92 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
triotic’ Americans of being pro-British. While he was in 
England at this time, some enemies circulated stories about 
him designed to injure his reputation. Like all individuals of 
original ideas and determined character, he had antagonized 
jealous and unprincipled men. They started rumors about 
his “treasonable proceedings with the public enemy” and 
even managed to obtain mention of such scandal in two Lon- 
don newspapers. A complaint was made against him before 
the United States Grand Jury and some testimony presented, 
but it was later dropped. Several letters were written to en- 
trap him. His answer to all this was to lay the facts before the 
Attorney General and his two good friends, the Secretary of 
State and the Secretary of the Treasury. ‘There was, of course, 
no thought of treason in his activities and travels, most of 
which were devoted to the advancement of the cable project. 
American relations with England, however, were acute at this 
stage of the war. 
Shortly after his return from England in the spring of 1862, 
Field delivered an address before the American Geographical 
and Statistical Society. He quoted the recent statement in the 
London Times that “We nearly went to war with America 
because we had not a telegraph across the Atlantic.” Continu- 
ing he said: “And here I may mention a fact not generally 
known—that during the excitement of the Trent affair a per- 
son connected with the English government applied to 
Messrs. Glass, Elliott & Company, of London, to know for 
what sum they would manufacture a cable and lay it across 
the Atlantic; to which they replied that they would both man- 
ufacture and lay it down for £675,000, and that it should be 
in full operation by the 12th day of July of this year. Well 
might England afford to pay the whole cost of such a work; 
for in sixty days’ time she expended more money in prepara- 
tion for war with this country than the whole cost of manu- 
facturing and laying several good cables between Newfound- 
land and Ireland.” 
