This cable narrative affords as striking an illustration of the _triumph of failure_ as any recorded in the history of human enterprise. It was a victory of mind over matter; of character and tactfulness, energy and endurance over difficulties of every kind, moral and financial, mechanical and meteorological. The four expeditions of 1857, 1858, 1865 and 1866 represent years of hard work, anxiety and distressing failures; but, sustained by the patience of hope and by an unshaken confidence in the soundness of the enterprise as well as in the ability of their staff, the Directors of the Atlantic Company were well rewarded for the disappointment occasioned and the monetary losses incurred. "It has been a long struggle," said the initial promoter of the enterprise, Mr. Cyrus W. Field, speaking at a banquet given in his honor on November 15th, 1866, at the Metropolitan Hotel, New York, "a long struggle of nearly thirteen years of anxious watching and ceaseless toil. Often my heart was ready to sink. Many times, when wandering in the forests of Newfoundland in pelting rain, or on the decks of ships in dark, stormy nights, I almost accused myself of madness and folly to sacrifice the peace of my family for what might have proved but a dream. I have seen my companions, one after another, fall by my side, and I feared that I, too, might not live to see the end. And yet one hope has led me on; I prayed that I might not taste of death till the work was accomplished. That prayer has been answered; and now, beyond all acknowledgments to men, is the feeling of gratitude to Almighty God." It was men like Field and Thomson that the poet had in mind when he wrote: The wise and active conquer difficulties By daring to attempt them. Sloth and folly Shiver and shrink at sight of toil and labor, And make the impossibility they fear. Shortly after his return home, Prof. Thomson was knighted for his splendid services in connection with sub-oceanic cables, and was also honored with the freedom of the City of Glasgow.