Tens of thousands of pounds are yearly spent in "trying"for minerals,boring for coals,sinking for water,and I believe there are those who think it worth while,at an expenditure of hundreds of thousands of pounds,to experiment in order to test the possibility of making a tunnel under the sea between this country and France.Should these adventurers fail in their varied operations,they have,at least,the satisfaction of knowing,though hundreds of thousands of pounds have been expended,that they have not been wasted,and they will not complain;because they have at least attempted the accomplishment of that which they felt ought to be done;and it must be better to attempt a duty,though we fail,than never to attempt it at all.In this book we do think we have presented a sufficient reason to justify the expenditure of the money and effort involved in the making of this experiment.And though the effort should not terminate in the grand success which I so confidently predict,and which we all must so ardently desire,still there is bound to be,not only the satisfaction of having attempted some sort of deliverance for these wretched people,but certain results which will amply repay every farthing expended in the experiment.
I am now sixty-one years of age.The last eighteen months,during which the continual partner of all my activities for now nearly forty years has laid in the arms of unspeakable suffering,has added more than many many former ones,to the exhaustion of my term of service.
I feel already something of the pressure which led the dying Emperor of Germany to say,"I have no time to be weary."If I am to see the accomplishment in any considerable degree of these life-long hopes,I must be enabled to embark up on the enterprise without delay,and with the world-wide burden constantly upon me in connection with the universal mission of our Army I cannot be expected to struggle in this matter alone.