The Story of the Atlantic TelegraphField, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
History
The Story of the Atlantic Telegraph
Field, Henry M. (Henry Martyn)
Transatlantic cables
As Mr. Field was thus brought near to his English friends, they in turn
were brought near to him, for as no man in America was better known
abroad, no house received more foreign guests, many of whom he had not
met before, but who brought letters to him, and there was no end to his
hospitality. John Bright he could not persuade to cross the sea; but he
had the pleasure to welcome his co-laborer in the repeal of the
Corn-laws, Richard Cobden. The house in Gramercy Park became famous for
its receptions. Many will recall that given to the Marquis of Ripon and
the other High Commissioners, who came a year or two after the war, as
representatives of the British government, and negotiated at Washington
the treaty which settled the Alabama claims; and those to Dean Stanley
and Archdeacon Farrar; and to many others. If the strangers happened to
arrive in the summer time, they were entertained at his beautiful
country seat on the Hudson, to which he had given the name of "Ardsley,"
from the seat of John Field the astronomer, who lived in the West Riding
of Yorkshire more than three centuries ago, and introduced the
Copernican astronomy into England, and from whom the family are
descended.
In some cases when he went abroad, England was but the starting point
for excursions on the Continent, in which he visited almost every
European country. In 1874, in company with two well-known Americans,
Bayard Taylor and Murat Halstead, he made a voyage to Iceland, as ten
years before he had been to Egypt, as a delegate from the New York
Chamber of Commerce, to witness the opening of the Suez Canal.
In 1880-81 he took a still longer flight around the world. Waiting till
after the Presidential election, that he might cast his vote for his
friend General Garfield, the very next day he left with his wife in a
special car for San Francisco, where after a few days, they took ship
for Japan, from which they passed through the Inland Sea to Shanghai,
and from China to Singapore, and up the Bay of Bengal to Calcutta, where
he found the same English nobleman whom he had entertained in New York,
the Marquis of Ripon, Governor-General of India. Going up the country,
the travellers visited Agra and Delhi, where the wonders of architecture
showed the magnificence of the old Mogul Empire. The whole journey was
one of infinite pleasure and instruction, and they were never weary of
talking of the strange manners and customs of the people of Asia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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