96 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
provided the business is pressed forward in a proper manner.” 
Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, finally returned a dis- 
appointing answer to the Company and the Washington Gov- 
ernment was so involved in the war that it could scarcely be 
expected to spare any funds. The British Government did, 
however, signify its willingness to increase its financial aid if 
a cable was successfully laid. 
Arrived in London, Field, with the secretary of the Com- 
pany, George Saward, went to hear the eminent Baptist 
preacher, Charles H. Spurgeon. He then sent some news and 
documents about the war to the humanitarian philanthro- 
pist, Lord Shaftesbury. A business colleague, the Right Hon- 
orable James Stuart Wortley, arranged an audience for Field 
with William E. Gladstone, at that time a leading statesman 
but not yet at the height of his career. Gladstone was so sym- 
pathetic with the cause of the Confederacy that he had said 
that “Jefferson Davis had made an army, had made a navy, 
and, more than that, had made a nation.” 
Understanding Gladstone’s liking for human documents, 
Field secured a copy of an illuminating book called Thirteen 
Months in a Rebel Prison to give the great parliamentarian. 
Gladstone, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, was fifty-three 
years old and was approaching his first term as Prime Minister. 
He had not been anxious to meet Field at first, sensing an 
appeal for financial aid, but the chat impressed him so deeply 
that next day he wrote a long letter to the engaging American 
who had so frankly expressed the views of the Washington 
Government. It was somewhat unusual for a busy statesmen 
—one of the three or four most important officials in England 
—to write at such great length to a foreigner whom he had 
just met. 
The letter has historical value because it shows the state of 
mind of an influential British leader concerning the Ameri- 
can Civil War. It was written in Gladstone’s own handwrit- 
ing, with an occasional word crossed out. ‘The letter’s refer- 
