"'We have,' said the captain, 'just accomplished a work which has attracted the attention and enlisted the interest of the whole world. That work,' he continued, 'has been performed not by ourselves: there has been an Almighty Hand over us and aiding us; and, without the divine assistance thus extended us, success was impossible. With this conviction firmly impressed upon our minds, it becomes our duty to acknowledge our indebtedness to that overruling Providence who holds the sea in the hollow of his hand. "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name, be all the glory." I hope the day will never come when, in all our works, we shall refuse to acknowledge the overruling hand of a divine and almighty Power.... There are none here, I am sure, whose hearts are not overflowing with feelings of the liveliest gratitude to God in view of the great work which has been accomplished through his permission, and who are not willing to join in a prayer of thanksgiving for its successful termination. I will therefore ask you to join me in the following prayer, which is the same, with a few necessary alterations, that was offered for the laying of the cable.'"
This prayer was then offered at the throne of grace by the captain, the auditors responding at its close with an "Amen" which showed with what profound emotion they regarded the scene in which they were such prominent actors.
THE AGAMEMNON IN A GALE.
In regard to the voyage of the Agamemnon we find little to say which would not be a repetition of that of the Niagara, with the exception that she experienced much less favorable weather, and that the admirable paying-out machine invented by our countryman, Mr. Everett, performed its delicate duty under more trying circumstances than those to which it had been subjected on the American frigate. The Queen's Message was transmitted over the wire on the 16th of August; and, intelligence of the fact being made known the same evening throughout the Northern and Western States, the people gave themselves up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. Few persons of an age to appreciate the significance of the triumph will forget that memorable night. We have not to follow the inventors, electricians, and commanders to the land, and detail the ovations of which they were the honored objects. The public will long remember the eloquence of the orators who dilated upon the theme, the inspired language in which the newspapers held forth to their amazed subscribers, and the prophetic vein in which the clergy felt justly entitled to indulge. Fifty years from now, those who were boys on the 16th of August will tell, with undiminished interest, of the tar-barrels and bonfires, the salutes and fireworks, the illuminations and torchlight processions, which, from one end of the country to the other, welcomed the inspiring tidings and made the summer night gorgeous with flames and clamorous with artillery. The cable is at length laid through the bed of the Atlantic Ocean. Over what jagged mountain-ranges is that slender filament carried! In what deep oceanic valleys does it rest! Through what strange and unknown regions, among things how uncouth and wild, must it thread its way! Still, in spite of this first magnificent success, deep-sea telegraphing must be regarded as in its very infancy; and doubtless many new and even more marvellous feats will yet be performed claiming admission among the achievements of Man upon—or rather beneath—the Sea.
Perhaps the best among the numerous good things suggested by the happy return of the Telegraphic Fleet was the following sentiment:—"The Equator and the Cable: the former an imaginary line which divides the poles, the latter a veritable line which connects the hemispheres!"
"Far, far below oceans heaving breast,
Where the storm-spirit ever is hush'd to rest,
The cable now lies on its snowy bed,—
The glittering ashes of ocean's dead;
And storms shall not break nor tempests sever
This arch of promise, for ever and ever,
Till an angel shall stand with one foot on the sea
And swear that time no longer shall be."
The continuity of this cable was shortly afterwards broken, but it had so successfully demonstrated that it was possible to lay one that another attempt was soon organized. For this purpose the Great Eastern, which had been found too large a ship to be ordinarily used in trade, since her great depth prevented her from entering any but the very deepest harbors, was engaged. Her size enabled her easily to take in the cable for the entire distance, and, starting from Ireland, she kept up telegraphic communication with that station, without interruption, throughout the whole of the voyage. This cable has worked continouslysince that time.
Beside this, another Atlantic cable, connecting France with the American Continent, has been laid successfully and has worked without interruption. From England fifteen submarine wires, laid across the beds of the Channel or the North Sea, connect that country with France, Belgium and Holland. Sweden and Norway are connected with Germany by marine cables across the Baltic, while Sicily and Sardinia are connected with Italy by a cable in the bottom of the Mediterranean.