The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-12-10
The Revolutionary Power of the
Telegraph.

The Revolutionary Power Of the
Telegraph.
Among the many agencies of civil
zation which human science and skill
have developed within the present
generation, the telegraph certainly
stands pre-eminent in value and i'm
portance. It is revolution organized.
AS its operations are felt day by day
we are brought more intimately into
connection with the belief that with
out the telegraph we should be liv-
ing. as it were, in q different world
In olden times, it would have taken
month to inform us of what is
transporting in Europe. Now the in
telligence is communicated almost as
fast as thought is conceived. Take
the revolution in Spain, for instance,
which is the European event Just
now. While the leaders act in Mad
rid, Napoleon thinks and plans in
Paris-thoughts and schemes based
upon their hourly action. No wait
ing for couriers across the PyIenees,
nor even the more rapid transit OF
the railroad. A moment of time puts
the leaders of the revolution in com
munication with the man who is de-
signed at the proper time to become
the master of the revolution.
In the United States, which covers
an area nearly as large as oil Europe,
there exists an instantaneous commu-
nication of ideas from ocean to ocean,
and from the Northern frontier to
the Gulf, that pervades every bust
ness and every interest in the coun-
try. The telegraph steps in between
chques of speculators and honest
dealers, demolishing often the greedy
expectations of the former, but per-
haps as often enabling them to carry
out the most nefarious plans. It
speaks, at thousands of miles dis
tance, between the buyer and the
seller, making offers in trade and
concluding bargains. It brings Wall
street, with all its speculations, Jobs
and fuctuations and all its iniquities,
into the marts and exchanges of every
city in the Union, thus paking all
branches of commerce general and
not merely local. Between Govern.
ment and Government the inter
change is so rapid, that the public are
becoming relieved from the incubus
of official documents which it was
once necessary to peruse in order to
comprehend what was going on in
the negotiation of any international
! question. Now we know in the morn
ing exactly how Mr.. Reverdy John
son settled the Alabama claims in his
genial after-dinner fashion yesterday.
We are put in possession of the con-
dition of Lopez and his enemies, the
allies, in Paraguay, almost as soon as
they are aware of the situation them
selves; of the proclamations, militia
reviews and preparations for defence
on the part of Captain General Ler-
sundi against the Cuban revolution
lists; the election returns from the
cities and borougls of Great Britain;
how heads were broken in Drogheda
and windows were smashed in Bolton
few hours before. AS far as distance
is concerned, the telegraph places us
almost as near to Europe and Asia as
to the extremes of our own continent.
Distance has, in fact, become an ina
ginary thing. for the electric mos.
senger spans the world of space as
quickly as the brain conceives n
thought How infinitely more i'm
portant, then, is the telegraph than
railroads or all other modern means
OF communication!
Ne,o York Herald