The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph

Captain Sir James Anderson repeated the same conviction in numberless forms. He had seen how the presence of Mr. Field in London instantly revived the languid enthusiasm of others, and infused his own energy into the enterprise, and declared again and again that but for these heroic and incessant efforts the whole scheme would have broken down, and been delayed for many years. Such expressions from English associates in the great work might be multiplied to any extent. They are much stronger than any language used by the author of this volume, who has purposely kept back such testimonies, lest it should seem that he wished to exalt an individual, when he sought to do justice to all, on both sides of the Atlantic. Nor was such recognition confined to England. The King of Italy conferred on Mr. Field the cross of the order of St. Mauritius, as an acknowledgment from the country of Columbus to one who had done so much to unite to the Old World that New World which Columbus discovered. A still higher honor was paid by the Great Exposition in Paris, in 1867, which, gathering the products of the genius and skill and industry of all nations, recognized the labors of men of all countries, who, by their discoveries or great enterprises, had rendered eminent services to the cause of civilization. It awarded the GRAND PRIZE, the highest distinction it had to bestow, to Mr. Field by name, jointly with the Anglo-American and Atlantic Telegraph Companies, thus recognizing, as was most due, the splendid exhibition of the science and the capital of England, which were never more directly employed for the benefit of the human race, than in the uniting of the two Hemispheres, while it gave the first place in the grand design to its American leader.