"I have taken a pride in showing to Government how cheaply the Telegraph could be laid, since the main objection, and the one most likely to defeat our ulterior plans, is its great expense. I have in my other contracts been able to be far within my estimates to Government, and I had hoped to be able to present to the Secretary the contract for trenching likewise reduced. There are plenty of applicants here who will do it for much less, and one even said he thought for one half. I shall do nothing in regard to the matter until I see you."

A great personal sorrow came to him also, a short time after this, to dim the brilliance of success. On July 9, 1843, his dearly loved friend and master, Washington Allston, died in Boston after months of suffering. Morse immediately dropped everything and hastened to Boston to pay the last tributes of respect to him whom he regarded as his best friend. He obtained as a memento one of the brushes, still wet with paint, which Allston was using on his last unfinished work, "The Feast of Belshazzar," when he was suddenly stricken. This brush he afterwards presented to the National Academy of Design, where it is, I believe, still preserved.

Sorrowfully he returned to his work in Washington, but with the comforting thought that his friend had lived to see his triumph, the justification for his deserting that art which had been the bond to first bring them together.

On July 24, in his report to the Secretary of the Treasury, he says:—

"I have also the gratification to report that the contract for the wire has been faithfully fulfilled on the part of Aaron Benedict, the contractor; that the first covering with cotton and two varnishings of the whole one hundred and sixty miles is also completed; that experiments made upon forty-three miles have resulted in the most satisfactory manner, and that the whole work is proceeding with every prospect of a successful issue."

It was at first thought necessary to insulate the whole length of the wire, and it was not until some time afterwards that it was discovered that naked wires could be successfully employed.

On August 10, in his report to the Secretary, he indulges in a prophecy which must have seemed in the highest degree visionary in those early days:—

"Some careful experiments on the decomposing power at various distances were made from which the law of propulsion has been deduced, verifying the results of Ohm and those which I made in the summer of 1842, and alluded to in my letter to the Honorable C.G. Ferris, published in the House Report, No. 17, of the last Congress.

"The practical inference from this law is that a telegraphic communication on my plan may with certainty be established across the Atlantic!

"Startling as this may seem now, the time will come when this project will be realized."

On September 11, he reports an item of saving to the Government which illustrates his characteristic honesty in all business dealings:—

"I would also direct the attention of the Honorable Secretary to the payment in full of Mr. Chase, (voucher 215), for covering the wire according to the contract with him. The sum of $1010 was to be paid him. In the course of the preparation of the wire several improvements occurred to me of an economical character, in which Mr. Chase cheerfully concurred, although at a considerable loss to him of labor contracted for; so that my wire has been prepared at a cost of $551.25, which is receipted in full, instead of $1010, producing an economy of $458.75."

The work of trenching was commenced on Saturday, October 21, at 8 A.M., and then his troubles began. Describing them at a later date he says:—

"Much time and expense were lost in consequence of my following the plan adopted in England of laying the conductors beneath the ground. At the time the Telegraph bill was passed there had been about thirteen miles of telegraph conductors, for Professor Wheatstone's telegraph system in England, put into tubes and interred in the earth, and there was no hint publicly given that that mode was not perfectly successful. I did not feel, therefore, at liberty to expend the public moneys in useless experiments on a plan which seemed to be already settled as effective in England. Hence I fixed upon this mode as one supposed to be the best. It prosecuted till the winter of 1843-44. It was abandoned, among other reasons, in consequence of ascertaining that, in the process of inserting the wire into the leaden tubes (which was at the moment of forming the tube from the lead at melting heat), the insulating covering of the wires had become charred, at various and numerous points of the line, to such an extent that greater delay and expense would be necessary to repair the damage than to put the wire on posts.

"In my letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, of September 27, 1837, one of the modes of laying the conductors for the Telegraph was the present almost universal one of extending them on posts set about two hundred feet apart. This mode was adopted with success."

The sentence in the letter of September 27, 1837, just referred to, reads as follows: "If the circuit is laid through the air, the first cost would, doubtless, be much lessened. Stout spars, of some thirty feet in height, well planted in the ground and placed about three hundred and fifty feet apart, would in this case be required, along the tops of which the circuit might be stretched."

A rough drawing of this plan also appears in the 1832 sketch-book.

It would seem, from a voluminous correspondence, that Professor Fisher was responsible for the failure of the underground system, inasmuch as he did not properly test the wires after they had been inserted in the lead pipe. Carelessness of this sort Morse could never brook, and he was reluctantly compelled to dispense with the services of one who had been of great use to him previously. He refers to this in a letter to his brother Sidney of December 16, 1843:—

"The season is against all my operations, and I expect to resume in the spring. I have difficulties and trouble in my work, but none of a nature as yet to discourage; they arise from neglect and unfaithfulness (inter nos) on the part of Fisher, whom I shall probably dismiss, although on many accounts I shall do it reluctantly. I shall give him an opportunity to excuse himself, if he ever gets here. I have been expecting both him and Gale for three weeks, and written, but without bringing either of them. They may have a good excuse. We shall see."

The few months of sunshine were now past, and the clouds began again to gather:—

December 18, 1843.

DEAR SIDNEY,—I have made every effort to try and visit New York. Twice I have been ready with my baggage in hand, but am prevented by a pressure of difficulties which you cannot conceive. I was never so tried and never needed more your prayers and those of Christians for me. Troubles cluster in such various shapes that I am almost overwhelmed.

And then the storm of which the little cloud was the forerunner burst in fury:—

December 30, 1843.

DEAR SIDNEY,—I have no heart to give you the details of the troubles which almost crush me, and which have unexpectedly arisen to throw a cloud over all my prospects. It must suffice at present to say that the unfaithfulness of Dr. Fisher in his inspection of the wires, and connected with Serrell's bad pipe, is the main origin of my difficulties.

The trenching is stopped in consequence of this among other reasons, and has brought the contractor upon me for damages (that is, upon the Government). Mr. Smith is the contractor, and where I expected to find a friend I find a FIEND. The word is not too strong, as I may one day show you. I have been compelled to dismiss Fisher, and have received a very insolent letter from him in reply. The lead-pipe contract will be litigated, and Smith has written a letter full of the bitterest malignity against me to the Secretary of the Treasury. He seems perfectly reckless and acts like a madman, and all for what? Because the condition of my pipe and the imperfect insulation of my wires were such that it became necessary to stop trenching on this account alone, but, taken in connection with the advanced state of the season, when it was impossible to carry on my operations out of doors, I was compelled to stop any further trenching. This causes him to lose his profit on the contract. Hinc illae lachrymae. And because I refused to accede to terms which, as a public officer, I could not do without dishonor and violation of trust, he pursues me thus malignantly.

Blessed be God, I have escaped snares set for me by this arch-fiend, one of which a simple inquiry from you was the means of detecting. You remember I told you that Mr. Smith had made an advantageous contract with Tatham & Brothers for pipe, and had divided the profits with me by which I should gain five hundred dollars. You asked if it was all right and, if it should be made public, it would be considered so. I replied, 'Oh! yes; Mr. Smith says it is all perfectly fair' (for I had the utmost confidence in his fair dealing and uprightness). But your remark led me to think of the matter, and I determined at once that, since there was a doubt, I would not touch it for myself, but credit it to the Government, and I accordingly credited it as so much saved to the Government from the contract.

And now, will you believe it! the man who would have persuaded me that all was right in that matter, turns upon me and accuses me to the Secretary as dealing in bad faith to the Government, citing this very transaction in proof. But, providentially, my friend Ellsworth, and also a clerk in the Treasury Department, are witnesses that that sum was credited to the Government before any difficulties arose on the part of Smith.

But I leave this unpleasant matter. The enterprise yet looks lowering, but I know who can bring light out of darkness, and in Him I trust as a sure refuge till these calamities be overpast.... Oh! how these troubles drive all thought of children and brothers and all relatives out of my mind except in the wakeful hours of the night, and then I think of you all with sadness, that I cannot add to your enjoyment but only to your anxiety. ... Love to all. Specially remember me in your prayers that I may have wisdom from above to act wisely and justly and calmly in this sore trial.

