JUNE 20, 1840--AUGUST 12, 1842
First patent issued.--Proposal of Cooke and Wheatstone to join forces
rejected.--Letter to Rev. E.S. Salisbury.--Money advanced by brother
artists repaid.--Poverty.--Reminiscences of General Strother, "Porte
Crayon."--Other reminiscences.--Inaction in Congress.--Flattering letter
of F.O.J. Smith.--Letter to Smith urging action.--Gonon and Wheatstone.--
Temptation to abandon enterprise.--Partners all financially crippled.--
Morse alone doing any work.--Encouraging letter from Professor Henry.--
Renewed enthusiasm.--Letter to Hon. W.W. Boardman urging appropriation of
$3500 by Congress.--Not even considered.--Despair of inventor.
It is only necessary to remember that the year 1840, and the years
immediately preceding and following it, were seasons of great financial
depression, and that in 1840 the political unrest, which always precedes
a presidential election, was greatly intensified, to realize why but
little encouragement was given to an enterprise so fantastic as that of
an electric telegraph. Capitalists were disinclined to embark on new and
untried ventures, and the members of Congress were too much absorbed in
the political game to give heed to the pleadings of a mad inventor. The
election of Harrison, followed by his untimely death only a month after
his inauguration and the elevation of Tyler to the Presidency, prolonged
the period of political uncertainty, so that Morse and his telegraph
received but scant attention on Capitol Hill.
However, the year 1840 marked some progress, for on the 20th of June the
first patent was issued to Morse. It may be remembered that, while his
caveat and petition were filed in 1837, he had requested that action on
them be deferred until after his return from Europe. He had also during
the year been gradually perfecting his invention as time and means
permitted.
It was during the year 1840, too, that Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke
proposed to join forces with the Morse patentees in America, but this
proposition was rejected, although Morse seems to have been almost
tempted, for in a letter to Smith he says:--
"I send you copies of two letters just received from England. What shall
I say in answer? Can we make any arrangements with them? Need we do it?
Does not our patent secure us against foreign interference, or are we to
be defeated, not only in England but in our own country, by the
subsequent inventions of Wheatstone?
"I feel my hands tied; I know not what to say. Do advise immediately so
that I can send by the British Queen, which sails on the first prox."
Fortunately Smith advised against a combination, and the matter was
dropped.
It will not be necessary to dwell at length on the events of the year
1841. The situation and aims of the inventor are best summed up in a
beautiful and characteristic letter, written on February 14 of that year,
to his cousin, the Reverend Edward S. Salisbury:--
"Your letter containing a draft for three hundred dollars I have
received, for which accept my sincere thanks. I have hesitated about
receiving it because I had begun to despair of ever being able to touch
the pencil again. The blow I received from Congress, when the decision
was made concerning the pictures for the Rotunda, has seriously and
vitally affected my enthusiasm in my art. When that event was announced
to me I was tempted to yield up all in despair, but I roused myself to
resist the temptation, and, determining still to fix my mind upon the
work, cast about for the means of accomplishing it in such ways as my
Heavenly Father should make plain. My telegraphic enterprise was one of
those means. Induced to prosecute it by the Secretary of the Treasury,
and encouraged by success in every part of its progress, urged forward to
complete it by the advice of the most judicious friends, I have carried
the invention on my part to perfection. That is to say, so far as the
invention itself is concerned. I _have done my part_. It is approved in
the highest quarters--in England, France, and at home--by scientific
societies and by governments, and waits only the action of the latter, or
of capitalists, to carry it into operation.
"Thus after several years' expenditure of time and money in the
expectation (of my friends, _never of my own_ except as I yielded my own
judgment to theirs) of so much at least as to leave me free to pursue my
art again, I am left, humanly speaking, farther from my object than ever.
I am reminded, too, that my prime is past; the snows are on my temples,
the half-century of years will this year be marked against me; my eyes
begin to fail, and what can I now expect to do with declining powers and
habits in my art broken up by repeated disappointments?
"That prize which, through the best part of my life, animated me to
sacrifice all that most men consider precious--prospects of wealth,
domestic enjoyments, and, not least, the enjoyment of country--was
snatched from me at the moment when it appeared to be mine beyond a
doubt.
