New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-07-30
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.


1t is announced that the Atlantic telegraph
is laid and that the supreme exertion and
indefatigeble perseverance which have been
bestowed on this gigantic enterprise are, at
last, crowned with success. The event. unless
its results be transient like those Of the at
tempt Of 1858. constitutes real epoch in the
history Of the world. It is an era like those
marked by the cannon Of Creey, Guttenberg's
printing press, the discovery of America, Full
tons steamboat, and stevenson's locomotive,
It is the triumphant answer which positive
science gives to the sceptieal c,a bono of those
who are SO apt to decry the aspirations Of
4 genius and the triumphs of intellect If the
enthusiasm of the public now is not compare
1ble with the excitement which attended the
/ supposed success of the effort of 1868, the de-
ficiencyis not by any means owing to a lack
| of interest in the enterprise, or diminished
estimate of its importance. 1t may have lost
the charmof novelty, but it is not the less re-
garded rs the most magnificent triumph of the
current half Of our century In 1858, when the
western end of the cable was attached to the
American shore, an intense enthusiasm seemed
to thrill the whole of our population I'm
posing demonstrations in honor of the event
were got up in the principal cities process
sions, dinners and balls were given in its
honor; eongratulatory messages were flashed
from one end of the country to the other and
President Buchanan exchanged friendly greet
ing with Queen Victoria The mysterious
De sauty. for few days, piqued the curiosity
OF the public by issuing Delphic bulletins
but soon the submarine current grew weak
and De sauty's utterances became correspond
ingly oracular and brief Finally, insulation
ceased, and De Sauty relapsed into
chronic Teticence The cable was dead m
the popular mind De Sauty became sort az
telegfaphic myth, and it was even limited that
the telegraph really had never worked at all
These suspicious were, probably, unjust.
There can be but little doubt that the cable
had actually transmitted telegraphie mes,
aages, and the demonstration Of this fact to
those who directed the project, remained
perpetual fountain Of hope and confidence of
subsequent success If the present enter
prise result in the establishment of perraa-
nent telegraphic communication between the
two continents, twill be "a perpetual monu-
nent to the irreprassible faith, and energy of
It's projectors.
The expedition which has just crossed tine
Atlantic is the fifth attempt Of the kind The
first was made in The summer of 1857. The
cable was coiled half on board me United
States steamship Niagara and half on the
British steamer Agamemnon, They began 10
lay il in mid-ocean on the 26th of June, tbe
Niegara proceeding toward the American
coast, she'Agamennon toward Ireland. After /,
the wire had three times broken, the attemnt
was given up. The following August il was '
renewed on a different plan The shore end
vas made fast at Yalentia Bay and the Nj !,
lgara began paying out on the 9TH, the pur- o
9ose being that the Asyamemnon should begin
operations when the Nisgara had exhausted
Ter half Of the cable. On She 18th, after 1856 b
niles had been laid, the wire broke again. Il