If anything could overcome the tendency of men to vaticinate, it surely would be the sad history of the last few years in the United States. The condition of affairs in that lamentable period is illustrated by another passage of his lordship’s speech, which also points out the inestimable value of the telegraph as a conservator of peace. “We may as we take our stand here on the extremest rocky side of our beloved Ireland, leave, as it were, behind us the wars, the strifes, and the bloodshed of the older Europe, and pledge ourselves, weak as our agency may be, imperfect as our powers may be, inadequate in strict diplomatic form as our credentials may be; yet, in the face of the unparalleled circumstances of the place and the hour, in the immediate neighbourhood of the mighty vessels whose appearance may be beautiful upon the waters, even as are the feet upon mountains of those who preach the Gospel of peace--as a homage due to that serene science which often affords higher and holier lessons of harmony and goodwill than the wayward passions of man are always apt to learn--in the face and in the strength of such circumstances, let us pledge ourselves to eternal peace between the Old World and the New. Why, gentlemen, what excuse would there be for misunderstanding? What justification could there be for war, when the disarming message, when the full explanation, when the genial and healing counsel may be wafted even across the mighty Atlantic, quicker than the sunbeam’s path and the lightning’s flash?” At that moment Great Britain was just disengaged from a war with Russia and a war with Persia, and was actively engaged in a war with China, and with mutinies in India. France was preparing to deal Austria a deadly blow; America looked pityingly across the Atlantic, and wondered at our folly and our crimes. On August the 5th, 1857, the shore end of the Cable was secured in the little cove selected for the purpose in Valentia, on the cliffs above which a telegraphic station had been erected, and was hauled up amidst the greatest enthusiasm, Lord Carlisle participating in the joy and the labour.