by any intelligent being who has any one of the five
senses left him,—by all rational men, that
is, excepting the few eyeless deaf persons who have
lost both taste and smell in some complete paralysis.
The use of Morse’s telegraph is by no means
confined to the small clique who possess or who understand
electrical batteries. It is not only the torpedo
or the
Gymnotus electricus that can send us
messages from the ocean. Whales in the sea can
telegraph as well as senators on land, if they will
only note the difference between long spoutings and
short ones. And they can listen, too. If
they will only note the difference between long and
short, the eel of Ocean’s bottom may feel on
his slippery skin the smooth messages of our Presidents,
and the catfish, in his darkness, look fearless on
the secrets of a Queen. Any beast, bird, fish,
or insect, which can discriminate between long and
short, may use the telegraph alphabet, if he have
sense enough. Any creature, which can hear, smell,
taste, feel, or see, may take note of its signals,
if he can understand them. A tired listener at
church, by properly varying his long yawns and his
short ones, may express his opinion of the sermon
to the opposite gallery before the sermon is done.
A dumb tobacconist may trade with his customers in
an alphabet of short-sixes and long-nines. A beleaguered
Sebastopol may explain its wants to the relieving army
beyond the line of the Chernaya, by the lispings of
its short Paixhans and its long twenty-fours.
THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE RESOLUTE.
[I had some opportunities, which no other writer for
the press had, I believe, of examining the Resolute
on her return from that weird voyage which is the
most remarkable in the history of the navies of the
world. And, as I know of no other printed record
of the whole of that voyage than this, which was published
in the Boston Daily Advertiser of June 11, 1856, I
reprint it here. Readers should remember that
the English government abandoned all claim on the
vessel; that the American government then bought her
of the salvors, refitted her completely, and sent
her to England as a present to the Queen. The
Queen visited the ship, and accepted the present in
person. The Resolute has never since been to
sea. I do not load the page with authorities;
but I studied the original reports of the Arctic expeditions
carefully in preparing the paper, and I believe it
to be accurate throughout.
The voyage from New London to England, when she was
thus returned, is strictly her last voyage. But
when this article was printed its name was correct.]
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