"The Atlantic telegraph project is again attracting public attention. Mr. Cyrus W. Field, one of the leading spirits of the undertaking, is again amongst us, full of hope and ready to embark once more in the gigantic enterprise." Mr. John Bright said, in a speech made at a dinner given on the evening of April 15, 1864: "Just before I came here I was speaking to a gentleman, a member of Her Majesty's government--one of the present Cabinet--and I told him, as I was coming out of the House, that I was going to dine with some friends of the Atlantic telegraph. His countenance at once brightened up, and he said to me: 'I look upon that as the most glorious thing that man ever attempted; there is nothing else which so excites my sympathies.' When he said that he spoke only the feelings of every intelligent and moral man in the whole world." But to carry out "the most glorious thing that man ever attempted" there was endless work awaiting him, and what he accomplished in three months is best told by himself, and is made to read continuously, although, in fact, the words were spoken at different times on the evening just referred to; he failed to say that he was one of the ten men who each subscribed £10,000: "When I arrived in this country in January last the Atlantic Telegraph Company trembled in the balance. We were in want of funds and were in negotiations with the government and making great exertions to raise the money. At this juncture I was introduced to a gentleman of great integrity and enterprise, who is well known, not only for his wealth, but for his foresight, and in attempting to enlist him in our cause he put me through such a cross-examination as I had never before experienced. I thought I was in the witness-box. He inquired of me the practicability of the scheme, what it would pay, and everything else connected with it, but before I left him I had the pleasure of hearing him say that it was a great national enterprise that ought to be carried out, and he added, 'I will be one of ten to find the money required for it.' From that day to this he has never hesitated about it, and when I mention his name you will know him as a man whose word is as good as his bond, and as for his bond there is no better in England. I give you 'The health of Thomas Brassey.' The words spoken by Mr. Brassey ... encouraged us all, and made us believe we should succeed in raising the necessary capital, and I then went to work to find nine other Thomas Brasseys (I did not know whether he was an Englishman, a Scotchman, or an Irishman, but I made up my mind that he combines all the good qualities of every one of them), and after considerable search I met with a rich friend from Manchester, and I asked him if he would second Mr. Brassey, and walked with him