While thus some of those on whom he had relied failed him at a critical moment, new helpers were at hand to assist him in carrying on the work. On December 27, he writes to the Secretary of the Treasury: "I have the honor to report that I have dismissed Professor James C. Fisher, one of my assistants, whose salary was $1500 per annum.... My present labors require the services of an efficient mechanical assistant whom I believe I have found in Mr. Ezra Cornell, and whom I present for the approval of the Honorable Secretary, with a compensation at the rate of, $1000 per annum from December 27, 1843."

Cornell proved himself, indeed, an efficient assistant, and much of the success of the enterprise, from that time forward, was due to his energy, quick-wittedness, and faithfulness.

Mr. Prime, in his biography of Morse, thus describes a dramatic episode of those trying days:—

"When the pipe had been laid as far as the Relay House, Professor Morse came to Mr. Cornell and expressed a desire to have the work arrested until he could try further experiments, but he was very anxious that nothing should be said or done to give to the public the impression that the enterprise had failed. Mr. Cornell said he could easily manage it, and, stepping up to the machine, which was drawn by a team of eight mules, he cried out: 'Hurrah, boys! we must lay another length of pipe before we quit.' The teamsters cracked their whips over the mules and they started on a lively pace. Mr. Cornell grasped the handles of the plough, and, watching an opportunity, canted it so as to catch the point of a rock, and broke it to pieces while Professor Morse stood looking on.

"Consultations long and painful followed. The anxiety of Professor Morse at this period was greater than at any previous hour known in the history of the invention. Some that were around him had serious apprehensions that he would not stand up under the pressure."

Cornell having thus cleverly cut the Gordian knot, it was decided to string wires on poles, and Cornell himself thus describes the solution of the insulation problem:—

"In the latter part of March Professor Morse gave me the order to put the wires on poles, and the question at once arose as to the mode of fastening the wires to the poles, and the insulation of them at the point of fastening. I submitted a plan to the Professor which I was confident would be successful as an insulating medium, and which was easily available then and inexpensive. Mr. Vail also submitted a plan for the same purpose, which involved the necessity of going to New York or New Jersey to get it executed. Professor Morse gave preference to Mr. Vail's plan, and started for New York to get the fixtures, directing me to get the wire ready for use and arrange for setting the poles.

"At the end of a week Professor Morse returned from New York and came to the shop where I was at work, and said he wanted to provide the insulators for putting the wires on the poles upon the plan I had suggested; to which I responded: 'How is that, Professor; I thought you had decided to use Mr. Vail's plan?' Professor Morse replied: 'Yes, I did so decide, and on my way to New York, where I went to order the fixtures, I stopped at Princeton and called on my old friend, Professor Henry, who inquired how I was getting along with my Telegraph.

"'I explained to him the failure of the insulation in the pipes, and stated that I had decided to place the wires on poles in the air. He then inquired how I proposed to insulate the wires when they were attached to the poles. I showed him the model I had of Mr. Vail's plan, and he said, "It will not do; you will meet the same difficulty you had in the pipes." I then explained to him your plan which he said would answer.'"

However, before the enterprise had reached this point in March, 1844, many dark and discouraging days and weeks had to be passed, which we can partially follow by the following extracts from letters to his brother Sidney and others. To his brother he writes on January 9, 1844:—

"I thank you for your kind and sympathizing letter, which, I assure you, helped to mitigate the acuteness of my mental sufferings from the then disastrous aspect of my whole enterprise. God works by instrumentalities, and he has wonderfully thus far interposed in keeping evils that I feared in abeyance. All, I trust, will yet be well, but I have great difficulties to encounter and overcome, with the details of which I need not now trouble you. I think I see light ahead, and the great result of these difficulties, I am persuaded, will be a great economy in laying the telegraphic conductors.... I am well in health but have sleepless nights from the great anxieties and cares which weigh me down."

"January 13. I am working to retrieve myself under every disadvantage and amidst accumulated and most diversified trials, but I have strength from the source of strength, and courage to go forward. Fisher I have dismissed for unfaithfulness; Dr. Gale has resigned from ill-health; Smith has become a malignant enemy, and Vail only remains true at his post. All my pipe is useless as the wires are all injured by the hot process of manufacture. I am preparing (as I said before, under every disadvantage) a short distance between the Patent Office and Capitol, which I am desirous of having completed as soon as possible, and by means of it relieving the enterprise from the heavy weight which now threatens it."

To his good friend, Commissioner Ellsworth, he writes from Baltimore on February 7:—

"In complying with your kind request that I would write you, I cannot refrain from expressing my warm thanks for the words of sympathy and the promise of a welcome on my return, which you gave me as I was leaving the door. I find that, brace myself as I will against trouble, the spirit so sympathises with the body that its moods are in sad bondage to the physical health; the latter vanquishing the former. For the spirit is often willing and submits, while the flesh is weak and rebels.

"I am fully aware that of late I have evinced an unusual sensitiveness, and exposed myself to the charge of great weakness, which would give me the more distress were I not persuaded that I have been among real friends who will make every allowance. My temperament, naturally sensitive, has lately been made more so by the combination of attacks from deceitful associates without and bodily illness within, so that even the kind attentions of the dear friends at your house, and who have so warmly rallied around me, have scarcely been able to restore me to my usual buoyancy of spirit, and I feel, amidst other oppressive thoughts, that I have not been grateful enough for your friendship. But I hope yet to make amends for the past.... I have no time to add more than that I desire sincere love to dear Annie, to whom please present for me the accompanying piece from my favorite Bellini, and the book on Etiquette, after it shall have passed the ordeal of a mother's examination, as I have not had time to read it myself."

On March 4, he writes to his brother:—

"I have nothing new. Smith continues to annoy me, but I think I have got him in check by a demand for compensation for my services for seven months, for doing that for him in Paris which he was bound to do. The agreement stipulates that I give my services for 'three months and no longer,' but, at his earnest solicitation, I remained seven months longer and was his agent in 'negotiating the sale of rights,' which by the articles he was obliged to do; consequently I have a right to compensation, and Mr. E. and others think my claim a valid one. If it is sustained the tables are completely turned on him, and he is debtor to me to the amount of six or seven hundred dollars. I have commenced my operations with posts which promise well at present."

"March 23. My Telegraph labors go on well at present. The whole matter is now critical, or, as our good father used to say, 'a crisis is at hand.' I hope for the best while I endeavor to prepare my mind for the worst. Smith, if he goes forward with his claim, is a ruined man in reputation, but he may sink the Telegraph also in his passion; but, when he returns from the East, where he fortunately is now, we hope through his friends to persuade him to withdraw it, which he may do from fear of the consequences. As to his claims privately on me, I think I have him in check, but he is a man of consummate art and unprincipled; he will, therefore, doubtless give me trouble."

"April 10. A brighter day is dawning upon me. I send you the Intelligencer of to-day, in which you will see that the Telegraph is successfully under way. Through six miles the experiment has been most gratifying. In a few days I hope to advise you of more respecting it. I have preferred reserve until I could state something positive. I have my posts set to Beltsville, twelve miles, and you will see by the Intelligencer that I am prepared to go directly on to Baltimore and hope to reach there by the middle of May."

"May 7. Let me know when Susan and the two Charles arrive [his son and his grandson] for, if they come within the next fortnight, I think I can contrive to run on and pay a visit of two or three days, unless my marplot Smith should prevent again, as he is likely to do if he comes on here. As yet there is no settlement of that matter, and he seems determined (inter nos) to be as ugly as he can and defeat all application for an appropriation if I am to have the management of it. He chafes like a wild boar, but, when he finds that he can effect nothing by such a temper, self-interest may soften him into terms.

"You will see by the papers that the Telegraph is in successful operation for twenty-two miles, to the Junction of the Annapolis road with the Baltimore and Washington road. The nomination of Mr. Frelinghuysen as Vice-President was written, sent on, and the receipt acknowledged back in two minutes and one second, a distance of forty-four miles. The news was spread all over Washington one hour and four minutes before the cars containing the news by express arrived. In about a fortnight I hope to be in Baltimore, and a communication will be established between the two cities. Good-bye. I am almost asleep from exhaustion, so excuse abrupt closing."

