The speed of the Niagara during the whole time has been nearly the same as ours, the length of cable paid out from the two ships being generally within ten miles of each other.
With the exception of yesterday, the weather has been very unfavorable.[42]
On the afternoon of Thursday, August 5th—as already described in The Times report—Bright and his staff brought to shore the end of the cable, at White Strand Bay, near Knight’s Town, Valentia, in the boats of the Valorous, welcomed by the united cheers of the small crowd assembled.
Taken entirely by surprise, all England applauded the triumph of such undaunted perseverance and the engineering and nautical skill displayed in this victory over the elements. The Atlantic Telegraph had been justly characterized as the “great feat of the century,” and this was reechoed by all the press on its realization. The following extracts from the leading article of The Times the day after completion is an example of the comments upon the achievement:
Mr. Bright, having landed the end of the Atlantic cable at Valentia, has brought to a successful termination his anxious and difficult task of linking the Old World with the New, thereby annihilating space. Since the discovery of Columbus, nothing has been done in any degree comparable to the vast enlargement which has thus been given to the sphere of human activity.
The rejoicing in America, both in public and private,{139} knew no bounds. The astounding news of the success of this unparalleled enterprise, after such combats with storm and sea, “created universal enthusiasm, exultation, and joy, such as was, perhaps, never before produced by any event, not even the discovery of the Western Hemisphere. Many had predicted its failure, some from ignorance, others simply because they were anti-progressives by nature. Philanthropists everywhere hailed it as the greatest event of modern times, heralding the good time coming of universal peace and brotherhood.”
In Newfoundland, Mr. Field, together with Mr. Bright’s assistant engineers, Messrs. Everett and Woodhouse, and the electricians, Messrs, de Sauty and Laws, received the heartiest congratulations and welcome from the Governor and Legislative Council of the colony. While acknowledging these congratulations, Mr. Field remarked. “We have had many difficulties to surmount, many discouragements to bear, and some enemies to overcome, whose very opposition has stimulated us to greater exertion.”[43]
It was a curious coincidence that the cable was successfully completed to Valentia on the same day in 1858 on which the shore end had been landed the year before. Moreover, it was exactly one hundred and eleven years since Dr. (afterward Sir William) Watson had astonished the scientific world by sending an electric current through a wire two miles long, using the earth as a return circuit. It is also worthy of note that the first feat of telegraphy was executed by order of King “Agamemnon” to his queen, announcing the fall of Troy, 1,084 years before the birth of Christ, and that the great feat which we have narrated was carried out by the great ship Agamemnon, as has been here shown.{140}
Mr. Bright and Messrs. Canning and Clifford and the rest of the staff, as well as Professor Thomson and the electricians, were absolutely exhausted with the incessant watching and almost unbearable anxiety attending their arduous travail. Valentia proved a haven of rest indeed for these “toilers of the deep”—completely knocked up with their experiences on the Atlantic, not to mention their previous trials and disappointments.
Then came a series of banquets, which had to be gone through. Soon after his duties at Valentia were over, Bright made his way to Dublin. Here he was entertained by the Lord Mayor and civic authorities of that capital on Wednesday, September 1st. On this occasion Cardinal Wiseman, who was present, made an eloquent speech; and the following account of the proceedings from the Morning Post may be suitably quoted: