time of his death. When Mr. Taney became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court he was already considerably past the prime of life; he was fifty-nine years of age. He had been previously a lawyer in good practice and of considerable local repute; originally a Federalist in politics, and at one time of his life the friend of impartial liberty. In defending the Rev. Jacob Gruber from a charge of inciting slaves to disorder in Maryland, in 1818, Mr. Taney used these memorable words: "A hard necessity indeed compels us to endure the evil of slavery for a time. It was imposed upon us by another nation, while yet we were in a state of colonial vassalage. It cannot be easily or suddenly removed. Yet while it continues it is a blot on our national character, and every real lover of freedom confidently hopes that it will be effectually, though it must be gradually, wiped away, and earnestly looks for the means by which this necessary object may be attained. And until it shall be accomplished, until the time shall come when we can point without a blush to the language held in the Declaration of Independence, every friend of humanity will seek to lighten the galling chain of slavery, and better, to the utmost of his power, the wretched condition of the slave."

Judge Taney, though not a man of the same exhaustive learning and comprehensiveness of judgment with his illustrious predecessor, John Marshall, was extensively, and in some directions, profoundly versed in the law. His decisions were for the most part cautious, sensible, and on the whole sound. In his interpretations of the Constitution of the United States the great crucial test of the wisdom and independence of the Court-he inclined to those middle and moderate opinions which treat the Union not as a consolidated nation on one side, nor as a mere confederation on the other, but as a composite or mixed nation, in which the sovereignty has been divided between the central and the local governments.

In the famous Dred Scott case, in which the only legal point involved was a plea to the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court, upon a writ of error to the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice having decided that there was no jurisdiction, proceeded to give an extra-judicial opinion which gave him an unpleasant notoriety, and was repudiated by some of the ablest of the associated justices. It was to the effect that a free negro of the African race whose ancestors were brought into this country and sold as slaves is not and cannot be a "citizen;" that for more than a century previous to the adoption of the Declaration of Independence negroes, whether slaves or free, had been regarded as "beings of an inferior order, and altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect; " that Dred Scott, a negro slave, who was removed by his master from Missouri to Illinois, lost what

ever freedom he may have thus acquired by being subsequently removed into the territory of Wisconsin and by his return to the State of Missouri; that the inhibition of slavery in the territories of the United States lying north of the line of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes, known as the Missouri Compromise, was unconstitutional; that the only two clauses in the Constitution which refer to negroes, treat them as persons whom it is morally lawful to deal in as articles of property; that the citizen of any State may take into a territory of the United States any article of property recognized by the Constitution, or, in other words, carry his slaves thither without molestation to his perfect right of ownership; and that Congress could not exercise any authority whatever over this species of property that it could not constitutionally exercise over other property.

TELEGRAPH, ELECTRIC. In the volumes of this CYCLOPÆDIA for the years 1861 and 1863, will be found articles in relation to certain great lines of telegraph, including those-recently contemplated or now in prosecution-designed to establish communication between the continents or to complete circuits around the world. Of the great lines alluded to, four now command a large share of interest and attention. These are: 1. The Anglo-Indian telegraph, a southern branch from the European network of lines, which has been very recently completed between Constantinople and Rangoon, through Calcutta, and is intended yet to stretch throughout Farther India to China on the north, and into Australia on the south. 2. The Siberian or Russian Asiatic telegraph, a northern branch from the same European system, already completed from Kazan, in European Russia, to Irkootsk, and thence at least to Kiakhta (a city south of Lake Baikal and on the northern border of Chinese Mongolia), and which, besides throwing off southward several important branches, is designed to extend to the eastern coast of Asia, at the mouth of the Amoor River. 3. The Collins Overland (Americo-Russian) telegraph, designed to connect the entire North American system of lines-as well as, eventually, the South American also-by way of Behring's Strait or the North Pacific, with the great Russian line, at its terminus at the mouth of the Amoor, and thus with the entire telegraph system of the Old World. 4. The Atlantic telegraph, also intended to effect a union of the systems of wires upon the two hemispheres, but by means of a cable from the western coast of Ireland to Newfoundland, and a renewed attempt at the laying down of which is to be made during the summer of 1865. The preparatory work connected with the latter two enterprises is already actively in progress.

