MARCH 5, 1850—NOVEMBER 10, 1854
Precarious financial condition.—Regret at not being able to make loan.— False impression of great wealth.—Fears he may have to sell home.— F.O.J. Smith continues to give trouble.—Morse system extending throughout the world.—Death of Fenimore Cooper.—Subscriptions to charities, etc.—First use of word "Telegram."—Mysterious fire in Supreme Court clerk's room.—Letter of Commodore Perry.—Disinclination to antagonize Henry.—Temporary triumph of F.O.J. Smith.—Order gradually emerging.—Expenses of the law.—Triumph in Australia.—Gift to Yale College.—Supreme Court decision and extension of patent.—Social diversions in Washington.—Letters of George Wood and P.H. Watson on extension of patent.—Loyalty to Mr. Kendall; also to Alfred Vail.— Decides to publish "Defense."—Controversy with Bishop Spaulding.—Creed on Slavery.—Political views.—Defeated for Congress.
While I have anticipated in giving the results of the various lawsuits, it must be borne in mind that these dragged along for years, and that the final decision of the Supreme Court was not handed down until January 30, 1854. During all this time the inventor was kept in suspense as to the final outcome, and often the future looked very dark indeed, and he was hard pressed to provide for the present.
On March 5, 1850, he writes to a friend who had requested a loan of a few hundred dollars:—
"It truly pains me to be obliged to tell you of my inability to make you a loan, however small in amount or amply secured. In the present embarrassed state of my affairs, consequent upon these never-ending and vexatious suits, I know not how soon all my property may be taken from me. The newspapers, among their other innumerable falsehoods, circulate one in regard to my 'enormous wealth.' The object is obvious. It is to destroy any feeling of sympathy in the public mind from the gross robberies committed upon me. 'He is rich enough; he can afford to give something to the public from his extortionate monopoly,' etc., etc.
"Now no man likes to proclaim his poverty, for there is a sort of satisfaction to some minds in being esteemed rich, even if they are not. The evil of this is that from a rich man more is expected in the way of pecuniary favors (and justly too), and consequently applications of all kinds are daily, I might say for the last few months almost hourly, made to me, and the fabled wealth attributed to me, or to Croesus, would not suffice to satisfy the requests made."
And, after stating that, of the 11,607 miles of telegraph at that time in operation, only one company of 509 miles was then paying a dividend, he adds: "If this fails I have nothing. On this I solely depend, for I have now no profession, and at my age, with impaired eyesight, I cannot resume it.
"I have indeed a farm out of which a farmer might obtain his living, but to me it is a source of expense, and I have not actually, though you may think it strange, the means to make my family comfortable."
In a letter to Mr. Kendall of January 4, 1851, he enlarges on this subject:—
"I have been taking in sail for some time past to prepare for the storm which has so long continued and still threatens destruction, but with every economy my family must suffer for the want of many comforts which the low state of my means prevents me from procuring. I contrived to get through the last month without incurring debt, but I see no prospect now of being able to do so the present month…. I wish much to know, and, indeed, it is indispensably necessary I should be informed of the precise condition of things; for, if my property is but nominal in the stocks of the companies, and is to be soon rendered valueless from the operations of pirates, I desire to know it, that I may sell my home and seek another of less pretension, one of humbler character and suited to my change of circumstances. It will, indeed, be like cutting off a right hand to leave my country home, but, if I cannot retain it without incurring debt, it must go, and before debt is incurred and not after. I have made it a rule from my childhood to live always within my means, to have no debts; for if there is a terror which would unman me more than any other in this world, it is the sight of a man to whom I owed money, however inconsiderable in amount, without my being in a condition to pay him. On this point I am nervously sensitive, to a degree which some might think ridiculous. But so it is and I cannot help it….
"Please tell me how matters stand in relation to F.O.G. I wish nothing short of entire separation from that unprincipled man if it can possibly be accomplished….I can suffer his frauds upon myself with comparative forbearance, but my indignation boils when I am made, nolens volens, a particeps criminis in his frauds on others. I will not endure it if I must suffer the loss of all the property I hold in the world."
The beloved country place was not sacrificed, and a way out of all his difficulties was found, but his faith and Christian forbearance were severely tested before his path was smoothed. Among all his trials none was so hard to bear as the conduct of F.O.J. Smith, whose strange tergiversations were almost inconceivable. Like the old man of the sea, he could not be shaken off, much as Morse and his partners desired to part company with him forever. The propositions made by him were so absurd that they could not for a moment be seriously considered, and the reasonable terms submitted by Mr. Kendall were unconditionally rejected by him. It will be necessary to refer to him and his strange conduct from time to time, but to go into the matter in detail would consume too much valuable space. It seems only right, however, to emphasize the fact that his animosity and unscrupulous self-seeking constituted the greatest cross which Morse was called upon to bear, even to the end of his life, and that many of the aspersions which have been cast upon the inventor's fame and good name, before and after his death, can be traced to the fertile brain of this same F.O.J. Smith.
While the inventor was fighting for his rights in his own country, his invention, by the sheer force of its superiority, was gradually displacing all other systems abroad. Even in England it was superseding the Cooke and Wheatstone needle telegraph, and on the Continent it had been adopted by Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, Hanover, and Turkey. It is worthy of note that that broad-minded scientist, Professor Steinheil, of Bavaria, who had himself invented an ingenious plan of telegraph when he was made acquainted with the Morse system, at once acknowledged its superiority and urged its adoption by the Bavarian Government. In France, too, it was making its way, and Morse, in answer to a letter of inquiry as to terms, etc., by M. Brequet, thus characteristically avows his motives, after finishing the business part of the letter, which is dated April 21, 1851:—
"To be frank with you, my dear sir (and I feel that I can be frank with you), while I am not indifferent to the pecuniary rewards of my invention (which will be amply satisfactory if my own countrymen will but do me justice), yet as these were not the stimulus to my efforts in perfecting and establishing my invention, so they now hold but a subordinate position when I attempt to comprehend the full results of the Telegraph upon the welfare of my fellow men. I am more solicitous to see its benefits extended world-wide during my lifetime than to turn the stream of wealth, which it is generating to millions of persons, into my own pocket. A few drops from the sea, which may not be missed, will suffice for me."
In the early days of 1852 death took from him one of his dearest friends, and the following letter, written in February, 1852, to Rufus Griswold, Esq., expresses his sentiments:—
"I sincerely regret that circumstances over which I have no control prevent my participation in the services commemorative of the character, literary and moral, of my lamented friend the late James Fenimore Cooper, Esq.
"I can scarcely yet realize that he is no longer with us, for the announcement of his death came upon me most unexpectedly. The pleasure of years of close intimacy with Mr. Cooper was never for a moment clouded by the slightest coolness. We were in daily, I can truly say, almost hourly, intercourse in the year 1831 in Paris. I never met with a more sincere, warm-hearted, constant friend. No man came nearer to the ideal I had formed of a truly high-minded man. If he was at times severe or caustic in his remarks on others, it was when excited by the exhibition of the little arts of little minds. His own frank, open, generous nature instinctively recoiled from contact with them. His liberalities, obedient to his generous sympathies, were scarcely bounded by prudence; he was always ready to help a friend, and many such there are who will learn of his departure with the most poignant sorrow. Although unable to be with you, I trust the Committee will not overlook me when they are collecting the funds for the monument to his genius."
It might have been said of Morse, too, that "his liberalities were scarcely bounded by prudence," for he gave away or lost through investments, urged upon him by men whom he regarded as friends but who were actuated by selfish motives, much more than he retained. He gave largely to the various religious organizations and charities in which he was interested, and it was characteristic of him that he could not wait until he had the actual cash in hand, but, even while his own future was uncertain, he made donations of large blocks of stocks, which, while of problematical value while the litigation was proceeding, eventually rose to much above par.
While he strove to keep his charities secret, they were bruited abroad, much to his sorrow, for, although at the time he was hard pressed to make both ends meet, they created a false impression of great wealth, and the importunities increased in volume.
It is always interesting to note the genesis of familiar words, and the following is written in pencil by Morse on a little slip of paper:—
"Telegram was first proposed by the Albany 'Evening Journal,' April 6, 1852, and has been universally adopted as a legitimate word into the English language."
On April 21, 1852, Mr. Kendall reports a mysterious occurrence:—
"Our case in the Supreme Court will very certainly be reached by the middle of next week. A most singular incident has occurred. The papers brought up from the court below, not entered in the records, were on a table in the clerk's room. There was no fire in the room. One of the clerks after dark lighted a lamp, looked up some papers, blew out the lamp and locked the door. Some time afterwards, wishing to obtain a book, he entered the room without a light and got the book in the dark. In. the morning our papers were burnt up, and nothing else.
"The papers burnt are all the drawings, all the books filed, Dana's lectures, Chester's pamphlet, your sketchbook (if the original was there), your tag of type, etc., etc. But we shall replace them as far as possible and go on with the case. Was your original sketch-book there? If so, has any copy been taken?"
The original sketch-book was in this collection of papers so mysteriously destroyed, but most fortunately a certified copy had been made, and this is now in the National Museum in Washington. Also, most fortunately, this effort on the part of some enemy to undermine the foundations of the case proved abortive, if, indeed, it was not a boomerang, for, as we have seen, the decision of the Supreme Court was in Morse's favor. In the year 1852, Commodore Perry sailed on his memorable trip to Japan, which, as is well known, opened that wonderful country to the outside world and started it on its upward path towards its present powerful position among the nations. The following letter from Commodore Perry, dated July 22, 1852, will, therefore, be found of unusual interest:—
I shall take with me, on my cruise to the East Indias, specimens of the most remarkable inventions of the age, among which stands preëminent your telegraph, and I write a line by Lieutenant Budd, United States Navy, not only to introduce him to your acquaintance, but to ask as a particular favour that you would give him some information and instruction as to the most practicable means of exhibiting the Telegraph, as well as a daguerreotype apparatus, which I am also authorized to purchase, also other articles connected with drawing.
I have directed Lieutenant Budd to visit Poughkeepsie in order to confer with you. He will have lists, furnished by Mr. Norton and a daguerreotype artist, which I shall not act upon until I learn the result of his consultation with you.
I hope you will pardon this intrusion upon your time. I feel almost assured, however, that you will take a lively interest in having your wonderful invention exhibited to a people so little known to the world, and there is no one better qualified than yourself to instruct Lieutenant Budd in the duties I have entrusted to his charge, and who will fully explain to you the object I have in view.
I leave this evening for Washington and should be much obliged if you would address me a line to that place.
Most truly and respectfully yours
M.C. PERRY.
It was about this time that the testimony of Professor Joseph Henry was being increasingly used by Morse's opponents to discredit him in the scientific world and to injure his cause in the courts. I shall, therefore, revert for a moment to the matter for the purpose of emphasizing Morse's reluctance to do or say anything against his erstwhile friend.
In a letter to H.J. Raymond, editor of the New York "Times," he requests space in that journal for a fair exposition of his side of the controversy in reply to an article attacking him. To this Mr. Raymond courteously replies on November 22, 1852: "The columns of the 'Times' are entirely at your service for the purpose you mention, or, indeed, for almost any other. The writer of the article you allude to was Dr. Bettner, of Philadelphia."
