THE CIVIL WAR
(1861-1862)
December, 1860, had ended in financial disaster: it was the third time
in less than twenty years that Mr. Field had seen his business swept
from him, and yet he was of so buoyant a disposition that immediately we
find him back at his office and very soon at work for the advancement of
his great enterprise. On June 10th he wrote to Mr. Saward:
"I never had more confidence in the ultimate success of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company than I have to-day."
And Mr. Saward wrote to him on July 5th:
"Vast improvements in everything relating to the structure of
telegraph cables are constantly being made, and inquiry upon the
subject is very active. We are becoming much more hopeful of a good
time for the Atlantic company.
"Two very favorable events for telegraphy have taken place this
week. First, Glass, Elliott & Co. have laid without any check or
hitch, in a very perfect condition, a cable for the French
government between Toulon and the island of Corsica; and, second,
the same firm have completed in precisely the same state of
efficiency two-thirds of a line between Malta and Alexandria for
the use of the English government; as the remainder is all shallow
water, the event is certain."
After the civil war began he was often in Washington, and he was
untiring in his devotion to his country, and we find him in
correspondence with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of the
Treasury, and with others in official positions.
June 11, 1861, he wrote to Colonel Thomas A. Scott, then Assistant
Secretary of War, at Willard's Hotel, Washington, D. C.:
"Pardon me for repeating in this letter some of the suggestions
which I made to the President, yourself, and other members of the
Cabinet during my late visit to Washington;
"1. The government to immediately seize all the despatches on file
in the telegraph offices which have been sent from Washington,
Baltimore, Wilmington, Philadelphia, New York, Hartford, Boston,
and other cities within the last six months, as I feel confident
they will on examination prove many persons not now suspected to
have been acting as spies and traitors.
"2. The government to establish as soon as possible telegraphic
communication, by means of submarine cables, between some of our
principal ports on the sea-board and the nearest telegraph line
communicating with Washington, so that the department can almost
instantly communicate with the commanding officer at any particular
point desired.
"3. In each department of the government to adopt a cipher with its
confidential agent at important points of the country, so that they
can communicate confidentially by telegraph.
"I consider it very important that the government should have the
most reliable telegraph communication with its principal forts on
the Atlantic coast.
"If there is any information that I possess that would be of
service to you in carrying out the wishes of the government in
regard to telegraph matters it will afford me pleasure to give it.
"I presume you are aware that there are very few persons in this
country who have had any experience in the manufacture, working, or
laying of submarine cables of any great importance.
"Very respectfully
"Your obedient servant,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
June 16th, while in Washington, he received a pass "beyond the pickets
and to return, good for five days." On July 30th he wrote to Captain G.
V. Fox, of the Navy Department:
"In a letter I wrote the Secretary of the Treasury on the 11th of
May last I used these words, viz.: 'For the government to send at
once a confidential agent to England, with a competent naval
officer, to obtain from the British government by purchase, or
otherwise, some of the improved steam gun-boats and other vessels
to protect our commerce and to assist in blockading Southern
ports.'"
It was at this time that his firm in New York wrote to him that a debt
of $1800 had been paid and that $1000 was in silver. Such a payment
would hardly be appreciated now.
His mother's death, on the evening of Friday, August the 16th, was made
known to those living in the village of Stockbridge, according to the
custom of that time, by the tolling of the church-bell. After that six
strokes were given to show that a woman had died, nine would have been
struck for a man, or three for a child. Her age was then slowly rung,
and as one year after another was recorded, each brought back to her
family the joy or sorrow with which that year had been filled.
Her funeral was on Sunday, the 18th. A number of her friends among the
elderly ladies of the town acted as pall-bearers, and another custom
then observed was for the officiating clergyman, after the grave had
been filled--and every one waited until that was done--to return thanks
in the name of the family to all who had shown them kindness and
sympathy in their bereavement. Of her funeral the Rev. John Todd, of
Pittsfield, Mass., wrote:
"At the gateway of one of our beautiful rural cemeteries a large
funeral was just entering.... The bier was resting on the shoulders
of four tall, noble-looking men in the prime of life.... Very
slowly and carefully they trod, as if the sleeper should not feel
the motion. And who was on the bier, so carefully and tenderly
borne? It was their own mother. Never did I see a grief more
reverent or respect more profound."
A few days later Mr. Field wrote to a friend, on the death of a child:
"Having myself experienced such a calamity, I can judge of your
feelings, and most sincerely sympathize with you and your good wife
on this melancholy occasion. I hope you will both bear it with
Christian fortitude, _for it is God's will_, and no doubt for some
wise purpose."
Referring to his life-work, on October 23d he writes:
"Who first conceived the idea of a telegraph across the Atlantic I
know not. It may have been before I was born.
"I have made twenty-four sea voyages solely for the purpose of
connecting Europe and America by telegraph, and although the cable
laid is not now in operation, the experience gained will, I doubt
not, be the means of causing another cable to be submerged that
will successfully connect Newfoundland and Ireland."
At 10 P.M. on October 26th this message from San Francisco was received:
"CYRUS W. FIELD, New York:
"The Pacific telegraph calls the Atlantic cable.
"A. W. BEE."
He replied:
"Your message received. The Atlantic cable is not dead, but
sleepeth. In due time it will answer the call of the Pacific
telegraph."
On October 29th, in a letter to a friend in Newfoundland:
"There is now a very much increased interest being felt here in the
importance of an early laying of another Atlantic cable from
Ireland to Newfoundland, thus connecting Europe, Asia, Africa, and
America.
"I hope in a few days to have arrangements made so that we may on
some given evening connect the lines between St. John's and San
Francisco together, and by means of relays speak directly through,
between these two points, a distance by the telegraph of over 5000
miles."
Neither did he neglect his private business. On December 3d, within a
year of his failure, he was able to write:
"All of our extension notes due on the 30th of September last were
duly paid, and we have already taken up all that will be due on the
30th of this month with the exception of $14,992 78, and all that
are due on the 30th of March next except $326 40. You will see that
we have reduced our liabilities to a very small amount, and we
shall meet them all promptly at or before maturity."
He was so very exact in all his work that he could not understand the
lack of like exactitude in others. To one who failed to answer a letter
he sent this note:
"_My dear Sir_,--If it takes four weeks _not_ to get an answer to a
letter, how long will it take to get one?
"I have not received a reply to my letter of November 4th.
"I remain, very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD.
"_December 2d._"
The news of the seizure of Mason and Slidell by Captain Wilkes, from the
steamer _Trent_, was received in Boston on November 24th, and at once he
saw another reason for urging the immediate laying of a cable across the
Atlantic, and in a letter to Mr. Saward he says:
"The low rate of interest now ruling in Great Britain, and the
great desire of the British government to have telegraphic
communication with her North American colonies, both indicate that
_now_ is the time to move energetically in the matter of connecting
Newfoundland and Ireland by a submarine cable."
And on the 17th of December:
"It does appear to me that now is the time for the directors of the
Atlantic Telegraph Company to act with energy and decision, and get
whatever guarantee is necessary from the English government to
raise the capital to manufacture and lay down without unnecessary
delay between Newfoundland and Ireland a good cable."
General T. W. Sherman had written to him from Port Royal on December
21st:
"It was but the other day I was discussing the very subject you
mention. We want very much a telegraphic communication between
Beaufort, Hilton Head, and the Tybee. How can we get it promptly?"
This was in reply to a letter of Mr. Field's in which he had enclosed a
copy of the following letter and its indorsement:
"WILLARD'S HOTEL,
"WASHINGTON, _December 4, 1861_.
"_Sir_,--Pardon me for making the following suggestions:
"1. That government establish at once telegraphic communication
between Washington and Fortress Monroe by means of a submarine
cable from Northampton County to Fortress Monroe.
"2. That Forts Walker and Beauregard be connected by a submarine
cable.
"3. That a submarine cable be laid between Hilton Head and Tybee
Island.
"4. That the Forts at Key West and Tortugas be brought into instant
communication by means of a telegraph cable.
"5. That a cable be laid connecting the Fort at Tortugas with Fort
Pickens.
"If I can be of any service to you or the government in this matter
it will give me pleasure.
"I shall remain at this hotel until to-morrow afternoon or Friday
morning, and have with me samples of different kinds of cable.
