660 



TELEGRAPH CABLE. 



3. The rates to be paid for the transmission of any 

 such message or messages, when not otherwise fixed 

 by agreement, shall be established by the Postmaster- 

 General of the United States. 



4. The offices of any such lines or cables shall be 

 kept open to the public for transmission for daily 

 publication of market and commercial reports and 

 intelligence, and all messages, dispatches, and com- 

 munications, shall be forwarded in the order in 

 which they are received, except as hereinbefore 

 provided. 



5. It shall at all times be within the power of Con- 

 gress to determine the rates to be charged for the 

 transmission of messages and communications over 

 any such line or cable, and to fix and establish such 

 rules and regulations in relation thereto as it may 

 judge necessary. 



6. Before extending or establishing any such line or 

 cable in or over any waters, reefs, islands, shore, and 

 land, within the jurisdiction of the United States, a 

 written acceptance of the terms and conditions im- 

 posed by this act shall be filed in the office of the 

 Secretary of State by the company, corporation, or 

 party, proposing to establish telegraphic communica- 

 tion. 



SEC. 2. And le it further enacted, That, subject to 

 the foregoing conditions, stipulations, and reserva- 

 tions, the consent of Congress is hereby given to the 

 laying and maintaining of telegraphic or magnetic 

 lines or cables, between the United States and foreign 

 countries, in and over the waterSj reefs, islands, 

 shores, and lands ; within the jurisdiction of the 

 United States, subject, however, to any and all rights 

 of property and State jurisdiction over the same ; 

 provided that the privilege conferred by this act 

 shall not be enjoyed by any company or persons 

 whose line or cable, by its connections or otherwise, 

 terminates or extends to any foreign country in and 

 by which similar privileges are not conferred upon 

 companies incorporated by the authority of the 

 United States, or of any State in this Union. 



Before the connection of the French cable 

 with this country had been effected, Mr. Fish, 

 the Secretary of State, on behalf of the United 

 States Government, addressed a letter to the 

 French minister at Washington, and also the 

 British minister, informing them of the action 

 of the Senate and the disposition of the Govern- 

 ment, so far as the same had been developed. 

 It was thought, however, by many that the 

 difficulty would be obviated by the action of 

 the Massachusetts Legislature. A hill was 

 passed by that body and approved on the 30th 

 of March, incorporating the "Ocean Tele- 

 graph Company," who were authorized to 

 "lay and maintain a telegraph cable in and 

 over the waters, shores, and lands, of this Com- 

 monwealth, from some point or points on the 

 shore of the county of Plymouth to the open 

 sea, and to connect the same with any foreign 

 telegraph cable." The validity of such legis- 

 lation on the part of a State was subsequently 

 considered in an opinion given by Attorney- 

 General Hoar, who regarded it as a violation 

 of that provision of the Constitution vesting in 

 Congress the power "to regulate commerce 

 with foreign nations and among the several 

 States." The views of the Attorney-General 

 upon this point are clearly stated in the 

 opinion : " Telegraph communication is a new 

 means of commercial intercourse which the 

 discoveries of modern science have supplied. 

 Being, however, an instrument of commerce, 



and a most efficient instrument of commercial 

 intercourse, the fact that it is a new one does 

 not, in my judgment, prevent the application 

 to it of the constitutional provision. I am of 

 the opinion that the control of telegraphic 

 communication with foreign nations, so far as 

 it is exercised by means of cables leading from 

 the shores of the United States, is within the 

 constitutional authority of Congress to per- 

 mit, regulate, or prohibit, in such cases and 

 under such circumstances as their judgment 

 shall direct ; and that consequently there can 

 he no security for such enterprises while no 

 authority or protection for them has been de- 

 rived from the acts of Congress. In other 

 words, that the jurisdiction of the United States 

 Government to regulate commerce with foreign 

 nations, including every kind of commercial 

 intercourse, is complete and supreme; that 

 it can be exercised and asserted whenever 

 and in such manner as Congress shall think 

 fit, and that no action of the government 

 of any ex parte State of the Union can con- 

 fer any rights upon any person or corpora- 

 tion to carry on intercourse with foreign 

 nations by a telegraphic cable, which will af- 

 ford any permanent security for their value or 

 their continuous enjoyment, unless the previous 

 assent of Congress has been obtained. The 

 separate States may grant the enjoyment of 

 their own rights of soil and of privileges 

 within their control, hut they cannot grant 

 rights which interfere with or limit the exer- 

 cise of the authority of the national legisla- 

 ture so far as that authority is derived from 

 the Constitution of the United States." It is 

 further held that, aside from the question of 

 the power of Congress to regulate commerce, 

 the " connection of this country with a foreign 

 nation by means of a telegraphic cable is a 

 means of national communication so vital and 

 important, both in peace and in war, to the 

 national interests, and under some circum- 

 stances possibly even to the national existence, 

 that it is in its own nature a subject for na- 

 tional control, which it would he impossible 

 for the Government or the people of the 

 United States to allow to exist under the 

 separate control of a single State, or to depend 

 upon the arrangements made by one of the 

 States with a foreign power, its citizens or 

 subjects, acting either in a private or corporate 

 capacity." The discussion of this subject did 

 not lead to any actual interference on the part 

 of the American Government to prevent the 

 connection of the foreign line with this coun- 

 try. The French cable proper, however, was 

 not brought within the jurisdiction of the 

 United States; but connection with the shore 

 at Duxbury was effected by means of a cable 

 laid by the "Ocean Telegraph Company," 

 which had been incorporated for the purpose 

 by the Legislature of Massachusetts. A com- 

 plete communication having been thus secured, 

 the offices of the company were at once opened 

 to the public for the transaction of business, 



