The Express.
London, England, 1865-07-25 00:00:00

[STAMPED, Id. ADDITIONAL.]

ti-coloured rock. Butler's Island, a large grass-
grown strip of stony ground stretching fro u
left to right, from the far point of the bay,
lawns the opening to the sea, and materially helps
to shelter this beautiful nook, though, as there is
of course neither land nor breakwater between its
entrance and America, it will be readily under-
stood that in rough weather it presents a very
different appearance to the one it wore yesterday.
Then all was smiling, sunny, and calm. The spec-
tator who, after drinking in the beauties before him
from the heights, scrambled down the rugged path
and stood among the men hauling the cable on
shore, or balanced himself on one of the crags
arresting his downward path, was, as I have said,
in a magnificent natural amphitheatre, with toiling
peasants, earnest weans, excited seamen, and eager
capitalists forhis actors—priests, looal gentry, electri-
cians, arid telegraphists for his fellow lookers-on,
and the broad Atlantic for his stage. Mr. Craswick
never surpassed the rich hues and bright tints of
the rocks and vegetation around ; Frith never
painted brighter eyes, tame sup* figures, or more
picturesquely artistic costumes than those of the
barefooted nymphs assembled to look at Pat or Mike
"helping the tiligraph Outten:lin ;" Stanfield never
transferred to canvas • more beautiful and varied
sea-piece than the one before us. On the highest
pinnacle of the cliff, to the right, the country
people had planted a suocession of improvised flags,
consisting of coloured pocket handkerchiefs, scarlet
cloak', blankets, petticoat., and what not, which
fluttered gaily in the breeze, while all round the
summit a long fringe of lookers-on stood out sharp
and clear against the blue sky, some mounted, some
squatted on the ground, dudheen in mouth, some
gesticulating in little groups, and all manifesting
the keenest interest in the proceedings of the day.
The peasant's view of the mysterious wire is that it
will somehow bring him nearer to the land of
promise. Every Irish labourer tells you of the
relatives or friends who have prospered in America,
and no man or woman here seems too old or feeble
to hope for the day when their savings will amount
to "live or six pounis, yer homier," that they may
bid the old country good-bye and begin the
world anew. The telegraphic colours, represented
by rosettes of red, white, and blue, made and pre-
seated by Lady Capel Molyneux, decorated the
coats or hats of those immediately interested in the
enterprise, and out of the three or four hundred
employed on the boats and shore to waist in hauling
the cable in, it is scarcely necessary to say no two
figures were attired alike. The high-collared, swal-
low-tailed blue coat, new, perhaps, before theelectric
telegraph was invented, and sadly soiled and thread-
bare now, worked side by side with the ragged non-
descript garment which had been fustian, but had
reached the stage of hardly kept together tatters.
Shirts which blushed darkly at being exposed, jer-
sies blue, red, and brown, caps and hats of every
variety and shape, bare heads, bare legs and feet
and arms, made up the line. The boats
were similarly manned, and continued this line
from the stern of the Caroline, some 700 yards off,
so that the cable was passed literally from hand to
hand from ship to chore. The appearance of this
long row of boats was very striking, and when with
true Celtic impulsiveness their crews let the cable
slip prematurely into the sea, that they might cheer
and wave their hate at its having been brought
safely to laud, and the bridge resolved itself into
a little fleet, the whole bay seemed animate with
life. This rather Irish incident delayed the pro-
ceedings about an hour, as it was not until the
bridge had been re-formed, and the cable fished up
and restored to the men in the boats, that the
paying out could be recommenced. Meanwhile Mr.
Canning continued his earnest supervision, and
one or two enthusiasts in the cause, stripped to
their waists, plunged bodily into the sea. Strict
injunctions not to shout were fairly observed, until
the Knight of Kerry, spoken of as "the best of
landlords," and immensely popular throughout the
country, was recognised on the cliff, when the re-
pressed enthusiasm had to be again worked off, and
the call for "three cheers for the Knight"
elicited, despite the deprecatory hand-wavings
of its present object, another hearty burst.
The accompaniment, however, was this time re-
stricted to one band, and did not interfere with
work. The Knight of Kerry who, alpenstock in
hand, made his way down the cliff to the shore, was
himself a picturesque addition to the already pic-
turesque scene, and his presence was moreover a
manifest encouragement to the simple-hearted and
affectionate race labouring at the coil. Sir Robert
Peel descended with him, and, joining Lord John
Hay at the foot of the cliff, remained until the pay-
ing out was stopped for a time, and the cable was
pulled up the cliff, and its end placed in the testing
room of the big hut or office of the company. This
was done in procession, the peasants carrying the
massive coil with a certain tenderness, the old
women and children, who had not ventured down
the steep and hazardous incline, pressing forward
to touch it as if it were a charm, the two catholic
priests heading the company, and bestowing by
their preaeoee a tacit blessing on the work.
Thus was the shore end of the great Atlantic cable
reverently laid to earth in the trench cat for it, and
running from the edge of the cliff to the instrument
room. Had this been a mortal funeral with a
rousing wake to follow, there could not have bee%
more joyousness and buoyancy. Mr. Glass, Lord
John Hay, Mr. Edwards, Sir Robert Peel, the
Knight of Kerry, and other gentlemen were there to
receive it, and appropriate congratulations and good
wishes were exchanged. The Caroline then slowly
steamed out to sea, towed by the Hawk, and com-
pleted the rest of the 25 miles of the shore end at •
late hour last night. The work of landing the cable
commenced about seven a.m., and laded until nearly
one p.m., and the solitary untoward circum-
stance connected with it, save the half laughable
delay I have named, was the impossibility of com-
municating by telegraph to England. There was
some bitch in the coil near Killarney—subsequently
found to be due to an impulsive Irish cow, which
had considerately knocked down a post and some
wire the day before—and nomeesagescould be trans-
milled until late in the afternoon. Offioers of the
I company remained at the cable-house all night, and
continued to test the wire as long se it was being
paid out. The telegraphic office at Valenti' town
was thus informed of the number of miles laid,
and of the perfect condition of the cable, at
1 short intervals, and every soul in it, from the
directors staying at the over-crowded hotel to the
car-drivers, fishermen, and bangers-on about the
street., was practically in communication witk the
I Caroline during the whole of Saturday. The little
place is of course full, and every available bed °cen-
t Pied.

The Great Eastern has been telegraphed for

[TWOPENCE

from Bearhaven, and is expected in sight every
moment. Five ►m. was the hour named last night
for the departure of the Hawk and party to witness
the splicing of the main cable with the shore end,
and to convey the one or two gentlemen still here
who propose making the trip sense the Atlantic.
But to send a message twenty miles in this part of
Ireland involves time, and the morning will pro-
bably be well advanced before the Hawk starts.
After the spans four hours will be allowed to Mr.
de Santy, the electrician on board the big ship, for
thoroughly testing the insularity and working
power of the eonnected Wine. This pronounced
satisfactory, and assuming the weather to remain
as favourable as it is now, the Great Eastern sails
forthwith, and exchanging the quiet waters and
romantic scenery amid which she has been lying
since Wednesday night., for the surging Atlantic
and the excitement of arduous and continuous
work, will fairly commence the grand undertaking
to which the occurrences of the last ten days have
given such an auspicious earnest of success.

tpzignalf" t you will see your friends at
AWN after the Opera. We shall eap theme