The Anglo-Indian Line.-The British Government has sought to gain communication with India by two routes, which, however, would probably coincide through the length of a cable from the Persian Gulf across the head of the Arabian Sea to Hindostan. The first

cable laid down in the Mediterranean, by way of Malta to Alexandria, failed; but a stronger one, with larger conducting wires, has recently been submerged, and with success; by this, telegraphic communication exists to Alexandria, and thence to Suez. From this point a cable was to stretch along the bottom of the Red Sea to Aden, thence along the coast of Arabia to Muscat, and thence across the Arabian Sea; but progress beyond Suez was arrested by failure in laying the Red Sea cable. By the other route, Constantinople being in communication with western Europe, a wire is now extended thence through Turkey, by way of Angora, Sivas, Diarbekir, Mosul, Bagdad, Diwanyeh, and Korneh-the last at the junction of the Euphrates and Tigris in the Shat-el-Arab-and to Bussorah, situated on the river last named, seventy miles above its mouth in the Persian Gulf. From Bussorah a cable is laid by way of the Persian Gulf and across the Arabian Sea to Kurrachee, near the western outlet of the Indus; and thence lines extend to Bombay, Madras, Delhi, Calcutta, and other principal towns of India-through the last named reaching, as already mentioned, to Rangoon. A long delay in the completion of this line arose through difficulties interposed by the Turkish authorities to the erection of the wires between Diwanyeh and Korneh, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles. The first despatch was sent through from Bagdad to Bombay, January 29, 1865; and later, private messages had reached Constantinople from Calcutta in twelve hours, and from Kurrachee in eight and a half hours. From Rangoon it is intended to lay a cable along the coast of the Malay peninsula to Singapore, at its southern extremity, and a cable thence along the coast of Cochin-China and China, to HongKong and Canton. A branch from Singapore is to proceed by alternate cables and land lines along Java, Timor, and other islands, to the northern coast of Australia, probably at the Gulf of Carpentaria, there to connect with the wires of that continent-already in all some one thousand two hundred miles in length-even Sydney and Melbourne being thus brought within a few hours' distance of all the European capitals. It is now expected that the lines both to Canton and to Australia will be in operation by the close of the year 1867.

The Siberian, or Russian Asiatic Line.-Of this, Kazan in European Russia, previously connected by way of Nijni-Novgorod and Moscow with St. Petersburg, may be considered the starting-point. By the close of the year 1864, this line had been completed by way of Perm, west of the Ural Mountains, and east of them through Ekaterinburg, Omsk, and Tomsk, to Irkootsk, and either the main line or a branch to Kiakhta; while, doubtless, the main line has by the present time been carried far to eastward of this point, along the upper Amoor-its intended course being, according to Commander Chefkin's statement, through Verchne Udinsk, Chetah, Habaravka at the mouth of the Usuri

(branch of the Amoor), and Sofinsk, to Nicolavsky, where the great river flows into the Strait of Tartary. It is anticipated that the line will be completed through its entire length during 1867, if not earlier. From Queenstown, on the western coast of Ireland, to Irkootsk, a distance of six thousand five hundred miles, a despatch has been transmitted (in 1864) in two hours' time.

