After proposing toasts to Her Majesty the Queen, to the President of the United States, and to the Prince of Wales, the chairman (Sir S. Northcote) again rose amid applause, and said it was a maxim of a great Roman poet that a great work should be begun by plunging into the middle of the subject. He would therefore do so by proposing a toast to the projectors of the Atlantic Telegraph--Sir Charles Bright and Mr. Cyrus Field, Mr. J. W. Brett having since unfortunately died. When they came in after years to relate the history of this cable, they would find many who had contributed to it, but it would be as impossible to say who were the originators of the great invention as it was to say who were the first inventors of steam. He begged to couple with the toast the name of Sir Charles Bright, as, perhaps, the foremost representative from all points of view up to the present time (applause). The greatest honor is due to the indomitable perseverance and energy of Sir Charles Bright that the original cable was successfully laid, though, through no fault of his, it had but a short useful existence (great cheering). Sir Charles Bright, M.P., after acknowledging the compliment paid to the "original projectors" and to himself personally, said that the idea of laying a cable across the Atlantic was the natural outcome of the success which was attained in carrying short lines under the English and Irish Channels, and was a common subject of discussion among those concerned in telegraph extension prior to the formation of the Atlantic Telegraph Company. About ten years ago the science had sufficiently advanced to permit of the notion assuming a practical form. Soundings taken in the Atlantic between Ireland and Newfoundland proved that the bottom was soft, and that no serious currents or abrading agencies existed, for the minute and fragile shells brought up by the sounding-line were perfect and uninjured.