Part 7 (1/2)
The Mayor of Liverpool gave them a dinner, the Chamber of Commerce another, while the Americans in Liverpool entertained them on the fourth of July--the first public celebration of our national anniversary ever had in that city
But while these festivities were kept up on shore, hard as done on board the shi+p To coil thirteen hundredYet it was all done by the sailors themselves No compulsion was used, and none was needed No sooner was there a call for volunteers, than reater numbers than could be employed Out of these were chosen one hundred and twenty stalwart felloere divided into two gangs of sixtyinto watches of thirty, which relieved each other, and all went to ith such enthusiasm, that in three weeks the herculean task was coiven by the shareholders of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in Liverpool to Captain Hudson and Captain Sands of the Susquehanna, whose arrival in the Mersey enabled them to extend their hospitalities to the officers of both shi+ps
While the Niagara was thus doing her part, the saa in the Thames There the as completed about the same day, and the occasion duly honored by a scene as unique as it was beautiful Says the London Times of July twenty-fourth:
”All the details connected with the e of the cable are now completed, and the conclusion of the arduous labor was celebrated yesterday with high festivity and rejoicing All the artisans who have been engaged upon the great work, with their wives and fae party of the officers, with the sailors frouished scientific visitors, were entertained upon this occasion at a kind of _fete cha Eardley, near Erith The festival was held in the beautiful park which had been obligingly opened by Sir Culling Eardley for the purpose Although in no way personally interested in the project, the honorable baronet has all along evinced the liveliest sy, and himself proposed to have the corounds The enerous emulation, erected spacious tents on the lawn, and provided a uests, and a substantial one for the sailors of the Agamemnon and the artificers who had been employed in the construction of the cable By an aduests were accommodated at a vast semi-circular table, which ran round the whole pavilion, while the sailors and workles with the chord, so that the general effect was that all dined together, while at the same time sufficient distinction was preserved to satisfy the most fastidious The three centre tables were occupied by the crew of the Agareatest attention to the speeches, and drank all the toasts with an ad as their three pints of beer per ret to add that, ith the heat of the day and the enthusiass were all eone through Next in interest to the sailors were the work perreat occasion
The latter, it is true, so peroration, but that rather improved the effect than otherwise, and the presence of these little ones onlyof the employers, who had thus invited not only their workmen, but their workmen's families to the feast It was a momentary return to the old patriarchal tihted with the experi Eardley, by Mr Cardwell, of the House of Co, one of the Directors, by Professor Morse, and others Mr Field read a letter fro that he should feel honored if the first e should be one from Queen Victoria to himself, and that he ”would endeavor to answer it in a spirit and reat occasion”
Thus, labor and feasting being ended, the Niagara and the Susquehanna left Liverpool the latter part of July and steae's Channel to Queenstohich was to be the rendezvous of the telegraphic squadron, where they were joined by the Agamemnon and the Leopard, which was to be her consort The former, as she entered the harbor, caara The presence of the two shi+ps which had the cable on board, gave an opportunity which the electricians had desired to test its integrity Accordingly one end of each cable was carried to the opposite shi+p, and so joined as to forth of twenty-five hundred amemnon One end was then connected with the apparatus for transalvano attached to the other end, the whole cable was tested from end to end, and found to be perfect These experiments were continued for two days with the same result This inspired fresh hopes for the success of the expedition, and in high spirits they bore away for the harbor of Valentia
It had been for soin to lay the cable, whether from the coast of Ireland, or inthe junction there, and dropping it to the botto, one to the east and the other to the west, till they landed their ends on the opposite shores of the Atlantic This was the plan adopted the following year, and which finally proved successful It was the one preferred by the engineers now, but the electricians favored the other course, and their counsel prevailed It was therefore decided to sube the whole cable in a continuous line froara was to lay the first half from Ireland to the middle of the Atlantic; the end would then be joined to the other half on board the Agamemnon, which would take it on to the coast of Newfoundland During the whole process the four vessels were to reive whatever assistance was required While it was being laid down,each day of progress
Asof such a fleet of shi+ps, and the busy note of preparation which had been heard for weeks, produced a great sensation in this reathered on the hills and looked on in silent wonder
To add to the dignity of the occasion, the Lord Lieutenant came down from Dublin to witness the departure of the expedition No one could have been better fitted to represent his own country, and to command audience fro us as Lord Morpeth--had travelled in the United States a few years before, and shown hiners that have visited Aland could on that day have stood upon the shores of Ireland, and stretched out his hand to his kindred beyond the sea withwould be warmly responded to And never did one speak more aptly words of wisdom and of peace We read them still with admiration for their beauty and their eloquence, and with an interest ood one to his grave To quote his oords is the best tribute to his y to keep it fresh and green in the hearts of Americans On his arrival at Valentia, he was entertained by the Knight of Kerry at one of those public breakfasts so land, at which in response to a toast in his honor, after ments, he said:
