186 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
the name of the most notorious of the privateers—was being 
debated at this time in Parliament. 
At Field’s dinner in the Buckingham Palace Hotel, he said: 
“Gentlemen, on Friday evening I had great pleasure in hear- 
ing the debate in the House of Commons on the Alabama 
claims. Before that, I confess to you, I felt exceedingly anxious 
about the relations between England and the United States; 
and on Thursday last, in sending a private telegram to Wash- 
ington, I used these words: ‘When you see the President, Mr. 
Seward, and Mr. Sumner, please say to them that I am per- 
fectly convinced that the English government and people are 
very desirous of settling all questions in dispute between the 
United States and this country, and that with a little concilia- 
tion on both sides this desirable object can be accomplished.’ 
Gentlemen, we are honored here tonight with the presence of 
several distinguished persons connected with the press in 
England and America, and I am going to give you as a toast 
‘The Press’ of those countries; and I shall ask them, who so 
well know public opinion, to tell us frankly whether I was 
justified in sending such a message to Washington.” 
Field’s initiative in cabling to the United States a full re- 
port on the Alabama debate does not seem remarkable today, 
when long cablegrams of international news are sent daily 
as a matter of journalistic routine. But at that period, such a 
policy was less common in news practice. Something of the 
attitude of the newspapers was expressed in a speech at Field’s 
dinner by the London correspondent of the New York Trib- 
une, who said in part: “I heard with pleasure from Mr. Field 
that he had sent the Alabama debate to New York, an instance 
of public spirit for which the two countries owe him a debt of 
gratitude; for through it there is, I suppose, this morning in 
every journal in America, certainly in every large journal 
on the Eastern coast, full tidings of the debate. It is, perhaps, 
such a message as was never before sent from one country to 
another. It was my fortune to listen to that debate. No news- 
