Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume II Part 35

NEW YORK, November 30th, 1868.

PROFESSOR S.F.B. MORSE, LL.D.

Sir,--Many of your countrymen and numerous personal friends desire to give definite expression to the fact that this country is in full accord with European nations in acknowledging your t.i.tle to the position of father of Modern Telegraphy, and at the same time in a fitting manner to welcome you to your home.

They, therefore, request that you will name a day on which you will favor them with your company at a public banquet.

With great respect we remain, Very truly your friends.

Here follow the names of practically every man of prominence in New York at that time.

Morse replied on December 4:--

To the Hon. Hamilton Fish, Hon. John T. Hoffman, Hon. Wm. Dennison, Hon.

A.G. Curtin, Hon. Wm. E. Dodge, Peter Cooper, Esq., Daniel Huntington, Esq., Wm. Orton, Esq., A.A. Low, Esq., James Brown, Esq., Cyrus W. Field, Esq., John J. Cisco, Esq., and others.

Gentlemen,--I have received your flattering request of the 30th November, proposing the compliment of a public banquet to me, and asking me to appoint a day on which it would be convenient for me to meet you.

Did your proposal intend simply a personal compliment I should feel no hesitation in thanking you cordially for this evidence of your personal regard, while I declined your proffered honor; but I cannot fail to perceive that there is a paramount patriotic duty connected with your proposal which forbids me to decline your invitation.

In accepting it, therefore, I would name (in view of some personal arrangements) Wednesday the 30th inst. as the day which would be most agreeable to me.

Accept, Gentlemen, the a.s.surance of the respect of Your obedient servant, Samuel F.B. Morse.

The banquet was given at Delmonico's, which was then on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Fourteenth Street, and was presided over by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, who had been the leading counsel _against_ Morse in his first great lawsuit, but who now cheerfully acknowledged that to Morse and America the great invention of the telegraph was due. About two hundred men sat down at the tables, among them some of the most eminent in the country. Morse sat at the right of Chief Justice Chase, and Sir Edward Thornton, British Amba.s.sador, on his left. When the time for speechmaking came, Cyrus Field read letters from President Andrew Johnson; from General Grant, President-elect; from Speaker Colfax, Admiral Farragut, and many others. He also read a telegram from Governor Alexander H. Bullock of Ma.s.sachusetts: "Ma.s.sachusetts honors her two sons--Franklin and Morse. The one conducted the lightning safely from the sky; the other conducts it beneath the ocean from continent to continent.

The one tamed the lightning; the other makes it minister to human wants and human progress."

From London came another message:--

"CYRUS W. FIELD, New York. The members of the joint committee of the Anglo-American and Atlantic Telegraph Companies hear with pleasure of the banquet to be given this evening to Professor Morse, and desire to greet that distinguished telegraphist, and wish him all the compliments of the season."

Mr. Field added: "This telegram was sent from London at four o'clock this afternoon, and was delivered into the hands of your committee at 12.50."

This, naturally, elicited much applause and laughter.

Speeches then followed by other men prominent in various walks of life.

Sir Edward Thornton said that he "had great satisfaction in being able to contribute his mite of that admiration and esteem for Professor Morse which must be felt by all for so great a benefactor of his fellow creatures and of posterity."

Chief Justice Chase introduced the guest of the evening in the following graceful words:--

"Many s.h.i.+ning names will at once occur to any one at all familiar with the history of the Telegraph. Among them I can pause to mention only those of Volta, the Italian, to whose discoveries the battery is due; Oersted, the Dane, who first discovered the magnetic properties of the electric current; Ampere and Arago, the Frenchmen, who prosecuted still further and most successfully similar researches; then Sturgeon, the Englishman, who may be said to have made the first electro-magnet; next, and not least ill.u.s.trious among these ill.u.s.trious men, our countryman Henry, who first showed the practicability of producing electro-magnetic effects by means of the galvanic current at distances infinitely great; and finally Steinheil, the German, who, after the invention of the Telegraph in all its material parts was complete, taught, in 1837, the use of the ground as part of the circuit. These are some of those searchers for truth whose names will be long held in grateful memory, and not among the least of their t.i.tles to grat.i.tude and remembrance will be the discoveries which contributed to the possibility of the modern Telegraph.

"But these discoveries only made the Telegraph possible. They offered the brilliant opportunity. There was needed a man to bring into being the new art and the new interest to which they pointed, and it is the providential distinction and splendid honor of the eminent American, who is our guest to-night, that, happily prepared by previous acquirements and pursuits, he was quick to seize the opportunity and give to the world the first recording Telegraph.

"Fortunate man! thus to link his name forever with the greatest wonder and the greatest benefit of the age! [great applause]... I give you 'Our guest, Professor S.F.B. Morse, the man of science who explored the laws of nature, wrested electricity from her embrace, and made it a missionary in the cause of human progress.'"

As the venerable inventor rose from his chair, overcome with profound emotion which was almost too great to be controlled, the whole a.s.sembly rose with him, and cheer after cheer resounded through the hall for many minutes. When at last quiet was restored, he addressed the company at length, giving a resume of his struggles and paying tribute to those who had befriended and a.s.sisted him in his time of need--to Amos Kendall, who sat at the board with him and whose name called forth more cheers, to Alfred Vail, to Leonard Gale, and, in the largeness of his heart, to F.O.J. Smith. It will not be necessary to give his remarks in full, as the history of the invention has already been given in detail in the course of this work, but his concluding remarks are worthy of record:--

"In casting my eyes around I am most agreeably greeted by faces that carry me back in memory to the days of my art struggles in this city, the early days of the National Academy of Design.

"Brothers (for you are yet brothers), if I left your ranks you well know it cost me a pang. I did not leave you until I saw you well established and entering on that career of prosperity due to your own just appreciation of the important duties belonging to your profession. You have an inst.i.tution which now holds and, if true to yourselves, will continue to hold a high position in the estimation of this appreciative community. If I have stepped aside from Art to tread what seems another path, there is a good precedent for it in the lives of artists. Science and Art are not opposed. Leonardo da Vinci could find congenial relaxation in scientific researches and invention, and our own Fulton was a painter whose scientific studies resulted in steam navigation. It may not be generally known that the important invention of the _percussion cap_ is due to the scientific recreations of the English painter Shaw.

"But I must not detain you from more instructive speech. One word only in closing. I have claimed for America the origination of the modern Telegraph System of the world. Impartial history, I think, will support that claim. Do not misunderstand me as disparaging or disregarding the labors and ingenious modifications of others in various countries employed in the same field of invention. Gladly, did time permit, would I descant upon their great and varied merits. Yet in tracing the birth and pedigree of the modern Telegraph, 'American' is not the highest term of the series that connects the past with the present; there is at least one higher term, the highest of all, which cannot and must not be ignored. If not a sparrow falls to the ground without a definite purpose in the plans of infinite wisdom, can the creation of an instrumentality so vitally affecting the interests of the whole human race have an origin less humble than the Father of every good and perfect gift?

"I am sure I have the sympathy of such an a.s.sembly as is here gathered if, in all humility and in the sincerity of a grateful heart, I use the words of inspiration in ascribing honor and praise to Him to whom first of all and most of all it is preeminently due. 'Not unto us, not unto us, but to G.o.d be all the glory.' Not what hath man, but 'What hath G.o.d wrought?'"

More applause followed as Morse took his seat, and other speeches were made by such men as Professor Goldwin Smith, the Honorable William M.

Evarts, A.A. Low, William Cullen Bryant, William Orton, David Dudley Field, the Honorable William E. Dodge, Sir Hugh Allan, Daniel Huntington, and Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania.

