Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-08-24
THE RICHMOND ENQUIRER.
THE OCEAN TELEGRAPH.

across the ocean is worthy OF notice, and subtsc
for congratuiaton, We have not been able TO VOL
ourselves up TO the enthusiasm of Northern breib
rem. They seem 10 be wild with joy. frantic VIII
ecstasy, kinding into hanes, burning into cindeTs
rapt inspired. We look around our friends seen
to be tame, our people hardly appear to be animate
they 20 about their usual avocstions with listnes'
ness and indifference truly amazing. considering u
condition of the people the other side OF MASON III
DiIon's line We 70 about the streets in our South'
ern Cities every thing seems to be as usual ooa.'o
wheat, -four, cotton and gusno, are vending then
way slowly along, up and down. ana the very inu''
ZAP their ears in the common way, nothing caring
and az if nothing had happened. People 20 10 arc
fro or as Democratic friend OF ours used to say PFC
And CON- and give themselves very little uneasine
about the cable the cires, The ship The great men al
each end of the line who looked at 1t, took hold OF It.
worked it, or those who were engaged IN paying u
out of the shps and in the thousand aVocaons neces
sary to its successful operation.
But, on the other eide Of the great dividing line b.
tween the North and South, men are going by light.
ming; as one of our Charleston contemporaries has IT,
"tbsir efusions are pitched on too high key of er-
thu.iastic triumph" Cannons fired, illumnstiors
49,
march of the torch light procession adds to the enjoy
ment and hsrty, bells SIZE ringing and altogether a.
much noise is made is consistent with the preser-
walton Of the great Yankee tympsnum The truth
10 they are at a loss TO know how TO indulge their
e1travsgant anticpa.ions of glorious results Town
meetings are convened, committees appointed,
orators work themselves into frenzied rejoiciugs
aud the people are worked up into correspond
ing Mysteries. They soar slott with suohma-
ted rhetoric, and scarce utter the most
common place ideas without using grandiloquent
language We see at some Of the town meet
ipys it was unanimously resolved to procure torches
and to agree upon a programme" alt was also
unanimously resolved to turn out at night N hats and
belts" We should not have been at ai surprised II
they had resolved with equal unanimity to turn out
without hats and TO appear in the Georgia uniform
OF shirt collar and pair Of spurs"
Seriously, we think our friends are making too
much fuss about the Telegraph 1t may be OF i'm
mense advantage to the world, if properly managed
but who knows how it is to be managed, or to what
uses 1t may be applied Some think it IL the inauen
ration of the Millennium and that tits the haroinger
Of etersal peace between nations. We can imagine
that il may be made the instrument Of fermentlDg
discord between kindred nations, and may itself be-
como the subject Of mighty war. We can imagine
Il may be the instrument by which immense wealth
may be accumulated and We can foresee how it may
induce undue specuations. whereby untold misery
and distress may be the consequence. Who can tell
what may be the evil which a lie sped scross the
wires may produced 1t may be speedily corrected
by the TRUTH bat at the termini Of the wires the l'e
may Do taken up by the steam horse where the wires
extend not and disseminated 10 the slow coaches and
slower mails, and the mischief may be done long BE-
fore the remedy can be applied. Lac managers at
both ends OF the line will bs men, with human ends
to accomplish self nteres. TO promote, liable to oe
worked upon like the machines they work, and to
get out of order like them sometimes wanting little
oil to lubrcate the springs, sometimes little more
huid 10 make the current strong. Sometimes govern
ments will have peculiar objects to accomplish, Al
variance with the wishes Of other governments and
nesns will be resored to 10 carry out those objects
Then these must be tLwaite1 and corn'eracted, and
il agents will not agree, force inust be appec'
sod force must be met by orce and what Then
Other lines must be established. One line 10 Il
monopoly. The charges arc neutrality-suspicious.
must be encouraged. Different sources OF Knowledge
yield different Information, and good and evil result
a. from all other things. No doubt the telegraph il
great invention. l, has produced great resute, and
il |, likely 10 produce greater still; but We are die
posed to take things calmly-to look upon them,
it may be, coo!ly-,o phosophise little, TO examine
PATIENTLY, and wait Tor results We are not disposed
TO 90 off, like sky rocket, with great whz and
bright light, and come down broken stick. Take
il as an established fact that the telegraph is entirely
successful, that the transmission OF words is effected,
sor the whole distance, al the rate Of word mi
mute, how many persons in England and America
osu use it each day Suppose that dollar word is
charged for the transmission will pay at that rate
II it will, how many afford to use the luxury, at
that price Why should ring the bells, and fire
great guns, and illuminate our houses, and march in
torch light proceesions, and burn Roman candles, and
send up rockets and rack brains to frame devices
for banners aud for windows, because one hundred
persons, at the utmost, out Of many mons, may,
perchance, send some message from one continent
to the other when that message perchance may bs to
the injury Of thousands we'll tho benefit Of other
thoasandsl Lord, send down thy rain," prays one
man, "for il will benefit me-" Lord, withhold thy
rain" prays another, for il will ruin me-" The
Lord knows what to do; but what mortal can tell what
may be the result flowing from any message he sends'
The best disposed person writes message, and thinks
it too plan for cav Who knows what construction
others will give to his language
We have been led almost into nioralzing. from
seeing the into which Northern neghbors
seem to be led, think, in their rejoicing the
success Of the Telegraph enterprise. We are glad to
hat in tha vaf oil I'm md -
We, the South, are called excitable and laughed
at because We become furious upon an abstraction
This may be so, but when we are excited, We thitk
at least that the abstraction contains vital principle
which affects vital interests We have seen line upon
line of telegraphs, put up and working on the lard
and while we admit there ia more difficulty in LAYING
sucb length of cable in an unbelievable ocean VET
We feel that il ia but carrying out the same principles
by an exertion of strong human power and energy,
and cannot see for such ecsascs such delft
cation Of indvduals such Juror generally in relation
TO every thing animate and inanimae connected with
the affair. 1t may be leaf in the book of civil
izstion, and may tend to Chrstianzs and humanize
the World, and as such we ore disposed to read il
eslmy and ponder on lite contenis
ARMY MOVEMENTS
LEAvEiWoRTH, August 1.-Two companies OF
the second infantry arrived here yesterday from Fort
Scott, and will be forwarded Immediately to Fort
Randall. Shermen's battery march overland to Min.
nesots forthwith.
4 train is organizing in the Quartermaster's
department at Fort Leavenworth to proceed TO For,
Smith, Arkansas, to form part OF Lieutenant Bealr'i
expedition.
NAVAL.
The frigate Sabine will sail from New York TO day
morrow In rali fht
~. Lawrencs, which vessel went in commission ir
September, 1885, aud ia of course two years out
The Sabine ia TO he the flag 81 OF the squadron ano
10 commanded by Commander Thorburn. SIZE has
crew OF Tour hundred ssiors and fifty marines.
FROM WASHINGTON.
WAsHtNaToE, Aug. 2O.-The President afts, co,
federation. has confirmed the appointment of NJ