New York, June 11,1864.
A passing thought. You, my dear Sumner, have read Mr.
Seward's communication on the globe-encircling telegraph, no doubt with the
same reflections and feelings in every respect with which I perused it, the
globe by my side. Do you remember that an agreement existed between the United
States and Great Britain, when the Atlantic Cable was laying, that the
Sub-Atlantic Telegraph should be protected, even in case of war between the two
powers? It struck me as a noble item in the history of the Law of Nations.
Could not the United States, Great Britain, and Russia agree upon something of
the kind regarding the Pan-spheric Telegraph, or however the encircling wire
may be called? Of course the interruption of messages cannot be prevented; but
the destruction of the telegraph might be placed beyond the war, as the Greek
communities swore by all the gods never to cut off each other's water-pipes —
their Croton aqueducts — even should they go to war with one another. I write
this on the supposition that Congress will readily respond to Mr. Seward's
letter. It would be noble to do such work in the midst of a vast civil war. How
is the telegraph to be preserved those many thousand miles in distant and
semi-barbarous countries? I suppose, pretty much as ours to California. “Go
ahead and trust,” does a good deal in bringing about the desired state of things.
. . .
SOURCE: Thomas Sergeant Perry, Editor, The Life and
Letters of Francis Lieber, p. 347
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