"At this moment you can telegraph from St. John's, Newfoundland, to every town of importance in British North America and to all the principal cities in the loyal States, even to San Francisco, on the Pacific, a distance by the route of the telegraph of over fifty-four hundred miles. From Valentia, in Ireland, there is also now telegraph communication with all the capitals of Europe, and to Algiers, in Africa, about twenty-one hundred miles; to Odessa, on the Black Sea, twenty-nine hundred and forty miles; to Constantinople, thirty-one hundred and fifty miles, and to Omsk, in Siberia, about five thousand miles. "All that is now required to connect Omsk, in Siberia, with San Francisco, California, on the Pacific, and all intermediate points, is a telegraph cable from Valentia Island to Newfoundland, a distance of sixteen hundred and forty nautical miles. "What could the governments of Great Britain and the United States do so effectually to bind the two countries in bonds of amity and interest as to complete at the earliest possible moment this connecting link between the two countries?... "Will you pardon me for suggesting to you the propriety of opening a correspondence with the English government upon the subject, and proposing that the Atlantic Telegraph Company should be aided or encouraged to complete their line, and that the two governments should enter into a treaty that in case of any war between them the cable should not be molested?" Mr. Seward answered on January 9th: "Your letter of the 1st instant relative to the Atlantic telegraph was duly received; it will afford me pleasure to confer with you on that subject at any time you may present yourself for that purpose." In a letter written by Mr. Seward on the 14th of January to Mr. Adams in London he said: "In view of the recent disturbances of feeling in Great Britain growing out of the _Trent_ affair, we have some apprehensions that our motives in opening a correspondence upon the subject of the telegraph just now might be misinterpreted.... "If you think wisely of it you are authorized to call the attention of Earl Russell to the matter.... You may say to him that the President entertains the most favorable views of the great enterprise in question, and would be happy to co-operate with the British government in securing its successful execution and such arrangements as would guarantee to both nations reciprocal benefits from the use of the telegraphs, not only in times of peace, but even in times of war, if, contrary to our desire and expectation, and to the great detriment of both nations, war should ever arise between them."