Chapter 11

“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.”

“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 touchingciphers, 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.”

“New York,October 1, 1867.

“My dear Mr. Deane,—In relation to the tariff, and particularly that part touchingciphers, 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 timethe 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.”

“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.”

“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 theAlabamaclaims, 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 theAlabamaclaims 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 theAlabamaclaims. Before that, I confess to you, I felt exceedingly anxious about the relations between England and the UnitedStates; 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 theDaily News, ended his speech with these words:

“As to this matter of theAlabamaclaims 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 YorkHerald, 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 YorkTribune, 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 theAlabamadebate 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, 7P.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 encounterdifficulties 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.”

“House of Commons,March 10, 1868, 7P.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 encounterdifficulties 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.

“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.“SirJames Anderson.”

“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.

“SirJames 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.”

“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.”

“107Victoria 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.”

“107Victoria 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.”

“120Piccadilly,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 Ihave 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.”

“120Piccadilly,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 Ihave 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.”

“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 purescience, 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 enterpriseit 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 ofthe 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.”

“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 positivelythat 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 willdare 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 ofthe 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.”

“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 positivelythat 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 willdare 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 ofthe 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 avantagesdu 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-hourhere 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 LondonTimes:

“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.”

FromThe 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 theMorning 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-roomlast 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 asMr. 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.”

“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 asMr. 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.”

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