202 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
to John Bright in England. His letter to Bright was as fol- 
lows: 
New York, August 9, 1869. 
My dear Mr. Bright,—Since my return from England I have 
seen many of our ablest men, including the President of the 
United States, the Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, 
Senator Sumner, several other members of the Senate, and mem- 
bers of the House of Representatives, the Governors of several 
States, leading editors in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and 
Washington, and I have found only one that advocated war with 
England. 
I am more than ever convinced that if the English government 
would send to Washington yourself, the Duke of Argyll, and Earl 
Granville as special ambassadors to act with the British minister, 
the whole controversy between England and America could be 
settled in a few months. Please give this matter your careful con- 
sideration. I send you by this mail the New Englander for July, 
containing an article on the Alabama question written by Presi- 
dent Woolsey, of Yale College. 
With kind regards to your family and with great respect, 
I remain, my dear Mr. Bright, 
Very truly your friend, 
Cyrus W. Field. 
Field’s suggestion that the Duke of Argyll and Lord Gran- 
ville be sent as special commissioners to assist the negotiations 
at Washington did not meet with Bright’s approval. He be- 
lieved that the trouble was in the Senate, where garrulous 
orators like Sumner were running wild. His reply to Field 
was more a letter to a friend than an official statement. It 
shows the attitude of liberal Englishmen of the Victorian pe- 
riod toward the rising republic that was pulling itself together 
after a disastrous war. The letter follows: 
Rochdale, August 24, 1869. 
My dear Mr. Field,—I am glad to have your letter, and note its 
contents with much interest. I do not see how your suggestion 
can be adopted at present. 
Whatever is done now towards a settlement must necessarily 
