HE 
 
 '72.1 
 
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 X 
 
THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH. 
 
 REPORT OF THE PROCEEDINGS 
 
 AT A 
 
 BANQUET, 
 
 GIVEN TO 
 
 MR. CYRUS W. FIELD, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 c 
 
 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 A 
 
 AT THE METROPOLITAN HOTEL, NOVEMBER 15TH, 1866. 
 
i of the 
 
 .opted : 
 ;edings 
 
 3LD, at 
 
 nbers ; 
 port of 
 m. 
 
 tern. 
 
 JOHN W. AMERMAN, Printer, No. 47 Cedar Street, N. Y. 
 
THE success of the Atlantic Telegraph is one of the 
 great events of the nineteenth century. History will 
 point to it as one of the landmarks of modern progress. 
 In 1858, on the morning after the landing of the cable at 
 Valentia, the London Times said : u Since the discovery of 
 COLUMBUS, nothing lias been done in any degree compara 
 ble to the enlargement thus given to the sphere of human 
 activity." What was then but little more than a gleam of 
 the future, is now a permanent reality. To Americans 
 especially is this of moment, as it brings the New World 
 alongside the Old, and establishes a community of thought 
 and intelligence between the two hemispheres. Hence 
 they have watched its progress with deep interest, and also 
 with pride, for the part in it borne by one of their coun 
 trymen, who was the foremost in the enterprise, who 
 started it at the beginning, and stood by it to the end. 
 The merchants of New- York, proud of the achievement of 
 one of their own number, wished to do him honor. Ac 
 cordingly the Chamber of Commerce appointed a com 
 mittee to arrange for some suitable celebration of the final 
 triumph of the Ocean Telegraph, which should also be 
 a testimonial to its projector. After consultation, it 
 was concluded that the best form it could take was that 
 of a Public Banquet, as that would enable a large num 
 ber of citizens to join in the demonstration, and in the 
 congratulations of the hour. Accordingly, the following 
 letter was addressed to Mr. FIELD : 
 
 HE 7711 
 
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE STATE OF NEW-YORK, 
 
 NEW-YORK, October 15, 1866. 
 Dear Sir : 
 
 The undersigned, members of the Chamber of Commerce of the State 
 of New- York, and in its name, desiring publicly to express their joy at 
 the successful establishment of Telegraphic communication between the 
 Old and New Worlds, and their warm congratulations to you upon the 
 happy result of the enterprise to which you have devoted so many years 
 of patient and intelligent labor, request your acceptance of a Banquet at 
 an early day, that they may hear from your lips the story of this great 
 undertaking, and extend to you in person their cordial greetings. 
 
 We are, dear Sir, 
 
 Your sincere friends, 
 
 A. A. Low, 
 George Opdyke, 
 William E. Dodge, 
 Jonathan Sturges, 
 Stewart Brown, 
 .Samuel B. Ruggles, 
 Moses Taylor, 
 John D. Jones, 
 John A. Stewart, 
 Robert B. Minturn, 
 Charles H. Marshall, 
 Peter Cooper, 
 Robert Lenox Kennedy, 
 Wilson G. Hunt, 
 William H. Fogg, 
 Edwin D. Morgan, 
 Henry R Vail, 
 Adam Norrie, 
 Alexander M. White, 
 Wm. Augustus White, 
 Alexander W. Bradford, 
 Moses H. Grinnell, 
 R. W. Wcston, 
 George Griswold, 
 Eugene Kelly, 
 Paul N. Spoflbrd, 
 
 Samuel D. Babcock, 
 Benjamin H. Field, 
 George W. Lane, 
 Alexander T. Stewart, 
 Horace B. Claflin, 
 John A. Stevens, 
 William G. Lambert, 
 Henry G. Stebbins, 
 W. F. Havemeyer, 
 John C. Green, 
 James Low, 
 Joseph A. Sprague, 
 William J. Beebe, 
 Charles E. Beebe, 
 James How, 
 C. Y. S. Roosevelt, 
 Robert L. Stuart, 
 Thomas Suffern, 
 N. L. McCready, 
 Samuel B. Caldwell, 
 Charles S. Baylis, 
 Barnet L. Solomon, 
 Morris K. Jesup, 
 James Brown, 
 Stanton Blake, 
 Loring Andrews, 
 
 William Butler Duncan, 
 H. H. Van Dyck, 
 John J. Cisco, 
 Joseph Sampson, 
 Royal Phelps, 
 J. Pierrepont Morgan, 
 Marshall 0. Roberts, 
 Lloyd Aspinwall, 
 Benjamin Ay mar, 
 Norman S. Bentley, 
 Charles W. Burton, 
 Francis Baker, 
 Robert H. Berdell, 
 Charles Butler, 
 Demas Barnes, 
 E. Caylus, 
 William Chauncey, 
 William T. Coleman, 
 Joseph J. Comstock, 
 N. D. Carlile, 
 Joseph A. Dreyfous, 
 Henry A. Dike, 
 William A. Darling, 
 E. R. Goodridge, 
 William R. Garrison, 
 Joseph Gaillard, Jr., 
 
John Taylor Johnston, 
 Marshall Lefferts, 
 Frederick S. Winston, 
 Thomas Slocomb, 
 Henry Grinnell, 
 S. B. Chittenden, 
 Jackson S. Schultz, 
 James K. Place, 
 John S. Williams, 
 William H. Guion, 
 Henry K. Bogert, 
 Arthur Leary, 
 William E. Dodge, Jr., 
 Paul Spofford, 
 Thomas Rowe, 
 Hugh N. Camp, 
 Henry V. Hubbell, 
 Sheppard Gandy, 
 William T. Blodgett, 
 George W. Blunt, 
 George S. Stephenson, 
 Frederick A. Conkling, 
 A. G. P. Stokes, 
 Frederick Sturges, 
 John T. Terry, 
 D. Van Nostrand, 
 A. R. Wetmore, 
 James Wads worth, 
 George Cabot Ward, 
 
 To 
 
 CYRUS W. FIELD, 
 
 Henry A. Smythe, 
 Solon Humphreys, 
 R. H. McCurdy," 
 Elliott F. Shepard, 
 James Lorimer Graham, 
 George F. Thomae, 
 H. Dollner, 
 E. H. R. Lyman, 
 Josiah O. Low, 
 William A. Wheeler, 
 George A. Fellows, 
 M. R. Cook, 
 Levi P. Morton, 
 Edward F. Davison, 
 Elliot C. Cowdin, 
 Abram Wakeman, 
 Henry M. Taber, 
 A. S. Barnes, 
 Sinclair Tousey, 
 William Orton, 
 Charles F. Loosey, 
 E. A. Quintard, 
 Jacob Wendell, 
 S. H. Wales, 
 Robert T. Woodward, 
 William H. Webb, 
 James M. Constable, 
 Leonard J. Stiastny, 
 George W. Dow, 
 
 Esq. 
 
 Frank E. Howe, 
 Oliver Hoyt, 
 E. S. Jaffray, 
 Charles G. Landon, 
 Richard Lathers, 
 Erastus Lyman, 
 Charles H. Ludington, 
 John Linnemann, 
 Marvin J. Merchant, 
 Henry E. Moring, 
 James M. Motley, 
 Joseph II. Orvis, 
 William H. Osborn, 
 Isaac G. Pearson, 
 Isaac N. Phelps, 
 Daniel L. Ross, 
 George B. Raymond, 
 Lewis Roberts, 
 Henry F. Spaulding, 
 Samuel Sloan, 
 William H. Stiles, 
 Nathaniel Sand, 
 Martin Bates, Jr., 
 James M. Brown, 
 Hiram Walbridge, 
 Horace Gray, 
 Wm. M. Yermilye, 
 Edward C. Donnelly, 
 John Riley. 
 
 REPLY OF ME. FIELD. 
 
 NEW-YORK, Oct. 30th, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter request 
 ing my acceptance of a banquet to be given by the Chamber of Com 
 merce of the State of New-York, to celebrate the completion of the At 
 lantic Telegraph. 
 
G 
 
 Were I to consult my own feelings, I would avoid any public demon 
 stration, and leave the Cable to speak for itself. But your invitation is 
 so kindly expressed, and signed by so large a number of our most influ 
 ential citizens, that I cannot refuse. 
 
 I accept, therefore, for the pleasure it will afford to meet so many 
 friends ; and also for the opportunity it will give to pay a deserved 
 tribute to those who have taken part in this enterprise on both sides 
 of the Atlantic. 
 
 With great respect, I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Very truly your friend, 
 
 CYRUS W. FIELD. 
 
 To Messrs. 
 
 A. A. Low, 
 George Opdyke, 
 William E. Dodge, 
 Jonathan Sturges, 
 Stewart Brown, 
 Samuel B. Ruggles, 
 Peter Cooper, 
 Alex. T. Stewart, 
 Moses Taylor, 
 John A. Stevens, 
 
 Marshall 0. Roberts, 
 Henry Grin n ell, 
 Wilson G. Hunt, 
 John J. Cisco, 
 Edwin D. Morgan, 
 Joseph Sampson, 
 Jackson S. Schultz, 
 James Brown, 
 C. Y. S. Roosevelt, 
 Henry A. Smythe, 
 
 Robert B. Minturn, 
 Moses H. Grin n ell, 
 William T. Blodgett, 
 John C. Green, 
 William H. Osborn, 
 William H. Webb, 
 S. B. Chittenden, 
 and others. 
 
 The Banquet was given at the Metropolitan Hotel on 
 the evening of the 15th of November. The occasion 
 brought together a company of three hundred gentlemen, 
 embracing a very large proportion of our most distin 
 guished citizens men eminent in every walk of life 
 bankers and merchants, clergymen and lawyers, and 
 judges of the courts, authors, and artists, and editors, 
 together with members of the government and foreign 
 ministers, and officers of the army and navy. A list of the 
 invited guests, who were present, is given in the Appen 
 dix. 
 
 At half-past six the company entered the hall. 
 
GRACE 
 Was said by the Rev. WILLIAM ADAMS, D. D. 
 
 Father Almighty ! Thee we acknowledge as the Maker 
 of the Heavens and the Earth. The Sea also is Thine, and 
 all that passeth through the waves thereof. Thou hast 
 made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell upon 
 the face of the earth, and hast determined the bounds of 
 their inheritance. At all times we bless Thee for the gift 
 of thy Son Jesus Christ, the one Redeemer of the human 
 family, through whom we receive all that is profitable for 
 the life that now is, and fulness of promise for the life that 
 is to come. We render thanks to Thee for all arts and 
 inventions by which the common welfare of the human 
 race is promoted ; and upon this occasion we desire 
 devoutly to render thanks to Thee for the success with 
 which Thou hast crowned the repeated endeavors of Thy 
 servants and children in uniting together the hemispheres 
 of our globe, so long separated by the great and wide 
 sea ; and as Thy favor and aid were invoked at the outset 
 of this undertaking, so would we now, in Thy name, con 
 secrate its success to all beneficent ends, to friendly com 
 merce, to international peace, and growth and honor, and 
 never may it be desecrated by one word of evil import. 
 We implore Thy blessing upon all projects that look for 
 the prosperity of nations and the progress of the world, 
 even down to the time when the Son of Man shall come, 
 according to His own word, " even as the lightning cometh 
 out of the East and shineth unto the West," to reign in 
 everlasting righteousness and peace and joy. All which 
 we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
8 
 
 At nine o'clock Mr. A. A. Low, President of the Cham 
 ber, called the company to order. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, FELLOW- 
 CITIZENS AND FRIENDS : I suppose it is pretty well under 
 stood that the interest of this occasion will not depend 
 upon any thing that proceeds from the chair. Neverthe 
 less, it will be a relief to some of you to know thus early 
 that your chairman appreciates the general sentiment in 
 this regard, and will strive to be governed by it. 
 
 Through the courtesy of the committee charged with 
 the arrangements for this entertainment, the duty has 
 been assigned me of extending, in the first instance, a 
 cordial welcome to all those distinguished guests who 
 have come from far and near to grace our festive board ; 
 and, in the language of the card issued by the Chamber, 
 " to exchange congratulations with Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD 
 on the happy result of his efforts in the great work of 
 uniting by telegraph the Old World with the New." 
 
 In the interest of good order, I am desired, in the 
 second place, particularly to request of all who are before 
 me a strict adherence to the schedule of regular toasts as 
 they are announced by the chair. And, finally, let me 
 ask for myself that measure of indulgence which is due to 
 inexperience in your presiding officer, who is honored 
 with this position because of his official relation to the 
 Chamber, and not out of a paramount regard to the fitness 
 of things the adaptation of the man to the place. 
 
 Letters were then read, expressing regret for absence, 
 from the President of the United States ; from Chief 
 Justice CHASE ; from General GRANT ; from Sir FREDERICK 
 BRUCE, the British Minister ; from Hon. CHARLES SUMNER, 
 

 Chairman of the Committee of the Senate on Foreign Re 
 lations, and from General Dix, our newly-appointed Min 
 ister to France. These are given in the Appendix, with 
 letters from others which there was not time to read. 
 
 There was a telegraph instrument in the room, and 
 despatches were received during the evening from Mr. 
 SEWARD, Secretary of State, and other members of the 
 Cabinet at Washington ; from Lord MONCK, Governor- 
 General of Canada ; from the Governor of Newfoundland ; 
 from Capt. Sir JAMES ANDERSON, dated at London the 
 same day ; and from others. These were read later in the 
 evening. 
 
 The President then gave the first regular toast, as 
 follows : 
 
 The President of the United States chief magistrate of thirty-five 
 millions of people bound in Union never to be broken. 
 
 Drank standing, the band playing " Hail Columbia." 
 
 The second toast : 
 
 Her Majesty Queen Victoria, of Great Britain, the constant friend of 
 America honored and beloved alike in our country and in her own. 
 
 Music, u God save the Queen." 
 
 On introducing the third regular toast, the President 
 spoke as follows : 
 
 SPEECH or A. A. Low, ESQ. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : In the days of ancient Rome, when the 
 armies of the Republic were extending her sway over 
 all the surrounding countries, and her Generals returned 
 
10 
 
 from successful war, bearing with them the trophies of 
 victory, it was their custom to halt outside the gates of 
 the city and demand a triumphal entry ! When this was 
 granted by the Roman Senate, and adequate preparations 
 had been made, they were received with demonstrations 
 of applause welcomed by popular acclamation. 
 
 Triumphal arches, erected two thousand years ago, still 
 survive to attest the grandeur of earlier and later con 
 quests, and with what imposing ceremonies the heroes of 
 the republic and the empire were admitted to the capital. 
 
 So it has been in all times ; and history is a continuous 
 record of homage paid to military genius however ag 
 gressive, however destructive of the rights and happiness 
 of man. 
 
 Nor has the tribute of respect been confined to those 
 who have gained success in war ; nor has it been limited 
 to kings and queens, or the commanders of victorious 
 armies. 
 
 In all countries and in all ages, persevering, coura 
 geous, faithful and devoted men of every calling and con 
 dition of life, have been found to command the admiration 
 of their fellows and reap the reward of well doing. 
 
 The sentiment which honored martial prowess in the 
 days of ancient Rome exerts the same power, at the pres 
 ent time, over every American heart. 
 
 In our own day, with a simplicity more truly repub 
 lican, but with an earnestness not less sincere than that 
 of the Roman people, we welcome to our cities and our 
 homes the victorious Generals, who by their valor and 
 their success have re-established for ourselves and for our 
 children the principles of liberty and good government 
 throughout our land. Nor have we ever been backward 
 in awarding to men of high position in the State, or to 
 
11 
 
 men distinguished as instructors and benefactors of the 
 race, the honors that are justly their due. In days gone 
 by it has been our pride and our pleasure to welcome 
 with such civilities as we know how to render, those who 
 have been raised to the highest office in the gift of the 
 people, and alike the prince and the peer of other realms. 
 
 But we are not met here now to exalt president, po 
 tentate, prince or titled lord ; albeit the friend in whose 
 honor we are assembled, is known by a Christian name 
 which seems to have been prophetic of his future renown 
 as a king among men and his chief title to our regard 
 comes to us through a long line of descent ; not that 
 genealogical line, which, proceeding from father to son, 
 can be distinctly traced uniting family with family but 
 that line, which, descending from Yalentia on the coast 
 of Ireland, and stretching two thousand miles across the 
 bed of the Atlantic to Newfoundland reaches "Heart's 
 Content" uniting continent with continent nation with 
 nation Europe with America bringing all into the most 
 intimate relations, and securing to each other instant 
 knowledge of every thing that is of mutual concern. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 We have met not to celebrate a victory of arms on land 
 or sea, not the acquisition of conquered provinces, an 
 nexed to our national domain ; but we have met, rather, 
 to commemorate an event of vast international interest 
 an epoch in the progress of science the attainment of a 
 great commercial boon a triumph over obstacles hitherto 
 deemed insurmountable. We are met to celebrate an 
 achievement that reflects much credit upon the handicraft 
 of the mechanic, on the skill and capacity of the sailor, 
 on the intelligence and liberality of the merchant, and 
 elicits our admiration of the electricians who have artfully 
 explored the occult laws of nature, and, seizing subtle 
 
12 
 
 powers hitherto but partially developed have converted 
 them to the use of man giving him a new sense of what 
 Omnipresence is. 
 
 We have come here to acknowledge the aid imparted 
 to the Atlantic Telegraph Company by the Governments 
 of Great Britain and the United States, through the en 
 lightened action of their respective and intelligent states 
 men ; to own the important part taken by the naval ships 
 of both countries ; the generous pecuniary support 
 rendered by the wealthy merchants and factors of Great 
 Britain ; and, above all, to recognise the goodness of the 
 Divine Being who has crowned the labors of all with 
 abundant success who has vouchsafed such wonderful 
 gifts to man! (Applause.) 
 
 It is related in the volume recently published from the 
 pen of my friend, Rev. Dr. FIELD, who is here present, that 
 in the year 1853, Mr. F. N. GISBORNE, who was then the 
 chief officer of the Nova Scotia Telegraph Company, con 
 ceived the idea and entered upon the work of connecting 
 u St. John's, the most easterly port of America, with the 
 main continent." 
 
 After initiating a vigorous effort with the aid of other 
 parties, he failed in this, and coming to New- York, sought 
 the ear and the interest of Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD, who em 
 barked with all his enthusiasm in the enterprise. Mr. FIELD 
 summoned to his side PETER COOPER, MOSES TAYLOR, M. 0. 
 ROBERTS and CHANDLER WHITE, and on the decease of the 
 last named, WILSON G. HUNT, and as counsellor and aid, 
 his brother, DAVID DUDLEY FIELD. These representative 
 men of our mercantile community grappled the under 
 taking with their accustomed energy, devoting to it time 
 and money without stint. I need not dwell upon the 
 details, for they are all matters of record. The arduous 
 and costly work was accomplished. A road was cut 
 
13 
 
 through 400 miles of wilderness, and after two attempts 
 in 1855 and 1856, a cable, procured in England, was laid 
 across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This done, Mr. FIELD, 
 with the concurrence of his associates, embarked for Eng 
 land to secure needed co-operation in the plan projected 
 by him from the first of extending the line across the 
 Atlantic Ocean. Deep sea soundings had already been 
 taken by Lieutenant BERRTMAN, of the U. S. Navy, and 
 subsequently they were continued by Commander DAY 
 MAN, of H. B. M. ship " Cyclops." 
 
