"I wish I had time to give you in detail the kind receptions I have
everywhere met with. To Mr. Statham and his family in a special manner
are we indebted for the most indefatigable and constant attentions. Were
we relatives they could not have been more assiduous in doing everything
to make our stay in London agreeable. To Mr. Brett also I am under great
obligations. He has manifested (as have, indeed, all the gentlemen
connected with the Telegraph here) the utmost liberality and the most
ample concession to the excellence of my telegraphic system. I have been
assured now from the _highest sources_ that my system is not only the
most practical for general use, but that it is fast becoming the _world's
telegraph_."

His brother Sidney was at this time also in Europe with his wife and some
other members of his family, and the brothers occasionally met in their
wanderings to and fro. Finley writes to Sidney from Fenton's Hotel,
London, on July 1:--

"Yours from Edinburgh of the 28th ulto. is just received. I regret we did
not see you when you called the evening before you left London. We all
wished to see you and all yours before we separated so widely apart, but
you know in what a whirl one is kept on a first arrival in London and can
make allowances for any seeming neglect. From morning till night we have
been overwhelmed with calls and the kindest and most flattering
attentions.

"On the day before you called I dined at Greenwich with a party invited
by Mr. Brett, representing the great telegraph interests of Europe and
India. I was most flatteringly received, and Mr. Brett, in the only toast
given, gave my name as the Inventor of the Telegraph and of the system
which has spread over the whole world and is superseding all others. Dr.