104 



THE PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



•wnieh, if successful, will probably bring about a complete revolution 

 in our commercial marine,— is built of iron, and that however fully, 

 in other respects, the expectations of her projectors may be answered, 

 her success cannot be deemed perfect while this element of difficulty 

 I and danger remains. Nor can I omit to call on the Institute to join 

 with me in deploring the death during the past year of a distinguished 

 philosopher, whose name is especially connected with this subject, 

 and to whom most of the improvements in the correction of the 

 Mariner's compass are due. I allude to the lamented Dr. Scoresby. 

 The hopeful anticipations which were indulged in at our last an- 

 nual meeting, respecting the Atlantic telegraph, have not as yet 

 been realized. But we may still, I firmly believe, continue to in- 

 dulge them, and treat their realization as merely postponed. The 

 disappointment of last season has not shaken confidence in the ulti- 

 mate success of the undertaking. The check that has been met 

 with will but stimulate the ardor and ingenuity of those who are 

 entrusted with its execution. Nothing has happened to create a 

 doubt that the end is attainable, and that the means, in important 

 particulars at least, are well adapted to attain it. No unforeseen 

 obstacle of an insurmountable character has been found ; nor has 

 anything happened vvii'ch should give rise to a fear that any such 

 obstacle in reality exists. The accidental failure — for it is to be 

 looked upon in no worse light, — may possibly give rise to some 

 change in the details of execution, and may suggest further precau- 

 tions and still more careful preparations for the next attempt. The 

 indispensable qualifications of those employed in the work ; their 

 steady subordination and undeviatiug compliance with the directions 

 given for their guidance ; and the undivided— I had almost said 

 despotic — ^authority of the one master-mind which is to superin- 

 tend, will no doubt be sedulously secured, and under the blessing of 

 that Divine power which ruleth the raging of the winds and the 

 seas, we shall shortly behold the Old and the New World brought 

 closer together by the rapid interchange of friendly and mutually 

 advantageous communications. And viewing the electric chain which 

 shall thus unite them as a bond of peace and good will between the 

 descendants of one common stock, we may well from our inmost 

 hearts echo the dying words of father Paul, " Esto perpetna.^'^ 



But while the practical application of the discoveries of science to 

 the intercourse of nations, is calculated to produce such widely 

 extended and beneficial results, its study and cultivation generate 

 among its followers a large and generous spirit independent of national 



