WAR AND DISCOURAGEMENT 113 
ties while commanding H. M.’s naval forces in the vicinity of 
the United States.” 
It was fair-minded exchanges such as this that kept the 
Northern States and England from giving way to the hot re- 
sentment and jingoistic promptings occasionally felt over 
conflicting interests. Field had a tactful hand in these liberal 
exchanges. By nature he was fitted to extend frank courtesies 
and speak disarmingly of such neutral matters as ocean tele- 
graphs and British personages whom he had met. His friend- 
ship with the British consul-general in New York, Edward M. 
Archibald, who had helped him in Newfoundland, was a 
factor in these social amenities. 
In the summer of 1863, a temporary revival of optimism in- 
duced the Atlantic Telegraph Company to advertise for bids 
for a new cable. Seventeen were received. ‘The consulting 
engineers advised accepting that of Glass, Elliott & Company, 
and a contract was partly made. Field was elated and so con- 
fident that he insured his stock against risk. But after he left 
England, there were delays and difficulties that spoiled the 
plans for 1864. The reports that now came to him from Lon- 
don were most discouraging; the work seemed at a standstill. 
Many men in Field’s position at this time would have washed 
their hands of the whole affair and devoted themselves to their 
own business and family. On the contrary, at the end of 1863, 
he retired from business in New York for the second time, 
gave up his downtown office on Beekman street, and went to 
England, resolved to make greater exertions than ever, de- 
spite the war that was still raging. Encouraging factors were 
at work. A British capitalist, ‘Thomas Brassey, showed interest 
in his proposals; several others were induced to invest, and 
a reorganization of affiliated companies improved the outlook. 
Since the failure of the 1858 cable, rival schemes had been 
broached and tried. A suggestion that had been submitted to 
the Danish government years before was taken up by an 
American electrician, Colonel T. P. Shaffner. This plan was 
