It takes a long time to recover from a great disaster. When at last the friends of the Atlantic Telegraph were obliged to confess that the cable had ceased to work; when all the efforts of the electricians failed to draw more than a few faint whispers, a dying gasp, from the depths of the sea, there ensued in the public mind a feeling of profound discouragement. For a time this paralyzed all effort to revive the Company and to renew the enterprise. And yet the feeling, though natural, was extreme. If they had not done all they attempted, they had accomplished much. They had at least demonstrated the possibility of laying a cable across the Atlantic Ocean, and of sending messages through it. This alone was no small triumph. So men reasoned when sober reflection returned, and at length the tide of public confidence, which had ebbed so strongly, began to reflow, and once more to creep up the shores of England.

But when a great enterprise has been overthrown, and lies prostrate on the earth, the first impulse of its friends is to call on CÆsar for help. So the first appeal of the Atlantic Telegraph Company was to the British Government. It was claimed, and with reason, that the work was too great to be undertaken by private capital alone. It was a matter, not of private speculation, but of public and national concern. It was, therefore, an object which might justly be undertaken by a powerful government, in the interest of science and of civilization.

To raise capital for a new cable, it was necessary to have some better security than the hazards of a vast and doubtful undertaking. Hence the Company asked the Government to guarantee the interest on a certain amount of stock, even if the second attempt should not prove a success. With such a guarantee, the capital could be raised in London in a day.

In this application they might have been successful, but for an untoward event, which dampened the confidence of the public in all submarine enterprises—the failure of the Red Sea Telegraph. The British Government, anxious to forward communication with India, had given that Company an unconditional guarantee, on the strength of which the capital was raised, and the cable manufactured and laid. But in a short time it ceased to work, a loss which the treasury of Great Britain had to make good. To the public, which did not understand the cause of the failure to be the imperfect construction of the cable, the effect was to impair confidence in all long submarine telegraphs. Of course, after such an experience, the Government was not disposed to bind itself by such pledges again. It was, however, ready to aid the enterprise by any safe means. It therefore increased its subsidy from fourteen thousand pounds to twenty thousand pounds; and guaranteed eight per cent on six hundred thousand pounds of new capital for twenty-five years, with only one condition—that the cable should work. This was a liberal grant, and under the circumstances, was all that could be expected.

Still further to encourage the undertaking, it ordered new soundings to be taken off the coast of Ireland. These were made by Captain Hoskins, of the Royal Navy, and dispelled the fears which had been entertained of a submarine mountain, which would prove an impassable barrier in the path of an ocean telegraph.

But the greatest service which the British Government rendered, was in the long course of experiments which it now ordered, to determine all the difficult problems of submarine telegraphy. In 1859, the year after the failure of the first Atlantic cable, the Board of Trade appointed a committee of the most eminent scientific and engineering authorities in Great Britain to investigate the whole subject. This was composed of Captain Douglas Galton, of the Royal Engineers, then of the War Office, who represented the Government; Professor Wheatstone, the celebrated electrician; William Fairbairn, President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science; George Parker Bidder, whose name ranks with those of Stephenson and Brunel; C. F. Varley, who, in the practical working of telegraphs, had no superior in England; Latimer Clark and Edwin Clark, both engineers, who had had great experience in the business of telegraphing; and George Saward, the Secretary of the Atlantic Telegraph Company.

This Committee sat for nearly two years, at the end of which it made a report to the Government, which fills a very large volume, in which are detailed an immense number of experiments, touching the form and size of cables, their relative strength and flexibility, the power of telegraphing at long distances, the speed at which messages could be sent; and in fine, every possible question, either as to the electrical or engineering difficulties to be overcome. The result of these manifold and laborious experiments is summed up in the following certificate, signed by all who had taken part in this memorable investigation:

"London, 13th July, 1863.

"We, the undersigned, members of the Committee, who were appointed by the Board of Trade, in 1859, to investigate the question of submarine telegraphy, and whose investigation continued from that time to April, 1861, do hereby state, as the result of our deliberations, that a well-insulated cable, properly protected, of suitable specific gravity, made with care, and tested under water throughout its progress with the best known apparatus, and paid into the ocean with the most improved machinery, possesses every prospect of not only being successfully laid in the first instance, but may reasonably be relied upon to continue for many years in an efficient state for the transmission of signals.