Morse answers on November 30:—
"I regret finding you absent; I wished to have had a few moments' conversation with you in relation to the allusion I made to Professor Henry. If possible I wish to avoid any course which might weaken the influence for good of such a man as Henry. I will forbear exposure to the last moment, and, in view of my duty as a Christian at least, I will give him an opportunity to explain to me in private. If he refuses, then I shall feel it my duty to show how unfairly he has conducted himself in allowing his testimony to be used to my detriment.
"I write in haste, and will merely add that, to consummate these views, I shall for the present delay the article I had requested you to insert in your columns, and allow the various misrepresentations to remain yet a little longer unexposed, at the same time thanking you cordially for your courteous accordance of my request."
A slight set-back was encountered by Morse and his associates at this time by the denial of an injunction against F.O.J. Smith, and, in a letter to Mr. Kendall of December 4, the long-suffering inventor exclaims:—
"F.O.J. crows at the top of his voice, and I learned that he and his man Friday, Foss, had a regular spree in consequence, and that the latter was noticed in Broadway drunk and boisterously huzzaing for F.O.J. and cursing me and my telegraph.
"I read in my Bible: 'The triumph of the wicked is short.' This may have a practical application, in this case at any rate. I have full confidence in that Power that, for wise purposes, allows wickedness temporarily to triumph that His own designs of bringing good out of evil may be the more apparent."
Another of Morse's fixed principles in life is referred to in a letter to Judge E. Fitch Smith of February 4, 1858: "Yours of the 31st ulto. is this moment received. Your request has given me some trouble of spirit on this account, to wit: My father lost a large property, the earnings of his whole life of literary labor, by simply endorsing. My mother was ever after so affected by this fact that it was the constant theme of her disapprobation, and on her deathbed I gave her my promise, in accordance with her request, that I never would endorse a note. I have never done such a thing, and, of course, have never requested the endorsement of another. I cannot, therefore, in that mode accommodate you, but I can probably aid you as effectually in another way."
It will not be necessary to dwell at length on further happenings in the year 1853. Order was gradually emerging from chaos in the various lines of telegraph, which, under the wise guidance of Amos Kendall, were tending towards a consolidation into one great company. The decision of the Supreme Court had not yet been given, causing temporary embarrassment to the patentees by allowing the pirates to continue their depredations unchecked. F.O.J. Smith continued to give trouble. To quote from a letter of Morse's to Mr. Kendall of January 10, 1853: "The Good Book says that 'one sinner destroyeth much good,' and F.O.J. being (as will be admitted by all, perhaps, except himself) a sinner of that class bent upon destroying as much good as he can, I am desirous, even at much sacrifice (a desire, of course, inter nos) to get rid of controversy with him."
Further on in this letter, referring to another cause for anxiety, he says: "Law is expensive, and we must look it in the face and expect to pay roundly for it…. It is a delicate task to dispute a professional man's charges, and, though it may be an evil to find ourselves bled so freely by lawyers, it is, perhaps, the least of evils to submit to it as gracefully as we can."
But, while he could not escape the common lot of man in having to bear many and severe trials, there were compensatory blessings which he appreciated to the full. His home life was happy and, in the main, serene; his farm was a source of never-ending pleasure to him; he was honored at home and abroad by those whose opinion he most valued; and he was almost daily in receipt of the news of the extension of the "Morse system" throughout the world. Even from far-off Australia came the news of his triumph. A letter was sent to him, written from Melbourne on December 3, 1853, by a Mr. Samuel McGowan to a friend in New York, which contains the following gratifying intelligence:—
"Since the date of my last to you matters with me have undergone a material change. I have come off conqueror in my hard fought battle. The contract has been awarded to me in the faces of the representatives of Messrs. Wheatstone and Cooke, Brett and other telegraphic luminaries, much to their chagrin, as I afterwards ascertained; several of them, it appears, having been leagued together in order, as they stated, to thwart a speculating Yankee. However, matters were not so ordained, and I am as well satisfied. I hope they will all live to be the same."
In spite of his financial difficulties, caused by bad management of some of the lines in which he was interested, he could not resist the temptation to give liberally where his heart inclined him, and in a letter of January 9, 1854, to President Woolsey of Yale, he says:—
"Enclosed, therefore, you have my check for one thousand dollars, which please hand to the Treasurer of the College as my subscription towards the fund which is being raised for the benefit of my dearly loved Alma Mater.
"I wish I could make it a larger sum, and, without promising what I may do at some future time, yet I will say that the prosperity of Yale College is so near my heart that, should my affairs (now embarrassed by litigations in self-defence yet undecided) assume a more prosperous aspect, I have it in mind to add something more to the sum now sent."
The year 1854 was memorable in the history of the telegraph because of two important events—the decision of the Supreme Court in Morse's favor, already referred to, and the extension of his patent for another period of seven years. The first established for all time his legal right to be called the "Inventor of the Telegraph," and the second enabled him to reap some adequate reward for his years of privation, of struggle, and of heroic faith. It was for a long time doubtful whether his application for an extension of his patent would be granted, and much of his time in the early part of 1854 was consumed in putting in proper form all the data necessary to substantiate his claim, and in visiting Washington to urge the justice of an extension. From that city he wrote often to his wife in Poughkeepsie, and I shall quote from some of these letters.
"February 17. I am at the National Hotel, which is now quite crowded, but I have an endurable room with furniture hardly endurable, for it is hard to find, in this hotel at least, a table or a bureau that can stand on its four proper legs, rocking and tetering like a gold-digger's washing-pan, unless the lame leg is propped up with an old shoe, or a stray newspaper fifty times folded, or a magazine of due thickness (I am using 'Harper's Magazine' at this moment, which is somewhat a desecration, as it is too good to be trampled under foot, even the foot of a table), or a coal cinder, or a towel. Well, it is but for a moment and so let it pass.
"Where do you think I was last evening? Read the invitation on the enclosed card, which, although forbidden to be transferable, may without breach of honor be transferred to my other and better half. I felt no inclination to go, but, as no refusal would be accepted, I put on my best and at nine o'clock, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Shaffner (the latter of whom, by the by, is quite a pleasant and pretty woman, with a boy one year older than Arthur and about as mischievous) and Mr. and Mrs. John Kendall.
"I went to the ladies' parlor and was presented to the ladies, six in number, who did the honors (if that is the expression) of the evening. There was a great crowd, I think not less than three hundred people, and from all parts of the country—Senators and their wives, members of the House and their wives and daughters, and there was a great number of fine looking men and women. I was constantly introduced to a great many, who uniformly showered their compliments on your modest husband."
The card of invitation has been lost, but it was, perhaps, to a President's Reception, and the "great" crowd of three hundred would not tax the energies of the President's aides at the present day.
The next letter is written in a more serious vein:—
"February 26. I am very busily engaged in the preparation of my papers for an extension of my patents. This object is of vital importance to me; it is, in fact, the moment to reap the harvest of so many years of labor, and expense, and toil, and neglected would lose me the fruits of all…. F.O.J. Smith is here, the same ugly, fiendlike, dog-in-the-manger being he has ever been, the 'thorn in the flesh' which I pray to be able to support by the sufficient grace promised. It is difficult to know how to feel and act towards such a man, so unprincipled, so vengeful, so bent on injury, yet the command to bless those that curse, to pray for those who despitefully use us and persecute us, to love our enemies, to forgive our enemies, is in full force, and I feel more anxious to comply with this injunction of our blessed Saviour than to have the thorn removed, however strongly this latter must be desired."
"March 4. You have little idea of the trouble and expense to which I am put in this 'extension' matter…. I shall have to pay hundreds of dollars more before I get through here, besides being harassed in all sorts of ways from now till the 20th of June next. If I get my extension then I may expect some respite, or, at least, opposition in another shape. I hope eventually to derive some benefit from the late decision, but the reckless and desperate character of my opponents may defeat all the good I expect from it. Such is the reward I have purchased for myself by my invention….
"Mr. Wood is here also. He is the same firm, consistent and indefatigable friend as ever. I know not what I should do in the present crisis without him. I could not possibly put my accounts into proper shape without his aid, and he exerts himself for me as strongly as if I were his brother…. Mr. Kendall has been ill almost all the time that I have been here, which has caused me much delay and consumption of time."
It was not until the latter part of June that the extension of his patents was granted, and his good friend, alluded to in the preceding letter, Mr. George Wood, tells, in a letter of June 21st, something of the narrow escape it had:—
"Your Patent Extension is another instance of God's wonder working Providence towards you as expressed in the history of this great discovery. Of that history, of all the various shapes and incidents you may never know, not having been on the spot to watch all its moments of peril, and the way in which, like many a good Christian, it was 'scarcely saved.'
"In this you must see God's hand in giving you a man of remarkable skill, energy, talent, and power as your agent. I refer to P.H. Watson, to whom mainly and mostly, I think, this extension is due. God works by means, and, though he designed to do this for you, he selected the proper person and gave him the skill, perseverance and power to accomplish this result. I hope now you have got it you will make it do for you all it can accomplish pecuniarily. But as for the money, I don't think so much as I do the effect of this upon your reputation. This is the apex of the pyramid."
And Mr. Watson, in a letter of June 20, says: "We had many difficulties to contend with, even to-day, for at one time the Commissioner intended to withhold his decision for reasons which I shall explain at length when we meet. It seemed to give the Commissioner much pleasure to think that, in extending the patent, he was doing an act of justice to you as a great public benefactor, and a somewhat unfortunate man of genius. Dr. Gale and myself had to assure him that the extension would legally inure to your benefit, and not to that of your agents and associates before he could reconcile it with his duty to the public to grant the extension."
Morse himself, in a letter to Mr. Kendall, also of June 20, thus characteristically expresses himself:—
"A memorable day. I never had my anxieties so tried as in this case of extension, and after weeks of suspense, this suspense was prolonged to the last moment of endurance. I have just returned with the intelligence from the telegraph office from Mr. Watson—'Patent extended. All right.'
"Well, what is now to be done? I am for taking time by the forelock and placing ourselves above the contingencies of the next expiration of the patent. While keeping our vantage ground with the pirates I wish to meet them in a spirit of compromise and of magnanimity. I hope we may now be able to consolidate on advantageous terms."
It appears that at this time he was advised by many of his friends, including Dr. Gale, to sever his business connection with Mr. Kendall, both on account of the increasing feebleness of that gentleman, and because, while admittedly the soul of honor, Mr. Kendall had kept their joint accounts in a very careless and slipshod manner, thereby causing considerable financial loss to the inventor. But, true to his friends, as he always was, he replies to Dr. Gale on June 30:—
"Let me thank you specially personally for your solicitude for my interests. This I may say without disparagement to Mr. Kendall, that, were the contract with an agent to be made anew, I might desire to have a younger and more healthy man, and better acquainted with regular book-keeping, but I could not desire a more upright and more honorable man. If he has committed errors, (as who has not?) they have been of the head and not of the heart. I have had many years experience of his conduct, think I have seen him under strong temptation to do injustice with prospects of personal benefit, and with little chance of detection, and yet firmly resisting."
Among the calumnies which were spread broadcast, both during the life of the inventor and after his death, even down to the present day, was the accusation of great ingratitude towards those who had helped him in his early struggles, and especially towards Alfred Vail. The more the true history of his connection with his associates is studied, the more baseless do these accusations appear, and in this connection the following extracts from letters to Alfred Vail and to his brother George are most illuminating. The first letter is dated July 15, 1854:—
"The legal title to my Patent for the American Electro-Magnetic Telegraph of June 20th, 1840, is, by the late extension of said patent for seven years from the said date, now vested in me alone; but I have intended that the pecuniary interest which was guaranteed to you in my invention as it existed in 1838, and in my patent of 1840, should still inure to your benefit (yet in a different shape) under the second patent and the late extension of the first.
