Modern Telegraphing

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 22, 1867

Modern Telegraphing.

The World Girdled by Telegraph".—The East India Telegraph Company.

THE successful laying of the Atlantic Cable, and the still more marvelous success of picking up the lost one of 1865, have put our country as far out West as San Francisco into almost instantaneous communication, not only with all the principal cities and prominent parts of Europe, but also with those of Southern Asia, as far into the East as Calcutta. One thing, and one only, is to be deprecated in regard to the Atlantic telegraph, and that is, that both its termini are on foreign soil, and on the soil of the very power with which international rivalries may at any time produce dangerous complications. Should such complication unfortunately occur, then this ocean telegraph in the hands of the British Government, and completely beyond our control, would at once become one of the greatest sources, not only of annoyance, but even of danger, to this country. This was early foreseen, and in the reply of one of our former Presidents to the first congratulatory dispatch to the Queen of England; (1858,) the wish was expressed that the termini of the cable, together with its connecting lines and station-houses, should be declared neutral forever.

No answer was ever made to this expression of a mere wish. But other competing lines more to the south will shortly be built, and will remove the danger spoken of.

The most important projected plan, and promising, perhaps, greater results for the welfare and material prosperity of the United States, is the Russo-American telegraph, rapidly pushed forward on this continent by Mr. P. McD. Collins, toward Bhering Strait, and the Emperor Alexander II., through Siberia toward the East, and the line proposed to be built and to connect with the former by the East India Telegraph Company, from Pekin, the capital city of China, along the Chinese coast to Canton, and north and eastward to Irkutsk and Kyachta, and the mouth of the Amour river, which latter two connecting lines are proposed to be built by the Russian Government.

The British Government, always anxious to maintain their power in the East, intend and have, we believe, entered into preliminary arrangements to extend their line of telegraph from Calcutta east to Hong Kong, and thus when all these several lines shall have been completed—and we can assure our readers that they will be completed in less than half the time it took the Atlantic Cable to get into working order—then the United States may justly lay claim to the proud position of being the commercial centre of the habitable globe, for from New York to Europe, from San Francisco to Asia, will radiate the entire commerce of the world.

When the late Thomas H. Benton was still a young lawyer and local politician at St. Louis, he edited a small sheet called the St. Louis Inquirer. This was in 1819-20. In a series of articles in that journal, neither ocean steamers, railroads nor telegraphs being then in use, he advocated most strenuously the speedy construction of a national wagon-road through to the Rocky Mountains, and, with a proper treaty with Spain, through California to some point on the Pacific suitable for a great harbor. He fortified his proposal with irrefutable arguments. His sagacious and discerning mind called attention to the fact that every country which, throughout all history, succeeded in obtaining a fair share of the trade with the bee-hives of people in the East, grew prosperous and wealthy. He referred to the Phœnicians and Egyptians in ancient times, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the Hanseatic League and the English more recently. And he hoped that by opening communication for convenient travel from the Mississippi to the Pacific, the People of the United States might share in a like result.

“Old Bullion’s” far-seeing ideas are now about to be realized, and that in a manner which not even he, at the time of his death, could have had courage enough to hope. The telegraph to San Francisco was completed long since, and already reaches far up north, through Oregon into Washington Territory and the British possessions. The National Wagon Road proposed by him 46 years ago, is being rapidly pushed forward, supported by the bounty of our Government, but it is to be of iron, and “swift propelling steam” the motive power. San Francisco, “the most suitable place on the coast for a harbor,” seems selected by nature herself for the great destiny that awaits it. Communication across the Pacific to Shanghai, connecting there by coast steamers with all the most important commercial cities down to Hong Kong, Macao and Canton, is provided for also by the bounty of our Government, which has come to the succor of private enterprise in this great national undertaking. Thus all the preliminary steps to secure to us a fair share of the immense and highly lucrative trade of the Eastern Continent have been completed. One thing remains yet to be done. We must have telegraphic communication directly from here, and not over England and Europe, with all the trade centers of Eastern Asia. Then, and then only, will our whole system of intercontinental commerce be truly American and wholly independent.

This the East India Telegraph Company, a thoroughly responsible corporation, propose to do. Enough has been published regarding the Russo-American Telegraph, now constructing and fast nearing its completion, and the reading public is so well informed of the general nature and character of the work, that, for the present, we need say no more about it. But the projected East India Telegraph is less known, yet it is not only equally important with the Collins Russian line, but, we take it, immeasurably more so. While the Collins line gives us independent communication with Europe, through Siberia and European Russia, the East India Telegraph brings us daily and hourly into the very heart of the Chinese Empire, and to the very doors of British India. A few statistical references will show the nature and scope of the enterprise.

In the first place, it is proper to mention that by the exertions of our Minister at Pekin, Hon. Anson Burlingame, supported by the representatives of the other Powers having treaties of commerce and friendship with China, this Company was granted, by the Chinese Government, the right to lay cables connecting the seaport cities from Canton to Shanghai, and to construct an inland line from the latter place, by way of Nankin, to Pekin. The Russian Government, by treaty, has secured the privilege of building two lines from Pekin—one to the Amour, the other to Irkutsk. The fact that along the coast the telegraph will be submerged, is security against its destruction by land pirates or rebels. Canton, the starting point, has a population of 1,000,000 souls, and is the great commercial metropolis of the Chinese Empire. Macao, the next station, is also a very important trading post. Hong Kong, the third, has a population of 200,000; Amoy, the fourth, of 250,000; and Foochow, the fifth, of 1,200,000; Ningpo, the sixth station, has 300,000 souls, and Shanghai, the next, has nearly 2,000,000. From thence the telegraph connects with Nankin (400,000) and Pekin, 2,000,000 of inhabitants. From this place the connection will be completed with the Russo-American Telegraph. The entire length of cables will be 835 miles, that of the land line, 605; total, 1,435. From Pekin to the Collins telegraph the distance to be spanned by the wire is 850 miles. We believe we have said enough to convince the reader of the pre-eminent importance of this work for the future commercial greatness of America.

That it will be shortly completed we do not doubt, for active, energetic, responsible and able men are in the management. The Company was chartered by the Legislature of New York in 1864. The capital is $5,000,000, in shares of $100.00 each, which are rapidly taken.—N. Y. Times.