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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
27
"In
this
view
of
the
subject,
and
for
the
purpose
of
hastening
the
completion
of
such
a
line,
I
take
the
liberty
of
suggesting
for
your
consideration
the
propriety
of
an
offer
from
the
proper
source,
of
a
prize
to
the
company
through
whose
telegraphic
wire
the
first
message
shall
be
passed
across
the
Atlantic.
"I
have
the
honor
to
be
respectfully
yours.
"M.
F.
Maury,
"Lieutenant
United
States
Navy.
"Hon.
J.
C.
Dobbin,
Secretary
of
the
Navy."
The
reply
of
Professor
Morse
showed
equal
interest
in
the
subject,
in
proof
of
which
he
wrote
that
he
would
come
down
to
New
York
to
see
Mr.
Field
about
it.
A
few
days
after
he
came,
and
saw
Mr.
Field
at
his
house.
This
was
the
beginning
of
an
acquaintance
which
soon
ripened
into
friendship,
and
which
henceforth
united
these
gentlemen
together
in
this
great
achievement.
Professor
Morse,
in
conversation,
entered
at
length
into
the
laws
of
electricity
as
applied
to
the
business
of
telegraphing,
and
concluded
by
declaring
his
entire
faith
in
the
undertaking
as
practical;
as
one
that
might,
could,
and
would,
be
achieved.
Indeed,
this
faith
he
had
avowed
years
before.
In
a
letter
written
as
early
as
August
tenth,
1843,
to
John
C.
Spencer,
then
Secretary
of
the
Treasury,
Professor
Morse
had
detailed
the
results
of
certain
experiments
made
in
the
harbor
of
New
York
to
show
the
power
of
electricity
to
communicate
at
great
distances,
at
the
close
of
which
he
says--in
words
that
now
seem
prophetic:
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