16 ANXTJAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERT. 



pensation. 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 tele- 

 graj)h across the Atlantic. Science was also being all the while 

 applied to practice. Submarine cables were laid in dificrent seas • 

 — in the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea, and in the Persian Gulf. 

 *' When the scicntilic and engineering jjroblems were solved, 

 we took heart again, and began to pi-epare for a fresh att(^mpt. 

 This was in 18Ga. In this country — though the war was still rag- 

 ing — I went from city to city, holdinir meetings and trying to 

 raise capital, tnit with ))oor success. IVIcn came and listened, and 

 said ' it was all very line,' and ' hojjcd I would succeed,' but did 

 nothing. In one of the cities they gave me a large meeting, and 

 passed some beautiful rosohUions, and appointed a committee of 

 'solid men' to canvass tlie city, but I did not get a solitary sub- 

 scriber! In this city I did lietter, though money came by the 

 hardest. By personal solicitations, encouraged by good friends, I 

 succcedt'(l in raising £70,000. Since not many had I'aitli, I must pre- 

 sent one exami)l(' to tiie contrary', though it was not till a year later. 

 When almost all deemed it a hopeless scheme, one gentleman 

 came to me and purchased stock of the Atlantic Telegraph Com- 

 pany to tlie amount of $100,000. That was Mr. Loring Andrews, 

 who is here this evening to see his faith rewarded. But at the 

 time 1 speak of, it was plain that our main hope must be in Eng- 

 land, and I went t<j London. There, too, it dragged heavily. 

 There was a profound discouragement. JNIany had lost before, 

 and were not willing to thnjw more money into the sea. We 

 needed £000,000, and with our utmost efforts we had raised less 

 than half, and there the enterprise stood in a dead lock. It was 

 l^lain that Ave must have liclp from some new quarter. I looked 

 around to lind a man who had broail shoulders, and could cany 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 great-hearted Eng- 

 lishman, ]\Ir. Thomas Brassey. 1 went to see him, though with 

 fear and trembling. lie 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 it was an enteri^rise 

 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 around to 

 find another such man, though it Avas almost like trjing to find 

 two Wellingtons. But he was found in Mr. John Pender, of 

 Manchester. I went to his office one day in Loudon, and we 

 walked together to the House of Commons, and before we got 

 there he said he would take an equal share with Mr. Brassey. 



" The action of these two gentlemen was a turuing-i^oiut in the 

 history of our enterprise ; for it led shortly after to a union of the 

 well-known firm of Glass, Elliot & Co. with the Gutta Percha 

 Company, making of the two one grand concern known as ' The 

 Telegraph Construction and Maixitenance Company,' which in- 



