Mr. Bright’s letter referred to the dinner to be given by Mr. Field, on March 10th, at the Buckingham Palace Hotel, “on the fourteenth anniversary of the day on which the first contract with the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company had been signed at his house on Gramercy Square, New York.”
On the evening of March 6th there had been a debate in the House of Commons on the Alabama claims, and many of the speeches at the dinner bore references to that debate. The key-note of the occasion was struck when the Right Hon. James Stuart Wortley said:
“One of its greatest feats” (of the ocean telegraph) “has lately been accomplished under the auspices of our worthy chairman by his sending the conciliatory debate of the House of Commons on the Alabama claims to America. I am very glad this has been done, as it is far more likely to create good feeling between the two countries than anything else.”
In giving one of the toasts Mr. Field said:
“Gentlemen, on Friday evening I had great pleasure in hearing 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 Washington, I used these words: ‘When you see the President, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Sumner, please say to them that I am perfectly 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 conciliation on both sides this desirable object can be accomplished.’ Gentlemen, we are honored here to-night 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.”
Mr. Walker, of the Daily News, ended his speech with these words:
“As to this matter of the Alabama claims at present dividing the two countries, I think we are approximating to an understanding. One after another misapprehensions have been removed, and I cannot but think that, with the prevailing good disposition on both sides of the Atlantic, the matter will be more easily settled than we in England have been inclined to imagine.”
Colonel Anderson, of the New York Herald, closed his speech in this way:
“About the message which Mr. Field sent to America the other day, I may say that some months ago I sent a similar one, for I had found that among a large class of people in England there was a disposition to settle all disputes with the United States. I am pleased to see in the press of both countries evidence of a kindly disposition, and I hope that nothing will ever occur to disturb the friendly relations now existing. I believe that I had the honor of sending the first message for the press through the Atlantic cable after it was opened for business. That was a message of peace announcing the end of the war in Germany. I may have to use the telegraph in England for many years, but I sincerely trust that no angry word will ever pass through the Atlantic cable.”