The Illustrated Usk Observer and Raglan Herald

EPITOME OF NEWS. The heirs of President Lincoln own 160 acres of land in Iowa, conferred upon him for services rendered in the Black Hawk War. The French papers remark on the striking beauty of the Marchioness of Downshire, as well as on that of her daughter, who were present at the last performance of the Africaine at Paris. Her ladyship is the eldest daughter of the late Viscount Combermere. A strange story is going the round of the clubs, for the truth of which, however, we are able to vouch (says a contemporary). An army medical officer, of very high standing, whose death was recently announced, was a female. The gallant lady entered the army as assistant- surgeon in 1813, and retired on half-pay shortly after the close of the Russian war. Out of the sum of J2160, which the concert given in London for the tenor Giuglini produced, we learn that this unfortunate singer will scarcely receive as much as a in consequence of the opposition of a creditor. Three octogenarians have died during the past week, Archdeacon Wilkins, of Nottingham, and Sir W. J. Hooker, Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, each being just eighty years old; and Sir F. W. Austen, Admiral to the Fleet, who was above eighty-one. It is stated that so great was the competition to obtain early information of the trial of Constance Kent, that the conductor of one newspaper proposed to get pos- session of a wire and keep it by telegraphing "Johnson's Dictionary until there was something else to telegraph. The Duke of Argyll is to have a gathering of the clans in September, to which the fireman of London are invited. Count Charles Civalart de Happancourt, General of Cavalry, the oldest officer of the Austrian army, has just died at Baden at the age of 100 years. The receipts of the Charing-cross Railway Hotel average B200 per day, so that we may understand it to be a perfect success. There is a family in Detroit of quite unusual composition, says an American paper. The father and mother have each been married three times, and have had children by each marriage, and all are now living happily together under one roof—six sets of children. On Monday, in consequence of the disease among cows, milk rose in thQ metropolis to 5d. per quart, being an increase of Id. To retailers the price is 2s. 6d. a gallon, instead of 2s., which price had been paid for a number of years. The Steam Shipping Company's screw steamer Mauritius, Captain Coxwell, sailed from South- ampton Saturday morning for the Cape of Good Hope, via Madeira. She took out a general cargo, twenty passengers, and jewellery value jBSOO. An independent gentleman in Walesby, knowing there are so many bachelors, offers to give to the first that marries a gallon of giil and a ham. From a public document just issued it appears that there are 505 industrial and provident societies. Re- turns had been received from 305. The profits realise a last year amounted to £ 225,569. Their assets and property were estimated at £ 891,775. Many were co-operative societies. According to annual custom, the king of the pumpkins was selected at the Paris vegetable market on Saturday from a large number brought to the market. His majesty, which weighs nearly 24 stone, was grown at Aubervilliers-les-Vertus (Seine). It was bold to a fruiterer in the Rue Lafayette for 130 fr. We ("Athenaeum") are sorry to hear that the Dublin International Exhibition does not "pay," and that it is feared the guarantors will be called upon to make up deficiencies. It is reported in shipping circles that two valu- able vessels employed in the China trade have been totally wrecked, with insurances to the amount of £400,000 com- pleted on them. The Earl of Leicester, Lord Lieutenant of Nor- folk, has appointed Mr. G. S. Read, M.P., a magistrate of bhe county. Mr. Read, it will be remembered, defeated his lordship's brother at the late general election. The annual competitive trial of rifles, under the luspices of the National Association, is to take place at Woolwich, commencing at eleven o'clock a.m., on the 23rd )f November next. A grand niece of Captain Cook, the great circum- navigator, died in Sunderland last week, where some of her relations still reside. The deceased was in her seventy-fifth year. The wife of the first Chamberlain of the Empress Charlotte, Countess del Valle (says a Mexicanjournal of the Uth ult.) four days back gave birth to three male children. rhis triple delivery iia.a not a. foituixatc Issue. Tlie yuung mother succumbed, with two of the children, on the after- noon of the second day, and there is but little hope of saving the third. There is an on dit current in Glasgow (says the Court Journal) that when the noble owner of Glamis Castle lirst heard of the offer of a Dundee millowner to take a lease of it for £ 1,000 per annum, he exclaimed, No, not some to that yet; I would rather see the castle occupied by my henwives than these jute gents of Dundee." A friend of ours (says the Athenaeum) writes to as from Smyrna that the Jewish community in that city, 10,090 strong, is suffering in an extraordinary degree from cholera and poverty. mid the atten- tion of the humane and wealthy Jews of England to tzu> deplorable condition of their brethren in Asia Minor. A large balloon was found hooked to a tree at Passchendaele (Belgium), on the 16th, at five o'clock in the morning. In the car there was nothing but a man's hat bearing the initials C. I. It is probably the balloon which M. Godard went up in at Rouen on the 15th, but was forced to abandon. One of the three large elephants of the Jardin des Plantes at Paris is on his way to the Zoological- gardens, Regent's-park. He was conveyed in a strong cage with wooden bars, mounted on a low car drawn by eight horses, to the Quai de Louvre, where he was placed on board one of the Havre steamers, to be conveyed vid that port to London. On his way through the streets of Paris be received quite an ovation, and was supplied with cakes, Fruit, and other delicacies by the crowd which attended him. Newbern, North Carolina, was recently dread- fully alarmed by posters, placed in conspicuous places all aver the city, in these mysterious characters, R. C. B." Here was a plot! The mayor called upon his officials to bear the incendiary documents down, which could mean no less than Rise, coloured brethren When all but two or three had been destroyed, the agent for a quack medicine, of which the above letters were the initials, rushed in and protested against the outrage. The joke was so good that he got a wide advertisement by the mishap to his posters. An enormous pike, measuring five feet in length, was caught two days back in the Loire at St. Paul- an-Cormillon. In its stomach were found a two-bladed knife, a small key, and the steel rings and tassels of a purse. At the Cornish ticketing, on the 17th inat., 1,815 tons of copper ore sold for £19,454 6s. 6d. The iverages were-Staxidard, jBll9 7s.; price per ton, zC4 Os. 6d. produce, 5J. Compared with the previous week the standard has advanced 12s. The Bolton Hall estate, situate in the parish of Bolton-by-Bowland, about six miles from Clitheroe, was rpnpntlv offered for sale by auction at Clitheroe, Blackburn. Thl property was ultimately sold for £ 122,500. Seven shops and dwelling houses were destroyed by a fire in Canterbury on Friday night. The damage is estimated at from £14,000 to £16,000. A new convent has been opened in York, and is to be ocsupied by nine nuns of the Franciscan order. Lord and Lady Herries have been its principal promoters. The New York courts are granting about a dozen divorces every week. It is said that the Dowager Countess of Shaftes- bury, who died a few days ago, aged ninety-two, was one of the last, if not absolutely the last sitters to Sir Joshua Reynolds. According to an official document just issned there were 2,401 steam-vessels registered in the year ending the Slat of January last. The registered tonnage was 676,247, and the gross tonnage 992,550. We have to announce the death of the Rev. Charles Cavendish Bentinck, who has just died, in his forty- seventh year. Mr. Bentinck was the eldest son of the late Lord Charles Bentinck, and grandson of the fourth Duke of Portland. He recently married Louisa, eldest daughter of Mr. Burnaby, of Baggrave. The tubular line and works of the Pneumatic Dispatch Company from the Euston.square terminus of the London and North-Western Railway to the Bull and Gate, Holborn, are very nearly completed, and are expected soon to be in working order. The expense of Abd-el-Kader's four days' visit to England, defrayed by the Foreign Ministry of France, was 12,000 francs (£480), and he costs the Government, whose guest he is, MO a day. His pension is £6,000, a sum for which an Arab sheik may well be gratified, and toady his ruler. Viscountess Hereford gave birth to a son and heir on Friday. The Viscount is the premier noble of that .-ank in the kingdom, his patent of peerage dating from 1550. We regret to hear that the Countess of Shrews. "■ 1 y's health is far from satisfactory. As Lady Susan P eresford she was one of the belles of the London season. Roe a Bonheur has received a grand cross from the impress of Mexico. This follows the cross of the Em- press of the French so quickly that we may say truly that it is only the first cross which counts." Did you say that my brother Jim didn't know as much as Smith's yellow dog ? "No; I said Smith's yellow dog new more than your brother Jim!"

