cumstances, to return my best thanks to you for the very kind and cordial manner in which you have received the mention of my name. I have already taken the appropriate opportunity of expressing the gratification it has given me to make my first acquaintance with the county town of Wicklow on so interesting an occasion; and I feel that I may congratulate all those who are concerned and interested in the welfare of the place on the auspicious commencement of the new Line of Railway which will connect them with the metropolis of Ireland. I know it has sometimes been the fashion, in the indulgence of what I think a rather sickly sentimentalism, to object to the introduction of railways into the picturesque spots of our globe; but so far from repining that the iron belt of a railway should tread the bays of the ocean or gird the rock-built sides of the mountain-as we have seen done in our line today in so remarkably transcendant a manner-I, on the other hand, think that there is not a single Nereid of the wave or Naiad of the fountain that ought to feel too coy to welcome the warm wooing of the wizard of steam, when we reflect how great a number of the sons of labour are thus admitted into a closer contact with the fresh breeze of health and the new sense of beauty. It has been on all occasions, and it has been to-day, a real pleasure to me to assist at any development or extension of the railway enterprise of Ireland, because I am convinced there is no more efficient method of assisting that spirit of healthful industry which, without in the least degree impairing those generous and imaginative impulses which have heretofore given so much interest and grace to the Irish character, will secure its development and promote its free and healthy exercise in the new standing and position which it has assumed in the great industrial competition of nations. That this and every kindred development of the enterprise and industry of Ireland may mark her subsequent history, and that the efforts and self-reliance of her sons may be crowned, under the blessing of Providence, with continued and ever-growing increase-with this wish in my heart, I feel that I can give it no more appropriate connexion with the business which has engaged us to-day than by asking you all to fill a bumper, and to drain it with your best wishes for the success of the Dublin and Wicklow Railroad, which sentiment I beg to couple with the health of its Chairman and Directors.

THE TRANSATLANTIC TELEGRAPH-VALENTIA.

[AUGUST 4TH, 1857.]

THE

DEJEUNER.

THE

TOAST:

"The Health of the Earl of Carlisle, and Prosperity to Ireland."

HE Chairman (the KNIGHT OF KERRY) having proposed the toast,

The EARL OF CARLISLE said:

MR. CHAIRMAN, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN,

I beg to return you my very hearty thanks for the honour you have done me in so kindly drinking my health. I believe, as your worthy Chairman has already hinted, that I am probably the first Lord Lieutenant of Ireland who ever appeared upon this lovely strand. At all events, no Lord Lieutenant could have come amongst you on an occasion like the present. Amidst all the just pride and stirring hopes which cluster around the work of this week, we ought still to remember that we must speak with modesty of those who begin, and not of those who close an experiment; and it behoves us to remember that the pathway to great achievements has frequently to be hewn out amidst risks and difficulties, and that preliminary failure is ever the law and condition of the ultimate success. Therefore, whatever disappointments may possibly be in store, I must yet insinuate to you that in a cause like this it would be criminal to feel discouragement. In the very design and endeavour to establish the Atlantic Telegraph, there is almost enough of glory. It is true, if it only be an attempt, there would not be quite enough of profit. I hope that will come too; but there is enough of public spirit, of love for science, for our country, for the human race, almost to suffice in themselves. However, upon this rocky frontlet of Ireland, at all events to-day, we will presume upon success. We are about either by this sundown, or by to-morrow's dawn, to establish a

new material link between the Old World and the New. Moral links there have been-links of race, links of commerce, links of friendship, links of literature, links of glory; but this our new link, instead of superseding and supplanting the old ones, is to give them a life and an intensity which they never had before. Highly as I value the reputations of those who have conceived and those who have contributed to carry out this bright design-and I wish that so many of them had not been unavoidably prevented from being amongst us at this momenthighly as I estimate their reputations-yet I do not compliment them with the idea that they are to efface or dim the glory of that Columbus who, when the large vessels in the harbour of Cork yesterday weighed. their anchors, did so just on that very day 365 years ago-it would have been called in Hebrew writ, "a year of years"-and set sail upon his glorious enterprise of discovery. They, I say, will not dim or efface his glory, but they are now giving the last finish and consummation to his work. Hitherto the inhabitants of the two worlds have associated perhaps in the chilling atmosphere of distance with each other—at a sort of bowing distance; but now we can be hand in hand, grasp to grasp, pulse to pulse. The link which is now to connect us, like the insect in the immortal couplet of our poet, while

"Exquisitely fine,

Feels at each thread and lives along the line."

