Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 10, No. 61, November, 1862 by Various

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These currents of static induction are proportional in intensity to
the force of the battery and the length of the wire, whilst an inverse
relation is true as regards the length of the conductor with the
ordinary voltaic current.

Professor Wheatstone proved, by actual experiment, that a continuous
current may be maintained in the circuit of the long wire of an
electric cable, of which one of the ends is insulated, whilst the other
communicates with one of the poles of a battery, whose other pole is
connected with the ground. This current he considers due to the uniform
and continual dispersion of the statical electricity with which the wire
is charged along its whole length.

It was mainly owing to the retardation from this cause that
communication through the Atlantic cable was so exceedingly slow and
difficult.

I will now endeavor to show why the new cable will not be liable to this
difficulty, to anything like the same extent.

I have alluded to the resistance offered by the conductor of a
telegraph-cable to the passage of an electric current, and to the
retardation of this current by static induction. The terms _retardation_
and _resistance_ are not considered technically synonymous, but are
intended, as electrical terms, to designate two very different forces.
The resistance of a wire, as we have seen above, is proportional to its
length, and inversely to its diameter. It is overcome by increasing the
number of cells in the battery, or, in other words, by increasing the
intensity or force of the current. The retardation in a telegraphic
cable, on the contrary, is proportional to the length of the
conducting-wire and the intensity of the battery. In the former case, by
increasing the electrical force you overcome the resistance; while
in the latter, by augmenting the electrical force you increase the
retardation.

From the foregoing law it will be seen that there are two ways of
lessening the resistance upon telegraphic conductors,--one by reducing
the length, and the other by increasing the area of the section of the
conducting-wire. Now, as already remarked, the copper conducting-wire in
the old cable weighed but ninety-three pounds to the mile, while in the
new cable it weighs five hundred and ten pounds to the mile, or more
than five times as much. If, then, by comparison, we estimate the
resistance in the old Atlantic cable to have been equal to two
thousand miles of ordinary telegraph-wire, the increased size of the
conducting-wire of the new cable reduces the resistance to one-fifth
that distance, or four hundred miles. And while it required two hundred
cells of battery to produce intensity sufficient to work over the two
thousand miles of resistance in the old cable, it will require but
one-fifth as much, or forty cells, to overcome the four hundred miles
of resistance in the new cable. The retardation which resulted from
the intense current generated by two hundred cells will be also
proportionately reduced in the comparatively small battery of forty
cells. Thus we perceive, that, while the length of the cable is,
electrically and practically, reduced to one-fifth of its former length,
the retardation of the current is also decreased in the same proportion.
Therefore, if, with the old cable, three words per minute could be
transmitted, with the new cable we shall be able to transmit five times
as many, or fifteen words per minute. This is not equal to our Morse
system on the land-lines, which will signal at the rate of thirty-five
words per minute, still less to the printing system, which can signal at
the rate of fifty words per minute; but, even at this rate, the
cable would be enabled to transmit in twenty-four hours one thousand
despatches containing an average of twenty words apiece. Mr. Field,
however, claims for the cable a speed of only twelve words per minute,
which would reduce the number of despatches of twenty words each
that could be transmitted in twenty-four hours to eight hundred and
sixty-four. We will suppose, however, that the cable transmits only five
hundred telegrams per day; this number, at ten dollars per message,
would give an income of five thousand dollars per diem, or one million
five hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars per annum. Quite a handsome
revenue on an outlay of about one million of dollars!

The only instrument which could be used successfully in signalling
through the old cable was one of peculiar construction, called the
Marine Galvanometer. In this instrument, momentum and inertia are almost
wholly avoided by the use of a needle weighing only one and a half
grains, combined with a mirror reflecting a ray of light, which
indicates deflections with great accuracy. By this means a gradually
increasing or decreasing current is at each instant indicated at its
due strength. Thus, when this galvanometer is placed as the
receiving-instrument at the end of a long submarine cable, the movement
of the spot of light, consequent on the completion of a circuit through
the battery, cable, and earth, can be so observed as to furnish a curve
representing very accurately the arrival of an electric current. Lines
representing successive signals at various speeds can also be obtained,
and, by means of a metronome, dots and dashes can be sent with nearly
perfect regularity by an ordinary Morse key, and the corresponding
changes in the current at the receiving end of the cable accurately
observed.