Dr. Russell's Report. The London press not unnaturally grumbled at not being allowed to have their special reporters on board the Great Eastern. The directors of this great ex- pedition, however, considering the very critical and anxious nature of the work in which they were engaged, had a perfect right not to expose themselves to the inconveniences which might have arisen from the presence of a number of necessarily inquisitive, and possibly, sometimes, intrusive personages, desirous of picking up every detail which could afford the slightest interest to the general public. At the same time, the public, in a matter of such importance, was entitled to some consideration. The directors, it appears, thought so too, for they, not the Times, as was at first suggested, engaged the services of Dr. Russell to jot down the incidents of the enterprise day by day, and the result is one of the most brilliant, graphic, and entertaining narratives it has been our pleasure to read for many a day. We are sorry that our space will not permit us to give the whole of the narrative, but we give such extracts as we think most important.

The First Fault. After telling us how ably the cable was paid, he comes to July 24, when the first defect of insulation was observed, he says :— A feeling of gloom for some time spread over the ship; but the electricians worked away in their dark chamber with unflagging zeal. It was finally resolved by Mr. Canning to cut the cable, having first secured its end to hawsers made fast from the bow, and car- ried round astern, and then to take it in over the bow till the fault was discovered. The operation proved difficult and tedious, and the strain on the wire-rope secured to the cable at times was exceedingly severe; and when the machine began to work the utmost care and nicety were needed to prevent the cable itself being subjected to injury as the ship rose and fell in the sea over the 400 fathoms of iron and copper wire which hung from its bow to the bottom. Meantime Mr.Sanders, oneof the staff of electricians, who devoted much time to the examination of the test currents, arrived at the conviction, conjointly with Mr. Varley, that the injury was not more than ten to eleven miles away. At nine a.m. (of the 25th), when a little more than ten miles of cable had been picked up, to the great joy of the ship, the fault came on board. The cause of all our trouble and anxiety, delay and expense was a piece of iron about two inches long, rather oroobad, and sharp at the end, as if cut off with a nippers from an end of wire, which had been forced right through the coating of the cable and the gutta- percha till it came in contact with the wire. A signal was made to the men-of-war that the fault had been found, and the Terrible signalled back, I congratu- late you.' A disposition to cheer everybody prevailed at breakfast, and preparations for making a splice were at once commenced on deck."

Another Calamity. Passing over a second stoppage, he comes to the 29th of July. On that day he says another calamity befel the expedition:- About ten minutes past one o'clock, ship's time, there was a slight commotion and excitement in the neighbourhood of the testing-room, and soon after- wards, with great quickness, indeed, the engines were stopped, and the ship ceased to move. Up swarmed at the ominous quiet all the lazy life of the floating city and buzzed about the deck, and soon the cause was known. This time no 'fault,' far worse—'dead earth-total and complete destruction to the insulated channel, so that its suburbs current rushed from some gaping wound in the sea, and was lost in the great reservoir, never to be heard of more. At three p.m. the operator in the testing-room, who was watch- ing the passage of a current, saw the light on the index suddenly fly beyond the limits, and the tests up to the very iastant became most satisfactory. The eiewiiiiuL»iiB Troro at once in consultation; but the nature of the injury was so manifest that there could be no doubt as to the only course to be pursued. The apparatus of stoppers, bights, and slips seemed crude and full of dangerous contingencies, but the experi- enced gentlemen on board were more confident than the sailors, and certainly were more sanguine than the uninitiated, who gazed over the stern with wonder and alarm at the feeble-looking black thread at which the Great Eastern seemed tugging with all her giant might at every swell of the sea. Bat at last the Great Eastern began to tug away at the wire rope from the bow, and the excitement of the a<Y wm tuanaforrod to the other end of the ship. To shorten a long story, it may bo at once stated that at 5.40, Greenwich time, owing to great caution and skill in managing the ship and machinery, and. perhaps to a sea of unusual calm, the end of the cable was hauled in over the bow, and the picking-up machinery began to work it back again. This was an exceedingly anxious and trying time. The strain on the cable was indicated at times to be 2t tons; but it came up very easily, whenever the machinery was provided with proper steam-power. About midnight after nearly ten hours of much anxiety and trouble, the cable was re-coiled, and mea- sures were taken to begin paying out with the early dawn. These defects in the cable began to excite grave suspicions, and to disquiet men's minds consider- ably. Slowly, but surely, the defective portion of the cable was reached and cut out. A very painful discovery was then made. An incision was visible in one strand of the hemp covering an external wire, and on unravelling the strands so as to expose the insulated wires, a piece of broken iron wire was found driven through the gutta percha covering, so as to project beyond it on each side to the extent of the diameter of the cable; one end was sharp as if cut with nippers, the other was broken off abruptly, and the diameter on the gauge being applied corresponded with that of wire covering the cable. It was impossible to resist the irritating and sorrowful conviction that such an injury was the work of some hired cable assassin or some purposeless malefactor." And now we come to

The Last and Fatal Disaster. Wednesday, August 2 (says Dr. Russell), a sad and memorable day in the annals of Atlantic tele- graphy. At 5.35 a.m., ship's time, the paddles re- versed, by orders from the electrician's room. In fact, at eight a.m., Greenwich time, or a minute after, whilst the electricians were passing the first of the half. hourly series of currents to the shore, the galvanometer detected a flow of electricity which indicated a serious fault. The testa gave no result as to locality, for the fault was very varying, but it was generally believed to be not far from the stern of the ship. While Mr. Cyruli Field was on watch in the tank, a little before the time of the accident, a grating noise was audible as the cable flew over the coil. One of the experienced hands immediately said, There is a piece of wire,' and called to the look- out man above to pass the information aft; but no notioe appears to have been taken of the circumstance. After the ship had been stopped for a short time, and the remainder of the fluke in which the fault was sup- posed to have occurred had been paid out, a piece of wire was seen projecting out of the cable in the fluke, and on one of the mela taking it in his fingers, and try. ing to bend it down, the wire broke short off. It was nearly three inches long, and evidently of hard ill- tempered metal, which had flown out through the strands of the cable in the tank. The fault in the cable which had gone overboard might obviously have been caused by such a piece of wire, and there could be no doubt that the wire of the outer covering of the cable was capable of inflicting injury on the gutta- porcha it was intended to proteet. As the fault was too serious to be overlooked, and as there was a diffi- culty in detecting its situation, preparations were made to get the picking-up apparatus ready. The picking- up was as usual exceedingly tedious, and one hour and forty-six minutes elapsed before one mile was got on board; then one of the engine's eccentric gear got out of order, so that a man had to stand by with a hand- spike, aided by a wedge of wood with an elastic band, to aid the wretched engine. Next, the supply of steam failed, and when the steam was got up it was found that there was not water enough in the boilers, and so the picking up ceased altogether for some time, dur- ing which the ship forged ahead, and chafed against the cable. Then occurred the great misfortune. Lunch was just over, some had left the table, others were about leaving. The scientific gentlemen had rather cheered us I by stating that they believed the defective part was only i six miles away, and so ere dead nightfall we might hope to have the fault on board, make a new splice, and proceed on our way to Heart's Content, geographi- cally about 600 miles away. Suddenly Mr. Canning appeared in the saloon, and in a manner which caused every one to start in his seat, said, 'It is all over-it is gone!' and then hastened onwards to his cabin. Mr. Field, ere the thrill of surprise and pain occa- sioned by those words had passed away, came from the companion in the saloon, and said, with composure ad. mirable under the circumstances, though his lips quivered and his cheek was blanched, 'The cable has parted, and has gone overboard.' All were on deck in a moment, and there indeed A glance revealed the truth. It is not possible for any words to pourtraythe dismay with which the sight was witnessed and the news heard. It was enough to move to tears; and when a man came aft with the inner end lashed still to the chain, and one saw the tortured strands, torn wires, the lacerated core, it is no exaggeration to say that a strange feeling of pity, as though for some sentient creature, mutilated and dragged asunder by brutal force, passed through the hearts of the spectators. But of what avail was sentimental abstraction when instant strenuous action was demanded? Alas! action! There around spread the placid Atlantic, smiling on the sun, and not a dimple to show where lay so many hopes buried."