This was the first great triumph of the telegraph. Morse and Vail and Cornell had worked day and night to get the line in readiness as far as the Junction so that the proceedings of the Whig Convention could be reported from that point. Many difficulties were encountered—crossing of wires, breaks, injury from thunder storms, and the natural errors incidental to writing and reading what was virtually a new language. But all obstacles were overcome in time, and the day before the convention met, Morse wrote to Vail:—

"Get everything ready in the morning for the day, and do not be out of hearing of your bell. When you learn the name of the candidate nominated, see if you cannot give it to me and receive an acknowledgment of its receipt before the cars leave you. If you can it will do more to excite the wonder of those in the cars than the mere announcement that the news is gone to Washington."

The next day's report was most encouraging:—

"Things went well to-day. Your last writing was good. You did not correct your error of running your letters together until some time. Better be deliberate; we have time to spare, since we do not spend upon our stock. Get ready to-morrow (Thursday) as to-day. There is great excitement about the Telegraph and my room is thronged, therefore it is important to have it in action during the hours named. I may have some of the Cabinet to-morrow.... Get from the passengers in the cars from Baltimore, or elsewhere, all the news you can and transmit. A good way of exciting wonder will be to tell the passengers to give you some short sentence to send me; let them note time and call at the Capitol to verify the time I received it. Before transmitting notify me with (48). Your message to-day that 'the passengers in the cars gave three cheers for Henry Clay,' excited the highest wonder in the passenger who gave it to you to send when he found it verified at the Capitol."

In a letter to his friend, Dr. Aycrigg of New Jersey, written on May 8, and telling of these successful demonstrations, this interesting sentence occurs: "I find that the ground, in conformity with the results of experiments of Dr. Franklin, can be made a part of the circuit, and I have used one wire and the ground with better effect for one circuit than two wires."

On the 11th of May he again cautions Vail about his writing: "Everything worked well yesterday, but there is one defect in your writing. Make a longer space between each letter and a still longer space between each word. I shall have a great crowd to-day and wish all things to go off well. Many M.C.s will be present, perhaps Mr. Clay. Give me news by the cars. When the cars come along, try and get a newspaper from Philadelphia or New York and give items of intelligence. The arrival of the cars at the Junction begins to excite here the greatest interest, and both morning and evening I have had my room thronged."

And now at last the supreme moment had arrived. The line from Washington to Baltimore was completed, and on the 24th day of May, 1844, the company invited by the inventor assembled in the chamber of the United States Supreme Court to witness his triumph. True to his promise to Miss Annie Ellsworth, he had asked her to indite the first public message which should be flashed over the completed line, and she, in consultation with her good mother, chose the now historic words from the 23d verse of the 23d chapter of Numbers—"What hath God wrought!" The whole verse reads: "Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination, against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!" To Morse, with his strong religious bent and his belief that he was but a chosen vessel, every word in this verse seemed singularly appropriate. Calmly he seated himself at the instrument and ticked off the inspired words in the dots and dashes of the Morse alphabet. Alfred Vail, at the other end of the line in Baltimore, received the message without an error, and immediately flashed it back again, and the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph was no longer the wild dream of a visionary, but an accomplished fact.

Mr. Prime's comments, after describing this historic occasion, are so excellent that I shall give them in full:—

"Again the triumph of the inventor was sublime. His confidence had been so unshaken that the surprise of his friends in the result was not shared by him. He knew what the instrument would do, and the fact accomplished was but the confirmation to others of what to him was a certainty on the packet-ship Sully in 1832. But the result was not the less gratifying and sufficient. Had his labors ceased at that moment, he would have cheerfully exclaimed in the words of Simeon: 'Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.'



"The congratulations of his friends followed. He received them with modesty, in perfect harmony with the simplicity of his character. Neither then nor at any subsequent period of his life did his language or manner indicate exultation. He believed himself an instrument employed by Heaven to achieve a great result, and, having accomplished it, he claimed simply to be the original and only instrument by which that result had been reached. With the same steadiness of purpose, tenacity and perseverance, with which he had pursued the idea by which he was inspired in 1832, he adhered to his claim to the paternity of that idea, and to the merit of bringing it to a successful issue. Denied, he asserted it; assailed, he defended it. Through long years of controversy, discussion and litigation, he maintained his right. Equable alike in success and discouragement, calm in the midst of victories, and undismayed by the number, the violence, and the power of those who sought to deprive him of the honor and the reward of his work, he manfully maintained his ground, until, by the verdict of the highest courts of his country, and of academies of science, and the practical adoption and indorsement of his system by his own and foreign nations, those wires, which were now speaking only forty miles from Washington to Baltimore, were stretched over continents and under oceans making a network to encompass and unite, in instantaneous intercourse, for business and enjoyment, all parts of the civilized world."

It was with well-earned but modest satisfaction that he wrote to his brother Sidney on May 31:—

"You will see by the papers how great success has attended the first efforts of the Telegraph. That sentence of Annie Ellsworth's was divinely indited, for it is in my thoughts day and night. 'What hath God wrought!' It is his work, and He alone could have carried me thus far through all my trials and enabled me to triumph over the obstacles, physical and moral, which opposed me.

"'Not unto us, not unto us, but to thy name, O Lord, be all the praise.'

"I begin to fear now the effects of public favor, lest it should kindle that pride of heart and self-sufficiency which dwells in my own as well as in others' breasts, and which, alas! is so ready to be inflamed by the slightest spark of praise. I do indeed feel gratified, and it is right I should rejoice, but I rejoice with fear, and I desire that a sense of dependence upon and increased obligation to the Giver of every good and perfect gift may keep me humble and circumspect.

"The conventions at Baltimore happened most opportunely for the display of the powers of the Telegraph, especially as it was the means of correspondence, in one instance, between the Democratic Convention and the first candidate elect for the Vice-Presidency. The enthusiasm of the crowd before the window of the Telegraph Room in the Capitol was excited to the highest pitch at the announcement of the nomination of the Presidential candidate, and the whole of it afterwards seemed turned upon the Telegraph. They gave the Telegraph three cheers, and I was called to make my appearance at the window when three cheers were given to me by some hundreds present, composed mainly of members of Congress.

"Such is the feeling in Congress that many tell me they are ready to grant anything. Even the most inveterate opposers have changed to admirers, and one of them, Hon. Cave Johnson, who ridiculed my system last session by associating it with the tricks of animal magnetism, came to me and said: 'Sir, I give in. It is an astonishing invention.'

"When I see all this and such enthusiasm everywhere manifested, and contrast the present with the past season of darkness and almost despair, have I not occasion to exclaim 'What hath God wrought'? Surely none but He who has all hearts in his hands, and turns them as the rivers of waters are turned could so have brought light out of darkness. 'Sorrow may continue for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.' Pray for me then, my dear brother, that I may have a heart to praise the great Deliverer, and in future, when discouraged or despairing, be enabled to remember His past mercy, and in full faith rest all my cares on Him who careth for us.

"Mr. S. still embarrasses the progress of the invention by his stubbornness, but there are indications of giving way; mainly, I fear, because he sees his pecuniary interest in doing so, and not from any sense of the gross injury he has done me. I pray God for a right spirit in dealing with him."

The incident referred to in this letter with regard to the nomination for the Vice-Presidency by the Democratic Convention is worthy of more extended notice. The convention met in Baltimore on the 26th of May, and it was then that the two-thirds rule was first adopted. Van Buren had a majority of the votes, but could not secure the necessary two thirds, and finally James K. Polk was unanimously nominated. This news was instantly flashed to Washington by the telegraph and was received with mingled feelings of enthusiasm, disappointment, and wonder, and not believed by many until confirmed by the arrival of the mail.

The convention then nominated Van Buren's friend, Senator Silas Wright, of New York, for the Vice-Presidency. This news, too, was immediately sent by wire to Washington. Morse at once informed Mr. Wright, who was in the Capitol at the time, of his nomination, but he refused to accept it, and Morse wired his refusal to Vail in Baltimore, and it was read to the convention only a few moments after the nomination had been made. This was too much for the credulity of the assembly, and they adjourned till the following day and sent a committee to Washington to verify the dispatch. Upon the return of the committee, with the report that the telegraph had indeed performed this wonder, this new instrumentality received such an advertisement as could not fail to please the most exacting.

Then a scene was enacted new in the annals of civilization. In Baltimore the committee of conference surrounded Vail at his instrument, and in Washington Senator Wright sat beside Morse, all others being excluded. The committee urged Wright to accept the nomination, giving him good reasons for doing so. He replied, giving as good reasons for refusing. This first long-distance conversation was carried on until the committee was finally convinced that Wright was determined to refuse, and they so reported to the convention. Mr. Dallas was then nominated, and in November of that year Polk and Dallas were elected.

