The results have shown that Mr. Scudamore's other estimates of the cost of rearranging and extending the telegraphs, presented by himself in 1868, and by the Postmaster General, the Marquis of Hartington, in 1869, were equally wide of the mark. Numerous _Committees on the Public Accounts_ sitting in the years 1871 to 1876, together with the _Committee on Post Office Telegraph Department_, 1876, attempted to inquire into the enormous discrepancy between the estimated cost and the actual cost of rearranging and extending the telegraphs. But none of those attempts were rewarded with any success whatever.[55] The representatives of the Post Office and of the Treasury always attributed the discrepancy "to the purchase of undertakings which were not contemplated at the time when the original measures were submitted to the House, and to unforeseen expenses for extensions." But the State, as a matter of fact, made no purchases beyond those contemplated in 1869--excepting the purchase of the Jersey and Guernsey cable for $286,750, and the purchase of the Isle of Man cable for $80,680. As for unforeseen extensions, in 1869, the Marquis of Hartington had counted on carrying the telegraphs to 3,776 places, and in 1878 there were but 3,761 postal telegraph offices, counting the 300 offices in London, and the numerous offices in the several large principal cities.[56] * * * * * Mr. Scudamore, aided by the state of public opinion created by the agitation of the British Chambers of Commerce under the leadership of the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh, carried away the Disraeli Ministry and the Gladstone Ministry. Even more powerful than Mr. Scudamore's argument from the extensive use made of the telegraphs on the Continent of Europe, was Mr. Scudamore's promise that the State telegraphs should begin by paying a profit sufficient to cover the interest on $30,000,000 at the lowest estimate, and $50,000,000 at the highest estimate; and that the profit should increase with the advancing years. [Sidenote: _Penny Postage Precedent_]