The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-09-09
THE TIMES ON THE TELEGRAPH.
What it Thinks Of the Feat Aecomplishsd-Fresh
and Stronger Powers for the British Govern.
ment Expected Thereby.
From the London Times.

From the London Times.
BY a chain of electric communication, ex
tending from Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, to
this metropolis, we are infor med that the last
attempt to lay the Atlantic telegraph has sue.
ceeded, and that the Old and New Worlds are
actually linked together by the magnetic wire
The intelligence is 80 much the more gratifying
as we have been led, in common with the rest
of the public-and surely not without very
plausible reason-to something like despair
not indeed of the ultimate success of the under
taking, but Of its success with the existing ma.
chinery, and under conditions apparently SO
unfavorable. 1t was not unnatural to appre
bend that q cable which had parted at the bot
tom of the sea, and again within few feet Of
tho stern of the vessel that was paving it ont
would never be stretched in safety across the
Atlantic. But the feat has been accomplished
and the relish of the surprise is only the greater
from previous disappointment and uncertainty
Although the weather was unfavorable, the
cable seems to have been paid out with the
greatest regularity, the quantity of cable dis
charged from the two ships being the same
every day, within ten miles. On the first two
days, the amount paid out from each ship was
about 40 nautical miles, or at the rate of be-
tween i've and six miles an hour. On the Isl
OF August, each ship paid out ITO nautical
miles, or at the rate of seven nautical miles an
hour. On the second, this rate was increased
to seven nautical miles and 6veeighths, 40 tina,
the result seems to show that q greater speed
can be attained with safety than had been cal.
culated on. We are told that there are good
signals between the chips, but of course we wait
with much anxiety more precise information as
to the rapidity of communication that has been
maintained.
We sincerely congratulate the promoters OF
this great enterprise upon the triumphant sue.
cess by which, after SO many delays and disap.
pointments, they have been rewarded. 1t is
difficult suddenly to realize the magnitude OF
the event which has just taken place; the &C.
complement of this mighty feat comes upon
rs, not in the gradual and tentative manner in
which most scientific exploits have been per-
formed, but with rapidity worthy of the agent
which 1t employs. The steam engine, the other
great discovery of our time, has been perfected
little by little, and one can exactly say when it
was that each of the triumphs which it has sue
cessively achieved became possible. Practice
was 80 far ahead of theory, that high scientific
authorities argued strongly against the possi.
bility of results, and were not refuted BY coun.
ter arguments, but by the accom- plishment of
those very results, the possibility Of which thew
had denied. With the Atlantic telegraph, it
has been just the contrary. Theory had shown
the practicability of the line, but practice
Jagged infinitely behind it. Instead of proceed.
ing by slow degrees, the projectors have leapt
at once to gigantic success.
We believe we are correct in stating that
500 miles of telegraph have never before been
laid under water, and yesterday we
received intelligence that communication is
fully established beneath 1000 miles of stormy
ocean, under superintendent mass of water.
the depth of which may be calculated in miles.
Only now, when it has succeeded, are we able
fully to realize the magnitude and the hardi.
hoQd Of the enterprise. Over what Jagged
md9ntain ranges is that slender thread folded !;
in Shst deep oceanic valleys does it rest, when
the flash that carries the thought of man from
one continent to another darts along the wire !;
through what strange and unknown regions
among things uncouth and wild, must it thread
its way 1t brings up tidings from the vast
abyss, but not of the abyss itself, but of men
like ourselves who dwell beyond.
Since the discovery of Columbus, nothing has
been done In any degree comparable to the
vast enlargement which has thus been given to
the sphere of human activity. We may, now
that this, the most difficult problem of ali has
been solved, be justified in anticipating that
there Is no portion of the earth's surface which
may not be placed in. immediate communica.
ton with Us. We know that we have in our
hands the means of q practical ubiquity. Dis
lance as ground OF uncertainty will be elimi.
mated from the calculation of the statesman
and the merchant. 1t is no violent presump.
ton to suppose that within a very short period
We shall be able to present to our readers every
morning intelligence of what happened the day
before IN every quarter OF the globe. The Ad.
miralty will know to within a few miles the
position OF every ship in her Maiesty's service.
The intelligence of Csffre war or an Indian
mutny will reach Us before the first blood that
has been shed is cold, and we shall be able to
economize the whole time consumed BY the
ordinary vehicles of intelligence.
we see with not unnatural satisfaction that
the advantage of the discovery will be the great.
est to those countries the possessions of which
are the most remote, and therefore that Eng.
land has more to gain than any of her rivals.
More was done yesterday for the consolidation
OF our Empire than the wisdom of our states.
men, the iberality of our Legislature, or the
loyalty of our colonsts, could ever have effected.
Distance between Canada and England is ami
hilated. For the purposes of mutual communi.
cation and of good understanding, the Atlantic
is dried up, and we become, in reality, as well
as in wish, one country. Nor can any one re-
gard with indifference the position in which the
Atlantic Telegraph has placed Us in regard to
the great American Republic. 1t has half nm.
done the Declaration of l776, and gone far TO
make as one again, in spite of ourselves-one
people. 10 the ties OF common blood, lam
guage, and religion, to the intimate association
in businesssand complete sympathy on 40
many subjects, is now added the faculty of in.
Simultaneous communication, which must give
to all these tendencies to unity an intensitv
which they never before could possess.
We are most happy that it has fallen to the
lot of this country to carry out an enternr;se in
which human nature is 30 deeply interested. in
concert with the only other nation ON the
globe in which the fame of Science is famed
and kept alive by the breath of Freedom. Let
those who are assembled at Cherboure to cele.
brate another development in the art Of destruc.
ton, and to tefe the Inauguration of fortress,
avowediy designed to threaten the independence
and prosperity of these islands, reflect on the
true nature OF the enterprise which has thus
been executed, and tarn from the contempla.
ton of Science degraded into the handmade Of
slaughter and devastation, to Scien ca applied "a
her legitimate Office, as the conciliator. the ben
efactress, and the enlightener of the whole hu
man race. a military monarchy haa created
Cherbourg I; political freedom and commercial
enterprise have made the Atlantic Telegraph
and they have nothing to blush for in the com
parison.
There are forty-six persons in England whs
have incomes OF 245O,00O a year, (eoual e
two millions and quarter dollars,) while foul
hundred and forty.iour persons have income
ranging from fifty to two hundred and fft,
thousand dollars year, and eight hundred an;
eleven from twenty-five to fifty thousand. Ii
Ireland there is but one person who has an in
come OF upwards of two hundred ard fifty thou