"I do not state these things to you, my dear cousin, in the spirit of
complaint of the dealings of God's Providence, for I am perfectly
satisfied that, mysterious as it may seem to me, it has all been ordered
in its minutest particulars in infinite wisdom, so satisfied that I can
truly say I rejoice in the midst of all these trials, and in view of my
Heavenly Father's hand guiding all, I have a joy of spirit which I can
only express by the word 'singing.' It is not in man to direct his steps.
I know I am so short-sighted that I dare not trust myself in the very
next step; how then could I presume to plan for my whole life, and expect
that my own wisdom had guided me into that way best for me and the
universe of God's creatures?
"I have not painted a picture since that decision in Congress, and I
presume that the mechanical skill I once possessed in the art has
suffered by the unavoidable neglect. I may possibly recover this skill,
and if anything will tend to this end, if anything can tune again an
instrument so long unstrung, it is the kindness and liberality of my
Cousin Edward. I would wish, therefore, the matter put on this ground
that my mind may be at ease. I am at present engaged in taking portraits
by the Daguerreotype. I have been at considerable expense in perfecting
apparatus and the necessary fixtures, and am just reaping a little profit
from it. My ultimate aim is the application of the Daguerreotype to
accumulate for my studio models for my canvas. Its first application will
be to the study of your picture. Yet if any accident, any unforeseen
circumstances should prevent, I have made arrangements with my brother
Sidney to hold the sum you have advanced subject to your order. On these
conditions I accept it, and will yet indulge the hope of giving you a
picture acceptable to you."
The picture was never painted, for the discouraged artist found neither
time nor inclination ever to pick up his brush again; but we may be sure
that the money, so generously advanced by his cousin, was repaid.
It was in the year 1841 also that, in spite of the difficulty he found in
earning enough to keep him from actual starvation, he began to pay back
the sums which had been advanced to him by his friends for the painting
of a historical picture, which should, in a measure, atone to him for the
undeserved slight of Congress. In a circular addressed to each of the
subscribers he gives the history of the matter and explains why he had
hoped that the telegraph would supply him with the means to paint the
picture, and then he adds:--
"I have, as yet, not realized one cent, and thus I find myself farther
from my object than ever. Upon deliberately considering the matter the
last winter and spring, I came to the determination, in the first place,
to free myself from the pecuniary obligation under which I had so long
lain to my friends of the Association, and I commenced a system of
economy and retrenchment by which I hoped gradually to amass the
necessary sum for that purpose, which sum, it will be seen, amounts in
the aggregate to $510. Three hundred dollars of this sum I had already
laid aside, when an article in the New York 'Mirror,' of the 16th
October, determined me at once to commence the refunding of the sums
received."
What the substance of the article in the "Mirror" was, I do not know, but
it was probably one of those scurrilous and defamatory attacks, from many
of which he suffered in common with other persons of prominence, and
which was called forth, perhaps, by his activity in the politics of the
day.
That I have not exaggerated in saying that he was almost on the verge of
starvation during these dark years is evidenced by the following word
picture from the pen of General Strother, of Virginia, known in the world
of literature under the pen name of "Porte Crayon":--
"I engaged to become Morse's pupil, and subsequently went to New York and
found him in a room in University Place. He had three other pupils, and I
soon found that our professor had very little patronage. I paid my fifty
dollars that settled for one quarter's instruction. Morse was a faithful
teacher, and took as much interest in our progress--more indeed than--we
did ourselves. But he was very poor. I remember that when my second
quarter's pay was due my remittance from home did not come as expected,
and one day the professor came in and said, courteously:--
"'Well, Strother my boy, how are we off for money?'
"'Why, Professor,' I answered, 'I am sorry to say I have been
disappointed; but I expect a remittance next week.'
"'Next week!' he repeated sadly. 'I shall be dead by that time.'
"'Dead, Sir?'
"'Yes, dead by starvation.'
"I was distressed and astonished. I said hurriedly:--
"'Would ten dollars be of any service?'
"'Ten dollars would save my life; that is all it would do.'
"I paid the money, all that I had, and we dined together. It was a modest
meal but good, and, after he had finished, he said:--
"'This is my first meal for twenty-four hours. Strother, don't be an
artist. It means beggary. Your life depends upon people who know nothing
of your art and care nothing for you. A house-dog lives better, and the
very sensitiveness that stimulates an artist to work keeps him alive to
suffering.'"
