for the transmission of messages. The expedition of 1857 and the two expeditions of 1858 were a joint enterprise in which the "Niagara" and the "Susquehanna" took part with the "Agamemnon," the "Leopard," the "Gorgon and the "Valorous"; and the officers of both navies worked with generous rivalry for the same great object. The capital-except one quarter which, as you have said, was taken by myself-was subscribed wholly in Great Britain. The directors were almost all English bankers and merchants. Though among them was one gentleman whom we are proud to call an American, Mr. George Peabody, a name honored in two countries, since showered his princely benefactions upon both-who, though resident for nearly forty years in London where he has gained abundant wealth and honors, still clings to the land of his birth; declining the honor of a baronetcy of the United Kingdom to remain a simple American citizen. [Loud

cheers.]

With the history of the expeditions of 1857-58 you are familiar. On the third trial we gained a brief success. The cable was laid, and for four weeks it worked, though never very brilliantly, never giving forth such rapid and distinct flashes as the cables of to-day. It spoke, though only in broken sentences. But while it lasted no less than four hundred messages were sent across the Atlantic. You all remember the enthusiasm which it excited. It was a new thing under the sun, and for a few weeks the public went wild over it. Of course, when it stopped the reaction was very great. People grew dumb and suspicious. Some thought it was all a hoax, and many were quite sure that it never worked at all. That kind of odium we have had to endure for eight years until now I trust. we have at last silenced the unbelievers.

After the failure of 1858 came our darkest days. When a thing is dead it is hard to galvanize it into life. It is more difficult to revive an old enterprise than to start a new one. The freshness and novelty are gone and the feeling of disappointment discourages further effort. Other causes delayed the new attempt. This country had become involved in a tremendous war; and while the nation was struggling for life it had no time to spend in foreign enterprise.

But in England the project was still kept alive. The Atlantic Telegraph Company kept up its organization. It had a noble body of directors who had faith in the enterprise and looked beyond its present low estate to ultimate success. I cannot name them all, but I must speak of our chairman-the Right Honorable James Stuart Wortley, a gentleman who did not join us in the hour of victory, but in what seemed the hour of despair-after the failure of 1858-and who has been a steady support through all these years. The Deputy Chairman, Mr. Lampson, has been made a baronet for his connection with the enterprise; our faithful Secretary, Mr. Saward, too, did much to keep alive the interest of the British public.

All this time the science of submarine telegraphy was making progress. The British Government appointed a commission to investigate the whole subject. It was composed of eminent scientific men and practical engineers-Galton, Wheatstone, Fairbairn, Bidder, Varley, Latimer, and Edwin Clark-with the Secretary of the Company, Mr. Saward-names to be held in honor in connection with this enterprise along with those of other English engineers such as Stephenson, and Brunel, and Whitworth, and Penn, and Lloyd, and Josiah Field, who gave time and thought and labor freely to this enterprise, refusing all compensation. This commission sat for nearly two years and spent many thousands of pounds in experiments. The result was a clear conviction in every mind that it was possible to lay a telegraph across the Atlantic. Science was also being all the while applied to practice. Submarine cables were laid in different seasin the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf. The latter was laid by my friend, Sir Charles Bright, who thus rendered another service to his country and gained a fresh title to the honor which was conferred upon him for his part in laying the first Atlantic cable.

When the scientific and engineering problems were solved we took heart again and began to prepare for a fresh attempt. This was in 1863. In this countrythough the war was still raging-I went from city to city holding meetings and trying to raise capital, but with poor success. Men came and listened and said "it was all very

fine," and "hoped I would succeed," but did nothing. In one of the cities they gave me a large meeting and passed some beautiful resolutions and appointed a committee of "solid men" to canvass the city, but I did not get a solitary subscriber! In this city I did better, though money came by the hardest work. By personal solicitations, encouraged by you, sir, and other good friends, I succeeded in raising £70,000. Since not many had faith, I must present one example to the contrary, though it was not till a year later. When almost all deemed it a hopeless scheme one gentleman of this city came to me and purchased stock of the Atlantic Telegraph Company to the amount of $100,000. That was Mr. Loring Andrews, who is here this evening to see his faith rewarded. [Applause.] But at the time I speak of, it was plain that our main hope must be in England, and I went to London. There too, it dragged heavily; there was a profound discouragement. Many had lost before and were not willing to throw more money into the sea. We needed £600,000, and with our utmost efforts we had raised less than half, and there the enterprise stood in a deadlock. It was plain that we must have help from some new quarter. I looked around to find a man who had broad shoulders and could carry a heavy load, and who would be a giant in the cause. It was at this time I was introduced to a gentleman whom I would hold up to the American public as a specimen of a greathearted Englishman, Mr. Thomas Brassey. You may never have heard his name, but in London he is known as one of the men who have made British enterprise and British capital felt in all parts of the earth. I went to see him, though with fear and trembling. He received me kindly, but put me through such an examination as I never had before. I thought I was in the witness-box. He asked every possible question, but my answers satisfied him, and he ended by saying that "it was an enterprise which ought to be carried out and that he would be one of ten men to furnish the money to do it." This was a pledge of £60,000 sterling! Encouraged by this noble offer I looked about to find another such man, though it was almost like trying to find two Wellingtons. But he was found in Mr. John Pender of Manchester. I went one day to his office in London and we walked together to the House of Com

