536 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



loss of profit (however splendid the dividends might still remain) on 

 the other, we know what would be the result of their deliberations. 



Important as are the sea-cables for statesmen, for strategy and 

 for commerce, they are or will be equally important socially to keep 

 up intimacy and swift intercourse between families half in Britain 

 and half in India for instance, or between friends and relations in 

 these Islands and in the great colonies. They might be made to give 

 the sensation almost of actual contact, of holding the hand of your 

 friend, of speaking directly to his heart. It is this interchange of per- 

 sonal news and private wishes, quite as much as the profound political 

 and commercial aspects of lightning communication with all parts of 

 the Empire, which will bind the Empire in bonds stronger than 

 steel, easy as affection, to hold it together with unassailable power. 

 Consequently the health and strength of the Empire depend very 

 greatly upon a cheapening of telegraph charges. Doubtless a time will 

 come when all our main cables of the first importance will be in the 

 hands of Government, when they will only touch upon British terri- 

 tory, and when they will be all adequately protected from an 

 enemy. Those are truly Imperialistic and patriotic aspirations. But 

 we must never forget the grand part in bringing together, within whis- 

 pering distance, as it were, the different parts of the world, and con- 

 sequently of our world-wide Empire, which has been taken in the 

 past by such Napoleonic organizers as the late Sir John Pender. 

 It is to him and to such men as he that we owe those splendid be- 

 ginnings which by means of vital reflexes from the nerve-center of 

 the Empire have helped to fire our white fellow-subjects all over the 

 globe with a loftier patriotism and with new, brave and broader 

 ideals of nationality. 



It was coincident with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 

 that the liveliest interest began to be taken in sea-cables, and a mas- 

 ter-mind perceived their commercial possibilities. Before that time 

 the success of the constructing companies had not been great. Sir 

 John Pender then founded the famous Eastern Telegraph Company 

 by the amalgamation of four existing lines, which had together laid 

 down 8,500 miles of sea-cables, besides erecting land-lines also. A year 

 later, in 1873, from three other companies he formed the Eastern 

 Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, which joint- 

 ly possessed 5,200 miles of submarine lines. From that date the ex- 

 tension of electric communication to all parts of the earth, over wild 

 as well as over civilized countries, and beneath the salt water, has only 

 been equaled by their average remunerativeness. Now there are 175,- 

 000 miles of submerged cables alone, of which this country owns no 

 less than 113,000 miles. The history of some of these cables is full 

 of interest, and might attract the delighted attention of the lover 



