Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals - Volume II | Page 3

Wood on two great mysteries of life.--Presents portrait of Allston to the National Academy of Design.--Endows lectureship in Union Theological Seminary.--Refuses to attend fifty-fifth reunion of his class.--Statue to him proposed.--Ezra Cornell's benefaction.--American Asiatic Society.--Amalgamation of telegraph companies.--Protest against stock manipulations.--Approves of President Andrew Johnson.--Sails with family for Europe.--Paris Exposition of 1867.--Descriptions of festivities.--Cyrus W. Field.--Incident in early life of Napoleon III.-- Made Honorary Commissioner to Exposition.--Attempt on life of Czar.--Ball at Hotel de Ville.--Isle of Wight.--England and Scotland.--The "Sounder."--Returns to Paris
CHAPTER XXXIX
NOVEMBER 28, 1867--JUNE 10. 1871
Goes to Dresden.--Trials financial and personal.--Humorous letter to E.S. Sanford.--Berlin.--The telegraph in the war of 1866.--Paris.--Returns to America.--Death of his brother Richard.--Banquet in New York.--Addresses of Chief Justice Chase, Morse, and Daniel Huntington.--Report as Commissioner finished.--Professor W.P. Blake's letter urging recognition of Professor Henry.--Morse complies.--Henry refuses to be reconciled.-- Reading by sound.--Morse breaks his leg.--Deaths of Amos Kendall and George Wood.--Statue in Central Park.--Addresses of Governor Hoffman and William Cullen Bryant.--Ceremonies at Academy of Music.--Morse bids farewell to his children of the telegraph
CHAPTER XL
JUNE 14, 1871--APRIL 16, 1872
Nearing the end.--Estimate of the Reverend F.B. Wheeler.--Early poem.-- Leaves "Locust Grove" for last time.--Death of his brother Sidney.-- Letter to Cyrus Field on neutrality of telegraph.--Letter of F.O.J. Smith to H.J. Rogers.--Reply by Professor Gale.--Vicious attack by F.O.J. Smith.--Death prevents reply by Morse.--Unveils statue of Franklin in last public appearance.--Last hours.--Death.--Tributes of James D. Reid, New York "Evening Post," New York "Herald," and Louisville "Courier-Journal."--Funeral.--Monument in Greenwood Cemetery.--Memorial services in House of Representatives, Washington.--Address of James G. Blaine.--Other memorial services.--Mr. Prime's review of Morse's character.--Epilogue

ILLUSTRATIONS
MORSE THE INVENTOR (Photogravure) From a photograph.
DRAWINGS FROM 1832 SKETCH-BOOK, SHOWING FIRST CONCEPTION OF TELEGRAPH
MORSE'S FIRST TELEGRAPH INSTRUMENT Now in the National Museum, Washington.
ROUGH DRAWING BY MORSE SHOWING THE FIRST FORM OF THE ALPHABET AND THE CHANGES TO THE PRESENT FORM
QUANTITIES OF THE TYPE FOUND IN THE TYPE-CASES OF A PRINTING-OFFICE. CALCULATION MADE BY MORSE TO AID HIM IN SIMPLIFYING ALPHABET
"ATTENTION UNIVERSE, BY KINGDOMS RIGHT WHEEL." FACSIMILE OF FIRST MORSE ALPHABET MESSAGE Given to General Thomas S. Cummings at time of transmission by Professor S.F.B. Morse, New York University, Wednesday, January 24, 1838. Presented to the National Museum at Washington by the family of General Thomas S. Cummings of New York, February 13, 1906.
DRAWING BY MORSE OF RAILWAY TELEGRAPH, PATENTED BY HIM IN FRANCE IN 1838, AND EMBODYING PRINCIPLE OF POLICE AND FIRE ALARM TELEGRAPH
FIRST FORM OF KEY.--IMPROVED FORM OF KEY.--EARLY RELAY.--FIRST WASHINGTON-BALTIMORE INSTRUMENT The two keys and the relay are in the National Museum, Washington. The Washington-Baltimore instrument is owned by Cornell University.
S. F. B. MORSE From a portrait by Daniel Huntington.
HOUSE AT LOCUST GROVE, POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK
SARAH ELIZABETH GRISWOLD, SECOND WIFE OF S. F. B. MORSE From a daguerreotype.
MORSE AND HIS YOUNGEST SON From an ambrotype.
HOUSE AND LIBRARY AT 5 WEST 22D STREET, NEW YORK
TELEGRAM SHOWING MORSE'S CHARACTERISTIC DEADHEAD, WHICH HE ALWAYS USED TO FRANK HIS MESSAGES
MORSE IN OLD AGE From a photograph by Sarony.

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE
HIS LETTERS AND JOURNALS
CHAPTER XXI
OCTOBER 1, 1832--FEBRUARY 28, 1833
Packet-ship Sully.--Dinner-table conversation.--Dr. Charles T. Jackson.-- First conception of telegraph.--Sketch-book.--Idea of 1832 basic principle of telegraph of to-day.--Thoughts on priority.--Testimony of passengers and Captain Pell.--Difference between "discovery" and "invention."--Professor E.N. Horsford's paper.--Arrival in New York.-- Testimony of his brothers.--First steps toward perfection of the invention.--Letters to Fenimore Cooper.
The history of every great invention is a record of struggle, sometimes Heart-breaking, on the part of the inventor to secure and maintain his rights. No sooner has the new step in progress proved itself to be an upward one than claimants arise on every side; some honestly believing themselves to have solved the problem first; others striving by dishonest means to appropriate to themselves the honor and the rewards, and these sometimes succeeding; and still others, indifferent to fame, thinking only of their own pecuniary gain and dishonorable in their methods. The electric telegraph was no exception to this rule; on the contrary, its history perhaps leads all the rest as a chronicle of "envy, hatred, malice, and all uncharitableness." On the other hand, it brings out in strong relief the opposing virtues of steadfastness, perseverance, integrity, and loyalty.
Many were the wordy battles waged in the scientific world over the questions of priority, exclusive discovery or invention, indebtedness to others, and conscious or unconscious plagiarism. Some of these questions are, in many minds, not yet settled. Acrimonious were the legal struggles fought over infringements and rights of way, and, in the first years of the building of the lines to all parts of this country, real warfare was waged by the workers of competing companies.
It is not my purpose to treat exhaustively of any of these battles, scientific, legal, or physical. All this has already been written down by abler pens than mine, and has now become history. My aim in following the career of Morse the