The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-08-09

having departed in the forenoon for the country
How - tho Atlantic Telegraph to Affect the
Condition Of the World:
The successful laying o. the Atlantic tele-
graph cable takes the world by surprise after
all. Just as much, perhaps more, than did the
success of Fulton, though steam power had
been speculated upon since the time Of the
famous Marquis of Worcester. What are to be
its positive and actual consequences is already
the subject Of profound inquiry among reflect
ing as well as learned men. In the first place
we are all struck with the extreme simplicity of
the agent employed, electricity-tamiliar to
man in its effects in all ages Of the world,
but row seized upon and controlled by him
to obey his will, register his thoughts, and
to communicate them with speed surpsss-
ing that of the most swiftly revolving planets.
So the production and control of steam derived
from water, the simplest of elements, by the
application of heat, the simplest Of agents, and
by which immense powers have been created.
far exceed any other invention of mechanical
nature hitherto known to us. The simplicity Of
first causes strikes every one with establishment,
and the tendency of science in its daily deve-
Opponents is but to show the action of the same
simplicity in the origin Of most of the sub
stances familiar and necessary to man.
1t is curious thought that probably the
great Creator of the universe watches with in
terest, if not pleasure, the progress Of human
intellect, its approach, though still at an infinite
distance, to His own attributes-doubtless with
pity, too, that the moral improvement of our
nature does not 60 on with equal rapidity,
when we are not left to grope in darkness or
experiment in uncertainty, since We have a
clear revelation of His will and His designs.
No less curious is the fact that by human in
genuiiy the natural obstacles to the communi-
cation Of thought interposed by seas, continents
and distance are now obviated, and the chrome
logy of events in respect to apparent time, by
which the world has always regulated its move
ments and preserved its records, is at once
changed; so that what happens in any place to
the eastward Of another is known at the latter
before it has, in the order of time, occurred at
the former one.
The first great uses Of the Atlantic telegraph
will, undoubtedly, be made by commercial men !;
their material interests will first be considered
The newspapers will make financial and CONNER
cial movements an early and constant subject of
their dispatches. The arrival and departure Of
steamers and sailing ships, on which the for.
tunes and lives Of 30 many Of our race daily
and hourly depend, will be particularly noticed.
The quotations Of the prices Of gold and silver
the universal medium-will be sought for, since
by these the necessity or the advantage of
specie shipments is easily determined. Balances
will be changed at a moments requirement
from one place of Judgement to another, and
pecuniary credit may lie promptly sustained in
many cases where delay and uncertainty are
the only causes Of its loss. During the recent
CONFUSION In the money market II would have
saved many house from ruin If they could
have known, at the critical moment, how
and where their funds or capital could be
reached or changed in their employment, or
instantly placed to meet an emergency. All
funds and all exchangeable values in Europe
and the United States will henceforward be SO
situated with regard to each other that il will
be practically as If they were all at one place
and subject TO the control of one mind, no mat
tti hOn huCh PiAtSipoAS may DN ophi ltm
each other. The prices Of natural and artificial
products must also necessarily approximate 10
a greater equality. They can only be made
chargeable with q regular commission and the
cost Of transportation II -four grows scarce in
England it will be publicly known OF 80
early day that the supplies will be directed
there with the greatest rapidly. This certain
a. ,r,l1 ~
equitable distribution 10 consumers before they
suffer privation. The rick Of mourning loss on
shipments will become unnecessary, for what
person would send cargo Of -four OF cotton to
Liverpool to day when the telegraph announc-
cd TO him that IL was not then bringing the
prices il bore at New York. BY steamer or
packet there was always delay enough to leave
speculator in doubt, ifnot to encourage his rash
ness We imagine that there will arise moneyed
institutions solely connected with exchange
and disconnected with ordinary banking trans
actions, into which the great moneyed balances
Of foreign trade and commerce will be placed
for security, subject to order through the tele-
graph. The unfaithfulness Of factors and agents
will SO far, then, be confined in extent to the
amounts which they are permitted to retain in
their hands. The proceeds Of sales will at once
60 into the safe keeping Of these institutions,
who will demand small premium for their ser
vices Thus commerce will be conducted by
well krown and simple rules, without that in
cessant fuctuation which follows uncertainty
ignorance of ruling prices and unfaithfulness Of
agents or distant partners. In the same cate
CORY the other industrial pursuits Of men will
be found, all keeping step to the music of the
common chorus, and the moral effect upon trade
win he to divest IL of that trickery, conceament
and subterfuge which have been the basis of toe
many III gotten fortunes This is what we deem
viii be the first principal result Of the new trans