"Very respectfully,
"Your obedient servant,
"CYRUS W. FIELD.
"Major-General G. B. MCCLELLAN, Washington, D. C."
On the 12th of December General McClellan indorsed the plans with these
words:
"I most fully concur in the importance of the submarine telegraph
proposed by Mr. Field, and earnestly urge that his plans may be
adopted and be authorized to have the plans carried into execution.
More careful consideration may show that a safer route for the
cable from Fernandina to Key West would be by the eastern shore of
Florida. This will depend on the strength of our occupation of the
railroad from Fernandina to Cedar Keys.
"Very respectfully, etc.,
"GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN."
This expression is copied from a letter dated London, December 28, 1861:
"The rebels are waiting with great anxiety for the arrival of the
steamer _Africa_ and her news about the _Trent_ affair."
On January 1, 1862, he wrote to Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State:
"The importance of the early completion of the Atlantic telegraph
can hardly be estimated. What would have been its value to the
English and United States governments if it had been in operation
on the 30th of November last, on which day Earl Russell was writing
to Lord Lyons, and you at the same time to Mr. Adams, our minister
in London?
"A few short messages between the two governments and all would
have been satisfactorily explained. I have no doubt that the
English government has expanded more money during the last thirty
days in preparation for war with this country than the whole cost
of manufacturing and laying a good cable between Newfoundland and
Ireland.
"At this moment you can telegraph from St. John's, Newfoundland, to
every town of importance in British North America and to all the
principal cities in the loyal States, even to San Francisco, on the
Pacific, a distance by the route of the telegraph of over
fifty-four hundred miles. From Valentia, in Ireland, there is also
now telegraph communication with all the capitals of Europe, and to
Algiers, in Africa, about twenty-one hundred miles; to Odessa, on
the Black Sea, twenty-nine hundred and forty miles; to
Constantinople, thirty-one hundred and fifty miles, and to Omsk, in
Siberia, about five thousand miles.
"All that is now required to connect Omsk, in Siberia, with San
Francisco, California, on the Pacific, and all intermediate points,
is a telegraph cable from Valentia Island to Newfoundland, a
distance of sixteen hundred and forty nautical miles.
"What could the governments of Great Britain and the United States
do so effectually to bind the two countries in bonds of amity and
interest as to complete at the earliest possible moment this
connecting link between the two countries?...
"Will you pardon me for suggesting to you the propriety of opening
a correspondence with the English government upon the subject, and
proposing that the Atlantic Telegraph Company should be aided or
encouraged to complete their line, and that the two governments
should enter into a treaty that in case of any war between them the
cable should not be molested?"
Mr. Seward answered on January 9th:
"Your letter of the 1st instant relative to the Atlantic telegraph
was duly received; it will afford me pleasure to confer with you on
that subject at any time you may present yourself for that
purpose."
In a letter written by Mr. Seward on the 14th of January to Mr. Adams in
London he said:
"In view of the recent disturbances of feeling in Great Britain
growing out of the _Trent_ affair, we have some apprehensions that
our motives in opening a correspondence upon the subject of the
telegraph just now might be misinterpreted....
"If you think wisely of it you are authorized to call the attention
of Earl Russell to the matter.... You may say to him that the
President entertains the most favorable views of the great
enterprise in question, and would be happy to co-operate with the
British government in securing its successful execution and such
arrangements as would guarantee to both nations reciprocal benefits
from the use of the telegraphs, not only in times of peace, but
even in times of war, if, contrary to our desire and expectation,
and to the great detriment of both nations, war should ever arise
between them."
Mr. Field sailed for England in the steamer _Arabia_ on January 29th,
and on February 27th, at the request of Mr. Adams, sent a long letter to
Earl Russell. To this letter Earl Russell replied, and appointed
Tuesday, March 4th, at half-past three, as the time at which he would
receive him at the Foreign Office.
On March 6th he again wrote to Earl Russell, entering into details, and
at the end of his letter he referred to the two messages that were in
1858 sent for the English government, and said:
"I enclose for your information a certificate from the War Office
that this business was properly and promptly executed. The
experimental cable which effected for them this communication has
cost the original shareholders £162,000, which sum has been
unremunerative during six years. They ask no advantage in respect
of that from either government, being quite content to risk the
sacrifice of the whole amount if the means be now granted them for
raising, by new subscriptions, the means of carrying out to a
successful issue the great work intrusted to them."
