Mr. Bigelow to Mr. Seward
Sir: The news of the successful union of the eastern and western hemispheres by electric telegraph reached this legation on the 28th of July last, at twenty-eight minutes past five in the morning, in the following despatch from Mr. Cyrus W. Field:
Friday—11 p. m.
His Excellency the American Minister, Paris:
The Atlantic cable is successfully laid. May it prove a blessing to all mankind.
CYRUS FIELD, Newfoundland.
On the first day of August the Paris papers contained despatches from New York of that date, announcing the recent honor conferred by the President and Congress on Grant and Sherman. I trust the umbilical cord with which the Old World is reunited to its transatlantic offspring may never transmit intelligence less welcome than this to patriotic Americans.
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I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.