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378
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
·
Henry M. Field
98
But
it
should
be
said
in
justice,
that
to
this
general
hostility
of
the
South
there
were
some
exceptions.
Benjamin,
of
Louisiana,
gave
the
bill
an
earnest
support;
so
did
Mallory,
of
Florida,
Chairman
of
the
Naval
Committee;
and
especially
that
noble
Southerner,
Rusk,
of
Texas,
"with
whose
aid,"
as
Mr.
Seward
said,
"it
seemed
that
there
was
no
good
thing
which
he
could
not
do
in
Congress."
Mr.
Rusk
declared
that
he
regarded
it
as
"the
great
enterprise
of
the
age,"
and
expressed
his
surprise
at
the
very
moderate
subsidy
asked
for,
only
seventy
thousand
dollars
a
year,
saying
that,
"with
a
reasonable
prospect
of
success
in
an
enterprise,
calculated
to
produce
such
beneficial
results,
he
should
be
willing
to
vote
two
hundred
thousand
dollars."
But
with
the
majority
of
Southern
Senators,
there
was
a
repugnance
to
acting
in
concert
with
England,
which
could
not
be
overcome.
They
argued
that
this
was
not
truly
a
line
between
England
and
the
United
States,
but
between
England
and
her
own
colonies--a
line
of
which
she
alone
was
to
reap
the
benefit.
Both
its
termini
were
in
the
British
possessions.
In
the
event
of
war
this
would
give
a
tremendous
advantage
to
the
power
holding
both
ends
of
the
line.
All
the
speakers
harped
on
this
string;
and
it
may
be
worth
a
page
or
two
to
see
how
this
was
met
and
answered.
When
Mr.
Hunter,
of
Virginia,
asked,
"What
security
are
we
to
have
that
in
time
of
war
we
shall
have
the
use
of
the
telegraph
as
well
as
the
British
Government?"
Mr.
Seward
answered:
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