I call upon you to give three hearty cheers for Sir Robert Peel.” [Illustration: G. McCulloch, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley London, Day & Sons, Limited, Lith. FOILHUMMERUM BAY, VALENCIA FROM “CROMWELL FORT” THE CAROLINE AND BOATS LAYING THE EARTH WIRE JULY 21ST.] [Illustration: T. Picken, lith from a drawing by R. Dudley THE GREAT EASTERN UNDER WEIGH JULY 23RD. (ESCORT AND OTHER SHIPS INTRODUCED BEING THE TERRIBLE, THE SPHINX, THE HAWK & THE CAROLINE)] The meeting responded very heartily to the call, and when silence was restored, Sir Robert Peel said: “Gentlemen, as the Knight of Kerry has well observed, this is one of the most important works that this country could have been engaged in, inasmuch as it tends to draw us together in a link of amity and friendship with a mighty continent on the other side of the Atlantic. I trust, as the Knight of Kerry has so justly observed, that it may tend not only to promote the peace and commerce of the world, but that it may also lead to a union of feeling and to good fellowship between those two great countries; and I trust that as it has been so happily inaugurated to-day, so it may be successful under the exertions of those who have taken part in it to-day and for some time past. Gentlemen, I think the progress of this undertaking deserves that we should pay the highest compliment to those who have been actively engaged in carrying it out to the stage at which it has arrived. We are about to lay down, at the very bottom of the mighty Atlantic, which beats against your shores with everlasting pulsations, this silver-toned zone, to join the United Kingdom and America. Along that silver-toned zone, I trust, may pass words which will tend to promote the commerce and the interest of the two countries; and I am sure we will offer up prayers for the success of an undertaking, to the accomplishment of which persevering industry and all the mechanical skill of the age have been brought to bear. Nothing has been wanting in human skill, and therefore for the future, as now, let us trust the hand of Divine Providence will be upon it; and that as the great vessel is about to steam across the Atlantic no mishaps or misfortune may occur to imperil or obstruct the success of the work which has now been so happily commenced. I ask you all to give a cheer in honour of my noble friend here, the Knight of Kerry, who has just begun the work.” The demand was enthusiastically complied with, for the Knight is an immense favourite with all the dwellers in his little dominion.