 It soon became apparent that the larger enterprise 
 could only or best be conducted under a charter, and with 
 a new company to be formed in England. There expe 
 rience in submarine telegraphy, skill in the manufacture 
 of cables, pecuniary means and ability to cope with the 
 difficulties of the undertaking, were at ready command. 
 
 The Atlantic Telegraph Company was formed with a 
 capital of 350,000. In the division of the stock, Mr. 
 FIELD claimed 100,000 for the United States, and was 
 awarded 88,000, all of which he paid for in sterling 
 money. It was an international enterprise, and he would 
 have his countrymen share in the honors and emoluments 
 it promised to yield. The sequel proved that his own 
 faith was larger than that of the many, and he was content 
 to bear a heavy burden from which, at home, he could 
 find relief only in part. 
 
 You are familiar with what occurred prior to the year 
 1858, when, after three successive failures, the "Agamem 
 non " and "Niagara," parting in mid-ocean, delivered 
 their respective ends of the cable at Yalentia and Trinity 
 Bay, and with what enthusiastic applause the announce 
 ment of success was welcomed throughout our land. A 
 grand procession, a grand dinner, splendid fireworks, and 
 a partial conflagration of the City Hall sparing, for a 
 
14 
 
 time, all below the cupola were the distinguishing fea 
 tures of our Metropolitan display. The Common Council 
 of the city and Chamber of Commerce issued medals to 
 meritorious officers and engineers of the United States 
 Navy who were engaged in the work, which, we then 
 thought, was happily concluded. It was only a tempo 
 rary success, and our exultation was premature and brief. 
 Faintly the cable whispered forth "the glad tidings" of 
 peace among men ; for a few weeks gave out other signs 
 of vitality, and then became subject to the law of death ! 
 To the doubting multitude this was a verdict of despair ; 
 to the faithful few, the promise of a new and better life. 
 The messenger had fulfilled its mission going before as 
 a herald of the coming event which was to electrify the 
 world, and hold it in wondering and perpetual awe! 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 The general discouragement produced by the failure 
 of 1858, the necessity for more careful preparation for 
 another attempt, and the breaking out of civil war in the 
 United States, put off the sailing of the next expedition 
 to the year 1865. The great problem of the age was 
 now to be solved ; and the mammoth ship, whose mission, 
 before, no one could interpret, was at the same time to 
 vindicate the Providential purpose of her own creation. 
 Bearing in her capacious hold a burden, the like of which, 
 ship of ancient or modern times had never before carried, 
 the " Great Eastern/' sailed on her appointed voyage. 
 Twelve hundred miles of cable were fairly laid, and then 
 it parted. But the good ship did not forsake the lost 
 child of science and art without divers shakes of her 
 stretched out arm, nor without leaving her own "Buoy" 
 as the assured pledge of her early return ! And how skill 
 fully, how faithfully was the pledge redeemed ! Another 
 year secured the final triumph. All the incidents relat- 
 
15 
 
 ing to the expedition of 1866, are fresh in your recol 
 lection. 
 
 One cable being safely laid, the recovery of the other 
 was determined on. After three weeks of diligent search 
 and unremitting effort it was restored to the arms of the 
 ship that bore it, and to the hands of those who had cease 
 lessly watched for its appearance. Darkness rested upon 
 the surrounding waters, and sleepless eyes were turned 
 with anxious look to the electrician who applied the mag 
 netic test. All at once the countenances of the waiting 
 crowd were lighted up ; and in an instant the story of its 
 rescue flashing through veins now charged with new life, 
 reached Yalentia : and behold, it was the bright morning 
 of another day ! (Loud applause.) 
 
 In every effort prior to that of 1865, the naval ships of 
 Great Britain and of the United States were joint actors, 
 and the partial success of 1858 was achieved under their 
 united auspices. From that period the co-operation of 
 our own navy was withdrawn, and the President of the 
 United States gracefully yielded to the Sovereign of 
 Great Britain the glory of the final triumph. It is due 
 to candor to say that many are present who strove to have 
 it otherwise. 
 
 In after times there will be no brighter page in Eng 
 lish history than that which associates the laying of the 
 Atlantic Telegraph with the reign of Queen VICTORIA. 
 The discovery of America in 1492, gave to Queen ISABELLA 
 of Spain " the brightest jewel of her crown," and made 
 the name of COLUMBUS immortal ! In the annals of our 
 country, 1866 will be alike memorable as the year for 
 uniting the two continents by an indissoluble bond ; our 
 fellow-citizen and honored guest being the prime mover 
 aild acknowledged leader in the work. (Applause.) 
 
 The British Government lost no time in rewarding the 
 
16 
 
 meritorious services of all those who, being subjects of 
 the Queen, were deemed worthy of public recognition. 
 The honor of knighthood was at once conferred on the 
 gallant and accomplished sailor, Capt. JAMES ANDERSON, 
 so favorably known to our countrymen ; (applause ;) on 
 Professor THOMSON, the distinguished electrician; on 
 Messrs. GLASS and CANNING, manager and engineer, re 
 spectively, of the Telegraph Maintenance Company ; on 
 Mr. C. M. LAMPSON, a native of the United States, and 
 steadfast supporter of the enterprise, and Mr. DANIEL 
 GOOCH, Chairman of the Great Ship Company, "which 
 has finally completed the design." 
 
 It was the office of Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD to organize and 
 combine all the forces that were requisite to conduct this 
 enterprise from its inception to the final and glorious issue. 
 To it he devoted twelve years of his life, all his energy and 
 all his fortune. Forty times he crossed the Atlantic Ocean 
 for its sake ; and as Captain, now Sir JAMES ANDERSON, in 
 a recent letter says, u he has worked hard, and sacrificed 
 the repose of his home and the repose of every one else 
 who could bear influence on his darling scheme." 
 (Cheers.) 
 
 I venture to say there is not an emotion known to the 
 human soul whether of joy or sorrow, of pleasure or 
 pain, of disappointment following high-wrought expecta 
 tion, of anxiety bordering on despair, of hope mounting to 
 the region of sublimest faith that during these twelve last 
 years has not entered into the experience of our long- 
 tried and well-proved champion. (Loud applause.) 
 
 "We may fairly claim that from first to last CYRUS W. FIELD 
 
 has been more closely, more consistently identified with 
 
 the Atlantic Telegraph than any other living man ; and his 
 
 name and his fame, which the Queen of Great Britain has 
 
 justly left to the care of the American Government and peo- 
 
17 
 
 pie, will be proudly cherished and gratefully honored. We 
 are in daily use of the fruits of his labors ; and it is meet 
 that the men of commerce, of literature and law, of science 
 and art of all the professions that impart dignity and 
 worth to our nature, should come together and give a 
 hearty, joyous, and generous welcome to this truly chival 
 rous son of America. 
 
 I propose the health of our guest : 
 
 " CYRUS W. FIELD, the projector and main-spring of the Atlantic 
 Telegraph ; while the British Government justly honors those who have 
 taken part with him in this great work of the age, his fame belongs to 
 us, and will be cherished and guarded by his countrymen." 
 
 As Mr. FIELD rose to reply, he was received with long- 
 continued applause, the whole company rising to their 
 feet and cheering with the utmost enthusiasm. When 
 these demonstrations had subsided, he spoke as follows : 
 
 SPEECH OF MR. FIELD. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : I thank you for the kind words which 
 you have spoken ; and you, gentlemen, for the manner in 
 which you have responded to them. It is pleasant to 
 come home after a long absence, and especially when a 
 warm welcome meets us at the door. It is pleasant to 
 see familiar faces and hear familiar voices ; to be among 
 old neighbors and friends, and to be assured of their re 
 gard and approbation. And now to receive such a tribute 
 as this from the Chamber of Commerce of New- York, and 
 from this large array of merchants and bankers and emi- 
 ment citizens, is very grateful to my heart. 
 
 The scene before me awakens mingled recollections. 
 Eight years ago the Atlantic Telegraph had won a brief 
 success ; and in this very hall we met to celebrate our 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 victory. Alas for our hopes ! How soon was our joy 
 turned into mourning. That very day the cable departed 
 this life. It went out like a spark in the mighty waters. 
 So suddenly it died, that many could not believe that it 
 ever lived. To-night we meet to rejoice in a success 
 which I believe will be permanent. But many who were 
 with us then are not here. Capt. HUDSON is gone to his 
 grave. WOODHOUSE, the English engineer, who was with 
 our own EVERETT in the " Niagara," sleeps in his native 
 island. Others who took an early part in the work, are 
 no more among the living. Lieut. BERRYMAN, who made 
 the first soundings across the Atlantic, died for his country 
 in the late war, on board his ship, off Pensacola. His 
 companions, Lieut. STRAIN, the hero of the ill-fated Darien 
 expedition, and Lieut. THOMAS, both are gone. So are 
 JOHN W. BRETT, my first associate in England, SAMUEL 
 STATHAM, Sir WILLIAM BROWN, the first Chairman of the 
 Atlantic Telegraph Company, and many, many others. 
 My first thought to-night is of the dead ; and my only 
 sorrow, that those who labored so faithfully with us, are 
 not here now to share our triumph. 
 
 In the letter inviting me to accept of this Banquet, you 
 expressed a wish to " hear from my lips the story of this 
 great undertaking." That, Sir, would be a very long 
 story, much beyond your patience and my strength. I 
 should have to take you forty times across the Atlantic, 
 and half as many to Newfoundland. Still, I will en 
 deavor, in a brief way, to give you some faint outline of 
 the fortunes of this enterprise. 
 
 It is nearly thirteen years since half a dozen gentlemen 
 of this city met at my house for four successive evenings, 
 and around a table covered with maps and charts, and 
 plans and estimates, considered a project to extend a line 
 of telegraph from Nova Scotia to St. John's in Newfound- 
 
19 
 
 land, thence to be carried across the ocean. It was a 
 very pretty plan on paper. There was New-York, and 
 there was St. John's, only about 1,200 miles apart. It 
 was easy to draw a line from one point to the other 
 making no account of the forests and mountains, and 
 swamps and rivers and gulfs, that lay in our way. Not 
 one of us had ever seen the country, or had any idea of 
 the obstacles to be overcome. We thought we could 
 build the line in a few months. It took two years and a 
 half. Yet we never asked for help outside our own little 
 circle. Indeed, I fear we should not have got it if we 
 had for few had any faith in our scheme. Every dollar 
 came out of our own pockets. Yet I am proud to say no 
 man drew back. No man proved a deserter ; those who 
 came first into the work have stood by it to the end. Of 
 those six men, four are here to-night : Mr. PETER COOPER, 
 MOSES TAYLOR, MARSHALL 0. ROBERTS, arid myself. (Ap 
 plause.) My brother DUDLEY is in Europe, and Mr. 
 CHANDLER WHITE died in 1856, and his place was sup 
 plied by Mr. WILSON G. HUNT, who is also here. Mr. 
 EGBERT W. LOWBER was our Secretary. To these gentle 
 men, as my first associates, it is but just that I should pay 
 my first acknowledgments. 
 
 From, this statement you perceive that in the begin 
 ning this was wholly an American enterprise. (Applause.) 
 It was begun, and for two years and a half was carried on, 
 solely by American capital. Our brethren across the sea 
 did not even know what we were doing away in the 
 forests of Newfoundland. Our little company raised and 
 expended over a million and a quarter of dollars before an 
 Englishman paid a single pound sterling. (Cheers.) Our 
 only support outside was in the liberal charter and steady 
 friendship of the Government of Newfoundland, for which 
 we were greatly indebted to Mr. E. M. ARCHIBALD, then 
 
20 
 
 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 Ameri 
 can officers in American ships. (Applause.) Our scientific 
 men MORSE, HENRY, BACHE and MAURY had taken 
 great interest in the subject. The U. S. ship Dolphin 
 discovered the Telegraphic Plateau as early as 1853 ; and 
 the U. S. ship Arctic sounded across from Newfoundland 
 to Ireland in 1856, a year before H. M.'s ship Cyclops, 
 under command of Capt. DAYMAN, went over the same 
 course. This I state, not to take aught from the just 
 praise of England, but simply to vindicate the truth of 
 history. 
 
 It was not till 1856 ten years ago that the enterprise 
 had any existence in England. In that summer I went 
 to London, and there, with Mr. JOHN W. BRETT, Mr. (now 
 Sir) CHARLES BRIGHT and Dr. WHITEHOUSE, organized the 
 Atlantic Telegraph Company. Science had begun to 
 contemplate the possibility of such an enterprise ; and the 
 great FARADAY cheered us with his lofty enthusiasm. 
 Then for the first time was enlisted the support of English 
 capitalists; and then the British Government began that 
 generous course which it has continued ever since offer 
 ing 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 Expedition of 1857 
 and the two Expeditions of 1858 were joint enterprises, 
 in which the Niagara and the Susquehanna took part with 
 the Agamemnon, the Leopard, the Gorgon, and the Val 
 orous ; and the officers of both navies 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, 
 
21 
 
 though among them was one gentleman whom we are 
 proud to call an American, Mr. GEORGE PEABODY, a name 
 honored in two countries, since he has showered his 
 princely benefactions upon both who, though a resident 
 for nearly forty years in London, 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 a simple American citizen. (Loud 
 cheers.) 
 
 With the history of the Expeditions of 1857-8 you are 
 familiar. On the third trial we gained a brief success. 
 The cable was laid, and for four weeks it worked, though 
 never very brilliantly, never giving forth such rapid and 
 distinct flashes as the cables of to-day. It spoke, though 
 only in broken sentences. But while it lasted, no less 
 than 400 messages were sent across the Atlantic. You 
 all remember the enthusiasm which it excited. It was a 
 new thing under the sun, and for a few weeks the public 
 went wild over it. Of course, when it stopped, the re 
 action was very great. People grew dumb and sus 
 picious. Some thought it was all a hoax ; and many 
 were quite sure that it never worked at all. That kind 
 of odium we have had to endure for eight years, till 
 now, I trust, we have at last silenced the unbelievers. 
 
 After the failure of 1858 came our darkest days. 
 When a thing is dead, it is hard to galvanize it into life. 
 It is more difficult to revive an old enterprise than to 
 start a new one. The freshness and novelty are gone, and 
 the feeling of disappointment discourages further effort. 
 
 Other causes delayed a new attempt. This country 
 had become involved in a tremendous war ; and while 
 the nation was struggling for life, it had no time to 1 spend 
 in foreign enterprises. 
 
 But in England the project was still kept alive. The 
 
22 
 
 Atlantic Telegraph Company kept up its organization. 
 It had a noble body of directors, who had faith in the 
 enterprise, and looked beyond its present low estate to 
 ultimate success. I cannot name them all, but I must 
 speak of our Chairman the Right Honorable JAMES 
 STUART WORTLEY, a gentleman who did not join us in 
 the hour of victory, but in what seemed the hour of 
 despair after the failure of 1858 and who has been a 
 steady support through all these years. The Deputy 
 Chairman, Mr. LAMPSON, has been made a Baronet for his 
 connection with the enterprise. Our faithful Secretary, 
 Mr. SAWARD, too, did much to keep alive the interest of 
 the British public. 
 
 All this time the science of submarine telegraphy was 
 making progress. The British Government appointed a 
 Commission to investigate the whole subject. It was 
 composed of eminent scientific men and practical engi 
 neers GALTON, WHEATSTONE, FAIRBAIRN, BIDDER, YARLEY, 
 LATIMER and EDWIN CLARK with the Secretary of the 
 Company, Mr. SAWARD names to be held in honor in 
 connection with this enterprise, along with those of other 
 English engineers, such as STEPHENSON and BRUNEL, and 
 WHITWORTH and PENN, and LLOYD and JOSHUA FIELD, who 
 gave time and thought and labor freely to this enterprise, 
 refusing all compensation. This Commission sat for 
 nearly two years, and spent many thousands of pounds in 
 experiments. The result was a clear conviction in every 
 mind that it was possible to lay a telegraph across the 
 Atlantic. Science was also being all the while applied 
 to practice. Submarine cables were laid in different 
 seas in the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea and the Per 
 sian Gulf. The latter was laid by my friend, Sir CHARLES 
 BRIGHT, who thus rendered another service to his country, 
 
23 
 
 and gained a fresh title to the honor which was conferred 
 upon him for his part in laying the first Atlantic cable. 
 
 When the scientific and engineering problems were 
 solved, we took heart again, and began to prepare for a 
 fresh attempt. This was in 1863. In this country 
 though the war was still raging I went from city to 
 city, holding meetings and trying to raise capital, but 
 with poor success. Men came and listened, and said, "It 
 was all very fine," and " hoped I would succeed," but did 
 nothing. In one of the cities they gave me a large 
 meeting, and passed some beautiful resolutions, and 
 appointed a committee of " solid men " to canvass the 
 city, but I did not get a solitary subscriber ! In this 
 city I did better, though money came by the hardest, 
 By personal solicitations, encouraged by you, sir, and 
 other good friends, I succeeded in raising 70,000. 
 Since not many had faith, I must present one example to 
 the contrary, though it was not till a year later. When 
 almost all deemed it a hopeless scheme, one gentleman 
 of this city came to me, and purchased stock of the 
 Atlantic Telegraph Company to the amount of $100,000. 
 That was Mr. LORING ANDREWS, who is here this 
 evening to see his faith rewarded. (Applause.) But at 
 the time I speak of, it was plain that our main hope must 
 be in England, and I went to London. There, too, it 
 dragged heavily. There was a profound discouragement. 
 Many had lost before, and were not willing to throw more 
 money into the sea. We needed 600,000, and with our 
 utmost efforts we had raised less than half, and there the 
 enterprise stood in a dead lock. It was plain that we must 
 have help from some new quarter. I looked around to 
 find a man who had broad shoulders, and could carry a 
 heavy load, and who would be a giant in the cause. It 
 was at this time I was introduced to a gentleman, whom 
 
24 
 
 I would hold up to the American public as a specimen of 
 a great-hearted Englishman, Mr. THOMAS BRASSEY. You 
 may never have heard his name, but in London he is 
 known as one of the men who have made British enter 
 prise and British capital felt in all parts of the earth. I 
 went to see him, though with fear and trembling. He 
 received me kindly, but put me through such an exami 
 nation as I never had before. I thought I was in the 
 witness box. He asked every possible question, but my 
 answers satisfied him, and he ended by saying, "It was 
 an enterprise which ought to be carried out, and that he 
 would be one of ten men to furnish the money to do 
 it." This was a pledge of 60,000 pounds sterling! 
 Encouraged by this noble offer, I looked about to find 
 another such man, though it was almost like trying to 
 find two WELLINGTONS. But he was found in Mr. JOHN 
 FENDER, of Manchester. I went one day to his office in 
 London, and we walked together to the House of Com 
 mons, and before we got there he said he would take an 
 equal share with Mr. BRASSEY. 
 
