THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD
(1867-1870)
The Governor of the State of Wisconsin, in his annual message to the
Legislature in January, 1867, suggested that the State make to Mr. Field
"a suitable acknowledgment of their appreciation of the priceless value
of the success he had achieved."
The recommendation was acted upon. Resolutions were adopted by both
branches of the Legislature and approved by the Governor on March 29th,
and a gold medal was also ordered to be sent, "properly inscribed."
On the 6th of February Mr. Field sailed for England for the purpose of
making "arrangements between the Anglo-American Telegraph Company and
the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company." The land
lines across Newfoundland were often broken; complaints were made; the
public was naturally inclined to overrate trivial accidents, and it was
necessary to give an explanation.
"22 OLD BROAD STREET, _January 24th_.
"TO THE EDITOR OF THE _Daily News_:
"_Sir_,--A statement having appeared in the paper of this day to
the effect that the communication with New York was interrupted, I
have to inform you that in consequence of a heavy fall of snow the
land line in Cape Breton appears to have broken down. The cables
of this company are, as they ever have been, in perfect order.
"I am, etc.,
"JOHN C. DEANE, Secretary."
Before Mr. Field sailed for home this was published in the London
papers:
"It appears that a contract was signed yesterday by Mr. Cyrus W.
Field, acting in behalf of the New York, Newfoundland, and London
Telegraph Company, with the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance
Company for a submarine cable between Placentia, Newfoundland, and
Sydney, Nova Scotia. The line will be laid in the early part of the
summer. Mr. Field, having effected this very satisfactory
arrangement in the interests of Atlantic telegraphy, will leave for
New York in the _Great Eastern_ on the 20th of March."
Soon after his arrival in London the letters that immediately follow had
been received:
"PARIS, _February 28, 1867_.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq.:
"_Dear Sir_,--The undersigned American citizens, at present in
Europe, hearing of your arrival in England, and desiring to express
their warm appreciation of your untiring labors and your final
success in the laying of the Atlantic telegraph, desire to give you
a public reception in this city at an early day, or at your own
convenience.
"Hoping soon to hear from you, we remain, sir,
"Your sincere friends,
"SAMUEL F. B. MORSE,
"JAMES MCKAYE,
"JOHN MUNROE,
"EMORY MCCLINTOCK,
"CHAS. S. P. BOWLES,
"And many others."
"PARIS, _March 1, 1867_.
"_My dear Sir_,--Singular as it may seem, I was in the midst of
your speech before the Chamber of Commerce reception to you in New
York, perusing it with deep interest, when my valet handed me your
letter of the 27th ult.
"I regret exceedingly that I shall not have the great pleasure I
had anticipated with other friends here, who were preparing to
receive you in Paris with the welcome you so richly deserve. You
invite me to London. I have the matter under consideration. March
winds and that _boisterous Channel_ have some weight in my
decision, but I so long to take you by the hand, and to get posted
up on telegraph matters at home, that I feel disposed to make the
attempt....
"With unabated respect and esteem,
"Your friend, as ever,
"SAMUEL F. B. MORSE.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq., Palace Hotel, London."
The next letter is from the Speaker of the House of Commons:
"HOUSE OF COMMONS, _March 12, 1867_.
"_Dear Sir_,--The last few hours before your departure will be too
much occupied for me to intrude upon them. I should have been glad
to have thanked you (I might have ventured to have done so in the
name of the House of Commons) for the services you have rendered to
this country, as well as to your own.
"I offer you my best wishes for a safe and prosperous voyage.
"Believe me
"Faithfully yours,
"J. EVELYN DENISON.
"C. FIELD, Esq., Palace Hotel."
The next is from the Prime-Minister:
"ST. JAMES SQUARE, _March 17, 1867_.
"_Sir_,--Understanding that you are on the point of returning to
the United States after a short visit to this country, I am anxious
to take the opportunity of saying to yourself, what in the Queen's
name I was authorized to write to the chairman of the banquet in
the autumn at Liverpool, how much of the success of the great
undertaking of laying the Atlantic cable was due to the energy and
perseverance with which, from the very first, in spite of all
discouragements, you adhered to and supported the project. Your
signal services in carrying out this great undertaking have been
already fully recognized by Congress, and it would have been very
satisfactory to the Queen to have included your name among those on
whom, in commemoration of this great event, Her Majesty was pleased
to bestow British honors, if it had not been felt that, as a
citizen of the United States, it would hardly have been competent
to you to accept them. As long, however, as the telegraphic
communication between the two continents lasts your name cannot
fail to be honorably associated with it.
"Wishing you a safe and prosperous return to your own country,
"I have the honor to be, sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"DERBY.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
"AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
"LIVERPOOL, _18th February, 1867_.
"_Dear Sir_,--The American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, being
desirous of commemorating the successful completion of the Atlantic
cable between England and America, resolved in September last to
present gold medals to yourself, Sir Samuel Canning, Sir James
Anderson, and Mr. Willoughby Smith as representatives of the
enterprise.
"The medals are now ready, and it is proposed to present them at a
banquet to be given by the Chamber at Liverpool.
"I understand that the 14th of March next will suit yourself and
Sir James Anderson....
"I remain
"Yours truly,
"HENRY W. GAIR, President.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq., Palace Hotel, Buckingham Gate, London."
This invitation was accepted, and the description of the banquet which
follows is taken from the Liverpool _Daily Post_ of March 15th:
"The members of the American Chamber of Commerce in this town gave
a splendid banquet last night, in the Law Association Rooms, Cook
Street, to Sir Samuel Canning, Sir James Anderson, Mr. Cyrus W.
Field, and Mr. Willoughby Smith, the layers of the Atlantic
telegraph cable, on which occasion a magnificent solid gold medal
was presented to each of those gentlemen....
"The chairman in proposing 'The projector and the associates in the
laying of the Atlantic cable,' said: Gentlemen, I now come to the
business, to the pleasure which has brought us together this
evening, and if what I say on the subject is short, it is not
because there is not a great deal to be said on it, but because I
know you are impatient to hear it said by those whose acts give
them the means and right to speak with knowledge and authority.
Acts are better than words, and in the acts we are met here to
perform we but express the gratitude we feel to those who through
so many difficulties and discouragements have brought this great
work to a successful termination. This success is one of which we,
as a nation, are proud, and rightly so. But it is good for our
humility--a virtue in which we do not naturally excel--to remember
that the first credit of that success is due, not to an Englishman,
but to an American, Mr. Cyrus Field. He is the projector of the
plan, and had it not been for his tenacity of purpose, his
faith--which, if it did not remove mountains, at least defied
oceans to shake his purpose--the plan would long ago have been
abandoned in despair. In this tenacity and utter incapacity to
understand defeat Mr. Field is a representative man of the
Anglo-Saxon race wherever found.... I have now the pleasure to
propose that the health of the projector and his associates in
laying the Atlantic cable shall be drunk with a hearty three times
three.' The call was vociferously responded to, and the chairman
then handed a medal to Mr. Cyrus Field, Sir James Anderson, and Mr.
Willoughby Smith, each of whom was loudly applauded on rising to
receive it.
