hat he was not connected
with future attempts to lay the cable. His withdrawal was not altogether
voluntary in spite of what he said in the letter from which I have just
quoted. While he had been made an Honorary Director of the company in
1857, although not a stockholder, a law was subsequently passed declaring
that only stockholders could be directors, even honorary directors. He
had not felt financially able to purchase stock, but it was a source of
astonishment to him and to others that a few shares, at least, had not
been allotted to him for his valuable services in connection with the
enterprise. He had, nevertheless, cheerfully given of his time and
talents in the first attempt, although cautioned by Mr. Kendall.

He goes fully into the whole matter in a very long letter to Mr. John W.
Brett, of December 27, 1858, in which he details his connection with the
cable company, his regret and surprise at being excluded on the ground of
his not being a stockholder, especially as, on a subsequent visit to
Europe, he found that two other men had been made honorary directors,
although they were not stockholders. He says that he learned also that
"Mr. Field had represented to the Directors that I was hostile to the
company, and was using my exertions to defeat the measures for aid from
the United States Government to the enterprise, and that it was in
consequence of these misrepresentations that I was not elected."

He says farther on: "I sincerely rejoiced in the consummation of the
great enterprise, although prevented in the way I have shown from being
present. I ought to have been with the cable squadron last summer. It was
no fault of mine, that I was not there. I hope Mr. Field can exculpate
himself in the eyes of the Board, before the world, and before his own
conscience, in the course he has taken."

On the margin of the letter-press copy of a letter Written to Mr. Kendall
on December 22, 1859, is a note in pencil written, evidently, at a later
date: "Mr. Field has since manifested by his conduct a different temper.
I have long since forgiven what, after all, may have been error of
ignorance on his part."

The fact remains, however, that his connection with the cable company was
severed, and that his relations with Messrs. Field, Cooper, etc., were
decidedly strained. It is more than possible that, had he continued as
electrician of the company, the second attempt might have been
successful, for he foresaw the dif