This was one of the toasts:
“Cyrus W. Field: To his exertions, energy, courage, and perseverance are we indebted for the Ocean Telegraph; we claim, but Immortality owns him.”
In his reply he said:
“To no one man is the world indebted for this achievement; one may have done more than another, this person may have had a prominent and that a secondary part, but there is a host of us who have been engaged in the work the completion of which you celebrate to-day.”
Mr. George Peabody wrote to him:
“I read the accounts in the New York papers in celebration of the great event of the year and age with great interest, and although I think in some respects that they are a little too enthusiastic, yet so far as it regards yourself they cannot be so, for if the cable should be lost to-morrow you would be fully entitled to the high honor you are daily receiving.”
As he left the Battery on September 1st a cable message was handed to him dated that morning:
“Cyrus W. Field, New York:
“The directors are on their way to Valentia to make arrangements for opening the wire to the public. They convey through the cable to you and your fellow-citizens their hearty congratulations in your joyous celebration of the great international work.”