Raising the Lost Cable. "After a brief consideration," says Dr. Rsssell, Mr. Canning, whose > presence of mind and self- possession never left him, came to a resolution to make an effort to continue his task (all but egregious folly, as it seemed), and to seek for the cable in the bottom of the Atlantic; to get out his grapnels and drop down on it and pick it up again. The weather was beautiful, and although there were no soundings, and the depth beneath us was matter of conjecture, it was settled that the Great Eastern should steam ten or twelve miles to windward, and eastward of the position in which she was when the cable went down, out with the grapnels and wire rope, and drift down across the track in which the cable was supposed to be lying. And now came forth the grapnels, two five- armed anchors, with flukes, sharply curved and taper- ing to an oblique tooth-like end, the hooks with which the Giant Despair was going to fish from the Great Eastern for a take worth, with all its belongings, more than a million. The ship stood away some thirteen or fourteen miles from the spot where the acoident occurred, and thes lay to in smooth water with the Terrible in company. The grapnels, weighing three c wt., shackled and secured to a length of wire buoy rope, of which there were five miles on board (break- ing strain calculated at ten tons), was brought up to the bows, at 2.30, ship's time, was thrown over, and whistled through' the sea a prey to fortune. At first the iron sank but slowly, but soon the momentum of descent increased so as to lay great stress on the picking-up machinery, now rendered available to lowering the novel messenger we were sending down armed with a warrant of search for the fugitive hidden in mysterious caverns beneath. Length flew after length over cog wheel and drum, till the iron wires, warming with work, heated at last so as to convert the water thrown upon the machinery into clouds of steam. Away new the wire strands length after length. One thousand fathoms fifteen hundred fathoms two thousand fathoms-hundreds again mounting up, till at last the strain was diminished, and at 2,500 fathoms, or 15,000 feet, the grapnel reached the bed of the Atlantie, and set to its task of find- ing and holding the cable. Throughout the night drove the Great Eastern over the Atlantic, drag- ging in her course the grapnels and two miles and a half length of line with which she was fishing for the lost cable. When morning came, and when she was supposed to have gone beyond the track of her prey several miles, the watchers of the line, who had once ere dawn been joyously agitated by the news that the grapnels were holding, and as it proved deceived, prepared to haul in the wire rope and seek their fortune. At 6.40 a.m., Greenwich time, the picking-up machine, reinforced by the capstan, eventu- ally was set to work to haul up the line, which bears a strain of ten tons. At first it came up easily, and the dynamometer showed only a strain of 18 cwt., but the resistance of the rope rapidly increased till it reached a point indicated by 70 cwt. At 7.15 a.m. 100 fathoms had been recovered. At 7.25 200 fathoms, the strain inoraasing to 75 owt. At eight a.m. 300 fathoms were in, and it became evident to all on board that the grapnel was holding on and lifting something' from the bottom. And what could that something be but the cable P The scientific) men calculated the strain and determined it could not be £rom tko tviro Mpa and grapnel solely, and it could only be inferred then that, as the bottom of the Atlantic is free from rocks here, and as the depth at which the rope began to resist agrood with the supposed soundings, it had really grappled the prize. At 8.9 the spur wheel of the picking-up apparatus broke, and the operation of taking in the rope became dangerous as well as difficult, for it flew up at times with such force as to knock down those near it, and one of the most valuable of Mr. Canning's staff received a severe cut on the cheek, and another had an ugly injary inflicted on his face from that cause. The hawser toiled and pulled as if it were a. living thing, and stuck out at a considerable angle from the bows as if it were towed by some giant force underneath and away from the steamer. When 500 fathoms were on board, the most sceptical admitted the cable must be on the iron hooks, and anxiety and suspense rose higher just as the probability of re- covering the cable became less wild. But at 3.20, ship's time, all our fears and hopes were abruptly ended. The drum new round rapidly, the tail of the rope flourished in the air as it now on board, and with a light splash the other end divided into the Atlantic. One of the iron swivels had yielded to the strain. The rope used was divided into lengths of 100 fathoms, each having a shackle at the end with a heavy iron swivel. The head of the bolt of one of these had been drawn right through the iron collar as 900 fathoms had been secured. Not a moment was lost in deciding what measures to pursue. It was rather en- couraging than the reverse to have made the trial so abruptly concluded, for it was demonstrated that the grapnel could pick up the cable in more than 2,000 fathoms, and the only question now was whether the wire rope or the cable itself would bear the purchase and weight of hauling up from such vast depths. There was wire rope enough left to make another attempt to save the cable." Another attempt was made, and then another, with what result our readers are aware.

