3-017-157 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable: Sir Robert Peel addressing the bystanders after the taking of the shore end of the cable to the Telegraph House at Valencia, 1865. Engraving from a sketch by Robert Dudley, showing '...Sir Robert Peel, Chief Secretary to the Government of Ireland, and Lord John Hay...as well as Mr. Glass, the managing director of the Telegraph Construction Company (and manufacturer of the main length of cable)...The end of the cable was taken up by Mr. Glass and handed to Sir Robert, who passed it through a hole...in the building which forms...the station, where it was speedily connected with the batteries in the instrument-room. A signal was then interchanged with the Caroline, proving that the electric communication was perfect. Three cheers for the Queen were called for...and given with Irish warmth. The Knight of Kerry briefly addressed the large concourse of ladies and gentlemen, yeomen and peasantry...[and] expressed his gratification at this auspicious commencement of the work, and called for three cheers for the Atlantic Telegraph Cable, and...for Sir Robert Peel...[who] spoke, with his wonted energy, of the political, social, and commercial benefits which would be secured if the cable should prove successful'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.