"It is within the last six months only that we have received the first return from the money we had put at the bottom of the Atlantic. I do not believe that any enterprise has ever been undertaken that has had such fortune: that has been so low, and, one might almost say, so high. I have known the time when a thousand pounds of Atlantic telegraph stock sold in London at a high premium. I have known the time when a thousand pounds of the same stock was purchased by my worthy friend, the Right Honorable Mr. Wortley, for thirty guineas. At one time when I was in London trying to raise money to carry forward this great enterprise, a certificate for ten thousand dollars (£2000 sterling) in the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company sold at the Merchants' Exchange in New York by public auction for a ten-dollar bill (£2). On my return home the gentleman handed the certificate to me and asked me if it was worth anything. I said to him, 'My dear sir, what did you pay for it?' and to my mortification he showed to me the auctioneer's bill for ten dollars. I said to him, 'I shall be happy to pay you a good profit on your investment.' He replied, 'No; what do you advise me to do with it?' I rejoined, "Lock it up in your safe. Do not even think about or look at it until you receive a notice to collect your dividends.' The holder now receives a dividend of eight hundred dollars per annum or (£160) in gold for his investment. If any gentleman here has ever possessed a more fluctuating investment I should like to hear it." Later in the evening the Right Honorable Mr. Wortley said: "I have been a shareholder from the first, and I am somewhat proud of my original £1000 shares, and of those shares to which you have alluded, which I truly bought at £30 each. I am anxious, however, that those gentlemen who heard that statement should understand that I have not yet made a fortune out of the cable. The vicissitudes we have gone through have prevented us from doing much financially, and, indeed, we have had difficulty at times in keeping the enterprise afloat." The following telegram and letters are among those received at this time: "21 REGENT STREET, LONDRES. "Envoyez télégramme suivant à FIELD, _Great Eastern_: "Félicitations pour persévérance et grand succès. "LESSEPS." "11 CARLTON HOUSE TERRACE. S.W., "_August 28, '66_.