112 



NATURE 



\yune lo, 1875 



London at that time, arising from the Chartist demonstra- 

 tion and supposed possible attempt upon the Bank of 

 England, by no means allayed the disquietude of the 

 directors ; as it was, most of the electrical staff had been 

 sworn special constables, and truncheon in hand had 

 assisted in guarding the principal buildings in the vicinity 

 of the Bank of England and Royal Exchange. What if 

 on the opening day a mob should rush in intent upon 

 destroying the new-fangled invention ! Such occurrences 

 had been witnessed before. Had not Arkwright with his 

 stocking loom, and Jacquard, incurred the fury of the 

 ignorant artisans 1 Might not the rush of relatives and 

 friends, merchants and bankers, all anxious to supersede 

 the delays of post by the lightning speed of this new inven- 

 tion laid at their feet for the first time, prove so incon- 

 venient to the clerks that all business would be inter- 

 rupted, and the accuracy of the payments for messages 



and correctness of the transmissions be jeopardised? 

 Besides, another evil rumour had gone abroad : light 

 sovereigns and indifferent gold were in free circula- 

 tion. Amongst all these troubles it is not to be 

 wondered at, that as the eventful day drew near every 

 precaution was taken to meet the assumed exigency 

 of the occasion ; sovereign scales were ordered, one for 

 each counter already described. How could a clerk leave 

 his place of trust to weigh a suspicious-looking piece of 

 gold in scales situated on the opposite side of the great 

 hall? The uniform shilling rate to all places from 

 the metropolis did not at that time e xist. Messages to 

 Liverpool and Manchester were %s. 6d. under twenty 

 words, to Edinburgh 13^'., and to Glasgow i^. ; charges 

 at that time considered very moderate, remembering the 

 costly staff of clerks, the original outlay, wear and tear, 

 &c. The great doors in Founder's Court were ordered to 



Fig. 33.— Henley and Foster's Magnett-Electric Telegraph, 1848. Plan of the magneto-coil arrangement for producing currents of equal intensity 



in opposite directions. 



be kept fast bolted, and two port-holes cut some six inches 

 square in the solid oak panels fitted with little screens 

 opening inwards ; so that whatever the crush in Founders 

 Court, messages and money could be received inside 

 through them and change given ; in fact, the Central 

 Telegraph Station was converted more or less into a fort 

 prepared to stand a siege. The opening day came — scales 

 on counter, change in tills, receiving and cashing clerks 

 at their posts, every instrument and circuit along the re- 

 spective railway lines proved for accuracy by the sending 

 and receipt of test signals, staff at instruments, doors 

 bolted. Nine o'clock strikes, port-holes opened, and, 

 after the manner of the stage manager behind the curtain 

 who surveys the patronage bestowed upon the boxes, 

 ■ stalls, and dress circle from his mysterious peephole, so 

 did the expectant staff view the state of Founders Court 

 through their port-holes. Not a person disfigured the 



symmetry of the lines of the flag pavement, save the Bank 

 of England porter, performing his prescribed beat against 

 the Bank wall. The sun marked midday, — afternoon, 

 — evening, — and one paid message alone was transmitted 

 to a station situated somewhere upon the Norwich circuit. 

 Empty tills, idle clerks, disappointed directors. Such was 

 the story of the opening day of the Electric Telegraph 

 Company's Central Office. No one believed in it ; it was 

 regarded more in the light of a clever toy than a practical 

 invention to be trusted or relied upon. This want of 

 patronage from the public damped the ardour of some of 

 the directors. The late Mr, Sampson Ricardo, walking 

 into the central station the next morning, gave vent to his 

 disappointment by declaiming on the extravagant expen- 

 diture of capital in two pairs of sovereign scales, demand- 

 ing that one pair should be immediately returned to the 

 scale-maker who had supplied the luxury. 



