IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. ^/ X^\ 1.0 I.I |Z5 2.2 Hi 140 2.0 ^ HA Photographic ScMices CorporatiQii ^ S3 WMT MAM tTRIIT Wlttnn,N.V. 14SM (71*) •73-4303 ^^^S.^ ^^mmt^ma mmm smm mn. <s <v CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CiHIVI/iCIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Inatituta for Historical fMicroraproductiont / in«titut Canadian da microraproductiont liistoriquas rmmmm^ ' tsynu'wj.'i r Tachnical and Bibliooraphic Not««/Not«s tactiniquM «M biMiographiquM Th« Inttitut* has attamptad to obtain tha bast original copy avaiiabia for filming. Faaturas of this copy which may ba MbliographieaNy uniqua, which may atar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction, or which may significantly changa tha usual mathod of filming, ara chackad balow. Colourad covers/ Couvorturo da couleur [~y| Covers damagad/ Couvartura andommagda Covars rastorad and/or laminatad/ Couvartura rastaurAa at/ou pallicuMa Covar titia missing/ Ls titrs da couvartura manqua I I Coloured maps/ Cartes gAographiquas an couleur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre do couleur (i.e. autre que Meue ou noire) r~n Coloured pletes and/or illustrations/ D D n n Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur Bound with other material/ H^nt avac d'autres documents Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin/ Lareliure serrAe peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion la long de la marge intMeure Blank leavea added during restoration may appeer yiMMn the text. Whenever possible, these heve been omitted from filming/ II se peut que certaines pagee blanchea i^outAes tors d'une rostauraticn appa r a i aae n t dans to texte, ntais, lorsque ce!t Atait possibto, ces pagea n'ont pas «ti filmAee. Additional comments:/ Commentairea supplAmentaires: L'Institut a microfilm* la malHeur exemplaire qu'il lui a AtA poasibto cto se procurer. Les dAtails de cet exemplaire qui sent paut-Atre uniques du point de vue MbHograohlqua, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvem exiger une modification ctons to mAthode normato de f ilmage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. n D D Q D 13 D D D D Coloured pages/ Pages de coutour Pages damaged/ Pages endommagAes Pag«s :estored and/or laminated/ Pages restaurAes et/ou pellicuMes Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages dAcolorAes, tachetAes ou piquAes Pages detached/ Pages dAtachAes Showthrough/ Transparence Quality of prim variea/ QualitA irtAgato de I'impression Includes supptomentary material/ Comprend du matAriel suppMmentaire Only edition avaUabto/ Seuto Aditton disponibto Pagee wholly or partially obscured by errata sHps, tissues, etc., have been ref limed to ensure the best possibto image/ Lea pagee tot atom en t ou partieltoment obscurdes par un feuHtot d'errata, une pelure. etc., ont AtA fHmAes A nouveau de fa^on A obtenir la meiHeure image poasibto. This item is flit, sd at the reduetton ratto ehechad below/ Ce document est filmA au taux de rAduetton kidlquA cl«da ss eua. ■« 10X MX MX ax MX 3BX >/ 3 12X ItX a«x 1 a 1 V d e b ri ri n Th* copy fMniMl hero ha* b««n r«produc«d thanks to tho gonorotity of: Library of tha Public ArchivM of Canada L'axampiairo film* fut raproduit grAca A ia gAnAroaIti da: La bibliotliAqua dat Archlvas pubiiquas du Canada Tha images appaaring hara ara tha baat quaiity poaaibia eonaidaring tha condition and iagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract apaclficatlona. Orlginid coplaa in printad papar covers ara fiimad beginning with tha front covar and andlng on th9 laat paga with a printad or iiluatratad impraa- sk>n, or tha back covar whan appropriate. Ail othar original copkM ara fiimad beginning on the first page with a printed or IHustratad imprea- sion, and andlng on tha laat page with e printed or illuatrated impreeaton. Tha laat recorded frame on each microfiche shaN contain the aymbol «-^> (meening "CON- TINUED"), or the aymbol ▼ (meening "END"), whichever appNee. Las imagea sulvantes ont 4tA reprodultes avac la plua grand soln, compta tenu de la condition at da ia nettet* de rexemplaira fiimA. at an conformity avac las conditions du contrat da fllmaga. Lea exemplaires orlginaux dont la eouvarture an papier eat Imprimte sent fllmfo an commanqant par la premier plot et en terminant soit par la damiAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'lHustretion, solt per le second phit, seton le ces. Tous les autres exemplaires origlneux sent fiimAs en commen^ant par ia pramiAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impreaaion ou d'iiiuatration et en terminant par la demlire page qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un dee symbdea suhrants appsraltra sur la darnSAre imege de cheque microfiche, selon le ces: le symbole -^ signifle "A 8UIVRE", le symbole ▼ signifie "FIN". Mapa, platea, charts, etc., mey be filmed at dif f eren t reduction rethM. Thoae too large to be entirely included in one expoeure aie fHmed beginning bi the upper left liand comer, left to right end top to bottom, ee meny framee aa required. Tlie following dlegrama iiluatrate the method: Les certes. planches, tebleaux, etc., pcMvent Atre fiimAa A dee taux de rAduction diff Arents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit en un soul clichA, 11 est fiimA A partir de I'angle aupAriaur geuche, de geuche A droite. et de hiaut an bas, en prenant la nombre d'imagao nAceaaaire. Lea diagrammaa suivsnts illustrent le mAthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MEMORIAL OF THE Paiinctir (TrUfivuph (fompaini AND THE |tcir tf nulantt Wmw (tdfj^vaph (S ompauy TO T ir IB CONIJHESS OF THE UNITED STATES. f Hl.liNM^iS, »n D »t 4% . «iM i 'TH. AA^-Ui'^H. v-V *' . ^ ►>-. i: Pem0):ial. To THE Senate and House of Representatives of the United States op America, in Conqress assembled. The Memorial of the Magnetic Telegraph Company^ and the New England Union Telegraph Company, by their Joint Committee duly authorized, respectfully repre- sents: That the Magnetic Telegraph Company, whose Line of Telegraph extends from Washington to New York, was the first Telegraph Company organized in the United States to give practical effect to Professor Morse's inven- tion of the American Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, now pervading the civilized world, and was soon after followed by the organization of the New York and Boston Mag- netic Telegraph Associp.tion, which, having been united with a competing Lin<; on substantially the same route, is now known by the name of the New England Union Telegraph Company. The Magnetic Telegraph Company has since, by lease, obtained control of the Washington and New Orleans Line, so that they now possess the Line along the Atlantic coast, from New York to New Orleans. Upon these Companies devolved the necessity of solving many problems in relation to long Lines of Electric Tele- graph which had hitherto been involved in doubt, and ¥^ aJi»; ■^ K could only be solved by expensive experiments. Scarcely, hoAvever, had they begun to receive a return for their in- vestments, when rival Lines sprung up, under different systems of telegraphing, which the two Companies be- lieved to be infringements of Morse's Patent, for the use of which they had given half their stock. Expensive • litigation was the consequence ; from which, however, no effective protection was obtained, on account of the defect- ive character of the patent laws, and the conflicting princi- ples applied to their construction by the judicial tribunals. Nevertheless, your Memorialists would have been con- tent to carry on their business with the imperfect protec- tion which the existing laws afford them, without an appeal to Congress for further legislation, had they been left to contend only with infringers of their patented rights, or even with a full and fair domestic competition. But your Memorialists represent and charge, that a combination has been entered into by parties and Companies in and out of the United States, endeavoring to force the Companies represented by the undersigned to surrender their prop- erty into the hands of such combination on their own terms, or of destroying its value altogether. And your Memorialists charge that this combination, through con- cealment of its ultimate objects, and through representa- tions and pledges of some of its active managers, pre- vented your Memorialists from taking steps to protect their interests, while the said combination were procuring the aid of the British Province of Newfoundland, the Government of Great Britain and the Government of the United States. a Your Memorialists desire to be understood as not op- posed to the great enterprise of connecting Europe and America by a Telegraphic Cable, nor to any assistance in ships or money which their Government may think proper to give it ; but they maintain that it is the duty of their Government, whether they assist the enterprise or not, to see that it shall not be used to oppress one interest in the United States for the purpose of building up another, and that this duty becomes more imperative when the Govern- ment furnishes it with material aid. Your Memorialists further represent, that the combina- tion of which they complain is composed of the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, incorpo- rated by the Legislature of the British Province of New- foundland; the American Telegraph Company, incorpo- rated under the laws of the State of New York ; and the Atlantic Telegraph Company, a British Corporation, em- bracing an Atlantic Telegraphic Cable from Newfound- land to the coast of Ireland. Whether there is a fourth party covering a Telegraph Line from the Irish terminus of the proposed Atlantic Cable to the City of London, your Memorialists are not advised, nor is it material. Your Memorialists represent, that the three Telegraph Companies aforesaid originated with certain capitalists in the City of New York, who are stockholders in all of them, and control two of them directly and absolutely, and the third indirectly but effectually. The New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, and the American Telegraph Company, are composed mainly of the same men, and are under the same control ; and the I same men who control them are influential stockholders in the Atlantic Telegraph Company, which could not have existed in its present shape without their consent. In fact, the Atlantic Telegraph Company and the Ame- rican Telegraph Company were but parts of one scheme, which was originally embraced in the Act incorporating