"Three more disagreeable days voyagers scarcely ever passed than we spent in that smallest of steamers. It seemed as if all the storms of winter had been reserved for the first month of spring. A frost-bound coast, an icy sea, rain, hail, snow, and tempest were the greetings of the telegraph adventurers in their first movement towards Europe. In the darkest night, through which no man could see the ship's length, with snow filling the air and flying into the eyes of the sailors, with ice in the water, and a heavy sea rolling and moaning about us, the captain felt his way around Cape Race with his lead, as a blind man feels his way with his staff, but as confidently and safely as if the sky had been clear and the sea calm. And the light of the morning dawned upon deck and mast and spar coated with glittering ice, but floating securely between the mountains which formed the gates of the harbor of St. John's." The little party was welcomed warmly by Mr. Edward M. Archibald, then attorney-general of the colony, and for many years afterwards British consul-general in New York, and by the governor, Ker Barley Hamilton; Bishop Field, of Newfoundland, and the Roman Catholic bishop, John Mullock, were among their entertainers, and became their warm friends. On November 8, 1850, Bishop Mullock had written to the editor of the St. John's _Courier_: _"Sir,_--I regret to find that in every plan for transatlantic communication Halifax is always mentioned and the natural capabilities of Newfoundland entirely overlooked. "This has been deeply impressed on my mind by the communication I read in your paper of Saturday last, regarding telegraphic communication between England and America, in which it is said that the nearest telegraphic station on the American side is Halifax, 2155 miles from the coast of Ireland. Now, would it not be well to call the attention of Europe and America to St. John's as the nearest telegraphic point?