The Press on the Atlantic Cable
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THE PRESS ON THE ATLANTIC CABLE.
Really it is about time that we had some satisfactory news about the Atlantic Telegraph.1 As it is now the public are treated daily to the most enigmatical dispatches, of which nobody, not even the electricians here, appear to be able to make head or tail. The chief operator assures us that “signals” are constantly passing over the cable, but that no message can be transmitted. The defect is said to be in the “recording instruments,” and not in the cable itself. According to a semi-official message from St. Johns, messages have been received from Valentia Bay, but the operators on this side have not been able to send any back—it works one way, but not the other. The New York Times2 of this morning says:
If this were the case, the fact ought to be officially announced, for it would at once relieve the apprehensions that are now pretty generally entertained by the public that the cause of the non-transmission of messages is owing to some radical defect in the Cable itself.
The Tribune3 broaches a startling theory. It says:
We cannot quite suppress a painful suspicion that the cable has not been stretched fully across the Atlantic at all—that there has been no communication whatever with Valentia, and will be none till another wire shall have been laid, and more successfully than this one. We have a shuddering suspicion that our electricians have been deceived by the return to them on the cable of their own messages after the manner of an echo.
After considering several extracts from Mr. Field’s log, it repeats:
Whoever will carefully re-peruse that log can hardly fail to mark a suspicious uniformity between the signals telegraphed from the Niagara to the Agamemnon and the signals received by the former (as was supposed) from the latter. Of course, the fact that the signals are reported as having been once or twice received first from the Agamemnon bears hardly against the unwelcome theory we have suggested. But we entreat the Atlantic Telegraph Company to let the public know precisely what "communication" they have received from Valentia. We do not ask what they are like, nor what impression they make on the operators at this end, but what they precisely are.
The Herald4 says:
Where's the Queen's message? Is the insulation perfect? Will the Atlantic telegraph work? Why don't they give us the news?
And after discussing the whole subject in a two column article, comes to the conclusion that the fault lies with the electricians:
We presume, therefore, that nothing satisfactory can be expected until the Hughes or some other instrument is placed in the hands of the electricians. With an imperfect instrument Mr. Hughes at once threw Mr. Whitehouse's apparatus into the shade while experimenting through the Atlantic cable at Keyham, and having, as we believe, mastered the true theory of electro-magnetic power, and the practical working, transmission, retardation, conduction and induction, he has adapted his instruments to meet every contingency, and that to him or some other inventor yet to spring up we can only look forward for complete success, or the directors and stock-holders in the company for a practical and remunerating use of the Atlantic Telegraph.
Generally speaking, the tone of the entire press is rather despondent than otherwise as to the ultimate success of the enterprise. We were all so exultant at first that perhaps the delay that has been experienced has unduly chilled our enthusiasm and sunk our hopes below par. This should not be so. We must not be too impatient, but wait for something clearer and more definite. In the accomplishment of all great undertakings one must “learn to labor and to wait,” and while the electricians and others are performing the “labor” surely the press and the public can afford to “wait” patiently for a few days. Meantime, any hour may confirm all our highest hopes and set at rest all our doubts.
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]
2. The New-York Times was a leading daily newspaper, then published by Republican Henry Jarvis Raymond (1820–1869) but aiming for a neutral tone of reporting. Whitman contributed a number of writings to the paper. For more information, see also Walter Graffin, "New York Times," Walt Whitman: An Encyclopedia, ed. J.R. LeMaster and Donald D. Kummings (New York: Garland Publishing, 1998) and Susan Belasco, The New-York Times. [back]
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4. The New York Herald was one of the leading New York City papers during Whitman’s lifetime. It was run by James Gordon Bennett, Sr., and his son and leaned Democrat, while loudly proclaiming its political independence. It was published from 1835 to 1924. See also The New York Herald (Poems in Periodicals)." [back]