"If there should be opposition I count on the Vails against me. Alfred has for some time been hostile because I could not if I would, and would not if I could, find him a snug sinecure in some of the companies. I fear George has in some degree given way to the same spirit. I have heard of his complaining of me, and when, before my departure for the West, I tendered my services to negotiate a connection of himself and brother with the lessees of the N.O. & O. line, he declined my offer, protesting against the entire arrangements touching that line.
"Having done all I could and much more than I was bound to do for the benefit of those gentlemen, I shall not permit their jealousy to disturb me, but I am anxious to have them understand the exact position I am to occupy in relation to them. I understood your purpose to be that they should share in the benefits of the extension, whether legally entitled to them or not, yet nothing has been paid over to them for sales since made. All the receipts, except a portion of my commissions, have been paid out on account of expenses, and to secure an interest for you in the N.O. & O. line."
It is easy to understand that the Vails should have been somewhat suspicious when little or nothing in the way of cash was coming in to them, but they seem not to have realized that Morse and Kendall were in the same boat, and living more on hope than cash. Mr. Kendall enlarges somewhat on this point in a letter of June 22, 1855:—
"Most heartily will I concur in a sale of all my interests in the Telegraph at any reasonable rate to such a company as you describe. I fully appreciate your reasons for desiring such a consummation, and, in addition to them, have others peculiar to my own position. Any one who has a valuable patent can profit by it only by a constant fight with some of the most profligate and, at the same time, most shrewd members of society. I have found myself not only the agent of yourself and the Messrs. Vail to sell your patent rights, but the soldier to fight your battles, as well in the country as in the courts of justice. Almost single-handed, with the deadly enmity of one of the patentees, and the annoying jealousies of another, I have encountered surrounding hosts, and, I trust, been instrumental in saving something for the Proprietors of this great invention, and done something to maintain the rights and vindicate the fame of its true author. Nothing but your generous confidence has rendered my position tolerable, and enabled me to meet the countless difficulties with which my path has been beset with any degree of success. And now, at the end of a ten years' war, I am prepared to retire from the field and leave the future to other hands, if I can but see your interests, secured beyond contingency, and a moderate competency provided for my family and myself."
The company referred to in this letter was one proposed by Cyrus W. Field and other capitalists of New York. The plan was to purchase the patent rights of Morse, Kendall, Vail, and F.O.J. Smith, and, by means of the large capital which would be at their command, fight the pirates who had infringed on the patent, and gradually unite the different warring companies into one harmonious concern. A monopoly, if you will, but a monopoly which had for its object better, cheaper, and quicker service to the people. This object was achieved in time, but, unfortunately for the peace of mind of Morse and Kendall, not just then.
The name of Cyrus Field naturally suggests the Atlantic Cable, and it was just at this time that steps were being seriously taken to realize the prophecy made by Morse in 1843 in his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury: "The practical inference from this law is that a telegraphic communication on the electro-magnetic plan may with certainty be established across the Atlantic Ocean! Startling as this may now seem I am confident the time will come when this project will be realized."
In 1852 a company had been formed and incorporated by the Legislature of Newfoundland, called the "Newfoundland Electric Telegraph Company." The object of this company was to connect the island by means of a cable with the mainland, but this was not accomplished at that time, and no suggestion was made of the possibility of crossing the ocean. One of the officers of that company, however, Mr. F.N. Gisborne, came to New York in 1854 and tried to revive the interest of capitalists and engineers in the scheme. Among others he consulted Matthew D. Field, and through him met his brother Cyrus W. Field, and the question of a through line from Newfoundland to New York was seriously discussed. Cyrus Field, a man of great energy and already interested financially and otherwise in the terrestrial telegraph, was fascinated by the idea of stretching long lines under the waters also. He examined a globe, which was in his study at home and, suddenly realizing that Newfoundland and Ireland were comparatively near neighbors, he said to himself: "Why not cross the ocean and connect the New World with the Old?" He had heard that Morse long ago had prophesied that this link would some day be welded, and he became possessed with the idea that he was the person to accomplish this marvel, just as Morse had received the inspiration of the telegraph in 1832.
A letter to Morse, who was just then in Washington, received an enthusiastic and encouraging reply, coupled with the information that Lieutenant Maury of the Navy had, by a series of careful soundings, established the existence of a plateau between Ireland and Newfoundland, at no very great depth, which seemed expressly designed by nature to receive and carefully guard a telegraphic cable. Mr. Field lost no time in organizing a company composed originally of himself, his brother the Honorable David Dudley Field, Peter Cooper, Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, and Chandler White. After a liberal charter had been secured from the legislature of Newfoundland the following names were added to the list of incorporators: S.F.B. Morse, Robert W. Lowber, Wilson G. Hunt, and John W. Brett. Mr. Field then went to England and with characteristic energy soon enlisted the interest and capital of influential men, and the Atlantic Telegraph Company was organized to cooperate with the American company, and liberal pledges of assistance from the British Government were secured. Similar pledges were obtained from the Congress of the United States, but, quite in line with former precedents, by a majority of only one in the Senate. Morse was appointed electrician of the American company and Faraday of the English company, and much technical correspondence followed between these two eminent scientists.
In the spring of 1855, Morse, in a letter to his friend and relative by marriage, Thomas R. Walker, of Utica, writes enthusiastically of the future: "Our Atlantic line is in a fair way. We have the governments and capitalists of Europe zealously and warmly engaged to carry it through. Three years will not pass before a submarine telegraph communication will be had with Europe, and I do not despair of sitting in my office and, by a touch of the telegraph-key, asking a question simultaneously to persons in London, Paris, Cairo, Calcutta, and Canton, and getting the answer from all of them in five minutes after the question is asked. Does this seem strange? I presume if I had even suggested the thought some twenty years ago, I might have had a quiet residence in a big building in your vicinity."
The first part of this prophecy was actually realized, for in 1858, just three years after the date of this letter, communication was established between the two continents and was maintained for twenty days. Then it suddenly and mysteriously ceased, and not till 1866 was the indomitable perseverance of Cyrus Field crowned with permanent success.