Main Branches of the Siberian Line.-These, as at present contemplated, are to be: 1. A wire from Kazan southwardly through the Astrakhan, Georgian, and Circassian provinces, by Tiflis, to Teheran, the capital of Persia; thence to join the Anglo-Indian line, either at Bagdad, or by continuing through Ispahan and Shiraz, to Bushire on the Persian Gulf. 2. A wire from Omsk through Central Asia, running southeastwardly through Mongolia, entering China at Ili (or Illy), thence to southwest and south through Turkestan, Bokhara, and Balk, to Cabool in Afghanistan, and onward to points in the Punjab at which it also will connect with the Oriental or Indian system of lines. 3. A wire from Irkootsk, which may, however, be said to start at Kiakhta, following thence the route of the tea caravans to the Chinese-wall gate at Yahol, and thence to Pekin. A company of American citizens, resident in China, and chartered in 1864 by the New York Legislature, under the name of the East India Telegraph Company, proposes to unite the great northern and southern lines again by supplying the link here needful; that is, by extending a line from Canton and Hong-Kong, with the necessary branches for the ports of Amoy, Shanghae, and Nankin, to Pekin. From this extension also it is designed to reach Australia by another route-carrying a wire (alternately land and submarine) from a point on the mainland opposite the island of Formosa, across that island, thence by way of Manilla across Luzon and the other islands of the Philippine group, thence by New Guinea, to cross Torres' Strait to Cape York on the northern Australian coast. 4. A wire from the confluence of the Usuri with the Amoor-a point seven hundred miles above the mouth of the latter, thence southward along the Usuri to Lake Kingka, and to the port of Vladi Vostok, opposite that of Hakodadi (on Yesso), and which is to be the Russian naval station on the Pacific. 5. A wire, submarine and land, from the mouth of the Amoor, crossing the Strait of Tartary, Saghalien Island, the Strait of La Perouse, Yesso-through Hakodadi-and the Strait of Sangar, to Jeddo, the capital of Japan.

The Collins Overland Line.-This important line was projected by Mr. Perry McDonough Collins, of California, who has been since 1856 commercial agent of the United States Government for the region of the Amoor River. Major Collins explored, in 1857, the country lying_along that river, extending his journey to Petropaulovsky, in Kamtschatka, about one thousand miles east from its mouth, and across

the Sea of Okhotsk. May 23, 1863, he obtained from the Russian Government an authorization of the proposed line through its territory on both sides of the Pacific, a distance of about 5,000 miles, with a grant of the exclusive right to maintain such line for thirty-three years; and February 9, 1864, a similar authorization and grant from the British Government for the continuation of such line through British Columbia to the northern frontier of the United States, a distance of about five hundred miles. A third memorial of Mr. Collins on the subject to the United States Congress was presented in the Senate, April 12, 1864, by the Hon. Z. Chandler, chairman of the Committee of Commerce of that body; and to this the Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, replied in an elaborate and instructive paper, in which, discussing the questions of the feasibility of the proposed line, its utility, and its claim to Government patronage, he is led upon all these points to decidedly affirmative conclusions. He states, among other particulars, that the length of the line would be about six thousand and forty miles; that the highest elevation on the whole line, occurring in the Rocky Mountains within the United States, is not so great as that of the Sierra Nevada where crossed by the Pacific Telegraph; and that the line between St. Petersburg and Archangel on the White Sea, as well as that around the Gulf of Bothnia, both of which reach latitudes as high as any part of the proposed line would do, are maintained in operation without difficulty. The length of cable required at Behring's Strait would be about forty miles. The waters are about one hundred and eighty feet deep, and are frozen through one-half the year; but it is believed that the safety of the cable would not be endangered by the ice. It may be added that the cold, dry air of high latitudes, as well as snow and ice, are highly non-conducting, and so favor insulation and the rapid transmission of the electric current. Little seems to be feared on the score of interference by the sparse population, Indian and Tartar, along the route, unless, as Mr. Cochrane suggests, it be in the case of certain unsubdued tribes in Russian America, toward Behring's Strait. If the overland line be constructed, and the Atlantic cable laid down, with success, they will together serve to complete a telegraphic circuit around the earth between the parallels of 42° and 65° north latitude. In accordance with Mr. Seward's recommendation, an act of Congress was passed, approved July 1, 1864, granting to Mr. Collins the right of way across the public lands, with the right to take therefrom materials for constructing the same, and the use of a national vessel, officered and equipped, to make surveys and soundings and to aid in prosecuting the work. The act requires, further, "That the rate of charges for public or private messages shall not exceed on said line the average usual rates in Europe and America for the same service, or such rates as shall be ascertained and

fixed by a convention between the United States, Russia, and Great Britain."