On June 3, Morse made his report to the Honorable McClintock Young, who was then Secretary of the Treasury ad interim. It was with great satisfaction that he was able to say: "Of the appropriation made there will remain in the Treasury, after the settlement of outstanding accounts, about $3500, which may be needed for contingent liabilities and for sustaining the line already constructed, until provision by law shall be made for such an organization of a telegraphic department or bureau as shall enable the Telegraph at least to support itself, if not to become a profitable source of revenue to the Government."

In the course of this report mention is also made of the following interesting incidents:—

"In regard to the utility of the Telegraph, time alone can determine and develop the whole capacity for good of so perfect a system. In the few days of its infancy it has already casually shown its usefulness in the relief, in various ways, of the anxieties of thousands; and, when such a sure means of relief is available to the public at large, the amount of its usefulness becomes incalculable. An instance or two will best illustrate this quality of the Telegraph.

"A family in Washington was thrown into great distress by a rumor that one of its members had met with a violent death in Baltimore the evening before. Several hours must have elapsed ere their state of suspense could be relieved by the ordinary means of conveyance. A note was dispatched to the telegraph rooms at the Capitol requesting to have inquiry made at Baltimore. The messenger had occasion to wait but ten minutes when the proper inquiry was made at Baltimore, and the answer returned that the rumor was without foundation. Thus was a worthy family relieved immediately from a state of distressing suspense.

"An inquiry from a person in Baltimore, holding the check of a gentleman in Washington upon the Bank of Washington, was sent by telegraph to ascertain if the gentleman in question had funds in that bank. A messenger was instantly dispatched from the Capitol who returned in a few minutes with an affirmative answer, which was returned to Baltimore instantly, thus establishing a confidence in a money arrangement which might have affected unfavorably (for many hours, at least) the business transactions of a man of good credit.

"Other cases might be given, but these are deemed sufficient to illustrate the point of utility, and to suggest to those who will reflect upon them thousands of cases in the public business, in commercial operations, and in private and social transactions, which establish beyond a doubt the immense advantages of such a speedy mode of conveying intelligence."

While such instances of the use of the telegraph are but the commonplaces of to-day, we can imagine with what wonder they were regarded in 1844.

Morse then addressed a memorial to Congress, on the same day, referring to the report just quoted from, and then saying:—

"The proprietors respectfully suggest that it is an engine of power, for good or for evil, which all opinions seem to concur in desiring to have subject to the control of the Government, rather than have it in the hands of private individuals and associations; and to this end the proprietors respectfully submit their willingness to transfer the exclusive use and control of it, from Washington City to the city of New York, to the United States, together with such improvements as shall be made by the proprietors, or either of them, if Congress shall proceed to cause its construction, and upon either of the following terms."

Here follow the details of the two plans: either outright purchase by the Government of the existing line and construction by the Government of the line from Baltimore to New York, or construction of the latter by the proprietors under contract to the Government; but no specific sum was mentioned in either case.

This offer was not accepted, as will appear further on, but $8000 was appropriated for the support of the line already built, and that was all that Congress would do. It was while this matter was pending that Morse wrote to his brother Sidney, on June 13:—

"I am in the crisis of matters, so far as this session of Congress is concerned, in relation to the Telegraph, which absorbs all my time. Perfect enthusiasm seems to pervade all classes in regard to it, but there is still the thorn in the flesh which is permitted by a wise Father to keep me humble, doubtless. May his strength be sufficient for me and I shall fear nothing, and will bear it till He sees fit to remove it. Pray for me, as I do for you, that, if prosperity is allotted to us, we may have hearts to use it to the glory of God."



CHAPTER XXXI

JUNE 28, 1844—OCTOBER 9, 1846

Fame and fortune now assured.—Government declines purchase of telegraph.—Accident to leg gives needed rest.—Reflections on ways of Providence.—Consideration of financial propositions.—F.O.J. Smith's fulsome praise.—Morse's reply.—Extension of telegraph proceeds slowly. —Letter to Russian Minister.—Letter to London "Mechanics' Magazine" claiming priority and first experiments in wireless telegraphy.—Hopes that Government may yet purchase.—Longing for a home.—Dinner at Russian Minister's.—Congress again fails him.—Amos Kendall chosen as business agent.—First telegraph company.—Fourth voyage to Europe.—London, Broek, Hamburg.—Letter of Charles T. Fleischmann.—Paris.—Nothing definite accomplished.

Morse's fame was now secure, and fortune was soon to follow. Tried as he had been in the school of adversity, he was now destined to undergo new trials, trials incident to success, to prosperity, and to world-wide eminence. That he foresaw the new dangers which would beset him on every hand is clearly evidenced in the letters to his brother, but, heartened by the success which had at last crowned his efforts, he buckled on his armor ready to do battle to such foes, both within and without, as should in the future assail him. Fatalist as we must regard him, he believed in his star; or rather he went forward with sublime faith in that God who had thus far guarded him from evil, and in his own good time had given him the victory, and such a victory! For twelve years he had fought on through trials and privations, hampered by bodily ailments and the deep discouragements of those who should have aided him. Pitted against the trained minds and the wealth of other nations, he had gone forth a very David to battle, and, like David, the simplicity of his missile had given him the victory. Other telegraphs had been devised by other men; some had actually been put into operation, but it would seem as if all the nations had held their breath until his appeared, and, sweeping all the others from the field, demonstrated and maintained its supremacy.

From this time forward his life became more complex. Honors were showered upon him; fame carried his name to the uttermost parts of the earth; his counsel was sought by eminent scientists and by other inventors, both practical and visionary.

On the other hand, detractors innumerable arose; his rights to the invention were challenged, in all sincerity and in insincerity; infringements of his patent rights necessitated long and acrimonious lawsuits, and, like other men of mark, he was traduced and vilified. In addition to all this he took an active interest in the seething politics of the day and in religious questions which, to his mind and that of many others, affected the very foundations of the nation.

To follow him through all these labyrinthine ways would require volumes, and I shall content myself with selecting only such letters as may give a fair idea of how he bore himself in the face of these new and manifold trials, of how he sometimes erred in judgment and in action, but how through all he was sincere and firm in his faith, and how, at last, he was to find that home and that domestic bliss which he had all his life so earnestly desired, but which had until the evening of his days been denied to him.

Having won his great victory, retirement from the field of battle would have best suited him. He was now fifty-three years of age, and he felt that he had earned repose. To this end he sought to carry out his long-cherished idea that the telegraph should become the property of the Government, and he was willing to accept a very modest remuneration. As I have said before, he and the other proprietors joined in offering the telegraph to the Government for the paltry sum of $100,000. But the Administration of that day seems to have been stricken with unaccountable blindness, for the Postmaster-General, that same wise and sapient Cave Johnson who had sought to kill the telegraph bill by ridicule in the House, and in despite of his acknowledgment to Morse, reported: "That the operation of the Telegraph between Washington and Baltimore had not satisfied him that, under any rate of postage that could be adopted, its revenues could be made equal to its expenditures." Congress was equally lax, and so the Government lost its great opportunity, for when, in after years, the question of government ownership again came up, it was found that either to purchase outright or to parallel existing lines would cost many more millions than it would have taken thousands in 1844.

The failure of the Government to appreciate the value of what was offered to them was always a source of deep regret to Morse. For, while he himself gained much more by the operation of private companies, the evils which he had foretold were more than realized.

But to return to the days of '44, it would seem that in the spring of that year he met with a painful accident. Its exact nature is not specified, but it must have been severe, and yet we learn from the following letter to his brother Sidney, dated June 23, that he saw in it only another blessing:—

"I am still in bed, and from appearances I am likely to be held here for many days, perhaps weeks. The wound on the leg was worse than I at first supposed. It seems slow in healing and has been much inflamed, although now yielding to remedies. My hope was to have spent some weeks in New York, but it will now depend on the time of the healing of my leg.

"The ways of God are mysterious, and I find prayer answered in a way not at all anticipated. This accident, as we are apt to call it, I can plainly see is calculated to effect many salutary objects. I needed rest of body and mind after my intense anxieties and exertions, and I might have neglected it, and so, perhaps, brought on premature disease of both; but I am involuntarily laid up so that I must keep quiet, and, although the fall that caused my wound was painful at first, yet I have no severe pain with it now. But the principal effect is, doubtless, intended to be of a spiritual character, and I am afforded an opportunity of quiet reflection on the wonderful dealings of God with me.

"I cannot but constantly exclaim, 'What hath God wrought!' When I look back upon the darkness of last winter and reflect how, at one time everything seemed hopeless; when I remember that all my associates in the enterprise of the Telegraph had either deserted me or were discouraged, and one had even turned my enemy, reviler and accuser (and even Mr. Vail, who has held fast to me from the beginning, felt like giving up just in the deepest darkness of all); when I remember that, giving up all hope myself from any other source than his right arm which brings salvation, his salvation did come in answer to prayer, faith is strengthened, and did I not know by too sad experience the deceitfulness of the heart, I should say that it was impossible for me again to distrust or feel anxiety, undue anxiety, for the future. But He who knows the heart knows its disease, and, as the Good Physician, if we give ourselves unreservedly into his hands to be cured, He will give that medicine which his perfect knowledge of our case prescribes.

"I am well aware that just now my praises ring from one end of the country to the other. I cannot take up a paper in which I do not find something to flatter the natural pride of the heart. I have prayed, indeed, against it; I have asked for a right spirit under a trial of a new character, for prosperity is a trial, and our Saviour has denounced a woe on us 'when all men speak well of us.' May it not then be in answer to this prayer that He shuts me up, to strengthen me against the temptations which the praises of the world present, and so, by meditation on his dealings with me and reviewing the way in which He has led me, showing me my perfect helplessness without Him, He is preparing to bless me with stronger faith and more unreserved faith in Him?

"To Him, indeed, belongs all the glory. I have had evidence enough that without Christ I could do nothing. All my strength is there and I fervently desire to ascribe to Him all the praise. If I am to have influence, increased influence, I desire to have it for Christ, to use it for his cause; if wealth, for Christ; if more knowledge, for Christ. I speak sincerely when I say I fear prosperity lest I should be proud and forget whence it comes."

Having at length recovered from the accident which had given him, in spite of himself, the rest which he so much needed, Morse again devoted himself to his affairs with his accustomed vigor. The Government still delaying to take action, he was compelled, much to his regret, to consider the offers of private parties to extend the lines of the telegraph to important points in the Union. He had received propositions from various persons who were eager to push the enterprise, but in all negotiations he was hampered by the dilatoriness of Smith, who seemed bent on putting as many obstacles in the way of an amicable settlement as possible, and some of whose propositions had to be rejected for obvious reasons. Before Congress had finally put the quietus on his hopes in that direction, he considered the advisability of parting with his interest to some individual, and, on July 1, 1844, he wrote to Mr. David Burbank from Baltimore:—

"In reply to your query for what sum I would sell my share of the patent right in the Telegraph, which amounts to one half, I frankly say that, if one hundred and ten thousand dollars shall be secured to me in cash, current funds in the United States, or stocks at cash value, such as I may be disposed to accept if presented, so that in six months from this date I shall realize that sum, I will assign over all my rights and privileges in the Telegraph in the United States.

"I offer it at this price, not that I estimate the value of the invention so low, for it is perfectly demonstrable that the sum above mentioned is not half its value, but that I may have my own mind free to be occupied in perfecting the system, and in a general superintendence of it, unembarrassed by the business arrangements necessary to secure its utmost usefulness and value."

A Mr. Fry of Philadelphia had also made an offer, and, referring to this, he wrote to Smith from New York, on July 17: "A letter from Mr. Fry, of Philadelphia, in answer to the proposals which you sent, I have just received. I wish much to see you, as I cannot move in this matter until I know your views. I am here for about a fortnight and wish some arrangements made by which our business can be transacted without the necessity of so much waiting and so much writing."

All these negotiations seem to have come to nothing, and I have only mentioned them as showing Morse's willingness to part with his interest for much less than he knew it was worth, in order that he might not prove an obstacle in the expansion of the system by being too mercenary, and so that he might obtain some measure of freedom from care.

Mr. F.O.J. Smith, while still proving himself a thorn in the flesh to Morse in many ways, had compiled a Telegraph Dictionary which he called: "The Secret Corresponding Vocabulary, adapted for Use to Morse's Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, and also in conducting Written Correspondence transmitted by the Mails, or otherwise." The dedication reads as follows:

To Professor Samuel F.B. Morse, Inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph

Sir,—The homage of the world during the last half-century has been, and will ever continue to be, accorded to the name and genius of the illustrious American philosopher, Benjamin Franklin, for having first taught mankind that the wild and terrific ways and forces of the electric fluid, as it flies and flashes through the rent atmosphere, or descends to the surface of the earth, are guided by positive and fixed laws, as much as the movements of more sluggish matter in the physical creation, and that its terrible death-strokes may be rendered harmless by proper scientific precautions.

To another name of another generation, yet of the same proud national nativity, the glory has been reserved of having first taught mankind to reach even beyond the results of Franklin, and to subdue in a modified state, into the familiar and practical uses of a household servant who runs at his master's bidding, this same once frightful and tremendous element. Indeed the great work of science which Franklin commenced for the protection of man, you have most triumphantly subdued to his convenience. And it needs not the gift of prophecy to foresee, nor the spirit of personal flattery to declare, that the names of Franklin and Morse are destined to glide down the declivity of time together, the equals in the renown of inventive achievements, until the hand of History shall become palsied, and whatever pertains to humanity shall be lost in the general dissolution of matter.

Of one thus rich in the present applause of his countrymen, and in the prospect of their future gratitude, it affords the author of the following compilation, which is designed to contribute in a degree to the practical usefulness of your invention, a high gratification to speak in the presence of an enlightened public feeling.

That you may live to witness the full consummation of the vast revolution in the social and business relations of your countrymen, which your genius has proved to be feasible, under the liberal encouragement of our national councils, and that you may, with this great gratification, also realize from it the substantial reward, which inventive merit too seldom acquires, in the shape of pecuniary independence, is the sincere wish of

Your most respectful and obedient servant The Author.

This florid and fulsome eulogy was written by that singular being who could thus flatter, and almost apotheosize, the inventor in public, while in secret he was doing everything to thwart him, and who never, as long as he lived, ceased to antagonize him, and later accused him of having claimed the credit of an invention all the essentials of which were invented by others. No wonder that Morse was embarrassed and at a loss how to reply to the letter of Smith's enclosing this eulogy and, at the same time, bringing up one of the subjects in dispute:—

New York, November 13, 1844.

Dear Sir,—I have received yours of the 4th and 5th inst., and reply in relation to the several subjects you mention in their order.

I like very well the suggestion in regard to the presentation of a set of the Telegraph Dictionary you are publishing to each member of Congress, and, when I return to Washington, will see the Secretary of the Treasury and see if he will assent to it.

As to the dedication to me, since you have asked my opinion, I must say I should prefer to have it much curtailed and less laudatory. I must refer it entirely to you, however, as it is not for me to say what others should write and think of me.

In regard to the Bartlett claim against the Government and your plan for settling it, I cannot admit that, as proprietors of the Telegraph, we have anything to do with it. I regret that there has been any mention of it, and I had hoped that you yourself had come to the determination to leave the matter altogether, or at least until the Telegraph bill had been definitely settled in Congress. However much I may deprecate agitation of the subject in the Senate, to mar and probably to defeat all our prospects, it is a matter over which I have no control in the aspect that has been given to it, and therefore—"the suppression of details which had better not be pushed to a decision"—does not rest with me.

In regard, however, to such a division of the property of the Telegraph as shall enable each of us to labor for the general benefit without embarrassment from each other, I think it worthy of consideration, and the principle on which such a division is proposed to be made might be extended to embrace the entire property. The subject, however, requires mature deliberation, and I am not now prepared to present the plan, but will think it over and consult with Vail and Gale and arrange it, perhaps definitely, when I see you again in Washington.

I have letters from Vail at Washington and Rogers at Baltimore stating the fact that complete success has attended all the transmission of results by Telegraph, there not having been a failure in a single instance, and to the entire satisfaction of both political parties in the perfect impartiality of the directors of the Telegraph.

