The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-09-23
The Success or the Great Eastern-A
Revolution ia Trade and War,


On the 9TH OF September the Great Eastern
steamship started on her FIRST ocean voyagc-a
voyage which Is to inaugurate u revolution in
navigation, trade and intercourse between the
world-scattered members Of the human family.
Her passage down the Thames and her first
breasting Of the ocean wave have demon
straied the truth of the principles involved in
her construction, and, whether her career be
cut of by accident or not, have dissipated
every lingering doubt that may have hung
around the idea Of navigating the ocean m
ships sufficiently large TO be impassive to the
oceans roll. While descending the Thames
the mighty mass was as perfectly under con
troll. and as docile To command. as the staed
that knows his rider; and when the fair course
of ocean was opened to her, she gave at once
proof that in speed she surpassed everything
that is afoat We are not surprised at
these results, for we had confidently
anticipated them. Whoever has watched
the development Of the power Of man
over matter during the last quarter of a
century-and all who are in active life can
every enterprise that characterizes our age has
been received with doubt, and that many Of
the things now most common among us were
not long since looked upon a. dreams Of crack
Drained enthusiasts.
A river steamer was Knocked by every one
but Fulton and Livingston since the present
century began Twenty miles an hour on a
railroad was secuted as rushing breathless 10
utter destruction at still later period The
building of the Great Western, TO inaugurate
ocean steam navigation, was looked upon as
creating an instrument utterly beyond the ca
and even the possibility of ocean steam nayi-
cation was doubted For urging the construc-
ton of an electric telegraph Morse was held
to be visionary theorist. The Atlantic cable
is still looked upon by many as an unattain-
able project, and until yesterday millions
believed that the Great Eastern would
never leave the Thames. Capitalists re-
fused to advance money on her, selfcon-
fident men of science laughed at her,
underwriters refused to insure on her.
and the world generally are inclined to believe
that men and goods enough to fill her will not
be found as yet. But there are men of larger
grasp of mind than the selfsatisfed multitude.
and these persevered in putting steamboat on
the Hudson, in running railcar twenty miles
an hour, in getting the Great Western out of
the dock at Bristol, in running a wire from
Washington to Baltimore, in laying cable
from Europe to America, and in sending the
Great Eastern to sea. Most of these are al
ready looked upon as old fogies,r as "men
behind the times" and as :" slow coaches' for
the present fast age. Yet each of them. in the
midst of disheartening doubt and opposition,
inaugurated a material revolution in the minds
Of men, which is already SO complete that the
present generation wonders how those old fools.
our fathers, got along without steam, railroads,
telegraphs and big ships.
1t is not difficult to see in the aggregate al
though the details are hidden to us, the revolu-
ton that the Great Eastern is to achieve. Her
ultimate destination is to run from England to
the Antipodes. This of itself will bring the
two hundred millions of civilized men who live
into Intimate contact with the six hundred
millions of barbarians who reside on the shores
of the Indian and Pacific oceans. Commerce
will soon attain such gigantic proportions un-
der this new Development that the Great East
ern, as with the Great Western, will be put
aside before her life is ended, on some out of the
way route, as too small and slow for the wants
of trade and travel. Cities that are now looked
upon as monsters will grow in like proportion.
If Sandy Hook is too shallow for the entrance
of the worlds new carriers, New York will turn
round and sit itself down on the other end of
Manhattan Island, pairing away the headands
OF the Sound and the rocky pass of He'll Gate.
The apprenticeship Of ocean steam navigation.
which has just ended on the Atlantic. will
bloom into maturity on the Pacific Empires
VIII grow up on its shores, and the cry that is
already beginning to be heard in few places
will resound throughout the earth-men. more
men, 10 III Inc son. TO delve the mine, to plough
the deep, to build empires, Nations will be
moved to and fro, the races mingled. and the
power of the earth rest where man il most FREQ
and his energies most untramelled.
In war, as in commerce, the revolution will
be equally great The ocean will cease to be
safeguard. A feet Of steamships, each Of
which can carry ten thousand men, with river
steamers hung at their davits, and able to cross
the ocean in five or seven days, can invade any
country and overthrow any empire. They can
choose their point of attack with impunity, lie
off at sea and send their light steamers into any
river and srry their armies to any distant
point at win. All this must change the nature
9fwag and commerce, OF rather it will hasten