The interval requiring to be spanned by the wire of the overland line, materially reduced at the western extremity by the prospective early completion of the Siberian telegraph to its terminus, has been not less so at the eastern, by lines constructed within the past few years. The Western Union Telegraph Company, under the lead of its indefatigable president, Hiram Sibley, Esq., of Rochester, N. Y., completed in 1861 a telegraph line connecting the more easterly net-work of the continent with the California wires at San Francisco; and a northward extension of the State line, later carried along the Pacific coast, had in November, 1864, been constructed to Olympia, on the south of Puget's Sound, and thence to Victoria, on Vancouver's Island. Immediately upon the passage of the act of Congress above referred to, Mr. Collins closed an arangement with the Western Union Co., assigning to it the Russian and British concessions, the company on its part assuming the construction and operation-under the name of the "Western Union Extension "-of the overland intercontinental line, and in accordance with the grants already named. March 7th, 1865, Col. Charles S. Bulkley, engineer-inchief of the overland line, sailed with his party from San Francisco for New Archangel, on Sitka Island, the capital of Russian America. A detachment was to be landed at Victoria, to complete a small break in the line between that point and New Westminster, on Frazer River, in British Columbia-a matter, probably, of some three weeks' labor. At least three vessels, carrying the needful supplies and materials, will be engaged in the work of the expedition, the entire land and naval force of which will number not less than fifteen hundred men.

The present intention of the company is, if practicable, to make the overland line an extension of that from San Francisco to New Westminster. Starting from the point last named, they will probably carry the line to some distance up Frazer River, and thence along a somewhat inland course, taking in the way the Finlay branch of Peace River, and the Pelly River, passing thence to and along the Yukan, and then down the Kvichpak, into which it flows, nearly or quite to the mouth of the latter. Thence the line may pass to Cape Prince of Wales, across Behring's Strait to East Cape, from that point around the Gulf of Anadir, down the coast, across the head of the peninsula of Kamtschatka to Penjinsk Gulf, and thence around the Sea of Okhotsk to its terminus at Nicolavsky. Russian preferences, it is said, indicate a route from the end of the Siberian line by cable across the Okhotsk Sea to Petropaulovsky, or else proceeding to the same point by submarine and land lines by way of Saghalien, Yesso, and the Kurile Islands, thence in like manner by Behring and Copper Islands and the Aleutian Islands to Alaska, on

the American side. In either case, some two thousand miles of cable would be required, the greatest length being across the Okhotsk Sea, about six hundred miles, or by the other route at most no longer than three hundred miles. Mr. Collins has estimated the cost of the line by Behring's Strait at a maximum of $5,000000; by the Aleutian Islands route it would be much greater. He has also indicated two intermediate routes, neither requiring more than one-fourth the entire length of cable needful by that just named. One of these would be by way of Oulovorskoy (or Oliootorsk), in the northeastern part of Kamtschatka, to Gore's and Nunivack Islands, and thence to Cape Vancouver in Russian America; the other, by Cape Navarin, further north, to St. Lawrence Island, and thence to Cape Romanzoff. The distance from New York to London by the overland route has been estimated at about seventeen thousand miles, throughout which, as already seen, only about six thousand miles of telegraph line remain to be constructed. It is believed that this can be accomplished within two, or at the farthest, three years' time. The rising and free commerce of the Amoor River region has already attracted thither many American merchants; but the successful establishment of the proposed line must be followed by general commercial advantages of the highest magnitude, if not also by social and political consequences the extent of which must be at present quite beyond the reach of calculation.

