“ ‘Public opinion, I think, would ratify the selection.
“ ‘These are:
“ ‘Mr. Glass, the manager of the Telegraph Maintenance Company, under whose superintendence the great connecting link has been manufactured, and to whose former firm is mainly owing the high perfection which the construction of submarine cables has now attained.
“ ‘Mr. Canning, the able engineer of the same company, to whose experience and skill we are chiefly indebted for the successful laying down of the new cable and the restoration of the old.
“ ‘Captain Anderson, the commander of the Great Eastern steamship, who under new and untried circumstances brought this leviathan of the waters to work in subjection to the requirements of the great operation. An honorary distinction to this gentleman would no doubt be received as a compliment by the mercantile marine.
“ ‘Dr. W. Thomson, who, distinguished already in the highest fields of science, has devoted his talents to improvements in the methods of signalizing, and whose contrivances specially appropriated to the conditions of submarine lines have resulted in the attainment of greater speed than was at first expected.
“ ‘In naming these gentlemen I have limited myself to those actually engaged in the great enterprise which at present occupies so much public attention. I have left out of consideration the claims of others, however great, who have preceded them in similar undertakings of less importance, or who have either in thought or deed worked out results which have rendered the present great work practicable or even possible.
“ ‘I remain, my dear sir,
“ ‘Yours very truly,
“ ‘C. Wheatstone.
“ ‘Arthur Helps, Esq.’ ”
At the banquet given at Liverpool on October 1st, the chairman read this letter: