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1
378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
212
CHAPTER
XIII.
CAST
DOWN,
BUT
NOT
IN
DESPAIR.
It
takes
a
long
time
to
recover
from
a
great
disaster.
When
at
last
the
friends
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph
were
obliged
to
confess
that
the
cable
had
ceased
to
work;
when
all
the
efforts
of
the
electricians
failed
to
draw
more
than
a
few
faint
whispers,
a
dying
gasp,
from
the
depths
of
the
sea,
there
ensued
in
the
public
mind
a
feeling
of
profound
discouragement.
For
a
time
this
paralyzed
all
effort
to
revive
the
Company
and
to
renew
the
enterprise.
And
yet
the
feeling,
though
natural,
was
extreme.
If
they
had
not
done
all
they
attempted,
they
had
accomplished
much.
They
had
at
least
demonstrated
the
possibility
of
laying
a
cable
across
the
Atlantic
Ocean,
and
of
sending
messages
through
it.
This
alone
was
no
small
triumph.
So
men
reasoned
when
sober
reflection
returned,
and
at
length
the
tide
of
public
confidence,
which
had
ebbed
so
strongly,
began
to
reflow,
and
once
more
to
creep
up
the
shores
of
England.
But
when
a
great
enterprise
has
been
overthrown,
and
lies
prostrate
on
the
earth,
the
first
impulse
of
its
friends
is
to
call
on
Caesar
for
help.
So
the
first
appeal
of
the
Atlantic
Telegraph
Company
was
to
the
British
Government.
It
was
claimed,
and
with
reason,
that
the
work
was
too
great
to
be
undertaken
by
private
capital
alone.
It
was
a
matter,
not
of
private
speculation,
but
of
public
and
national
concern.
It
was,
therefore,
an
object
which
might
justly
be
undertaken
by
a
powerful
government,
in
the
interest
of
science
and
of
civilization.
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