A system of arbitrary characters, similar to those used upon the Morse
telegraph, was employed, and the letter to be indicated was determined
by the number of oscillations of the needle, as well as by the length of
time during which the needle remained in one place. The operator, who
watched the reflection of the deflected needle in the mirror, held a key
in his hand communicating with a local instrument in the office, which
he pressed down or raised, according to the deflection of the needle;
and another operator deciphered the characters thus produced upon the
paper. This mode of telegraphing was, of necessity, very slow, and it
will not surprise the reader that the fastest rate of speed over the
cable did not exceed three words per minute. Still, had the old cable
continued in operation a few months longer, experience and practice
would have enabled the operator to transmit and receive with very much
greater facility. On our land-lines, operators of long experience
acquire a dexterity which enables them not only to transmit and receive
telegrams with wonderful rapidity, but to work the instruments during
storms, when those of less experience would be unable to receive a dot.
There is no occupation in which skill and experience are more necessary
to success than in that of telegraphing, and at the time the Atlantic
cable was laid no experience had been obtained upon similar lines, or
with the instruments employed. Now, however, the company can avail
itself of experienced operators from lines of nearly equal length, and
who will require no time for experimenting, but may commence operations
as soon as the two ends of the cable are landed upon the shores of
Europe and America.

In the old cable the copper wire was covered but three times with
gutta-percha, while in the new it is covered four times with the purest
gutta-percha and four times with Chatterton's patent compound, by which
the cable is rendered absolutely impenetrable to water. The old cable
was covered with eighteen strands of small iron wire, which, as they had
no other covering, were directly exposed to the action of the water. The
new is covered with thirteen strands, each strand consisting of three
wires of the best quality, and covered with gutta-percha, to render it
indestructible in salt water. By this new construction, it has double
the strength of the old cable, at the same time that it is lighter in
the water, a very important matter in laying it across the ocean.

The risk of loss in laying the new cable would be very much diminished
by the fact that it would be of such strength, that, even if broken, it
could be recovered, as has been done in the Mediterranean; and besides,
the principal and most expensive materials, copper and gutta-percha,
being indestructible, would have at all times a market value.

Other routes to Europe have been proposed, and have been at times quite
popular, the most feasible of which are those _via_ Behring's Straits,
or the Aleutian Islands, and _via_ Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and the
Faroe Isles.

To the route _via_ Behring's Straits there are several grave objections.
The distance from New York to London by a route crossing the three
continents of America, Asia, and Europe, is about eighteen thousand
miles, or more than nine times as great as that from Newfoundland to
Ireland. Of course, the mere cost of constructing a continuous telegraph
three-quarters of the distance around the globe, and of maintaining
the hundreds of stations that would be necessary over such a length
of land-lines, would be enormous. But even that is not the chief
difficulty. A line which should traverse the whole breadth of Siberia
would encounter wellnigh insuperable obstacles in the country itself, as
it would have to pass over mountains and across deserts; while, as it
turned north to Kamtschatka, it would come into a region of frightful
cold, where winter reigns the greater part of the year. Of this whole
country a large part is not only utterly uncivilized, but uninhabited,
and portions which are occupied are held by savage and warlike tribes.

Of the Greenland route, Doctor Hayes, the well-known Arctic traveller,
expresses himself in the most decided manner, that it is wholly
impracticable. He says it must be obvious that the ice which hugs
the Greenland coast will prevent a cable, if laid, from remaining in
continuity for any length of time. Doctor Wallich, naturalist attached
to Sir Leopold McClintock's expedition to survey the Northern route,
considers it impracticable on account of the volcanic nature of the
bottom of the sea near Iceland, and the ridges of rock and the immense
icebergs near Greenland.

