Soon after his return home he was in Washington, and while there was told this story: One day a clerk in the Treasury Department asked the Secretary why Mr. Field had never received the medal ordered for him. When desired to explain his question, he answered that he had been directed to put the medal away _carefully_ after the meeting of the Cabinet, and that he had not heard the subject mentioned since that day; neither had he known that the medal was sought for. And now when Mr. Field called for the "original medal" he was told that it had been given to the Mint in Philadelphia. A telegram was sent to the director, and only just in time, for already a hole had been drilled in it. Mr. Varley wrote this letter on his visit to New York, but it was over a year before the suggestions that he made were acted upon. "FIFTH AVENUE HOTEL, "NEW YORK, _October 6, 1868_. "_My dear Sir_,--I hope you will pardon me for addressing you upon the subject of the Atlantic circuits. "I am a small shareholder in the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company, a larger in the Anglo-American and Atlantic Telegraph companies; and it is with deep regret that I see that the latter two companies are fighting instead of working. "It seems as if they were re-enacting just the same farces that were performed when we were endeavoring to raise funds both for the 1865 and the 1866 cables. I venture unhesitatingly to assert that we should not have succeeded but for the indomitable energy and the excellent judgment of Mr. Cyrus Field. "I do not believe the present attempt at an adjustment will end in any useful results unless some one like Mr. Cyrus Field, enjoying the confidence and personal regard of those interested on this side, as well as such men as Brassey, Hawkshaw, Fairbairne, Fowler, Gladstone, Bright, Whitworth, and others in Europe, go to England empowered to act on behalf of your company. The jealousies and conflicting interests existing between the directors on the other side prevent them from acting with that vigor and integrity of purpose so necessary to command success, and which qualities are possessed to so large an extent by Mr. Cyrus Field, to whom the world is mainly indebted for the Atlantic cables. He of all others is, in my opinion, the one most capable of effecting the settlement we are all so interested in. He succeeded in restoring public confidence, in harmonizing the disputants, and in raising the money when the enterprise had twice proved a failure, and had as often been virtually abandoned by its natural protectors. How much the more, then, will he succeed now when he reappears amongst his old supporters and his true friends, backed this time not by failure, but by triumphant success, and with all his predictions realized!... "Very truly yours, "CROMWELL F. VARLEY.