recommended the assumption by Government
of the control of telegraphic communication,
and declared that the obstacles in the way were
"comparatively few and unimportant." And
the result of the action taken by the Edinburgh
Chamber of Commerce was, that all the Chambers
of Commerce in the kingdom petitioned
parliament in favour of the proposal; a deputation
from them waited on the chancellor of
the exchequer and the postmaster-general;
and the Chambers have repeatedly, at their
public meetings, renewed their request for
the introduction of the measure. Nor are the
Chambers of Commerce alone in this matter.
Petitions in favour of the scheme have been
addressed to parliament by the medical profession,
which is largely interested in the extension
of telegraphic intercourse, and by the
press, to which promptitude and excellence in
telegraphy is of the utmost importance, and
which, as a rule, complains bitterly of the
manner in which this service is now performed.

Again, it has been objected that the passing
of the proposed bill will enable the Government
to go through that terrific process known as
"putting on the screw" in regard to the existing
companies and their shareholders. This is
not the case. The bill is only a permissive
one. It only gives power to sell, and forces no
one to sell, though it gives the shareholders
power to force the Government to buy. If
the Government should not offer acceptable
terms, the bargain can be referred to arbitration.
It is said, with apparent truth, that the Government
might buy up a poor company whose
shares are at a discount, and by working
that company at the uniform one shilling rate,
might unfairly compete with the other
companies, and so force them to sell against
their will; but in answer to this, it must be
borne in mind that there is nothing in the
world but public opinion to prevent the Government
from doing this now. It has now a perfect
right to offer to the public to transmit its
letters by telegraph, and it will do no more
when it has bought up all the companies. The
postal system, must and will, in the march of
events, inevitably adopt the telegraph, or the
postal system will itself be left behind, and a
vast telegraph post will be forced (by the wants
of the community) into existence, to compete
with the Post-office itself. The growth of
telegraphic business proves this; greater growth
will, as heretofore, involve further reductions in
cost, until, in course of progress and expansion,
the price will become so low as to take away
half the business of the Post-office. It being
inevitable, therefore, that the Post-office, to
exist, must engraft the telegraph on its system,
it follows that if the shareholders should be
strong enough to refuse altogether to give it
the option of buying now by agreement, they
might hereafter either get Government as a
competitor, or be forced to sell whether or no,
and possibly at a reduced price.

The objections we have endeavoured to
answer, have been made anonymously, chiefly
in pamphlet form. Very recently, however, a
pamphlet has been put forth, with the
signature, affixed "by order of the Board," of
"Robert Grimston," chairman of the Electric
and International Telegraph Company. Mr.
Grimston will be remembered by middle-aged
cricketers, as one of the ornaments of "Lord's"
in bygone years, and is justly esteemed by all
Harrovians for the admirable manner in which
to the present day he "coaches" the Harrow
eleven for the school-matches; but the patience
and discrimination which distinguish Mr.
Grimston in the playing-field, seem to desert him
in the study; while, in his literary style,
he inclines to a system of "swiping" which
is now obsolete alike in cricket and
pamphleteering. It is, perhaps, rather hard on
Mr. Grimston to judge him as a business man,
inasmuch as on page 8 of his own pamphlet he
represents himself as replying to a question from
the Chancellor of the Exchequer as to whether,
since the proposal of Government to acquire the
telegraphs, the shares had not risen considerably
in the market, "I never take any notice of the
price of shares"—to say the least of it, a
charmingly frank declaration on the part of
the chairman of a great company. But there
are two or three points in Mr. Grimston's
pamphlet which it is desirable to answer.
Taking the Government proposition to establish
telegraphic stations at every money-order office,
he says: "Now let us test the argument by
this very case. In the last report laid before
parliament by the Postmaster General, an
account was given of the number of money-order
offices established in certain large towns, and of
the amount of the money orders issued in the
years 1864 and 1865. What do we find?
Liverpool, in 1864, had twenty-six money-order
offices, and issued money orders to the extent
of five hundred and fifty-one thousand nine
hundred and forty pounds. In 1865, the number
of money-order offices in Liverpool was
increased no less than fifty per cent, namely, from
twenty-six to thirty-nine, but the increase of
the money-order business was less than two
per cent!" Mr. Grimston apparently does not
see that the obvious answer to this, is, that the
Post-office gave an enormous amount of
accommodation, and lost nothing by it! In reference
to a proposal for a new clause "to enable the
Postmaster General to enter into contracts with
the proprietors of newspapers for the transmission
of intelligence sent by telegraph," Mr.
Grimston says: "The proprietors of newspapers
are not easily to be caught by chaff, and
they might probably prefer a clause which
would limit the Post-office to the existing
'unquestionably low rates,' and preclude its entering
into contracts more advantageous to one
newspaper than to another." Mr. Grimston will
probably learn with surprise that this clause
was drawn up by certain "proprietors of
newspapers," and was presented by them in
deputation. One more point, and we have done with
Mr. Grimston. He says: "The Post-office sets
up 'Money-order Offices' in connexion with this