ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1584, 4 December 1867, Page 3

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHS.

[From the " Panama Star and Herald. , '] Perhaps in nothing more than the science of telegraphy is the progress of man's ceaseless enterprise exhibited ; and in no one discovery of the age has such rapid strides towards perfection been made, or conferred such incalsulable benefits on man. Its onward march from one great improvement to another has been a succession of triumphs that hrfve amazed mankind and sent a thrill throughout the pulse of the world. The first telegraphic despatch recorded was sent in 1793, by M. Chappe, from the frontiers of France to Paris, by means of his Semaphore telegraph, announcing that " Conde is taken from the Austrians" — a despatch which went like an electric shock through France, and made the invention which brought it the pride of the nation, and caused the victory and the telegraph to be rejoiced over together. From that day —seventy-four years ago —to the present time the telegraph has pursued its successes,hascrossed oceans and continents, and gradually extended itself to all parts of the globe, and as steadily improved with its growth, drawing closer together the peoples of the earth in mutual interest and advantage. It defies all barriers alike —the mountain ranges, broad continents,and trackless seas—it has annihilated distance and brought the people of the antipodes into the knowledge of each other by daily intercourse —and has created an interest in the heart and mind of each, for the other, that in the 4000 years of the world's existence has never been felt before. There is more than grandeur in the thought that vast oceans and distances no longer impede the hourly interchange cf thought and sentiment between nations 1000 leagues asunder; and surely there was prophecy in the words which Shakespeare has put into the mouth of Puck, when he wrote more than 250 years ago, " I'll put a girdle l&jind the earth In forty minutes." "V-. In quick succession, follow the great telegraphing enterprises, and we have scarcely recorded the successful accomplishment of one ere our attention is called to some new undertaking equally great. Thus the cable to Cuba is not settled in its bed before a company of capitalists in New York project the stupendous scheme of a telegraph down the South Pacific Coast, which will place the vast States of Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador in telegraphic communication, via thelsthmus of Panama, with the rest of the world. The company has been chartered by the Legislature of the State of New, York, under the name of the SpanishAmerican Intercommunication Telegraph Company, and is composed of men of the highest respectability, enterprise, and commercial standing. Its capital is 2,500,000 dols. One of its members, Don Mariano Arosemena, acting also as its agent, has already obtained from Peru an exclusive charter for fifty years, with leave to land the cable on the shores and in all the ports of tha Eepublic, and to use all the land belonging to the Government which may be necessary for the building of the line, as weil as other purposes absolutely required by the company for its successful completion and operation. The Grovernment of that Republic has also granted a subsidy of 40,000d015. per annum for the whole term of the charter, to commence from the day the line is pui in operation. A Bill is also now before the Congress of Chile which it is believed will result in the granting of similar privileges, and an equal or even larger subsidy, since that Republic is more interested than Peru by reason of her greater commerce with the United StatesandEurope. We would strongly urge then the people and the severalgovernments south to take hold of this scheme with liberality and spirit, and if they would not be shut out from its benefits, and left isolated from the great centres of commerce, to follow the example of Peru, and grant generous privileges and subsidies to aid in the completion of this most civilizing, and magnificent enterprise; for by its means in less than three years time Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador may be in direct communication with Panama, and thence through ocean telegraph with Cuba, Porto Rico, St. Domingo, St. Thomas, Jamaica, and New York, and thence again to London, Paris, St. Petersburgh, and all the capitals of Europe, and even unto China,for Russia is now a ? 'out to connect her capital and Moscow with the Celestial Empire through Tartary and Mongolia.