the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, and in interest and control they arc still parts of one scheme, insomuch that the success of one contri- butes, if it be not absolutely essential to, the success of all ; and any aid afforded by the Government giving strength to one, gives strength and power to all. That these three Companies are one in origin and de- sign, is conclusively shown by the Act of the Legislature of Newfoundhind incorporating the New York, Newfound- land, and London Telegraph Company, passed April 15th, 1854. The 14th and 18th sections of that Act are in the following words, viz : " 14th. The Corporation hereby created shall have the ' sole and exclusive right to build, make, occupy, take or * work the said Line or any Line of Telegraph between * Saint Johns and Cape Ray, or between any other ' points in this Island, (excepting only the existing Line ' between Saint Johns and Carbonear,) for the full period * of fifty years from the passing of this Act, subject, nev- * ertheless, to the right of pre-emption by the Oovern- * ment of this Colony, as hereinafter provided ; and during * the said period of fifty years, no other person or per- * sons, body or bodies politic or corporate, shall be per- * mitted to construct, purchase, take or operate any Line * or Lines of Telegraph on this Island, or to extend to, * enter upon or touch any part of this Island, or the coast thereof, or of the islands or places within the jarisdiction of the Government of this Colony, with any telegraphic cable, wire, or other means of telegraphic communica- tion, from any other island, country or place whatsoever: Provided^ however, That if said Line of Telegraph shall not have been completed from Saint Johns to Cape Ray, or other point on the western coast of Newfoundland, and a communication by telegraph across Prince Edward Island, or the Island of Cape Breton or otherwise, es- tablished with the Continent of America within five years from the passing of this Act, the exclusive privi- leges granted by this section shall cease." " 18th. The said Company shall have power to estab- lish, construct and work a Line or Lines of Telegraph between Newfoundland and Ireland, or any other island, place, or places in the Atlantic Ocean, or in Europe, or in the United States, and to construct, purchase, and work any Telegraph Line or Lines or means of communi- cation in Canada, Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the United States, and in the waters adjacent to or between the said Islands, Provinces or States, and between any of them and New- foundland : Provided, however, That such consent as may be necessary shall be first obtained of the Governments of said Provinces and States, respectively; and generally to purchase or hire any Line of Telegraph which may now or hereafter be constructed by any person or per- sons, or body or bodies politic or corporate in the United States, or British Provinces of North America, or in Europe, and to use the same for the transmission of messages and intelligence; and they may also construct, purchase, hire or use any steam or other vessels to aid in the acquisition or transmission of intelligence between America and Europe, or in carrying on any of the oper- ations of the said Compuny." r^^ The 14th section, it will be perceived, confers on the Company an absolute monopoly for fifty years of landing a Telegraphic Cable on the coasts of Newfoundland, and the 18th section confers on them the power to establish and work a line of Telegraph "between Newfoundland and Ireland," the precise enterprise now in course of exe- cution with the aid of Government by the Atlantic Tele- graph Company. If the latter Company, therefore, have any right to land a Telegraphic Cable on the coast of Newfoundland, it must have been derived from the New- foundland Company, to whom the grant was originally made. It will also be perceived, that the 18th section confers on the Company power to construct, purchase, hire and work Telegraph Lines in the United States as w^ell as in the British Provinces. This power has not been exer- cised in the United States in the name of the Newfound- land Company; but the same men who control that Company have organized themselves into another Com- pany called the American Telegraph Company, who are, in connection with the Newfoundland and Ocean Com- panies, carrying into eflfect the American branch of the original scheme. Here, then, we have three Telegraph Companies carved out of one. The object is the same ; but the responsibili- ties are divided. The principal managers arc virtually, if not identically, the same ; but they now act through three organizations instead of one. These managers are the principal Stockholders of the Newfoundland and American Telegiaph Companies, heavy Stockholders in the Atlantic Telegraph Company, and are the orighiators of the whole scheme. If further evidence were needed to prove a community of interest between these three Companies, it is found in the recent proceedings of the Atlantic Telegraph Com- pany in England, constituting some of the principal Stockholders of the American Company, who are also Stockholders of the Newfoundland Company, Honorary Directors of the Atlantic Company. If any douht could exist as to the ultimate object cf this scheme, it is solved by the eiforts of its autliors to hedge round the Continent and the Islands of America, so as to render impracticable competition with them by other Telegraph Lines across the Atlantic Ocean, and even to extend their monopoly into the United States. Their Newfoundland Monopoly is as exclusive as lan- guage can make it. No other company or individual is permitted to ^^ touch " the shores of that Island by a Tele- graph Line of any sort. If, as has been represented, that is the only point where the Ocean can be crossed by a Telegraphic Cable, that grant is of itself a bar to every other enterprise of the same sort. But lest it should be found practicable to land a Telegraphic Cable at some point further West, the managers of the Newfoundland Monopoly sought to cut off the possibility of a rival Line by the extension of their monopoly to the coasts of the other British Provinces and the United States. They sought, and claim to have secured, the exclusive right of landing a Telegraphic Cable in the Province of Nova Scotia. 8 They sought, and actually procared, from the Legisla- ture of the State of Maine, au Act prohibiting all other parties from laying a Submarine Cable from any foreign country touching the coasts of that State for twenty- five years. The title of this Act, and the prohibitory clause, are in the following words, viz : "^M Act granting certain privileges to the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. " Sec. 1. For and during the term of twenty-five years ' from and after the time when the Ncvr York, Newfound- ' land and London Telegraph Company, incorporated by ' the Legislature of Newfoundland for the purpose among * others of establishing a Line of Telegraphic commuuica- * tion between America and Europe by way of Newfound- ' land, shall have established, with or without tho aid of * an associated Line or Lines, a Telegraphic communica- ' tion between America and Europe, and so long during ' saiv rwenty-five years as such communication :vhall be ' regularly maintained by said Company, and all matters ' passing thereon for the United States be transmitted ' through the State of Maine upon the Lines of the Amer- * ican Telegraph Company, as Lessees of the Maine Tele- * graph Company, no other person or persons, body or ' bodies politic or corporate, shall be permitted to extend ' to, enter upon, or touch any part of the State of Maine, ' or the coasts thereof, or of the Islands under its jurisdic- ' tion, with any Telegraphic Cable, wire or other means * of Telegraphic communication from any other province, * State, County, [Country ?] or place whatsoever beyond * the Continent of America." This Act was approved April 10th, 1856. It does rot, as the title erroneously represents, grant any privilege to the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph B Company, but merely prohibits any ether party from landing a Transatlantic Tel'^^^'aph Cable in the State of Maine. And thia prohibition is equally for the benefit of that Company and of the American Telegraph Company, for whom it purports to secure a monopoly of the foreign telegraphic correspondence through the State of Maine. Indeed, nothing could show more strongly than the pro- curement of this Act, the identity of interest and manage- ment of the American and Newfoundland Companies. A zealous effort was made to secure similar legislation in Massachusetts, but without success. Without adverting to rumors of similar operations else- where, these instances arc abundantly sufficient to show the design of these parties to hedge round the Continent of America by exclusive grants and prohibitions, so that the United States should be unapproachable telegraphi- cally otherwise than through their Line from the Coast of Ireland, and through the Newfoundland and American Lines chiefly owned by them or under their control ; and this monopoly they are endeavoring to extend practically through the several States. Your Memorialisto further represent, that the aid of the Governments of Newfoundland, of Great Britain, and of the United States, has been sought and obtained to estab- lish this monopoly on a basis which shall forbid all at- tempts to get up competition. The Government of Newfoundland, in addition to the monopoly of fifty years* duration, gave the Company about twenty-five thousand dollars in cash for clearing a bridle-path necessary to the construction and repairs of their Lino of Telegraph, guaranteed six per cent, interest on about two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of bonds issued by them, and granted them fifty square miles of public lands when the Line on the Island should be com- pleted and connected with the Lines on the Continent, and fifty square miles more when the communication with the coast of Ireland shall be established. These grants were made, it Avill bo remembered, to a Company which em- braced in its plan the building and hiring of Lines in the United States and laying a Telegraphic Cable to the coast of Ireland; and the grant of fifty square miles of the land is expressly in consideration of the successful accom- plishment of the latter enterprise. But whether the i-ight to the lands as well as the enterprise has been transferred to the Atlantic Telegraph Company, is to your Memo- rialists unknown, though they have reason to believe it has not ; nor do they know how or by what authority the Ocean part of the original scheme has been severed from the Newfoundland Company, and vested in another Com- pany, though they do not doubt it was a measure pro- jected and matured by the chief managers of the original Company. Your Memorialists further represent, that the plan of a Transatlantic Telegraph, though perhaps originally pro- jected as a noble enterprise, in which its promoters ex- pected to receive their chief recompense in the glory of success and the gratitude of nations, has been since con- verted into an enormous scheme of monopoly, aiming to control the telegraph business of the two hemispheres for the purpose of securing, directly and indirectly, inordi- 11 nate gains to a few individuals. The facts of the case, in their estimation, warrant this conclusion. Your Memorialists have already shown that this meas- ure is but a part of a more extensive operation from which it has been nominally severed, though still as effectually united in interest as if it still remained under the direct control of the Newfoundland Company. As a separate concern, the stock of the Atlantic Telegraph Company was raised, at least in part, upon the representations of a Circular marked [" Private."] The amount of stock was fixed at £300,000, since increased to X3o0,000, equal to about $1,700,000. That Circular represented that " upon a very moderate * computation of profits, the capital will yield a return ex- * ceeding 40 per cent." These profits are not to be divided among all the Stock- holders in the ordinary way ; but one-half of the amount over ten per cent, is to go to four individuals, three of them British subjects, and one of them a citizen of the United States. That citizen is the gentleman who procured the Act of the Legislature of Newfoundland incorporating the New York, Newfoundland and Loudon Telegraph Company ; the same who got up the American Telegraph Company ; the same who doubtless originated the present plan of the Atlantic Telegraph Company ; and the same who is now said to be entrusted with the duty of superintending the laying of the Atlantic Cable. Of the one-half of the profits over ten per cent, this gentleman is to receive thirteen parts out of twenty-four^ < ir 12 which, if the estimate of profits as held out to subscribers shall be realized, will give him an annual income exceed- ing $120,000, in addition to twenty-five per cent, upon his stock in common with other Stockholders. As this estimate was promulgated before application was made to Congress for assistance, and there was no mention of any bounty from the British Government, it would seem that the eight per cent, per annum said to be secured from the two Governments for a term of years was not included in the forty per cent, estimate, and while four per cent, of it is to go to swell the dividends of the Stock- holders beyond twenty-five per cent., the other four is to be divided — thirteen parts to the American citizen, and eleven parts to the British subjects hereinbefore alluded to. As no interest in the fifty square miles of land appro- priated by the Legislature of Newfoundland to encourage the laying of the Telegraphic Cable, is mentioned as vested in the Atlantic Company, it is presumed that the New York, Newfoundland and London Company purpose re- taining the bounty, while they transfer to another Com- pany the service for which it was provided. But if the fifty square miles of land is to go to the Atlantic Tele- graph Company, it will swell the enormous profits antici- pated from other sources beyond the foregoing estimate. Your Memorialists further represent, that the instru- ment through which this combination, backed by the direct aid, influence and money of the three Governments, seeka lo force the New England Union and Magnetic Lines of Telegraph into connection with them on their own terms, under penalty of the destruction of their property in case 13 of refusal, is the American Telegraph Company. This Company covers a field of operations, as already shown, which was embraced in the Newfoundland Act of Incorpo- ration. It was gotten up by the same men who control the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. Both Companies have the same President, are composed mainly of the same Stockholders, and are under the same control. The objects of this separation have been substantially avowed. If the original project had been prosecuted un- der the Newfoundland Act of Incorporation, the State and Federal Governments would have had direct control over that Corporate Body by operating upon the Ameri- can branch of their enterprise, and that control would have reached the Submarine Electric Cable. But by cut- ting off the American branch of the original scheme, and confining the operations of the Newfoundland Company to the British Provinces, that Company, as well as its other branch, the Atlantic Company, are placed beyond the reach of the direct legislation of the United States, and of the several States through which their connecting Lines may pass. And the avowed object of the chief proprietors and principal managers of the Newfoundland and American Companies — being in the main the same men, and all or nearly