THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.

Some steps have been taken to ascertain the causes that have led to the failure of the Atlantic telegraph. The cable has been sub- jected to a series of testa by Mr. Varley, the electrician of the Elec- tric and International Telegraph Company, and he has arrived at the conclusion that "there is a fault of great magnitude at a distance of between 245 and 300 miles from Vakntia." Assuming that it is 270 miles distant, it is possible that the defect is in shallow water-410 fathoms. He has ascertained that the cable has not parted, but he ex- presses some apprehension that the strong electric current sent from Newfoundland may eat away the copper wire. "It is not at all improbable that the powerful currents from the large in- duction coils have impaired the insulation, and that had more moderate power been used the cable would still be capable of transmitting messages.

"To satisfy myself on this point I attached to the cable a piece of gutta percha covered wire, having first made a slight incision in the gutta percha to let the water reach the wire; the wire was then bent so as to close up the defect. The defective wire was then placed in a jug o sea-water and the latter connected with the earth. "After a few signals had been sent from the induction coils into the cable, and consequently into the test wire, the electricity burnt through the inci- sion rapidly, burning a hole nearly one-tenth of an inch in diameter. "When the full force of the coils was brought 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 might be expected, burnt a hole in the gutta percha under the water half an inch in length, and the burnt gutta percha came floating up to the surface."

He also thinks it probable that there is another fault in the cable— more distant, and he arrives at this conclusion from data which leads him to believe that there was a fault on board the Agamemnon before the cable was submerged, perhaps 500 miles from Ireland. He thinks, how- ever, that it is not impossible but that intelligible signals may yet be re- ceived. The dismissal of Mr. Whitehouse, who calls himself "Electrician projector" of the Company has led to a warm dispute. Mr. Whitehouse has published accusations of incompetency and apathy against the directors. He finds great fault with the form, weight, and construction of the cable, and the apparatus whereby it was submerged. He admits that he drew incautious and over-sanguine inferences from his experi- ments made before the company was formed. Yet he says- " Having a success which has startled the whole world laid at their feet, they know not how to use it, but by apathy and incompetence suffer it to elude their grasp, and the grand enterprise of the day to fall into collapse." The Directors, on the other hand, accuse Mr. Whitehouse, of keeping them in ignorance of the state of the cable, while he secretly sent for Mr. Canning to underlain the shore end of the cable without their con- sent. They point out that he was ignorant of the fact that the fault was at a distance from the shore, and that his instruments for receiving messages were defective, in fact useless. They accuse him of disrespect to the board, and dealing out to them personally sweeping abuse. Under these circumstances they dismissed him from his post. Mt. Cyrus W. Field has published a letter in New York on the failure of the Atlantic cable—the extent of which he did not then know.

"What may be the cause of the cessation we don't know, but conjecture that it is the change of the shore end at Valentia, which I was informed was about to be made ; but it should also be stated that Professor Thompson was to succeed Professor Whitehouse in a series of experiments upon the cable ; and, although his system was regarded by all practical telegraphers in Eng- land as perfectly childish, it is quite possible that the present delay in transmitting intelligence is attributable to Thompson's experiments. It was also known at the sailing of the Africa that the directors, despairing of satisfactory results from the systems of Professors Whitehouse and Thomp- son, had arranged with Professor Hughes to take charge of the electiical department of the company's business, and it was expected that the Hughes's printing telegraph instrument would be placed at Trinity Bay and Valentm on or about the 20th or 21st instant, and from the experi- ments made while the cable was at Plymouth there is no reasonable doubt that Professor Hughes will be able to transmit intelligence through the ca- ble reliably, and at the rate of about 300 words per hour."

Prince Alfred is daily expected to return to England from Germany. The young prince will join the Royal Family at Balmoral immediately after his arrival.

Lord and Lady Palmerston after a short stay in London, left Cambridge House on Monday, for Broadlands, Hants.

Sir Edward Lugard, iwho rendered good service in the Persian war' and during the recent military operations in India, arrived at Teignmouthfrom the East on the 17th. He is said to have been in excellent health and spirits.

Sir John Rateliff, Mayor of Birmingham, has invited Mr. Smith, Mayor of Melbourne, who is now in this country, to dine with him and the other members of the Town Council. The invitation has been accepted, but the day is not yet fixed.

Intelligence has been received in Cape Town from Mr. Charles Andersson, (the author of "Lake 'Ngami,") who has undertaken to explore the °vam- p° country in the direction of the river Cunene. It appears, that after ant- cessfully prosecuting several hundred miles of his journey, he was compelled to return, owing to the scarcity of water and the duplicity of his guides. Andersson, however, is a man of indomitable energy, and is still sanguine of ultimate success. According to the last advices, he was preparing for a third attempt to force his passage inland, by a different route from any tried by him before.—Cape Argus, August 12.

The Prince and Princess Woronzow and the Prince Eleven have arrived at Claridge's Hotel, from Shanklin, Isle of Wight, at which charming lo- cality quite a colony of distinguished Russian families have been sojourning during the summer.