 The action of these two gentlemen was a turning point 
 in the history of our enterprise. For it led shortly after 
 to a union of the well-known firm of GLASS, ELLIOT & Co., 
 with the Gutta Percha Company, making of the two one 
 grand concern, known as "THE TELEGRAPH CONSTRUCTION 
 AND MAINTENANCE COMPANY," which included, not only 
 Mr. BRASSEY and Mr. FENDER, but other men of great 
 wealth, such as Mr. GEORGE ELLIOT and Mr. BARCLAY, of 
 London, and Mr. HENRY BEWLEY, of Dublin ; and which, 
 thus reinforced with immense capital, took up the whole, 
 enterprise in its strong arms. We needed, I have said, 
 600,000, and with all our efforts in England and Amer 
 ica, we had raised only 285,000. This new company 
 now came forward, and offered to take the whole remain- 
 
25 
 
 ing 315,000 besides 100,000 of the bonds, and to 
 make its own profits contingent on success ! Mr. RICHARD 
 A. GLASS was made Managing Director, and gave energy 
 and vigor to all its departments, being admirably seconded 
 by the Secretary, Mr. SHUTER. Mr. GLASS has been re 
 cently knighted for his services in carrying out the Atlan 
 tic Telegraph an honor which he most justly deserves. 
 
 A few days after half a dozen gentlemen joined to 
 gether and bought the u Great Eastern," to lay the cable ; 
 and at the head of this company was placed Mr. DANIEL 
 GOOCH, a member of Parliament, and Chairman of the 
 Great Western Railway, who was with us in both the ex 
 peditions which followed, and who for his services has 
 been made a Baronet of the United Kingdom. His son, 
 Mr. CHARLES GOOCH, a volunteer in the service, who 
 worked faithfully on board the " Great Eastern," we are 
 happy to welcome here to-night. (Applause.) 
 
 The good fortune which favored us in our ship favored 
 us also in our commander. Many of you know Capt. 
 ANDERSON (applause) who was for years in the CUNARD 
 line. You may have crossed the sea with him, and you 
 remember how kind he was ; how clear-eyed and prompt 
 in his duty, and yet always the quiet and modest gentle 
 man. How well he did his part in two Expeditions the 
 result has proved, and it was just that a mark of royal 
 favor should fall on that manly head. 
 
 Thus organized, the work of making a new Atlantic 
 Cable was begun. The core was prepared with infinite 
 care, under the able superintendence of Mr. CHATTERTON 
 and Mr. WILLOUGHBY SMITH ; and the whole was com 
 pleted in about eight months. As fast as ready, it was 
 taken on board the " Great Eastern," and coiled in three 
 enormous tanks; and on the 15th of July, 1865, the ship 
 started on her memorable voyage. 
 
26 
 
 I will not stop to tell the story of that Expedition. 
 For a week all went well ; we had paid out 1,200 miles of 
 cable, and had only 600 miles farther to go, when hauling 
 in the cable to remedy a fault, it parted and went to the 
 bottom. That day I can never forget how men paced 
 the deck in despair, looking out on the broad sea that 
 had swallowed up their hopes ; and then how the brave 
 CANNING for nine days and nights dragged the bottom of 
 the ocean for our lost treasure, and though he grappled it 
 three times, failed to bring it to the surface. The story 
 of that Expedition, as written by Dr. RUSSELL, who was 
 on board the " Great Eastern," is one of the most marvel 
 lous chapters in the whole history of modern enterprise. 
 We returned to England defeated, yet full of resolution 
 to begin the battle anew. Measures were at once taken 
 to make a second cable, and fit out a new Expedition ; 
 and with that assurance I came home last autumn. 
 
 In December I went back again, when lo, all our hopes 
 had sunk to nothing. The Attorney-General of England 
 had given his written opinion that we had no legal right, 
 without a special act of Parliament, (which could not be ob 
 tained under a year,) to issue the new 12 per cent, shares, 
 on which we relied to raise our capital. This was a ter 
 rible blow. The works were at once stopped, and the 
 money which had been paid in returned to the subscribers. 
 Such was the state of things only ten months ago. I 
 reached London on the 24th of December, and the next 
 day was not a " merry Christmas " to me. But it was an 
 inexpressible comfort to have the counsel of such men as 
 Sir DANIEL GOOCH and Sir RICHARD A. GLASS ; and to 
 hear stout-hearted Mr. BRASSEY tell us to go ahead ; and 
 if need were, he would put down 60.000 more ! It was 
 finally concluded that the best course was to organize a 
 new company, which should assume the work ; and so 
 
27 
 
 originated the ANGLO-AMERICAN TELEGRAPH COMPANY. It 
 was formed by ten gentlemen who met around a table in 
 London, and put down 10,000 apiece. I hope the excel 
 lent Secretary of this Company, Mr. DEANE, who came with 
 us across the ocean, will write its history, and tell the 
 world what life and vigor were comprised in its Board of 
 Directors. The great Telegraph Construction and Main 
 tenance Company undaunted by the failure of last year- 
 answered us with a subscription of 100,000. Soon 
 after, the books were opened to the public, through the 
 eminent banking house of J. S. MORGAN & Co., and in 
 fourteen days we had raised the whole 600,000. (Loud 
 applause.) Then the work began again, and went on 
 with speed. Never was greater energy infused into any 
 enterprise. It was only the first day of March that the 
 new company was formed, and was registered as a com 
 pany the next day ; and yet such was the vigor and de 
 spatch, that in five months from that day the cable had 
 been manufactured, shipped on the " Great Eastern," 
 stretched across the Atlantic, and was sending messages, 
 literally swift as lightning, from continent to continent. 
 (Prolonged cheers.) 
 
 Yet this was not u a lucky hit" a fine run across the 
 ocean in calm weather. It was the worst weather I ever 
 knew at that season of the year. In the despatch which 
 appeared in the New- York papers you may have read, 
 " The weather has been most pleasant." I wrote it " un 
 pleasant." We had fogs and storms almost the whole way. 
 Our success was the result of the highest science combined 
 with practical experience. Every thing was perfectly 
 organized to the minutest detail. We had on board an 
 admirable staff of officers, such men as HALPIN and BECK- 
 WITH ; and engineers long used to this business, such as 
 CANNING, and CLIFFORD, and TEMPLE, the first of whom 
 
28 
 
 has been knighted for his part in this great achievement ; 
 and electricians, such as Professor THOMSON, of Glasgow, 
 and WILLOUGHBY SMITH, and LAWS; while Mr. C. F. 
 YARLET, our companion of the year before, who stands 
 among the first in knowledge and practical skill, remained 
 with Sir RICHARD GLASS at Valentia, to keep watch at that 
 end of the line ; and Mr. LATIMER CLARK, who was to test 
 the cable when done. Of these gentlemen, Professor 
 THOMSON, as one of the earliest and most eminent electri 
 cians of England, has received the same mark of distinc 
 tion. England honors herself when she thus pays honor 
 to science ; and it is fit that the government which honored 
 chemistry in Sir HUMPHREY DAVY, should honor electrical 
 science in Sir WILLIAM THOMSON. (Applause.) 
 
 But our work was not over. After landing the cable 
 safely at Newfoundland, we had another task to return 
 to mid-ocean and recover that lost in the expedition of last 
 year. This achievement has perhaps excited more sur 
 prise than the other. Many even now " don't understand 
 it," and every day I am asked, " how it was done ?" 
 Well, it does seem rather difficult to fish for a jewel at 
 the bottom of the ocean two and a half miles deep. But 
 it is not so very difficult when you know how. You 
 may be sure we did not go a-fishing at random, nor was 
 our success mere "luck." It was the triumph of the 
 highest nautical and engineering skill. We had four ships, 
 and on board of them some of the best seamen in Eng 
 land, men who knew the ocean as a hunter knows every 
 trail in the forest. There was Capt. MORIARTY, who was 
 in the " Agamemnon " in 1857-8. He was in the " Great 
 Eastern" last year, and saw the cable when it broke ; and 
 he and Capt. ANDERSON at once took their observations so 
 exact that they could go right to the spot. After finding it, 
 they marked the line of the cable by a row of buoys ; for 
 
29 
 
 fogs would come down, and shut out sun and stars, so that 
 no man could take an observation. These buoys were 
 anchored a few miles apart. They were numbered, and 
 each had a flag-staff on it, so that it could be seen by day ; 
 and a lantern by night. Thus having taken our bearings, 
 we stood off three or four miles, so as to come broadside 
 on, and then casting over the grapnel, drifted slowly down 
 upon it, dragging the bottom of the ocean as we went. 
 At first it was a little awkward to fish in such deep water, 
 but our men got used to it, and soon could cast a grapnel 
 almost as straight as an old whaler throws a harpoon. 
 Our fishing line was of formidable size. It was made of 
 rope, twisted with wires of steel, so as to bear a strain of 
 thirty tons. It took about two hours for the grapnel to 
 reach bottom, but we could tell when it struck. . I often 
 went to the bow and sat on the rope, and could feel by 
 the quiver that the grapnel was dragging on the bottom 
 two miles under us. (Applause.) But it was a very slow 
 business. We had storms and calms, and fogs and squalls. 
 Still we worked on day after day. Once, on the 17th of 
 , August, we got the cable up and had it in full sight for 
 five minutes, a long, slimy monster, fresh from the ooze of 
 the ocean's bed ; but our men began to cheer so wildly, 
 that it seemed to be frightened, and suddenly broke away 
 and went down into the sea. This accident kept us at 
 work two weeks longer, but finally, on the last night of 
 August, we caught it. We had cast the grapnel thirty times. 
 It was a little before midnight on Friday night that we 
 hooked the cable, and it was a little after midnight, Sun 
 day morning, when we got it on board. (Cheers.) What 
 was the anxiety of those twenty-six hours ! The strain on 
 every man's life was like the strain on the cable itself. 
 When finally it appeared, it was midnight; the lights of 
 the ship, and in the boats around our bows, as they flashed 
 
30 
 
 in the faces of the men, showed them eagerly watching 
 for the cable to appear on the water. At length it was 
 brought to the surface. All who were allowed to approach 
 crowded forward to see it. Yet not a word was spoken ; 
 only the voices of the officers in command were heard 
 giving orders. All felt as if life and death hung on the 
 issue. It was only when it was brought over the bow 
 and on to the deck that men dared to breathe. Even then 
 they hardly believed their eyes. Some crept toward it 
 to feel of it, to be sure it was there. Then we carried 
 it along to the electricians' room, to see if our long sought 
 treasure was alive or dead. A few minutes of sus 
 pense, and a flash told of the lightning current again set 
 free. Then did the feeling long pent up burst forth. 
 Some turned away their heads and wept. Others broke 
 into cheers, and the cry ran from man to man, and was 
 heard down in the engine rooms, deck below deck, and 
 from the boats on the water, and the other ships, while 
 rockets lighted up the darkness of the sea. Then with 
 thankful hearts we turned our faces again to the west. 
 But soon the wind rose, and for thirty-six hours we were 
 exposed to all the dangers of a storm on the Atlantic. 
 Yet, in the very height and fury of the gale, as I sat in 
 the electricians' room, a flash of light came up from the 
 deep, which having crossed to Ireland, came back to me 
 in mid-ocean, telling that those so dear to me, whom I had 
 left on the banks of the Hudson, were well, and following 
 us with their wishes and their prayers. (Applause.) This 
 was like a whisper of God from the sea, bidding me keep 
 heart and hope. The " Great Eastern" bore herself proudly 
 through the storm, as if she knew that the vital chord, 
 which was to join two hemispheres, hung at her stern ; 
 and so, on Saturday, the 7th of September, we brought 
 our second cable safely to the shore. (Renewed applause.) 
 
31 
 
 But the " Great Eastern" did not make her voyage alone. 
 Three other ships attended her across the ocean the " Al 
 bany," the u Medway" and the " Terrible" the officers of 
 all of which exerted themselves to the utmost. The Queen 
 of England has shown her appreciation of the services of 
 some of those more prominent in the expedition, but if it 
 had been possible to do justice to all, honors would have 
 been bestowed upon many others. If this cannot be, at 
 least let their names live in the history of this enterprise, 
 with which they will be forever associated. 
 
 When I think of them all not only of those on the 
 " Great Eastern," but of Capt. COMMERILL, of the lt Terrible," 
 and his first officer, Mr. CURTIS, (who with their ship came 
 with us not only to Heart's Content, but afterwards to 
 the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to help in laying the new cable,) 
 and of the officers of the other ships, my heart is full. 
 Better men never trod a deck. If I do not name them 
 all, it is because they are too many, their ranks are too 
 full of glory. Even the sailors caught the enthusiasm of 
 the enterprise, and were eager to share in the honor of 
 the achievement. Brave, stalwart men they were at 
 home on the ocean and in the storm of that sort that 
 have carried the flag of England around the globe. 
 (Cheers.) I see them now as they dragged the shore end 
 up the beach at Heart's Content, hugging it in their 
 brawny arms as if it were a shipwrecked child whom they 
 had rescued from the dangers of the sea. God bless them 
 all! (Applause.) 
 
 Such, gentlemen, in brief, is the story of the Telegraph 
 which you have wished to hear. It has been a long, hard 
 struggle nearly thirteen years of anxious watching and 
 ceaseless toil. Often my heart has been ready to sink. 
 Many times, when wandering in the forests of Newfound 
 land, in the pelting rain, or on the deck of ships, on dark, 
 
32 
 
 stormy nights alone, far from home I have almost 
 accused myself of madness 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 one hope has led 
 me on, and I have prayed that I might not taste of death 
 till this work was accomplished. That prayer is an 
 swered : and now, beyond all acknowledgments to men, 
 is the feeling of gratitude to Almighty God. (Deep 
 sensation and applause.) 
 
 Having thus accomplished our work of building an 
 Ocean Telegraph, we desire to make it useful to the pub 
 lic. To this end it must be kept in perfect order, and 
 all lines connected with it. The very idea of an electric 
 telegraph is, an instrument to send messages instantane 
 ously. When a despatch is sent from New- York to Lon 
 don, there must be no uncertainty about its reaching its 
 destination and that promptly. This we aim to secure. 
 Our two cables do their part well. There are no way 
 stations between Ireland and Newfoundland, where mes 
 sages have to be repeated, and the lightning never lingers 
 more than a second in the bottom of the sea. To those 
 who feared that they might be used up or wear out, I 
 would say, for their relief, that the old cable works a little 
 better than the new one, but that is because it has been 
 down longer, as time improves the quality of gutta percha. 
 But the new one is constantly growing better. To show 
 how delicate are these wonderful chords, it is enough to 
 state that they can be worked with the smallest battery 
 power. When the first cable was laid in 1858, electricians 
 thought that to send a current two thousand miles, it 
 must be almost like a stroke of lightning. But God was 
 not in the earthquake, but in the still, small voice. The 
 
33 
 
 other day Mr. LATIMER CLARK telegraphed from Ireland 
 across the Ocean and back again, with a battery formed 
 in a lady's thimble ! (Applause.) And now Mr. COL- 
 LETT writes me from Heart's Content: " I have just sent 
 my compliments to Dr. GOULD, of Cambridge, who is at 
 Valentia, with a battery composed of a gun cap, with a 
 strip of zinc, excited by a drop of water, the simple bulk 
 of a tear !" (Renewed applause.) A telegraph that will 
 do that we think nearly perfect. It has never failed for 
 an hour or a minute. Yet there have been delays in re 
 ceiving messages from Europe, but these have all been on 
 the land lines or in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and not on 
 the sea cables. It was very painful to me, when we landed 
 at Heart's Content, to find any interruption here, that a 
 message which came in a flash across the Atlantic, should 
 be delayed twenty-four hours in crossing eighty miles of 
 water. But it was not my fault. My associates in the 
 Newfoundland Company will bear me witness, that I en 
 treated them a year ago to repair the cable in the Gulf of 
 St. Lawrence, and to put our land lines in perfect order. 
 But they thought it more prudent to await the result of 
 the late Expedition before making further large outlays. 
 We have therefore had to work hard to restore our lines. 
 But in two weeks our cable across the Gulf of St. Law 
 rence was taken up and repaired. It was found to have 
 been broken by an anchor in shallow water, and, when 
 spliced out, proved as perfect as when laid down ten 
 years ago. Since then a new one has been laid, so that 
 we have there two excellent cables. 
 
 On land the task was more slow. You must remember 
 that Newfoundland is a large country ; our line across it 
 is 400 miles long, and runs through a wilderness. In 
 Cape Breton we have another of 140 miles. These lines 
 were built twelve years ago, and we have waited so long 
 
 3 
 
34 
 
 for an ocean telegraph that they have become old and 
 rusty. On such long lines, unless closely watched, there 
 must be sometimes a break.. A few weeks ago a storm 
 swept over the island, the most terrific that had been 
 known for twenty years, which strewed the coast with 
 shipwrecks. This blew down the line in many places, 
 and caused an interruption of several days. But it was 
 quickly repaired, and we are trying to guard against such 
 accidents again. For three months we have had an army 
 of men at work, under our faithful and indefatigable Su 
 perintendent, Mr. A. M. MACKAY, rebuilding the line, and 
 now they report it nearly complete. On this we must 
 rely for the next few months. But all winter long these 
 men will be making their axes heard in the forests of 
 Newfoundland, cutting thousands of poles, and as soon as 
 the spring opens will build an entirely new line along the 
 same route. With this double line complete, with fre 
 quent station houses, and faithful sentinels to watch it, 
 we feel pretty secure. At Port Hood, in Nova Scotia, 
 we connect with the Western Union Telegraph Company, 
 which has engaged to keep as many lines as may be neces 
 sary for European business. This we think will guard 
 against failures hereafter. But to make assurance doubly 
 sure, we shall in the spring build still another line by a 
 separate route, crossing over from Heart's Content to 
 Placentia, which is only about a hundred miles, along a 
 good road, where it can easily be kept in order. From 
 Placentia a submarine cable will be laid across to the 
 French island of St. Pierre, and thence to Sydney, in Cape 
 Breton, where again we strike a coach road, and can main 
 tain our lines without difficulty. Thus we shall have three 
 distinct lines, with which it is hardly possible that there 
 can be any delay. A message from London to New- York 
 passes over four lines : from London to Valentia ; from 
 
35 
 
 Valentia to Heart's Content ; from there to Port Hood, 
 and from Port Hood to New- York. It always takes a 
 little time for an operator to read a message, and prepare 
 to send it. For this allow five minutes at each station 
 that is enough, and I shall not be content till we have 
 messages regularly from London in twenty minutes. One 
 hour is ample (allowing ten minutes each side for a boy 
 to carry a despatch) for a message to go from Wall-street 
 to the Royal Exchange and to get an answer back again. 
 This is what we aim to do. If for a few months there 
 should be occasional delays, we ask only a little patience, 
 remembering that our machinery is new, and it takes time 
 to get it well-oiled and running at full speed. But after 
 that I trust we shall be able to satisfy all the demands of 
 the public. 
 
 A word about the tariff. Complaint has been made 
 that it was so high, as to be very oppressive. I beg all 
 to remember, that it is only three months and a half since 
 the cable was laid. It was laid at a great cost and a great 
 risk. Different companies had sunk in their attempts 
 twoJve millions of dollars. It was still an experiment, of 
 which the result was doubtful. This, too, might prove 
 another costly failure. Even if successful, we did not 
 know how long it would work. Evil prophets in both 
 countries predicted that it would not last a month. If it 
 did, we were not sure of having more than one cable ; 
 nor how much work that one could do. Now these doubts 
 are resolved. We have, not only one cable, but two, 
 both in working order ; and we find, instead of five words 
 a minute, we can send fifteen. Now we are free to reduce 
 the tariff. Accordingly it has been cut down one-half, 
 and I hope in a few months we can bring it down to one- 
 quarter. I am in favor of reducing it to the lowest point 
 at which we can do the business, keeping the lines work- 
 
36 
 
 ing day and night. And then if the work grows upon 
 us so enormously that we cannot do it why we must go 
 to work and lay more cables. (Applause.) 
 
 Those who conduct a public enterprise ought not to 
 object to any fair criticism of the public or the press. 
 But complaints are sometimes made without reflection, as 
 when fault is found with the cable, because the news from 
 Europe may be scanty or unimportant, as if we had any 
 more to do with what passes over the line, than the Post 
 Office Department with the contents of letters that go 
 through the mail. We are common carriers, and send 
 whatever conies ; and if our brethren of the Press keep 
 capable men in the capitals of Europe, who will furnish 
 only news which is important, we will see that it is de 
 livered here every morning. 
 
 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 
 understanding between the two countries. Let who will 
 speak against England words of censure must come from 
 other lips than mine. I have received too much kind 
 ness from Englishmen to join in this language. I have 
 eaten of their bread and drank of their cup, and I have 
 received from them, in the darkest hours of this enterprise, 
 words of cheer which I shall never forget ; and if any 
 words of mine can tend to peace and good will, they shall 
 not be wanting. I beg my countrymen to remember the 
 ties of kindred. Blood is thicker than water. America 
 with all her greatness has come out of the loins of Eng 
 land ; 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 land 
 of our fathers ; and he is an enemy of his country and of 
 
37 
 
 the human race, who would stir up strife between two 
 nations that are one in race, in language and in religion. 
 (Applause.) I close with this sentiment : ENGLAND AND 
 AMERICA CLASPING HANDS ACROSS THE SEA, MAY THIS FIRM 
 
 GRASP BE A PLEDGE OF FRIENDSHIP TO ALL GENERATIONS ! 
 
 (Enthusiastic applause the audience rising and giving 
 three cheers.) 
 
 TELEGRAPHIC DESPATCHES. 
 
 The President said : Ladies and Gentlemen, before an 
 nouncing the next toast, the Chair feels under the neces 
 sity of discharging a little of the electricity with which 
 Gen. LEFFERTS has been steadily plying the Chair since we 
 came into this room. 
 
 s 
 
 STATE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, Nov. 15, 1866. 
 A. A. Low, Esq., Metropolitan Hotel, New-York : 
 
 CYRUS W. FIELD : The first, the most constant and the most energetic 
 friend in the United States of the latest accomplished great enterprise 
 in the advance of universal civilization. 
 
 WM. H. SEWARD. 
 
 (Long and continued cheering.) 
 
 From the Governor of Newfoundland. 
 
 ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND, Nov. 15th. 
 CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq. : 
 
 I greatly regret that I am unable to accept the invitation to be present 
 at the banquet to-night. It would have given me much pleasure to meet 
 the Directors of the New- York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph 
 Company, who were the pioneers in the line of communication which 
 now unites Europe and America ; and I should have been proud on this 
 occasion to represent the Colony of Newfoundland, which so liberally 
 acted in the first steps toward the accomplishment of the great work 
 now successfully completed, which must strengthen the ties which attach 
 
 our two nations. 
 
 A. MUSGRAVE. 
 
38 
 
 From Sir James Anderson, Captain of the Great Eastern. 
 
 LONDON, ENGLAND, Nov. 15th. 
 A. A. Low, Esq., President Chamber of Commerce, New-York : 
 
 Will you tell Mr. FIELD, at your Banquet, that I am with him in hearty 
 friendship, and hope his countrymen will give due recognition to his un 
 equalled efforts to establish the telegraphic cord between the two coun 
 tries. 
 
 JAMES ANDERSON. 
 
 (Loud applause.) 
 
 From Lord MoncTc, Governor-General of Canada. 
 
 QUEBEC, C. E., Nov. 15th. 
 
 To the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce of City of New-York : 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 Your invitation only reached me this day. Had I been able to avail 
 myself of it, I should have felt the greatest pleasure in joining with you 
 to do honor to your eminent countryman, who has taken so distinguished 
 a part in achieving the triumphant success which you this evening cele 
 brate. 
 
 MONCK. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., Nov. 15th. 
 A. A. Low, Esq., New- York : 
 
 Regretting my inability to be present with yourself and others to ex 
 change congratulations with our friend FIELD on the happy result of his 
 efforts to unite the Old World with the New, my best wishes are with you 
 and all who participated in the enterprise. Should the union thus formed 
 be broken, may it have a speedy reconstruction. 
 
 GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 WASHINGTON. Thursday, Nov. loth. 
 A. A. Low, Esq., Metropolitan Hotel, New- York : 
 
 My congratulations to your interesting gathering, and to the worthy 
 recipient of its honors, CYRUS W. FIELD, on the completion of the most 
 wonderful enterprise of modern times. Please accept as a sentiment 
 from me, " The Unity of America and Europe, in Peace, Progress and 
 Prosperity, strengthened in both Hemispheres by the Atlantic Telegraph 
 and its Ptailway adjuncts." 
 
 O. H. BROWNING, Secretary of the Interior. 
 
39 
 
 WASHINGTON, Thursday, Nov. 1 5th. 
 A. A. Low, 
 
 Chairman Committee of Arrangements, Metropolitan Hotel, New-York : 
 I regret that other engagements prevent my joining in your welcome 
 to CYRUS W. FIELD, the greatest funambulist the world ever saw, who 
 has walked into immortal renown over a rope three thousand miles long. 
 The great and loyal West, standing midway between the antipodes, 
 stretches her hands to greet the man who has united them in the bonds 
 
 of everlasting brotherhood. 
 
 JOHN A. LOGAN. 
 
 NEW-GLASGOW, N. S., Nov. I5th, 1866. 
 CYRUS W. FIELD : 
 
 Nova Scotia rejoices most sincerely, and begs to offer you her share of 
 congratulations upon the triumphant success which has, by the blessing 
 of Providence, finally crowned your noble energy and perseverance in 
 uniting Europe and America by the bonds of the submarine telegraph. 
 
 JESSE HOYT. 
 
 The following was sent to the chair : 
 
 November 1 5th. 
 CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq. : 
 
 I received to-day over the cable a despatch from REUTER, announcing 
 that NAPOLEON had ordered a conscription of sailors throughout the 
 French maritime provinces to man the vessels to bring home the French 
 troops from Mexico. It seems to be a favorable opportunity to announce 
 such news, as fully confirming NAPOLEON'S intention to withdraw from 
 Mexico immediately. 
 
 J. McLsAN, Renter's Agent. 
 
 (The reading of the above was received with an out 
 burst of the most enthusiastic cheers, all present rising to 
 their feet and waving handkerchiefs.) 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN : There are other telegrams ; but I will 
 now proceed with the work of the evening, and I deem 
 it fortunate that we have with us, this evening, a gentle 
 man whose name is intimately associated with the interests 
 of the country, and sheds a light upon the present as 
 well as upon the past a man whose eloquence is sure to be 
 heard with patriotic ring wherever the American heart is 
 
40 
 
 stirred to noble measures. I am permitted to call upon 
 the President of the Union Club of New- York, JOHN JAY, 
 Esq., to respond to the toast which you have heard : 
 
 '''England and America clasping hands across the sea may their 
 grasp be a pledge of friendship to all generations." 
 
 REMARKS OF THE HON. JOHN JAY. 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT : I am well aware of the delicacy of the 
 task which you impose, when, on behalf of the Chamber 
 of Commerce of New-York, you honor me with a request 
 to respond to the toast England and America clasping 
 hands across the sea which has been so cordially received 
 by this assemblage. Certainly that toast could have been 
 offered by no one more appropriately than by your dis 
 tinguished guest, who, in the achievement which we have 
 met to celebrate, represented to a great extent both coun 
 tries, and conferred a signal benefit on both, and whose 
 interesting, story of the cable, completing your own gra 
 phic sketch of the undertaking, we have listened to with 
 pleasure and with pride. 
 
 A short time since it would have been easy, in acknow 
 ledging a sentiment like this, to arouse the hearty enthusi 
 asm of such a company as is here assembled, representing 
 the culture, the wealth, the commercial greatness, the 
 social power of the national metropolis, by invocations, 
 however trite and tame, to the ties of ancestry and kin 
 dred that still linked our young Republic with the mother 
 land ; a common language, literature and law ; the same 
 Bible, the same habeas corpus, the same trial by jury, and 
 a common property in the English historians from BEDE 
 to BANCROFT, and in the English poets, from SPENCER and 
 CHAUCER to LONGFELLOW and BRYANT. But now, a response 
 simply of that sort, without a word of .reference to the 
 events of the past five years, which in their stern distinct- 
 
41 
 
 ness are present to our thoughts, would be felt by all, 
 whether Americans or Englishmen, to be unmanly and un 
 real. Brief as is the period that has elapsed, the America 
 of to-day differs from the America that hailed the success 
 of the cable in 1858 with the joyous festivities to which 
 you have alluded, as the thoughtful man who has fought 
 the great battle of life, and conquered through trial and 
 disappointment, differs from the thoughtless and inexperi 
 enced youth still rejoicing in his confidence and credulity. 
 With the courtesy, therefore, and cordial feeling appro 
 priate to an occasion like the present, may be fitly blended 
 a little of that friendly frankness which Englishmen are 
 accustomed to use toward each other, and which none 
 know better than Englishmen how to appreciate, when 
 honestly exhibited toward themselves. 
 
 The members of the Chamber of Commerce who have 
 honored the toast to England and America, are inter 
 ested not simply as are the American people, on national 
 grounds, but in part more directly, in the still pending 
 questions that, having taxed the diplomacy of Mr. ADAMS 
 and Earl RUSSELL, await the action of the DERBY Govern 
 ment. Around us are gentlemen whose names are known 
 on both sides of the Atlantic by the largeness of their 
 international charities, and by their scrupulous adherence 
 to the duties of international neutrality, with which your 
 own name. Sir, is so conspicuously and honorably asso 
 ciated ; and when these gentlemen, who have certainly 
 no pressing reasons to regard England with special affec 
 tion, exchange a personal for a national standpoint, and 
 with the foresight of true statesmanship, looking beyond 
 the mistakes of the past and the complications of the pre 
 sent, and calmly regarding the distant future, the interests 
 of posterity and the mission of the two countries in ad 
 vancing together the civilization and freedom of the world ; 
 
42 
 
 when these gentlemen, with such views, hail the ocean 
 cable, whose success is chiefly due to our friend and 
 guest, as a new and lasting link between England and 
 America ; when they join, as they have done, in the hope, 
 if not the prayer, expressed in this toast, that it may be 
 a pledge of friendship to all generations, I think, Sir, that 
 this toast has a significance which no similar sentiment, 
 on a similar occasion, ever had or could have had before. 
 (Applause.) It is justified by the cable telegram this 
 very morning, advising us of the inclination of the Eng 
 lish Government and the English people to amicably settle 
 and adjust all the American claims, including that under 
 the Alabama, whenever such action is demanded by the 
 American Cabinet ; and your cordial reception of this toast 
 will in turn advise England that we are inclined to accept 
 that announcement, strengthened as it is by the changed 
 opinion of her press and the more courteous tone of her 
 statesmen, as an indication that she is ready to do speedy 
 and ample justice, so far as justice may still be done, and 
 as an assurance that the errors of the past will never be 
 repeated. 
 
 Your response to Mr. FIELD'S sentiment shows that you 
 do not confound the narrow prejudices of a class, nor the 
 temporary policy of a Cabinet, with the broad instincts 
 and sympathies of a nation. That we remember cordially 
 the hundreds of thousands of Englishmen against whom 
 we have no complaint, in all ranks and circles of English 
 life, from the palace of the Queen to the stately homes of 
 ARGYLE and of STANLEY; from our fast friends, the great 
 champion of the people, JOHN BRIGHT, (loud cheers,) and 
 the late Regius Professor at Oxford, that representative of 
 the classic scholarship of England, GOLDWIN SMITH, (re 
 newed applause,) down to the humblest of the English op 
 eratives, who, with the "simple faith " that TENNYSON says 
 
43 
 
 is more than " Norman blood," in the very face of starva 
 tion, adhered firmly to the cause of the American Repub 
 lic and of American freedom. It shows also that we have 
 not forgotten, and are not ready to forget, the deep-felt 
 spontaneous and universal burst of sympathy, that came 
 to us after the death of LINCOLN, which Mr. DISRAELI said 
 was one of those rare instances where the sympathy of 
 a nation approaches those tenderer feelings which are gene 
 rally supposed to be peculiar to the individual and the 
 privilege of private life. 
 
 Lastly, Sir, does it not indicate, in some degree at least, 
 the high and honorable tone of the foreign policy which 
 the Chamber of Commerce, and the influential class which 
 it largely represents, deem fitting for our country at this 
 moment of her rising greatness, when the Union is about 
 to be restored in all its national completeness, upon the 
 basis of equal right and equal justice between State and 
 State and man and man ? (Applause.) Europe is being 
 advised by her political writers to fear our military and 
 naval power, to anticipate the coming day when we shall 
 number our hundred millions ; and she is warned to com 
 bine in advance to resist an American invasion. These 
 gentlemen evidently believe that our future illustrations 
 of the principle of non-intervention, of which we have 
 demanded so strict an observance towards ourselves, will 
 add new force to the definition of TALLEYRAND, who, while 
 minister to England, on being asked by a lady the mean 
 ing of non-intervention, replied, " Madame, non-interven 
 tion is a diplomatic and enigmatical word, which means 
 nearly the same thing as intervention." (Laughter.) The 
 tone of this assemblage may help to disabuse Europe of 
 the impression that we shall follow European example in 
 meddling with the affairs of other States, whether great 
 or small ; may teach them that, however gigantic our mili- 
 
44 
 
 tary or naval strength, we propose rather to advance the 
 happiness of the world by the peaceful influence of our 
 principles, and the moral force of our example ; that we 
 rejoice in the ocean cable, not simply on grounds of com 
 merce and convenience, but as enabling the voice of 
 America to be instantaneously heard in Europe ; and that 
 our foreign policy is one of peace, harmony and justice, 
 not only with England but with the world. (Loud ap 
 plause.) 
 
 The next regular toast on the list was then read : 
 
 The New-York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Passing 
 through the wilderness to the sea forerunner of the Transatlantic line. 
 
 Mr. Low : It is said of good men that " their works 
 do follow them." This toast will be responded to by 
 our venerable friend, the President of the New- York, 
 Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, whose 
 goods works go before him, and are ever present all 
 around him. (Applause.) I have the pleasure of pre 
 senting Mr. PETER COOPER. 
 
 ADDRESS OF PETER COOPER, Esq. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : In the toast you have 
 drank in honor of the New- York, Newfoundland and Lon 
 don Telegraph Company, you have said, Mr. President, 
 that our company has, by p'assing a line of telegraph 
 through the wilderness to the sea, become the forerunner 
 of the Atlantic line. 
 
 You might have said, Mr. President, with great pro 
 priety, that our company has not only been the forerun 
 ner, but was, in fact, the originator of the Trans-Atlantic 
 line. 
 
 This will appear from the fact that our charter declares 
 
45 
 
 that, " Whereas it is deemed advisable to establish tele 
 graphic communication between the United States and 
 Europe, by the way of Newfoundland : Be it therefore en 
 acted, That PETER COOPER, MOSES TAYLOR, CYRUS W. 
 FIELD and MARSHALL 0. ROBERTS, and others, be incor 
 porated for that purpose." In compliance with that 
 charter we have laid a cable through that great arm of 
 the sea, the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The effort to lay this 
 cable was attended with both difficulty and danger. We 
 not only lost our cable by the unfortunate management of 
 our captain, but came near losing the vessel, with all lives 
 on board. 
 
 We then had to order another cable, which was finally 
 laid, and worked successfully for nine years, when that 
 cable was broken by the anchor of a vessel. 
 
 After several unsuccessful efforts to restore this cable, 
 we at last succeeded, and it is now working more per 
 fectly than it did when it was first put down. During 
 our efforts to restore this cable, and fearing that we might 
 not be successful, we ordered a third cable to be laid by 
 one of the same vessels that attended the " Great Eastern" 
 in the laying of the Atlantic cable. (Applause.) 
 
 We have now two perfect cables working across the 
 Gulf of St. Lawrence, and two cables across the Straits of 
 Northumberland, besides cables across several smaller 
 streams. We shall soon have two complete lines through 
 the wilderness in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. 
 
 We are now making arrangements for putting down 
 another ocean line of some three hundred miles in length. 
 This line, when completed, will connect Newfoundland 
 with the French island of St. Pierre, and Nova Scotia, 
 and will give us a water line, avoiding a great part of the 
 Indian country through which we have been compelled 
 to pass. 
 
46 
 
 By these several lines, forming, as they do. a part of the 
 great Atlantic line, we have now the satisfaction to believe 
 that our communication with the European world will 
 soon be as perfect as human ingenuity can make it. 
 
 As you have just heard from Mr. FIELD, the Atlantic 
 line is now so perfect that a battery of a single drop of 
 water has been sufficient to send a message across the 
 ocean. (Cheers.) 
 
 Nearly thirteen years of unceasing toil, labor and ex 
 pense have been required to complete a work that now 
 commands the admiration and wonder of the world. 
 
 Our honored guest has shown how entirely inadequate 
 human language is to draw to the life a picture of such 
 scenes as those through which he and our company have 
 been compelled to pass. 
 
 Nothing short of the energy, skill and courage of CYRUS 
 W. FIELD could have inspired his associates with courage 
 to go on through thirteen long and anxious years, con 
 stantly expending money, and receiving nothing in return. 
 Thanks to a kind Providence, we have at last been led 
 by the light of science to a result that is now destined to 
 prove a blessing to the world. This triumph of science 
 and labor will be better understood, when the amount of 
 business offered shall enable the companies to reduce the 
 price to the lowest point that will pay a suitable compen 
 sation for the vast amount that has been expended to ac 
 complish the work. It only needs one moment's reflec 
 tion on the boundless field out of which business will 
 finally flow to this line, to form some idea of its real value 
 to the world in the future. 
 
 For one, Mr. President, I rejoice in every application 
 of science to any and all of the useful purposes of life. 
 
 I rejoice in the belief that science will yet develope and 
 make plain the laws and purposes of Deity. 
 
47 
 
 I trust that the light of science, which is the light of 
 God, will finally dispel the clouds of ignorance which pre 
 vent mankind from seeing that the right and wise use of 
 everything is a virtue and a good, whilst the wrong and 
 excessive use of anything is an evil and a mistake, which 
 it is the interest of all men everywhere to avoid. 
 
 I rejoice in the hope that the work in which our friend 
 and guest has borne so noble a part, will yet be the means 
 of sending through the world with lightning speed a better 
 knowledge of the fact that God has given to man the 
 world and all that in it is, and only requires that we shall 
 keep, subdue and hold dominion, by exercising a right or 
 righteous government over it. (Applause.) 
 
 Gentlemen, I will give you a sentiment. I give you, 
 gentlemen: "Our glorious Union of States, bound to a 
 common humanity by an electric chain. May it tend to 
 establish justice as the only possible way to promote a 
 world's welfare." 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN : The sixth regular toast is 
 
 The Western Union Telegraph and the Russian Extension The 
 American and Asiatic links of the chain encircling the globe. 
 
 The gentleman who will speak to the toast is too well 
 known to require any announcement other than of his 
 own name. The Chair will call upon Rev. Dr. BELLOWS. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN : Brevity, I believe, is 
 the soul of wit, and especially on telegraphic occasions ; 
 and therefore I shall endeavor to condense in very few 
 words what I think, with sufficient time, might be properly 
 expanded over very large space. 
 
48 
 
 Our thoughts and our eyes have thus far very naturally 
 been directed Eastward, across that stormy Atlantic which 
 has had its iron bridle slipped under it so adroitly by our 
 distinguished guest and his co-workers. It seems to be 
 time to face about and look in the other direction, west 
 ward and across the broad and mild-tempered Pacific. 
 For the United States, looked at on MERCATOR'S projection, 
 seems to hold the central position on the globe, just mid 
 way between the great oceans, fronting at either face on 
 Europe and Asia ; but with nearly three-quarters of the 
 one thousand millions of the earth's population standing 
 on the other side of the Pacific, and inviting the trade and 
 commerce of an enterprising and new country into the 
 greatest market of the world. Already a sure instinct has 
 led the vigorous men of the Empire State to throw out 
 the cords of their tents towards the Pacific, and it is a 
 source of pride to know that the capital and the brains 
 invested in that immense enterprise, The Western 
 Union Telegraph Company, with its paid-in capital of 
 $20,000,000, came chiefly, not from the great commercial 
 and financial mart in which we are assembled, but from 
 an inland town of this State, Rochester, a town which, 
 knowing the disadvantages of isolation, projected a plan 
 for bringing the whole American territory into close con 
 tact, and shrinking this continent into a manageable shape 
 and a convenient bulk for Liberty and Union to handle 
 and hold on to. (Cheers.) 
 
 Who can tell what this country already owes for its 
 integrity to the Western Union Telegraph Company? 
 Did it not keep the heart of our whole Pacific brother 
 hood, separated by deserts and mountains, or otherwise 
 approachable only by a voyage of five thousand miles, 
 beating towards us with all the regularity of two chro 
 nometers, timed to each other, through our great war ? 
 
49 
 
 (Cheers.) No one has a better right than I to speak of 
 the value of that telegraph wire. Part of the time, all 
 through the war, I was using it, almost regardless of ex 
 pense, to send tidings and thanks and urgent demands to 
 the noble patriots in California, Oregon and Nevada ; and 
 part of the time I was listening in California to its daily 
 click as it told us in San Francisco how the terrible battles 
 of the Wilderness were advancing, and how GRANT was 
 " fighting it out on that line," although it took him not 
 only all that summer, but pretty much all the next. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 But it is not what the Western Union Telegraph has 
 done on this continent, vast and priceless as its benefits 
 are, that engages our chief interest to-night. There is 
 nothing National or purely American in this occasion. 
 Telegraph companies are now not content with continental 
 proportions ; their thoughts are cosmical ; they, like those 
 universal philanthropists and Christians who say " our 
 Field is the world," contemplate the physical geography 
 of the whole globe, as they proceed to throw their thinking 
 and speaking wires about it, and touching it here and 
 there with their electric fingers, communicate a common 
 consciousness to its complete surface. 
 
 And so, when the Western Union Telegraph Company 
 saw the brave capitalist and telegraphist of America 
 seeking to bind Europe to American commerce, and saw 
 him, like a spent swimmer, sinking again and again 
 with his prize, until they doubted whether he would 
 ever come to the surface again, they devised the Over 
 land Telegraph to Europe through Asia; certainly, one 
 of the boldest and most magnificent enterprises ever 
 conceived by man. " There be land-rats, and there be 
 water-rats ;" there be under-sea telegraphers and over 
 land telegraphers, and certainly, for polar regions, 
 
 4 
 
50 
 
 telegraphs on poles have a natural claim to superiority 
 over telegraphs under water. At any rate, the Russian 
 Extension of the Western Union Telegraph, which we 
 owe to the vigorous enterprise and personal address of 
 Mr. PERRY McDoNOUGH COLLINS who carries victory in 
 his very name aided by the confidence of American 
 capitalists, has chosen the land, and not water, for its 
 theatre of glory. And what an inconceivable stretch of 
 territory it does present to our imagination ! Why, sir, 
 it appalls one's powers of syllabication and utterance to 
 merely mention the countries, towns and cities through 
 which this line of telegraph already passes ; all the 
 gutturals, sneezes and labials ; all the endless vowelless 
 cataract of consonants, in Indian, Tchutchi, Orkotch and 
 Irkoutch ; with all the itskys and bitskys, chows and 
 changs, of Russian and Polish, of Mongolian and Chinese 
 and Japanese languages, will not serve to express the 
 confusion of tongues, worse than the original Babel, 
 which the mere crowding or stringing so many nations 
 on one string, like dried-apples in a New-England farm 
 house, produces, at least, in the imagination. (Ap 
 plause.) 
 
 But to contemplate seriously the wonderful prospective 
 effect of this commerce with Asia on our national nay, 
 on what is far beyond that our common human prospects, 
 is most kindling to the larger feelings of that cosmopolite 
 soul, which the Maker hid in the orb-like brain of man. 
 I might spend the remainder of this whole evening in 
 reminding you of the inestimable value of the trade 
 which is opened among its seven hundred and fifty mil 
 lions by this network of telegraphs, with which the 
 Russian Extension is connecting you, even as a handle 
 is connected with the net with which you fish. I might 
 remind you that your sables and ermines, your beavers 
 
51 
 
 and foxes and wolverines, in short, that all the precious 
 furs that serve your comfort and elegance, come from 
 British and Russian America ; that your whaling fleets 
 find stations in the immediate neighborhood of this line ; 
 that your teas, your silks, your spices, your ginger and 
 your dyes are collected in China, India and Japan ; 
 and that millions are there waiting to exchange the 
 silver hoard of ages with the products of your ingenuity. 
 I might, perhaps, touch your fancy by giving you a 
 short ride in Kamscatka, behind a team of dogs, or, 
 better, a sledge-ride in Siberia, behind a well-trained 
 reindeer, or lift you on a camel or an elephant pacing 
 beside the line of your telegraph track in some portion of 
 its way. I could carry you by the remains of temples as 
 old as Marco Polo's descriptions, and show you the ruins of 
 Genghis Khan's invasion. I could lead you to the fairs 
 of Novogorod, or introduce you to the eight-year old boy 
 who is waiting for his imperial crown, in China, if Russia 
 don't run away with it before he grows up, or step 
 across and call on the Tycoon, or even, what would be 
 far more agreeable, chat an hour with friend Burlingame 
 at Pekin. 
 
 But all these interesting considerations inflaming to 
 fancy, fragrant with odors and gums and spices, bright 
 with gems and purple colors, and wrapped in polychro 
 matic shawls bringing, too, the regions of the Chinese 
 Wall, the Arabian Nights, and even the holy deserts of 
 Sinai and the sacred places where our religion began, to 
 our thoughts ; all these considerations yield in dignity 
 and importance to the thought that Asia, the still most 
 populous part of the world, is coming again into the 
 circle of civilization, within the reach of modern ideas, 
 near to Christian sympathies and feelings, and within the 
 hand-grasp of Europe and America. (Cheers.) 
 
52 
 
 Nor is it only what is to be given her that we have to 
 think of, even in the mission of ideas. Asia is still alive 
 in the thoughts she stands for! Religion! Revelation 
 had her fountain-head there, humanly speaking, because 
 the East is, by constitution, temperament and providential 
 fitness, more eminently meditative and devout. The 
 masculine will, the active, and not the passive soul, is de 
 veloped in Europe, and still more in America. But it is 
 the female element that bears the germs of all things. 
 Asia has thoughts, feelings, experiences, that need to be 
 added to cosmopolitan civilization, and which might even 
 suggest valuable lessons to faith and piety. The sense of 
 fate, which is only an over-sense of God, is the native fruit 
 of Oriental lands. 
 
 I believe in the unity of the race, and in the absolute 
 necessity of bringing all the quarters of the globe into 
 concert before a full harmony will be struck. (Ap 
 plause.) 
 
 I might, I ought to say a word of the union between 
 America and Russia which this extension typifies and 
 cements. The rapid and noble efforts to- reach the 
 Amoor, which that gigantic empire of the Czars has 
 made, shows the largeness of the spirit which animates 
 that young Colossus, modern Russia. It has reached the 
 Straits and strides them, but it is only to extend a hand 
 of perfect sympathy to her continental peer, the young 
 nation that, like herself, is still in early boyhood, and has 
 the enterprise of unexpended spirits and unfettered room. 
 The Russian and the American eagles fly together, and 
 without temptation to quarrel. In our great extremity, 
 cordial expressions of sympathy came, not from old 
 allies, or our cousins and relations, but from the nation 
 with which we had least political affinity and least 
 commercial intercourse, and least lingual or personal 
 
53 
 
 connection. We may well rejoice that the two powers 
 of greatest territorial expansion, and perhaps greatest 
 military force, are now warm friends, and closing up the 
 distance between them by an increasing knowledge of 
 each other, a growing commerce in the Amoor and the 
 Baltic, and by this wondrous telegraphic wire. (Ap 
 plause.) 
 
 I close with giving you a toast, which has a feeble pun 
 in it that may be excused : 
 
 Russia and America : May they always meet in a Pacific sea, and 
 never find themselves in Straits so narrow that they do not remember 
 their mutual Behrings ! (Loud applause and laughter.) 
 
 SPEECH OF ADMIRAL DAVID G. FARRAGUT, U. S. NAVY. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN then read the next regular toast, as 
 follows : 
 
 "The naval ships of the United States and Great Britain: in 1858, 
 meeting in mid-ocean, and contending together against the forces of the 
 sea, they established a new bond of union between the two countries." 
 
 % 
 
 He called for a reply from the hero of New-Orleans and 
 Mobile. 
 
 Admiral FARRAGUT, on .rising, was received with hearty 
 cheers. He said : 
 
 Mr. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : Whilst I feel 
 complimented by the call to respond to the sentiment 
 which has just been read to the company, I cannot but 
 express regret that some person more competent than 
 myself had not been selected. (Cheers.) It was my 
 good fortune, Mr. President, to be in this city in 1858, on 
 the occasion of the great celebration of laying the tele 
 graphic cable, the result, to use the words of the senti- 
 
54 
 
 ment just offered, of the naval ships of the United States 
 and Great Britain " meeting in mid-ocean, and contend 
 ing together against the forces of the sea." (Applause.) 
 I well remember the gratification I then felt that my 
 fears had not been realized, and I expressed my admi 
 ration for the indefatigable energy, perseverance and 
 skill displayed by Mr. FIELD, your honored guest, and 
 his co-workers in the cause of science, the developments 
 of which had in the last few years led us to believe that 
 we knew the bottom of the ocean even better than its 
 surface. Few, if any, Mr. President, felt more deeply 
 interested in this wonderful, nay, most wonderful enter 
 prise, than myself, during the entire labors of your hon 
 ored guest, and no one rejoiced more in the result. And 
 although I do not consider that our Navy had an equal 
 share in the final contest with the elements in establishing 
 this bond of union, yet I have an abiding faith that 
 whenever or wherever the navies of Great Britain and 
 the United States unite their efforts for the advancement 
 of civilization, science or humanity, they will seldom, if 
 ever, fail; (cheers;) and I sincerely trust that they may 
 always be so fortunate as to receive the approbation of 
 their fellow-countrymen as in the present case. (Cheers.) 
 That this bond of union which, now unites the two coun 
 tries may never be severed, is our sincere desire ; but 
 should it chance to be, the recent skill and energy dis 
 played by those who laid it, will be sufficient to repair 
 and reunite it. (Loud Applause.) 
 
 SPEECH OF GEN. GEORGE G. MEADE, U. S. ARMY. 
 
 Mr. Low said that he had been instructed to read a 
 toast which had been unintentionally and by error omitted 
 from the regular list. It was : 
 
55 
 
 " The Army of the United States, represented by the hero of Gettys- 
 burgh." (Loud cheers.) 
 
 As General MEADE rose to reply, the cheering was 
 renewed, and continued for some time. When quiet was 
 restored, he said : 
 
 LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN or THE CHAMBER OF COM 
 MERCE : If I had been consulted I should have protested 
 against any error having been made on this occasion. I 
 do not see why I should have been brought before you 
 at this particular moment. I came here after having 
 travelled a hundred miles on a labor of love and of duty 
 to do honor to your distinguished guest, the hero of this 
 evening, and the only one, in my judgment, who is enti 
 tled to any consideration on this occasion. (Cheers.) I 
 have watched with eagerness the struggle through which 
 he has passed, and the disasters which attended his early 
 efforts ; and I have admired and applauded from the 
 bottom of my heart the tenacity of purpose with which 
 that man has continued to hold on to his original idea, 
 with a firm faith to carry to completion one of the greatest 
 works this world has ever seen. (Cheers.) I came here, 
 therefore, to do him honor, and to show by my presence, 
 as far as I could in my humble capacity, how much I 
 respect him for all the qualities he has shown, which have 
 made him not only the representative of this great city, 
 but of our country, and, indeed, I may say of the world. 
 (Cheers.) Now, for what you have said of the army, be 
 pleased to accept my warmest thanks. The army requires 
 but little from me. Its history is known to you. In a 
 community represented by such intelligence and educa 
 tion as I see before me now, the deeds of this army and 
 its record are too well known to need any recital on my 
 part. It would be a work of supererogation. At this 
 
56 
 
 late hour I will say nothing of what the army has done. I 
 will only pledge you that in the future the army will do 
 as in 'the past it always has done its duty, (cheers,) and 
 endeavor to uphold the honor, the integrity and the flag 
 of our common country. (Loud cheers.) 
 
 The Chair read the next regular toast : 
 
 " Captain ANDERSON and the officers of the Great Eastern, and the 
 other ships engaged in the late expedition they deserve the thanks not 
 only of their own country, but of the civilized world." 
 
 The Chairman called upon Rev. Dr. HITCHCOCK to 
 respond. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK, D. D. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN : I promise you 
 the greatest brevity in my discourse. It is now nearly 
 1900 years since the poet VIRGIL set sail from the eastern 
 shore of Italy for Athens. On the eve of his departure, 
 his friend, HORACE, indited one of his most felicitous odes, 
 in which he inveighed against the audacity of the human 
 race. " The strength of triple brass," he says, " must 
 have girded about the breast of that man who first 
 launched his frail barque on the savage sea." This, Mr. 
 President, was not the extravagance of poetry ; it was 
 not the timidity of an uncommercial age and people. No 
 man can go to sea in this our day, in the fastest ship, with 
 out wondering that any vessel gets safely across the tre 
 mendous expanse. No man passes through these roaring 
 waters without admiring the heroism of every commander, 
 of every sailor who undertakes it. It is a great thing to 
 cross these three thousand miles of barren, tempestuous 
 sea, and science will never annihilate the peril. Ask any 
 
57 
 
 experienced commander, and he will tell you he wonders 
 so many ships keep afloat. 
 
 HORACE inveighs against PROMETHEUS, who stole fire 
 from Heaven. I beg to know what the Roman poet would 
 have said, had he lived in our times and found both auda 
 cities combined the sea crossed and the lightning sent 
 through its bosom ! (Applause.) 
 
 This, I dare to say, is the most stupendous achievement 
 in the history of our kind upon the globe ; and we are 
 to regard this achievement, not boastingly, but in all hu 
 mility. The Providence of God has been with us. The 
 u Great Eastern " was accounted a commercial blunder. 
 It was u the wisdom of God and the power of God," in 
 order to this great enterprise. This " commercial blun 
 der" was necessary to its success. But for the "Great 
 Eastern, " the Atlantic cable would not now be laid. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 In regard to the English people, before coming to Capt. 
 ANDERSON, one word. I appreciate the enterprise of 
 America in regard to all those lines of oceanic communi- 
 catioji which American capital has set on foot ; but I 
 think no man has crossed the ocean which roars between 
 us and England, without confessing that the English 
 nation has surpassed all others in building ships for this 
 purpose, fast and sure. 
 
 This Cunard line has yet sent no ship to the bottom. 
 It has taken every man safely across. It is a grand 
 achievement, and we must acknowledge it, to the credit 
 of the English nation. (Applause.) 
 
 Gapt. ANDERSON is not a man in the dull routine of 
 English service. He is a scientific man ; a well read man ; 
 he is a cultured man. I saw him first (and the only time) 
 in the house of our friend, Mr. FIELD, just before he set 
 sail on his last passage to England, intending to go in the 
 
58 
 
 " Great Eastern," to lay the cable, a year ago when it 
 failed. Nevertheless, seeing how assured the man was, 
 how cool, how balanced, I felt persuaded, in spite of all 
 sceptics might say, that the thing would, at some time, 
 somehow or other, be done. (Applause.) I felt as I 
 did when I met Mr. FIELD in Paris when he gave me a 
 piece of the cable, (that he may be interested to learn I 
 left with the Monks on St. Bernard, much to their 
 delight) that somehow the thing would be done ; because 
 all things are possible to faith faith conquers all obstacles. 
 It was the faith of Capt. ANDERSON, and the faith of Mr.. 
 FIELD, above all, that insured the success of the experi 
 ment. (Applause.) 
 
