gned by five persons, four of whom--Peter Cooper,
Moses Taylor, Marshall O. Roberts, and myself--are here to-night. The
fifth, Mr. Chandler White, died two years after, and his place was
taken by Mr. Wilson G. Hunt, who is also present. Of my associates, it
is to be said to their honor--as might have been expected from men of
their high position and character--that they stood by the undertaking
manfully for twelve long years, through discouragements such as nobody
knows but themselves. Those who applaud our success know little
through what struggles it was obtained. One disappointment followed
another, till "hope deferred made the heart sick." We had little help
from outside, for few had any faith in our enterprise. But not a man
deserted the ship: all stood by it to the end. My brother Dudley is
also here, who, as the counsel of the company, was present at the
signing of the agreement, and went with Mr. White and myself the week
after to Newfoundland, to obtain the charter, and was our legal
adviser through those anxious and troubled years, when success seemed
very doubtful. At St. John's the first man to give us a hearty
welcome, and who aided us in obtaining our charter, was Mr. Edward M.
Archibald, then Prime Minister of Newfoundland, and now for more than
twenty years the honored representative of Her Majesty's Government at
this port, who is also here to-night. It is a matter for grateful
acknowledgment that we were spared to see accomplished the work that
we began; and that we meet now, at the end of a quarter of a century,
to look with wonder at what has been wrought since in other parts of
the world.

Our little company came into existence only a few weeks before the
Western Union Telegraph Company, which is entitled to share in our
congratulations, and has kindly brought a connecting wire into this
room, by which we can this evening communicate with every town and
village from the Atlantic to the Pacific; and by our sea cables, with
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the West Indies, and
South America. While our small circle has been broken by death but
once, very different has it been with the Atlantic Telegraph Company,
which was formed in London in 1856, to extend our line across the
ocean. At its beginning there were eighteen English and twelve
American directors, thirty in all, of whom twenty-nine have either
died or retired from the board. I alone still remain one of the
directors.

Many of