aved an outlay of about $250,000. This widely quoted
fact demonstrated with telling effect the value of cable telegraphy.

Now followed years of struggle which would have dismayed any less
resolute soul than Mr. Field. The Civil War had broken out, with its
perils to the Union, its alarms and anxieties for every American heart.
But while battleships and cruisers were patrolling the coast from Maine
to Florida, and regiments were marching through Washington on their way
to battle, there was no remission of effort on the part of the great
projector.

Indeed, in the misunderstandings which grew out of the war, and that at
one time threatened international conflict, he plainly saw how a cable
would have been a peace-maker. A single word of explanation through its
wire, and angry feelings on both sides of the ocean would have been
allayed at the time of the _Trent_ affair. In this conviction he was
confirmed by the English press; the London _Times_ said: "We nearly went
to war with America because we had no telegraph across the Atlantic." In
1859 the British government had appointed a committee of eminent
engineers to inquire into the feasibility of an Atlantic telegraph, with
a view to ascertaining what was wanting for success, and with the
intention of adding to its original aid in case the enterprise were
revived. In July, 1863, this committee presented a report entirely
favourable in its terms, affirming "that a well-insulated cable,
properly protected, of suitable specific gravity, made with care, tested
under water throughout its progress with the best-known apparatus, and
paid into the ocean with the most improved machinery, possesses every
prospect of not only being successfully laid in the first instance, but
may reasonably be relied upon to continue for many years in an efficient
state for the transmission of signals."

Taking his stand upon this endorsement, Mr. Field now addressed himself
to the task of raising the large sum needed to make and lay a new cable
which should be so much better than the old ones as to reward its owners
with triumph. He found his English friends willing to venture the
capital required, and without further delay the manufacture of a new
cable was taken in hand. In every detail the recommendations of the
Scientific Committee were carried out to the letter, so that the cable
of 1865 was incomparably superior to that of 1858. First, the central
copper wire, which was the nerve along whic