"Mr. Field said: 'Mr. Chairman, I thank you for the kind manner in
which you have spoken of me, and you gentlemen for the flattering
way in which you have responded to the toast.... I think I may
safely affirm that never before were so many men brought together
in one enterprise who were so pre-eminently fitted by diversified
endowments and by special knowledge and experience to solve the
problem of the Atlantic telegraph. Most fortunate, moreover, were
we in finding such a ship as the _Great Eastern_, and such a
commander as Sir James Anderson. The man was made for the ship,
and both were made for us. I would also give expression to the
sense of gratitude we must all feel to the press of England and
America for its support in adversity as well as in good fortune,
and to the statesmen of all parties on both sides of the Atlantic,
whose cordial sympathy and encouragement were never once
withheld.... Nor must I forget that, during the thirteen years to
which I have referred, prayers for our success perpetually ascended
to the Almighty from Christian men and women who, although most of
them had nothing to gain or to lose by the undertaking, were drawn
towards it by the deep-felt conviction that, if it were realized,
it could not fail to serve their Divine Master's cause by promoting
'Peace on earth and good-will among men.'"
The _Great Eastern_, in which steamship he sailed for home, arrived in
New York late in the first week in April, and the spring and early
summer of this year were passed with his family and friends. From one of
the latter he received this note, written on paper which bore the red
cross and the words "American Association for the Relief of Misery of
Battle-fields":
"NEW YORK, _May 16, 1867_.
"Many thanks, dear Mr. Field, for your letter. I shall hope to have
the pleasure of meeting you abroad. But in any event I wish you and
your family prosperity and increase of your well-earned honors, and
your rightful self-complacency in your victories over time and
space, and at last over this world and its last enemy.
"Affectionately yours,
"H. W. BELLOWS."
July 1, 1867, he writes:
"Left last Wednesday for Canada and the provinces; to-day at
Ottawa. Returned to New York for a few days, and then for six weeks
was in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland; on August 15th at the
Government House, St. John's, Newfoundland."
Many minor trials came to the telegraph companies during these first
years of ocean telegraphy, and this letter refers to some of them:
"NEW YORK, _October 1, 1867_.
"_My dear Mr. Deane_,--In relation to the tariff, and particularly
that part touching _ciphers_, I must again appeal to you, and I do
wish my words could carry conviction to your mind of the fatal
tendency of the course we are carried into by your rules....
"But let us inquire if we are benefited by this rule of strictness.
We see that very few acknowledged cipher messages are forwarded.
There are people who can make messages apparently in plain text but
which are actually cipher, and in the various attempts to get much
into little there lies the germ of many disputes between customers
and receiving clerks. The truth is, we make nothing and lose much.
Many who were our best customers now use the line only in cases of
emergency, whereas they would use it daily if our terms were
liberal. The U. S. government and the representatives at Washington
of all the foreign governments are determined to use us as little
as possible. We are reviled on every side. The government, the
press, and all the people will do all in their power to encourage a
competing line. Something must be done to arrest this feeling. Why
not try reduction for three mouths, and see what the effect will
be....
"I remain, my dear Mr. Deane,
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
Mistakes made in the transmission of messages by cable were of course
more annoying than other telegraphic errors in proportion to the
costliness and delay of correcting them. One cablegram as received at
the Western Union office, New York, read: "Letter thirteen received; you
better travel." The first change was from "you" into "son"; and it was
delivered in Paris, "Letter thirteen received; son pretty well." By this
time the message had become unintelligible, and therefore useless. A
serious complaint was naturally made when instead of the cable message
reading "Protect our drafts" it was "Protest our drafts."
In a letter to London on February 4th he says:
"I think there can be no doubt if the several telegraph lines
between London and New York were under an efficient management the
business could be done much better and enormously increased, and I
would work energetically with you, Mr. Morgan, and others to secure
this object if it can be done in a satisfactory manner. I consider
it of great importance that this business should be under the
control of persons that can comprehend what it can be made."
On the eve of sailing for England, on February 18th, he wrote to the
Hon. Hugh McCulloch, Secretary of the Treasury:
"I have undoubted confidence in the good faith of our government
that it will pay the principal and interest of every dollar of its
bonded debt in gold, and shall do all in my power to make my
friends in Europe think as I do."
The day before this had been sent to him:
"WASHINGTON, _February 17, 1868_.
"_My dear Sir_,--Accept my thanks and best wishes. I have only to
say that the wise men whom you will find in the East are not very
wise in expecting that our troubles will diminish while they insist
upon concessions which we cannot make.
"Very truly your friend,
"WILLIAM H. SEWARD.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
"ROCHDALE, _March 8, 1868_.
"_My dear Mr. Field_,--I have only just received your kind
invitation. Unluckily Tuesday is fixed for the Irish debate, and I
cannot be away from the House on that evening.
"I regret this very much, for it would give me much pleasure to
spend an evening with you. I must call upon you, and have a talk
with you on the new crisis which has arisen in your country.
"Some of your statesmen are in favor of repudiation, and you are
dethroning your President, and yet your stocks are not sensibly
shaken by all this in the English market. There is more faith in
you than there was three or four years ago!
"But I hope your people will not repudiate.
"Always sincerely yours,
"JOHN BRIGHT.
"I expect to be in town in the course of to-morrow."
Mr. Bright's letter referred to the dinner to be given by Mr. Field, on
March 10th, at the Buckingham Palace Hotel, "on the fourteenth
anniversary of the day on which the first contract with the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company had been signed at his house
on Gramercy Square, New York."
On the evening of March 6th there had been a debate in the House of
Commons on the _Alabama_ claims, and many of the speeches at the dinner
bore references to that debate. The key-note of the occasion was struck
when the Right Hon. James Stuart Wortley said:
"One of its greatest feats" (of the ocean telegraph) "has lately
been accomplished under the auspices of our worthy chairman by his
sending the conciliatory debate of the House of Commons on the
_Alabama_ claims to America. I am very glad this has been done, as
it is far more likely to create good feeling between the two
countries than anything else."
In giving one of the toasts Mr. Field said:
"Gentlemen, on Friday evening I had great pleasure in hearing the
debate in the House of Commons on the _Alabama_ claims. Before
that, I confess to you, I felt exceedingly anxious about the
relations between England and the United States; and on Thursday
last, in sending a private telegram to Washington, I used these
words: 'When you see the President, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Sumner,
please say to them that I am perfectly convinced that the English
government and people are very desirous of settling all questions
in dispute between the United States and this country, and that
with a little conciliation on both sides this desirable object can
be accomplished.' Gentlemen, we are honored here to-night with the
presence of several distinguished persons connected with the press
in England and America, and I am going to give you as a toast 'The
Press' of those countries; and I shall ask them, who so well know
public opinion, to tell us frankly whether I was justified in
sending such a message to Washington."
Mr. Walker, of the _Daily News_, ended his speech with these words:
"As to this matter of the _Alabama_ claims at present dividing the
two countries, I think we are approximating to an understanding.
One after another misapprehensions have been removed, and I cannot
but think that, with the prevailing good disposition on both sides
of the Atlantic, the matter will be more easily settled than we in
England have been inclined to imagine."