March 10th Earl Russell wrote that Her Majesty's government "have come
to the conclusion that it would be more prudent for the present to defer
entering into any fresh agreement on so difficult a subject."
It was at this time that Mr. George Saward published the article in _The
Electrician_ already referred to, and in it he said:
"Mr. Field has crossed the Atlantic twenty-five times on behalf of
the great enterprise to which he has vowed himself. He has labored
more than any other individual in this important cause, and he has
never asked the Atlantic Telegraph Company for one shilling
remuneration for his valuable services, which he was in no way
bound to render them; nay more, whenever an offer of compensation
was made to him he refused it."
Professor Thomson, now Lord Kelvin, wrote in March of this year these
words of encouragement:
"If any degree of perseverance can be sufficient to deserve
success, and any amount of value in any object can make it worth
striving for, success ought to attend the efforts you and the
directors are making for a result of world-wide beneficence."
The account that follows has been given to show some of the petty
annoyances to which from time to time Mr. Field was subjected. He
arrived in New York on Friday, April 11, 1862, having come in the
steamship _Asia_. Early in the day the ship was reported, but it was
evening before he came to his home, and then he remained but a short
time with his family. In a letter written to a friend in England on
April 15th he says:
"I found my family all in good health and spirits, and after
spending about two hours with them and other friends at my house,
left for Washington, which place I reached soon after nine o'clock
on Saturday morning.... During my absence in Europe some parties
here, acting, as I believe, in concert with enemies in England,
have been doing all in their power to injure me on both sides of
the Atlantic, but without success."
And in another letter he says:
"I have obtained a large amount of information about this wicked
conspiracy to injure me in Europe and in this country. Mr. Seward
and other members of the government have acted in the most
honorable manner, and defeated the plans of wicked men."
To Mr. Chase he wrote:
"I lose no time in acquainting you with the circumstances and of
laying the correspondence before you. Pray tell me if they are
satisfactory to you. I do not know by whom, or where, the goods
were arrested."
As far as it is possible to ascertain at this late day he had included
in the correspondence forwarded to Washington an article which had been
written in New York on January 18th, and said to have been shown to the
New York press, but never published. It appeared in the London _Herald_
of February 4th, and was signed "Manhattan." There were also letters in
the London _Standard_ and _Herald_ of March 29th dated New York, March
11th, stating that the Grand Jury had met and presented a bill of
indictment against Cyrus W. Field for "treasonable proceedings with the
public enemy."
In a letter written on April 17th are these few words:
"The editor of the London _Herald_ has made an apology in his
paper, as I am informed by telegrams from Halifax."
And again:
"I have not yet been able to ascertain who made the complaint but
no bill was found, and the Grand Jury have adjourned."
One of the Grand Jury writes:
"I was a member of the United States Grand Jury in 1862. I remember
that a complaint was brought to the attention of the jury.... I
remember that some testimony was submitted to the jury, but upon
the recommendation of the district attorney the matter was
dropped."
Mr. Bates wrote to him:
"ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
"WASHINGTON, D. C., _April 15, 1862_.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq., New York:
"_Dear Sir_,--Your note of yesterday is just received, and upon
reading the enclosures the affair (as far as it concerns you
personally) looks rather like a stupid, practical joke.
"Could the scheme have been meant as a blow at your business in
Europe?
"Very respectfully yours,
"EDWARD BATES."
When on April 23d he received two more letters in the same handwriting,
one postmarked Springfield, Ill., April 18th, and the other Nashville,
Tenn., April 19th, and evidently designed "to entrap him," he wrote at
once to Mr. Chase:
"I propose to take no further notice of them than to place copies
in your possession and in the hands of the Attorney-General, that
such action may be taken in regard to them as may be deemed
necessary."
After this there was no further suggestion of trouble.
This very characteristic business note was found among his papers of
this year:
"As we are all liable to be called away by death at any time, I
should esteem it a favor if you would indorse the amount paid you
by C. W. Field & Co. on the 5th instant, on my bond, and send the
same to my office, as you proposed."
