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

The Story cf- the Atlantic Cable.

(Front the Anglo-Anterkan Titus.)
The story of the Atlantic Cabla told by CI-uus
W. FIELD, at the banquet given in his honour in
November last by the Chamber of Commerce of
New York, is a simple and elopunt talc of a won-
derful achievement. His return to England recalls
the circumstances of the great triumph of science
—circumstances mai) vvhi4 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—Crrms W. FIELD.

Just thirteen years ago, 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
CYRUS 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 baulxed 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 MAnnY. 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
BRETT, Sir CHARLES BRIGHT, and Dr. WIIITEHOUSE,
entertained. In connection with Mr. JOHN W.
the Atlantic Telegraph Company was organised.
Capital w.s 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 and ISSB,
in which the Niagara and Susquehanna took part
with the Agamemnon, 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 excited, 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 that kiud 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 feeling; 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 i s regeneration. The British Govern-
mmeennt
nndappointed a o
practicalinvestigate the
whole subject. For two years this commission
nieoese c
sat, and the result was a clear conviction in
every mind that it was possible to lay a tele-
graph'e Atlantic. Science, too, and ex-
a cross th
perience were crnn of
to eminent scientific
men
all this while being applied to
moters began to prepare for a fresh attempt. In
practice. Yet it was not till 1863 that the pro- I
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.
Th
ietisey; he
sympathy
ildi obtained—but4they
gave
tiou eaan
canvas,
in vain
e
bealiefulw resolutions, appointing
for a more substantial support. • "in one of these
aancdo ipnans i et
itlee someef ,
solidut n

"not get a solitary subscriber !" Ile ws.s more
successful in New York, where be 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 talc 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
I raise half that sum. Where was the giant to be
found whose broad shoulders could carry so heavy a