St. Mary's Beacon

The Atlantic Telegraph Successfully Laid.

Scarcely any announcement could have been more unexpected, certainly none more welcome, than that which the telegraph yesterday made of the arrival of the steam-frigate Niagara at Trinity Bay with the western end of the telegraph cable and that her consort had probably also succeeded in reaching the coast of Ireland with the electric wire unbroken. The clouds of doubt and suspicion had gathered so heavily over this enterprise, the previous trials and all the preliminary indications were so unpromising, and the enterprise of itself so novel and encompassed by so many apparently insurmountable obstacles, that the public had almost ceased to hope for its successful issue and was prepared to receive with quiet acquiescence the news that the third attempt had proved, like those preceding it, a failure, and, for the present at least, the world must be content to get along without the means of instant communication between the people of its eastern and western hemispheres. At this moment we have the announcement that the great undertaking of the age is achieved; that its triumph has been secured amidst doubts, and fears, and in the face of every possible discouragement, but, still, that it is secured, and that along the deep wastes of the Atlantic ocean floor the cable has been safely laid.

Our intelligence in relation to the progress of the work is necessarily brief, but, it is in all points satisfactory. The splice was made mid-ocean on the 29th ult., and on the afternoon of that day the ships separated on their eastward and westward destinations. The Niagara arrived off Trinity Bay on Wednesday, the 4th inst., and has consequently been but little over six days making her portion of the voyage, thus proving that a rapid rate of paying out the cable was most consistent with its safety. The cable was paid out from the Agamemnon at about the same rate of speed and on board both vessels the operations appear to have been attended with all the conditions justifying the hope that it reached its ocean bed entirely unharmed. The machinery worked satisfactorily, there was nothing occurred to cause a suspension of operations and during the whole time the electrical continuity was perfectly preserved, and the most satisfactory signals continually exchanged between the electricians on the two vessels. The successful laying of the cable does not of course do away with all the difficulties that are connected with the working of a sub-Atlantic telegraph, but it settles the question that an ocean telegraphic cable can be laid, and with this great problem solved we may rest assured that the means of overcoming all other obstacles, should they present themselves, will be found.

The end of the cable was to be landed yesterday, and as soon as the connection with the land lines has been perfected, the first communication by telegraph between the two continents will be made. It is understood that the first regular message sent through the cable will be one of congratulation from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan, to be followed by a reply from the latter. The people of both countries will look with interest for the reception of these messages, as the convincing proof of the accomplishment of a project the grandest which the mind of man has ever conceived or his ingenuity been tasked to perfect—and one which a few years ago was classed among the impossibilities.—Baltimore American.