While many of these speeches were most eloquent and appropriate, I shall quote from only one, giving as an excuse the words of James D. Reid in his excellent work "The Telegraph in America": "As Mr. Huntington's address contains some special thoughts showing the relations.h.i.+p of the painter to invention, and is, besides, a most affectionate and interesting tribute to his beloved master, Mr. Morse, it is deemed no discourtesy to the other distinguished speakers to give it nearly entire."

I shall, however, omit some portions which Mr. Reid included.

"In fact, however, every studio is more or less a laboratory. The painter is a chemist delving into the secrets of pigments, varnishes, mixtures of tints and mysterious preparations of grounds and overlaying of colors; occult arts by which the inward light is made to gleam from the canvas, and the warm flesh to glow and palpitate.

"The studio of my beloved master, in whose honor we have met to-night, was indeed a laboratory. Vigorous, life-like portraits, poetic and historic groups, occasionally grew upon his easel; but there were many hours--yes, days--when absorbed in study among galvanic batteries and mysterious lines of wires, he seemed to us like an alchemist of the middle ages in search of the philosopher's stone.

"I can never forget the occasion when he called his pupils together to witness one of the first, if not the first, successful experiment with the electric telegraph. It was in the winter of 1835-36. I can see now that rude instrument, constructed with an old stretching-frame, a wooden clock, a home-made battery and the wire stretched many times around the walls of the studio. With eager interest we gathered about it as our master explained its operation while, with a click, click, the pencil, by a succession of dots and lines, recorded the message in cypher. The idea was born. The words circled that upper chamber as they do now the globe.

"But we had little faith. To us it seemed the dream of enthusiasm. We grieved to see the sketch upon the canvas untouched. We longed to see him again calling into life events in our country's history. But it was not to be; G.o.d's purposes were being accomplished, and now the world is witness to his triumph. Yet the love of art still lives in some inner corner of his heart, and I know he can never enter the studio of a painter and see the artist silently bringing from the canvas forms of life and beauty, but he feels a tender twinge, as one who catches a glimpse of the beautiful girl he loved in his youth whom another has s.n.a.t.c.hed away.

"Finally, my dear master and father in art, allow me in this moment of your triumph in the field of discovery, to greet you in the name of your brother artists with 'All hail.' As an artist you might have spent life worthily in turning G.o.d's blessed daylight into sweet hues of rainbow colors, and into breathing forms for the delight and consolation of men, but it has been His will that you should train the lightnings, the sharp arrows of his anger, into the swift yet gentle messengers of Peace and Love."

Morse's wife and his daughter and other ladies had been present during the speeches, but they began to take their leave after Mr. Huntington's address, although the toastmaster arose to announce the last toast, which was "The Ladies." So he said: "This is the most inspiring theme of all, but the theme itself seems to be vanis.h.i.+ng from us. Indeed [after a pause], has already vanished. [After another pause and a glance around the room.] And the gentleman who was to have responded seems also to have vanished with his theme. I may a.s.sume, therefore, that the duties of the evening are performed, and its enjoyments are at an end."

The unsought honor of this public banquet, in his own country, organized by the most eminent men of the day, calling forth eulogies of him in the public press of the whole world, was justly esteemed by Morse as one of the crowning events of his long career; but an even greater honor was still in store for him, which will be described in due season.

The early months of 1869 were almost entirely devoted to his report as Commissioner, which was finally completed and sent to the Department of State in the latter part of March. In this work he received great a.s.sistance from Professor W.P. Blake, who was "In charge of publication,"

and who writes to him on March 29: "I have had only a short time to glance at it as it was delivered towards the close of the day, but I am most impressed by the amount of labor and care you have so evidently bestowed upon it."

Professor Blake wrote another letter on August 21, which I am tempted to give almost in its entirety:--

"I feel it to be my duty to write to you upon another point regarding your report, upon which I know that you are sensitive, but, as I think you will see that my motives are good, and that I sincerely express them, I believe you will not be offended with me although my views and opinions may not coincide exactly with yours. I allude to the mention which you make of some of the eminent physicists who have contributed by their discoveries and experiments to our knowledge of the phenomena of electro-magnetism.

"On page 9 of the ma.n.u.script you observe: 'The application of the electro-magnet, the invention of Arago and Sturgeon (first combined and employed by Morse in the construction of the generic telegraph) to the purposes also of the semaph.o.r.e, etc.'

"Frankly, I am pained not to see the name of Henry there a.s.sociated with those of Arago and Sturgeon, for it is known and generally conceded among men of science that his researches and experiments and the results which he reached were of radical importance and value, and that they deservedly rank with those of Ampere, Arago and Sturgeon.

"I am aware that, by some unfortunate combination of circ.u.mstances, the personal relations of yourself and Professor Henry are not pleasant. I deplore this, and it would be an intense satisfaction to me if I could be the humble means of bringing about a harmonious and honorable adjustment of the differences which separate you. I write this without conference with Professor Henry or his friends. I do it impartially, first, in the line of my duty as editor (but not now officially); second, as a lover of science; third, with a patriotic desire to secure as much as justly can be for the scientific reputation of the country; and fourth, with a desire to promote harmony between all who are concerned in increasing and disseminating knowledge, and particularly between such sincere lovers of truth and justice as I believe both yourself and Professor Henry to be.

"I do not find that Professor Henry anywhere makes a claim which trenches upon your claim of first using the electro-magnet for writing or printing at a distance--the telegraph as distinguished from the semaph.o.r.e. This he cannot claim, for he acknowledges it to be yours. You, on the other hand, do not claim the semaphoric use of electricity. I therefore do not see any obstacle to an honorable adjustment of the differences which separate you, and which, perhaps, make you disinclined to freely a.s.sociate Professor Henry's name with those of other promoters of electrical science.

"Your report presents a fitting opportunity to effect this result. A magnanimous recognition by you of Professor Henry's important contributions to the science of electro-magnetism appears to me to be all that is necessary. They can be most appropriately and gracefully acknowledged in your report, and you will gain rather than lose by so doing. Such action on your part would do more than anything else could to secure for you the good will of all men of science, and to hasten a universal and generous accord of all the credit for your great gift to civilization that you can properly desire.

"Now, my dear sir, with this frank statement of my views on this point, I accept your invitation, and will go to see you at your house to talk with you upon this point and others, perhaps more agreeable, but if, after this expression of my inclinations, you will not deem me a welcome guest, telegraph me not to come--I will not take it unkindly."

To this Morse replied on August 23: "Your most acceptable letter, with the tone and spirit of which I am most gratified, is just received, for which accept my thanks. I shall be most happy to see you and freely to communicate with you on the subject mentioned, and with the sincere desire of a satisfactory result."

The visit was paid, but the details of the conversation have not been preserved. However, we find in Morse's report, on page 10, the following: "In 1825, Mr. Sturgeon, of England, made the first electro-magnet in the horseshoe form by loosely winding a piece of iron wire with a spiral of copper wire. In the United States, as early as 1831, the experimental researches of Professor Joseph Henry were of great importance in advancing the science of electro-magnetism. He may be said to have carried the electro-magnet, in its lifting powers, to its greatest perfection. Reflecting upon the principle of Professor Schweigger's galvanometer, he constructed magnets in which great power could be developed by a very small galvanic element. His published paper in 1831 shows that he experimented with wires of different lengths, and he noted the amount of magnetism which could be induced through them at various lengths by means of batteries composed of a single element, and also of many elements. He states that the magnetic action of 'a current from a trough composed of many pairs is at least not sensibly diminished by pa.s.sing through a long wire,' and he incidentally noted the bearing of this fact upon the project of an electro-magnetic telegraph [semaph.o.r.e?].