”I believe, as your worthy chairman has already hinted, that I am probably the first Lieutenant of Ireland who ever appeared upon this lovely strand At all events, no Lord Lieutenant could have cost you on an occasion like the present
A hopes which cluster around the work of this week, we ought still to rein and not of those who close an experireat achievements has frequently to be hewn out amidst risks and difficulties, and that preliminary failure is even the law and condition of the ultimate success
Therefore, whatever disappointments may possibly be in store, I must yet insinuate to you that in a cause like this it would be crin and endeavor to establish the Atlantic Telegraph there is allory It is true if it be only an atteh of profit I hope that will coh of public spirit, of love for science, for our country, for the human race, almost to suffice in themselves However, upon this rocky frontlet of Ireland, at all events, to-day ill presume upon success We are about, either by this sundown or by to-morrow's dawn, to establish a new material link between the Old World and the New Moral links there have been--links of race, links of commerce, links of friendshi+p, links of literature, links of glory; but this, our new link, instead of superseding and supplanting the old ones, is to give a life and an intensity which they never had before Highly as I value the reputations of those who have conceived, and those who have contributed to carry out this bright design--and I wish that soahly as I estimate their reputation, yet I do not complilory of that Colue vessels in the harbor of Cork yesterday weighed their anchors, did so on that very day three hundred and sixty-five years ago--it would have been called in Hebrerit a year of years--and set sail upon his glorious enterprise of discovery They, I say, will not di the last finish and consummation to his work Hitherto the inhabitants of the torlds have associated perhaps in the chilling at distance; but noe can be hand to hand, grasp to grasp, pulse to pulse The link, which is now to connect us, like the insect in the immortal couplet of our poet:
While exquisitely fine, Feels at each thread and lives along the line
And we land, and of America, that we e of our beloved Ireland; we may, as it were, leave in our rear behind us the wars, the strifes, and the bloodshed of the elder Europe, and of the elder Asia; and we ency may be, imperfect as our powers may be, inadequate in strict diplomatic form as our credentials may be, yet, in the face of the unparalleled circuhborhood of the hty vessels whose appearance may be beautiful upon the waters, even as are the feet upon the e due to that serene science which often affords higher and holier lessons of harood will than the ard passions of th of such circue ourselves to eternal peace between the Old World and the New”
While these greetings were exchanged on shore, only the smaller vessels of the squadron had arrived But in a few hours the great hulls of the Niagara and the Agamemnon, followed by the Leopard and the Susquehanna, were seen in the horizon, and soon they all cast anchor in the bay As the sun went down in the west, shi+ning still on the other he to seek, its last rays fell on an expedition estive and hopeful than any since that of Coluators not unworthy to be his followers
The whole squadron was now asseallant array There were present in the little harbor of Valentia seven shi+ps--the stately Niagara, which was to lay the half of the cable fro by her side; while floating the flag of England, were the Agamemnon, which was appointed to lay the cable on the Ah-decked shi+ps of war, the steaive, notthe cable at Valentia; and the little stea back and forth between shi+p and shore, lending a hand wherever there ork to be done; and the Cyclops, under the experienced cos across the Atlantic only the month before, here joined the squadron to lead the way across the deep
This lish shi+ps, with but two American; but to keep up our part, there were two more steamers on the other side of the sea, the Arctic, under Lieutenant Berryman, and the Co of the fleet off the coast of Newfoundland, and help in landing the cable on the shores of the New World
It was now Tuesday evening, the fourth of August, too late to undertake the landing that night, but preparations were at once begun for it the nextSaid the correspondent of the Liverpool Post:
”The shi+ps were visited in the course of the evening by the Directors and others interested in the great undertaking, and arrangeara for paying out the shore rope for conveyance to the e; but for some hours the state of the weather rendered it doubtful whether operations could be safely proceeded with
Toward the afternoon the breeze calmed down, and at two o'clock it was decided that an effort should beinto the small boats corand and exciting in the highest degree
”Valentia Bay was studded with innu--small boats flitted hither and thither, their occupants cheering enthusiastically as the work successfully progressed The cable-boats were ara and Susquehanna, and it was a well-designed compliment, and indicative of the future fraternization of the nations, that the shore rope was arranged to be presented at this side the Atlantic to the representative of the Queen, by the officers and men of the United States navy, and that at the other side the British officers and sailors should make a similar presentation to the President of the Great Republic
”From the main land the operations atched with intense interest For several hours the Lord Lieutenant stood on the beach, surrounded by his staff and the directors of the railway and telegraph coth the Ae with the hawser to which it was attached, his Excellency was a the first to lay hold of it and pull it lustily to the shore Indeed every one present seereat work; and never before perhaps were there sopull, and the pull all together'
”At half-past seven o'clock the cable was hauled on shore, and formal presentation was made of it to the Lord Lieutenant by Captain Pennock, of the Niagara; his Excellency expressing a hope that the work so well begun would be carried to a satisfactory co been secured to a house on the beach, the Reverend Mr
Day, of Ken prayer: