THE COMPANY ORGANIZED.
And so the young New York merchant set out to carry a telegraph across
the Atlantic Ocean! The design had in it at least the merit of audacity.
But whether the end was to be sublime or ridiculous time alone could
tell. Certain it is that when his sanguine temper and youthful blood
stirred him up to take hold of such an enterprise, he little dreamed of
what it would involve. He thought lightly of a few thousands risked in
an uncertain venture; but never imagined that he might yet be drawn on
to stake upon its success the whole fortune he had accumulated; that he
was to sacrifice all the peace and quiet he had hoped to enjoy; and that
for twelve years he was to be almost without a home, crossing and
re-crossing the sea, urging his enterprise in Europe and America. But so
it is, that the Being who designs great things for human welfare, and
would accomplish them by human instruments, does not lift at once the
curtain from the stern realities they are to meet, nor reveal the
rugged ascents they are to climb; so that it is only when at last the
heights are attained, and they look backward, that they realize through
what they have passed.
But could he find anybody to join him in his bold undertaking? Starving
adventurers there always are, ready to embark in any Quixotic attempt,
since they have nothing to lose. But would men of sense and of
character; men who had fortunes to keep, and the habit which business
gives of looking calmly and suspiciously at probabilities; be found to
put capital in an enterprise where, if it failed, they would find their
money literally at the bottom of the sea? It seemed doubtful, but he
would try. His plan was, if possible, to enlist ten capitalists, all
gentlemen of wealth, who together could lift a pretty heavy load; who,
if need were, could easily raise a million of dollars, to carry out any
undertaking.
The first man whom he addressed was his next-door neighbor, Mr. Peter
Cooper, in whom he found the indisposition which a man of large
fortune--now well advanced in life--would naturally feel to embark in
new enterprises. The reluctance in this case was not so much to the
risking of capital, as to having his mind occupied with the care which
it would impose. These objections slowly yielded to other
considerations. As they talked it over, the large heart of Mr. Cooper
began to see that, if it were possible to accomplish such a work, it
would be a great public benefit. This consideration prevailed, and what
would not have been undertaken as a private speculation, was yielded to
public interest. The conference ended by a conditional agreement to
engage in it, if several others did, and, as we shall see, when the
Company was organized, he became its President.
The early accession of this gentleman gave strength to the new
enterprise. In all the million inhabitants of the city of New York there
was not a name which was better known, or more justly held in honor,
than that of Peter Cooper. A native of the city, where he had passed his
whole life, he had seen its growth, from the small town it was after the
War of the Revolution, and had himself grown with it. Beginning with
very small means and limited opportunities, he had become one of its
great capitalists. Many who thus rise to wealth, in the process of
accumulation, form penurious habits which cling to them, and to the end
of their days it is the chief object of life to hoard and to keep. But
Mr. Cooper, while acquiring the fortune, had also the heart of a prince;
and used his wealth with a noble generosity. In the centre of New York
stands to-day a massive building, erected at a cost of nearly a million
of dollars, and consecrated "To Science and Art." This was Mr. Cooper's
gift to his native city. Remembering his own limited advantages of
education, he desired that the young men of New York, the apprentices
and mechanics, should have better opportunities than he had enjoyed. For
this he endowed courses of lectures on the natural sciences; he opened
the largest reading-room in America, which furnishes a pleasant resort
to thousands of readers daily; while to help the other sex, he added a
School of Design for Women, which trains hundreds to be teachers, and
some of them artists; who go forth into the world to earn an honest
living, and to bless the memory of their generous benefactor. This noble
institution, standing in the heart of the city, is his enduring
monument.
Yet while doing so much for the public, those who saw Peter Cooper in
his family knew how he retained the simple habits of early life--how,
while giving hundreds of thousands to others, he cared to spend little
on himself; how he remained the same modest, kindly old man; the pure,
the generous, and the good. His was
"The good gray head that all men knew,"
and that was sadly missed when, nearly thirty years after, in 1883, at
the age of ninety-two, he was borne to his grave. It is a pleasant
remembrance that the beginning of this enterprise was connected with
that honored name.
Mr. Field next addressed himself to Mr. Moses Taylor, a well-known
capitalist of New York, engaged in extensive business reaching to
different parts of the world, and whose daily observation of all sorts
of enterprises, both sound and visionary, made him perhaps a severer
judge of any new scheme. With this gentleman he had then no personal
acquaintance, but sent a note of introduction from his brother, David
Dudley Field, with a line requesting an interview, to which Mr. Taylor
replied by an invitation to his house on an evening when he should be
disengaged. As these two gentlemen afterwards became very intimately
associated, they often recurred to their first interview. Said Mr.
Field: "I shall never forget how Mr. Taylor received me. He fixed on me
his keen eye, as if he would look through me: and then, sitting down, he
listened to me for nearly an hour without saying a word." This was
rather an ominous beginning. However, his quick mind soon saw the
possibilities of the enterprise, and the evening ended by an
agreement--conditional, like Mr. Cooper's--to enter into it.
Mr. Taylor, being thus enlisted, brought in his friend, Mr. Marshall O.
Roberts--a man whose career has been too remarkable to be passed without
notice. A native of the City of New York, (though his father was a
physician from Wales, who came to this country early in this century,)
he found himself, when a boy of eight years, an orphan, without a friend
in the world. From that time he made his way purely by his own industry
and indomitable will. At the age of twenty he was embarked in business
for himself, and his history soon became a succession of great
enterprises. If we were to relate some of the incidents connected with
his rise of fortune, they would sound more like romance than reality. He
was the first to project those floating palaces which now ply the waters
of the Hudson and the great lakes. He was one of the early promoters of
the Erie Railroad. When the discovery of gold in California turned the
tide of emigration to that coast, he started the line of steamers to the
Isthmus of Panama, and controlled largely the commerce with the Pacific.
Thus his hand was felt, giving impulse to many different enterprises on
land and sea. His whole course was marked by a spirit of commercial
daring, which men called rashness, until they saw its success, and then
applauded as marvellous sagacity.
Mr. Field next wrote to Mr. Chandler White, a personal friend of many
years' standing, who had retired from business, and was living a few
miles below the city, near Fort Hamilton, at one of those beautiful
points of view which command the whole harbor of New York. He too was
very slow to yield to argument or persuasion. Why should he--when he had
cast anchor in this peaceful spot--again embark in the cares of
business, and, worst of all, in an enterprise the scene of which was far
distant, and the results very uncertain? But enthusiasm is always
magnetic, and the glowing descriptions of his persuader at length
prevailed.[A]
There were now five gentlemen enlisted; and Mr. Field was about to apply
to others, to make up his proposed number, when Mr. Cooper came to ask
why _five_ would not do as well as _ten_? The question was no sooner
asked than answered. To this all agreed, and at once fixed an evening
when they should meet at Mr. Field's house to hear his statements and to
examine the charter of the old company, find out what it had done, and
what it proposed to do, what property it had and what debts it owed; and
decide whether the enterprise offered sufficient inducements to embark
in it. Accordingly they met, and for four nights in succession discussed
the subject. It was in the dining-room of Mr. Field's house, and the
large table was spread with maps of the route to be traversed by the
line of telegraph, and with plans and estimates of the work to be done,
the cost of doing it, and the return which they might hope in the end to
realize for their labor and their capital. The result was an agreement
on the part of all to enter on the undertaking, if the Government of
Newfoundland would grant a new charter conceding more favorable terms.
To secure this it was important to send at once a commission to
Newfoundland. Neither Mr. Cooper, Mr. Taylor, nor Mr. Roberts could go;
and it devolved on Mr. Field to make the first voyage on this business,
as it did to make many voyages afterwards to Newfoundland, and still
more across the Atlantic. But not wishing to take the whole
responsibility, he was accompanied at his earnest request by Mr. White,
and by Mr. D. D. Field, whose counsel, as he was to be the legal adviser
of the Company, was all-important in the framing of the new charter that
was to secure its rights. The latter thus describes this first
expedition:
"The agreement with the Electric Telegraph Company, and the
formal surrender of its charter, were signed on the tenth of
March, [1854,] and on the fourteenth we left New York,
accompanied by Mr. Gisborne. The next morning we took the
steamer at Boston for Halifax, and thence, on the night of the
eighteenth, departed in the little steamer Merlin for St.
John's, Newfoundland. Three more disagreeable days, voyagers
scarcely ever passed, than we spent in that smallest of
steamers. It seemed as if all the storms of winter had been
reserved for the first month of spring. A frost-bound coast, an
icy sea, rain, hail, snow and tempest, were the greetings of
the telegraph adventurers in their first movement toward
Europe. In the darkest night, through which no man could see
the ship's length, with snow filling the air and flying into
the eyes of the sailors, with ice in the water, and a heavy sea
rolling and moaning about us, the captain felt his way around
Cape Race with his lead, as the blind man feels his way with
his staff, but as confidently and as safely as if the sky had
been clear and the sea calm; and the light of morning dawned
upon deck and mast and spar, coated with glittering ice, but
floating securely between the mountains which form the gates of
the harbor of St. John's. In that busy and hospitable town, the
first person to whom we were introduced was Mr. Edward M.
Archibald, then Attorney-General of the Colony, and now British
Consul in New York. He entered warmly into our views, and from
that day to this, has been an efficient and consistent
supporter of the undertaking. By him we were introduced to the
Governor, (Kerr Bailey Hamilton,) who also took an earnest
interest in our plans. He convoked the Council to receive us,
and hear an explanation of our views and wishes. In a few hours
after the conference, the answer of the Governor and Council
was received, consenting to recommend to the Assembly a
guarantee of the interest of L50,000 of bonds, an immediate
grant of fifty square miles of land, a further grant to the
same extent on the completion of the telegraph across the
ocean, and a payment of L5,000 toward the construction of a
bridle-path across the island, along the line of the land
telegraph."
This was a hopeful beginning; and, though the charter was not yet
obtained, feeling assured by this official encouragement, and the public
interest in the project, that it would be granted by the colony, Mr.
Field remained in St. John's but three days, when he took the Merlin
back to Halifax on his way to New York, there to purchase and send down
a steamer for the service of the Company, leaving his associates to
secure the charter and to carry out the arrangements with the former
company. To settle all these details was necessarily a work of time.
First, the charter of the old Electric Telegraph Company had to be
repealed, to clear the way for a new charter to the Company, which was
to bear the more comprehensive title of "New York, Newfoundland, _and
London_." This charter--which had been drawn with the greatest care by
the counsel of the Company, while on the voyage to Newfoundland--bore on
its very front the declaration that the plans of the new Company were
much broader than those of the old. In the former charter, the design
was thus set forth:
"The telegraph line of this company is designed to be strictly
an 'Inter-Continental Telegraph.' Its termini will be New York,
in the United States, and London, in the kingdom of Great
Britain; these points are to be connected by a line of electric
telegraph from New York to St. John's, Newfoundland, partly on
poles, partly laid in the ground, and partly through the water,
_and a line of the swiftest steamships ever built from that
point to Ireland_. The trips of these steamships, it is
expected, will not exceed five days, and as very little time
will be occupied in transmitting messages between St. John's
and New York, the communication between the latter city and
London or Liverpool, will be effected _in six days_, or less.
The company will have likewise stationed at St. John's a steam
yacht, for the purpose of intercepting the European and
American steamships, so that no opportunity may be lost in
forwarding intelligence in advance of the ordinary channels of
communication."
But the charter of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph
Company, which was now to be obtained, began by declaring, in its very
first sentence: "Whereas it is deemed advisable to establish a line of
telegraphic communication between America and Europe by way of
Newfoundland." Not a word is said of fast ships, of communications in
less than six days, but every thing points to a line across the ocean.
