Part 2 (1/2)

But the charter of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Co, in its very first sentence: ”Whereas it is deeraphic communication between America and Europe by way of Newfoundland” Not a word is said of fast shi+ps, of co points to a line across the ocean

Thus one section gives authority to establish a subraph across the ocean, from Newfoundland to Ireland; another section prohibits any other co the coast of Newfoundland or its dependencies [which includes Labrador] with a telegraphic cable or wire, frorants the Company fifty square miles of land upon the completion of the submarine line across the Atlantic

In other respects the charter was equally liberal It incorporated the associates for fifty years, established perfect equality, in respect to corporators and officers, between citizens of the United States and British subjects, and allowed the s of the stockholders and directors to be held in New York, in Newfoundland, or in London

To obtain such concessions was a work of soislature of the province were naturally anxious to scan carefully conditions that were to bind them and their children for half a century

I have now beforethe discussions in the Legislature; and while all testify to the deep public interest in the project, they show a due care for the interests of their own colony, which they were bound to protect At length all difficulties were removed, and the charter was passed unanimously by the assembly, and confirmed by the Council

This happy result was duly celebrated, in the iven by the commissioners of the new Conitaries of the colony, at which there were eloquent prophecies of the good ti how heartily the enterprise elcomed by all classes; and how fond were the anticipations of the increased intercourse it would bring, and the lected island

No sooner were the papers signed, than the wheels, so long blocked, were unloosed, and the an to move Mr White at once drew on New York for fifty thousand dollars, and paid off all the debts of the old coreat deal on the subject, contains this paragraph, which is very significant of the dead state of the old company, and of the life of the new:

”The office of the new Electric Telegraph Company has been surrounded the last two or three days by the ed the last year on the line, and who are being paid all debts, dues, and deainst the old association We look upon the readiness hich these claims are liquidated as a substantial indication on the part of the new Company that they will complete to the letter all that they have declared to acco”

In the early part of May, the two gentlemen who had remained behind in Newfoundland rejoined their associates in New York, and there the charter was foranized As all the associates had not arrived till Saturday evening, the 6th of May, and as one of thereed that they should anization at six o'clock of that day At that hour they came to the house of Mr Field's brother Dudley, and as the first rays of the anization took place The charter was accepted, the stock subscribed, and the officers chosen Mr Cooper, Mr Taylor, Mr Field, Mr Roberts, and Mr White were the first directors Mr Cooper was chosen President, Mr White, Vice-President, and Mr Taylor, Treasurer

This is a short story, and soon told It seeht affair, for half a dozenand toss off such a business before breakfast But what a as that to which they thus put their hands! A capital of a million and a half of dollars was subscribed in those few minutes, and a coraph to St John's, more than a thousand miles from New York, and then to span the wild sea Well was it that they who undertook the work did not then fully realize its nitude, or they would have shrunk from the attempt Well was it for them that the veil was not lifted, which shut fro delay, the immense toil, and the heavy burdens of ht have chilled the th for their day, imposes burdens as they are able to bear thereater achieveh it is anticipating a year in ti here the name of another eminent merchant, who afterward joined this little Company, Mr Wilson G Hunt Mr Hunt is one of the old h his whole career, has rity, and whose fortune is the reward of a long life of honorable industry He joined the Coh all its troubles till the final success

CHAPTER IV

CROSSING NEWFOUNDLAND

There is nothing in the world easier than to build a line of railroad, or of telegraph, _on paper_ You have only to take the le sweep of the pencil to draw the line along which the iron track is to run In this airy flight of the iues vanish at a stroke All obstacles disappear The valleys are exalted, and the hills arearches span the mountain streams, and the chasms are leaped in safety by the fire-drawn cars

Very different is it to construct a line of railroad or of telegraph in reality; to come with an army of laborers, with axes on their shoulders to cut down the forests, and with spades in their hands to cast up the highway Then poetry sinks to prose, and instead of flying over the space on wings, one must traverse it on foot, slowly and with painful steps Nature asserts her power; and, as if resentful of the disdain hich man in his pride affected to leap over her, she piles up new barriers in his way The ed sides cannot be moved out of their place, the rocks e for the conqueror, before he can begin his triule; and theto s up the horse and his rider; until the rash projector is startled at his own audacity Then it becomes a contest of forces between man and nature, in which, if he would be victorious, he htly pushed aside, but must yield at last only to time and toil, and ”man's unconquerable will”

Seldom have all these obstacles been combined in a ainst the atteraph line across the island of Newfoundland The distance, by the route to be traversed, was over four hundred miles, and the country was a wilderness, an utter desolation Yet through such a country, over e, over rivers and through morasses, they were to build a road--not ood and traversable bridle-road, eight feet wide, with bridges of the sa daunted, the new Coreat ith spirit and resolution Gisborne had ot some thirty or forty miles out of St John's This was the easiest part of the whole route, being in the ion of the island But here he broke down, just where it was necessary to leave civilization behind, and to plunge into the wilderness

Intending to resuer scale, Mr White, the Vice-President, was sent down to St John's to be the General Agent of the Coineer, was to have charge of the construction of the line The latter soon organized a force of six hundred men, which he pushed forward in detachan to appear still more the difficulties of the way To provide subsistence for man and beast, it was necessary to keep near the coast, for all supplies had to be sent round by sea Yet in following the coast line, they had to wind around bays, or to climb over headlands If they struck into the interior, they had to cut their way through the dense and tangled wood There was not a path to guide them, not even an Indian trail When lost in the forest, they had to follow the compass, as much as the mariner at sea

To keep such a force in the field, that, like an ar, but consumed fearfully, required constant attention to the coed to the Co barrels of pork and potatoes, kegs of powder, pickaxes and spades and shovels, and all the implements of labor These were taken up to the heads of the bays, and thence carried, chiefly on men's backs, over the hills to the line of the road

In many respects, it had the features of a reat camp The men were sheltered in tents, when sheltered at all, or in s the road But round It was a wild and picturesque sight to co at night while hundreds of stalwart sleepers lay stretched on the ground Sometimes, when encamped on the hills, they could be seen afar off at sea It ht little of the figure they were , when they were exposed to the fury of the ele under their slight shelter, listened sadly to the sighing of the wind a of the sea

Yet in spite of all obstacles, the ent on All through the long days of suh thethat southern coast heard the plashi+ng of their oars, and the steady stroke of their axes resounded through the forest

But as the season advanced, all these difficulties increased For nearly half the year, the island is buried in snow Blinding drifts sweep over the moors, and choke up the paths of the forest How at such tiling to force its way onward; what hardshi+ps and sufferings the raph which has not been written, and which can never be fully told The

Gentleland, Who dwell at home at ease,

and who are justly proud of the extent of their dominions, and the life and pohich pervade the whole, reat works are borne forward in distant parts of their empire