While the success of the Telegraph had now been fully demonstrated, and while congratulations and honors were showered on the inventor from all quarters, negotiations for its extension proceeded but slowly. Morse still kept hoping that the Government would eventually purchase all the rights, and it was not until well into 1845 that he was compelled to abandon this dream. In the mean time he was kept busy replying to enquiries from the representatives of Russia, France, and other European countries, and in repelling attacks which had already been launched against him in scientific circles. As an example of the former I shall quote from a letter to His Excellency Alexander de Bodisco, the Russian Minister, written in December, 1844:—

"In complying with your request to write you respecting my invention of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph, I find there are but few points of interest not embraced in the printed documents already in your possession. The principle on which, my whole invention rests is the power of the electro-magnet commanded at pleasure at any distance. The application of this power to the telegraph is original with me. If the electro-magnet is now used in Europe for telegraphic purposes, it has been subsequently introduced. All the systems of electric telegraphs in Europe from 1820 to 1840 are based on the deflection of the magnetic needle, while my system, invented in 1832, is based, as I have just observed, on the electro-magnet....

"Should the Emperor be desirous of the superintendence of an experienced person to put the Telegraph in operation in Russia, I will either engage myself to visit Russia for that purpose; or, if my own or another government shall, previous to receiving an answer from Russia, engage my personal attendance, I will send an experienced person in my stead."

As a specimen of the vigorous style in which he repelled attacks on his merits as an inventor, I shall give the following:—

Messrs. Editors,—The London "Mechanics' Magazine," for October, 1844, copies an article from the Baltimore "American" in which my discovery in relation to causing electricity to cross rivers without wires is announced, and then in a note to his readers the editor of the magazine makes the following assertion: "The English reader need scarcely be informed that Mr. Morse has in this, as in other matters relating to magneto telegraphs, only rediscovered what was previously well known in this country."

More illiberality and deliberate injustice has been seldom condensed within so small a compass. From the experience, however, that I, in common with many American scientific gentlemen, have already had of the piratical conjoined with the abusive propensity of a certain class of English savans and writers, I can scarcely expect either liberality or justice from the quarter whence this falsehood has issued. But there is, fortunately, an appeal to my own countrymen, to the impartial and liberal-minded of Continental Europe, and the truly noble of England herself.

I claim to be the original inventor of the Electro-Magnetic Telegraph; to be the first who planned and operated a really practicable Electric Telegraph. This is the broad claim I make in behalf of my country and myself before the world. If I cannot substantiate this claim, if any other, to whatever country he belongs, can make out a previous or better claim, I will cheerfully yield him the palm.

Although I had planned and completed my Telegraph unconscious, until after my Telegraph was in operation, that even the words "Electric Telegraph" had ever been combined until I had combined them, I have now made myself familiar with, I believe, all the plans, abortive and otherwise, which have been given to the world since the time of Franklin, who was the first to suggest the possibility of using electricity as a means of transmitting intelligence. With this knowledge, both of the various plans devised and the time when they were severally devised, I claim to be the first inventor of a really practicable telegraph on the electric principle. When this shall be seriously called in question by any responsible name, I have the proof in readiness.

As to English electric telegraphs, the telegraph of Wheatstone and Cooke, called the Magnetic Needle Telegraph, inefficient as it is, was invented five years after mine, and the printing telegraph, so-called (the title to the invention of which is litigated by Wheatstone and Bain) was invented seven years after mine.

So much for my rediscovering what was previously known in England.

As to the discovery that electricity may be made to cross the water without wire conductors, above, through, or beneath the water, the very reference by the editor to another number of the magazine, and to the experiments of Cooke, or rather Steinheil, and of Bain, shows that the editor is wholly ignorant of the nature of my experiment. I have in detail the experiments of Bain and Wheatstone. They were merely in effect repetitions of the experiments of Steinheil. Their object was to show that the earth or water can be made one half of the circuit in conducting electricity, a fact proved by Franklin with ordinary electricity in the last century, and by Professor Steinheil, of Munich, with magnetic electricity in 1837. Mr. Bain, and after him Mr. Wheatstone, in England repeated, or (to use the English editor's phrase) rediscovered the same fact in 1841. But what have these experiments, in which one wire is carried across the river, to do with mine which dispenses with wires altogether across the river? I challenge the proof that such an experiment has ever been tried in Europe, unless it be since the publication of my results.

The year 1844 was drawing to a close and Congress still was dilatory. Morse hated to abandon his cherished dream of government ownership, and, while carrying on negotiations with private parties in order to protect himself, he still hoped that Congress would at last see the light. He writes to his brother from Washington on December 30:—

"Telegraph matters look exceedingly encouraging, not only for the United States but for Europe. I have just got a letter from a special agent of the French Government, sent to Boston by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he says that he has seen mine and 'is convinced of its superiority,' and wishes all information concerning it, adding: 'I consider it my duty to make a special report on your admirable invention.'"

And on January 18, 1845, he writes:—

"I am well, but anxiously waiting the action of Congress on the bill for extension of Telegraph. Texas drives everything else into a corner. I have not many fears if they will only get it up. I had to-day the Russian, Spanish, and Belgian Ministers to see the operation of the Telegraph; they were astonished and delighted. The Russian Minister particularly takes the deepest interest in it, and will write to his Government by next steamer. The French Minister also came day before yesterday, and will write in its favor to his Government.... Senator Woodbury gave a discourse before the Institute a few nights ago, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in which he lauded the Telegraph in the highest terms, and thought I had gone a step beyond Franklin! The popularity of the Telegraph increases rather than declines."

The mention of Texas in this letter refers to the fact that Polk was elected to the Presidency on a platform which favored the annexation of that republic to the United States, and this question was, naturally, paramount in the halls of Congress. Texas was admitted to the Union in December, 1845.

Writing to his daughter, Mrs. Lind, in Porto Rico on February 8, he says:—

"The Telegraph operates to the perfect satisfaction of the public, as you perhaps see by the laudatory notices of the papers in all parts of the country. I am now in a state of unpleasant suspense waiting the passage of the bill for the extension of the Telegraph to New York.

"I am in hopes they will take it up and pass it next week; if they should not, I shall at once enter into arrangements with private companies to take it and extend it.

"I do long for the time, if it shall be permitted, to have you with your husband and little Charles around me. I feel my loneliness more and more keenly every day. Fame and money are in themselves a poor substitute for domestic happiness; as means to that end I value them. Yesterday was the sad anniversary (the twentieth) of your dear mother's death, and I spent the most of it in thinking of her...."

"Thursday, February 12. I dined at the Russian Ambassador's Tuesday. It was the most gorgeous dinner-party I ever attended in any country. Thirty-six sat down to table; there were eleven Senators, nearly half the Senate.... The table, some twenty or twenty-five feet long, was decorated with immense gilt vases of flowers on a splendid plateau of richly chased gilt ornaments, and candelabra with about a hundred and fifty lights. We were ushered into the house through eight liveried servants, who afterward waited on us at table.

"I go to-morrow evening to Mr. Wickliffe's, Postmaster General, and, probably, on Wednesday evening next to the President's. The new President, Polk, arrived this evening amid the roar of cannon. He will be inaugurated on the 4th of March, and I presume I shall be there.

"I am most anxiously waiting the action of Congress on the Telegraph. It is exceedingly tantalizing to suffer so much loss of precious time that cannot be recalled."

This time there was no eleventh-hour passage of the bill, for Congress adjourned without reaching it, and while this, in the light of future events, was undoubtedly a tactical error on the part of the Government, it inured to the financial benefit of the inventor himself. The question now arose of the best means of extending the business of the telegraph through private companies, and Morse keenly felt the need of a better business head than he possessed to guide the enterprise through the shoals and quicksands of commerce. He was fortunate in choosing as his business and legal adviser the Honorable Amos Kendall.

Mr. James D. Reid, one of the early telegraphers and a staunch and faithful friend of Morse's, thus speaks of Mr. Kendall in his valuable book "The Telegraph in America":—

"Mr. Kendall is too well known in American history to require description. He was General Jackson's Postmaster General, incorruptible, able, an educated lawyer, clear-headed, methodical, and ingenious. But he was somewhat rigid in his manners and methods, and lacked the dash and bonhomie which would have carried him successfully into the business centres of the seaboard cities, and brought capital largely and cheerfully to his feet. Of personal magnetism, indeed, except in private intercourse, where he was eminently delightful, he had, at this period of his life, none. This made his work difficult, especially with railroad men. Yet the Telegraph could not have been entrusted to more genuinely honest and able hands. On the part of those he represented this confidence was so complete that their interests were committed to him without reserve."

Professor Gale and Alfred Vail joined with Morse in entrusting their interests to Mr. Kendall's care, but F.O.J. Smith preferred to act for himself. This caused much trouble in the future, for it was a foregone conclusion that the honest, upright Kendall and the shifty Smith were bound to come into conflict with each other. The latter, as one of the original patentees, had to be consulted in every sale of patent rights, and Kendall soon found it almost impossible to deal with him.

At first Kendall had great difficulty in inducing capitalists to subscribe to what was still looked upon as a very risky venture. Mr. Corcoran, of Washington, was the first man wise in his generation, and others then followed his lead, so that a cash capital of $15,000 was raised. Mr. Reid says: "It was provided, in this original subscription, that the payment of $50 should entitle the subscriber to two shares of $50 each. A payment of $15,000, therefore, required an issue of $30,000 stock. To the patentees were issued an additional $30,000 stock, or half of the capital, as the consideration of the patent. The capital was thus $60,000 for the first link. W.W. Corcoran and B.B. French were made trustees to hold the patent rights and property until organization was effected. Meanwhile an act of incorporation was granted by the legislature of the State of Maryland, the first telegraphic charter issued in the United States."

The company was called "The Magnetic Telegraph Company," and was the first telegraph company in the United States.

Under the able, if conservative, management of Mr. Kendall the business of the telegraph progressed slowly but surely. Many difficulties were encountered, many obstacles had to be overcome, and the efforts of unprincipled men to pirate the invention, or to infringe on the patent, were the cause of numerous lawsuits. But it is not my purpose to write a history of the telegraph. Mr. Reid has accomplished this task much better than I possibly could, and, in following the personal history of Morse, the now famous inventor, I shall but touch, incidentally on all these matters.

On the 18th of July, 1845, the following letter of introduction was sent to Morse from the Department of State:—

To the respective Diplomatic and Consular Agents of the United States in Europe.

SIR,—The bearer hereof, Professor Samuel F.B. Morse, of New York, Superintendent of Electro Magnetic Telegraphs for the United States, is about to visit Europe for the purpose of exhibiting to the various governments his own system, and its superiority over others now in use. From a personal knowledge of Professor Morse I can speak confidently of his amiability of disposition and high respectability. The merits of his discoveries and inventions in this particular branch of science are, I believe, universally conceded in this country.

I take pleasure in introducing him to your acquaintance and in bespeaking for him, during his stay in your neighborhood, such attentions and good offices in aid of his object as you may find it convenient to extend to him.

I am, sir, with great respect, Your obedient servant, JAMES BUCHANAN, Secretary of State.



With the assurance that he had left his business affairs in capable hands, Morse sailed from New York on August 6, 1845, and arrived in Liverpool on the 25th. For the fourth time he was crossing from America to Europe, but under what totally different circumstances. On previous occasions, practically unknown, he had voyaged forth to win his spurs in the field of art, or to achieve higher honors in this same field, or as a humble petitioner at the courts of Europe. Forced by circumstances to practise the most rigid economy, he had yet looked confidently to the future for his reward in material as well as spiritual gifts. Now, having abandoned his art, he had won such fame in a totally different realm that his name was becoming well-known in all the centres of civilization, and he was assured of a respectful hearing wherever he might present himself. Freed already from pecuniary embarrassment, he need no longer take heed for the morrow, but could with a light heart give himself up to the enjoyment of new scenes, and the business of proving to other nations the superiority of his system, secure in the knowledge that, whatever might betide him in Europe, he was assured of a competence at home.

His brother Sidney, with his family, had preceded him to Europe, and writing to Vail from London on September 1, Morse says:—

"I have just taken lodgings with my brother and his family preparatory to looking about for a week, when I shall continue my journey to Stockholm and St. Petersburg, by the way of Hamburg, direct from London.

"On my way from Liverpool I saw at Rugby the telegraph wires of Wheatstone, which extend, I understood, as far as Northampton. I went into the office as the train stopped a moment, and had a glimpse of the instrument as we have seen it in the 'Illustrated Times.' The place was the ticket-office and the man very uncommunicative, but he told me it was not in operation and that they did not use it much. This is easily accounted for from the fact that the two termini are inconsiderable places, and Wheatstone's system clumsy and complicated. The advantage of recording is incalculable, and in this I have the undisputed superiority. As soon as I can visit the telegraph-office here I will give you the result of my observation. I shall probably do nothing until my return from the north."

Nothing definite was accomplished during his short stay in London, and on the 17th of September he left for the Continent with Mr. Henry Ellsworth and his wife. Mr. Ellsworth, the son of his old friend, had been appointed attache to the American Legation at Stockholm. Morse's letters to his daughter give a detailed account of his journey, but I shall give only a few extracts from them:—

"Hamburg, September 27, 1845. Everything being ready on the morning of the 17th instant, we left Brompton Square in very rainy and stormy weather, and drove down to the Custom-house wharf and went on board our destined steamer, the William Joliffe, a dirty, black-looking, tub-like thing, about as large but not half so neat as a North River wood-sloop. The wind was full from the Southwest, blowing a gale with rain, and I confess I did not much fancy leaving land in so unpromising a craft and in such weather; yet our vessel proved an excellent seaboat, and, although all were sick on board but Mr. Ellsworth and myself, we had a safe but rough passage across the boisterous North Sea."

Stopping but a short time in Rotterdam, the party proceeded through the Hague and Haarlem to Amsterdam, and from the latter place they visited the village of Broek:—

"The inn at Broek was another example of the same neatness. Here we took a little refreshment before going into the village. We walked of course, for no carriage, not even a wheelbarrow, appeared to be allowed any more than in a gentleman's parlor. Everything about the exterior of the houses and gardens was as carefully cared for as the furniture and embellishments of the interior. The streets (or rather alleys, like those of a garden) were narrow and paved with small variously colored bricks forming every variety of ornamental figures. The houses, from the highest to the lowest class, exhibited not merely comfort but luxury, yet it was a selfish sort of luxury. The perpetually closed door and shut-up rooms of ceremony, the largest and most conspicuous of all in the house, gave an air of inhospitableness which, I should hope, was not indicative of the real character of the inhabitants. Yet it seemed to be a deserted village, a place of the dead rather than of the living, an ornamental graveyard. The liveliness of social beings was absent and was even inconsistent with the superlative neatness of all around us. It was a best parlor out-of-doors, where the gayety of frolicking children would derange the set order of the furniture, or an accidental touch of a sacrilegious foot might scratch the polish of a fresh-varnished fence, or flatten down the nap of the green carpet of grass, every blade of which is trained to grow exactly so.

"The grounds and gardens of a Mr. Vander Beck were, indeed, a curiosity from the strange mixture of the useful with the ridiculously ornamental. Here were the beautiful banks of a lake and Nature's embellishment of reeds and water plants, which, for a wonder, were left to grow in their native luxuriance, and in the midst a huge pasteboard or wooden swan, and a wooden mermaid of tasteless proportions blowing from a conchshell. In another part was a cottage with puppets the size of life moving by clock-work; a peasant smoking and turning a reel to wind off the thread which his 'goed vrow' is spinning upon a wheel, while a most sheep-like dog is made to open his mouth and to bark—a dog which is, doubtless, the progenitor of all the barking, toy-shop dogs of the world. Directly in the vicinity is a beautiful grapery, with the richest clusters of grapes literally covering the top, sides and walls of the greenhouse, which stands in the midst of a garden, gay with dahlias and amaranths and every variety of flowers, with delicious fruits thickly studding the well-trained trees. Everything, however, was cut up into miniature landscapes; little bridges and little temples adorned little canals and little mounds, miniature representations of streams and bills.

"We visited the residence of the burgomaster. He was away and his servants permitted us to see the house. It was cleaning-day. Everything in the house was in keeping with the character of the village. But the kitchen! how shall I describe it? The polished marble floor, the dressers with glass doors like a bookcase, to keep the least particle of dust from the bright-polished utensils of brass and copper. The varnished mahogany handle of the brass spigot, lest the moisture of the hand in turning it should soil its polish, and, will you believe it, the very pothooks as well as the cranes (for there were two), in the fireplace were as bright as your scissors!

