THE TELEGRAPH. 141 



persons as a prior discoverer of the electric telegraph. 

 It was Wheatstone, as a scientific man, whose profound 

 and successful researches paved the way for the 

 practical application of the telegraph, and it is to Cook 

 that we are indebted for the establishment of the 

 telegraph system throughout Great Britain. But it 

 was not until some time after I have mentioned that 

 telegraphs came into general use. The definition of 

 the word " Telegraph " is any apparatus for conveying 

 intelligence beyond the limits of distance at which the 

 human voice is audible. This word is now usually 

 restricted to the electric telegraph. Consequently one 

 cannot but suppose that the word in its former and not 

 in its later signification gave rise to the term as 

 applied to a coach, certainly not the modern apparatus 

 with which we at the present day are so well 

 acquainted. 



When we consider that when the Oueen came to 

 the throne, railways were in their infancy, that the 

 electric telegraph had not been invented, and that in 

 many parts of England coaches were still running, one 

 cannot fail to regard with astonishment the wonderful 

 progress that has been made in such matters during 

 the past fifty years, more especially when we consider 

 that Englishmen of all shades of politics are of an 

 eminently Conservative race ; that everything new is 

 regarded by them with suspicion ; that no matter how 

 intelligent an invention may be, a thousand objections 

 are raised to its practical application. And not only is 

 this the case, but the legislators of the land in framing 

 the Patent Laws have hindered and obstructed all 

 tendency to improvement, instead of offering en- 

 couragement and rendering assistance. In America 

 all this is different ; the State protects, but does not 



