Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-08-23
From the London Times.
The Atlantic telegraph.

The Atlantic Telegraph
We sincerely congratulate the promoters of
this great enterprise upon the triumphant
success by which, after so many delays and
disappointments, they have been rewarded.
1t is difficult SO suddenly to realize the mag
nitude of the event which has just taken
place the accomplishment of this mighty feat
comes upon us not in the gradual and tenta-
tive manner in which most scientific exploits
have been performed, but with a rapidity
worthy of the agent which it employs. The
steam engine, the other great discovery of our
time, has been perfected little by little, and
no one can exactly say when it was, that each
of the triumphs which it has successfully
achieved became possible. Practice was so
far ahead of theory, that high scientific au-
thorities argued strongly against the possbili-
ty of results and were not refuted by counter
arguments, but by the accomplishment Of
those very results, the possibility of which
they had denied. With the Atlantic telegraph
it has been just the contrary. Theory had
shown the practcability of the line but prac.
tice Jagged infinitely behind it. Instead of
proceeding by slow degrees the projectors
have leaped at once to gigantic success. We
believe we are correct in stating that five
hundred miles of telegraph have never before
been successfully laid under water, and yes
terday we received intelligence that a COM
munication is fully established beneath two
thousand miles of stormy ocean, under a su-
perincumbent mass of water, the depth of
which may be calculated in miles. Only
now, when it has succeeded, are we able full
ly to realize the magnitude and the hardihood
of the enterprise. Over what jagged noun
tain ranges is that slender thread folded in
what deep oceanic valleys does it rest, when
IL L - Al L.
from one continent to another darts along the
wire through what strange and unknown
regions, among things how uncouth and wild,
must it thread its way 1t brings us up It'd
ings from tie vast abyss, but not of the abyss
itself, but of men like ourselves who dwell be-
yond.
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
all, has been solved, be justified in anticipat-
ing that there is no portion of the earth's sur
face, which may not be placed in immediate
communication with us. We know that we
have in our hands the means of practical
ubiq uity. Distance, as a groSnd of uncer-
tainty, will be eliminated from the calculation
of the statesman and the merchant. 1t is no vio-
lent presumption 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 admiralty will know, to
within a few miles, the position of every ship
in her Majesty's service. The intelligence of
Cafre war or an Indian mutiny will reach
us before the first blood that has been shed is
cold, and we shall be able to economist the
whole time consumed by the ordinary vehi-
Giles of intelligence. We see, with not I'M
natural satisfaction, that the advantage of the
discovery will be the greatest to those coun-
tries the possessions of which are the most
remote, and, therefore, that England 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 liberality of our Legislature, or the
loyalty of our colonIsts, could ever have eff
fected. Distance between Canada and Eng
land is annihilated. For the purposes of mu-
tual communication and of good understand
ing, the Atlantic is dried up and we become,
in reality as well as in wish, one country.
Nor can any one regard with indifference the
position in which the Atlantic Telegraph has
placed as, in regard to the great American
Republic. 1t has itself half undone the Decar-
alton of l775, and gone far to make us once
again. in spite of ourselves one people. To
the ties OF a common blood, language, and
religion, to the legitimate association in bust
ness and complete sympathy on so many
subjects, is now added the faculty of instan.
taneous communication, which must give to
all these tendencies to unity, an intensity
which they never before could possess.
We are most happy that it has fallen to the
lot of this country to carry out an enterprise
in which human nature is so deeply interest
ed, in concert with the only other nation on
the globe, in which the fame of Science is
famed aud kept alive by the breath of Free
dom. Let those who are assembled at Cher
bourg to celebrate another development in the
art OF destruction, and to fete the Inaugural
ton of fortress avowedly designed to threat
en- the independence and prosperity of these
Islands, reflect on the true nature of the en-
terprise which has thus been executed, and
turn from the contemplation of Science de-
graded into the handmade of slaughter and
devastation, to Science applied to her legiti-
mate office, as the conciliator, the beneiac-
tor, and the enlightener of the whole hui
man race. A military monarchy has created
Cherbourg; political freedom and commercial
enterprise have made the Atlantic telegraph,
and they have nothing to blush for in the
comparison.