The route which in certain parts the overland line will finally take, it has already become apparent, remains in a measure subject to the decision of future developments; and among the changes to be made may possibly be the choice of a more easterly point of departure from the northern limit of the United States, and perhaps also of a more inland course through British America. Of certain acts of Congress, approved July 2, 1864, and which make grants for railroad and telegraph lines to the Pacific, one authorizes such road and line from Lake Superior to Puget's Sound. By a report of a committee of the Hudson's Bay Company, also, it appears that that company has already had surveys made, and material to some extent ordered, for a telegraph line from the settlements of the Red River (of the north), through their territory and British Columbia, to New Westminster-this line also, at its western portion, to run along Frazer River. It is hoped to have this line completed within a year. As it would still require some years to effect a junction with the Canadian system at Collingwood or Ottawa, through the wilderness north of the great lakes, it has been proposed meantime to connect with the Hudson Bay Company's line by a wire from some part of the Western States; and among the propositions to effect this, a bill was (January 5, 1865) introduced by Senator Ramsay, of Minnesota, authorizing the Northwestern Telegraph Com

pany to extend one of their main lines from St. Paul by the route of the Pacific R. R. to St. Cloud, and thence to the southern boundary of the British Possessions, at or near Pembina, there to connect with the line previously mentioned. When completed, these lines would afford continuous communication from Chicago, by way of La Crosse, St. Paul, St. Cloud, and Pembina, with the western coast of the Continent, at New Westminster.

The Atlantic Submarine Telegraph Line.— The new cable for this line, and which is intended to be laid, as was the preceding one, along the bed of the Atlantic Ocean from the western coast of Ireland to Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, is at the present time far advanced toward completion. This cable, manufactured by Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co., at Morden Wharf, E. Greenwich, is constructed with the most minute attention to details, and with every possible effort to guard by personal care and by instrumental tests against imperfections of any kind. The plan of its construction differs in several particulars from that adopted for the former cable, to which it is in fact believed to be in all important respects superior. It is believed that the first Atlantic cable failed through the circumstance that, from the manner of its construction, the strain due to its weight in laying came chiefly upon the core; and accordingly, while in the new cable the conducting wires are larger and stronger than in the old, yet the great effort has been so to construct the whole that the core shall be relieved of strain. A section of the new cable perfected measures one inch and one-eighth in diameter. Its core proper presents the ends of seven conducting copper wires, six of which are twisted about a central one; around each of these is seen a homogeneous coating of gutta percha, and which in the section appears about the sixth of an inch thick. About the core is a barely distinguishable ring, marking the place of a layer of jute; and outermost of all, a ring of strengthening and protecting material, somewhat over a quarter of an inch thick, in which appear the ends of ten iron wires, about each of which are closely twisted strands of Manilla yarn.

The core of the cable is formed by twisting together the copper wires, and then coating in the manner above indicated. The twisted wires are passed through a vessel containing a compound-the invention of a Mr. Chatterton

the application of which secures a firm adhesion of the film of gutta percha next applied. The core is then subjected to hydraulic pressure, and electrically tested. After this it is again coated with Chatterton's compound, and then with gutta percha; and so on, until four layers of each have been applied, and the entire thickness is about half an inch.

The iron wire, for covering and protecting the core, is manufactured at Birmingham, being drawn from Webster and Horsfall's homoge

neous iron. Its size is that known as No. 13 (gauge .095); each strand of it is capable of sustaining a strain of 1,000 lbs., under which it is extended to the amount of one per cent. The covering of this wire with the Manilla yarn, like the making of the core, is performed in a separate factory, specially devoted to such purpose. Five strands of the yarn are closely wound upon each iron wire from as many bobbins; each of the machines for the purpose, and which are of two different patterns, being capable of turning out about 140 miles of covered wire a day. As fast as it is thus wound, the wire is passed through a hot solution of tar and gutta percha, the fibrous covering becoming saturated with this; and it is then conducted through tanks of water, to cool this coating material.

At the Morden Wharf factory, the work of closing the covered iron wires upon the core, so as to complete the cable, is performed. The core is received here on large reels: these are sunk in circular openings filled with water; and the coils are then for twelve hours subjected to electrical tests, in order to determine beyond a doubt the continuity of the conducting wires, and the completeness of their insulation. When a faulty transmission of the current takes place, the difficulty is almost invariably found to consist in an imperfect joining of the ends of two lengths of wire. The core having been wrapped in a padding of jute, which is also saturated with a preservative mixture, the covered iron strands are closed upon it, being so wound about the core that when the cable is subjected to strain this shall fall first and mainly upon them; the mechanism, expressly devised for this part of the work, occupies two floors of the manufactory. The closing machines, below, consist essentially of large wheels or tables revolving horizontally, with reels of the several strands so arranged on their margin as to maintain a relatively stationary position, instead of keeping their axes pointed always to the centre of motion. The strands, converging upward toward a small opening in the ceiling, meet, and are twisted round the jute-covered core. The cable, thus formed entire, is conducted over grooved wheels to a building the floor of which gives place to huge tanks or vats, eight in number, and between which platforms extend. The depth of these is alike 12 feet, while four of them are circular, 34 feet each in diameter, and four elliptical, each 36 feet by 27. The completed cable is brought down from the wheels overhead, and is carefully coiled away by hand in these tanks, until the capacity of each-about 140 miles-is equalled. Water is kept flowing into each tank over its edge, and, percolating between the coils, is allowed to fill the tank to the height occupied by the cable. The purpose of this is to allow of a continued and thorough testing of the efficiency of the protective covering, the ends of all the portions of cable being carried into the electrician's room, and an elec

trical current of measured force being continually sent through the wires; by this means the least defect in insulation can be registered with unfailing accuracy, and even to its exact distance and degree.

The size of the copper or conducting wires is that known as No. 18 (gauge .048); and the weight of copper is 300 lbs. per nautical mile, against 107 lbs. per mile in the old cable.

The weight of the new cable completed, as ascertained in air, is 354 cwt. per mile; that of the former one having been but 20 cwt. Its breaking strain is 74 tons, while that of the former was only 31 tons. Its specific gravity is very low-its weight in water being 14 cwt. per mile, against 13.4 cwt. for the old cable. This low gravity is owing to the large proportion of fibrous material present; and in connection with its greatly increased strength, the result gained is that the new cable is capa ble of supporting in water 11 miles of its length. As, however, the greatest depth of water encountered in laying the former cable was about 2 nautical miles, it is not probable that the present one will in any case be subjected to a strain equal to its actual strength. The destruction of the fibrous material of the cable by fishes, is believed to be guarded against by the poisonous qualities of compounds with which it has been saturated.

The distance to be spanned by the cable, measured at the surface of the ocean, is about 1,640 nautical miles. It is, however, proposed to produce in all 2,300 miles of cable; and it is expected that this entire length will be finished by the end of the first week of June. From the factory, the sections of cable are conveyed in tanks on the hulks, Amethyst and Iris, to the Great Eastern, lying in the Medway. The shipping of the cable was commenced January 19, 1865. On board the monster steamer, which is to perform the work of laying it down, the cable is in final preparation to be coiled away in three immense tanks. It is expected the expedition will set forth about the close of the month of June. The method of paying ont the cable will probably be in the main similar to that before adopted; and if the rate of steaming does not exceed seven knots an hour, the object of the expedition should still be accomplished in from ten to eleven days. The 2,800 miles of cable, even without making allowance for the twist, will contain about 16,000 miles of copper wire, and 23,000 of iron wire, besides a very much greater length of the strands of fibrous material.

Among other great lines, mainly submarine, which have been projected with more or less probability of future accomplishment, are, one from San Francisco or Panama to the Sandwich Islands, and thence in time to China or Japan; one from France to the Azores, and thence to New York; and also one to consist in an extension of an existing French line from Marseilles, through Corsica and Sicily to Tri