MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 17 



-eluded not only Mr. Brassey and JNIr. Pender, but other men of 

 great wealth, such as Mr. George Elliot, and Mr. Barclay of Lon- 

 don, and Mr. Henry Bewley of DuiDlin, and which, thus rein- 

 forced with immense capital, took up the whole enterprise in its 

 strong arms. AVe needed, I have said, £600,000, and with all 

 our efforts in England and America we raised only £285,000. 

 This new company now came forward, and offered to take 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. 



" A few days after half a dozen gentlemen joined together and 

 bought the ' Great Eastern,' to lay the cable ; and at the head of 

 this company was placed Mr. Daniel Gooch, a member of Parlia- 

 ment, and Chairman of the Great Western Railway, who was with 

 us in both the exi^editions which followed. 



" The good fortune which favored us in our ship favored us also 

 in our commander. Many of you know Capt. Anderson, who was 

 for years in the Cunard line. How well he did his part in two 

 expeditions the result has proved. 



"Thus organized, the work of making a 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 the 15th of July, 1865, the ship 

 started on her memoral)le voyage. 



" I will not stop to tell the story of that expedition. For a week 

 all went Avell; we had paid out 1,200 miles of cable, and had 

 only 600 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 

 forget — how 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 expe- 

 dition, as written by Dr. Russell, who was on board the ' Gi'eat 

 Eastern,' is one of the most marvellous chapters in the whole his- 

 tory of modern enterprise. We returned to England defeated, 

 yet full of resolution to begin the battle anew. Measui-es were 

 at once taken to make a second cable, and fit out a new exjjedi- 

 tion ; and with that assurance I came home last autumn. 



" 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 (v/hich could not be obtained under a year), to 

 issue the new 12 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 

 subscribers. Such was the state of things only ten months ago. 

 I reached London on the 24th of December, and the next day was 

 2* 