Another artist describes the conditions in 1841 in the following words:--
"In the spring of 18411 was searching for a studio in which to set up my
easel. My 'house-hunting' ended at the New York University, where I found
what I wanted in one of the turrets of that stately edifice. When I had
fixed my choice, the janitor, who accompanied me in my examination of the
rooms, threw open a door on the opposite side of the hall and invited me
to enter. I found myself in what was evidently an artist's studio, but
every object in it bore indubitable signs of unthrift and neglect. The
statuettes, busts, and models of various kinds were covered with dust and
cobwebs; dusty canvases were faced to the wall, and stumps of brushes and
scraps of paper littered the floor. The only signs of industry consisted
of a few masterly crayon drawings, and little luscious studies of color
pinned to the wall.
"'You will have an artist for a neighbor,' said the janitor, 'though he
is not here much of late; he seems to be getting rather shiftless; he is
wasting his time over some silly invention, a machine by which he expects
to send messages from one place to another. He is a very good painter,
and might do well if he would only stick to his business; but, Lord!' he
added with a sneer of contempt, 'the idea of telling by a little streak
of lightning what a body is saying at the other end of it.'
"Judge of my astonishment when he informed me that the 'shiftless
individual' whose foolish waste of time so much excited his
commiseration, was none other than the President of the National Academy
of Design--the most exalted position, in my youthful artistic fancy, it
was possible for mortal to attain--S.F.B. Morse, since better known as
the inventor of the Electric Telegraph. But a little while after this his
fame was flashing through the world, and the unbelievers who voted him
insane were forced to confess that there was, at least, 'method in his
madness.'"
The spring and summer of 1841 wore away and nothing was accomplished. On
August 16 Morse writes to Smith:--
"Our Telegraph matters are in a situation to do none of us any good,
unless some understanding can be entered into among the proprietors. I
have recently received a letter from Mr. Isaac N. Coffin, from
Washington, with a commendatory letter from Hon. R. McClellan, of the
House. Mr. Coffin proposes to take upon himself the labor of urging
through the two houses the bill relating to my Telegraph, which you know
has long been before Congress. He will press it and let his compensation
depend on his success."
This Mr. Coffin wrote many long letters telling, in vivid language, of
the great difficulties which beset the passage of a bill through both
houses of Congress, and of how skilled he was in all the diplomatic moves
necessary to success, and finally, after a long delay, occasioned by the
difficulty of getting powers of attorney from all the proprietors, he was
authorized to go ahead. The sanguine inventor hoped much from this
unsolicited offer of assistance, but he was again doomed to
disappointment, for Mr. Coffin's glowing promises amounted to nothing at
all, and the session of 1841-42 ended with no action taken on the bill.
In view of the fact, alluded to in a former chapter, that Francis O.J.
Smith later became a bitter enemy of Morse's, and was responsible for
many of the virulent attacks upon him, going so far as to say that most,
if not all, of the essentials of the telegraph had been invented by
others, it may be well to quote the following sentences from a letter of
August 21, 1841, in reply to Morse's of August 16:--
"I shall be in Washington more next winter, and will lend all aid in my
power, of course, to any agent we may have there. My expenditures in the
affair, as you know, have been large and liberal, and have somewhat
embarrassed me. Hence I cannot incur more outlay. I am, however,
extremely solicitous for the double purpose of having you witness with
your own eyes and in your own lifetime the consummation in actual,
practical, national utility [of] this beautiful and wonderful offspring
of your mechanical and philosophical genius, and know that you have not
overestimated the service you have been ambitious of rendering to your
country and the world."
On December 8, 1841, Morse again urges Smith to action:--
"Indeed, my dear sir, something ought to be done to carry forward this
enterprise that we may all receive what I think we all deserve. The whole
labor and expense of moving at all devolve on me, and I have nothing in
the world. Completely crippled in means I have scarcely (indeed, I have
not at all) the means even to pay the postage of letters on the subject.
I feel it most tantalizing to find that there is a movement in Washington
on the subject; to know that telegraphs will be before Congress this
session, and from the means possessed by Gonon and Wheatstone!! (yes,
Wheatstone who successfully headed us off in England), one or the other
of their two plans will probably be adopted. Wheatstone, I suppose you
know, has a patent here, and has expended $1000 to get everything
prepared for a campaign to carry his project into operation, and more
than that, his patent is dated _before mine!_
"My dear sir, to speak as I feel, I am sick at heart to perceive how
easily others, _foreigners_, can manage our Congress, and can contrive to
cheat our country out of the honor of a discovery of which the country
boasts, and our countrymen out of the profits which are our due; to
perceive how easily they can find men and means to help them in their
plans, and how difficult, nay, impossible, for us to find either. Is it
really so, or am I deceived? What can be done? Do write immediately and
propose something. Will you not be in Washington this winter? Will you
not call on me as you pass through New York, if you do go?
"Gonon has his telegraph on the Capitol, and a committee of the Senate
reported in favor of trying his for a short distance, and will pass a
bill this session if we are not doing something. Some means, somehow,
must be raised. I have been compelled to stop my machine just at the
moment of completion. I cannot move a step without running in debt, and
that I cannot do.
"As to the company that was thought of to carry the Telegraph into
operation here, it is another of those _ignes fatui_ that have just led
me on to waste a little more time, money, and patience, and then
vanished. The gentleman who proposed the matter was, doubtless, friendly
disposed, but he lacks judgment and perseverance in a matter of this
sort.
"If Congress would but pass the bill of $30,000 before them, there would
be no difficulty. There is no difficulty in the scientific or mechanical
part of the matter; that is a problem solved. The only difficulty that
remains is obtaining funds, which Congress can furnish, to carry it into
execution. I have a great deal to say, but must stop for want of time to
write more."
But he does not stop. He is so full of his subject that he continues at
some length:--
"Everything done by me in regard to the Telegraph is at arm's length. I
can do nothing without consultation, and when I wish to consult on the
most trivial thing I have three letters to write, and a week or ten days
to wait before I can receive an answer.
"I feel at times almost ready to cast the whole matter to the winds, and
turn my attention forever from the subject. Indeed, I feel almost
inclined, at tunes, to destroy the evidences of priority of invention in
my possession and let Wheatstone and England take the credit of it. For
it is tantalizing in the highest degree to find the papers and the
lecturers boasting of the invention as one of the greatest of the age,
and as an honor to America, and yet to have the nation by its
representatives leave the inventor without the means either to put his
invention fairly before his countrymen, or to defend himself against
foreign attack.
"If I had the means in any way of support in Washington this winter, I
would go on in the middle of January and push the matter, but I cannot
run the risk. I would write a detailed history of the invention, which
would be an interesting document to have printed in the Congressional
documents, and establish beyond contradiction both priority and
superiority of my invention. Has not the Postmaster-General, or Secretary
of War or Treasury, the power to pay a few hundred dollars from a
contingent fund for such purposes?
"Whatever becomes of the invention through the neglect of those who could
but would not lend a helping hand, _you_, my dear sir, will have the
reflection that you did all in your power to aid me, and I am deterred
from giving up the matter as desperate most of all for the consideration
that those who kindly lent their aid when the invention was in its
infancy would suffer, and that, therefore, I should not be dealing right
by them. If this is a little _blue_, forgive it."
It appears from this letter that Morse bore no ill-will towards his
partners for not coming to his assistance at this critical stage of the
enterprise, so that it behooves us not to be too harsh in our judgment.
Perhaps I have not sufficiently emphasized the fact that, owing to the
great financial depression which prevailed at that time, Mr. Smith and
the Vails were seriously crippled in their means, and were not able to
advance any more money, and Professor Gale had never been called upon to
contribute money. This does not alter my main contention, however, for it
still remains true that, if it had not been for Morse's dogged
persistence during these dark years, the enterprise would, in all
probability, have failed. With the others it was merely an incident, with
him it had become his whole life.
The same refrain runs through all the letters of 1841 and 1842;
discouragement at the slow progress which is being made, and yet a
sincere conviction that eventually the cause will triumph. On December
13, 1841, he says in a letter to Vail:--
"We are all somewhat crippled, and I most of all, being obliged to
superintend the getting up of a set of machinery complete, and to make
the greater part myself, and without a cent of money.... All the burden
now rests on my shoulders after years of time devoted to the enterprise,
and I am willing, as far as I am able, to bear my share if the other
proprietors will lend a helping hand, and give me facilities to act and a
reasonable recompense for my services in case of success."