THE BISKS OF INSURANCE. When the occurrence of fires is carefully tabulated, it is found that, although in each case accidental, the accidents bear a constant relation to the number of dwelling-heuses, manufactories, trading establish- ments, and public buildings standing in the locality in which they occur. Tluire is a general result which enables the actuary to calculate the average risk in* ourred by each householder, and upon that calculation the amount to be paid for a policy of insurance is based, which amount is generally demanded by the existing companies. Many of the new companies now struggling so hard to obtain a position are willing to accept a smaller sum, but of course the security they offer is of very little value and those who take their policies incur the danger of not getting the cash should their policy become a claim. And for this there are many power- ful reasons, one of which lies in the fact, that unless a company can speedily obtain a very large business it incurs the danger that by far the larger proportion of the calculated fires will happen within its area of insurance, and thus that it will have to meet a number of claims, the aggregate amount of which will far ex- ceed its resources. To maka themselves safer such companies should charge the highest instead of the lowest premium; and it is certain that so far as the insuring portion of the public is concerned, its only se- curity when paying a low premium will be found in holding the policy of a company that has a world-wide business, and which insures iihe certainty @f its calcu- lations from the vastness of the area over which its uncertainties are distributed. But even the best and most powerful companies are subject to disappointment, of which fact we have a practical illustration in the report of the Royal for the past year, from which we learn that loss instead of gain has resulted from the year's transactions. The directors very properly call attention to the fact that the fire returns for the year 1864 were disastrous for nearly all the companies—tha number of fires being far above the average. But this painful result, as they observe, furnishes a very apt illustration of the fact that the result of a fire business must not be re- garded by the events of a single year, which is still farther proved by this --that in the previous year the shareholders received the largest percentage of profit they had obtained from that branch of the busi. ness. Keeping that fact in mind, we endorse the view taken by Mr. Dove, the manager, which is, that in the end the very large increase in the number of fires will not affect the average of ten years, and, consequently, that there is no cause for alarm, and no need for rais- ing the rates. There is, however, so far as its insurers are concerned, great cause for thankfulness that the Royal is not only capable of meeting such enormous claims, but also, through the interest received upon reserved funds, of still closing the year with a fire pro- fit. It should, however, be added to this statement of loss that, as regards expansion, the operations of the year have been, in point of fact, more than usually successful. The premium received in the year 1863 was £341,668; the premium of 1864 amounted to £ 406,404; showing an increase of £64,736, the largest advance the company has made in any single year since its establishment. And there is every reason for believing that the rate of increase will be rapidly accelerated. Englishmen, and indeed all men who are engaged in trading operations, very naturally place confidence in those persons and companies that are faithful to their engagements during periods of diffi- culty, so that the failure of the year 1864 is very likely to operate in favour ef largely increasing the dividends of 1866, for it is now generally understood, and as we believe correctly, that none of our large companies are more prompt or liberal than the Royal in their settlements. Turning from the Fire to the Life branch, we enter a region of prosperity and abundance, where, too, judging from experience, it appears highly probable that the future will be still more fruitful than the past. During the year 1864 this company issued 2,048 life policies for sums which in the aggregate exceed one million and fourteen thousand pounds sterling. It appears that in the year 1854 the Life premium income was £25,000, whereas in 1864 it amounted to .£150,000, which, as exhibiting a rate of progress, we believe to be unexampled. Evidently the public appreciates the security it offers, and that appreciation is sure to increase; the result of which will be that the amount of business transacted will soon be doubled, and the profit, with the security, thereby largeJy increased; for seeing that this company has its agents all over the world, with boards of directors in London, Edin- burgh, New York, and in other large cities, its ex- penses would be but slightly increased by the enlarge- ment of its.business. And we should rejoiee to witness such a result, for in that case the insurance system would be equally extended side by side with perfect security to those who take up policies. It is only in that light that the subject interests us. Our great aim in this matter is to induce the public to adopt the system, and in this our suc- cess would have been more marked were it not for the questionable proceedings of many companies. In the candour of the present report we see fresh cause for confidence. There are boards of directors that would have cooked the fire accounts, in order to hide from their shareholders and the public the real fact re- lating to the past year's transactions. The directors of this company, rising superior to such courses, at once state the truth, and, as the almost necessary con- sequence, they will be raised in public esteem, and will gain, as they ought to gain, the unbounded confidence of their policyholders and shareholders. ———————