The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

Mr. Benjamin said: "The sum of money that this Government proposes to give for the use of this telegraph will amount, in the twenty-five years, to something between L300,000 and L400,000. Now, if this be a matter of such immense importance to Great Britain--if this be the golden opportunity--and if, indeed, her control of this line be such a powerful engine, whether in war or in peace, is it not most extraordinary that she proposes to us a full share in its benefits and in its control, and allows to our Government equal rights with herself in the transmission of communications for the sum of about L300,000, to be paid in annual instalments through twenty-five years? If this be, indeed, a very important instrumentality in behalf of Great Britain for the conduct of her commerce, the government of her possessions, or the efficient action of her troops in time of war, the L300,000 expended upon it are but as a drop in the bucket when compared with the immense resources of that empire. I think, therefore, we may as well discard from our consideration of this subject all these visions about the immense importance of the governmental aid in this matter, to be rendered under the provisions of this bill. "Mr. President, let us not always be thinking of war; let us be using means to preserve peace. The amount that would be expended by this Government in six months' war with Great Britain, would far exceed every thing that we shall have to pay for the use of this telegraphic line for the entire twenty-five years of the contract; and do you not believe that this instrumentality will be sufficiently efficient to bind together the peace, the commerce, and the interests of the two countries, so as even to defer a war for six months or twelve months, if one should ever become inevitable, beyond the period at which it would otherwise occur? If it does that, it will in six or eight or nine months repay the expenditures of twenty-five years.