102 
THE TELEGRAPH. 
‘ Times ’ of next day remarked with justice that the jest of 
the evening became the reality of the morrow. 
“ The place selected for landing the wire on the French coast 
was Cape Grinez, under a cliff amidst rocks : a selection made 
expressly on account of the place not allowing any ships to 
anchor, although it is easy of access. 
“ My post on the railway at Dover looked over the sea, and 
I could see through a telescope the cliffs and lighthouse at 
Cape Grinez. The light of the setting sun enabled me to dis¬ 
tinguish the dark cloud due to the smoke of the steamer moving 
along against the white cliffs, and thus I could follow the 
vessel’s course. We allowed her half an hour to carry the end 
of the wire to the shore and to connect it with the printing 
apparatus. I then sent the first electric message across the 
Straits. The message was addressed to Louis Napoleon. I 
was afterwards informed that the French soldiers that saw the 
paper unwound with the message, from England, asked how it 
was possible that it could have crossed the Channel. And 
when it had been explained to them that electricity passing 
along the wire had produced the impressions of the characters, 
they were not less incredulous than before. 
“After some further communications, the words ‘ All well’ 
and * Good night’ were printed, and these concluded the 
experiment. 
“ When on the following morning we attempted to resume 
the communications, no answer could be got, and it soon 
became evident that the insulation had been destroyed, and 
that either the electric current was passing out at some de¬ 
fective point or the wire was broken. The indications of the 
galvanometer led us to believe that the wire had parted near 
the French coast, and we were able to verify this conjec¬ 
ture when the steamer came back. As we feared that 
doubts would be expressed regarding the success of our 
enterprise, and were also aware how important it was that 
the fact of telegraphic communication having been estab¬ 
lished should be proved, I sent the same night a confidential 
person to Cape Grinez, to obtain there the testimony of all 
those that had seen the messages received. A document 
stating the facts was attested by ten persons, including a 
French government engineer, who was present to watch the 