Vail, replying to this letter on December 15, says: "I have recently
given considerable thought to the subject of the Telegraph, and was
intending to get permission of you, if there is anything to the contrary
in our articles of agreement, to build for myself and my private use a
Telegraph upon your plan."
In answering this letter, on December 18, Morse again urges Vail to give
him a power of attorney, and adds:--
"You can see in a moment that, if I have to write to all the scattered
proprietors of the Telegraph every time any movement is made, what a
burden falls upon me both of expense of time and money which I cannot
afford. In acting for my own interest in this matter I, of course, act
for the interest of all. If we can get that thirty thousand dollars bill
through Congress, the experiment (if it can any longer be called such)
can then be tried on such a scale as to insure its success.
"You ask permission to make a Telegraph for your own use. I have no
objection, but, before you commence one, you had better see me and the
improvements which I have made, and I can suggest a few more, rather of
an ornamental character, and some economical arrangements which may be of
use to you.
"I thank you for your kind invitation, and, when I come to Philadelphia,
shall _A. Vail_ myself of your politeness. I suppose by this time you
have a brood of chickens around you. Well, go on and prosper. As for me,
I am not well; am much depressed at times, and have many cares,
anxieties, and disappointments, in which I am aware I am not alone. But
all will work for the best if we only look through the cloud and see a
kind Parent directing all. This reflection alone cheers me and gives me
renewed strength."
Conditions remained practically unchanged during the early part of the
year 1842. If it had not been for occasional bits of encouragement from
different quarters the inventor would probably have yielded to the
temptation to abandon all and depend on his brush again for a living.
Perhaps the ray of greatest encouragement which lightened the gloom of
this depressing period was the following letter from Professor Henry,
dated February 24, 1842:--
MY DEAR SIR--I am pleased to learn that you have again petitioned
Congress in reference to your telegraph, and I most sincerely hope you
will succeed in convincing our representatives of the importance of the
invention. In this you may, perhaps, find some difficulty, since, in the
minds of many, the electro-magnetic telegraph is associated with the
various chimerical projects constantly presented to the public, and
particularly with the schemes so popular a year or two ago for the
application of electricity as a moving power in the arts. I have
asserted, from the first, that all attempts of this kind are premature
and made without a proper knowledge of scientific principles. The case
is, however, entirely different in regard to the electro-magnetic
telegraph. Science is now fully ripe for this application, and I have not
the least doubt, if proper means be afforded, of the perfect success of
the invention.
The idea of transmitting intelligence to a distance by means of
electrical action, has been suggested by various persons, from the time
of Franklin to the present; but, until the last few years, or since the
principal discoveries in electro-magnetism, all attempts to reduce it to
practice were, necessarily, unsuccessful. The mere suggestion however, of
a scheme of this kind is a matter for which little credit can be claimed,
since it is one which would naturally arise in the mind of almost any
person familiar with the phenomena of electricity; but the bringing it
forward at the proper moment, when the developments of science are able
to furnish the means of certain success, and the devising a plan for
carrying it into practical operation, are the grounds of a just claim to
scientific reputation, as well as to public patronage.
About the same time with yourself Professor Wheatstone, of London, and
Dr. Steinheil, of Germany, proposed plans of the electro-magnetic
telegraph, but these differ as much from yours as the nature of the
common principle would well permit; and, unless some essential
improvements have lately been made in these European plans, _I should
'prefer the one invented by yourself_.
With my best wishes for your success I remain, with much esteem
Yours truly
JOSEPH HENRY.
I consider this one of the most important bits of contemporary evidence
that has come down to us. Professor Henry, perfectly conversant with, all
the minutiae of science and invention, practically gives to Morse all the
credit which the inventor himself at any time claimed. He dismisses the
claims of those who merely suggested a telegraph, or even made
unsuccessful attempts to reduce one to practice, unsuccessful because the
time was not yet ripe; and he awards Morse scientific as well as popular
reputation. Furthermore Professor Henry, with the clear vision of a
trained mind, points out that advances in discovery and invention are
necessarily slow and dependent upon the labors of many in the same field.
