on board of the Agamemnon before it was submerged offering resistance equal to 1000 or 1,20O miles of cable, situated at distance of about 56O miles from one end of the 200 mile coil, and supposed to be the fault which caused so much alarm when the ships were 500 miles from Ireland. He is sa- tlshed that the cable has been seriously, if not fatally, impaired by the use of too powerful currents from the large induction coils, especially from this side, and that the present conducting strand is too small to have answered its pur- pose, even had the insultation been found. We here quote what he says:
 To satisfy myself on this point, 1 attached to the cable piece of 9utta perch-covered wire having first made slight incison iu the gutta percha to let the water reach the wire; the wire ,tbn oal, defective wire was then placed in a jug of sea water, and the latter connected with the "earth" /" After few signals had been sent from the n- duction coils into the cable, and consequently into the test wire, the electricity burnt through the ncison, rapidly burning a hole nearly one tenth of an inch in diameter. When the full force of the coils was brou sht to bear on the test wire by removing them from the cable, and allowing the electricity only one channel, viz: that Of the test wire, the discharges, as mi ght be expected, burnt hole in the gutta percha | under the water half an inch in length, and the l burnt gutta percha came floating up to the sur face"
 Mir. Varey closes his discouraging catalogue with what, .hough intended to convey some | consolation to the directors, IS perhaps the most dlscouragng part of his report. He says: It Is not, however, altogether impossible that some lnteliglble signals may yet be received through the cable, as stated ln my previous communiea- ton." He does not say that such a result is even probable, much less that the present cable can ever be turned to any practical use, but i'm plies contrary opinion. The publication of such report by the company is a practical ad- mission that they cannot escape its conclusions, and that they have no better face to put upon | the matter.
 The New York Post, commenting on Mir. Varey's report, remarks:
 | Many important lessons have been learned from this cable, and many are yet to be learned. | perhaps, before 1t ceases-as in the natural course of things 1t soon will cease-to bind the two continents in electrical union; but it is now very clear that. like ;he vegetation of past season, this cable is of no farther use, except as means of preparing for another and better. We may expect at any moment to learn that the continuity of the cable is interrupted From that moment it ceases to be of any value for any purpose. But the practcability of all cleo | rlcal union of the two continents has been es- tabshed and it is idle to suppose that such a discovery will remain long unimproyed