"It has been said that the greatest boons conferred on mankind, have been due to men of one idea. If the laying of the Atlantic cable be among those benefits, its consummation may certainly be attributed to the man who, having many ideas, devoted himself to work out one idea, with a gentle force and patient vigor which converted opposition and overcame indifference. Mr. Field may be likened either to the core, or the external protection, of the cable itself. At times he has been its active life; again he has been its iron-bound guardian. Let who will claim the merit of having first said the Atlantic cable was possible; to Mr. Field is due the inalienable merit of having made it possible, and of giving to an abortive conception all the attributes of healthy existence." Sir William Thomson, on the final triumph, wrote: "My dear Field, I cannot refrain from putting down in black and white my hearty congratulations on your great success. Few know better than I do how well you deserve it." Eight months after he wrote from Scotland: "I am sorry I had not an opportunity of saying in public how much I value your energy and perseverance in carrying through the great enterprise, and how clearly you stand out in its history as its originator and its mainspring from beginning to end." Next to Sir William Thomson was Mr. C. F. Varley, who was associated in the work from an early day, and did much to solve the difficult problems of ocean telegraphy, and who wrote to Mr. Field, speaking from his personal knowledge: "You did more than any other to float the concern, and single-handed saved the whole scheme from collapse more than once." Captain Sir James Anderson repeated the same conviction in numberless forms. He had seen how the presence of Mr. Field in London instantly revived the languid enthusiasm of others, and infused his own energy into the enterprise, and declared again and again that but for these heroic and incessant efforts the whole scheme would have broken down, and been delayed for many years. Such expressions from English associates in the great work might be multiplied to any extent. They are much stronger than any language used by the author of this volume, who has purposely kept back such testimonies, lest it should seem that he wished to exalt an individual, when he sought to do justice to all, on both sides of the Atlantic. Nor was such recognition confined to England. The King of Italy conferred on Mr. Field the cross of the order of St. Mauritius, as an acknowledgment from the country of Columbus to one who had done so much to unite to the Old World that New World which Columbus discovered.