It was on May 1st that he addressed the American Geographical and
Statistical Society, and it is possible to make but a short extract from
his speech:
"The London _Times_ said truly: 'We nearly went to war with America
because we had not a telegraph across the Atlantic.' It is at such
a moment that England feels the need of communicating with her
colonies on this side of the ocean. And here I may mention a fact
not generally known--that, during the excitement of the _Trent_
affair a person connected with the English government applied to
Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Co., of London, to know for what sum they
would manufacture a cable and lay it across the Atlantic; to which
they replied that they would both manufacture and lay it down for
£675,000, and that it should be in full operation by the 12th day
of July of this year. Well might England afford to pay the whole
cost of such a work; for in sixty days' time she expended more
money in preparation for war with this country than the whole cost
of manufacturing and laying several good cables between
Newfoundland and Ireland."
On his return he had found that the feeling against England was very
intense, and on April 29th he wrote to Mr. Thurlow Weed, who was in
London:
"I regret exceedingly to find a most bitter feeling in this country
against England. Mr. Seward is almost the only American that I have
heard speak kindly of England or Englishmen since I arrived."
And to Mr. Seward his next letter is addressed:
"NEW YORK, _May 5, 1862_.
"_My dear Sir_,--Yesterday I received a letter from our mutual
friend C. M. Lampson, Esq., from London, April 17th, in which he
says: 'Our letter has been before Lord Palmerston for more than a
fortnight, and as yet have had no answer; he is now out of town for
the Easter holidays, and we cannot have a reply for another
fortnight. If we are to make sufficient progress to enable us to do
the work in 1863, it will be only in consequence of the pressure
you bring to bear on your side. This is our only hope for the
present. If the Washington government would direct Mr. Adams to
press the matter here, I think we should succeed.' It has occurred
to me that, considering the great importance to the whole
commercial interest of the country of a telegraph across the
Atlantic, you would be willing to act on the suggestion of Mr.
Lampson and direct Mr. Adams to press the matter upon the English
government.
"With much respect, I remain
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD.
"Hon. WM. H. SEWARD, Secretary of State,
"Washington, D. C."
Mr. Lampson, in his letter of April 17th, had referred to a deputation
of the directors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company that on the 20th of
March had waited upon Lord Palmerston, who was then Prime-Minister.
Mr. Field replied:
"NEW YORK, _May 9, 1862_.
"_My dear Mr. Lampson_,--.... Four weeks ago this evening I arrived
from England, and almost every moment of my time since I landed has
been occupied in working for the Atlantic Telegraph, either in
seeing the President of the United States, or one of his Cabinet,
or some member of the Senate or House of Representatives, or an
editor of one of our papers, or writing to the British provinces,
or doing something which I thought would hasten on the time when we
should have a good submarine telegraph cable working successfully
between Ireland and Newfoundland, and if _we do not get it laid in
1863 it will be our own fault_.
"_Now, now_ is the golden moment, and I do beg of you and all the
other friends of the Atlantic telegraph to act without a moment's
unnecessary delay.
"I have written you and Mr. Saward so often since my arrival that I
am afraid you will get tired of reading my letters; but from the
abundance of the heart the mouth will speak, and I hardly think of
anything but a telegraph across the Atlantic.
Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
Again on May 29th to Mr. Lampson:
"I am disappointed at the answer received from Lord Palmerston, but
not discouraged the least by it, for we can succeed without further
assistance from either government, as I believe that an appeal to
the public will _now_ get us all the money that we want, provided
the business is pressed forward in a proper manner."
It was on the 7th of this month that he wrote to his brother Jonathan:
"You will be glad to know that we have gotten all of our old
matters settled."
From the first days of the war he had urged the necessity for accurate
despatches being sent out by each steamer; and one very hot July morning
of this summer he went up from Long Branch solely for the purpose of
seeing that the steamer, sailing the next morning, carried favorable
news of the movements of our armies.
With our purses full of change it is hard to realize that in October,
1862, it was almost impossible to secure even postal currency, and that
one of Mr. Field's clerks, after waiting four hours at the Sub-Treasury,
was able to obtain but $15.
