The Two Worlds United
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THE TWO WORLDS UNITED.
At last the great problem is solved. The Old World and teh New are united. The great Atlantic Telegraph1 enterprise, notwithstanding the doubts of teh croakers and the sneers of the unbelieving, has gloriously succeeded, and all doubt are forever set at rest as to the practicability of spanning the world with telegraphic wire—of joining Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia together by the electric current.
In the midst of this great triumph we cannot help thinking that the Queen's Message, which was received by the President, via Trinity Bay, last evening, and duly passed on to the Capital, was utterly unworthy of the grandeur of the occasion—reminding us more of a mere form of words, such as is supplied by a "Complete Letter Writer," than such a grand sentiment as was expected to signalize this most extraordinary event in modern history. The disappointment felt by the people is deep and heartfelt. They were brimming over with excitement and enthusiasm, and the cold formal message of the lady who is now the representative of English royalty, chilleed them with a peculiar sense of its inappropriateness. If the communication had been sent in answer to an invitation to a public dinner or a ball, it could not have been more formal, stiff and disappointing than it is. That this was so, the entire press this morning united in agreeing, and the explanation given this afternoon in another column, though it helps matters along a good deal, is still not exactly what was expected.
The reply of the President is better—commonplace enough, in all conscience—but still sufficiently significant for the occasion, and by the side of Her Majesty's frigid "message" really appears in a most favorable contrast. Upon the whole, it is altogether too good for the "message," both in style and tone. It seems to have been an enormous stretch of condescension of the part of "Victoria Regina" to communicate with the foremost man and chosen head and representative of America at all, even upon an occasion like the present. Doubtless the people of our America must be highly flattered by the information that Her Majesty felt "the deepest interest" in this great work, which is destined to revolutionize the world, to establish, as the Directors on the other side said, "Peace on earth and good-will to man," and to accomplish such mightly results as have not yet been dreamed of by the most sanguine. The chilliness of the dispatch is truly refreshing in this August weather. Perhaps, however, we ourselves have not much to boast of. Neither despatch was quite worthy of the occasion.
But, at all events, our doubt are now set at rest, once and forever, as to the practicability of communicating across the Atlantic. In the grandeur of this greatest achievement of the Nineteenth Century, let us forget everything minoR and petty, and think only of the immensity of the work that has been accomplished. Let all honor be paid to the originators of the enterprise who have carried it out to such a triumphant and successful conclusion. Let a generous and large-hearted recognition be made on the part of the public to those who have persevered to the end, amid doubt and danger, amid sneers and suspicions on the part of the conceited doubters who, from the beginning have thrown cold water on the grand undertaking. The great achievement is at all events recognized in its true light by the people of both countries. Over the mighty Atlantic Sacon extends the hand of amity to Saxon. The two branches of the all-conquering race that is always progressing and extending its power and influence, whether in the icy Arctic and Antarctic or in the tropical heats of India—which is the foremost race of all the earth—which is first in war, first in peace, first in all the beautifying and civilizing arts—which holds the destinies of the earth in its control—now are one in fact, as they have all along been in spirit, and as the lightening flashes from shore to shore, they mentally look into each others honest eyes and strike palms together in friendly greeting. Thank Heaven for this great boon to the human race—thank Heaven for this assurance—for it is an assurance—that misunderstandings and wars, and rumors of wars, are at an end between the mother-country and us. Beneath the Atlantic wave lies a chord of communication which, please God, will vibrate forever with the peaceful messages of commerce, the lightning-winged words of the press, and the thousand anxious queries of individual affection as to the health and happiness of the absent and the loved. We need add no more. The simple fact itself, that time and space are annihilated by man's inventive power and the at the whole world may "reason together" without the aide of palpable agencies is so sublime, that all commentary seems impertinent. It is useless for us to speculate as to the ultimate effects of this grand achievement. The two peoples, hereafter to be forever one, will work out the problem for themselves.
Notes:
1. The Atlantic Telegraph line was laid under the Atlantic Ocean in 1858 by Cyrus West Field and the Atlantic Telegraph Company, formed in 1856. The Atlantic Telegraph was meant to increase communication between Europe and North America in a shorter amount of time. The 1858 line was ultimately unsuccessful, as it only operated for about three weeks until it failed. [back]