"_September 30._ The windows of my hotel look out upon the Alster Basin,
a beautiful sheet of water, three sides of which are surrounded with
splendid houses. Boats and swans are gliding over the glassy surface,
giving, with the well-dressed promenaders along the shores, an air of
gayety and liveliness to the scene."

It will not be necessary to follow the traveller step by step during this
visit to Europe. He did not go to Sweden and Russia, as he had at first
planned, for he learned that the Emperor of Russia was in the South, and
that nothing could be accomplished in his absence. He, therefore,
returned to London from Hamburg. He was respectfully received everywhere
and his invention was recognized as being one of great merit and
simplicity, but it takes time for anything new to make its way. This is,
perhaps, best summed up in the words of Charles T. Fleischmann, who at
that time was agent of the United States Patent Office, and was
travelling through Europe collecting information on agriculture,
education, and the arts. He was a good friend of Morse's and an
enthusiastic advocate of his invention. He carried with him a complete
telegraphic outfit and lost no opportunity to bring it to the notice of
the different governments visited by him, and his official position gave
him the entree everywhere. Writing from Vienna on October 7, he says:--

"There is no doubt Morse's telegraph is the best of that description I
have yet seen, but the difficulty of introducing it is in this
circumstance, that every scientific man invents a similar thing and,
without having the practical experience and practical arrangement which
make Morse's so preferable, they will experiment a few miles' distance
only, and no doubt it works; but, when they come to put it up at a great
distance, then they will find that their experience is not sufficient,
and must come back ultimately to Morse's plan. The Austrian Government is