The main argument in favor of this route, in preference to the more
direct one across the Atlantic, is, that it would be impossible to work
in one continuous circuit a line so long as that from Newfoundland to
Ireland. This would seem to be answered sufficiently by the success of
the old Atlantic cable. But it is alleged that it worked slowly and with
difficulty, which is true, and hence it is thought that the distance
would be at least a very great obstacle. But we have shown, that,
practically, by the increased size of the conducting-wire, the new cable
has been reduced in length four-fifths, and will work five times as fast
as the old one. The cable extending from Malta to Alexandria is fifteen
hundred and thirty-five miles long, and the whole of this line can be
worked through without relay or repetition in a satisfactory manner, as
regards both its scientific and commercial results, and with remarkably
low battery-power. The Gutta-Percha Company, which made the core of this
cable, says that a suitably made and insulated telegraph-conductor, laid
intact between Ireland and Newfoundland, can be worked efficiently, both
in a commercial and scientific sense, and they are prepared to guaranty
the efficient and satisfactory working of a line of the length of
the Atlantic cable as manufactured by themselves, and submerged and
maintained in that state.

It can be shown by the testimony and experience of those most eminent in
the science and practice of oceanic telegraphy, that neither length of
distance, within the limits with which the Atlantic Company has to
deal, nor depth of water, is any insuperable impediment to efficient
communication by such improved conductors of electricity as are now
proposed to be laid down. All those who are best able to form a sound
opinion, from long-continued experimental researches on this particular
point, are willing to pledge their judgment, that, on such a length of
line as that between Ireland and Newfoundland, and with such a cable and
such improved instruments as are now at command, not less than twelve
words per minute could be transmitted from shore to shore, and that this
may be done with greatly diminished battery-power as compared with that
formerly used.

I think I have shown by facts, and not theory merely, that the Atlantic
cable can and will be successfully laid down and worked, thus supplying
the long-needed link between the three hundred thousand miles of
electric telegraph already in operation on the opposite shores of the
Atlantic.

There are many of our people who are inclined to look coldly upon this
enterprise, from a conviction that it would give Great Britain an undue
advantage over us in case war should occur between the two countries,
and I confess to having entertained the same views; but the case is so
well put by Mr. Field, in his address before the American Geographical
Society, as, in my judgment, to relieve every apprehension upon this
point.

The relative geographical position of the two countries cannot be
changed. It so happens, that the two points on the opposite sides of
the Atlantic nearest to each other, and which are therefore the natural
termini of an ocean telegraph, are both in British territory. Of
course, the Government which holds both ends can control the use of the
telegraph, or stop it altogether. It has the power, and the only check
upon the abuse of that power must be by a treaty, made beforehand. Shall
we refuse to aid in constructing the line, for fear that England, in
the exasperation of a war, would disregard any treaty stipulations in
reference to its use? Then we throw away our only security. For, suppose
a war to break out to-morrow, the first step of England would be to lay
a cable herself, for her own sole and exclusive benefit. Then she
would not only have the control, but would be unrestrained by any
treaty-obligations binding her to respect the neutrality of the
telegraph. We should then find this great medium of communication
between the two hemispheres, which we might have made, if not an ally,
at least a neutral, turned into a powerful antagonist.

Would it not, therefore, be better that such a line of telegraph should
be constructed by the joint efforts of both countries, and be guarded
by treaty-stipulations, so that it might be placed, as far as possible,
under the protection of the faith of nations, and of the honor of the
civilized world?

Mr. Field says, that, in the negotiations on this subject, Great Britain
has never shown the slightest wish to take advantage of its geographical
position to exact special privileges, or a desire to appropriate any
advantages which it was not willing to concede equally to the United
States.

Should not the Atlantic telegraph, if laid down under the conditions
proposed by the Company, instead of being a cause of apprehension, in
case of war, be rather looked upon with favor, as tending to lessen
the risk of war between the United States and all European countries,
affording, as it would, facilities for the prompt interchange of notes
between the Government of the United States and those of the various
nations on the other side of the Atlantic, whenever any misunderstanding
should unhappily arise?

Let us, then, throw aside all feeling of apprehension from this cause,
and be prepared to hail, with the same enthusiasm we experienced in 1858
at the laying of the old, the completion of the new Atlantic cable.

