-I had my watch in my hand at
the time--and the answer came back at 9:23--just five minutes. I can
tell you it was hard to believe that the whole thing was not a practical
joke. In fact, the message and reply were almost instantaneous, the
five minutes being chiefly occupied in manipulating the instruments at
either end. The second message between the same parties occupied the
same time. After that Sir Bartle Frere sent a telegram to Sir Seymour
Fitzgerald, the Governor of Bombay, as follows:--`_Sir Bartle Frere
wishes health and prosperity to all old friends in Bombay_.' This was
received by the Company's superintendent at Bombay, and the
acknowledgment of its receipt sent back in four minutes and fifty
seconds! But the reply from the Governor, `_Your old friend returns
your good wishes_,' did not come to us for thirty-six minutes, because
the message had to be sent to the Governor's house, and it found his
Excellency in bed.

"Next, a message was sent by Lady Mayo in London to Lord Mayo at Simla,
which, with the acknowledgment of it, occupied 15 minutes in
transmission. Of course time was lost in some cases, because the
persons telegraphed to were not on the spot at the moment. The Prince
of Wales telegraphed to the Viceroy of India, `_I congratulate your
Excellency on England and India being now connected by a submarine
cable. I feel assured this grand achievement will prove of immense
benefit to the welfare of the Empire. Its success is thus matter_ _of
imperial interest_,' which telegram passed out, and the acknowledgment
of its receipt in India was returned to London, all within eleven
minutes, but, as in the former case, the Viceroy was in bed, so that his
reply was not received till forty-five minutes had elapsed. Had the
Viceroy been at the Indian end of the wire, he and the Prince could have
conversed at an average rate of five minutes a sentence.

"Many other messages were sent to and fro," continued Sam, turning over
the leaves of his note-book, "not only from London to India, but to each
of the intermediate stations on the cable line, so that we had direct
intercourse that night with the King of Portugal, the Governors of
Gibraltar, Malta, and Aden, and the Khedive of Egypt. But that was not
all. We put the old and the new world into communication, so that the
`press of India sent salaam to the press of America.' Sir James
Anderson also telegraphed to Cyrus W. Field, Esquire, the father of
s