"He returned to New York from his difficult and unaccomplished task utterly disappointed and beggared, and at this time was waiting for something to turn up." Mr. Field saw Mr. Gisborne, heard what he had done and what he had failed to do, and became at once interested in the work. This meeting was followed by many others, and after they had parted late one evening, as Mr. Field stood studying intently the large globe that was in his library, it flashed across his mind that, if it were possible to connect Newfoundland with the United States, why not Ireland with Newfoundland? The idea once conceived, he lost no time in putting it into execution, and the next morning's mail took letters to Professor Maury at Washington and Professor Morse at Poughkeepsie. He also consulted his brother, Mr. David Dudley Field, and his neighbor, Mr. Peter Cooper. More than twenty-five years after Mr. Cooper told of the meeting: "It fell to my lot to be one of the first, if not the first, to whom Mr. Field applied to join him in the enterprise which has so much interested us this evening. It was an enterprise which struck me very forcibly the moment he mentioned it. I thought I saw in it, if it was possible, a means by which we could communicate between the two continents, and send knowledge broadcast over all parts of the world. It seemed to strike me as though it were the consummation of that great prophecy, that "knowledge shall cover the earth, as waters cover the deep," and with that feeling I joined him and my esteemed friends, Wilson G. Hunt, Moses Taylor, and Marshall O. Roberts, in what then appeared to most men a wild and visionary scheme; a scheme that many people thought fitted those who engaged in it for an asylum where they might be taken care of as little short of lunatics. But believing, as I did, that it offered the possibility of a mighty power for the good of the world, I embarked in it." As soon as he obtained the co-operation of the men mentioned by Mr. Cooper, Mr. Field asked them to meet in the dining-room of his house, and for four nights they sat around the table examining the records of the old company, studying maps, and making estimates. On the 10th of March, 1854, the Electric Telegraph Company formally surrendered its charter, and it was decided that if the government of Newfoundland would give the new company a liberal charter they would carry forward the work, and, if possible, extend it. On the 14th of March Mr. Cyrus Field and Mr. Chandler White, and Mr. David Dudley Field as legal adviser, left for Newfoundland; they took the steamer at Boston for Halifax, and on the 18th left Halifax in the steamer _Merlin_ for St. John's. In his speech at the Cable Celebration in the Crystal Palace on September 1, 1858, Mr. David Dudley Field said: