The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-22 00:00:00

The Atlantic Telegraph.

The fcllowing, letter has Ileen addressed to a contem
porary :

Perhaps some of your readers may deem me somewhat
presumptive in expressing so often my views upon Ameri-
can subjects, or matters that concern American interests.
My excuse is, simply, that having spent a great portion of
my life in the United States, and being a citizen of the
Republic, though of English birth, I claim the right, as
far as my knowledge will permit, of placing before your
readers in an impartial light the various international
questions which demand attention: I believe that much
service may be rendered America on this side of the Atlan-
tic by explaining the misconceptions under which many
labour in reference to certain important subjects, and by
correcting in a kindly and courteous manner the errors
which a want of familiarity with the question has led
many of our public speakers and writers to indulge in.
. _

The Atlantic Telegraph, and the amount of credit due
to certain of the projectors, promoters, and scientific ope-
rators connected with it, has called forth numerous leaders
in the columns of the daily papers, and a multitude of com-
munications on the subject. Mr. John Bright, in one of
his orations lately delivered, in alluding to the Atlantic
cable, said that his friend Cyrus Field was a modern Co-
lumbus, and that he was entitled to great credit for the
part he had enacted in connection with its successful com-
pletion. I cannot give the exact words, but this is at least
the meaning of the sentence to which he gave utterance.
A writer in a provincial paper immediately seizes upon
this allusion to Mr. Field, and announces that he, too,
knows Mr. Field, and that all he ever did to further the
cable project was to come over here and got English capital
and bother the engineers and directors with all sorts of chi-
merical proposals ; in fact, he conveys the idea that Mr. Field
was a sort of Yankee adventurer, and a bore toall concerned.
Now, if this communication had been confined to the
columns of the paper in which it had originally appeared,
it might have passed unnoticed, but when I see the leading
papers of England copying it, I cannot refrain from pro-
testing in the strongest terms against such ungenerous
conduct. It is such a contemptible paragraph as this that
embitters the public mind on both sides of the Atlantic,
and though the statement may be erroneous in every par-
ticular, there are certain organs ready to give it publicity,
and rob a man of hard-earned honours, while being in a
foreign land he is, of course, incapable of defending him-
self, or of supporting his just claims.
I purpose showing that the honours which have been
distributed so freely have not been in accordance with the
true merit which is due to those engaged or connected
with this the greatest success of the age.
Let us examine the case of Cyrus W. Field, and I think
1 shall be able to show that if it had not been for the un-
tiring energy, the heroic, self-sacrificing spirit, the libera-
lity, and the dauntless confidence which Cyrus W. Field
displayed there would have been no telegraph transmitting
messages from one continent to the other at the moment I
write.

On the 22d day of January, A.D. 1855, an agreement was
entered into between the New York, Newfoundland, and
London Telegraph Company, and the Association called the
Transatlantic Submarine Company, for the purpose of lay-
ing a cable botween some part of Europe to some part of
America, connecting with the lines of the parties of the
first port at or near St. John's, Newfoundland. Mr. John
Watkins Brett represented the Transatlantic. Early in
1855 Mr. Field had crossed the Atlantic, having obtained
the concession on the American side, and being empowered
by his colleagues, we find the following arrangement en-
tered into.

"London, Feb. 22, 1855.
"Received from John Watkins Brett, Esq., ten thousand
dollars, which makes him equally interested with Messrs.
Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Cyrus W. Field, Marshall
O'Fwberts, Chancellor White, D. D. Field, Samuel T. B.
Morse, all of New York, U.S., this original subscription to
the stock of the New York, Newfoundland, and London
Telegraph Company.

" CYRUS W. FIELD."
"Now York, April 4, 1855

" The undersigned agree, each for himself, to take the
number of bonds set opposite to his name, and pay for the
same at the times and on the terms above stated :

(Signed) "PETER COOPER
" CYRUS W. FIELD
"MOSES TAYLOR
"MARSHALL OTOBERTS
"DAVID D. FIELD One Bond.
"JOHN W. BRETT Three Bonds,
"London, Feb. 22, 1855.

"Received fiom John Watkins Brett, Esq., his note at
four months, for three thousand pounds sterling, which
when paid will be in full for three bonds of the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company for one
thousand pounds sterling each, dated Juno Ist, 1854, pay-
able in twenty years, and the interest on which, at four
per cent., is guaranteed by the colony of Newfoundland.
The interest on these three bonds to June Ist, 1855, has
this day been paid.

" CYRUS W. FIELD."
This,:the reader will remember, was over eleven years