mons, and before we got through he said he would take an equal share with Mr. Brassey.

The action of these two gentlemen was a turning-point in the history of our enterprise, for it led shortly after to a union of the well-known firm of Glass, Elliott & Company with the Gutta-Percha Company, making of the two one grand concern, which included not only Mr. Brassey and Mr. Pender, but other men of great wealth, such as Mr. George Elliott, and Mr. Barclay of London, and Mr. Henry Bewley of Dublin, and which thus reinforced with immense capital took up the whole enterprise in its strong arms. We needed, I have said, £600,000, and with all our efforts in England and America we had raised only £285,000. This new company now came forward and offered to take up the whole remaining £315,000 besides £100,000 of the bonds and to make its own profits contingent on success! Mr. Richard A. Glass was made Managing Director, and gave energy and vigor to all its departments, being admirably seconded by the Secretary, Mr. Shuter. Mr. Glass has been recently knighted for his services in carrying out the Atlantic Telegraph—an honor which he most justly deserves.

A few days after half a dozen gentlemen joined together and bought the "Great Eastern" to lay the cable. At the head of this company was placed Mr. Daniel Gooch, member of Parliament and chairman of the Great Western Railway, who was with us in both expeditions which followed, and who for his services has been made a baronet of the United Kingdom. His son, Mr. Charles Gooch, a volunteer in the service, who worked faithfully on board the "Great Eastern," we are happy to welcome here tonight. [Applause.]

The good fortune which favored us in our ship favored us also in our commander. Many of you know Captain Anderson [applause] who was for years in the Cunard line. You may have crossed the sea with him, and you remember how kind he was; how clear-eyed and prompt in his duty, and yet always a quiet and modest gentlemen. How well he did his part in two expeditions the result has proved, and it was just that a mark of royal favor should fall on that manly head.

Thus organized, the work of making the new Atlantic

cable was begun. The core was prepared with infinite care under the able superintendence of Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Willoughby Smith; and the whole was completed in about eight months. As fast as ready it was taken on board the "Great Eastern" and coiled in three enormous tanks; and on July 15, 1865, the ship started on her memorable voyage.

I will not stop to tell the story of that expedition. For a week all went well; we had paid out twelve hundred miles of cable and had only six hundred miles further to go when, hauling in the cable to remedy a fault, it parted and went to the bottom! That day I can never forgethow men paced the deck in despair looking out on the broad sea that had swallowed up their hopes; and then how the brave Canning for nine days and nights dragged the bottom of the ocean for our lost treasure, and though he grappled it three times, failed to bring it to the surface. The story of that expedition as written by Dr. Russell, who was on board the "Great Eastern," is one of the most marvelous chapters in the whole history of modern enterprise. We returned to England defeated yet full of resolution to begin the battle anew. Measures were at once taken to make a second cable and to fit out a new expedition; and with that assurance I came home last autumn.

ers.

In December I went back again, when lo, all our hopes had sunk to nothing. The Attorney-General of England had given his written opinion that we had no legal right without a special Act of Parliament (which could not be obtained under a year) to issue the new twelve per cent. shares on which we relied to raise our capital. This was a terrible blow. The works were at once stopped and the money which had been paid in returned to the subscribSuch was the state of things only ten months ago. I reached London on December 24, and the next day was not a "Merry Christmas" to me. But it was an inexpressible comfort to have the counsel of such men as Sir Daniel Gooch and Sir Robert A. Glass; and to hear stouthearted Mr. Brassey tell us to go ahead; and if need were he would put down £60,000 more! It was finally concluded that the best course was to organize a new company which should assume the work; and so originated the AngloAmerican Telegraph Company. It was formed by ten