all citizens of the United S^^ates — is to bar all Telegraph Lines in these States, except such as may be owned, controlled, or in league with them, from connection with the Atlanta Cable, by means of op- erations carried on by them in part beyond the jurisdic- tion of their own Government, and in part by special i i r "TI ^!l il 34 grants and prohibitions procured from State Legislatures, as shown in the Act of the State of Maine. Your Memorialists charge, that backed by the New- foundland monopoly, and an anticipated exclusive connec- tion through that monopoly with the Atlantic Cable, the authois and managers of the combined operation have at- tempted to bring the principal Lines in the United States under their control upon their own terms ; and, not suc- ceeding in relation to the Lines represented by your Me- morialists, are now employing the power thus acquired, strengthened by domestic combinations and the bounty of the Government, to destroy the business of said Lines and render them valueless, not only by cutting them off from all connection with the Atlantic Cable, but by get- ting up rival Lines in the United States, and making them the exclusive recipients of European Telegraphic corres- pondence. A brief history of the origin and progress of the Amer- ican Telegraph Company is necessary to a clear under- standing of the present position of the subject and the object of this Memorial. After the Newfoundland Company was formed, its managers and most of its Stockholders, as already stated, organized themselves into another Company, with a nomi- nal capital of §100,000, (since increased to $200,000,) and assuming the name of the American Telegraph Company became a Corporation under the laws of New York. Their first step was to make proposals to lease the ex- isting Morse Lines on the Atlantic Coast, from the Brit- ish Provinces to New Orleans and from New York to 16 Buffalo, for an annual rent in general below their current incnme. The several Companies were much inclined to accede to these proposals, though there were well-grounded objections in the small capital of the new Company to the security for the rents ; but before they had time to consider and act upon the proposals, the American Com- pany suddenly withdrcAV them. The next step of the American Company was to pur- chase a new and untried Telegraph instrument; and while they were spending hundreds and thousands of dol- lars upon it to make it of any use, they silently allowed the Agent of the Associated Press, of or through whom they had made the purchase, to fill the country with mis- representations in relation to its powers and performances, and to announce their purpose to establish new Lines of Telegraph along the principal commercial routes in the United States in competition with the existing Lines. When these publications, suffered to pass by them without contradiction, had circulated long enough to thoroughly alarm the Stockholders of existing Lines, the American Company came forward with a new set of pro- posals to rent them on terms much reduced below those w^hich they had withdrawn. Convinced that the policy of the American Company was to force them into a sur- render of their property through fear of destruction in case of refusal, the Companies addressed, with a natural repugnance to such a system of coercion, rejected these new proposals. In the mean time the American Company rented the Maine Line, taking into their service the President and w Superintendent of that Line, thereby effecting a connec- tion between the City of Boston and the British Provinces. Not succeeding in securing, by lease, control of any considerable Line south of Boston, the American Com- pany purchased an existing Lino between that City and New York, and entered into competition with the New England Union Line between those Cities. This was the condition of Telegraph matters, as between the American Company and the Companies represented by your Memo- rialists, when the Atlantic Telegraph Company made application to Congress for the aid and bounty of the Government. The community of interests between that Company and the American Company, is proved by tlie fact that this application was made through the President and princi- pal Stockholders A' the latter Company, who visited and spent much time in Washington to promote the passage of the bill. Your Memorialists further represent, that some of the Stockholders of the Magnetic Telegraph Company, appre- hensive that the power which in anticipation was already used against them, and might hereafter be used against the commercial and political interests of their country, would be greatly strengthened should Congress accede to this application, interposed to prevent its success, and for a time its fate became doubtful. Your Memorialists charge, and are prepared to prove, that in this emergency the principal manager of the ap- plication on the part of the Atlantic Company, who is also one of the chief managers of the American and Newfoundland Companies, and a large Stockholder in all three of them, accompanied hy a British Stockholder in the Atlantic Company, called on some of the most influ- ential Stockholders of the Magnetic Company, and by pledges that the Atlantic Cable should not be so managed as to affect injuriously the