The Cable Again
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THE CABLE AGAIN.
After suffering the public on this side to remain in ignorance for a month of the condition of the Cable,1 while regular reports were being transmitted from Valencia to England, the Directors have broken silence by calling on the oracular DeSanty for explicit information, which has been given in the following terms, which strangely contrast with his previous message that the Cable was in complete working order:
We have received nothing intelligible from Valentia since the first of September, excepting feeling a few signals yesterday, I cannot mend anything to Valentia. There has been very little variation in the electrical manifestations.
It seems to us as if the American public had been hoaxed about the Cable. We do not mean to deny that the Cable was laid in the first instance, and that intelligible messages were received and sent through it; but o when the communication was interrupted and even totally suspended, the fact was concealed, so as to allow, (as we cannot but think) of the directors and other privy to the fact selling out before the public in general got wind of the trouble, and the price of the shares fell in consequence. We cannot avoid thinking that the same game has been played with the Cable as is said to be carried on at the Paris Bourse—the parties behind the scenes, becoming possessed of information withheld from the public, being enabled to foresee rises and falls of stock, buy and sell shares accordingly, and thus accumulate fortunes at the expense of the uninformed outsiders.
If this dishonest policy has been pursued by the Directors, Electricians, or any others connected with the Cable, the fact not only stamps the individuals with disgrace, but tends to cast a shadow of disrepute upon an enterprise over the success of which the public have rejoiced, as the great event of the age.
With regard to the ultimate availability of the Cable for transatlantic communication, we entertain still a strong hope, founded on the assumption that the injury to it is near the Irish shore, and capable of reparation. At any rate, the success already achieved has been sufficient to demonstrate the practicability of connecting the two continents by a stronger and better adapted cable, at some future time.
Notes:
1. The Transatlantic Telegraph was the first cable connection between the United States and Europe, built by Cyrus West Field and the Atlantic Telegraph Company. It sent its initial message—a note from the British Queen—in 1858 and, although the cable spanning from Canada's Trinity Bay to Ireland was only in operation for three weeks, had a major impact on transatlantic relations of the antebellum period. [back]