The Sun.
London, England, 1867-03-04 00:00:00

The Story of the Atlantic Cable.

(From the Anglo-American Times.)
The story of the Atlantic Cable told by CYRUS
W. FIELD, at the banquet given in his honour in
November last by the -Chamber of Commerce of
New York, is a simple and eloquent tale of a won-
derful achievement. His return to England recalls
the circumstances of the great triumph of science
—circumstances with which he is so inti-
mately associated that if the event is to hand any
one man's name down to posterity that name will
be—CYRUS W. FIELD.
Just thirteen-years-age, for four successive even-
ings, six gentlemen gathered around a table, in the
commercial metropolis of America, on which lay
maps and charts, plans and estimates, to consider
a project to extend a line of Telegraph from Nova
Scotia to St. John's, in Newfoundland—thence to
be carried across the ocean. That table was Mr.
FIELD'S ; and it was he who, with all the enthu-
siasm of an earnest nature, with a great and bril-
liant project before it, was impressing the practi-
cability of the scheme on the gentlemen around.
Happily for the great undertakings of the world the
imagination bounds over the rugged difficulties
raised by nature at every turn, and often entraps
the instruments suitable for carrying to a success
plans of the greatest difficulty by presenting those
plans under an aspect of comparative ease. When
CY-Rus FIELD thus commenced the formation of the
Atlantic cable belittle anticipated the 13 years of trial
and labour before him, the heart-breaking and the
financial failures involving for so long a period all
connected with the enterprise in heavy loss. But
his was not a nature to be baulked by difficulties,
and as they rose before him so rose his determina-
tion to surmount them, and to his indefatigable
energy and undaunted pluck is due the final
success which has showered honours on many, and
national advantages on all. It took two years and
a half to carry out the plan, and over a million and
a quarter of dollars were expended by these few
gentlemen before even this small instalment of the
great scheme was completed. But if CYRUS
FIELD now saw some of the real difficulties that
ley before him, he had gained in what he
had already accomplished, an amount of
knowledge and experience which peculiarly fitted
him for fulfilling the task to which he had de-
voted himself. Great interest was excited in the
subject by scientific men of America—MOßSE,
HENRY, BACHE, and MAURY. The telegraphic
plateau was discovered in 1853 by the United States
ship Dolphin, and the Atlantic was sounded three
years afterwards from Newfoundland to Ireland by
the United States ship Arctic. In the summer of
1856 CYRUS W. FIELD proceeded to London,
where the possibility of the enterprise began to be
entertained. In connection with Mr. JOHN W.
BRETT, Sir CHARLES BRIGHT, and Dr. WIIITEHOUSE,
the Atlantic Telegraph Company was organised.
Capital was enlisted, and the British Government
commenced that generous course which it continued
to the end, completing the soundings across the
Atlantic, assisting in laying the cable, and offering
an annual subsidy for the transmission of messages.
Then followed the joint expeditions of 1857 andlBsB,
in which the Niagara and Susquehanna took part
with the Aganzenznon, the Leopard, the Gorgon, and
the Valorous; the officers of both navies working
for the same end with a generous rivalry. The
capital, except one quarter taken by CYRUS
FIELD, was subscribed in Great Britain.
Although the directors were English merchants and
bankers, there was one American—whose name is
honoured in both countries for his princely benefac-
tions to each—who, we need scarcely say, was Mr.
GEORGE PEABODY. We all know the result. For
one short month messages were transmitted to and
fro, feebly, and in broken sentences, but the enthu-
siasm the success excite 1, outlasted the cable. It
went out as a spark in the mighty waters, and left
its promoters in blank dismay. For eight long years
after Mr. CYRUS FIELD had to bear thatkind of odium
which attaches to a visionary whose wild scheme
has caused a heavy loss and vast labour uselessly
and unprofitably thrown away. After the failure
of 1858 came the darkest days. An untried scheme
can excite hope and enlist a hearty support, but it
is hard to galvanise into life a thing which has
been tried and failed disastrously ; the freshness
and novelty are gone, and the feeling of disappoint-
ment checks further effort. Nor did Mr. FIELD'S
discouragement stop here. The great political
questions which had been agitating the Union burst
into the fury of an unparalleled civil war, and in con-
sequence he was thrown wholly on a foreign country
to secure the means for accomplishing the enter-
prise which nothing but the faith which removes
mountains could have prevented from sinking with
the dead cable into the oblivion of the waters of the
Atlantic. It is fortunate for the success of great
enterprises that there are always men in high places
whose instinct guides them aright in spite of the
fashion and feelings of the hour. The directors of
the Atlantic Telegraph Company were no ordinary.
body ; and in this day of just and universal con-
demnation of those who have guided joint-stock
enterprises it is a cheery thing to be able to record
the action of these gentlemen. The Chairman, the
Right Hon. JOHN STUART WORTLEY, took up the
cause when its future looked darkest; and the Deputy
Chairman, Sir CURTIS LAMPSON, gave his steady
support, and earned for himself and his descendants
the title of a baronet. But dark though the days
were, the inherent soundness of the cause was
working out its regeneration. The British Govern-
ment appointed a commission of eminent scientific
men and practical engineers to investigate the
whole subject. For two years this commission
sat, and the result was a clear conviction in
every mind that it was possible to lay a tele-
graph across the Atlantic. Science, too, and ex-
perience were all this while being applied to
practice. Yet it was not till 1863 that the pro-
moters began to prepare for a fresh attempt. In
spite of the War then raging, CYRUS FIELD went
from city to city in his endeavour to enlist in his
cause the sympathy and interest of his countrymen.
The sympathy he obtained—but lie looked in vain
for a more substantial support. "In one of these
"cities," he said, " they gave me a large meeting
" and passed some beautiful resolutions, appointing
" a committee of solid men' to canvas, but I did
"not get a solitary subscriber!" He was more
successful in New York, where he raised £70,000.
When almost all deemed it a hopeless scheme, one
New Yorker came forward and purchased stock to
the amount of $lOO,OOO, and Mr. LORING ANDREWS
had the pleasure of listening to the tale told that
evening by CYRUS FIELD, and receiving the reward
his generous faith had met, in the success of the
enterprise. It was clear to Mr. FIELD that the
position of America rendered it hopeless there to
obtain the necessary support ; so he returned to
England to find almost equal discouragement.
Six hundred thousand pounds were required ;
and his utmost efforts had been insufficient to
raise half that sum. Where was the giant to be
found whose broad shoulders could carry so heavy a

'f - /

? His story here tells like a romance in which

''Asiatics so delight. He was in the desert and
thirsting for the spring. Before him lay his scheme
—practical, he felt sure ; a mine of wealth to those
who would heartily engage in the undertaking, and
a boon to mankind. But where was the good
genius through whose magic power he could be
guided into the way of fulfilling his destiny ? It
was at this juncture that he was introduced to Mr.
THOMAS BRASSEY. "I went to see him,'' .aid Mr.
FIELD, " though with fear and trembling. lie re-
" ceived me kindly, but put me through such au ex-
" =illation that I had never had before. I thought
" I was in the witness•box. Ile asked every pos-
" sible question, but my answers satisfied him, and
" he ended by saying--' It was an enterprise which

" ought to be carried out, and that be would be
one of ten men to furnish the money to do it.' "
Encouraged by this noble offer, CYRUS W. FIELD suc-
ceeded in enlisting in the cause Mr. JOHN FENDER,
of Manchester, who undertook to bear an equal
share with Mr. BRASSET. The action of these
two gentlemen was a turning point in the
history of the undertaking, for it drew to-
wards it men of great wealth, such as Mr. GEORGE
ELLIOT, Mr. BARCLAY, and Mr. BEWLEY.
The result was the formation of the " Tele-
graph Construction and Maintenance Company."
Sir RICHARD GLASS was made managing director,
and he was admirably seconded by the secretary,
Mr. SALTER. The Great Eastern was purchased,
and with the Great Eastern came that able officer,
Captain Sir JAMES ANDERSON. Thus organised
the cable was prepared with infinite care by Mr.
CH ATTERTON and Mr. WILLOUGHBY SMITH, and, as
fast as ready, taken on board the vessel and coiled
in three enormous tanks. On the 15th July, 1865,
the ship started on her memorable voyage, to end
in a disappointment sufficient to break the heart of
a man with less faith than that of CYRUS W. FIELD.
For a week all went well. Twelve hundred miles
of cable had been paid out, and but six hundred re-
mained, when, hauling in to remedy a fault, it
parted—anddisappeared in the depths of the Atlan-
tic. For days and nights the bottom of the ocean
was dragged, and though the lost treasure was
three times grappled, every effort failed to bring
it to the surface. Again Mr. CYRUS FIELD
returned to England defeated—yet full of hope and
resolution, for those on whose supp3rt he relied knew
that an accident only had stood between them and
success. Measures were at once taken to make a
second cable, and to fit out a new expedition, and
soothed by that knowledge he returned to his
family in America. But Mr. FIELD was destined
to endure another great disappointment before the
full sunshine of success burst on the enterprise. The
Attorney-General of England had given his written
opinion that, without a special Act of Parliament,
the company could not raise new capital by the
issue of 12 per cent. shares. The works were
stopped, and the money received from subscribers
returned. Again Mr. BRASSEY stood in the gap,
declaring that, if required, he would put down
£60,000 more. But it was necessary to organise a
new company. Ten gentlemen met in London and
placed on the table £lO,OOO a-piece, and thus arose
the Anglo-American Telegraph Company. The
bonds were opened to the public through the
eminent American banking-house of Messrs. MOR-
GAN and Co., and in fourteen days the whole
£600,000 had been raised. It was the 2d day of
March when the Company was registered. Yet
such was the vigour and despatch, so great the
knowledge gained by the long spell of bitter expe-
rience, that in five months from that day the cable
had been manufactured; coiled in the Great Eastern,
stretched across the Atlantic, and was sending
messages, literally swift as lightning, from continent
to continent. " This was not a lucky hit," said the
teller of this story, " a fine run across the ocean in
" calm weather. It was the worst weather I ever
" knew at that season of the year. We had fogs
" and storms almost the whole way. Our success
" was the result of the highest science, combined