And we may feel, Gentlemen of Ireland, of England, and of America, who may happen to be present, that we may take our stand here upon the extreme rocky ledge of our beloved Ireland; we may, as it were, leave in our rear, behind us the wars, the strifes, and the bloodshed of the elder Europe, and I fear I may say of the elder Asia; and we may pledge ourselves-weak as our agency may be-imperfect as our powers may be inadequate in strict diplomatic form as our credentials may be yet in the face of the unparalleled circumstances of the place and of the hour-in the immediate neighbourhood of the mighty vessels whose appearance may be beautiful on the waters, even as are the feet upon the mountains of those who preach the Gospel of Peace-as a homage due to that serene science which often affords higher and holier lessons of harmony and good-will than the wayward passions of man. are always apt to learn-in the face and in the strength of such circumstances, let us pledge ourselves to eternal peace between the Old World and the New. Why, Gentlemen, what excuse would there be

for misunderstanding-what justification could there be for war, when the disarming message—when the full explanation-when the genial and healing counsel may be wafted even across the mighty Atlantic quicker than the sunbeam's path or the lightning's flash. I feel, Gentlemen, that I shall best embody the sentiments which I am sure pervade this entire meeting-the sentiments most akin to this company and this hour-if, after having drunk the health of the gentle Mistress of the British Islands, I now call upon you to drink with congenial honours to the lasting friendship of the British Islands and America, and to

"The health and welfare of the President of the United States."

At a later period, the EARL OF CARLISLE rose, and said :—

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I have obtained permission to propose a toast which I am sure will meet from you a ready and delighted reception. We have already in the course of this afternoon been called on to drink "The Kingdom of Kerry." I do not know whether it would become me to inquire too curiously whether there is any King of Kerry. If so, I might feel myself called upon to raise the standard of the gracious Queen I serve, and institute a civil war. But, whether there be a King of Kerry or not, we all know full well that there is a Knight of Kerry. Allusion has been. already made in the most appropriate and feeling terms to the hereditary claims which that title has upon your regard and affections. It was my happiness to know the late Knight of Kerry, often to have seen him in the Parliament of our country, and in the mansions of the wealthy and the great; and I rejoice to find, as I did not doubt I should find, that his memory is redolent among the rocky slopes of his own Kerry— among the fairy bays of his own Valentia. With respect to the present holder of that title, I always feel it best to leave a man to the estimate of his own friends and neighbours. I am sure I may safely do so on this occasion, when I, who have only had the pleasure of an acquaintance of one day, feel that I have already cemented-I trust he will allow me to say so-a friendship for my life. His good head, as well as his good heart, has prompted him to associate himself prominently with. the great undertaking of this week; and I beg to express my fervent hope that amongst its other, wider, even world-wide results, it may also be the means of reflecting some incidental advantages upon the Island

R

of Valentia, and upon his own honoured roof-tree. I beg you to drink as it ought to be drunk

"The health, long life, and lasting prosperity of our efficient Chairman and liberal entertainer, the Knight of Kerry.”

Before the close of the proceedings, the EARL OF CARLISLE said:

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

I have received a command to propose a toast, and such is the shortness of the intimation, that I should have thought myself justified in resisting it, if the toast had been any other than what it is. We have drunk the healths of many of the stronger sex, who had manifest claims to our homage on this occasion. I am sure you will agree with me that we ought not to limit our homage to one half of the creation. I have already seen enough during my very limited sojourn in this Island-I have seen enough within these walls and without them, of clear olive in the cheek and of bright sparkle in the dark eye to convince me that this rocky portal of the land is not deficient in its quota to the universal attribute of Irish beauty. You will forgive me for not lingering longer on this toast; for I feel, if we wish to preserve those clear complexions which we so much admire, we should not expose them to further confinement in a necessarily heated atmosphere. I call upon you, therefore, to drink with me to

"The health of the Matrons and Lasses of Valentia."

HAULING THE CABLE ASHORE-VALENTIA.

[AUGUST 5TH, 1857.]

THE end of the Telegraphic cable having been hauled ashore, a

prayer for success on the undertaking was pronounced.

The EARL OF CARLISLE then said :

MY AMERICAN, ENGLISH, AND IRISH FRIENDS,

I feel that at such a moment as this, no language can be becoming except that of prayer and praise.

However, it is allowable to any