Colonel Anderson, of the New York _Herald_, closed his speech in this
way:
"About the message which Mr. Field sent to America the other day, I
may say that some months ago I sent a similar one, for I had found
that among a large class of people in England there was a
disposition to settle all disputes with the United States. I am
pleased to see in the press of both countries evidence of a kindly
disposition, and I hope that nothing will ever occur to disturb the
friendly relations now existing. I believe that I had the honor of
sending the first message for the press through the Atlantic cable
after it was opened for business. That was a message of peace
announcing the end of the war in Germany. I may have to use the
telegraph in England for many years, but I sincerely trust that no
angry word will ever pass through the Atlantic cable."
Mr. Smalley, of the New York _Tribune_, said:
"Having been away so long from home, I have, perhaps, no right to
say what they think there, though the perseverance and enterprise
of our friend Mr. Field have brought England so near to America
that we ought to be able to know what is going on at home as if we
were living in New York. Independently of that source, I think one
is entitled to say that the feeling in America responds to the
feeling of Great Britain in a degree which it has not for the last
seven years. I heard with pleasure from Mr. Field that he had sent
the _Alabama_ debate to New York, an instance of public spirit for
which the two countries owe him a debt of gratitude; for through it
there is, I suppose, this morning in every journal in America,
certainly in every large journal on the Eastern coast, full tidings
of the debate. It is, perhaps, such a message as was never before
sent from one country to another. It was my fortune to listen to
that debate. No newspaper report can give such a notion of the tone
and temper of the House as hearing it conveyed to me. It was not
only the sincere purpose, it was not only the enthusiasm and
earnestness, the good-will to America which every speaker showed,
but there was a certain electric sympathy which seemed to pervade
the House. It manifested itself in cheers for every liberal
sentiment and every kindly expression that fell from the speakers'
lips. Several members of the House came to me as I sat under the
gallery, and with what I may be pardoned for calling an almost
boyish enthusiasm, said, 'Is not that capital?' as some sentence of
conciliation and of justice fell from the lips of Lord Stanley, of
Mr. Forster, or of Mr. Mill. Now, sir, I should not be loyal to the
journal which I represent if I did not say that this authoritative
declaration of a changed feeling in England is sure to be welcome
in America. Not one but many journals came to us from the United
States in advance of this debate breathing a similar spirit. The
cloud which for years has hung between the two countries seems to
be passing away, and it would be ungrateful not to believe that a
spark along this cable has helped to dispel it. At any rate, I
cannot make a mistake in saying that any disposition to close up
the old quarrel, any wish for future union which English lips may
utter, is sure to find a cordial echo from the press on the other
side of the Atlantic."
On the same evening Mr. Field said:
"I now propose a toast: 'The memory of Richard Cobden, who proposed
to the late Prince Consort that the profits of the exhibition of
1851 should be devoted to the establishment of telegraphic
communication between England and America, and who, later, desired
that the English government should supply one-half of the capital
necessary to establish telegraphic communication across the
Atlantic.' Mr. Cobden's argument was this: 'I am opposed to the
government giving an unconditional guarantee, because it is a
bargain all on one side. If you fail, then government pays the
loss; if you succeed, you reap all the benefit. But I will
advocate, with all my power, that the government shall supply
one-half the money necessary to establish telegraphic communication
between England and America, and in the event of success that they
should have half the profit.' If the government had followed his
advice they would to-day be receiving half the dividends on the
Anglo-American and Atlantic telegraph stocks. I hope this
consideration may lead them to pursue a liberal policy in regard to
the extension of the telegraph to India, China, and Australia."
This toast was drunk in silence, all present rising.
Before dinner this note was handed to the chairman:
"HOUSE OF COMMONS, _March 10, 1868_, 7 P.M.
"_My dear Sir_,--I have cherished to the last the hope of coming to
see you, but unhappily it is now arranged that Lord Mayo will not
speak until after dinner, and I therefore fear that my presence at
the only time of the evening when it would have been of use will be
impossible. I should have much enjoyed, and I had greatly coveted,
the opportunity your kindness offered--speaking a word of good-will
to your country--but I am detained here by a higher duty; for there
is in my judgment, no duty for public men in England which at this
juncture is so high, so sacred, as that of studying the case of
Ireland, and applying the remedies which I believe it admits.
"We shall lie here until midnight, but not without thoughts of your
festival and of the greatness of the country with which it is
connected. You are called upon to encounter difficulties and to
sustain struggles which some years ago I should have said were
beyond human strength. But I have learned to be more cautious in
taking the measure of American possibilities; and, looking to your
past, there is nothing which we may not hope of your future.
"I remain, my dear sir, most faithfully yours,
"W. E. GLADSTONE.
"CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq."
In one of the weekly letters sent to him from New York there is this
announcement:
"A circular has been received from the State Department, dated June
3d, stating that they have received for you from Paris 'A Grand
Prize and Diploma.'"
He was invited to a banquet to be given at Willis's Rooms on July 1,
1868, "as an acknowledgment," so the invitations read, "of the eminent
services rendered to the New and Old Worlds by his devotion to the
interests of Atlantic telegraphy through circumstances of protracted
difficulty and doubt."
The Duke of Argyll was chairman of the Committee of Invitation, and Sir
James Anderson was at the head of the Executive Committee.
The following letter was received from the American minister to France:
"PARIS, _24th June, 1868_.
"SIR JAMES ANDERSON:
"_Dear Sir_,--No one appreciates more highly than myself the
valuable service rendered by Mr. Field in establishing a connection
by telegraph between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, and the
unfaltering confidence and persevering efforts with which he
entertained this great international enterprise through the
circumstances of protracted difficulty and doubt to which you
allude. It would have given me sincere pleasure, had it been in my
power, to unite in the tribute of respect proposed to be paid to
him--a pleasure I relinquish with an equally sincere regret.
"I am, dear sir, very respectfully yours,
"JOHN A. DIX."
"_June 19, 1868._
"_Sir_,--It would give me great pleasure to show any mark of
respect in my power to Mr. Cyrus Field and to the great nation to
which he belongs.
"I shall be happy to attend the dinner on July 1st, if by so doing
I can attest my sense of Mr. Field's services.
"I trust that I shall not give offence, should I be compelled to
retire before the rest of the company.
"I remain your servant,
"SHAFTESBURY.
"Sir JAMES ANDERSON."
"GROSVENOR CRESCENT, _June 7, 1868_.
"_Sir_,--I am extremely sorry that a prior engagement must prevent
my attending the banquet that is to be given to Mr. Cyrus W. Field.
"It would have been a real pleasure to me to take part in any
proceeding having for its object to do honor to that distinguished
gentleman, for whose energetic character, as well as for his
zealous efforts in promoting friendly relations between our
respective countries, I have long felt the highest admiration.
I am sir,
"Your obedient servant,
"Clarendon.
"JAMES ANDERSON, Esq."
"107 VICTORIA STREET, S. W.,
"GARRICK CLUB.
"_My dear Anderson_,--I would like so much to dine with you all in
honor of Cyrus the Great.
"Yours very truly,
"W. H. RUSSELL."
"120 PICCADILLY, _June 18, 1868_.
"_Dear Sir_,--I fully intend to be present, if possible, at the
banquet to Mr. Cyrus W. Field, but I have been of late in the
doctor's hands, and it may happen that I could not be present.
"I should, therefore, feel much obliged to you if you would give
the reply to the toast to some one else, and release me altogether
from making a speech. For various reasons I am anxious not to speak
on the occasion, especially as I have been compelled to decline
all invitations to public dinners of late; otherwise anything that
I could have done to contribute to the success of this
well-deserved tribute to the great services of Mr. Cyrus Field I
would have done with the greatest pleasure.
"Yours truly,
"A. H. LAYARD."
"LONDON, _June 30, 1868_.
"_My dear Field_,--I regret very much not being able to be one of
those who will meet to-morrow to do you honor for your great
services in carrying out telegraphic communication between this
country and America. No one present will feel and appreciate more
than I do how important a part you took in that great work, and
with what energy and perseverance you devoted yourself to its
success.
"Wishing you long life and every happiness,
"Believe me,
"Yours very sincerely,
"DANIEL GOOCH."
The speeches made at this dinner can be given only in part.
The Duke of Argyll said:
"My Lords and Gentlemen,--It now becomes my duty to propose that
which is pre-eminently the toast of the evening, and to ask you to
return to our distinguished guest our warm and hearty
acknowledgments of the great service he has rendered to England, to
America, and to the world by his exertions in promoting the success
of the Atlantic telegraph, an enterprise which is the culminating
triumph of a long series of discoveries prosecuted by many
generations of men. It is not easy to apportion with exactitude the
merits which may belong to those who have engaged in it; but I much
mistake the character of our distinguished guest--and I have now
known him for several years, and have had much communication with
him--I much mistake his character if he desires to displace for a
single moment any of those who have preceded him in the history of
electrical discovery. This great triumph may be looked at from
various points of view, and in the first place I think I am safe in
saying that we all feel it to be a triumph of pure science--I say,
of pure science, of the pure desire and love of knowledge.... I
have the honor of speaking to many distinguished scientific men,
and I think they will hear me out when I say that if there is one
question which they hear with the utmost indignation and contempt
addressed to them when they are in the course of their
investigations it is the question, What is the use of their
discoveries? The answer which the man of science returns to this
question, as to what is the use of his discovery, is, 'I only tell
you what is the interest of that discovery, that interest which
compels and impels me to go on in the path of investigation.' It is
knowledge, mere knowledge of the facts and laws of nature, that the
scientific mind seeks to gain. Nevertheless, I think it is a great
comfort to scientific men to be sure that even those discoveries
which for years, and even for centuries, remain apparently entirely
useless may at any time and at any moment become serviceable in the
highest degree to the human family.... And I believe the success of
this enterprise would have been delayed for many years--perhaps for
whole generations of men--had it not been for the single exertions,
for the confidence and zeal, for the foresight and faith,
amounting, as I think, to genius, of our distinguished guest, Mr.
Cyrus Field. None of us in our day, I rejoice to think, are
disposed to undervalue the influence which the spirit of commercial
enterprise is having upon the progress and civilization of mankind.
In nothing perhaps is there so strange a contrast between the
spirit and the wisdom of modern times and the spirit and wisdom of
ancient philosophy. It is surely a most wonderful fact that in the
most brilliant civilizations of the ancient world the wise men of
those times--and they were men so wise that many of us to this day
are influenced by their thoughts--many of those men held that
commercial enterprise was the bane of nations. Now I must say this,
that of all commercial enterprises which have ever been undertaken,
this one on the part of Mr. Cyrus Field represents the noblest and
purest motives by which commercial enterprise can ever be inspired.
I believe it was the very greatness of the project--the great
results which were certain to issue--I believe it was this, and
this alone, which supported him with that confidence and decision
which through many difficulties and many disappointments has
carried him at last to the triumphant conclusion of this great
project. And, gentlemen, I rejoice to say that whilst as a
commercial enterprise it has come from the other side of the
Atlantic, it has been well seconded and supported by the
capitalists not only of America but of England. And surely this is
another link of friendly intercourse between the people of the two
countries. Now let me also say this--and this is a point which I
have ascertained from other sources--I believe so great was the
confidence of Mr. Field in the triumph of this great undertaking
that he risked every farthing of his own private fortune in
promoting its success. On these grounds, ladies and gentlemen, I
ask you to drink his health. But on one other ground also I ask you
to drink it, and that is this, that he is personally one of the
most genial and kindly-hearted of men. At a time when his country
was in great difficulty, and when many Americans thought at least
they had something to complain of in the tone of English society, I
was in the constant habit of meeting Mr. Field, and I never saw his
temper ruffled for a moment, I never heard any words fall from him
but words of peace between the two countries; and I often heard him
express a hope that a time would come when a better understanding
would arise in the minds of the people of this country and those of
the United States; and I have reason to believe that his services
and exertions in the United States have not a little contributed to
secure the return of that feeling, what I believe is the real and
permanent feeling of the people of those two great countries. Allow
me, then, to ask you most heartily to drink this toast with me--the
health of Mr. Cyrus Field, as the promoter of this great
enterprise, and as a gentleman whom we all know and honor."
The Right Hon. Sir John Pakington said:
"There are few men who, more than myself, have in their own
personal experience been struck by the greatness of the event which
we are now assembled to celebrate. I am one of the few--and they
are quickly becoming fewer--who made a tour in the United States
not only before electric telegraphs were thought of, but before
even steamboats had crossed the Atlantic. I went to America in the
quickest way it was then possible to go, in one of the celebrated
American liners; but it so happened that the wind was in the west,
as it generally is, and I was exactly six weeks from shore to
shore. My next personal communication with America was just ten
years ago. It then became my duty, on account of the office I
held, to attend the Queen upon the occasion of her visit to the
Emperor of the French at Cherbourg--one of those interchanges of
courtesy which have done so much to create and prolong good feeling
between France and England. One of the festivities during that
visit was a banquet given by the Emperor to the Queen, on board one
of his finest line of battle ships. I had the honor of being
present, and during the dinner a servant came to me and delivered a
letter which contained a telegram from the United States,
announcing the completion of telegraphic communication between
America and England. I can never forget the interest of such a
communication at such a moment, nor the feeling which it excited
among the distinguished persons of both nations by whom I was then
surrounded.
"Another agreeable memory of the same period was the assistance
which my office enabled me to give by lending the ships of war of
this country for the accomplishment of that extraordinary event. It
is true that the communication so established was shortly
afterwards interrupted, but it is now restored. We may now, without
exaggeration, say that England and America are no longer separated
by the breadth of the Atlantic Ocean, for even during this dinner
we have been corresponding briskly with our American friends; and
it is impossible, gentlemen, to resist the conclusion that this
greatest triumph of modern science must have the effect of
softening prejudice, increasing and cementing good feeling, and in
every way promoting the welfare and the prosperity of the two great
peoples so brought together.
"That communication, which at the time to which I first referred
occupied six weeks, may now be effected in as many minutes, and I
rejoice that I am enabled to attend here to-day to join in doing
honor to the man to whom, more than to any other human agency, we
are indebted for this wonderful change."
Mr. John Bright spoke as follows:
"In attempting to respond to the sentiment that has been submitted
to us, I have a certain anxiety with regard to a mysterious box
which is said to be on these premises, containing an instrument by
which every word we utter to-night, be it wise or be it foolish,
will be transmitted with more than lightning speed to the dwellers
on that part of the earth's surface which we describe as the
regions of the setting sun. But we are so entirely agreed that
there seems no possibility that anything will be said to-night
which any one who hears it will desire to contradict, and I hope we
may avoid the charge of saying anything that is foolish or hasty.
"Sir Stafford Northcote has submitted this sentiment, 'The peace
and prosperity of Great Britain and the United States,' which
means, I presume, that we are here in favor of a growing and
boundless trade with America, and at the same time desire an
unbroken friendship with the people of that country. With one heart
and voice I presume to accept that sentiment, and without any fear
of contradiction we assert that we are on that point truly
representative of the unanimous feeling of the three kingdoms.
There are those--I meet them frequently, for there are cavillers
and critics everywhere--there are those who condemn the United
States, and sometimes with something like scorn and bitterness,
because at this moment the people of the United States are bearing
heavy taxation, and because they have a ruinous tariff; but if
these critics were to look back to our own position a few years ago
they would see how much allowance is to be made for others. During
the years which passed between 1790 and 1815, for nearly
twenty-five years the government and people of this country were
waging a war of a terrific character with a neighboring state. The
result of that war was that which is, I believe, the result of
every great war--enormous expenditure, great loans, heavy taxation,
growing debt, and, of course, much suffering among the people, who
have to bear the load of those burdens. But after that war, during
twenty-five years, from 1815 to 1841, there was scarcely anything
done by the government of this country to remedy the gross and
scandalous inequalities of taxation, and to adopt a better system
in apportioning the necessary burdens of the state upon the various
classes of the people. But since 1841, as we all know, we have seen
a revolution in this country in regard to taxation and finance, and
I need not remind you that this has been mainly produced by the
teaching of one who is not with us to-night, but who would have
rejoiced, as we now rejoice, over the great event which we are here
to celebrate, whose spirit and whose mind will, I believe, for
generations yet to come stimulate and elevate the minds of
multitudes of his countrymen. But this revolution of which I speak
is not confined to this country, for, notwithstanding what we now
see in the United States, it may be affirmed positively that it is
going on there, and that in the course of no remote period it will
embrace in its world-blessing influence all the civilized nations
of the globe. The United States have had four years of appalling
struggle and disaster. It was, nevertheless, in some sort a time of
unspeakable grandeur, and it has had this great result, that it has
sustained the life of a great nation and has given universal and
permanent freedom over the whole continent of North America. But as
was the case with our war, so with the American war: it has been
attended with enormous cost, with great loans, with grievous
taxation, and with a tariff which intelligent men will not long
submit to; but at this moment and for some time the strife has been
ended, the wounds inflicted are healing, freedom is secured, and
the restoration of the Union, surmounting the difficulties that
have interposed, is being gradually and certainly accomplished. I
conclude that such a nation as the United States--such a people, so
free and so instructed--will not be twenty-five years before they
remedy the evils and the blunders and the unequal burdens of their
taxation and their tariff. They will discover, in much less time
than we discovered it, that a great nation is advanced by freedom
of industry and of commerce, and that without this freedom every
other kind of freedom is but a partial good. This sentiment speaks,
also, of unbroken friendship between the two countries. May I say
now, in a moment of calm and of reason, that with regard to the
United States both our rulers and our people, and especially the
most influential classes of our people, have greatly erred? Men
here forget that, after all, we are but one nation having two
governments, we are of the same noble and heroic race. Half the
English family is on this side of the Atlantic in its ancient home,
and the other half over the ocean (there being no room for them
here) settled on the American continent. It is so with thousands of
individual families throughout this country. No member of my family
has emigrated to America for forty years past, and yet I have far
more blood relations in the United States than I have within the
limits of the United Kingdom; and that, I believe, is true of
thousands in this country. And I assert this, that he is an enemy
of our English race, and, indeed, an enemy of the human race, who
creates any difficulty that shall interfere with the permanent
peace and friendship of all the members of our great
English-speaking family. One other sentence upon that point. No man
will dare to say that the people of the United States or the
people of the United Kingdom are not in favor of peace.... But
leaving for a moment--in fact, leaving altogether--the sentiment
and the toast which have been submitted to us, you will permit me
to turn more immediately to the purposes of this banquet only for a
sentence or two. I rejoice very much at this banquet, because we
are met to do honor to a man of rare qualities, who has conferred
upon us--and, I believe, upon mankind--rare services. I have known
Mr. Field for a good many years, and although, I dare say, to any
sailor who may be here it is not much, to me it seems a good deal
that Mr. Cyrus Field, in the prosecution of this great work (not
being a sailor, always bear that in mind), has crossed the Atlantic
more than forty times; and he has, as you know, by an energy almost
without example, by a courage nothing could daunt, by a faith that
nothing could make to falter, and by sacrifices beyond
estimation--for there are sacrifices that he has made I would not
in his presence relate to this meeting--aided by discovery and by
science and by capital, he has accomplished the grandest triumph
which the science and the intellect of man have ever achieved. Soon
after the successful laying of the cable I had an opportunity of
referring to it in a speech spoken in the north of England, when I
took the liberty of describing Mr. Cyrus Field as the Columbus of
the nineteenth century; and may I not ask, when that cable was
laid, when the iron hand grasped in the almost fathomless recesses
of the ocean the lost and broken cable, if it be given to the
spirits of great men in the eternal world, in their eternal life,
to behold the great actions of our lives, how must the spirit of
that grand old Genoese have rejoiced at the triumph of that hour,
and at the new tie which bound the world he had discovered to the
world to which but for him it might have been for ages to come
unknown!... I believe no man--not Cyrus Field himself--has ever
been able to comprehend the magnitude of the great discovery, of
the great blessing, to mankind which we have received through the
instrumentality of him and his friends, the scientific men by whom
he has been assisted. I say with the greatest sincerity that my
heart is too full, when I look at this question, to permit me to
speak of it in the manner in which I feel that I should speak. We
all know that there are in our lives joys, and there are sometimes
sorrows, that are too deep for utterance, and there are
manifestations of the goodness, and the wisdom, and the greatness
of the Supreme which our modes of speech are utterly unable to
describe. We can only stand, and look on, and wonder, and adore.
But of the agency--the human agency--concerned we may more freely
speak. I honor the great inventors. In their lifetime they seldom
receive all the consideration to which they are entitled.... I
honor Professor Wheatstone and Professor Morse and all those men of
science who have made this great marvel possible; and I honor the
gallant captain of that great ship, whose precious cargo, not
landed in any port, but sunk in ocean's solitary depths, has
brought measureless blessings to mankind; and I honor him, our
distinguished (may I not say our illustrious?) guest of to-night,
for, after all that can be said of invention, and of science, and
of capital, it required the unmatched energy and perseverance and
faith of Cyrus Field to bring to one grand completion the mightiest
achievement which the human intellect, in my opinion, has ever
accomplished."
Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe, in closing his speech, said:
"If the share I had in bygone transactions between the two
countries is indifferent to you, as it may easily be, you will
feel, nevertheless, with me how naturally the Atlantic cable and
all its prospective advantages bring to mind that state of things
which formerly estranged us from America and threatened the
interruption of those friendly relations which so many motives of
interest and sympathy concur in urging both parties to maintain and
improve. Mr. Cyrus Field has called forth our present expressive
tribute to his character and merits of the signal exertion he made,
at so much hazard and self-sacrifice, to realize the grand
conception of the cable. He crossed the Atlantic more than forty
times in pursuit of that glorious object, and I, who have crossed
it but twice, have learned thereby to appreciate the results, as
well as the perils, of so immense an undertaking. Eternal honor to
him, and also to those of our countrymen who, in concert with him,
have enabled the two worlds to converse with each other."
