2nas.V. 128., June 12. '68.3 NOTES AND QUERIES. 



m 



ilr. Cailie*, Mr. Fraser, and a good many English, who 

 I find are of your only good Friends ; and you owe it in a 

 lilannef entirely to good Earl of Hute-f, Lord Harlej', and 

 others of your acquaintance: ever}' body saj'S that the 

 matter is so just in itself that the other people cant op- 

 pose it J and Duncan Forbes J this day told me he dursf; 

 not soUicit for me, but would saj' nothing against it. I 

 need not launch out the whole story, nor have I time, for 

 the last bell § is just ringing; but never was such work- 

 ing and jockeing in a matter that all our countrymen 

 should rejoice to see brought to a happy finish ; and if it 

 does succeed (as I pray God it may), you dont owe them 

 thanks || Pardon me if I dont write }'0u by next post, 

 for, believe rhe, I'm hurried to death ; and j'ou'li think it 

 the greater, when we have no small party to struggle 

 with. Every body is of opinion you will never have 

 your money from the treasury, so you'll be thinking what 

 to do in case the effort miscarry. 



" When j-ou write me about any books that you have, 

 pray let me know the price of them^ for that's always the 

 Question asked." 



James Aiidersonj Esq., to Duke of Argyle. 



« My Lord, 



" Your Grace has beeh so grateful and generous td tne 

 in your favours upon so many occasions, as making me 

 presume to humbly beg your Grace's pardon in behalf of 

 my Son, whom I bred to business, for his being clerk of 

 the Court Martial in room of Smith who has it, being 

 dangerously ill, and, as is said, irrecoverably. I need ask 

 no arguments by any loss of business in my publick un- 

 dertaking, hitherto to the prejudice of my family, which 

 disables me the more at present to provide for them ; but 

 rather depend upon your Grace's great goodness. I con- 

 vey this to 3'our Grace by the hands of Mr. Srott of 

 Scotstarvil, my Son's near kinsman, who can inform 

 your Grace of his sufficienty to fill that place. Begging 

 your Grace's pardon for this presumption in hirti who is 

 with the titibost gratitude and most profound respect 

 " My Lord, your Grace's 



" most oblidged and most 

 " obedient humble Servant." 



No date, but written evidently after the loss of 



* Mr. Baillie of Jefviswood ; whose daughter, Rachel, 

 having married Lord Binning, the eldest son of the sixth 

 Earl of Haddington, carried the Jerviswood estates into 

 that family ; the second son taking the naih^ of Baillie. 



•f His lordship died shortly after the date of this letter. 

 He was the father of the celebrated John Earl of Bute. 



J Duncan Forbes of Culloden. The drafts of several 

 letters soliciting his patronage, by Anderson, are pre- 

 served in the Library of the Faculty of Advocates. 



§ The postman's bell. 



I This is a very remarkable instance of the indiffer- 

 ence manifested bj' the Scotish Members of Parliament to 

 the honour and character of their nation. Here was an 

 individual who had collected materials for the early his- 

 tory of his country — who had been led upon the ice by 

 the Scotish Parliament before the Union — and by pro- 

 mises from the most influential of his cotintrymen, before 

 the good things of London had rendered them selfish — 

 utterh' neglected, excepting by a few of his compatriots, 

 and left to penury and want — having previously sacrificed 

 a lucrative and respectable profession, in which he would 

 indubitabh' have realised a large fortune, to preserve the 

 early records of his native land. England, with all her 

 wealth, never gave forth a volume so intrinsically valu- 

 able, and so beautifully executed, as the Diplomata Scotim : 

 nevertheless, in place of wealth, it brought poverty to 

 the hearth of the ill-fated Anderson. 



the situatibh of I^ostmdstef- General — addressed 

 probably to John, the second Duke of Argyle. 

 Anderson was law-agent for the Duchess, his 

 mother, dnd occasionally did business for her son. 



J. M. 



ORIGIN OF THE TELEGRAPH. 



In the active controversy respecting the admis- 

 sibility of the word telegram, which has recently 

 been carried on by correspondents of The Tirnes^ 

 and whi(!h has assuined a mor6 pet-manent form in 

 a learnfed pumphlet published by Rivingtons (en- 

 titled The Telegram and Telegrapheme Contro- 

 versy), sufficient attention has not been paid to 

 the recency of the period at which the word tele- 

 graph was introduced, and to the want of classical 

 authority under which it labours, equally with 

 the more modern term telegram. The telegraph 

 was invented by Claude Chappe, a French engi- 

 neer ; it Was first tried in France in 1793, when 

 the news of the taking of Conde was conveyed by 

 this contrivance to the Convehtion. In conse- 

 quence of his invention, Chappe received the title 

 of Ingenieur Telegi-aphe. The jealousies which 

 his invention produced, and the Claims of rivals 

 who contested his priority, preyed so much upon 

 his mind as ultlinately to lead to his suicide, which 

 he effected in 1805 by throwing himself into a 

 well. His brother Urbain published a Histoire de 

 la Telegraphic, Paris, 1824, 2 vols. 



A full and interesting account of the introduc- 

 tion of the telegraph may be seen in the Annual 

 Register for 1794, pp. 49 — 52. One remark de- 

 serves to be cited, on account of the accomplish- 

 ment of the prediction which it contains : — 



" The telegraph is as yet but a very imperfect, as well 

 as expensive machine. But, like other inventions, it will 

 admit of many improvements ; and among others, pro- 

 bably a reduction of the expense. And it is certainly to 

 be considered as one of those inventions which opens a 

 door to wonderful changes. It has hitherto been em- 

 ployed solely in the service of a bloody war. But it will 

 also be found subservient to a variety of purposes in times 

 of peace. With the aid of one intermediate station across 

 the channel, news thight then be conveyed from London 

 to Paris in an hour ; and in three or four hours, an an- 

 swer received to a few simple questions. This ea.sy ap- 

 proximation of minds would wear away jealousies and 

 antipathies, and promote reciprocally a good understand- 

 ing. It is a pleasing task to record the progress of dis- 

 covery and invention : but it is melancholy to reflect 

 that the most splendid inventions of our day have been 

 hitherto employed, not for the benefit of mankind, but 

 their destruction." 



The telegraph was soon introduced from France 

 into England. The Annual Register for 1796 has 

 the following announcement under January 28 : — 



" A telegraph was this day erected over the Admiralty, 

 which is to be the point of communication with all the 

 different seaports in the kingdom. The nearest tele- 

 graph to London has hitherto been in St. George's Fields ; 

 and to such perfection has this ingenious and useful con- 



