The king was Louis Philippe; the little prince, his grandson, was the Count of Paris.

“Paris, September 29, 1838. Since my last matters have assumed a totally different aspect.  At the request of Monsieur Arago, the most distinguished astronomer of the day, I submitted the Telegraph to the Institute at one of their meetings, at which some of the most celebrated philosophers of France and of Germany and of other countries were present.  Its reception was in the highest degree flattering, and the interest which they manifested, by the questions they asked and the exclamations they used, showed to me then that the invention had obtained their favorable regard.  The papers of Paris immediately announced the Telegraph in the most favorable terms, and it has literally been the topic of the day ever since.  The Baron Humboldt, the celebrated traveller, a member of the Institute and who saw its operation before that body, told Mr. Wheaton, our Minister to Prussia, that my Telegraph was the best of all the plans that had been devised.

“I received a call from the administrator-in-chief of all the telegraphs of France, Monsieur Alphonse Foy.  I explained it to him; he was highly delighted with it, and told me that the Government was about to try an experiment with the view of testing the practicability of the Electric Telegraph, and that he had been requested to see mine and report upon it; that he should report that ’mine was the best that had been submitted to him’; and he added that I had better forthwith get an introduction to the Minister of the Interior, Mons. the Count Montalivet.  I procured a letter from our Minister, and am now waiting the decision of the Government.

“Everything looks promising thus far, as much so as I could expect, but it involves the possibility, not to say the probability, of my remaining in Paris during the winter.

“If I should be delayed till December it would be prudent to remain until April.  If it be possible, without detriment to my affairs, to make such arrangements that I may return this autumn, I shall certainly do it; but, if I should not, you must console yourselves that it is in consequence of meeting with success that I am detained, and that I shall be more likely to return with advantage to you all on account of the delay.

“I ought to say that the directors of the Saint-Germain Railroad have seen my Telegraph, and that there is some talk (as yet vague) of establishing a line of my Telegraph upon that road.  I mention these, my dear child, to show you that I cannot at this moment leave Paris without detriment to my principal object.”