CYRUS THE GREAT 67 
has a charm for you, you may well indulge in the reflection, 
for the name of Cyrus Field will now go onward to immor- 
tality as long as that of the Atlantic telegraph shall be known 
to mankind. It has been such a shock to us here that we have 
hardly realized it at present. I really think that some of the 
people who come here don’t believe it yet.” 
This discerning appreciation from a fellow official, who 
knew what anxieties and labors Field had gone through, was 
generous and comforting, especially coming from a London- 
er. In later years the British claimed much of the honor of 
the achievement, since, as they said, they did most of the 
technical work and supplied most of the money. Another 
respected colleague, George Peabody, the American capital- 
ist of London, wrote, “Your reflections must be like those of 
Columbus, after the discovery of America.” Even Archbishop 
Hughes in New York mentioned the cable in placing an in- 
scription under the corner-stone of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, 
although materialistic achievements are rarely referred to in 
such Catholic ceremonies. 
Nearly two weeks passed before Field arrived in New York 
from Newfoundland. The public became impatient at the 
delay in getting the cable to function. Field sent a message 
to the Associated Press on August 7 from Trinity Bay, saying: 
“We landed here in the woods, and until the telegraph instru- 
ments are perfectly adjusted, no communications can pass be- 
tween the two continents; but the electric currents are re- 
ceived freely.’”’ President Buchanan had said in his message 
to Field of August 6, “I have not yet received the Queen’s 
despatch.” 
As the public criticism grew more insistent, Field tele- 
graphed from St. John’s on August 11 saying that the direc- 
tors of the Atlantic Telegraph Company had ruled that the 
cable should be given over for several weeks to the experi- 
ments of Dr. Whitehouse, Professor Thomson, and the other 
electricians ‘‘to enable them to test thoroughly their several 