Russia records her conquests in the titles of her nobles. General Mouravieff, for his share in extending the empire along the Amoor to the Pacific, has been made a Count of the Empire, with the title of Amoorski.

The Emperor of Russia has just conferred upon Prince Gortschakoff, Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Grand Cordon of the Order of St. Andrew, as a testimony of his high satisfaction in the favourable conclusion of the treaty with China.

Baron Humboldt has just cebrated at Berlin the eightieth anniversary of his birthday, in the enjoyment of full health both of body and intellect. He has just finished his celebrated work, the "Cosmos." Congratulations have poured on him from all classes of society. Among the persons who visited him were the Princess Frederick William, and her brother Prince Alfred, who came from Potsdam for that purpose.

Sir George Rich died at his residence in Lowndes Street on Saturday last. He was a Knight Bachelor, created in Ireland in 1822, and was second son of Sir Charles Rich, the first baronet. He was appointed Aide-de-Camp and Controller to the Household in Ireland, in 1813, and was Chamberlain of the Viceregal Court to the Marquis of Wellesley, on his appointment to which office he received the honour of knighthood. Sir George was seventy- three years of age.

Colonel Vaughan Brooke, a gallant soldier, who served in the Punjaub campaigns of 1848-9 with the 32d Regiment, the illustrious of Lucknow, died on thell5th at Holyhead, somewhat suddenly.

The mortal remains of the late Mr. Weir were on Tuesday interred in the family vault, at the Kensal Green Cemetery. The funeral was conducted in a strictly private manner, but the last rites were attended by a large num- ber of friends of the deceased, who had assembled at the cemetery to pay the last tribute of respect to one so worthy of their esteem.

The Bishop of Norwich is suffering from indisposition caused by the nip- tore of a small blood-vessel. Quiet is prescribed for him.

With respect to the Chinese opening on the 7th September, his holiness Philaretes, Metropolitan of Moscow, :tending on his high altar in the Ca- thedral of the Assomption, addressed the Czar Alexander in the most solemn allocution, and charged him to carry the orthodox Christian faith, by all the means and appliances of his gigantic empire, "into the heart of China, among the Pagans of that extensive region, who now lie in the shadow of darkness." That such efforts will be made in that direction preparatory to an absorption of China into the great Russian mielstroom is quite con- ceivable, and it is characteristic of one-sided or unilateral minds to have magined a canard to the effect that the first copy of the treaty concluded on the great river by the combined belligerents was forwarded to the Roman Court, as if it was at all probable that the four Powers whose naval and military 'strength were simultaneously put forth to force the barriers of the flowery hull, were unanimous in looking to that quarter for the diffusion of Christianity among the mandating, the followers of Confucius or the be- Revere in the Grand Lhama of Thibet, whose number in countless millions. The British, the Americans, the Russians, have their own views on the point, and France undoubtedly has hers. The three first, as well as the remaining fourth, are all zealous and efficient in their respective modes of Operation, and there is a wide field for all.—Globe Paris Correspondent.

I have much pleasure in informing you that Mr. Panizzi, who for some days past has been staying here, at the Hotel de l'Arno, has been enabled to make arrangements by which the manuscript department of the British Museum will be enriched with a series of documents of the greatest impor- tance for the knowledge of English history during the reign of Charles II. and James II. Through the liberality and courtesy of the Chevalier Bon- aini, the very learned superintendent of the Tuscan archives, he has ob- tained permission to have a complete series of copies of the public and pri- vate despatches of Francesco Terriesi, Tuscan envoy at the English Court, and the intimate personal friend of the last of the Stuarts. It was (as all the readers of Lord Macaulay's history must remember,) to Terriesi that James confided his family papers at the moment of his flight, and every page of these very important, but hitherto unnoticed, documents reveals the close intimacy and warm sympathy between the Tuscan diplomatist and the Enr lish monarch, which such a tact of itself implies.—.Post Tuscan Co '- dent. rreepon.

The Wiener Zeitung learns from Ragusa that within the last few days Prince Daniel has received several thousand ducats from the Russian Consul at Trieste, and 60,000f. in gold Napoleons from a French captain.

It is stated at Vienna, that diplomatic influence has been used on the part of Austria, to induce the Emperor of Russia to invite one of the Imperial brothers on the occasion of the review which is about to take place at Warsaw. The Czar is reported not favourable to the suggestion, as there is a strong party at St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Warsaw decidedly opposed to any approaches towards Austria.

The cottage in which George Stephenson was born, has just been destroy. ed. On its site will rise a "Stephenson Memorial School" for girls, boys and infants. This a noble way of celebrating a self-educated man.

A portion of Lord Derby's race-horses was sold at Tattersall's on Satur- day ; several, Toxophilite among them being bought in. "The condition in which the animals were sent to the hammer was the theme of universal admiration." Lord Derby keeps his foals and brood mares against a rainy day.

