The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-09-22
Letter From Hon. William 81 ade
MIDDIEBNRY, August 81, 1858.


health will not permit my attendance on
the celebration of the laying of the At
lantic Gable, upon the invitation your
Committee of Arrangements, have been
kind enough to extend to me. Nothing
could give me greater pleasure than to
mingle in your assembly and catch its in
spiration. l would like to stand up in
the midst of it, and thank God that L
have lived to see this day, when there is
such an accumulation of evidence that the
forces of nature are to be progressively
developed for the use of man.
How short time it is since Steam and
Electricity were wholly unknown, as
agents capable of being subjected, by hu-
man skill, to the purposes OF human i'm
provement. For sixty centuries they lay
hidden among natures secrets-the one
attracting no notice - the other known
only as an agent Of terror and destruction.
Now, both are among the most managa-
BILE and bene6cient agents in the work of
human progress.
How interesting it is to mark the be-
ginning, and the progress of the applica-
tion of Electricity to the purpose of coD-
veying thought Franklin brought it from
the clouds, and disarmed i. of its teTrors
But Franklin with his far-reaching sa-
gacity, did not dream of what we now
witness, or have even the faintest concep-
ton of the great idea which has been ex-
panded to this result. He tanned the
lightning" That was his mission. The
electric fluid could be controlled. 1t
could be conducted harmless to the earth.
But to what other purpose it could be
controlled, was yet to be discovered
Long years elapsed, and the great discov-
cry burst upon the world Morse said
that thought, clothed in ineligible lam
guage, could be sent through this agency
to distant points. With what universal
incredulity was this received. | well re-
member his appearance at Washington,
sixteen years ago, with the announcement,
accompanied by an urgent request for an
appropriation by Congress to enable him
to open telegraphic communication be-
tween Washington and Baltimore. He
was regarded as visionary. He said
Here, look at my experiment, and be
convinced and, forthwith, he extended
wire from the ante-room of the Senate
| Chamber TO committee room in the 9TH
er end of the capital, and said" l will
stand at one end of the wire, and you,
doubling NJ C's. at the other end, shall
see whether cannot receive and answer
your questions.
1t was done. Communications were sent
and answered. Wise men rolled up their
eyes in wonder. Demonstration succeed
ed to doubt. They were convinced.
What followed everybody knows. Posts
were erected wire was extended Wash
ington and Baltimore were connected !;
and the nation was astonished with the
intelligence that thought was flashing
with lightning speed, through the forty
miles between the two cities. This was
accomplished, 1 think, in 1S43. Fifteen
years have elapsed, and behold the Ipes-
tern Continent is speaking 10 me East
ern, q distance of noo hovsand miles,
through the atlantic Ocean
To this stupendous result, have enter
prise and perseverance carried the great
discovery, within this short period.
Oceans are no longer, barriers to the in
stantaneous communication of thought.
We no longer stand despairing upon the
Atlantic coast, saying-here is a barrier
that cannot be passed steam can shorten
the distance, but lightning can never anni-
hilate it. A few brave men, with CYRUS
W. FIELD at their head, in the true YAM
kee spirit. said" II ran be done! At
any rate, we will try." They have tried ;
and, in face of obstacles that tested, to
the utmost, their faith and patience, they
have carried the trial to a triumphant
success. What no prophet dared predict
fifteen years ago, has come TO pass. The
question is settled. Thought is to fash
through the widest oceans, and the entire
world is to be bound together by a net
work of telegraphic wires.
While we take our stand on this sud-
denly reached elevation, and survey with
wonder the past, we look to the future
with anxious expectation. What inn
provements are to be ingrafted on the
principle, which has brought out the great
result now celebrated 7 We are far from
the end. The means have been found ol
insulating a wire two thousand miles long
| 81 Ia nina, - ot tho haitian of tha 0caan