M. Ferdinand de Lesseps said:
"Je viens d'être chargé de vous entretenir des avantages du
télégraphe électrique entre les diverses parties du monde. Les
hommes ont toujours cherché à créer et à perfectionner les moyens
de communiquer entre eux. Réunir les peuples par des voies rapides
et abrégées est un progrès veritablement chrétien; car il nous
permet de nous aimer et de nous aider les uns les autres pour nous
rendre meilleurs et plus heureux. L'élément essentiel de ce progrès
est la propagation de la pensée par la parole, par l'écriture, par
l'imprimerie, par la presse périodique et journalière, enfin par la
télégraphie électrique, merveilleuse invention moderne mettant au
service de l'homme la force que les anciens donnaient pour emblème
à la divinité; et qui, au lieu de planer sur nos têtes en signe de
menace, poursuit une marche bienfaisante jusque dans les
profondeurs des mers. La télégraphie électrique est encore à son
debut et déjà elle enveloppe le monde. Son application la plus
surprenante, celle qui a demandé le plus de courage et d'efforts
persévérants, a été la communication instantanée entre l'Amérique
et l'Europe. Honneur à Cyrus Field, qui a été le grand propagateur
et fondateur de la télégraphie transatlantique! Honneur à ses
compagnons de travail et de victoire!"
The Duke of Argyll sent the following message to his Excellency Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States, Washington:
"I am now surrounded by upwards of three hundred gentlemen and many
ladies who have assembled to do honor to Mr. Cyrus Field for his
acknowledged exertions in promoting telegraphic communication
between the New and the Old World. It bids fair for the kindly
influences of the Atlantic cable that its success should have
brought together so friendly a gathering; and in asking you to join
our toast of 'Long life, health, and happiness to your most worthy
countryman,' let me add a Highlander's wish--that England and
America may always be found, in peace and in war, 'shoulder to
shoulder.'"
Mr. Seward's answer from Washington was read during the evening:
"Your salutations to the President from the banqueting-hall at
Willis's Rooms have been received. The dinner-hour here has not
arrived--it is only five o'clock; the sun is yet two hours high.
When the dinner-hour arrives the President will accept your pledge
of honor to our distinguished countryman, Cyrus W. Field, and will
cordially respond to your Highland aspiration for perpetual union
between the two nations."
And before the company separated the Duke of Argyll said:
"I hope you will allow me to read to you another thanks which I
have received by telegraph from Miss Field, New York:
"'I thank you most sincerely for the kind words you have spoken of
my father, causing me to feel that we are friends, although our
acquaintance is thus made across the sea and in a moment of time.'"
This testimonial banquet afforded a congenial text for the newspapers of
both countries, and some extracts follow from the comments of the London
papers.
From the London _Times_:
"Mere knowledge is itself a great possession; but we want things
done as well as known, and we are impelled by an irresistible
instinct to honor the men who actually do them, or get them done.
This is Mr. Cyrus Field's distinction. By general confession it is
to him we owe it that the science of men like Faraday and
Wheatstone was utilized, and that philosophers and sailors and
capitalists and governments were all united to produce one great
result. It is surprising even now to read his enumeration of the
agencies which co-operated in the work. Scientific investigations
above and beneath the sea, the survey of the Atlantic basin, the
manufacture of the cables, the mechanical appliances for laying
them, the skilful seamanship, the great ship, the enterprises of
capitalists, the ability of directors, the resources of
governments--in a word, the unexampled combination of nautical,
electrical, engineering, and executive resources--all these were
necessary to stretch that piece of wire from continent to
continent. We may imagine what energy, determination, and skill
were needed to set all these agents at work, and to maintain them
in working order in spite of disappointments; and it is as having
been the principal cause of this perseverance and co-operation that
Mr. Field received so handsome an acknowledgment the other
evening."
From _The Daily News_:
"The name which the general estimate of the public--an estimate
seldom erroneous in such matters--has associated with the idea of
transatlantic telegraphy is that of Mr. Cyrus Field, the guest of
last night's dinner. The credit of the undertaking is far too vast
to be monopolized by any single name, and common justice, as well
as regard for national honor, bids us remember that the material
resources of the enterprise were due in the main to English energy,
English wealth, and English perseverance. The organized power of an
old country was required to accomplish an undertaking too immense
to be successfully grasped by the not less powerful but less
concentrated resources of a new community. Still, if the glory of
the ultimate achievement rests with England, the credit of having
conceived and initiated the enterprise must be ascribed to America.
And of the American pioneers of the work, there is none who has
labored so indefatigably as Mr. Cyrus Field. The distinguished
guest deserves to be numbered among the 'representative men' of his
own country. If you want to understand how it is that America has
grown to be what she is, you must seek for an explanation in the
fact that men of the Field type are not only to be found among her
citizens, but are able to develop their peculiar powers after a
fashion impossible in an old-fashioned country like our own."
From the _Morning Star_:
"Mr. Cyrus W. Field is too earnest and energetic a man, too
completely devoted to great projects and great success, to have
much of mere egotism left in him. A life so thoroughly absorbed in
pursuits which belong to the business and benefit of the whole
world can have little time for the indulgence of vanity. But one
might well excuse a little self-gratulation and pride on the part
of a guest entertained as Mr. Cyrus Field was at Willis's Rooms
last night. Not often, certainly, is such a banquet given in
England to a man who is neither a politician nor a soldier.... Mr.
Field, when he glanced around that splendidly filled banquet-room
last night, may have felt but little personal pride in the
well-merited honors he received. But he must have felt gratified at
the evidence thus practically and brilliantly afforded that the
public of civilized nations are at last trying to unlearn the fatal
habit which made them so long ungrateful to some of their best
benefactors.
"We never remember to have read of a public demonstration to any
individual in London which had less of a sectarian or sectional
character. The Duke of Argyll, one of the most advanced of our
Liberal peers, one of the most enlightened of our scientific
thinkers, was hardly more prominent in doing honor to Mr. Field
than was Sir John Pakington, the steady-going Tory of the old, old
school. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the great Elchi of Mr.
Kinglake's delightful sensation romance, sat side by side with Mr.
Bright, who denounced in such powerful and unsparing eloquence so
much of Lord Stratford's policy and conduct during the Crimean war.
Mr. Layard joined with Sir Stafford Northcote in the compliment to
the guest. Two common sentiments animated the whole of the
company--a company representing politics, science, literature,
arts, and commerce--the sentiment of personal admiration for Mr.