Again he writes to Mr. Saward:
"I sail per _Scotia_ on Wednesday, the 8th of October, and expect
to arrive at Liverpool Saturday, the 18th, and get to London the
same evening.
"If agreeable to you, I will call at your house Sunday morning, go
with you to hear the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon preach, and dine with you at
two o'clock.
"Monday morning, October 20th, I hope that we will be ready to go
to work in earnest, and have _all_ of the stock for a new cable
subscribed within one month, and our other arrangements so
perfected that I can at an early day return to my family and
country."
He never lost sight of an opportunity for helping his country. On
November 1st Lord Shaftesbury thanks him for the "documents" he had sent
to him. On November 25th his friend the Hon. Stewart Wortley writes:
"Mr. Gladstone has fixed twelve o'clock to-morrow, in Carlton House
Terrace. I have promised him that we would not ask him for
anything, but that I believed you had some confidential
communication to give him on the views of your government. Till I
told him this he was very unwilling to listen to anything that was
not contained in a written proposal."
It was on this day or the next that Mr. Field gave to Mr. Gladstone to
read _Thirteen Months in a Rebel Prison_. Mr. McCarthy, in his _History
of Our Own Times_, says: "It was Mr. Gladstone who said that the
President of the Southern Confederation, Mr. Jefferson Davis, had made
an army, had made a navy, and, more than that, had made a nation."
It was this sentiment that its author developed in the deeply
interesting correspondence which follows. This correspondence is of the
utmost value as elucidating the state of mind of the liberal Englishmen
from whom this country expected the sympathy it in so many cases failed
to receive, and very notably failed to receive from the statesman who
for more than a generation has been their intellectual and Parliamentary
leader.
"11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE,
"_November 27, 1862_.
"My dear Sir,--I thank you very much for giving me the _Thirteen
Months_. Will you think that I belie the expression I have used if
I tell you candidly the effect this book has produced upon my mind?
I think you will not; I do not believe that you or your countrymen
are among those who desire that any one should purchase your favor
by speaking what is false, or by forbearing to speak what is true.
The book, then, impresses me even more deeply than I was before
impressed with the heavy responsibility you incur in persevering
with this destructive and hopeless war at the cost of such dangers
and evils to yourselves, to say nothing of your adversaries, or of
an amount of misery inflicted upon Europe such as no other civil
war in the history of man has ever brought upon those beyond its
immediate range. Your frightful conflict may be regarded from many
points of view. The competency of the Southern States to secede,
the rightfulness of their conduct in seceding (two matters wholly
distinct and a great deal too much confounded), the natural
reluctance of Northern Americans to acquiesce in the severance of
the Union, and the apparent loss of strength and glory to their
country; the bearing of the separation on the real interests and on
the moral character of the North; again, for an Englishman, its
bearing with respect to British interests--all these are texts of
which any one affords ample matter for reflection. But I will only
state, as regards the last of them, that I, for one, have never
hesitated to maintain that, in my opinion, the separate and special
interests of England were all on the side of the maintenance of the
old Union; and if I were to look at those interests alone, and had
the power of choosing in what way the war should end, I would
choose for its ending by the restoration of the old Union this very
day. Another view of the matter not to be overlooked is its bearing
on the interests of the black and colored race. I believe the
separation to be one of the few happy events that have marked their
mournful history; and although English opinion may be wrong upon
this subject, yet it is headed by three men perhaps the best
entitled to represent on this side of the water the old champions
of the anti-slavery cause--Lord Brougham, the Bishop of Oxford, and
Mr. Buxton.
"But there is an aspect of the war which transcends every other:
the possibility of success. The prospect of success will not
justify a war in itself unjust, but the impossibility of success in
a war of conquest of itself suffices to make it unjust; when that
impossibility is reasonably proved, all the horror, all the
bloodshed, all the evil passions, all the dangers to liberty and
order with which such a war abounds, come to lie at the door of the
party which refuses to hold its hand and let its neighbor be.
