After several failed attempts, the Bretts' company, the Submarine Telegraph Company (STC), succeeded in connecting to France in 1851. The company went on to lay numerous other cables to European countries. The Magnetic had a close relationship with the STC. From about 1857 the two companies had an agreement that all STC submarine cables were to be used only with the Magnetic's landlines. The Magnetic also had control of the first cable to Ireland. This control of international traffic gave them a significant advantage in the domestic market. Both Newall and Glass, Elliot laid cables as subcontractors to the inland telegraph companies. Newall was prone to fall out with his customers and was often involved in litigation resulting in the company slowly moving away from the telegraph cable business. The British government took a strong interest in the provision of international telegraph connections. Their assistance included the provision of Royal Navy ships to assist with cable laying and monetary guarantees. Two major failures gave them cause for concern; the first transatlantic telegraph cable, laid in 1858 by the Atlantic Telegraph Company, and the Red Sea to India cable in 1859 laid by the Red Sea & India Company. The insulation of the transatlantic cable failed after a few weeks. The cable to India (manufactured and laid by Newall) was too thin and laid taut over underwater peaks which soon broke it in multiple places. The guarantees provided by the government for these two ventures had caused them a financial loss. In response, a government committee was formed in 1859 to investigate the issue. In their final report in 1861, the committee concluded that future failures of this kind were avoidable now that the technology was better understood. They recommended specifications for future cable construction, installation, and maintenance. After the Red Sea failure, the government no longer provided subsidies or guarantees and left it to private companies to entirely take on the risk of new ventures. Getting a telegraph connection to India was a priority for the government after the Indian Mutiny of 1857; the urgent telegram requesting assistance had taken forty days to reach London. The failure of the first cable was a significant blow. A connection to India was finally achieved in 1864 after the Indian government laid a new cable made by W. T. Henley from Karachi to Fao, Iraq and thence by overland routes. This route was a shorter distance in ocean than the Red Sea route and in shallower water, but still 1,450 miles. This was the first really long submarine cable to be a permanent success, many times longer than any other submarine cable at that time.