"Broek is certainly a curiosity. It is unique, but the impression left upon me is not, on the whole, agreeable. I should not be contented to live there. It is too ridiculously and uncomfortably nice. Fancy a lady always dressed throughout the day in her best evening-party dress, and say if she could move about with that ease which she would like. Such, however, must be the feeling of the inhabitants of Broek; they must be in perpetual fear, not only of soiling or deranging their clothes merely, but their very streets every step they take. But good-bye to Broek. I would not have missed seeing it but do not care to see it again."

Holland, which he had never visited before, interested him greatly, but he could not help saying: "One feels in Holland like being in a ship, constantly liable to spring a leak."

Hamburg he found more to his taste:—

"September 26. Hamburg, you may remember, was nearly destroyed by fire in 1842. It is now almost rebuilt and in a most splendid style of architecture. I am much prepossessed in its favor. We have taken up our quarters at the Victoria Hotel, one of the splendid new hotels of the city. I find the season so far advanced in these northern regions that I am thinking of giving up my journey farther north. My matters in London will demand all my spare time."

"September 30. The windows of my hotel look out upon the Alster Basin, a beautiful sheet of water, three sides of which are surrounded with splendid houses. Boats and swans are gliding over the glassy surface, giving, with the well-dressed promenaders along the shores, an air of gayety and liveliness to the scene."

It will not be necessary to follow the traveller step by step during this visit to Europe. He did not go to Sweden and Russia, as he had at first planned, for he learned that the Emperor of Russia was in the South, and that nothing could be accomplished in his absence. He, therefore, returned to London from Hamburg. He was respectfully received everywhere and his invention was recognized as being one of great merit and simplicity, but it takes time for anything new to make its way. This is, perhaps, best summed up in the words of Charles T. Fleischmann, who at that time was agent of the United States Patent Office, and was travelling through Europe collecting information on agriculture, education, and the arts. He was a good friend of Morse's and an enthusiastic advocate of his invention. He carried with him a complete telegraphic outfit and lost no opportunity to bring it to the notice of the different governments visited by him, and his official position gave him the entree everywhere. Writing from Vienna on October 7, he says:—

"There is no doubt Morse's telegraph is the best of that description I have yet seen, but the difficulty of introducing it is in this circumstance, that every scientific man invents a similar thing and, without having the practical experience and practical arrangement which make Morse's so preferable, they will experiment a few miles' distance only, and no doubt it works; but, when they come to put it up at a great distance, then they will find that their experience is not sufficient, and must come back ultimately to Morse's plan. The Austrian Government is much occupied selecting out of many plans (of telegraphs) one for her railroads. I have offered Morse's and proposed experiments. I am determined to stay for some time, to give them a chance of making up their minds."

Two other young Americans, Charles Robinson and Charles L. Chapin, were also travelling around Europe at this time for the purpose of introducing Morse's invention, but, while all these efforts resulted in the ultimate adoption by all the nations of Europe, and then of the world, of this system, the superiority of which all were compelled, sometimes reluctantly, to admit, no arrangement was made by which Morse and his co-proprietors benefited financially. The gain in fame was great, in money nil. It was, therefore, with mixed feelings that Morse wrote to his brother from Paris on November 1:—

"I am still gratified in verifying the fact that my Telegraph is ahead of all the other systems proposed. Wheatstone's is not adopted here. The line from Paris to Rouen is not on his plan, but is an experimental line of the Governmental Commission. I went to see it yesterday with my old friend the Administrator-in-Chief of the Telegraphs of France, Mr. Poy, who is one of the committee to decide on the best mode for France. The system on this line is his modification.... I have had a long interview with M. Arago. He is the same affable and polite man as in 1839. He is a warm friend of mine and contends for priority in my favor, and is also partial to my telegraphic system as the best. He is President of the Commission and is going to write the History of Electric Telegraphs. I shall give him the facts concerning mine. The day after to-morrow I exhibit my telegraphic system again to the Academy of Sciences, and am in the midst of preparations for a day important to me. I have strong hopes that mine will be the system adopted, but there may be obstacles I do not see. Wheatstone, at any rate, is not in favor here....

"I like the French. Every nation has its defects and I could wish many changes here, but the French are a fine people. I receive a welcome here to which I was a perfect stranger in England. How deep this welcome may be I cannot say, but if one must be cheated I like to have it done in a civil and polite way."

He sums up the result of his European trip in a letter to his daughter, written from London on October 9, as he was on his way to Liverpool from where he sailed on November 19, 1845:—

"I know not what to say of my telegraphic matters here yet. There is nothing decided upon and I have many obstacles to contend against, particularly the opposition of the proprietors of existing telegraphs; but that mine is the best system I have now no doubt. All that I have seen, while they are ingenious, are more complicated, more expensive, less efficient and easier deranged. It may take some time to establish the superiority of mine over the others, for there is the usual array of prejudice and interest against a system which throws others out of use."



CHAPTER XXXII

DECEMBER 20, 1845—APRIL 18, 1849

Return to America.—Telegraph affairs in bad shape.—Degree of LL.D. from Yale.—Letter from Cambridge Livingston.—Henry O'Reilly.—Grief at unfaithfulness of friends.—Estrangement from Professor Henry.—Morse's "Defense."—His regret at feeling compelled to publish it.—Hopes to resume his brush.—Capitol panel.—Again disappointed.—Another accident.—First money earned from telegraph devoted to religious purposes.—Letters to his brother Sidney.—Telegraph matters.—Mexican War.—Faith in the future.—Desire to be lenient to opponents.—Dr. Jackson.—Edward Warren.—Alfred Vail remains loyal.—Troubles in Virginia.—Henry J. Rogers.—Letter to J.D. Reid about O'Reilly.—F.O.J. Smith again.—Purchases a home at last.—"Locust Grove," on the Hudson, near Poughkeepsie.—Enthusiastic description.—More troubles without, but peace in his new home.

Having established to his satisfaction the fact that his system was better than any of the European plans, which was the main object of his trip abroad, Morse returned to his native land, but not to the rest and quiet which he had so long desired. Telegraph lines were being pushed forward in all directions, but the more the utility of this wonderful new agent was realized, the greater became the efforts to break down the lawful rights of the patentees, and competing lines were, hurriedly built on the plea of fighting a baleful monopoly by the use of the inventions of others, said to be superior. Internal dissensions also arose in the ranks of the workers on the Morse lines, and some on whom he had relied proved faithless, or caused trouble in other ways. But, while these clouds arose to darken his sky, there was yet much sunshine to gladden his heart. His health was good, his children and the families of his brothers were well and prosperous. In the year 1846 his patent rights were extended for another period of years, and he was gradually accumulating a competence as the various lines in which he held stock began to declare dividends. In addition to all this his fame had so increased that he was often alluded to in the papers as "the idol of the nation," and honorary degrees were conferred on him by various institutions both at home and abroad. Of these the one that, perhaps, pleased him the most was the degree of LL.D. bestowed by his alma mater, Yale. He alludes to it with pride in many of his letters to his brother Sidney, and once playfully suggests that it must mean "Lightning Line Doctor."

One of the first letters which he received on his return to America was from Cambridge Livingston, dated December 20, 1845, and reads as follows:—

"The Trustees of the New York and Boston Magnetic Telegraph Association are getting up a certificate of stock, and are desirous of making it neat and appropriate. It has seemed to me very desirable that one of its decorations should be your coat of arms, and if you will do me the favor to transmit a copy, or a wax impression of the same, I shall be much obliged."

To this Morse replied:—

"I send you a sketch of the Morse coat of arms, according to your request, to do as you please with it. I am no advocate of heraldic devices, but the motto in this case sanctions it with me. I wish to live and die in its spirit:—

"'Deo non armis fido.'"

I have said that many on whom Morse relied proved faithless, and, while I do not intend to go into the details of all these troubles, it is only right that, in the interest of historical truth, some mention should be made of some of these men. The one who, next to F.O.J. Smith, caused the most trouble to Morse and his associates, was Henry O'Reilly. Mr. Reid, in his "Telegraph in America," thus describes him:—