"You know that in the opinion of Europe this impossibility has been
proved. It is proved by every page of this book, and every copy of
this book which circulates will carry the proof wider and stamp it
more clearly. Depend upon it, to place the matter upon a single
issue, you cannot conquer and keep down a country where the women
behave like the women of New Orleans, where, as this author says,
they would be ready to form regiments, if such regiments could be
of use. And how idle it is to talk, as some of your people do, and
some of ours, of the slackness with which the war has been carried
on, and of its accounting for the want of success! You have no
cause to be ashamed of your military character and efforts. You
have proved what wanted no proof--your spirit, hardihood, immense
powers, and rapidity and variety of resources. You have spent as
much money, and have armed and perhaps have destroyed as many men,
taking the two sides together, as all Europe spent in the first
years of the Revolutionary war. Is not this enough? Why have you
not more faith in the future of a nation which should lead for ages
to come the American continent, which in five or ten years will
make up its apparent loss or first loss of strength and numbers,
and which, with a career unencumbered by the terrible calamity and
curse of slavery, will even from the first be liberated from a
position morally and incurably false, and will from the first enjoy
a permanent gain in credit and character such as will much more
than compensate for its temporary material losses? I am, in short,
a follower of General Scott. With him I say, 'Wayward sisters, go
in peace.' Immortal fame be to him for his wise and courageous
advice, amounting to a prophecy.
"Finally, you have done what men could do; you have failed because
you resolved to do what men could not do.
"Laws stronger than human will are on the side of earnest
self-defence; and the aim at the impossible, which in other things
may be folly only, when the path of search is dark with misery and
red with blood, is not folly only, but guilt to boot. I should not
have used so largely in this letter the privileges of free
utterance had I not been conscious that I vie with yourselves in my
admiration of the founders of your republic, and that I have no
lurking sentiment either of hostility or of indifference to
America; nor, I may add, even then had I not believed that you
are lovers of sincerity, and that you can bear even the rudeness of
its tongue.
"I remain, dear sir, very faithfully yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE.
"CYRUS FIELD, Esq."
[Illustration: LAST TWO PAGES OF LETTER FROM MR. GLADSTONE, DATED
NOVEMBER 27, 1862. [See pp. 146-149.]]
"PALACE HOTEL, BUCKINGHAM GATE,
"LONDON, _December 2, 1862_.
"_My dear Sir_,--Your letter of the 27th ultimo was duly received,
and for it please accept my thanks.
"I should have answered your letter at once, but I have been trying
to find in London some documents to send you, for I am sure that if
you have facts you will draw correct conclusions from them.
"As I have not been able to obtain the papers that I want, I will
send them to you on my return to New York.
"I hope that you will get time to read the small book called _Among
the Pines_, which I left at your house last Friday.
"May I send a copy of your letter to Mr. Seward at Washington and
my brother in New York?
"With much respect I remain
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD.
"Right Hon. W. E. GLADSTONE."
"11 DOWNING STREET, WHITEHALL,
"_December 2, 1862_.
"_My dear Sir_,--I thank you for the kind reception you have given
to my officious letter.
"You are quite at liberty to make any use of it which you think
proper except publication, which you would not think of, and I
should deprecate simply on account of the tone of assumption with
which I might appear to be chargeable.
"I thank you very much for _Among the Pines_, which I am reading
with great interest.
"I am glad to find you are going to Cliveden, and I am sure you
will enjoy your visit.
"Believe me, my dear sir,
"Most faithfully yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
And again he wrote:
"11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE,
"_December 9, 1862_.
"_My dear Sir_,--I have again to thank you for _Among the Pines_, a
most interesting and, as far as I can judge, a most truthful work.
It seems to open to view more aspects of society and character in
the slave States than _Uncle Tom's Cabin_, and to be written
without any undue and bewildering predominance of imagination.
"I need not here stop even for a moment on the ground of
controversy. We all vie with one another in fervently desiring that
the Almighty may so direct the issue of the present crisis as to
make it effective for the mitigation and even for the removal of a
system which ever tends to depress the blacks into the condition of
the mere animal, and which among the whites at once gives fearful
scope to the passions of bad men and checks and mars the
development of character in good ones.
"I remain, dear sir,
"Most faithfully yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
A very decided trait of Mr. Field was that when any business enterprise
was proposed he planned every detail, drew up statements, and asked for
statistics, and tried to determine the amount of work that it would be
possible to accomplish, and for that reason it does not surprise us that
before the money for the new cable was subscribed or the contracts
signed he wrote to Mr. Reuter, and received this reply:
"REUTER'S TELEGRAPH OFFICE,
"LONDON, _November 19, 1862_.