with practical experienee, everything being per-

" fectly organised to the minutest detail." In-
deed, nature had done her worst—and man had
triumphed. But the work was not over. The
new cable had been stretched, still the old one re-
mained to be recovered.

We regret our space is not sufficient to tell the
story of this wonderful achievement, which excited
even more surprise than the successful laying of
the cable. CYRUS FIELD aided in the task, and saw
in its success the bright reward of years, of anxiety,
aud,toil. It is thus that he sums up when standing
as the honoured guest of scores of the most cele-
brated of his fellow-citizens—" It has been," he said,
" a long, hard struggle—nearly 13 years of anxious
watching and ceaseless toil. Often my heart has
been ready to sink. Many times, when wandering
in the forests of Newfoundland, in the pelting rain,
or on the deck of ships on stormy nights, alone, far
from home, I have almost accused myself of mad-
ness and folly to sacrifice the peace of my family
and all the hopes of life, for what might prove, after
all, but a dream. I have seen my companions, one
and another, falling by my side, and feared that I,
' too, might not live to see the end. And yet ono
hope has led me on, and I have prayed that
I might not taste of death till this
great work was accomplished. That prayer is
answered, and now, beyond all acknow-
ledgments to men, is the feeling of gratitude to
ALMIGHTY GOD. Of the results of this enterprise,
commercially and politically, it is for others to
speak ; to one effect only do I refer as the wish of
my heart, that, as it brings us into closer relations
with England, it may produce a better understand-
ing between the two countries. Let those who will
speak against England, words of censure must
l
come from other lips than mine. I have received
too much kindness from Englishmen to join in this
language. Icup, a
have eatenn
of
have their
receivedb retd
from and
drank of their
them in the darkest hours of this enterprise
words of cheer, which I shall neverforget.lf an
any
words of mine can tend to peace and goodwillthey
shall not be wanting. I beg my countrymen to re-
member the ties of kindred. Blood is thicker than
water. America, with all her greatness, has come
out of the loins of England, and though there have
been sometimes family quarrels—bitter, as family
quarrels are apt to be—still, in our hearts there is a
yearning for the old home, the laud of our fathers ;
and he is an enemy of his country and of the human
race who would stir up strife between two countries
which are one in language, in race, and in religion."
Through this tale of interest there runs a vein of a
most generous appreciation of the labours of others.
Above all, comes that heartfelt sentiment of attach-
ment to the old mother country, which in the far
hereafter will be productive of great good. Cables
may cross and recross each other in the still depths
of the Atlantic ; devices may be discovered by
which messages can be sent more speedily through
this or other agencies ; the wire of to-day may bear
to that of a century hence the proportion of the
galley which carried Columbus, to an ocean
steampacket of this day ; yet the name of
CYRUS W. FIELD will remain, and the story of his
success be told with pride in thousands of American
homes. We hail then with pleasure the fact teat
associated with this story will be a warm and hearty
sympathy for England, and a just appreciation of
the motives and objects which influence her people.

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