“A telegraph under the Atlantic Ocean is vastly different from a submarine telegraph between England and the Continent. It is in effect an invention (if it succeeds) and entitled to the same protection, at least, as would be granted to the invention of a new mode of propelling ships, or as is granted every day to the fabrication of such trifles as patent boot-jacks or corkscrews.
“I really think that, as there is a locus penitentiæ and a new administration, it may be well to have an interview with the colonial secretary on the subject....
“My wife and family are fairly well. They unite in kind regards to you and ardent wishes for your success.
“Most truly yours,
“E. M. Archibald.”
This subject seems to have been often agitated during the years that follow. On April 25th, 1862, Mr. Field writes to Mr. Saward:
“Allow me to introduce to you my esteemed friend, E. M. Archibald, Esq., H.M. consul for New York. Mr. Archibald was one of the earliest, and has proved himself one of the best friends of the Atlantic telegraph.... Mr. Archibald can give you much valuable information in regard to Newfoundland and all the British North American provinces, and be of great service to you in your negotiations with the English government.
“Mr. Jesse Hoyt telegraphs me from Halifax that fifty memorials to Lord Palmerston in favor of government giving aid to the Atlantic Telegraph Company have already been forwarded from Nova Scotia, and that more will go. I have been writing yesterday and to-day to my friends in Canada, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, urging them to get up and send petitions to the English government in our favor.... We can and we will succeed in connecting Ireland and Newfoundland by means of a good submarine telegraph cable.”
Shortly after the United States frigate Niagara sailed for England a New York paper published this short notice:
“She goes not to assist in the assertion of resisted claims, in the vindication of outraged rights. Her task is a more peaceful and a more glorious one. She leaves our shores on a mission of fraternity and good-will—the harbinger of union and brotherhood amongst nations, and one of the chief agents in an enterprise which is destined to do more towards the realization of a millennium of love amongst men than the efforts of all the diplomatists and missionaries are ever likely to accomplish.”
April and part of May were spent in preparation and putting the cable on board the two ships. On May 29th the fleet left for a trial trip in the Bay of Biscay, and on the 10th of June set sail from Plymouth to meet again in mid-ocean.