THE CAPTAIN'S SPEECH. 



647 



the house and the end placed in connection with the instru- 

 ment. The deflection of the needle on the galvanometer gives 

 incontrovertible evidence that the electrical condition of the 

 cable is satisfactory. The question now is, How shall we pro- 

 perly celebrate the consummation of the great event? How, 

 but by an acknowledgment to that Providence without whose 

 favor the enterprise must have ended in disaster and defeat? 

 Captain Hudson took up his position on a pile of boards, the 

 officers and men standing round amid shavings, stumps of trees, 

 pieces of broken furniture, sheets of copper, telegraph-batteries, 

 little mounds of lime and mortar, branches of trees, huge boul- 

 ders, and a long catalogue of other things equally incongruous. 



" 'We have,' said the captain, 'just accomplished a work 

 which has attracted the attention and enlisted the interest of 

 the whole world. That work,' he continued, 'has been per- 

 formed not by ourselves: there has been an Almighty Hand 

 over us and aiding us; and, without the divine assistance thus 

 extended us, success was impossible. With this conviction firmly 

 impressed upon our minds, it becomes our duty to acknowledge 

 our indebtedness to that overruling Providence who holds the 

 sea in the hollow of his hand. " Not unto us, 0 Lord, not 

 unto us, but to thy name, be all the glory." I hope the day 

 will never come when, in all our works, we shall refuse to 

 acknowledge the overruling hand of a divine and almighty 

 Power. . . . There are none here, I am sure, whose hearts are 

 not overflowing with feelings of the liveliest gratitude to God in 

 view of the great work which has been accomplished through his 

 permission, and who are not willing to join in a prayer of 

 thanksgiving for its successful termination. I will therefore ask 

 you to join me in the following prayer, which is the same, with 

 a few necessary alterations, that was offered for the laying of 

 the cable.' " 



This prayer was then offered at the throne of grace by the 

 captain, the auditors responding at its close with an "Amen'" 