Thus one section gives authority to establish a submarine telegraph
across the ocean, from Newfoundland to Ireland; another section
prohibits any other company or person from touching the coast of
Newfoundland or its dependencies [which includes Labrador] with a
telegraphic cable or wire, from any point whatever, for fifty years; and
a third section grants the Company fifty square miles of land upon the
completion of the submarine line across the Atlantic.
In other respects the charter was equally liberal. It incorporated the
associates for fifty years, established perfect equality, in respect to
corporators and officers, between citizens of the United States and
British subjects, and allowed the meetings of the stockholders and
directors to be held in New York, in Newfoundland, or in London.
To obtain such concessions was a work of some difficulty and delay. The
Legislature of the province were naturally anxious to scan carefully
conditions that were to bind them and their children for half a century.
I have now before me the papers of St. John's of that day, containing
the discussions in the Legislature; and while all testify to the deep
public interest in the project, they show a due care for the interests
of their own colony, which they were bound to protect. At length all
difficulties were removed, and the charter was passed unanimously by the
Assembly, and confirmed by the Council.
This happy result was duly celebrated, in the manner which all
Englishmen approve, by a grand dinner given by the commissioners of the
new Company, to the members of the Assembly and other dignitaries of the
colony, at which there were eloquent prophecies of the good time coming,
showing how heartily the enterprise was welcomed by all classes; and how
fond were the anticipations of the increased intercourse it would bring,
and the manifold benefits it would confer on their long-neglected
island.
No sooner were the papers signed, than the wheels, so long blocked, were
unloosed, and the machinery began to move. Mr. White at once drew on New
York for fifty thousand dollars, and paid off all the debts of the old
company. A St. John's newspaper of April 8th, 1854, amid a great deal on
the subject, contains this paragraph, which is very significant of the
dead state of the old company, and of the life of the new:
"The office of the new Electric Telegraph Company has been
surrounded the last two or three days by the men who had been
engaged the last year on the line, and who are being paid all
debts, dues, and demands against the old association. We look
upon the readiness with which these claims are liquidated as a
substantial indication on the part of the new Company that they
will complete to the letter all that they have declared to
accomplish in this important undertaking."
In the early part of May, the two gentlemen who had remained behind in
Newfoundland rejoined their associates in New York, and there the
charter was formally accepted and the Company organized. As all the
associates had not arrived till Saturday evening, the 6th of May, and as
one of them was to leave town on Monday morning, it was agreed that they
should meet for organization at six o'clock of that day. At that hour
they came to the house of Mr. Field's brother Dudley, and as the first
rays of the morning sun streamed into the windows, the formal
organization took place. The charter was accepted, the stock subscribed,
and the officers chosen. Mr. Cooper, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Field, Mr. Roberts,
and Mr. White were the first directors. Mr. Cooper was chosen President,
Mr. White, Vice-President, and Mr. Taylor, Treasurer.
This is a short story, and soon told. It seemed a light affair, for
half a dozen men to meet in the early morning and toss off such a
business before breakfast. But what a work was that to which they thus
put their hands! A capital of a million and a half of dollars was
subscribed in those few minutes, and a company put in operation that was
to carry a line of telegraph to St. John's, more than a thousand miles
from New York, and then to span the wild sea. Well was it that they who
undertook the work did not then fully realize its magnitude, or they
would have shrunk from the attempt. Well was it for them that the veil
was not lifted, which shut from their eyes the long delay, the immense
toil, and the heavy burdens of many wearisome years. Such a prospect
might have chilled the most sanguine spirit. But a kind Providence gives
men strength for their day, imposes burdens as they are able to bear
them, and thus leads them on to greater achievements than they knew.
FOOTNOTES:
[A] Although it is anticipating a year in time, I cannot resist the
pleasure of adding here the name of another eminent merchant, who
afterward joined this little Company, Mr. Wilson G. Hunt. Mr. Hunt is
one of the old merchants of New York who, through his whole career, has
maintained the highest reputation for commercial integrity, and whose
fortune is the reward of a long life of honorable industry. He joined
the Company in 1855, and was a strong and steady friend through all its
troubles till the final success.