* * * * *

THE CABALISTIC WORDS.

[Since the following poem was written, we have had from the President
the pledge that the "cabalistic words" shall be uttered by him on the
first of January, 1863, unless the rebellion is abandoned before that
time. Thanks and honor to the President for the promise! But we shall
not look for the magical operation of the words till they are uttered
without reservation or qualification.]

Hear, O Commander of the Faithful, hear
A legend trite to many a childish ear;
But scorn it not, nor let its teaching fail,
Although familiar as a nursery tale.

Cassim the Covetous, whose god was gold,
Once, by strange chance, found riches manifold
Hid in a rocky cavern, where a band
Of robbers who were ravaging the land
Kept their bright spoils. Cassim had learnt the spell
By which the dazzling heaps were guarded well.
Two cabalistic words he speaks, and, lo!
The door flies open: what a golden glow!
He enters,--speaks the words of power once more,
And swift upon him clangs the ponderous door.
Croesus! what joy to eyes that know their worth!
Huge bags of gold and diamonds on the earth!
Here piles of ingots, there a glistening heap
Of coins that all their minted lustre keep.
Cassim is ravished at the wondrous sight,
And rubs his hands with ever new delight;
Absorbed in gazing, lets the hours go by,
Nor can enough indulge his gloating eye.
He chooses what he can to bear away,
And then reluctant seeks the outer day.

The words,--what _are_ they,--those that ope the door?
He falters,--loses all so plain before;--
Tries this word,--that,--in vain!--he cannot speak
The magic sentence;--he grows faint and weak,--
Spurns the base gold, cause of his wild despair;--
What if the thieves should come and find him there?--
Hark! they are coming!--yes, they come!--they shout
The precious words;--ah, now they end his doubt!--
Too late he hears; in vain he tries to fly;
Trembling he sinks upon his knees--to die!

Commander of the Faithful! dark the strait
Thy people stand in, in this hour of fate;
Thick walls of gloom and doubt have shut them in;
They grope beneath the ban of one great sin.
Yet there are two short words whose potent spell
Shall burst with thunder-crash these gates of hell,
Open a vista to celestial light,
Lead us to peace through the eternal Right.
Oh, speak those words, those saving words of power,
In this most pregnant, this supremest hour,--
Words writ in martyr blood, as all may see!--
Commander of the Faithful, say, BE FREE!

* * * * *

CONVERSATIONAL OPINIONS OF THE LEADERS OF SECESSION.

A MONOGRAPH.

The causes of the present Rebellion, the personal history of its
leaders, and the incidents immediately preceding the breaking out of the
conspiracy, will ever remain objects of chief interest to the historian
of the present period of the Republic. Influenced by a desire to obtain
unimpeachable information upon these topics from unprejudiced sources,
the writer of the following article, then a student at Yale College,
availed himself of the vacation in December, 1860, and January, 1861, to
visit the National capital, and while there to improve the reasonably
ready access with which most public men are approached, whenever the
object is either to give or to receive information, for the purpose of
studying a period then promising to exceed in importance anything in the
past history of the nation. It has been suggested to the writer, that
certain interviews, such as younger men, when collegians, were then
allowed with the frank Southern leaders, and which he has occasionally
sketched in conversation, have had the seal of privacy removed by the
tide of events, and should now be described for the public, as aiding to
unmask, from unquestionable authority, the real causes and origin of
the Rebellion, and contributing something, perhaps, to sustain public
sentiment in the defence of the nation against a conspiracy which the
statements of these Southern apologists themselves prove to have been
conceived in the most reckless disregard of honor and law, and which, if
successful, will give birth to a neighboring nation actuated by the same
spirit.

The more important interviews alluded to were with the Honorable Robert
Toombs, the Honorable R.M.T. Hunter, and the Honorable Jefferson Davis,
at that time prominent members, as is well known, of the United
States Senate, from the States respectively of Georgia, Virginia, and
Mississippi. The communications of the Senators are proved to have been
sincere by their subsequent speeches and by public events. The writer
is by no means insensible to the breach of privilege, of which, under
ordinary circumstances, notwithstanding the unfolding of events, he
would be guilty, in detailing in print private conversations; but he
believes that the public will sustain the propriety of the present
revelations, now that the persons chiefly concerned have become enemies
of the nation and of mankind.

Not, as he may possibly be accused, with the purpose of adding a
syllable of unnecessary length to the narrative, but for the sake of
vividness in presenting the idea of the _personnel_ of the Southern
leaders, soon to be known only as historical characters, and of
scrupulous accuracy in representing their sentiments, to which, in this
case, a notice of time, place, and manner seems as necessary as that of
matter, the writer has taken not a little pains, through all the usual
means, to remember, and will endeavor to state, the conversations,
always with logical, and nearly always, he believes, with verbal
accuracy, in order that the conclusions to be drawn from them by the
reader may have the better support.

It is well known that public men in Washington, out of business hours,
are visited without formal introduction or letters, especially upon
their reception-days, and that the privilege of a single interview
implies no distinction to the visitor. The urbanity and frankness with
which proper approaches are met, especially by the Southern leaders, are
also well known. Young men, with unprejudiced minds, upon whom public
characters are always anxious to impress the stamp of their own
principles, are perhaps received with quite as much frankness as others.

* * * * *

The first interview sought was with Mr. Toombs, the most daring and
ingenuous, and perhaps the most gifted in eloquence of the Southern
leaders, whose house, at that time, was a lofty building upon F Street,
only two doors from the residence of Mr. Seward. A negro servant, who,
with all the blackness of a native African, yet with thin lips and
almost the regular features of a Caucasian, appeared to the writer to be
possibly the descendant of one of the superior, princely African tribes,
showed the way to an unoccupied parlor. The room was luxuriously
furnished with evidences of wealth and taste: a magnificent pianoforte,
several well-chosen paintings, and a marble bust of some public
character standing upon a high pedestal of the same material in the
corner, attracting particular attention, and a pleasant fire in the open
grate making the December evening social. A step presently heard in the
hall, elastic, buoyant, and vigorous, was altogether too characteristic
of Mr. Toombs's portly, muscular, confident, and somewhat dashing
figure, to be mistaken for any other than his own. Mr. Toombs appeared
to be now about forty-five years of age, but carried in his whole mien
the elastic vigor, and irresistible self-reliance, frankness, decision,
and sociality of character, which mark his oratory and his public
career. His good-evening, and inquiry concerning the college named on
the card of the writer, were in a tone that at once placed his visitor
at ease.

"Your first visit to Washington, Mr. ----?"

"Yes, Sir. Like others, I have been attracted by the political crisis,
and the purpose of studying it from unprejudiced sources."

"Crisis? Oh, _that's past_."

The writer will not soon forget the tone of perfect confidence and
_nonchalance_ with which this was uttered. The time was the last week of
December, 1860.

"You are confident, then, Sir, that fifteen States will secede?"

"Secede? Certainly,--they _must_ secede. You Northerners,--you are from
a Northern college, I believe,"--referring to the writer's card,--"you
Northerners wish to make a new Constitution, or rather to give such an
interpretation to the old one as to make it virtually a new document.
How can society be kept together, if men will not keep their compacts?
Our fathers provided, in adopting their Constitution, for the protection
of their property. But here are four billions of the property of the
South which you propose to outlaw from the common Territories. You say
to us, by your elected President, by your House of Representatives, by
your Senate, by your Supreme Court, in short, by every means through
which one party can speak to another, that these four billions of
property, representing the toil of the head and hand of the South for
the last two hundred years, shall not be respected in the Territories as
your property is respected there. And this property, too, is property
which you tax and which you allow to be represented; but yet you will
not protect it. How can we remain? We should be happy to remain, if you
would treat us as equals; but you tax us, and will not protect us.
We will resist. D--n it,"--this and other striking expressions are
precisely Mr. Toombs's language,--"we will meet you on the border with
the bayonet. Society cannot be kept together, unless men will keep their
compacts."

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