"_Dear Sir_,--I have received your letter of the 18th inst.,
wherein you ask whether I consider that a single wire from Ireland
to Newfoundland would be sufficient, and what amount of business I
think I should send through an Atlantic cable the first year.
"In reply to the first inquiry I should say from my own experience
that a single telegraph wire between Ireland and Newfoundland would
by no means be sufficient to meet the requirements of the public.
"With respect to the amount of business I might send through the
new line I cannot, of course, speak positively, but believe I can
say that for the first year it would certainly not be less than
£5000.
"I remain, dear sir,
"Faithfully yours,
"JULIUS REUTER.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
At this time no one at all realized the amount of work that the small
wire would be called upon to do. Sixteen months after it was laid, on
the 2d of December, 1867, Mr. Field telegraphed to London that Mr.
Bennett was willing to sign a contract with the cable company for one
year, and that he would pay for political and general news $3750 a
month--that is, £9000 a year--and the agreement was to begin at once or
on the 1st of January, 1868.
The invitation to Cliveden to which Mr. Gladstone referred was given by
the Dowager Duchess of Sutherland, and this visit, early in December,
was followed by many others, and the friendship then formed lasted as
long as she lived.
He sailed for home on December 20th, and before he left England he sent
this letter:
"PALACE HOTEL,
"LONDON, _November 22, 1862_.
"_My dear Daughters_,--Many, many thanks to you for all the letters
that you have written to me since we parted at our happy home.
"I think I hear you say, Why does not papa answer all of our
letters? The reason is that I am so much occupied that I have
hardly one single moment of leisure. I am busy all day at the
Atlantic Telegraph Company's office; or at Messrs. Glass, Elliott
& Co.'s; or at the Gutta-percha Company's works; or with some
persons connected with the English government; and almost every
evening I am engaged until a very late hour.
"I will give you a list of my engagements for the next few
evenings:
1. Saturday, November 22d.--At Mr. Russell Sturgis's, to
dinner and to spend the night.
2. Sunday, November 23d.--At Mr. Russell Sturgis's, spend
the day and night.
3. Monday, November 24th.--Canning's, to dinner and spend
the night.
4. Tuesday, November 25th.--Meet Mr. Maitland and others
on business, and then to Mr. Lampson to dinner, seven P.M.
5. Wednesday, November 26th.--I give a dinner-party at
this hotel.
6. Thursday, November 27th.--At Mr. Gooch's, to dinner.
7. Friday, November 28th.--Sir Culling Eardley's, to dinner
and spend the night.
8. Saturday, November 29th.--Lady Franklin's, to dinner.
9. Sunday, November 30th.--Mr. Ashburner's, to dinner
and spend the night.
10. Monday, December 1st.--At Mr. Statham's, to dinner and
spend the night.
11. Tuesday, December 2d.--At Mr. Reuter's, to dinner and
to spend the night.
"Professor Wheatstone, Dr. Wallish, Captains Becher, Galton, and
Bythesea, Mr. Adams, and Mr. Wortley are among the number that are
to dine with me. There will be twelve in all.
"How much I wish that I could have this dinner-party in our own
home!
"Several times since I arrived I have had three invitations for the
same evening, and I _decline_ all that I can without injury to the
object of my visit to England.
"I have been very anxious to get through and leave here so as to be
with you on Christmas, or certainly New-year's, but I do not see
any prospect of being able to do so.
"I have very often regretted that your mother or some of you were
not with me.
"Mr. Holbrooke returns in the _Scotia_ on the 6th of December, and
will be able to tell you how I am. How much I wish that I could go
with him!
"Do, my dear children, be very kind to your blessed mother, and do
everything in your power to make her happy.
"I have purchased _all_ the things that you gave me a memorandum
of, or have written me about.
"Good-bye, my dear children, and may God bless you all.
"With much love to your mother, Eddie, and Willie, and kind regards
to all the servants,
"I remain, as ever,
"Your affectionate father,
"CYRUS W. FIELD.
"Misses GRACE, ALICE, ISABELLA, and FANNY FIELD."