o'clock
at night they had recovered the damaged part. They made another point
and spliced it, and it was once more submerged. But some days after it
broke again, and in the depths of the ocean could not be recaptured.
The Americans, however, were not discouraged. Cyrus Field, the bold
promoter of the enterprise, as he had sunk all his own fortune, set a
new subscription on foot, which was at once answered, and another cable
was constructed on better principles. The bundles of conducting wires
were each enveloped in gutta-percha, and protected by a wadding of
hemp, contained in a metallic covering. The Great Eastern sailed on
the 13th of July, 1866. The operation worked well. But one incident
occurred. Several times in unrolling the cable they observed that
nails had recently been forced into it, evidently with the motive of
destroying it. Captain Anderson, the officers, and engineers consulted
together, and had it posted up that, if the offender was surprised on
board, he would be thrown without further trial into the sea. From
that time the criminal attempt was never repeated.

On the 23rd of July the Great Eastern was not more than 500 miles from
Newfoundland, when they telegraphed from Ireland the news of the
armistice concluded between Prussia and Austria after Sadowa. On the
27th, in the midst of heavy fogs, they reached the port of Heart's
Content. The enterprise was successfully terminated; and for its first
despatch, young America addressed old Europe in these words of wisdom,
so rarely understood: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill towards men."

I did not expect to find the electric cable in its primitive state,
such as it was on leaving the manufactory. The long serpent, covered
with the remains of shells, bristling with foraminiferae, was encrusted
with a strong coating which served as a protection against all boring
molluscs. It lay quietly sheltered from the motions of the sea, and
under a favourable pressure for the transmission of the electric spark
which passes from Europe to America in .32 of a second. Doubtless this
cable will last for a great length of time, for they find that the
gutta-percha covering is improved by the sea-water. Besides, on this
level, so well chosen, the cable is never so deeply submerged as to
cause it to break. The Nautilus followed it to the lowest depth, which
was more than 2,212 fathoms, and there it lay without any anchorage;
and t