er hesitated in England to
adopt any process or invention that was a distinct advance, whether it
came from America or anywhere else, they on the other hand have shown a
disinclination to adopt anything British; but they have now adopted our
Wheatstone automatic system. That system is at work between New Orleans
and Chicago, and New York and New Orleans--1,600 miles. It has given them
so much satisfaction that they are going to increase it very largely; so
that we really have the proud satisfaction of finding a real, true British
invention well established on the other side of the Atlantic.

The next branch that I propose to bring to your notice is the question of
the telephone.

The telephone has passed through rather an awkward phase in the States. A
very determined attempt has been made to upset the Bell patents in that
country; and those who visited the Philadelphia Exhibition saw the
instruments there exhibited upon which the advocates of the plaintiff
relied. It is said that a very ingenious American, named Drawbaugh, had
anticipated all the inventors of every part of the telephone system; that
he had invented a receiver before Bell; that he had invented the
compressed carbon arrangement before Edison; that he had invented the
microphone before our friend Professor Hughes; and that, in fact, he had
done everything on the face of the earth to establish the claims set
forth. Some of his patents were shown, and I not only had to examine his
patents, but I had to go through a great many depositions of the evidence
given, and I am bound to confess that a more flimsy case I never saw
brought before a court of law. I do not know whether I shall be libelous
in expressing my opinion (I will refer to our solicitor before the notes
are printed), but I should not hesitate to say that I never saw a more
evident conspiracy concocted to try and disturb the position of a
well-established patent. However, I have heard that the judgment has been
given as the public generally supposed it would be given; because as soon
as the case was over the shares of the Bell company, which were at 150,
jumped up to 190, and now the decision is given I am told that they will
probably reach 290.

We cannot form a conception on this side of the Atlantic of the extent to
which telephones are used on the other side of the Atlantic. It is said
sometimes that the progress of the telephone on this side of the water has
been checked very much by the re