Part 6 (1/2)
This jealousy and hostility spoke loudest from the mouths of Southerners It is noteworthy thatabroad, courting foreign influence against their own country, were then fiercest in denunciation of England Mason and Slidell voted together against the bill Butler, of South Carolina, was very bitter in his opposition--saying, with a sneer, that ”this was simply a mail service under the surveillance of Great Britain”--and so was Hunter, of Virginia; while Jones, of Tennessee, bursting with patriotism, found a sufficient reason for his opposition, in that ”he did not want anything to do with England or Englisheneral hostility of the South there were soave the bill an earnest support; so did Mallory, of Florida, Chairman of the Naval Committee; and especially that noble Southerner, Rusk, of Texas, ”hose aid,” as Mr Seward said, ”it seeress” Mr Rusk declared that he regarded it as ”the great enterprise of the age,” and expressed his surprise at the very moderate subsidy asked for, only seventy thousand dollars a year, saying that, ”with a reasonable prospect of success in an enterprise, calculated to produce such beneficial results, he should be willing to vote two hundred thousand dollars”
But with the nance to acting in concert with England, which could not be overcoland and the United States, but between England and her own colonies--a line of which she alone was to reap the benefit _Both its termini were in the British possessions_ In the event of war this would give a tre both ends of the line All the speakers harped on this string; and it e or two to see how this was inia, asked, ”What security are we to have that in tiraph as well as the British Government?” Mr Seward answered:
”It appears not to have been contemplated by the British Government that there would ever be any interruption of the a was proposed in their contract for the contingency of war
”That the two termini are both in the British dominions is true; but it is equally true that there is no other terminus on this continent where it is practicable to make that communication except in the British dominions We have no dominions on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean There is no other route known on which the telegraphic wire could be drawn through the ocean so as to find a proper resting-place or anchorage except this The distance on this route is seventeen hundred raphic ill carry the fluid with sufficient strength to communicate across those seventeen hundred miles That is yet a scientific experiard to war, all the danger is this: There is a hazard of war at soht make, ould break them up No treaty would save us My own hope is, that after the telegraphic wire is once laid, there will be no more war between the United States and Great Britain I believe that whenever such a connection as this shall be made, we diree, that it is not necessary to take them into consideration at the present ain by refusing to enter into this agreement? If we do not make it, the British Govern more annually, and they have the whole monopoly of this wire, without any stipulation whatever--not only in war but in peace
If we make this contract with the Company, we at least secure the benefit of it in tiers of war If there shall ever be war, it would abrogate all treaties that can be ard to this subject, unless it be true, as the honorable Senator froarded as obligatory by nations in ties in ti such treaties hereafter, without the least reason to infer that there would be any reluctance on the part of the British Governotiation with us, if we should desire to do so The British Government, if it had such a disposition as the honorable Senator supposes, would certainly have proposed toto divide it”[A]
Mr Hale spoke in the same strain:
”It seeencies of war are brought in a little too often upon islation which have no necessary connection with theoverned by considerations of that sort, they would paralyze all ireat appropriations for commerce; they would at once neutralize that policy which sets our ocean steamers afloat nobody pretends that the intercourse which is kept up between Great Britain and this country by our ocean steamers would be continued in time of war; nor the communication with France or other nations
”If we are deterred for that reason, we shall be pursuing a policy that will paralyze iuous to the lakes The city of Detroit will have to be abandoned, beautiful and progressive as it is, because in time of war the e of British guns
”What will the suspension bridge at Niagara be good for in a time of war? If the British cut off their end of it, our end will not be worth ether in peace, this telegraphic ill be one of the ether literally with cords of iron that will hold us in the bonds of peace I repudiate entirely the policy which refuses to adopt it, because in time of war it may be interrupted Such a policy as that would drive us back to a state of barbarisress; it would retard improve us a more civilized, and a more informed and a better people than the one which preceded us”
Mr Douglas cut theto vote for this bill as a peace measure, as a commercial measure--but not as a war measure; and ar comes, let us rely on our power and ability to take this end of the wire, and keep it”
Mr Benjamin said:
”The suive for the use of this telegraph will a between 300,000 and 400,000 Now, if this be a matter of such iolden opportunity--and if, indeed, her control of this line be such a powerful engine, whether in war or in peace, is it not most extraordinary that she proposes to us a full share in its benefits and in its control, and allows to our Governhts with herself in the transmission of communications for the suh twenty-five years? If this be, indeed, a very important instrumentality in behalf of Great Britain for the conduct of her coovernment of her possessions, or the efficient action of her troops in time of war, the 300,000 expended upon it are but as a drop in the bucket when compared with the immense resources of that empire
I think, therefore, we may as well discard from our consideration of this subject all these visions about the iovernmental aid in this matter, to be rendered under the provisions of this bill
”Mr President, let us not always be thinking of war; let us be using means to preserve peace The amount that would be expended by this Government in sixthat we shall have to pay for the use of this telegraphic line for the entire twenty-five years of the contract; and do you not believe that this instruether the peace, the commerce, and the interests of the two countries, so as even to defer a war for six months or twelve months, if one should ever become inevitable, beyond the period at which it would otherwise occur? If it does that, it will in six or eight or nine ain, Sir, I say, if Great Britain wants it for war, she will put it there at her own expense It is not three hundred thousand pounds, or four hundred thousand pounds, that will arrest her If, on the contrary, this be useful to coree--useful for the preservation of peace, then I confess I feel so it I confess I feel a glow of soreat human family when I see these triuht into instant co oceans, which, to our unenlightened forefathers, seemed placed there by Providence as an eternal barrier to communication between man and man Now, Sir, we speak froun be fired in war on the European shore ere its echoes will reverberate a our own mountains, and be heard by every citizen in the land All this is a triuenius, and I for one feel proud of it, and feel desirous of sustaining and prolas said:
”Our policy is essentially a policy of peace We want peace with the whole world, above all other considerations There never has been a time in the history of this Republic, when peace was more essential to our prosperity, to our advancereat progress in tiress since the last ith Great Britain Twenty-five years more of peace will put us far in advance of any other nation on earth”
It was fit that Mr Seward, who introduced the bill, and opened the debate, should close in words that now see before and after, of this eminent statesman:
”There was an American citizen who, in the year 1770, or thereabout, indicated to this country, to Great Britain, and to the world, the use of the lightning for the purposes of coence, and that was Dr Franklin I am sure that there is not only no member of the Senate, but no A to have struck out froreat discovery of the lightning as an agent for the uses of huuished and illustrious American was followed up soestion and another indication from another American, and that was Mr Samuel F B Morse, who indicated to the A could be raphic wires could beintelligence
”We have followed out the suggestions of these eminent Americans hitherto, and I am sure at a very small cost The Government of the United States appropriated 40,000 to test the practicability of Morse's suggestion; the 40,000 thus expended established its practicability and its use Now, there is no person on the face of the globe who can measure the price at which, if a reasonableto strike froraph as a means of communication between different portions of the saht into its further, wider, and broader use--the use by the general society of nations, international use, the use of the society of e--just in proportion to the extent and scope of its operation They are not merely benefits to the Government, but they are benefits to the citizens and subjects of all nations and of all States