From the London Times:
“Mere knowledge is itself a great possession; but we want things done as well as known, and we are impelled by an irresistible instinct to honor the men who actually do them, or get them done. This is Mr. Cyrus Field’s distinction. By general confession it is to him we owe it that the science of men like Faraday and Wheatstone was utilized, and that philosophers and sailors and capitalists and governments were all united to produce one great result. It is surprising even now to read his enumeration of the agencies which co-operated in the work. Scientific investigations above and beneath the sea, the survey of the Atlantic basin, the manufacture of the cables, the mechanical appliances for laying them, the skilful seamanship, the great ship, the enterprises of capitalists, the ability of directors, the resources of governments—in a word, the unexampled combination of nautical, electrical, engineering, and executive resources—all these were necessary to stretch that piece of wire from continent to continent. We may imagine what energy, determination, and skill were needed to set all these agents at work, and to maintain them in working order in spite of disappointments; and it is as having been the principal cause of this perseverance and co-operation that Mr. Field received so handsome an acknowledgment the other evening.”
From The Daily News:
“The name which the general estimate of the public—an estimate seldom erroneous in such matters—has associated with the idea of transatlantic telegraphy is that of Mr. Cyrus Field, the guest of last night’s dinner. The credit of the undertaking is far too vast to be monopolized by any single name, and common justice, as well as regard for national honor, bids us remember that the material resources of the enterprise were due in the main to English energy, English wealth, and English perseverance. The organized power of an old country was required to accomplish an undertaking too immense to be successfully grasped by the not less powerful but less concentrated resources of a new community. Still, if the glory of the ultimate achievement rests with England, the credit of having conceived and initiated the enterprise must be ascribed to America. And of the American pioneers of the work, there is none who has labored so indefatigably as Mr. Cyrus Field. The distinguished guest deserves to be numbered among the ‘representative men’ of his own country. If you want to understand how it is that America has grown to be what she is, you must seek for an explanation in the fact that men of the Field type are not only to be found among her citizens, but are able to develop their peculiar powers after a fashion impossible in an old-fashioned country like our own.”
From the Morning Star:
“Mr. Cyrus W. Field is too earnest and energetic a man, too completely devoted to great projects and great success, to have much of mere egotism left in him. A life so thoroughly absorbed in pursuits which belong to the business and benefit of the whole world can have little time for the indulgence of vanity. But one might well excuse a little self-gratulation and pride on the part of a guest entertained as Mr. Cyrus Field was at Willis’s Rooms last night. Not often, certainly, is such a banquet given in England to a man who is neither a politician nor a soldier.... Mr. Field, when he glanced around that splendidly filled banquet-room last night, may have felt but little personal pride in the well-merited honors he received. But he must have felt gratified at the evidence thus practically and brilliantly afforded that the public of civilized nations are at last trying to unlearn the fatal habit which made them so long ungrateful to some of their best benefactors.
“We never remember to have read of a public demonstration to any individual in London which had less of a sectarian or sectional character. The Duke of Argyll, one of the most advanced of our Liberal peers, one of the most enlightened of our scientific thinkers, was hardly more prominent in doing honor to Mr. Field than was Sir John Pakington, the steady-going Tory of the old, old school. Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, the great Elchi of Mr. Kinglake’s delightful sensation romance, sat side by side with Mr. Bright, who denounced in such powerful and unsparing eloquence so much of Lord Stratford’s policy and conduct during the Crimean war. Mr. Layard joined with Sir Stafford Northcote in the compliment to the guest. Two common sentiments animated the whole of the company—a company representing politics, science, literature, arts, and commerce—the sentiment of personal admiration for Mr. Field’s labors and character, and that of cordial friendship towards the great people of whose indomitable energy he is so striking an illustration.... Much of the honor, of course, was entirely personal. It was tendered to Mr. Field because he individually had deserved it. Mr. Bright, in a few words, accurately described Mr. Field’s position as regards the Atlantic telegraph. Other men may have thought of the project; other men may, for aught we know, have thought of it even before he did; other men may have mentally planned it out, and proposed schemes for its realization.... The idea is not exclusively Mr. Field’s; nor is the success exclusively his. But assuredly his was the energy, the prodigious strength of will, the unconquerable perseverance, which forced the scheme upon the intellect, the activity, and the influence of England and America, and never desisted until the dream had become a reality. A slight and delicate allusion was made once or twice last night to the sacrifices Mr. Field had made, the responsibilities he had incurred, the risks he had run, to bring forward his darling scheme again and again after each new defeat and disaster. There are more men by far who could bear to make the sacrifices than men who could raise their heads as Mr. Field did, undismayed after every defeat, full of new hope after each disaster. Certainly that glorious vitality of hope is one of the rarest as it is one of the grandest of human attributes. Mr. Field brought to the great project with which his life will be identified more than the genius of a discoverer—he brought the courage, the energy, the heart, and hope of a very conqueror. Therefore was his share in the work so unique; therefore did the company at Willis’s Rooms last night do him special honor. But in honoring him they honored also his country. Better words, holier messages of peace and brotherhood, were never sent along a wire than those which thrilled last night through the depths of the Atlantic from the Englishmen around Mr. Field to the brethren of their race in America.”
“Argyll Lodge, Kensington, July 3, 1868.
“My dear Mr. Field,—I am much obliged by your kind note. I assure you it gave me great pleasure to preside at your banquet. I would rather have my name associated with the Atlantic Telegraph than with any other undertaking of ancient or modern times.