His cordial endorsement of the invention, in this letter and later, so
pleased and encouraged Morse that he refers to it several times in his
correspondence. To Mr. Smith, on July 16, 1842, he writes:--
"Professor Henry visited me a day or two ago; he knew the principles of
the Telegraph, but had never before seen it. He told a gentleman, who
mentioned it again to me, that without exception it was the most
beautiful and ingenious instrument he had ever seen. He says mine is the
only truly practicable plan. He has been experimenting and making
discoveries on celestial electricity, and he says that Wheatstone's and
Steinheil's telegraphs must be so influenced in a highly electrical state
of the atmosphere as at times to be useless, they using the deflection of
the needle, while mine, from the use of the magnet, is not subject to
this disturbing influence. I believe, if the truth were known, some such
cause is operating to prevent our hearing more of these telegraphs."
In this same letter he tells of the application of a certain Mr. John P.
Manrow for permission to form a company, but, as nothing came of it, it
will not be necessary to particularize. Mr. Manrow, however, was a
successful contractor on the New York and Erie Railroad, and it was a
most encouraging sign to have practical business men begin to take notice
of the invention.
So cheered was the ever-hopeful inventor by the praise of Professor
Henry, that he redoubled his efforts to get the matter properly before
Congress; and in this he worked alone, for, in the letter to Smith just
quoted from, he says: "I have not heard a word from Mr. Coffin at
Washington since I saw you. I presume he has abandoned the idea of doing
anything on the terms we proposed, and so has given it up. Well, so be
it; I am content."
Taking advantage of the fact that he was personally acquainted with many
members of Congress, he wrote to several of them on the subject. In some
of the letters he treats exhaustively of the history and scientific
principles of his telegraph, but I have selected the following, addressed
to the Honorable W.W. Boardman, as containing the most essential facts in
the most concise form:--
August 10, 1842.
My Dear Sir,--I enclose you a copy of the "Tribune" in which you will see
a notice of my Telegraph. I have showed its operation to a few friends
occasionally within a few weeks, among others to Professor Henry, of
Princeton (a copy of whose letter to me on this subject I sent you some
time since). He had never seen it in operation, but had only learned from
description the principle on which it is founded. He is not of an
enthusiastic temperament, but exceedingly cautious in giving an opinion
on scientific inventions, yet in this case he expressed himself in the
warmest terms, and told my friend Dr. Chilton (who informed me of it)
that he had just been witnessing "the operation of the most beautiful and
ingenious instrument he had ever seen."
Indeed, since I last wrote you, I have been wholly occupied in perfecting
its details and making myself familiar with the whole system. There is
not a shadow of a doubt as to its performing all that I have promised in
regard to it, and, indeed, all that has been conceived of it. Few can
understand the obstacles arising from want of pecuniary means that I have
had to encounter the past winter. To avoid debt (which I will never
incur) I have been compelled to make with my own hands a great part of my
machinery, but at an expense of time of very serious consideration to me.
I have executed in six months what a good machinist, if I had the means
to employ him, would have performed in as many weeks, and performed much
better.
I had hoped to be able to show my perfected instrument in Washington long
before this, and was (until this morning) contemplating its
transportation thither next week. The news, just arrived, of the proposed
adjournment of Congress has stopped my preparations, and interposes, I
fear, another year of anxious suspense.
Now, my dear sir, as your time is precious, I will state in few words
what I desire. The Government will eventually, without doubt, become
possessed of this invention, for it will be necessary from many
considerations; not merely as a direct advantage to the Government and
public at large if regulated by the Government, but as a preventive of
the evil effects which must result if it be a monopoly of a company. To
this latter mode of remunerating myself I shall be compelled to resort if
the Government should not eventually act upon it.
You were so good as to call the attention of the House to the subject by
a resolution of inquiry early in the session. I wrote you some time after
requesting a stay of action on the part of the committee, in the hope
that, long before this, I could show them the Telegraph in Washington;
but, just as I am ready, I find that Congress will adjourn before I can
reach Washington and put the instrument in order for their inspection.
Will it be possible, before Congress rises, to appropriate a small sum,
say $3500, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, to put
my Telegraph in operation for the inspection of Congress the next
session? If Congress will grant this sum, I will engage to have a
complete Telegraph on my Electro-Magnetic plan between the President's
house, or one of the Departments, and the Capitol and the Navy Yard, so
that instantaneous communication can be held between these three points
at pleasure, at any time of day or night, at any season, in clear or
rainy weather, and ready for their examination during the next session of
Congress, so that the whole subject may be fairly understood.
I believe that, did the great majority of Congress but consider seriously
the results of this invention of the Electric Telegraph on all the
interests of society; did they suffer themselves to dwell but for a
moment on the vast consequences of the instantaneous communication of
intelligence from one part to the other of the land in a commercial point
of view, and as facilitating the defenses of the country, which my
invention renders certain; they would not hesitate to pass all the acts
necessary to secure its control to the Government. I ask not this until
they have thoroughly examined its merits, but will they not assist me in
placing the matter fairly before them? Surely so small a sum to the
Government for so great an object cannot reasonably be denied.
I hardly know in what form this request of mine should be made. Should it
be by petition to Congress, or will this letter handed in to the
committee be sufficient? If a petition is required, for form's sake, to
be referred to the committee to report, shall I ask the favor of you to
make such petition in proper form?
You know, my dear sir, just what I wish, and I know, from the kind and
friendly feeling you have shown toward my invention, I may count on your
aid. If, on your return, you stop a day or two in New York, I shall be
glad to show you the operation of the Telegraph as it is.
This modest request of the inventor was doomed, like so many of his
hopes, to be shattered, as we learn from the courteous reply of Mr.
Boardman, dated August 12:--
DEAR SIR,--Yours of the 10th is received. I had already seen the notice
of your Telegraph in the "Tribune," and was prepared for such a report.
This is not the time to commence any new project before Congress. We are,
I trust, within ten days of adjournment. There is no prospect of a tariff
at this session, and, as that matter appears settled, the sooner Congress
adjourns the better. The subject of your Telegraph was some months ago,
as you know, referred to the Committee on Commerce, and by that committee
it was referred to Mr. Ferris, one of the members of that committee, from
the city of New York, and who, by-the-way, is now at home in the city and
will be glad to see you on the subject. I cannot give you his address,
but you can easily find him.
The Treasury and the Government are both bankrupt, and that foolish Tyler
has vetoed the tariff bill; the House is in bad humor and nothing of the
kind you propose could be done. The only chance would be for the
Committee on Commerce to report such a plan, but there would be little or
no chance of getting such an appropriation through this session. I have
much faith in your plan, and hope you will continue to push it toward
Congress.
This was almost the last straw, and it is not strange that the
long-suffering inventor should have been on the point of giving up in
despair, nor that he should have given vent to his despondency in the
following letter to Smith:--
"While, so far as the invention itself is concerned, everything is
favorable, I find myself without sympathy or help from any who are
associated with me, whose interest, one would think, would impel them at
least to inquire if they could render some assistance. For two years past
I have devoted all my time and scanty means, living on a mere pittance,
denying myself all pleasures and even necessary food, that I might have a
sum to put my Telegraph into such a position before Congress as to insure
success to the common enterprise.
"I am, crushed for want of means, and means of so trivial a character,
too, that they who know how to ask (which I do not) could obtain in a few
hours. One more year has gone for want of these means. I have now
ascertained that, however unpromising were the times last session, if I
could but have gone to Washington, I could have got some aid to enable me
to insure success at the next session."
The other projects for telegraphs must have been abandoned, for he goes
on to say:--
"As it is, although everything is favorable, although I have no
competition and no opposition--on the contrary, although every member of
Congress, as far as I can learn, is favorable--yet I fear all will fail
because I am too poor to risk the trifling expense which my journey and
residence in Washington will occasion me. I will not run in debt if I
lose the whole matter. So, unless I have the means from some source, I
shall be compelled, however reluctantly, to leave it, and, if I get once
engaged in my proper profession again, the Telegraph and its proprietors
will urge me from it in vain.
"No one can tell the days and months of anxiety and labor I have had in
perfecting my telegraphic apparatus. For want of means I have been
compelled to make with my own hands (and to labor for weeks) a piece of
mechanism which could be made much better, and in a tenth part of the
time, by a good mechanician, thus wasting _time_--time which I cannot
recall and which seems double-winged to me.
"'Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.' It is true and I have known the
full meaning of it. Nothing but the consciousness that I have an
invention which is to mark an era in human civilization, and which is to
contribute to the happiness of millions, would have sustained me through
so many and such lengthened trials of patience in perfecting it."