interests of the Magnetic Com- pany, prevented the interposition of the said Stockholders in opposition to the passage of the bill then before Con- gress. And they further charge, that within less than {'our months thereafter, in anticipation of the immediate successful laying of the Atlantic Cable, these pledges were falsified by one of the men who made them and his associates in the American Company, who entered into arrangements, the palpable object of which is, to use the power anticipated from the absolute control by their three coiubined Companies over the transatlantic correspondence for the injury, and, if practicable, the destruction of the Lines owned and controlled by the Magnetic Telegraph Company, as well as those owned and controlled by the New England Union Telegraph Company. These ar- rangements were made secretly during the pendency of negotiations, with a view of securing to the Magnetic Company that position in relation to the Atlantic Cable which had been pledged to them at Washington, as well as to put an end to telegraphic warfare. And in pursu- ance of those arrangements, the American Company have established a Line from New York to Philadelphia, and avow a design to extend it further South, for the purpose, not only of monopolizing the European correspondence, but depriving the Magnetic Company of its local business. ?^(S5r!ByS5B!WBP"il^WWPPIIP( Your Memorialists further represent, that the arrange- ments thus secretly entered into were afterwards publicly ratified, and that they provide in effect for cutting off the Companies represented by your Memorialists for thirty years from business reaching the Continent of America by the Atlantic Cable; and to make the exclusion more effect- ive they contemplate the extension of the American Lines along the Atlantic Coast south to New Orleans. Finding their very existence thus threatened, the Magnetic and New England Union Companies combined together for mutual defence for a like term of thirty years, and made contracts of the same duration for connections with other Lines. It soon became evident that the American Com- pany and their allies, foreign and domestic, were not to destroy the Magnetic and New England Union Lines without a severe and expensive struggle, when that Com- pany indicated a willingness to amalgamate the three Companies. While some of the Stockholders of the two former Companies were willing to attempt a removal of the obstacles which had been created by contracts on both sides for exclusive connections for thirty years, others thought the attempt useless, and for that and other rea- sons the project was not entertained. Your Memorialists further represent, that by a contract of the Maine Telegraph Company, entered into before the lea.se of their Line to the American Telegraph Company, the Maine Line of Telegraph was bound to a perpetual connection with the New England Union Company at Boston to the extent of returning that Company as much business from the East as they niight receive by it from the West, and this contract, at the time of the lease, the American Company became bound to fulfil in good faith. But since they purchased a Line for their own use from Boston to New York, they have, under various pretexts, refused to fulfil this contract so far as it relates to busi- ness from beyond Portland, thus cutting off the New England Union Line and its connections from all business coming from points East of that City in the United States, in the British Provinces, and from Europe through the Atlantic Cable. Your Memorialists further represent, that the Act of Congress, approveu March 3d, 1857, " to expedite Tele- graphic communication for the uses of the (iovernment in its foreign intercourse," provides for a contract "with any competent person, persons or association," for the aid of the Government in laying the Submarine Cable and for its use, paying therefor $70,000 per year until the net in- come of said parties shall be six per cent., and afterwards $50,000 per annum for twenty-five years. As the persons constituting the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, have the exclusive right of landing a Telegraph Cable on the Coast of Newfoundland, and those persons are in the main the same who constitute the American Telegraph Company, it is evident that this libe- ral grant is for the benefit of the individuals composing the latter Company as much as the former. If the New- foundland Company have ceded their exclusive right to the Atlantic Company, it is not likely to have been done without a consideration of which a part would accrue to the principal Stockholders in the American Company, and MF 20 in any event the bounty of the Government will go to strengthen each of the combined Companies through those individuals who are heavy Stockholders in them all. But if the profits of the Atlantic Company shall equal even less than one-half of the estimate of its projectors, then thirteen dollars out of forty-eight of the Government appropriations, both of Great Britain and the United States, will accrue to a citizen of New York, who is be- lieved to be financially the projector of the whole scheme, and is notoriously the life and soul of each and -11 of the three Companies which compose it. Your Memorialists are not disposed to complain of any thing their Government may be inclined to do in promot- ing or rewarding this great enterprise ; all that they de- sire and ask is, that the parties thus strengthened and enriched, shall not be permitted to exercise the power thus acquired for the oppression and destruction of the Companies which they represent, and the foregoing de- tail of facts has been given merely to show the extent of that power and the use which is already made of it. The Act of Congress above alluded to, contains the fol- lowing Proviso, viz : " Provided further, That the United States, and the ' citizens thereof, shall enjoy the use of said submarine * communication for all time on the same terms and con- ' ditions which shall be stipulated in favor of the Govern- * ment of Great Britain, and the subjects thereof, recog- * nising equality of rights among the citizens of the ' United States in the use of the said submarine commu- *■ nication, and the Lines of Telegraph which may at any ' time connect with the same at its terminus on the Coast 21 ' of Newfoundland and in the United States, in any con- * tract so to be entered into by such person, persons or ^ asssociation with that Government." Your Memorialists are already admonished that the " equality of rights" seemingly provided for in this proviso is, so far as their Companies are concerned, wholly illusory. No Line other than that of the Newfoundland Company can connect with the Submarine Cable, on account of their monopoly. No Line but that of the American Company can con- nect with the Newfoundland Line, because both virtually belong to and are managed by the same men. Members of the American Company have already de- nied the right of any other Telegraph Lines to insist on a reciprocal connection with the Submarine Cable through the Newfoundland and their own Lines for the purpose of sending and receiving intercontinental messages, claiming that privilege as a portion of their own property. And by this exclusive connection, as well as by the legislation of the State of Maine, the managers of the scheme vir- tually extend their Newfoundland monopoly through the British Provinces and into the United States ; for though messages going to Europe may be delivered to them at any of their stations in the United States, all messages from Europe to any of their stations or stations of par- ties in alliance with them, will be sent to their own Lines, the practical effect of which will soon be to make the Lines of the American Company in the United States the exclusive channels of European telegraphic correspond- ence. iUlUllfilUlSfflHSHIPaBBPiHli^lii" i 1 22 But if the " equality of rights" mentioned in the pro- viso includes a right of Telegraph Lines in the United States to a reciprocal connection with the Submarine Ca- ble through connecting Lines for business both ways, it is a right depending on a contract to which the American and Newfoundland Companies are not proposed to be parties, and of course it will impose upon them no obliga- tion. And the Atlantic Company is in no shape bound to secure access to its OAvn terminus, and if it were, could be held responsible, a^ the m..tter now stands, only by the withdrawal of the future bounty of the Government. Your Memorialists neither ask nor desire the interposi- tion of Congress to protect them against competition in the United States. They neither ask nor desire the with- drawal of the aid of the Government from the Atlantic Telegraph Company, ' its refusal to any other Company which may be organized to span the Ocean with a Line of Telegraph. All they ask is to be protected against com- binations for the purpose of oppressing or destroying them between parties operating in the United States and out of the United States, and to be put on an equal footing, with all others in their connection with foreign Lines entering the United States by sea or land. This protection your Memorialists are advised it is the province of Congress to afford them, by virtue of their constitutional power to regulate trade and intercourse with foreign nations. And they appeal the more confi- dently for this protection on account of the aid granted by Congress to the combination against them, increasing their po\ver to oppress. 23 Your Memorialists, therefore, pray fr r the passage of a general law which shall prevent combinations between Citizens or Companies in the United States, and Monop- olists or Companies out of the United States for the purpose of oppressing Telegraph Companies and monop- olizing the business of telegraphing in the United States, and shall enable all Telegrapli Lines in the United States to form connections with all Telegraph Lines approaching their borders on terms of perfect eciualitj. Your Memorialists are the more emboldened to present this prayer, from the consideration, that the monopoly of telegraphic intercourse between, if not throughout the Old and New Worlds, now sought to be established, may be applied with fearful effect to the commercial and political as well as telf^graphic interests of the United States, unless regulated by law. March 10, 1858. AMOS KENDALL, SAMUEL C. BISHOP, ZE^^US BARNUM, Committee of the Magnetic Telegraph Company. FRANCIS 0. J. SMITH, H. M. SCHIEFFELIN, Committee of the New England Union Telegraph Company.