The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-10-22

| we woutd suggest tnat all tne small propeller
available be Immediately converted into iro
clad gsnboats and put into active service; an,
at tue opening of the session, we trust Congre.
viii order feet Of such bc..s 20 be GO,
S'ra0'ea, o. @oasratgs size, and upsh the mo-
approved plan.
Topographic Communication with IN
Rest of the World.
The progress of telegraphs, both in Amerc.
ana Russia tending to bring the shores of the
Pacific Ocean in telegraphic contact the one
with the whole American system, the other
with the whole European system, begins to ia
miliarize our minds with the idea of the ult
mate union of Europe and America by the over
land route. 1t will be recollectcd by those
giving attention to telegraphic progress that we
have constantly directed public attention to tie
overland Russo-Asiatic- American route, over
which world-encircling telegraph could be
constructed. We have published from time to
time researches, explorations and results of
Russo-Asia.ic conquest in Northern and North
eastern Asia, and have brought to the know
ledge of the commercial world new field for
extensive and profitable extension Of our com.
mcrce. We now publish an Official report ma lie
on the sane subject to the Russian government
by Colone! Romanoff. chief Of the telegrapLic
department in Eastern Siberia
While we are writing, most probably. the
electric wires are conveying the Russian Pekin
dispatches from Cmsk, in Western Siberia
about twenty-five hundred miles ca Il Of st. Pc
tersburg, to the White Tar, on the banks of the
Neva, thus bringing Pekin within twenty-three
days OF st. Petersburg, and consequently telc
graphically with the whole Of Europe. The re-
cent news Of the death Of the Emperor Of China
which was received from Russia. no doubt came
by that route. On our side the Sibley and
Wade Overland Pacific Telegraph has been
opened within few days. to Great Salt
Lake City, and will be opened to San Francisco
within some forty days, thus bringing China,
even with sailing ships, within forty days Of
New York. Extremes meet, it is said and we
have, in the eastward march Of Russia and the
westward march Of the United States to empire
on the shores Of the Pacific. an apt illustration
Colonel Romanof is at present in this coun-
try as the special agent OF the Russian govern
ment, deputed to look at the American system
Of telegraphs, and will carry back with him to
the distant and often wild shores of tie Amoor
and the bleak stcppes of Siberia the know edge
exactly adapted to the work in hand-the con
strucsion of the overland Russian line TO the
mouth Of the Amoor and other points on the
kussan-Asiatic Pacific coast. The order Of the
Russian government is, that the Pacific at the
AMOR, rs well as at three other points, down
to the east and most southern outpost of Russia
on the Asiatic side of the Pacific, must be in
telcgraphic union with St. Petersburg in the
year 1864; and it vii. be done. The next con-
sideration is the hooking or linking together or
the union of these two great eastward and west
ward telegraphs, destined, we verify believe
to finally solve the problem Of a world
encircing telegraph; and the question is how
are we to connect these two great converging
lines?
Mr.. Collins, our commercial agent for the
Amoor, has already proposed plan to the Rus
sian government, and also to Congress and the
Canadian Parliament; and the Russian gov
eminent has authorized him to make the
survey over Russian territory, both in Asia and
America, for the purpose OF determining the
most practicable route. The Canadian Paria-
ment, on its side, has granted a charter in view
of the ultimate union of Europe with America
by TINS overland route, SO far as any portion
OF Canadian territory extends; and in case a
line should be constructed from Sitka through
the Saskatchewan and Red river countries. a
union with the Canadian Tires might be made
via Lake Superior, or the United States might
be reached at St. Paul. The Committee on
Commerce at the last session of Congress re-
ported in favor of Mr.. Collins proposition, and
recommended a survey to be made on his plan;
but the bill, which authorized the employment
Of two national vessels and an appropriation of
fifty thousand dollars, could not in consequence
Of our national troubles and the withdrawal or
the Southern rebel members, be put upon its
passage.
This, in short, is the history of this overland
telegraph up to this time
Thus Russia and America stand gazing at each
other across the Pacific Ocean, awaiting the
magic wand of genius and enterprise to unite
hem in Geographic union.
The plan Of uniting Europe with America in
! telegraphic bond by way Of Behring's Straits
s shown to be quite feasible. Mr.. Sbley esti
mates the cost per mile to be within three hun
lred dollars. Estimating the distance between
San Francisco and the mouth Of the Amoor to
oe, in round numbers, five thousand miles, the
COST exclusive OF cable, would be, on that basis,
)ne million and half of dollars. The cable or
cables across the Straits may cost fifty or one
hundred thousand dollars; and thus we have
ne union Of the whole world geographically.
We may thus see the two greatest nations Of the
,arth accomplishing the greatest work Of the
lge, and binding the three-quarters of the globe
n network Of telegraph.
HoT SHOT FOR THE TRIBUNE AND TINES
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