Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume II Part 18

"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 a.s.sign 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, unembarra.s.sed 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 grat.i.tude, 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 embarra.s.sed 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 publis.h.i.+ng to each member of Congress, and, when I return to Was.h.i.+ngton, will see the Secretary of the Treasury and see if he will a.s.sent 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 embarra.s.sment 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 Was.h.i.+ngton.

I have letters from Vail at Was.h.i.+ngton 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 doc.u.ments 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 a.s.sertion: "The English reader need scarcely be informed that Mr. Morse has in this, as in other matters relating to magneto telegraphs, only _re_discovered what was previously well known in this country."

More illiberality and deliberate injustice has been seldom condensed within so small a compa.s.s. 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 cla.s.s 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 n.o.ble 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 t.i.tle to the invention of which is litigated by Wheatstone and Bain) was invented seven years after mine.

So much for my _re_discovering 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 repet.i.tions 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 owners.h.i.+p, 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 Was.h.i.+ngton 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 Inst.i.tute 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 pa.s.sage of the bill for the extension of the Telegraph to New York.

"I am in hopes they will take it up and pa.s.s 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 subst.i.tute 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 Amba.s.sador'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 pa.s.sage 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 s.h.i.+fty 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.