Field's labors and character, and that of cordial friendship
towards the great people of whose indomitable energy he is so
striking an illustration.... Much of the honor, of course, was
entirely personal. It was tendered to Mr. Field because he
individually had deserved it. Mr. Bright, in a few words,
accurately described Mr. Field's position as regards the Atlantic
telegraph. Other men may have thought of the project; other men
may, for aught we know, have thought of it even before he did;
other men may have mentally planned it out, and proposed schemes
for its realization.... The idea is not exclusively Mr. Field's;
nor is the success exclusively his. But assuredly his was the
energy, the prodigious strength of will, the unconquerable
perseverance, which forced the scheme upon the intellect, the
activity, and the influence of England and America, and never
desisted until the dream had become a reality. A slight and
delicate allusion was made once or twice last night to the
sacrifices Mr. Field had made, the responsibilities he had
incurred, the risks he had run, to bring forward his darling scheme
again and again after each new defeat and disaster. There are more
men by far who could bear to make the sacrifices than men who could
raise their heads as Mr. Field did, undismayed after every defeat,
full of new hope after each disaster. Certainly that glorious
vitality of hope is one of the rarest as it is one of the grandest
of human attributes. Mr. Field brought to the great project with
which his life will be identified more than the genius of a
discoverer--he brought the courage, the energy, the heart, and hope
of a very conqueror. Therefore was his share in the work so unique;
therefore did the company at Willis's Rooms last night do him
special honor. But in honoring him they honored also his country.
Better words, holier messages of peace and brotherhood, were never
sent along a wire than those which thrilled last night through the
depths of the Atlantic from the Englishmen around Mr. Field to the
brethren of their race in America."
"ARGYLL LODGE, KENSINGTON, _July 3, 1868_.
"_My dear Mr. Field_,--I am much obliged by your kind note. I
assure you it gave me great pleasure to preside at your banquet. I
would rather have my name associated with the Atlantic Telegraph
than with any other undertaking of ancient or modern times.
"Yours very sincerely,
"ARGYLL."
"MORTIMER READING, _July 2, 1868_.
"_My dear Friend_,--I was exceedingly sorry that I was prevented
from taking part, as I had intended, in doing honor to you last
night. You know that in all that number of admirers there was not
one whose feelings towards you were warmer than mine. Indeed, few
of them could feel the personal gratitude which I feel to the
author and the indomitable promoter of an enterprise the success of
which will link me, though far away, to my English home.
"Ever yours sincerely,
"GOLDWIN SMITH."
"CASTLE-CONNELL BY LIMERICK,
"_July 20, 1868_.
"_My dear Mr. Field_,--I saw by the papers that the great banquet
given to you at Willis's Rooms passed off most successfully, and
Mr. Bright, who has been staying a week with me, confirms even the
most favorable accounts. I think you may well be satisfied with
the honors that have been paid you on both sides of the Atlantic,
but should more be proffered you may readily receive them as
deserved....
"Very respectfully and truly yours,
"GEORGE PEABODY."
When he sailed for England, in February, Mr. Field had taken to Mr.
Bright an invitation to visit this country, signed by many of his
American friends, and ending with these words: "Your presence at this
time would tend to strengthen the ties between your country and ours,
and we beg leave to suggest a visit during the ensuing spring."
"TORQUAY, DEVON, _October 13, 1868_.
"_My dear Mr. Field_,--Your letter has been sent on to me, and has
followed me in my journey in Cornwall.... I rejoice at the
patriotism of your countrymen, many of whom have gone or are going
home to take part in the great election; and I hope most earnestly
that the Republican candidates may be elected by a grand majority.
"In this country the elections seem likely to go strongly against
the Tories; they deserve to be well beaten.
"As to the invitation from New York, I can say nothing except that
I am deeply indebted to your friends for their kind invitation, and
that I regret extremely that I have never yet been able to visit
your country. I need not tell you how many are my engagements here,
and how uncertain is the prospect of my being able to see the many
kind friends I have in the States.
"I must ask you to thank the gentlemen who wrote to me, and to say
that I am very grateful to them for their kind remembrance of me.
"I wish you a pleasant voyage and return. I almost envy you the
ease with which, after your long experience, you cross the
Atlantic.
"I shall wait with confidence, but not without anxiety, what the
cable will bring us the day after your election. I see four States
have their elections to-day, from which something may be judged of
what is to come.
"I am, always very sincerely, your friend,
"JOHN BRIGHT."
November 2, 1868, in writing to a friend he says, "I returned home last
Thursday in time to vote for General Grant."
On December 29, 1868, a banquet was given to Professor Morse, who in
closing his speech said:
"I have claimed for America the origination of the modern telegraph
system of the world. Impartial history, I think, will support the
claim. Do not misunderstand me as disparaging or disregarding the
labors and ingenious modifications of others in various countries
employed in the same field of invention. Gladly, did time permit,
would I descant upon their great and varied merits. Yet in tracing
the birth and pedigree of the modern telegraph, 'American' is not
the highest term of the series that connects the past with the
present; there is at least one higher term, the highest of all,
which cannot and must not be ignored. If not a sparrow falls to the
ground without a definite purpose in the plans of infinite wisdom,
can the creation of an instrumentality so vitally affecting the
interests of the whole human race have an origin less humble than
the Father of every good and perfect gift? I am sure I have the
sympathy of such an assembly as is here gathered if, in all
humility and in the sincerity of a grateful heart, I use the words
of inspiration in ascribing honor and praise to Him to whom first
of all and most of all it is pre-eminently due. 'Not unto us, not
unto us, but to God be all the glory.'
"Not what hath man, but 'what hath God wrought.'"
"DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
"WASHINGTON, _January 7, 1869_.
"_Sir_,--Pursuant to the resolution of Congress of March 2, 1867,
the President has caused to be prepared for presentation to you, in
the name of the people of the United States, a gold medal, with
suitable devices and inscriptions, in acknowledgment of your
eminent services in the establishment of telegraphic communication
by means of the Atlantic cable between the Old World and the New.
This testimonial, together with an engrossed copy of the resolution
referred to, is herewith transmitted to you by direction of the
President.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
"WILLIAM H. SEWARD."
Two years had passed since this resolution was adopted and the medal
ordered, and the reason for its not having been given before this time
was a strange one. In 1868 he had received word that the medal would be
presented to him on his going to Washington, but upon his arrival there
he was asked not to name the subject. The medal had been shown at a
meeting of the Cabinet and had disappeared. Another had been ordered,
and would be sent to him as soon as possible. The mystery was not solved
until 1874, when in London he received a cable message from Washington.
"The missing original Congressional gold medal, a duplicate of
which was made and presented to you, has been found. Its value is
about $600. Secretary Treasury wishes informally to know whether
you wish to possess it. If so, it will be given to you on receipt
of value."
Soon after his return home he was in Washington, and while there was
told this story: One day a clerk in the Treasury Department asked the
Secretary why Mr. Field had never received the medal ordered for him.
When desired to explain his question, he answered that he had been
directed to put the medal away _carefully_ after the meeting of the
Cabinet, and that he had not heard the subject mentioned since that day;
neither had he known that the medal was sought for. And now when Mr.
Field called for the "original medal" he was told that it had been given
to the Mint in Philadelphia. A telegram was sent to the director, and
only just in time, for already a hole had been drilled in it.
Mr. Varley wrote this letter on his visit to New York, but it was over
a year before the suggestions that he made were acted upon.
"FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL,
"NEW YORK, _October 6, 1868_.
"_My dear Sir_,--I hope you will pardon me for addressing you upon
the subject of the Atlantic circuits.
"I am a small shareholder in the New York, Newfoundland, and London
Telegraph Company, a larger in the Anglo-American and Atlantic
Telegraph companies; and it is with deep regret that I see that the
latter two companies are fighting instead of working.
