By referring again to the London Times, the reader will see that the news from China was published in London on the twenty-third of August. It was there given as unexpected news, so that it could not have been a shrewd guess on the part of anybody either in England or America. It took the public by surprise, both for the news itself and for the way in which it came—which was not by India and the Red Sea, but by St. Petersburg, where it arrived on the twenty-first, having been brought overland by a courier to Prince Gortchakoff. From there it was telegraphed to the Government at Paris, and thence to London. The Times comments on this roundabout way in which intelligence so important reached England. Yet this news, so unlooked for, announced in London only on the morning of the twenty-third of August, was published in New York on the twenty-sixth.
August twenty-seventh, comes a still longer despatch, which we give in full:
"George Saward, Secretary Atlantic Telegraph Company, to Associated Press, New York. News for America by Atlantic cable. Emperor of France returned to Paris, Saturday. King of Prussia too ill to visit Queen Victoria. Her Majesty returns to England thirtieth of August.—St. Petersburg, twenty-first of August. Settlement of Chinese question. Chinese empire opened to trade; Christian religion allowed; foreign diplomatic agents admitted; indemnity to England and France.—Alexandria, August ninth. The Madras arrived at Suez seventh inst. Dates Bombay to the nineteenth; Aden, thirty-first. Gwalior insurgent army broken up. All India becoming tranquil."
This despatch embodies about a dozen distinct items of news, not one of which could be known without a telegraphic communication. The whole was received in New York, and published in the evening papers the same day.
Not to be outdone in giving news, the next day, Saturday, August twenty-eighth, Newfoundland thus replies to Valentia:
"To the Directors: Take news first, Saward. Sir William Williams, of Kars, arrived Halifax Tuesday. Enthusiastically received. Immense procession—welcome address—feeling reply. Held levee—large number presented. Niagara sailed for Liverpool at one this morning. The Gorgon arrived at Halifax last night. Yellow fever in New Orleans, sixty to seventy deaths per day. Also declared epidemic, Charleston. Great preparations in New York and other places for celebration, to be held the first and second of September. New Yorkers will make it the greatest gala-day ever known in this country. Hermann sailed for Fraser's River; six hundred passengers. Prince Albert sailed yesterday for Galway. Arabia and Ariel arrived New York; Anglo Saxon, Quebec; Canada, Boston. Europa left St. John's this morning. Splendid aurora Bay of Bulls to-night, extending over eighty-five degrees of the horizon."
Let any one read this despatch, sentence by sentence, noting the minuteness of the details—which could not be known or conjectured—such as the appearance of yellow fever at New Orleans, with the number of deaths a day; the sailing or arrival of seven steamers; the number of passengers for Fraser's River, etc.—and then examine the London Times, in which all these items appeared Monday morning, August thirtieth, and if he does not admit that collusion or deception is out of the question, no amount of evidence could convince him.
We will give but one proof more. On the last day of August, the day before the cable ceased to work, Valentia sent to Newfoundland two messages for the British Government, both signed by "the Military Secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Horse Guards, London," and addressed—the first to General Trollope, Halifax, which said, "The Sixty-second regiment is not to return to England;" and the other to the General Officer commanding at Montreal, saying: "The Thirty-ninth regiment is not to return to England." The year before (1857) had witnessed the Sepoy Mutiny, which threatened the overthrow of the British Empire in India. The fighting was over, but the country was still agitated, and the Home Government in fear that the rebellion might be renewed, so that it continued to send forward fresh troops. It had sent out orders by mail for these two regiments to embark immediately for home, to be sent to India. But the mutiny being nearly suppressed, this was found not to be necessary, and the prompt countermanding of the order by telegraph saved the British Government, in the cost of transportation of troops, not less than fifty thousand pounds. The despatch to Halifax was received the same day that it was sent from London. The sending of this despatch, and its almost immediate reception, is attested by an official letter from the War Office in London.
This array of proofs of what took place a quarter of a century ago, may seem superfluous now that experience has made despatches from the other side of the ocean one of the familiar things of our daily life. And yet at that date the achievement was so stupendous, and, as some thought, in its very nature so incredible, that men of the greatest intelligence could not be convinced. The late Mr. Charles O'Conor continued for years to quote the fact that some men believed that a message had actually passed across the Atlantic as the most amazing illustration of human credulity! Happily he lived to see and to appreciate to its full value this latest miracle of scientific discovery, applied by human genius and skill.