 But now I have to repeat to you one thing more about 
 this Capt. ANDERSON, and with that I will close. He has 
 the generosity of a sailor ; and if there be in England any 
 men, or any man, at all disposed to lessen the credit of our 
 countryman in regard to this great enterprise, Capt. 
 ANDERSON is not one of those men is not that man. 
 (Cheers.) When the cable was safely landed this sum 
 mer at Heart's Content, a dinner was given on board the 
 " Great Eastern' 7 by Capt. ANDERSON to the officers of the 
 telegraphic fleet, at which he said, in presence of all who 
 had borne a part in that achievement, and who might 
 justly feel that their own share in contributing to the 
 general result should not be forgotten, that u he begged 
 to' congratulate all who had been engaged in the work, 
 but no living man, in his opinion, was deserving of more 
 credit than CYRUS W. FIELD, to whose energy, perseverance 
 and active exertions the world was mainly indebted for the 
 great work now so happily terminated." (Applause.) 
 
 Our friend, I am persuaded, would be among the last 
 to depreciate the share of Providence in this great work 
 would be among the last to lessen the just reputation of 
 
59 
 
 any man on the other side of the Atlantic ; and yet it is 
 due to him that we say, that the one name which could 
 not have been dropped, without a fatal issue to the enter 
 prise, was the name of CYRUS W. FIELD. (Applause.) 
 Whatever other man might have been spared, this man 
 could not have been spared. He was the sine qua non of 
 success in this grand enterprise ; and we honor this robust 
 Englishman, this honest sailor, for confessing it. (En 
 thusiastic cheers.) 
 
 The CHAIRMAN read the next toast : 
 
 " The Capitalists of England and America who use their wealth 
 to achieve great enterprises, and leave behind them enduring monuments 
 of their wise munificence." 
 
 He called upon Rev. Dr. LITTLE JOHN, of Brooklyn, to 
 respond. 
 
 ADDRESS OF REV. A. N. LITTLEJOHN, D. D. 
 
 Mr. CHAIRMAN: 
 
 Standing as I do in the presence of so many whose 
 words would have more weight, I might be pardoned for 
 hesitating to respond to the very important sentiment 
 just announced. But, sir, fully persuaded that every con 
 sideration of justice and propriety demands that that 
 sentiment should find a conspicuous place in the thoughts 
 and associations which this occasion suggests, I shall 
 endeavor, though with necessary brevity, to point the 
 impressive moral which it embodies. We could not, 
 indeed, suitably commemorate the triumph whose chief 
 agent we are assembled to honor, and whose intrinsic 
 greatness will make it one of the landmarks of the century, 
 without a formal and emphatic recognition of those 
 sagacious, large-hearted capitalists of England and America 
 
60 
 
 who so nobly represented in that memorable enterprise 
 the wealth of the two countries. (Cheers.) 
 
 For, though science and the useful arts had prepared 
 the way for it ; though the prophetic instincts of two con 
 tinents had ripened into a passionate hope for its achieve 
 ment, yet, without wealth freely, deliberately, repeatedly 
 ventured even to the limit, as we have heard to-night 
 from Mr. FIELD, of sinking over twelve millions of dollars 
 before success was attained without wealth under the 
 sway of an intelligence so enlarged by culture, by com 
 merce, by love for the best interests of an advancing 
 civilization as to grasp the world's want, and be ready to 
 risk much to meet it the success we celebrate to-night 
 would have been impossible. All honor, therefore, to 
 those whose wealth saved from failure this long-doubted, 
 often-tried, but now historic triumph of genius over space, 
 of character over difficulties once deemed insurmountable, 
 of the outstretched arms of two kindred nations over the 
 wide waste of waters rolling between them. (Applause.) 
 
 But very justly this sentiment alludes to these capitalists 
 only as representatives of a class whom the intellect, the 
 benevolence and the Christianity of the age are quick to 
 discover and never reluctant to honor. It suggests many 
 special and collateral questions of interest which I may 
 not now be permitted to discuss. I shall not, therefore, 
 attempt to enter into the record which the capital of our 
 time has been making for itself, and neither shall I speak 
 of wealth as an object of honorable ambition, nor of the 
 unhappy extent to which it has, in many quarters, invited 
 and justified the charges of selfishness, negligence and 
 profligacy. Passing over these topics, I shall call atten 
 tion to a more general and, in relation to this occasion, 
 more commanding thought. By the operation of many 
 causes, wealth has been advanced to a position of power 
 
61 
 
 in our modern life which renders it a question of mo 
 mentous interest how, on the whole, that power will! be 
 used by what examples, by what purposes and inspira 
 tions it will be guided. As aristocracies of blood and of 
 royal patent wilt and wither under our nineteenth century 
 sunlight, so that of wealth, wielded by educated intelli 
 gence, puts in a more definite and positive claim for ruler- 
 ship and authority. Therefore, every event, every charac 
 ter, every action of those whom fortune or industry and 
 talent have placed in this class, has a special significance 
 as showing how society is likely to be governed by this 
 rising force. 
 
 Heretofore the accumulation of wealth has been the 
 standing theme of our current economies. The sources 
 whence it is derived, the laws regulating the exchanges 
 of values, soil, climate, labor, machinery, skilled industry 
 and kindred subjects, have been discussed and sifted until 
 the common mind of to-day rivals in acuteness, in sagacity 
 and general knowledge the best thinkers and educators of 
 a generation since. But now our enormous material de 
 velopment and the diversified interests of society have 
 pushed into the foreground of public thought another and 
 more important question the question of the right use 
 and healthy distribution of wealth how it shall be made 
 tributary to the best interests of our expanding life how 
 it shall be brought to do the work which humanity needs 
 and which Providence commands. Certainly there are 
 abundant proofs of the growing subordination of the ma 
 terial to the moral aspects of capital. Its cold, heavy 
 bulk begins to be penetrated and stirred by the leaven of 
 kindlier sympathies. The soft showers of an approaching 
 tenderness drop with genial welcome upon its ribs of iron 
 and granite. It invites and listens with respectful interest 
 to the discussion of problems affecting at once its safety 
 
62 
 
 and its duty, from which only a few years ago it would 
 have turned in moody silence or open disgust. It begins 
 to see God's own heralds of admonition and rebuke in the 
 groans and tears of virtuous poverty. The moral of 
 naked backs and empty stomachs and half sheltered bodies 
 amid limitless abundance, it begins to understand. We, 
 sir, are passing into a period which, to say the least, will 
 rate the energy which heaps up, lower than the beneficent 
 wisdom which scatters. Men that live only to fill the 
 coffers of private selfishness men who bury their hard- 
 earned talent in profitless isolation men who seize the 
 fleeces of sheep which they have not fed, but left to 
 wander over lonely moors such men the large, hopeful 
 and sympathetic spirit of our time will estimate at their 
 true worth ; nay, will find hands to plough them under as 
 the rust and dross of a generous and humane civilization. 
 But happily it is laid upon me to speak of another sort 
 of character of men on both sides the water who will 
 leave enduring monuments of their wise munificence, and 
 will turn their wealth to the achievement of enterprises 
 which in their final influence shall bless not one, but every 
 continent of the globe. It is for these that I rise to 
 invoke the special regard and admiration of this assembly 
 men who are moved by a profound sense of the duties 
 as well as of the dignities of wealth men who make it a 
 conscience to believe that, as capital is the fruit of the 
 energies, the opportunities and securities of civilization, 
 so in turn capital should be its helper, its ornament and 
 safeguard men who are doing more than any thing else 
 to redeem us from the painful and dishonoring imputation 
 of living in an age 
 
 Of quicken 7 d brains and hearts of stone, 
 Which only tends to sordid ends, 
 And whets the appetite for gain. 
 
63 
 
 Aye, sir, men who are at work upon the stupendous 
 moral miracle of transforming riches from the traditional 
 root of evil into a fountain of healing waters for the igno 
 rant, the wretched and the oppressed of every land. Such 
 are the BRASSEYS. the FENDERS, the WORTLEYS, the ELLIOTS, 
 the BARCLAYS, the BEWLEYS and the GOOCHS of Great 
 Britain, with whose deeds we are more familiar than with 
 their names. Such, too, (and I may name only a few from 
 a list growing larger and richer every year,) are the 
 MLNTURNS, the COOPERS, the CORNELLS, the Lows, (ap 
 plause,) the DODGES, the TAYLORS, of America. Such, too 
 most illustrious example of all is our own PEABODY, 
 (applause,) (for him no plural may be used, for he has no 
 twin name as yet on either side of the sea,) whose un 
 paralleled munificence to the cause of charity, the cause of 
 education and science, the tongue of envy and detraction 
 cannot lessen. PEABODY ! Sir, to use the words of a poet 
 whose voice has just reached us from England : 
 
 Where'er that honored name is heard, 
 
 The tears will gleam in woman's eyes, 
 The hearts of men will stir and creep, 
 
 And blessings to their lips will rise. 
 
 Though Science joined the sundered worlds, 
 
 It needed yet what he has done ; 
 The noblest actions, meekly wrought, 
 
 Have knit the hearts of both in one. 
 
 It is these men, and the class to which they belong, 
 who lift capital out of the atmosphere of sordid vulgarity, 
 and clothe it with honor. It is men of this mould who 
 interpret and embody the true instinct of safety in the 
 vast accumulations of living talent and industry. Their 
 spirit, their enterprise, their endeavors to promote the 
 public good, constitute the only shield and buckler 
 
64 
 
 which shall securely protect our growing wealth against 
 the class jealousies, violences and anarchies which, sooner 
 or later, will spring from our intense, restless, many-sided 
 and often tumultuous democratic life. Men of this 
 stamp, let us not question, are writing their names 
 upon something better than pyramids, mausoleums, 
 palaces and broad acres the petty ambition of monarchs 
 and conquerors even upon the hearts of this and of 
 coming generations. (Applause.) 
 
 England and America, long affiliated by a thousand 
 ties of blood, literature, commerce, government and 
 religion, but now, at last, fused into one, by the electric 
 flame which makes the consciousness of each the living 
 segment of a common brain : may the wealth of both be 
 consecrated more and more to the permanent interests of 
 a Christian civilization. (Prolonged cheers.) 
 
 The following sentiment was next read : 
 
 While expressing our grateful appreciation of the energy and sagacity 
 that practically achieved the spanning of the Atlantic by the electric 
 current, let us not fail to do honor to those whose genius and patient 
 investigation of the laws of nature furnished the scientific knowledge 
 requisite to success. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN said he had a letter from Prof. HENRY, 
 who was assigned to respond to this toast, which was 
 too long to read, but would be published in the pro 
 ceedings. It was their duty, in this connection, also 
 to propose the health of Prof. MOUSE ; for, when we 
 revert to the history of electricity and its usefulness to 
 mankind, we had to go back to him ; and even at this 
 late hour he would propose the health of Prof. MORSE. 
 (Drank with applause.) 
 
65 
 
 The CHAIRMAN read the following letter from Hon. 
 WASHINGTON HUNT, Ex-Governor of New-York : 
 
 NEW-YORK, 202 FIFTH AVENUE, Nov. IQth, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I regret that the feeble state of my health forbids my acceptance of 
 your invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner, " to exchange 
 " congratulations on the happy result of his efforts in the great work of 
 " uniting, by telegraph, the Old World with the New." 
 
 It would be gratifying to me to participate with you, in celebrating an 
 event which must be regarded as the crowning achievement of an age, 
 so remarkable for its majestic progress in inventions and improvements, 
 calculated to promote the interests of civilization, and the welfare of 
 mankind ; and if it were possible, I would gladly join in rendering due 
 honor to your distinguished guest, to whose enlightened energy and 
 unconquerable perseverance we are so largely indebted, for the final 
 consummation of this great and difficult enterprise. 
 
 By this new and wonderful agency, transmitting intelligence under 
 mighty oceans and over the loftiest mountains, to the uttermost parts of 
 the earth, new relations are created between the nations of the world. 
 However remote, they are brought closely together, and united by fresh 
 ties of interest, sympathy and peace, which cannot but exert a beneficent 
 influence upon their future career and destiny. 
 
 While the New World is indebted to the Old, for so large a share of 
 the arts of humanity and civilization, it is a source of just national pride, 
 that we are enabled, in some degree, to requite the obligation, by the 
 successful efforts of American intellect and invention. We cannot forget 
 that the sublime instrumentality of the telegraph, by which a new light is 
 diffused over the face of the globe, was conceived and perfected by the 
 matchless genius and skill of one of our countrymen, whose name will be 
 revered and honored by all the nations, during all coming time. 
 I remain, gentlemen, with great regard, yours truly, 
 
 WASHINGTON HUNT. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 WILLIAM E. DODGE, 
 JONATHAN STURGES, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 
 
 Committee. 
 5 
 
66 
 
 The next toast in order was 
 
 Commerce and the Atlantic Cable prime agent and instrument of 
 man's advancement, through accelerated intercourse between the Old 
 World and the New, 
 
 Responded to by the Chairman of the Committee, Hon. 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, late Mayor of the City of New- York. 
 
 SPEECH OF THE HON. GEORGE OPDYKE. 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT : 
 
 The message you have just received from Capt. ANDER 
 SON to the honored guest on your right, which has been 
 flashed through the wires this evening from London to the 
 room in which we are assembled, affords ocular demon 
 stration of the fact that time is no longer a necessary ele 
 ment in the transmission of intelligence across the Atlantic. 
 This great truth, though now clearly established, is at once 
 so novel and so astounding that we are as yet unprepared 
 to realize its full significance. That its results must be 
 most beneficent ; that it will brush away, as with the ma 
 gician's wand, one of the chief hindrances to the world's 
 progress ; that it will promote the commercial intercourse, 
 the prosperity and the peace of the world, we all instinct 
 ively feel and believe. But we must await the teachings 
 of experience before we attempt an exact portraiture of 
 the benefits that this accelerated intercourse will confer. 
 
 The sentiment you have asked me to respond to, cor 
 rectly implies that these benefits, whatever may be their 
 extent, must be looked for chiefly through the mediation 
 of commerce. Commerce is the great agency for pro 
 moting the social as well as the commercial intercourse of 
 men and of nations. Its operations and its influence are 
 world wide. It binds the human family together by a 
 
67 
 
 chain of inter-dependence and a community of thought. 
 Its office is to supply the mutual wants of man by ex 
 changing the surplus products of every individual of every 
 nationality. In performing this service it enlarges the 
 aggregate production of wealth by permitting the division 
 of employments ; and it widens the circle of human en 
 joyments by placing within the reach of all the produc 
 tions of every clime. In effecting the exchange of 
 commodities it necessarily leads to an interchange of ideas 
 and opinions, through which knowledge is diffused, pre 
 judices obliterated, and the race thus elevated to a higher 
 state of civilization and refinement. (Applause.) 
 
 The usefulness of commerce is measured by the free 
 dom and celerity of its movements. Its votaries are con 
 stantly striving for means of accelerated intercourse. To 
 overcome the obstacles that beset its path, they have 
 dotted the ocean with ships, and grooved the land with a 
 labyrinth of rail-roads and canals. But these efficient aux 
 iliaries have not satisfied the aspirations of modern com 
 merce. In this age of mighty progress, it has longed for 
 increased facilities in the transmission of intelligence. 
 Thanks to the genius of Prof. MORSE and his co-laborers 
 in physical science, it has recently been furnished, like 
 the animal organism, with a system of nerves through 
 which it may transmit its volitions with the quickness of 
 thought. But until now this network of electric nerves 
 has been bisected by the Atlantic, so that every inter 
 continental volition or message that reached either shore 
 of that broad ocean, was arrested in its course and sub 
 jected to at least ten days' delay in its ferriage across. 
 The restless spirit of commercial enterprise could not well 
 brook such delay. But how to devise a remedy was a 
 question not easily answered. The problem seemed as 
 difficult of solution as any with which the human mind 
 
68 
 
 had ever grappled. Thanks to the distinguished gentle 
 man whom we have met to honor, and his associates in the 
 great enterprise, the problem has been solved ; the diffi 
 culties have been met and overcome. The continental 
 sections have been united by a spinal electric cord 
 stretched across the bottom of the Atlantic. The electric 
 nerves of commerce are now a unit, and co-extensive with 
 its entire domain. Two thousand miles of watery space 
 have been, for purposes of communication, practically con 
 densed into as many inches, and ten days of time into as 
 many seconds; and we now find ourselves virtually with 
 in speaking distance of all Europe. (Applause.) 
 
 Mr. President, it may appear to some that I have 
 unduly magnified the functions of commerce, in calling 
 the electric telegraph its nervous system. I am aware 
 that that instrument has also its political and social 
 uses in the transmission of diplomatic notes and messages 
 of friendship and affection. But these are as nothing 
 compared with those connected with commerce. A 
 gentleman familiar with the subject informs me that 
 the chief revenue of all our telegraphic lines is derived 
 from despatches directly relating to commerce. If we 
 should embrace those indirectly connected with it, and 
 growing out of it. we should find but an infinitesimal 
 remainder. 
 
 It is most fitting, therefore, that the Chamber of 
 Commerce of New- York should do honor to one of its 
 own members who, from first to last, has been the 
 leading spirit of the great work which has placed this 
 commercial emporium of the continent in instant com 
 munication with the whole commercial world. It is 
 also proper, that the commercial interest, everywhere, 
 should acknowledge its obligations to him who has 
 been so instrumental in conferring on it, and, through 
 
69 
 
 it, on the world at large, this inestimable boon. In 
 truth, all must instinctively honor the sagacity that 
 projected, the moral courage that inaugurated, and the 
 heroic faith that accomplished a telegraphic union of 
 the continents a union which cannot fail to give a 
 quickening impulse, not merely to the interchange of 
 ideas and products, but to the future advancement 
 of humanity. (Applause.) 
 
 The next toast was as follows : 
 
 " Works of intercommunication by land and by sea ; the distinguishing 
 features of the nineteenth century." 
 
 The CHAIRMAN, in announcing the toast above proposed, 
 called for an answer from Hon. SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, former 
 President of the Board of Canal Commissioners of the 
 State of New- York, and a Director of the Erie Railway in 
 its early stages. 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. SAMUEL B. RUGGLES. 
 
 The nineteenth century, Mr. CHAIRMAN, begs to return 
 you its respectful acknowledgments for the favorable view 
 of its character presented in the sentiment just proposed. 
 If there be aught of presumption in thus speaking in its 
 behalf even on your kind invitation, some excuse may, 
 perhaps, be found in the fact, that in the order of things, 
 I was permitted to enter the world but a few weeks after 
 the birth of the century ; that I have lived with it, through 
 its infancy, its early youth, its advancing and advanced 
 manhood, up to this, the mellow autumn of our days. 
 During this period, I have seen many, if not most, of its 
 men on this side of the Atlantic, and some on the other, 
 whose genius and energy have called into being and 
 
70 
 
 pushed to completion the public works of intercommuni 
 cation, which have won for the century its present proud 
 pre-eminence in the history of the world. Among these 
 men, conspicuously stands the far-seeing, self-sustaining, 
 indefatigable countryman of ours, that we now so gladly 
 welcome the civic hero, who, after years of conflict, van 
 quishing and enchaining the ocean, has reduced it to cap 
 tivity for the service of man the peaceful conqueror, tri 
 umphantly returning from his fifty voyages, to receive 
 the outpouring and well-earned gratitude of his country 
 and of the human race. 
 
 The story of this matchless victory over Nature, has 
 been too well told this evening to need any addition, so 
 that my remarks will be confined to one or two of the 
 principal continental antecedents which stimulated the 
 great achievement. I refer especially to the previous pre 
 paration by the public works on the Western and on the 
 Eastern Continents, for the sublime conjunction which we 
 now commemorate. 
 
 The necessity and the duty of improving and reforming 
 the surface of the globe we inhabit, has been for ages the 
 subject of difference and controversy. 
 
 Mankind, as a modern writer well observes, will always 
 consist of two grand divisions, the Hopeful and the Fear 
 ful. The former school, of which our honored guest is a 
 shining ornament, and to which I humbly claim to belong, 
 holds the physical improvement of the outspread lands 
 and waters committed to the care of Man by the Great 
 Architect of Nations, which shall most vigorously and 
 effectually evolve their dormant capacities, to be not only 
 demanded by the highest national interests, political, pe 
 cuniary and moral, but an absolute and solemn duty, ex 
 pressly enjoined by the All-wise Creator in His primeval 
 injunction to ''replenish and subdue the earth." 
 
71 
 
 It was in the tender infancy of our present century, 
 that the important secret was disclosed to Man that the 
 waters of the globe might be practically navigated by 
 steam. It was my privilege, in 1807, to see the first 
 slender shallop of ROBERT FULTON, 16^ feet broad, and 
 130 feet long, partially decked, and carrying one small, 
 but well made, engine, ascend the Hudson. Our noble 
 river was the scene of his first success, but he saw and 
 said that the Mississippi would behold his final and great 
 est triumph. Had Providence spared his precious life to 
 the present hour, he would have seen the lineal and legiti 
 mate descendant of that little river steamboat, in the 
 u Great Eastern," the giant steamer of the ocean, not only 
 bearing twenty thousand tons with two thousand miles of 
 telegraphic cable across the deep, but experimentally 
 solving the tremendous ocean problem of strength resist 
 ing stress, and scientifically reducing the wildest commo 
 tion of the Atlantic to an algebraic equation. 
 
 It was but little more than twenty years from this first 
 success on the Hudson, and during the early manhood of 
 our century, that steam, the mightiest monarch of modern 
 days, entered on its next career of conquest, in navigating 
 the land. The railway locomotive made its first appear 
 ance on our continent in the year 1829. The camel has 
 been figuratively, perhaps fancifully, denominated the 
 "ship of the desert;" but is not the train of a thousand 
 tons, swiftly drawn by the locomotive through the wilder 
 ness; with equal truth a railway "fleet" sailing with re 
 doubled speed across the solid land ? It is this funda 
 mental transformation this fluidifying the earth, so to 
 speak, which imparts to the railway its transcendent con 
 tinental power, and its highest political value. 
 
 It has been the steady aim during the present century 
 of the enlightened projectors of the public works within 
 
72 
 
 the limits of the American Union, to render them, as far 
 as practicable, continental in character. 
 
 As early as 1810, seven years before the Erie Canal 
 was commenced, DE WITT CLINTON prophetically saw it, 
 as JEneas saw Rome, in all its future grandeur. His eagle 
 eye could not be limited by the narrow horizon of a single 
 State, however imperial. He saw his State, in all its am 
 plitude, as only the receptacle and custodian of the majestic 
 trunk, and with equal clearness of vision he discerned the 
 widespread and outspread branches laden with golden 
 fruit, covering the magnificent basin of the Upper Lakes 
 and the vast continental Valley of the Mississippi. 
 
 On the 3d of November, 1835, the first spadeful of earth 
 was deposited at sunrise on the Erie Railway. Within 
 the personal knowledge of some of us now here, that 
 momentous act was then proclaimed to be the commence 
 ment of one, continuous, continental line from the Bay of 
 New- York to the shores of the Pacific. In the thirty 
 years which have elapsed since the birth of this great 
 artery, it has been connected, directly or indirectly, with 
 the whole system of American railways, now embracing a 
 lineal extent exceeding thirty-six thousand miles, while 
 the interior links of the yet unfinished chain, under the 
 Presidency of General Dix, are at this moment eagerly 
 advancing westward and onward, to grapple with the 
 giant ranges of snow-clad Cordilleras, kindly interposed 
 by Providence to try our courage, between the Missouri 
 and our Great Western Ocean. 
 
 I am well aware, that it is not the mere expenditure of 
 money that makes either men or nations great, or which 
 can give to centuries a just historic pre-eminence. But it 
 nevertheless may be well to know, that the sum already 
 actually expended in carrying forward the railways in the 
 American Union, now exceeds thirteen hundred and 
 
73 
 
 eighty millions of dollars. It far transcends the total ex 
 penditure, in any preceding century, by any and all of 
 the nations of the earth, upon any or all of their works of 
 intercommunication. Nay, more. It actually exceeds 
 the sum total expended by all the civilized nations known 
 in history, whether ancient or modern, whether for 
 roads, or bridges, or canals, or aqueducts, or lighthouses, 
 or artificial ports, in the long line of eight and twenty 
 centuries, from the reign of Solomon, the first " internal 
 improvement" monarch of Israel, to the death of the first 
 Napoleon, within the present century. 
 
 Nor have our neighbors across the Atlantic failed to do 
 their duty to the age we live in. Within the same thirty 
 years, railways of great perfection and solidity of execu 
 tion, challenging comparison with the proudest works of 
 utility in the ancient world, have made their way into the 
 various nations of European Christendom, until the scat 
 tered links, at first disconnected, have virtually come to 
 gether in one continuous European continental system, 
 having a lineal development exceeding thirty thousand 
 miles, and at a cost exceeding seven hundred millions of 
 pounds sterling, or three thousand five hundred millions 
 of dollars. 
 
 The marvellous changes wrought in both the conti 
 nents, by these two great continental systems overspread 
 ing their surface, have practically transformed or reformed 
 their whole commercial anatomy. The new arteries, with 
 the hundreds of connecting veins opened by these capa 
 cious channels, richly filled with the vivifying blood of 
 commerce in active circulation, have imparted new and 
 youthful life and vigor to vast districts of interior or 
 secluded territory, formerly inaccessible, inert or torpid, 
 funishing cheap and convenient outlets for the products 
 of their industry to all the lands and waters of the globe. 
 
74 
 
 Not to mention the rapid increase of population, the vig 
 orous communities called into being, the greatly increased 
 power of locomotion of every individual, the accelerated 
 movement of national forces, and the many other elements 
 of political strength, the yearly saving alone in the cost 
 of transporting persons and property, in each of the con 
 tinents, is now at least five hundred millions of dollars ; 
 which immense amount, annually swelling, must roll on 
 ward and upward for generations to come. 
 
 But what, after all, was the power of saving even 
 these enormous sums in the transportation over the 
 continents of gross material products in persons and 
 property, compared with the higher, more intellectual, 
 more ethereal office of expediting and cheapening the 
 transmission of intelligence and thought throughout their 
 wide expanse ? Teeming as they were with the added 
 wealth set in such animated motion, had not the electric 
 telegraph become an immediate, an absolute, a world- wide 
 necessity ? Had not the time arrived, for our own 
 MORSE to appear ? Was it not the very hour for the 
 genius of the nineteenth century to wave his wand, and 
 evoke from the deep sleep of Nature that mysterious 
 power, by whose subtle agency time and space might be 
 annihilated ? 
 
 The first slender telegraphic wire, with a petty electric 
 apparatus in the Capitol, was put up by MORSE between 
 Washington and Baltimore in 1844. Within twenty 
 years, it ramified through all the States of the American 
 Union, and crossing the mountains and plains of the 
 great interior, was looking out on the Pacific. Its 
 lines, ninety thousand miles in length, under the powerful 
 attraction of the neighboring Russian Empire, so elo 
 quently depicted this evening, were stretching up the 
 Pacific coast and under the polar circle, to reach, by 
 
75 
 
 an immense continental circuit of nearly ten thousand 
 miles, the Oriental and Southern nations of Asia. 
 Europe was also vivified by a connected net- work 
 of wires exceeding sixty thousand miles in length, 
 transmitting its varied and multiform intelligence, with 
 lightning speed, to its Atlantic coast. Continental 
 distance on land had ceased to exist, but a yawning 
 gulf in the deep abyss of the Atlantic yet remained to 
 separate the Hemispheres. 
 
 Such, then, were the continental antecedents which 
 led our honored guest to enter on his long and arduous, 
 but, thanks be to God, his victorious career. He found 
 the Continents mutually glowing with the fervor of their 
 rich and newly awakened commerce, gazing wishfully 
 at each other across this ocean gulf. Marriage had 
 become indispensable. Our distinguished guest was the 
 " Friar Lawrence," who "made" them "incorporate, two 
 
 in one." 
 
 This difficult achievement in thus uniting the continents 
 was no random performance, no merely fortunate hit, 
 no lucky groping in the dark. So far from that, the 
 animated narrative of the voyages of our benefactor, 
 destined to live in historic literature with the story of 
 COLUMBUS, shows him incessantly holding up the lamp 
 of science, not only guiding his path to sure success, 
 but pointing out the way for all the world to follow. 
 This it is, which lends to his great success its highest, 
 its truly world- wide value. The geographical delineation 
 of the dark and hitherto unfathomed ocean floor, with its 
 myriads of microscopic occupants obediently coming up 
 to reveal the topography of their deep resting-place 
 the accuracy, delicacy and exquisite efficiency of the 
 electric apparatus the mathematical demonstration ac 
 curately establishing the rate of speed for the giant 
 
76 
 
 steamer, consistent with the safety of the telegraphic 
 cable all these weapons of thought, so potent in winning 
 this great victory over Nature, he now presents not alone 
 to his patriotic band of monied associates, to whom all 
 honor be rendered, but to all the governments and 
 peoples of the civilized world. If COLUMBUS, in the 
 words of his epitaph, " gave a new world to Castile and 
 Leon," our cosmopolitan countryman has furnished to 
 both the worlds, the precious scientific knowledge 
 needed for binding themselves forever in harmonious 
 conjunction. 
 
 Here, then, we pause. We have lived to see but 
 a portion of the wondrous epic of the nineteenth 
 century. The rest is yet to come. But some of us 
 now here will live to see its close, with a free and 
 intelligent population of a hundred millions busy with 
 the glorious lands and waters of the American Union, 
 u now and forever one and indivisible." They will then 
 behold the whole available bed of the Atlantic brought 
 by full and careful surveys to geographical certainty, 
 enchained or enslaved by no single work, but striped 
 with cables at all proper and convenient intervals 
 uniting the nations of Western Europe with the 
 American coast, and reducing to the lowest practicable 
 minimum the cost of daily and hourly intercommuni 
 cation between the Continents and they may also 
 behold regenerated Africa holding close communion 
 with all its emancipated brethren in the Western 
 Hemisphere, whether north or south of the Equator. 
 Then will our nineteenth century, already so rich with 
 well-directed efforts, so pregnant with sublime results, 
 fill up its fullest measure of historic fame then may 
 it lie contentedly and confidently down in the common 
 grave of the buried ages, and leave its great example for 
 
77 
 
 the guidance and encouragement of all who may follow 
 " to the last syllable of recorded Time." (Applause.) 
 
 The CHAIRMAN read the two following toasts, to which 
 there was no time for reply : 
 
 The City of New-York The front door of the New World, whose 
 bell-pull is now on the cliffs of Valentia. 
 
 The Cable and the Press. Emitting light from the sea, and spreading 
 it abroad they illuminate the world. 
 
 The former of these was to have been responded to by 
 Hon. JOHN T. HOFFMAN, Mayor of the City of New-York, 
 and the latter by the Rev. HENRY WARD BEECHER ; but 
 in consequence of the lateness of the hour these gentle 
 men had departed to their homes. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN said, the last toast on the list was 
 THE LADIES : 
 
 Who, oh who, with woman near, 
 Forgets not earth and its every thrall ; 
 
 Oh ! who but feels that woman dear, 
 Though last, was the crowning gift of all ! 
 
 (Drank all standing.) 
 
 A vote of thanks was passed to Messrs. WILLIAM T. 
 BLODGETT, MARSHALL LEFFERTS, WILLIAM E. DODGE, JR., 
 Louis LANG, RICHARD M. HUNT, JAMES LORIMER GRAHAM, 
 JR., and GEORGE WILSON, Committee of Arrangements, to 
 which Mr. Louis LANG made a brief response. Referring 
 to the artistic decorations of the room, which represented 
 the earth as in telegraphic communication with the sun 
 and moon, he said he had communicated with the celestial 
 bodies, (he could not tell the secret how,) and engaged 
 them to take part in the exercises. This explained the 
 failure of the meteoric display, that had been announced. 
 
78 
 
 There could be no shower ; for they were all " booked 
 on" here. (Laughter.) 
 
 Mr. OPDYKE : I have a single motion to make, and 
 it is a vote of thanks to the Chairman of the evening, 
 for the able and courteous manner in which he has 
 presided over this festival. You will feel it is eminently 
 his due, when I state that for a whole week his time has 
 been engrossed by correspondence and other duties inci 
 dent to this occasion. 
 
 Carried, with warm applause. 
 
 The band then played a parting air, and the company 
 slowly retired, having enjoyed an evening long to be 
 remembered. 
 
INVITED GUESTS PRESENT. 
 
 HON. LAFAYETTE S. FOSTER, Acting Vice-President of the United States. 
 
 ADMIRAL DAVID G. FARRAGUT, U. S. Navy. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE. U. S. Army. 
 
 REAR-ADMIRAL CHARLES H. BELL, U. S. Navy. 
 
 COMMODORE CADWALADER RINGGOLD, U. S. Navy. 
 
 CAPTAIN ALEXANDER M. PENNOCK, U. S. Navy. 
 
 GENERAL WILLIAM F. SMITH, U. S. Army. 
 
 H. E. SENHOR D'AZAMBUJA, Minister from Brazil. 
 
 H. E. DOMINGO FAUSTINO SARMIENTO, Minister of the Argentine Rep. 
 
 GAULDREE BOILLEAU, ESQ., Consul-General for France. 
 
 C. EDWARD HABICHT, ESQ., Consul-General for Sweden. 
 
 HON. JOHN T. HOFFMAN, Mayor of New-York City. 
 
 HON. STEPHEN J. FIELD, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 HON. HENRY E. DAVIES, Judge of Court of Appeals of New-York. 
 
 HON. DANIEL P. INGRAHAM, Judge Supreme Court of New-York. 
 
 HON. JOSIAH SUTHERLAND, 
 
 HON. THOMAS W. CLERKS, 
 
 HON. ANTHONY L. ROBERTSON, Judge Superior Court " 
 
 HON. CLAUDIUS L. MONELL, 
 
 HON. JOHN M. BARBOUR, 
 
 HON. SAMUEL JONES, 
 
 HON. JOHN H. McCUNN, 
 
 HON. CHARLES P. DALY, Judge Court Common Pleas, 
 
 HON. JOHN R. BRADY, 
 
 HON. RICHARD O'GORMAN. 
 
 HON. HORACE GREELEY. 
 
 HON. HENRY J. RAYMOND. 
 
 HON. JAMES BROOKS. 
 
 HON. GEORGE BANCROFT. 
 
 HON. EZRA CORNELL. 
 
 HON. JOHN JAY. 
 
 HON. DAVID A. WELLS. 
 
 
80 
 
 MOST REV. JOHN McCLOSKET, Archbishop of New-York. 
 
 REV. WILLIAM ADAMS, D. D. 
 
 REV. HENRY W. BELLOWS, D. D. 
 
 REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, D. D. 
 
 REV. ROSWELL D. HITCHCOCK, D. D. 
 
 REV. SAMUEL OSGOOD, D. D. 
 
 REV. HENRY M. FIELD, D. D. 
 
 REV. THOMAS E. VERMILYE, D. D. 
 
 REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER. 
 
 REV. JOSEPH T. DURYEA, D. D. 
 
 REV. A. N. LITTLEJOHN, D. D. 
 
 REV. THOMAS DE WITT, D. D. 
 
 REV. GEORGE L. PRENTISS, D. D. 
 
 REV. EDWARD A. WASHBURN, D. D. 
 
 REV. JAMES G. CRAIGHEAD. 
 
 FREDERICK A. P. BARNARD, LL. D., President Columbia College. 
 
 MARK HOPKINS, LL. D., President Williams College, Mass. 
 
 HORACE WEBSTER, LL. D., President New-York Free College. 
 
 ISAAC FERRIS, LL. D., President New-York University. 
 
 REV. JOHN MACLEAN, D. D., President Princeton College. 
 
 ALONZO CRITTENDEN, LL. D., Principal Packer Institute, Brooklyn. 
 
 DAVID H. COCHRAN, LL. D., Principal Polytechnic Institute, 
 
 PROFESSOR THEODORE W. DWIGHT, LL. D. 
 
 FRANCIS LIEBER, LL. D. 
 
 PROFESSOR J. E. HILGARD, of the Coast Survey, Washington. 
 
 DR. ISAAC I. HAYES, of the Arctic Expedition. 
 
 CHARLES O'CONOR, ESQ. 
 WILLIAM M. EVARTS, ESQ. 
 CHARLES A. DANA, ESQ. 
 DAVID M. STONE, ESQ. 
 CHESTER P. DEWEY, ESQ., 
 SIDNEY E. MORSE, JR., ESQ. 
 FRANK LESLIE, ESQ. 
 EDWARD GARY, ESQ. 
 CHARLES NORDHOFF, ESQ. 
 JAMES TINKER, ESQ. 
 HENRY E. PIERREPONT, ESQ. 
 J. CARSON BREVOORT, ESQ. 
 FREDERICK DE PEYSTER, ESQ. 
 HOWARD POTTER, ESQ. 
 PROSPER M. WETMORE, ESQ. 
 JOSHUA M. VAN COTT, ESQ. 
 O. H. PALMER, ESQ. 
 B. N. McALPINE, ESQ. 
 JAMES LORIMER GRAHAM, JR., ESQ. 
 LOUIS LANG, ESQ. 
 
