the British authorities proved able to deal with it successfully. The rebels being ill-prepared for impromptu war, Lord Gosford put down the rising in Lower Canada, though not without considerable bloodshed. In Upper Canada, the Governor, Major Head, better known afterwards as Sir Francis Head, an amusing writer, sent every regular soldier at his command to the assistance of Lord Gosford, and, declaring he would rely on the loyal Canadians to suppress the rebellion, handed over 6,000 stand of arms to the Mayor of Toronto. The people responded gallantly, delighted by this mark of confidence; ten or twelve thousand men assembled under arms, and a single encounter with McKenzie's force was enough to decide the fate of the revolt. Desultory skirmishing took place with bodies of American "sympathisers" at various points along the frontier before the affair could be said to be over, and there can be no doubt that, had the United States Government adopted a less friendly attitude, British rule in Canada might have stood in very great jeopardy. [Illustration: EARLY TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT, FROM PADDINGTON STATION. On January 1, 1844, the following message was received from Slough by this instrument:--"A murder has just been committed at Salt Hill, and the suspected murderer was seen to take a first-class ticket for London by the train which left Slough at 7.42 p.m. He is in the garb of a Quaker, with a brown great coat on, which reaches nearly down to his feet. He is in the last compartment of the second first-class carriage." The murderer, Tawell, was identified, apprehended, and convicted. This was the first occasion on which a telegraphic message overtaking a criminal led to his arrest.] [Illustration: COOKE AND WHEATSTONE'S EARLIEST NEEDLE TELEGRAPH, REQUIRING FIVE WIRES (1837).] [Illustration: _From an old Print_} {_at the South Kensington Museum._ TRAINS ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAILWAY, RUNNING AT THE TIME OF HER MAJESTY'S ACCESSION. The upper figure represents a first-class train, carrying Her Majesty's Mails, and the lower one a second-class train with open carriages.] [Illustration: OLD GREAT WESTERN PASSENGER CARRIAGE.]