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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
100
"Let
us
see
where
we
are.
What
shall
we
gain
by
refusing
to
enter
into
this
agreement?
If
we
do
not
make
it,
the
British
Government
has
only
to
add
ten
thousand
pounds
sterling
more
annually,
and
they
have
the
whole
monopoly
of
this
wire,
without
any
stipulation
whatever--not
only
in
war
but
in
peace.
If
we
make
this
contract
with
the
Company,
we
at
least
secure
the
benefit
of
it
in
time
of
peace,
and
we
postpone
and
delay
the
dangers
of
war.
If
there
shall
ever
be
war,
it
would
abrogate
all
treaties
that
can
be
made
in
regard
to
this
subject,
unless
it
be
true,
as
the
honorable
Senator
from
Virginia
thinks,
that
treaties
can
be
made
which
will
be
regarded
as
obligatory
by
nations
in
time
of
war.
If
so,
we
have
all
the
advantages
in
time
of
peace,
for
the
purpose
of
making
such
treaties
hereafter,
without
the
least
reason
to
infer
that
there
would
be
any
reluctance
on
the
part
of
the
British
Government
to
enter
into
that
negotiation
with
us,
if
we
should
desire
to
do
so.
The
British
Government,
if
it
had
such
a
disposition
as
the
honorable
Senator
supposes,
would
certainly
have
proposed
to
monopolize
all
this
telegraphic
line,
instead
of
proposing
to
divide
it."[A]
Mr.
Hale
spoke
in
the
same
strain:
"It
seems
to
me
that
the
war
spirit
and
the
contingencies
of
war
are
brought
in
a
little
too
often
upon
matters
of
legislation
which
have
no
necessary
connection
with
them.
If
we
are
to
be
governed
by
considerations
of
that
sort,
they
would
paralyze
all
improvements;
they
would
stop
the
great
appropriations
for
commerce;
they
would
at
once
neutralize
that
policy
which
sets
our
ocean
steamers
afloat.
Nobody
pretends
that
the
intercourse
which
is
kept
up
between
Great
Britain
and
this
country
by
our
ocean
steamers
would
be
continued
in
time
of
war;
nor
the
communication
with
France
or
other
nations.
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