'Telegraph and travel. A narrative of the formation and development of telegraphic communication between England and India, under the orders of Her Majesty's Government, with incidental notices of the countries traversed by the lines.' [‎481] (520/782)

'X.J PUCK'S GIRDLE. 481
Prince G. is rather tall, somewhat inclined to stout
ness, has a high forehead, grey hair, and ruddy com
plexion. The features are rather square than flat or
angular, and the eye, though light in colour, is full of
meaning. lie spoke of Lord P aimers ton's age, remarking
that he himself, who was twenty years younger, had had
enough of public life. He did not envy me my journey
to Persia, facetiously requesting that if I fell sick, it
should be beyond Russian territory, or out of the range
of his responsibility.
On Tuesday I called on the Director-General of Im
perial telegraphs, and broke ground on the departmental
details of international traffic. Without putting forward
any definite proposals, or even suggesting a definitive
understanding, I thought it well to generate, as it were,
free and friendly interchange of ideas on a matter of
mutual interest and universal benefit, in which political
mistrust or jealousy had necessarily no part whatever.
Indeed, I could not reasonably have done more, even if
authorized. Some facts, such as the tariff and state of
the line, it was imperative to ascertain, unless we were
to ignore the Russian route altogether, which the bad
working of the Turkish wires alone rendered inexpedient.
General G. is a dark, middle-aged, wiry-looking man of
fair height and build; inclined to be lean rather than
stout, and of an Italian middle-class physiognomy. He
is very go-ahead, wants telegraphs all over the world,
and all at a cheap rate. He told me they were hard
at work at the line connecting the Amoor with Russian
America, and that when the Americans joined on, they
hoped to encircle the world. This was their part: ours
the Indian and Atlantic cables; all grand efforts, under
Providence. This interview completed the little inci-
i i