"It seems as if they were re-enacting just the same farces that
were performed when we were endeavoring to raise funds both for the
1865 and the 1866 cables. I venture unhesitatingly to assert that
we should not have succeeded but for the indomitable energy and the
excellent judgment of Mr. Cyrus Field.
"I do not believe the present attempt at an adjustment will end in
any useful results unless some one like Mr. Cyrus Field, enjoying
the confidence and personal regard of those interested on this
side, as well as such men as Brassey, Hawkshaw, Fairbairne, Fowler,
Gladstone, Bright, Whitworth, and others in Europe, go to England
empowered to act on behalf of your company. The jealousies and
conflicting interests existing between the directors on the other
side prevent them from acting with that vigor and integrity of
purpose so necessary to command success, and which qualities are
possessed to so large an extent by Mr. Cyrus Field, to whom the
world is mainly indebted for the Atlantic cables. He of all others
is, in my opinion, the one most capable of effecting the settlement
we are all so interested in. He succeeded in restoring public
confidence, in harmonizing the disputants, and in raising the money
when the enterprise had twice proved a failure, and had as often
been virtually abandoned by its natural protectors. How much the
more, then, will he succeed now when he reappears amongst his old
supporters and his true friends, backed this time not by failure,
but by triumphant success, and with all his predictions
realized!...
"Very truly yours,
"CROMWELL F. VARLEY.
"PETER COOPER, Esq., New York."
On January 20th Mr. Field sailed from New York in the steamship _Cuba_
and joined his wife and two of his daughters, who were in Pau. He was in
England early in the spring, and among the cable messages sent to him we
find this, dated the 10th of May, which he was asked to forward to
General Dix in Paris:
"Completion of Pacific Railway celebrated to-day by Te Deum in
Trinity Church."
He was back in New York early in June, and almost immediately after his
return his country-house at Irvington-on-the-Hudson was opened; this was
the first summer that he passed there.
"IRVINGTON-ON-THE-HUDSON, _June 24, 1869_.
"_My dear Mr. Sumner_,--Many thanks for your letter of the 13th
instant; it should have been answered at once, but it was sent to
my house in Gramercy Park.
"I thank you for your letter to Secretary Fish. I do most sincerely
hope that we shall soon have a better feeling between this country
and England, and I know of no one that can do more to bring about
this desirable result than yourself.
"You may be sure that I shall do all I can. I wish you would write
our mutual friend, Mr. John Bright, frankly.
"I hope soon to have the pleasure of seeing you again and renewing
our late conversation.
"With great respect I remain, my dear Mr. Sumner,
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
"NEW YORK, _August 9, 1869_.
"_My dear President Woolsey_,--I have this day read in the _New
Englander_ for July with great pleasure your very able article on
the _Alabama_ question, and I cannot help writing to thank you for
it. I shall mail it Thursday to my friend, Mr. John Bright.
"With great respect,
"I remain, my dear President Woolsey,
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
"NEW YORK, _August 9, 1869_.
"_My dear Mr. Bright_,--Since my return from England I have seen
many of our ablest men, including the President of the United
States, the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Senator
Sumner, several other members of the Senate, and members of the
House of Representatives, the Governors of several States, leading
editors in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, and I
have found only one that advocated war with England.
"I am more than ever convinced that if the English government would
send to Washington yourself, the Duke of Argyll, and Earl Granville
as special ambassadors to act with the British minister, the whole
controversy between England and America could be settled in a few
months. Please give this matter your careful consideration. I send
you by this mail the _New Englander_ for July, containing an
article on the _Alabama_ question written by President Woolsey, of
Yale College.
"With kind regards to your family and with great respect,
"I remain, my dear Mr. Bright,
"Very truly your friend,
"CYRUS W. FIELD."
"ROCHDALE, _August 24, 1869_.
"_My dear Mr. Field_,--I am glad to have your letter, and note its
contents with much interest. I do not see how your suggestion can
be adopted at present.
"Whatever is done now towards a settlement must necessarily come
from your side. We have done all we can. Your government sent an
envoy with the unanimous assent of the Senate. He came avowedly
with the object of arranging an existing difficulty. He made
certain propositions on the part of his government. These were
considered by our government, and finally were adopted and
consented to. A convention was signed, including everything your
minister had asked for, and this convention was rejected by your
Senate. Who knows that it will not reject any other convention? If
you have an envoy who has no power to negotiate, and an executive
government which cannot ratify a treaty, where is the security for
further negotiation? We cannot come to Washington and express our
regret that Reverdy Johnson did not ask for more. We gave him all
he asked for, all that Mr. Seward asked for, all that the then
President asked for. What could we have done, what can we now do
more?
[Illustration: ARDSLEY, IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON
(Home of Cyrus W. Field)]
"It is clearly for your government to explain why the convention
failed, and what, in their opinion, is now required from us. The
civilized world, I am quite sure, will say that we are on a certain
vantage-ground, having consented to all that was asked from us, the
convention not having failed through our default.
"I could easily suggest a mode of settlement which all mankind,
outside the two countries, would approve of; but how do I know what
your government can do? If there is passion enough for Mr. Sumner
to appeal to, or believers in his wild theories of international
obligation, how can any settlement be looked for? There is abundant
good feeling here to enable our government to do what is just, but
no feeling that will permit of any voluntary humiliation of the
country.
"Until something is known of what will content the powers that will
meet in Washington in December next, I do not see what any mission
from this to you would be likely to effect. I have read the article
in the _New Englander_. It is moderate, and written in a good
spirit. I do not know that there is anything in it that I could not
freely indorse. Upon the basis of its argument there could be no
difficulty in terminating all that is in dispute between the two
countries. But the article is in answer to Mr. Sumner; and the
question is, does your government, and will your Congress, go with
Mr. Sumner or with the review article? And what view will your
people take?
"I write all this privately to you. It is not from a Cabinet
minister, but from an old friend of yours, who is a member of the
English Parliament, and who has taken some interest in the affairs
of your country. You will consider what I say, therefore, as in no
degree expressing any opinion but my own. I have abstained from
writing or speaking in public on the subject of the dispute. I
could say something to the purpose probably if I thought men on
your side were in a mood to listen and to think calmly. But after
what has happened in connection with the convention I think we can
only wait for some intimation from your side.
"There is a good opinion existing here with regard to your
government, and especially as regards your Secretary of State. I
hope he may have the honor of assisting with a wise moderation to
the settlement of the disputes on which so much has been said and
written and so little done....
"Believe me always sincerely your friend,
"JOHN BRIGHT."
He answered this letter on September 14th:
"I regret Mr. Sumner's speech and his course about the _Alabama_
claims more than I can express, and shall do all I can to
counteract the effect of his actions, and you can help me, I think,
very much, if you will take the trouble to write your views
fully.... I am anxious to do all in my power to keep good feeling
between England and America."
And on November 1st he wrote again to Mr. Bright:
"I do hope and pray that all matters in dispute between England and
America will be honorably settled, and I felt encouraged when I
read the sentence in your letter, 'I feel sure that some more
successful attempt at settlement cannot be far off.'"
Dean Stanley's words, spoken at the breakfast given to him by the
Century Club on his visit to New York in 1878, describe Mr. Field's life
during these years:
"The wonderful cable, on which it is popularly believed in England
that my friend and host Mr. Cyrus W. Field passes his mysterious
existence, appearing and reappearing at one and the same moment in
London and New York."