CHAP. XIII.] THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH. 185 



every where, on the very day of the arrival of an Atlantic mail 

 steamer, the prices of grain, cotton, and other articles in the Euro 

 pean markets, so that they may speculate on equal terms with the 

 citizens of Boston and New York. The politician, who is am 

 bitious, not only of retaining all the states of the Union in one 

 powerful confederation, but of comprising the whole continent 

 under one empire, hails the new invention with delight, and 

 foresees at once its important consequences. Mr. Winthrop well 

 knew the temper of the people whom he addressed, when he 

 congratulated a large meeting, that they might now send intelli 

 gence from one end of the Union to the other with the rapidity 

 of thought, and that they had realized the promise of the King 

 of the Fairies, that he would &quot;put a girdle round about the earth 

 in forty minutes.&quot; Already many paragraphs in the newspapers 

 are headed, &quot; Received by lightning, printed by steam,&quot; and all 

 seem heartily to welcome the discovery as an instrument of prog 

 ress. When promoting such works, they may exclaim, without 

 boastfulness 



&quot; These are imperial arts, and worthy kings.&quot; 



After my return from America, I learned that the length of 

 line completed in 1846, amounted to above 1600 miles, and in 

 1848 there were more than 5000 miles of wire laid down. In 

 that year one of my English friends sent a message by tele 

 graph to Liverpool, in September, which reached Boston by 

 mail steamer, via Halifax, in twelve days, and was sent on im 

 mediately by electric telegraph to New Orleans, in one day, the 

 answer returning to Boston the day after. Three days were 

 then lost in waiting for the steam-packet, which conveyed the 

 message back to England in twelve days ; &quot;so that the reply 

 reached London on the twenty-ninth day from the sending of the 

 question, the whole distance being more than 10,000 miles, which 

 had been traversed at an average rate exceeding 350 miles a day. 



It is satisfactory to learn that the telegraph, although so often 

 passing through a wild country, in some places anticipating even 

 the railway, seems never yet to have been injured by the lovers 

 of mischief. The wires have also been often struck by light- 