Douglas Galton,
C. Wheatstone,
Wm. Fairbairn,
Geo. P. Bidder,
Cromwell F. Varley,
Latimer Clark,
Edwin Clark,
Geo. Saward."

Thus the years which followed the failure of 1858—though they saw no attempt to lay another ocean cable—were not years of idleness. They were rather years of experiment and of preparation, clearing the way for new efforts and final victory. The Atlantic Telegraph itself had been a grand experiment. It had taught many important truths which could be learned in no other way. Not only had it demonstrated the possibility of telegraphing from continent to continent, but it had been useful even in exposing its own defects, as it taught how to avoid them in the future.

For example, in working the first cable, the electricians had thought it necessary to use a very strong battery. They did not suppose they could reach across the whole breadth of the Atlantic, and touch the Western hemisphere, unless they sent an electric current that was almost like a stroke of lightning; and that, in fact, endangered the safety of the conducting wire. But they soon found that this was unnecessary. God was not in the whirlwind, but in the still, small voice. A soft touch could send a thrill along that iron nerve. It seemed as if the deep were a vast whispering gallery, and that a gentle voice murmured in the ocean caves, like a whisper in a sea-shell, might be caught, so wonderful are the harmonies of nature, by listening ears on remote continents; a miracle of science, that could give a literal meaning to Milton's

"Airy tongues, that syllable men's names
On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses."

These were also years of great progress, not only in the science of submarine telegraphy, but in the construction of deep-sea cables. In spite of the failure of that in the Red Sea, one was laid down in the Mediterranean, 1,535 miles long, from Malta to Alexandria, and another in the Persian Gulf, 1,400 miles long, by which telegraphic communication was finally opened from England to India. Others were laid in different seas and oceans in distant parts of the world. These great triumphs, following the scientific experiments which had been made, revived public confidence, and prepared the way for a fresh attempt to pass the Atlantic.

Yet not much was done to renew the enterprise until 1862. Mr. Field had been indefatigable in his efforts to reanimate the Company. He was continually going back and forth to the British Provinces and to England, urging it wherever his voice could be heard. Yet times were adverse. The United States had been suddenly involved in a tremendous war, which called into the field hundreds of thousands of men, and entailed a burden of many hundreds of millions. While engaged in this life-and-death struggle, and rolling up a mountain of debt, our people had little thought to bestow on great enterprises by land or sea.

And yet one incident of the war forcibly recalled public attention to the necessity of some speedier communication with Europe than by steam. The unhappy Trent affair aroused an angry feeling in Great Britain which nearly resulted in hostilities, all of which might have been prevented by a single word of explanation. As The Times said truly: "We nearly went to war with America because we had not a telegraph across the Atlantic." After such a warning, it was natural that both countries should begin to think seriously of the means of preventing future misunderstanding. Mr. Field went to Washington, and found great readiness on the part of the President and his Cabinet to encourage the enterprise. Mr. Seward wrote to our Minister in London that the American Government would be happy to join with that of Great Britain in promoting this international work. With this encouragement, Mr. Field went to England to urge the Company to renew the undertaking. While in London, he endeavored to obtain from some responsible parties an offer to construct and lay down a cable. Messrs. Glass, Elliot & Co., replied, declaring their willingness to undertake the work, without at first naming the precise terms. They wrote to him under date of February seventeenth:

"Sir: In reply to your inquiries, we beg to state that we should not be willing to manufacture and lay a Submarine Telegraph Cable across the Atlantic, from Ireland to Newfoundland, assuming the entire risk, as we consider that would be too great a responsibility for any single firm to undertake; but we are so confident that these points can be connected by a good and durable cable, that we are willing to contract to do the work, and stake a large sum upon its successful laying and working.

"We shall be prepared in a few days, as soon as we can get the necessary information in regard to what price we can charter suitable ships for the service, to make you a definite offer."

Although it is anticipating a few months in time, we may give here the "definite offer," which was obtained by Mr. Field, on his return to England in the autumn:

"London, October 20, 1862.

"Cyrus W. Field, Esq., Atlantic Telegraph Company:

"Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiries, we beg to state, that we are perfectly confident that a good and durable Submarine Cable can be laid from Ireland to Newfoundland, and are willing to undertake the contract upon the following conditions:

"First. That we shall be paid each week our actual disbursements for labor and material.

