In 1856 the Chambers of Commerce of Great Britain, under the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh, began an agitation for the purchase by the Government of the properties of the several British telegraph companies. In 1865, the telegraph companies, acting in unison, withdrew the reduced rate of twenty-four cents for twenty words, address free, that had been in force, since 1861, between certain large cities. That action, which will be described further on, caused the Chambers of Commerce to increase the agitation for State purchase. In September, 1865, Lord Stanley of Alderley, Postmaster General, commissioned Mr. F. I. Scudamore, Second Secretary of the Post Office, "to inquire and report whether, in his opinion, the electric telegraph service might be beneficially worked by the Post Office--whether, if so worked, it would possess any advantages over a system worked by private companies--and whether it would entail any very large expenditure on the Post Office Department beyond the purchase of existing rights." In July, 1866, Mr. Scudamore reported, recommending the purchase of the telegraphs. In February, 1868, he submitted a supplementary report; and in 1868 and 1869, he acted as the chief witness for the Government before the Parliamentary Committees appointed to report on the Government's Bills proposing to authorize the State to acquire and operate the telegraphs.[4] The extent to which the Government, throughout the considerations and negotiations which finally ended in the nationalization of the telegraphs, relied almost exclusively upon evidence supplied by Mr. Scudamore, is indicated in the statement made by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. G. W. Hunt, on July 21, 1868, that Mr. Scudamore "might be said to be the author of the Bill to acquire the telegraphs."[5] [Sidenote: _Indictment of the Telegraph Companies_]