Description of a Camp Telegraph . 377 
That the most important advantages have resulted to 
the French arms, from the use of the telegraph, in the 
present age, is too well authenticated to be doubted* 
That commanders of British armies have felt the abso- 
lute necessity of adopting some mode of telegraphic com 
munication, is proved by the late campaign in Sicily, 
and the present campaign in Spain* 
That many attempts have been made to introduce the 
telegraph into our land- service universally, cannot be 
questioned. 
To what cause, then, is it to be attributed, that to the 
present moment this powerful instrument remains to Bri- 
tish armies (generally speaking) nearly a useless inven 
tion? 
The only rational answer to this question seems to be, 
that, hitherto, no practicable system has been offered, 
and the attempts to introduce it must, probably, have 
failed either, from the intricacy of the machines, or, 
the difficulty of transporting then^ into situations where 
they could be used* 
Whatever cause may have hitherto retarded its intro- 
duction, it will hardly for a moment be contended, that, 
were a telegraph produced as certain in its operations as 
the present fixed telegraph, and at the same time so sim- 
ple and portable as to require no separate establishment, 
either for its transport or management, it would not be a 
most important acquisition in the field. 
With this conviction on my mind, I have endeavoured 
to obviate the supposed difficulties ; and the result, which 
I call my Camp Telegraph, I request permission to lay 
before the public through the medium of your respecta- 
ble Magazine indulging the hope, that it may meet 
the attention of those who have sufficient influence to 
bring the subject fairly under the consideration of his 
majesty^s government. Perhaps it may not be improper 
Yol. i. 3 B 