81 
 
 PERRY McDONOUGH COLLINS, ESQ. 
 THOMAS WALSH, ESQ. 
 THOMAS T. ECKERT, ESQ. 
 ALFRED BIERSTADT, ESQ. 
 EMANUEL LEUTZE, ESQ. 
 LE VICOMTE CHORBAL. 
 AUGUSTUS E. MASTERS, ESQ. 
 RICHARD M. HUNT, ESQ. 
 WILLIAM E. EVERETT, ESQ. 
 CHARLES FORSTMAN, ESQ. 
 CAPTAIN EDWARD G. LOTT. 
 HIRAM SIBLEY, ESQ. 
 JOHN HORNER, ESQ. 
 DUDLEY FIELD, ESQ. 
 WILLIAM F. JUDSON, ESQ. 
 CHARLES GOOCH, ESQ. 
 CHARLES P. KIRKLAND, ESQ. 
 CAMBRIDGE LIVINGSTON, ESQ. 
 THOMAS McELRATH, ESQ. 
 R. W. LOWBER, ESQ. 
 JOHN CROSBY BROWN, ESQ. 
 CHARLES D. DICKEY, ESQ. 
 CHARLES L. TIFFANY, ESQ. 
 THOMAS C. ACTON, ESQ. 
 JOHN A. KENNEDY, ESQ. 
 RICHARD GRANT WHITE, ESQ. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 THE following are among the letters received by the committee in re 
 ply to the card of invitation : 
 
 Letter from tJie President of the United States. 
 
 EXECUTIVE MANSION, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C.,Nov. 10, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I have received your invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at a din 
 ner to be given by the Chamber of Commerce of New- York, on the 15th 
 instant, for the purpose of exchapging " congratulations on the happy 
 result of his efforts in the great work of uniting by telegraph the Old 
 World with the New," and regret that the pressure of public business will 
 not permit me to join you in doing honor to the eminent citizen whose 
 name is so inseparably connected with that great achievement. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 ANDREW JOHNSON. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 
 WM. E. DODGE and others, 
 
 Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, New- York. 
 
 Letter from Hon. SALMON P. CHASE, Chief Justice of the United States. 
 
 WASHINGTON, Nov. 13, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I am very sorry that I cannot leave Washington this week, and so can 
 not avail myself of your kind invitation to join you in congratulation to 
 Mr. FIELD upon the success of his grand undertaking. It is the most 
 wonderful achievement of civilization ; and to his sagacity, patience, 
 perseverance, courage and faith is civilization indebted for it. 
 
84 
 
 New-York, already the greatest city of America, and destined to be 
 come the greatest city of the world, honors herself by honoring a citi 
 zen so deserving and so distinguished. His success has brought her 
 commerce within hail of every considerable port in Europe. The At 
 lantic Telegraph, his work, in connexion with the Russian American 
 Telegraph, originated by another citizen of your State, will make the 
 merchants of New-York next door neighbors to all the merchants of the 
 earth. 
 
 Such works entitle their authors to distinguished rank among public 
 benefactors. You will write the name of your honored guest high upon 
 that illustrious roll, and there it will remain in honor, while oceans divide 
 and Telegraphs unite mankind. 
 
 Yours, very respectfully, 
 
 S. P. CHASE. 
 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 JONATHAN STURGES, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 
 
 Committee of Chamber of Commerce, New- York. 
 
 Letter from Hon. EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary of War. 
 f 
 
 WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, ) 
 November 8, 1866. . j 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your invitation to 
 meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner, on the ] 5th instant, and regret my 
 inability to be present on that occasion. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 EDWIN M. STANTON. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OYDYKE, &c., 
 
 Committee of Chamber of Commerce. 
 
85 
 
 Letter from Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Secretary of the Navy. 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C., November 13, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I am honored with your invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at 
 dinner, on the 15th instant, to exchange congratulations on the happy 
 result of his efforts in the great work of uniting by Telegraph the Old 
 World with the New. 
 
 I shall be happy on all occasions to participate in awarding honors to 
 the indomitable energy, personal worth, and public services of Mr. FIELD, 
 but shall be unable to be present with you on the 15th instant. 
 
 With special regards to him, to the Chamber of Commerce of the 
 State of New-York, and to yourselves, individually, 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 GIDEON WELLES. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 JONATHAN STURGES, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 Letter from Hon. HUGH McCuLLocn, Secretary of the Treasury. 
 
 TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Nov. 8, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 My official duties will not permit me to accept your kind invitation to 
 meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner, at the Metropolitan Hotel, on the 
 15th instant. 
 
 I regard it an honor to be invited to join my fellow-citizens in New- 
 York, in paying honor to one whose name will be forever associated with 
 the great enterprise of the age, the success of which is to be attributed 
 mainly to his strong faith and wonderful persistency. TKe people of the 
 United States have reason to be proud of Mr. FIELD, and they are proud 
 of him. I am pleased to know that you propose to give expression to the 
 
86 
 
 public sentiment in a manner that cannot fail to bo gratifying to him 
 and honorable to New-York. 
 
 I am, very truly, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 HUGH McCuLLOCH. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 JONATHAN STURGES, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 
 
 Committee, New- York. 
 
 Letter from General U. S. GRANT, U. 8. Army. 
 
 HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. 0., Nov. 8, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 Your kind invitation to me to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner on 
 the 15th inst., to exchange congratulations on the success of the great 
 enterprise which has engaged so much of his time for some years, is re 
 ceived. It would afford me great pleasure to be able to accept, but I fear 
 other engagements will prevent. Allow me, however, to express my ap 
 preciation of the enterprise which Mr. FIELD has been engaged in, and 
 to congratulate him upon the success which finally was attained through 
 his perseverance. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 With great respect, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 U. S. GRANT, 
 
 General. 
 To A. A. Low and Gentlemen of Committee. 
 
 Letter from Hon. JOHN A. Dix, Minister to France. 
 
 NEW-YORK, Nov. 14, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 It is with sincere regret that I find myself unable to accept your in 
 vitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner to-morrow, and exchange 
 congratulations with hinron the happy result of his efforts to unite by 
 
8T 
 
 telegraph the Old World and the New. The whole commercial commu 
 nity and, I may add, the whole community of nations owe him a 
 debt of gratitude which cannot well be repaid. He has not only ex- 
 hibite'd extraordinary genius in carrying out the great enterprise of 
 which he has been the chief promoter and agent, but he has displayed 
 that which is often better than genius, a steady and determined persist 
 ence, which no obstacle or discouragement could overcome. I am most 
 happy to unite with you though I cannot do so personally in the ex 
 pression of my respect for his energy and perseverance, and my gratifica 
 tion at a success so triumphant for him and so beneficial to mankind, by 
 facilitating the intercommunication of intelligence and thought. 
 I am, very respectfully yours, 
 
 JOHN A. Dix. 
 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, ") 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 
 _ > Committee. 
 
 JONATHAN OTURGES, 
 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, J 
 
 Letter from Vice-Admiral DAVID D. PORTER, U. 8. Navy. 
 
 U. S. NAVAL ACADEMY, ANNAPOLIS, MD., Nov. 7, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : I have received your polite invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS 
 W. FIELD at dinner on the 15th, " to exchange congratulations on the happy 
 result of- his efforts in uniting by telegraph the Old and New Worlds." 
 It would give me great pleasure to accept your invitation, but the 
 pressure of my official duties will prevent my attendance. 
 I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, ^^ 
 Your obedient servant, ' 
 
 DAVID D. PORTER, 
 Vice-Admiral and Sup't N. A. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEO. OPDYKE, 
 
 WM. E. DODGE and others, Committee. 
 
 Letter from His Excellency Sir FREDERICK BRUCE, Enwy Extraordinary and 
 Minister Plenipotentiary from Great Britain at Washington. 
 
 BRITISH LEGATION, WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 1866. 
 Sir FREDERICK BRUCE has the honor to acknowledge the receipt of 
 
the invitation to be present at the dinner given to Mr. FIELD on the 
 completion of the Atlantic Telegraph. He would gladly have attended 
 at the tribute so justly paid to the energy and exertion of Mr. FIELD in 
 carrying through this great enterprise, but his engagements put it out of 
 his power to leave Washington at present. 
 
 To the Committee, Chamber of Commerce, New - York. 
 
 Letter from His Excellency Senor M. ROMERO, Envoy Extraordinary and Minis 
 ter Plenipotentiary for Mexico at Washington. 
 
 LEGACION MEXICANA EN LOS E. UNIDOS DE AMERICA, 
 
 WASHINGTON, November *lth, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I had the honor of receiving this morning the invitation with which 
 the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New- York favored me, to 
 meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD at dinner, on Thursday, the 15th instant, at 
 six o'clock, P. M., at the Metropolitan Hotel, in the City of New-York, 
 to exchange congratulations on the happy result of his efforts in the 
 great work of uniting by telegraph the Old World with the New. 
 
 It would afford me, gentlemen, very great pleasure were I allowed to 
 do so, to participate in that significant demonstration with which the 
 great City of New-York celebrates one of the most extraordinary and 
 useful feats of human skill and perseverance. But, unfortunately, my 
 public duties at this critical period for my country will not permit me 
 to leave Washington for the present. 
 
 I most heartily congratulate the merchants of New-York who have 
 contributed so much to the success of that enterprise in which the Gov 
 ernment and people of Mexico have so deep an interest, hoping soon to 
 be able to fully reap its advantages. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, with high respect, 
 Your most obedient servant, 
 
 M. ROMERO. 
 Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDTKE, 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 JONATHAN STURGES, 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, 
 
 Committee of Invitation 
 of the Neic- York Cham 
 ber of Commerce, New 
 York City. 
 
89 
 
 Letter from Hon. E. D. MORGAN, of the United States Senate. 
 
 NEW-YORK, November 13, 1866. 
 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I have had the honor to receive your invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. 
 FIELD at dinner on Thursday next, to exchange congratulations on the 
 happy result of his efforts in the great work of constructing the Atlantic 
 Telegraph. 
 
 I shall be deprived the pleasure of accepting the invitation, but this 
 compliment to Mr. FIELD is most richly deserved ; for if there is any one man 
 to whom, more than to any other, and to all others combined, the country 
 is indebted for having been chiefly instrumental in uniting by telegraph 
 through mid-ocean " the Old World with the New," that man is CYRUS 
 W. FIELD. 
 
 The fire that he kindled, and which now runs from shore to shore, 
 will illuminate both continents, and by its bright light, nations, as well as 
 individuals, will be conducted to a higher degree of civilization, and to a 
 greater progress. 
 
 No one, then, need be surprised at an outburst of gratitude t,o the 
 individual who had the genius to conceive this magnificent but perilous 
 undertaking, and the courage and determination to continue in it to the 
 end. 
 
 All honor to Mr. FIELD, the author and projector of the " Atlantic 
 Cable," and honor to the Chamber of Commerce for their compliment to 
 their fellow-citizen. 
 
 And now, gentlemen, let us use this cable ; use it often and freely, by day 
 and by night, in our public affairs, in our social relations and for commer 
 cial purposes. None can estimate or anticipate how largely our interests 
 will be promoted by doing so. Besides, in no other way can we so prac 
 tically and sufficiently compliment and remunerate its originator for the 
 untold benefit he has conferred upon mankind. 
 I have the honor to be, 
 
 With great esteem, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 E. D. MORGAN. 
 
 To Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 
 WILLIAM E. DODGE and others, Committee. 
 
90 
 
 Letter from Hon. CHAELES Son? EH, of the United States Senate. 
 
 BOSTON, November 14, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I regret much that it is not in my power to unite with you in tribute 
 to Mr. FIELD, according to the invitation with which you have honored 
 me. 
 
 There are events which can never be forgotten in the history of 
 civilization. Conspicuous among these was the discovery of the New 
 World by CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. And now a kindred event is added 
 to the list. The two worlds are linked together. 
 
 In this work Mr. FIELD has been pioneer and discoverer. As such his 
 name will be remembered with that gratitude which is bestowed "upon 
 the world's benefactors. Already his fame has begun. 
 Accept my thanks, and believe me, gentlemen, 
 Faithfully yours, 
 
 CHARLES SUMNER. 
 To Committee, <&c. 
 
 Letter from Prof. JOSEPH HENRY, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. 
 
 SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, WASHINGTON, Nov. 12, 1866. 
 
 To the Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, New- York : 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I have delayed acknowledging the receipt of your kind invitation to 
 be present at the congratulatory dinner to be given to Mr. CYRUS W. 
 FIELD, on account of the success of his labors in joining the Old and the 
 New World in electrical sympathy, hoping to be able to accept it, but I 
 have now to regret that I find it incompatible with previous engagements 
 to be in New-York at the time specified. 
 
 I beg to assure you that I highly appreciate the honor of the invita 
 tion, and that it would be a source of gratification to be present on the 
 occasion, and to offer Mr. FIELD in person my heartfelt congratulations 
 on the happy termination of his persevering efforts to accomplish an ob 
 ject so intimately connected with the advance of humanity. 
 
 Science having developed the principles, and art having devised 
 the means for the practical accomplishment of the desired end, there 
 
91 
 
 was still wanting a man of enthusiastic temperament, enlarged views 
 as to the importance of the object, persuasive powers to convince 
 others, business talents of high order, persevering industry and in 
 domitable energy. All these requisites have been found happily blended 
 in Mr. CYRUS -W. FIELD, and he has been the chosen one to complete an 
 enterprise which marks an epoch in the history of civilization. 
 
 Mr. FIELD has not in his unparalleled efforts been actuated by the mere 
 hope of pecuniary gain, but by that cherished feeling of a noble mind, 
 the desire to deserve and obtain the approbation of his fellow-men to 
 honorably connect his name with history, and to live in the memory of 
 the good when he shall have finished his career upon earth. 
 
 Such an incentive to action is allied to our higher moral nature, springs 
 from our instincts of immortality, and should in all cases of its manifesta 
 tion be cherished and encouraged. 
 
 It is therefore abundantly proper, that Mr. FIELD should receive the 
 cordial greetings of his friends and the public, and that the Government 
 itself should bestow upon him marks of its approbation. Such demon 
 strations are not only proper in themselves, but are even expedient, if we 
 allow a motive of this kind to influence our acts; they serve to stimulate 
 others to similar efforts, and tend to increase the good and diminish the 
 evil incident to our present condition. 
 
 In conclusion, permit me to say, that I have more pleasure in express 
 ing these sentiments in regard to Mr. FIELD, than I would have in em 
 bracing the opportunity you have so kindly given me, of speaking of my 
 own early labors in regard to the telegraph. The associations connected 
 with these are not those of unalloyed pleasure, and I would prefer to leave 
 it to history to make the proper award, than to say any thing myself 
 which might call forth discussion. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JOSEPH HENRY. 
 
 Letter from THOMAS HILL, LL. D., President of Harvard College. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE, MASS., November 13, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I much regret to find myself compelled to forego the pleasure of meet 
 ing the Chamber of Commerce and inVited guests, to exchange congratu- 
 
92 
 
 laticms with each other, and with Mr. FIELD on the success of the great 
 work of uniting by telegraph the Old World with the New. Believe me, I 
 am not insensible to the honor of receiving your invitation, nor indiffer 
 ent to the fact that the ocean no longer separates, but now unites the 
 nations; and through those abysses which heathen fan c} peopled with 
 uncouth divinities, Christian hands have made a highway for Christian 
 thought and speech. 
 
 Very sincerely yours, 
 
 THOMAS HILL. 
 To Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 
 > Committee. 
 JONATHAN GTURGES, 
 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, j 
 
 Letter from GEORGE PEABODY, ESQ. 
 
 ZANESVILLE, OHIO, November 8th, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 I sincerely regret that I cannot be present at the dinner you propose 
 to give on Thursday, the 15th inst, in honor to CYRUS W. FIELD, on the 
 successful laying of the Atlantic Telegraph Cable. The industry, per 
 severance and ability which Mr. FIELD has evinced for ten years past 
 to bring this great work to a successful result, entitle him to great 
 praise. 
 
 Very respectfully and truly yours, 
 
 GBORGE PEABODY. 
 To A A. Low and others. 
 
 Letter from BAYARD TAYLOR, ESQ. 
 
 KENNETT SQUARE, PEORIA, ILL., November 12, 1866. 
 GENTLEMEN : 
 
 To my very great regret, engagements previously made prevent me 
 from accepting your kind invitation. 
 
93 
 
 I had the good fortune to be a guest and companion of Mr. FIELD on 
 the coast of Newfoundland, in the summer of 1855, when the first at 
 tempt was made to lay a submarine cable across the Gulf of St. Law 
 rence. Daring that voyage I learned to appreciate his wonderful 
 patience, energy and courage, and no one of his friends can more re 
 joice in the final triumph which these qualities have achieved for him. I 
 was in Germany when the success of the first transatlantic cable seemed to 
 be assured, and at that time contributed to the newspapers there an ac~ 
 count of the enterprise, in which I claimed for Mr. FIELD the credit which 
 the European editors then gave exclusively to his English associates. I 
 am convinced that if any great undertaking was ever due to the will and 
 the faith of a single man, then the honor of having connected Europe 
 and America by telegraph belongs to CYRUS W. FIELD. 
 I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 BAYARD TAYLOR. 
 To Messrs. A. A. Low, 
 
 GEORGE OPDYKE, 
 
 WM. E. DODGE, 
 
 T V Committee. 
 
 JONATHAN STURGES, C 
 
 STEWART BROWN, 
 SAMUEL B. RUGGLES, I 
 
 Letter from Hon. GULIAN C. VERPLANCK. 
 
 NEW-YORK, 14^ November, 1866. 
 
 G. C. VERPLANCK returns his sincere thanks to the Chamber of Com 
 merce for the kind invitation to meet Mr. CYRUS W. FIELD, on the 15th 
 inst, to exchange congratulations on the grand results of his arduous 
 labors in uniting the Old World with the New by telegraph. Mr. VER 
 PLANCK cordially joins in the wide and warm demonstrations of public 
 gratitude, of which the Chamber of Commerce of New-York is the most 
 appropriate and honorable representative. 
 
 But circumstances beyond his control oblige him reluctantly to de 
 cline this pleasing and flattering invitation. 
 
 His absence from the city, until last evening, must be his apology for 
 his delay in replying to the invitation. 
 
94 
 
 Telegram from His Excellency HASTINGS DOYLE, Lieutenant-Governor of New- 
 
 Brunswck. 
 
 FREDERICTON, N. B., 
 
 November 22, 1866. 
 CYRUS W. FIELD, Esq., 
 
 New- York : 
 
 A card of invitation to meet you at dinner on the fifteenth instant, lias 
 only this day (twenty-second) reached me from Canada with Lord MONCK'S 
 signature at the corner of the envelope. Had I received it in due time, 
 although it would have been inconvenient, I would have gone to assist in 
 doing you that honor you so richly deserve. Pray accept my great re 
 gret at this contretemps, and believe in the sincerity of my friendship and 
 admiration of your indomitable pluck. 
 
 HASTINGS DOYLE, 
 
 Major General and Administrator 
 
 of Government of New-Brunswick.