A lady feuillefonists, in the Prase of Paris, is pourtmying "England and the English." Among other absurd descriptions of our appearance and habits take these. She tells us the crowds who attend our reviews in Hyde Park eat ham, " Manchester " cheese, strawberries, and gooseberries, and drink black beer, all which they produce from their pockets; that "two thousand beautiful maidens" may be seen at one time riding in "the Row " ; that the women and men of the working classes dress in the cast-off clothes of the aristocracy ; the men always wearing i over-coats, the women encasing the feet in shoes that once belonged to men !

- The proprietors of the Great Eastern have made a new proposal to the public. It contemplates the formation of a new company to be called the "Great Steamship Company, Limited," with a capital of 330,0001., in shares of I/. each; 2s. to be paid at once ; 3s. on the completion of the contract for the purchase of the ship, and the remainder in three calls of is. each at intervals of two months. She is to trade with America.

It is asserted that the French Mediterranean Steam-packet Company are on the point of organizing a line of steamers from Suez to the island of la Reunion ; these vessels will call at Jeddah, Aden, Yanbo Massora, Mayotte, and Madagascar.

The health of London according to the returns of the Registrar-General continues favourable. Last week the number of deaths, 1046, was 386 be- low the calculated average.

The Court of Assizes of the Haut-Rhin, sitting at Colmar, has just tried by default the Abbe Blanck, Superior of the Convent of St. Marc, near Gue- berschwihr, for having, between the years 1853 and 1856, in several cases treated in a most disgraceful manner young girls under fifteen years of ogle, of whom he was the confessor and spiritual director. The Abbe, who is in flight, was condemned to hard labour for life.— Galignani.

A recruit, newly enlisted, has cut off one of his thumbs to render him in- capable of service, at Glasgow. He will be tried by court-martial.

Two Russians, a Countess and a Major, have been caught at Ostend in an attempt to smuggle a large quantity of goods under the crinoline of the Countess.

A commissary of police at Ostend recently arrested a crowd of fashion- able bathers, including a Russian prince, because they were found bathing in a place removed from public resort. What an odd reason. Ostend has taken the matter up warmly, the Minister of Justice has been appealed to, and it is loudly declared that "something must be done." Two whalers have been lost in the ice, one in Davis's Straits, the other near Melvill Bay. All hands were saved.

An old man, who has reached the patriarchal age of 104 years, crossed the ferry at Middlesborough, a few days ago, on his way from Bos- ton, in Lincolnshire, to Wolviston' the place of his nativity. He was quite unattended, and able to walk with perfect ease. He stated that he remem- bered Stockton when it was comparatively a small fishing village and had only one public-house. His name is Jonathan Close, and he states that his grandfather lived to the age of 115, and his father and mother to ninety- three. He had reached the age of threescore and ten when he left his native place, upwards of thirty years ago, and he has not been home since. —Sunderland Herald. On Saturday the Monkwearmouth bellman was heard crying out the fol- lowing announcement :—" This is to give notice to the public,. that a man 5 feet 9 inches high, with black curly hair has been missing since Tuesdasa last. Was last seen on Roker Terrace, with two women. Whoever will give any information as to whereabouts he is shall receive half-a-gallon of ale reward ! "

An absurd story has recently been circulated by the continental paean. An English traveller who had passed with a guide safely through the Breehe de Roland, in the Pyrenees, suddenly conceived the idea of clam- bering an adjoining peak, simply because he was told that every one who had yet attempted it had paid the forfeit of his life, The more the guide endeavoured to persuade him the more firmly he resolved to accomplish the task or perish. He had already achieved a third of the ascent of this almost perpendicular crag, overhanging a rocky gorge 2000 feet below, when,. to his surprise, he heard the sound of hard breathing just behind. Looking over his shoulder, he beheld a stranger clinging by his hands and feet, and yet toiling steadily and manfully up the same fearful path. " Ah! " exclaimed he, " you come to share with me the glory of this undertaking ? " "Net a notion of the sort." "You want, then, doubtless, to enjoy the sublimity,

of the prospect from the top ? " Nothing further from my intengott..

"Are you aware that every step is at the hazard of your life?" un

doubtedly." " Then, let me ask, what on earth can bring a sane man on

such an errand ? I have an object." The Englishman smiled ; both set to work again, resolutely digging their nails into the granite clefts. .Aet last finding themselves on a plateau a few feet square, covered with ice, tatY halted for a few moments, when the stranger, raising his hat, respectteu7 observed, "You can hardly deny, sir, that you are at every step encounterillge an great risk, nor can you I think under the circumstances fail to admit the sal, u of my wares." . . . . "You have at least chosen," said the Englishman, extraordinary spot for disposing of them, with the clouds a thousand feet neath us, and the thermometer much below freezing." " Oh ! nota.werd about that. I've got all we want at hand—pen, ink, and paper, and can use my shoulder for a desk. I am agent to the Company for surance against Accidental Death. Before you go higher let me en .tret

you to think of your family and to fill up this form." The Eaglialonn'

•••

Mailed at the oddity of the proceeding, signed the form, gave a check for the premium, and 141/11 never heard .of afterwards. The agent cautiously descended, satisfied with his commission at having zealously discharged his duty to his employers.—"B." "