Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1866-12-12
ORIGIN OF THE ATLANTIC CABLE.

on the 18th of November last, by the
Chamber of Commerce to Cyrus W.
Field, that gentleman gave the follow
ing very interesting sketch of the origin
of the great work of the age, the At
lantic cable. Mr.. Field made a speech
of perhaps two hours length, from
which we extract only that portion
which gives the origin Of the project:
1t is nearly thirteen years since half a
dozen gentlemen of this city met at my
house for four successive evenings, and
around n table covered with maps and
charts, and plans and estimates, consid-
cred a project to extend n line Of tele-
graph from Nova Scotia to St. Johns,
in New Foundland, thence to be carried
across the pecan. 1t was a very pretty
plan on paper. There was New York,
and there was St. Johns, only about
1000 miles apart. 1t VAS easy TO draw
a line from one point to the other
making no account of the forests and
mountains, and swamps and rivers and
CULTS, that lay in our way. Not one OF
US had ever seen the country, or had
any idea of the obstacles to be over
come. We thought we could build the
line in a few months. 1t took two years
and u half. Yet we never asked for
help outside our own little circle. In
deed | fear we should not have got it.
Every dollar came out of our W pock-
cts. Yet, | am proud to say, no mar
| drew back. No man proved 4 deserter;
those who came first into the work have
| stood bv it 10 the end. Of those six
men four are here to-night-Mr. Peter
Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall o. Ro-
berts, and myself. Ny brother Dudley
is in Europe, and Mr.. Chandler White
died in 1856, and his place was supplied
by Mr.. Wilson G. Hunt, who is also
here. Mr.. Robert W. Lowber was our
Secretary. To these gentlemen. as my
FIRST associates, it is but just that |
should pay my first Acknowledgements.
From this statement you perceive that
in the beginning this was wholly an
American enterprise. 1t was begun,
and for two years and a half carried on,
solely by American capital. Our breth-
| rem across the sea did not even know
what we were doing away in the forests
| of New Foundland. Our little company
raised and expended over II million and
| quarter of dollars before an Englishman
paid q single pound sterling. Our only
| support outside was in the liberal char
acter and steady friendship Of the Gov
| eminent of New Foundland, for which
we were greatly indebted to Mr.. E. NJ
| Archibald, then Attorney General OF
| that colony, and now British consul in
| New York. And in preparing for an
| ocean cable the first soundings across
the Atlantic were made by American
officers in American ships. Our scien-
ti6c men-Morse, Henry, Bache and
Maury-had taken great interest in the
| subject. The United States ship Dol
phin discovered the t~elegraphic plateau
as early as 1853; and the United States
ship Arctic sounded across from New
Foundland to Ireland in 1856, a year
before II. Ms ship Cyclops, under com
mand of Capt. Dayman, went over the
same course. This | state not to take
aught from the just praise of England,
but simply to vindicate the truth OF
history.
1t was not till lS56-ten years ago
that the enterprise had any existence in
England. In that summer l went to
London, and there with Mr.. John W.
Brett, Mr.. (now Sir) Charles Bright,
and DR.. Whitehouse, organized the At
lantic Telegraph Company. Science
had begun to contemplate the necessity
of such an enterprise, and the great
Farady cheered US with his enthusiasm
Then for the first time was enlisted the
support of English capitalists; and
then the British Government began
that noble and generous course which
it has continued ever since-otfering
US ships to complete soundings across
the Atlantic, and to assist in laying the
cable, and an annual subsidy for the
transmission of messages. The expedi'
ton of 1851 and the two expeditions o.
1858 were joint enterprises, in which
the Niagara and the Susquehanna took
part with the Agamemnon, the Leopard,
the Gordon and the Valorous and the
officers of both nsvies worked with gen,
erous rivalry for the same great object,
The capital-except one-quarter which,
as you have said, was taken by myself
was subscribed wholly in Great Britain.
The directors were almost all English
bankers and merchants, though among
them was one gentleman whom we are
proud to call an American-Mr. George
Peabody, a name honored in two coun-
tries, since he has showered his princely
benefactions upon both-who, though a
resident for nearly forty years in Lon
don, where he has gained abundant
wealth and honors, still clings to the
land of his birth, declining the honor OF
a baronetcy of the United Kingdom to
remain u simple American citizen.
With the history of the expeditions Of
1873 you are familiar. On the third
trial we gained a brief success. The
cable was laid, and for four weeks il
worked-though never very brilliantly
never giving forth such rapid and dis
tinct flashes as the cables of to-day.
1t spoke, though only in broken sen.
fences. But while it lasted no less than
400 messages were sent across the At
lantic. You all remember the enthusi-
asm which it excited. 1t was a new
thing under the sun, and for a few
weeks the public went wild over it. OF
course, when it stopped, the reaction
vas very great. People grew dumb and
suspicious. Some thought it was all a
hoax; and many were quite sure that il
never worked at all. That kind ofodium
we have had to endure for eight years,
till now, l trust, we have at last silenced
the unbelievers.