"Second. That when the cable is laid and in working order, we shall receive for our time, services, and profit twenty per cent on the actual cost of the line, in shares of the Company, deliverable to us, in twelve equal monthly instalments, at the end of each successive month whereat the cable shall be found in working order.

"We are so confident that this enterprise can be successfully carried out, that we will make a cash subscription for a sum of twenty-five thousand pounds sterling in the ordinary capital of the Company, and pay the calls on the same when made by the Company.

"Annexed we beg to hand you, for your guidance, a list of all the submarine telegraph cables manufactured and laid by our firm since we commenced this branch of our business, the whole mileage of which, with the exception of the short one between Liverpool and Holyhead, which has been taken up, is at this time in perfect and successful working order. The cable that we had the honor to contract for and lay down for the French Government, connecting France with Algeria, is submerged in water of nearly equal depths to any we should have to encounter between Ireland and Newfoundland.

"You will permit us to suggest that the shore ends of the Atlantic Cable should be composed of very heavy wires, as from our experience the only accidents that have arisen to any of the cables that we have laid have been caused by ships' anchors, and none of those laid out of anchorage ground have ever cost one shilling for repairs.

"The cable that we would suggest for the Atlantic will be an improvement on all those yet manufactured, and we firmly believe will be imperishable when once laid.

"We remain, sir, yours faithfully,

"Glass, Elliot & Co."

The summer of this year Mr. Field spent in America, where he applied himself vigorously to raise capital for the new enterprise. To this end he visited Boston, Providence, Philadelphia, Albany, and Buffalo—to address meetings of merchants and others. He used to amuse us with the account of his visit to the first city, where he was honored with the attendance of a large array of "the solid men of Boston," who listened with an attention that was most flattering to the pride of the speaker, addressing such an assemblage in the capital of his native State. There was no mistaking the interest they felt in the subject. They went still farther, they passed a series of resolutions, in which they applauded the projected telegraph across the ocean as one of the grandest enterprises ever undertaken by man, which they proudly commended to the confidence and support of the American public, after which they went home, feeling that they had done the generous thing in bestowing upon it such a mark of their approbation. But not a man subscribed a dollar! Yet it is not necessary to charge them with meanness or hypocrisy. No doubt they felt just what they said. They could not but admire the courage of their countryman. It was inspiring to hear him talk. Yet these solid men were never lifted off their feet so far as to forget the main chance. What were to be the returns for this magnificent adventure? Peering into the future, the prospect of dividends was very remote. In fact they looked upon the Atlantic Telegraph as a sort of South Sea Bubble, an airy fancy, which would go up like a balloon, never to return to earth again. So, like the high priest and the Levite, they passed by on the other side.

Other cities were equally gracious, equally complimentary, but equally prudent. In New York he succeeded better, but only by indefatigable exertions. He addressed the Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Brokers, and the Corn Exchange, and then he went almost literally from door to door, calling on merchants and bankers to enlist their aid. The result was, subscriptions amounting to about seventy thousand pounds, the whole of which was due to persevering personal solicitation. Even of those who subscribed, a large part did so more from sympathy and admiration of his indomitable spirit than from confidence in the success of the enterprise.

In England, however, the subject was better understood. For obvious reasons, the science of submarine telegraphy had made greater advances in that country than in ours. As England is an island, she is obliged to hold all her telegraphic communication with the continent by cables under the sea. She has colonial possessions in all parts of the world. A power that rules so large a part of the earth cannot be shut up in her island home. No one has depicted the extent of her dominion in nobler phrase than our own Webster when he speaks of the imperial sway which "has dotted the face of the whole globe with its possessions and military posts, whose morning drumbeat, following the sun and keeping company with the hours, encircles the whole earth with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of England." Was it strange that this mother of nations should reach out her long arms to embrace her distant children?

Hence it was that the subject of submarine telegraphs was so much better understood in England than in America, not only by scientific men, but by capitalists. The appeal could be made to them with more assurance of intelligent sympathy. And yet so vast was the undertaking, that it required ceaseless effort to roll the stone to the top of the mountain, and the result was not completely achieved till the beginning of the year 1864.