"For the simplification of my business transactions I prefer to let the Articles of Agreement, which expired on the 20th June, 1854, remain cancelled and not to renew them, retaining in my sole possession the legal title; but I hereby guarantee to you two sixteenths of such sums as may be paid over to me in the sale of patent rights, after the proportionate deductions of such necessary expenses as may be required in the business of the agency for conducting the sales of said patent rights, subject also to the terms of your agreement with Mr. Kendall.
"Mr. Kendall informs me that no assignment of an interest in my second patent (the patent of 1846) was ever made to you. This was news to me. I presumed it was done and that the assignment was duly recorded at the Patent Office. The examination of the records in the progress of obtaining my extension has, doubtless, led to the discovery of the omission."
After going over much the same ground in the letter to George Vail, also of July 15th, he gives as one of the reasons why the new arrangement is better: "The annoyances of Smith are at an end, so far as the necessity of consulting him is concerned."
And then he adds:—
"I presume it can be no matter of regret with Alfred that, by the position he now takes, strengthening our defensive position against the annoyances of Smith, he can receive more pecuniarily than he could before. Please consult with Mr. Kendall on the form of any agreement by which you and Alfred may be properly secured in the pecuniary benefits which you would have were he to stand in the same legal relation to the patent that he did before the expiration of its original term, so as to give me the position in regard to Smith that I must take in self-defense, and I shall cheerfully accede to it.
"Poor Alfred, I regret to know, torments himself needlessly. I had hoped that I was sufficiently known to him to have his confidence. I have never had other than kind feelings towards him, and, while planning for his benefit and guarding his interests at great and almost ruinous expense to myself, I have had to contend with difficulties which his imprudence, arising from morbid suspicions, has often created. My wish has ever been to act towards him not merely justly but generously."
In a letter to Mr. Kendall of July 17, 1854, Morse declares his intention of publishing that "Defense" which he had held in reserve for several years, hoping that the necessity for its publication might be avoided by a personal understanding with Professor Henry, which, however, that gentleman refused:—
"You will perceive what injury I have suffered from the machinations of the sordid pirates against whom I have had to contend, and it will also be noticed how history has been falsified in order to detract from me, and how the conduct of Henry, on his deposition, has tended to strengthen the ready prejudice of the English against the American claim to priority. An increasing necessity, on this account, arises for my 'Defense,' and so soon as I can get it into proper shape by revision, I intend to publish it.
"This I consider a duty I owe the country more than myself, for, so far as I am personally concerned, I am conscious of a position that History will give me when the facts now suppressed by interested pirates and their abettors shall be known, which the verdict of posterity, no less than that of the judicial tribunals already given, is sure to award."
While involved in apparently endless litigation which necessitated much correspondence, and while the compilation and revision of his "Defense" must have consumed not only days but weeks and months, he yet found time to write a prodigious number of letters and newspaper articles on other subjects, especially on those relating to religion and politics. Although more tolerant as he grew older, he was still bitterly opposed to the methods of the Roman Catholic Church, and to the Jesuits in particular. He, in common with many other prominent men of his day, was fearful lest the Church of Rome, through her emissaries the Jesuits, should gain political ascendancy in this country and overthrow the liberty of the people. He took part in a long and heated newspaper controversy with Bishop Spaulding of Kentucky concerning the authenticity of a saying attributed to Lafayette—"If ever the liberty of the United States is destroyed it will be by Romish priests."
It was claimed by the Roman Catholics that this statement of Lafayette's was ingeniously extracted from a sentence in a letter of his to a friend in which he assures this friend that such a fear is groundless. Morse followed the matter up with the patience and keenness of a detective, and proved that no such letter had ever been written by Lafayette, that it was a clumsy forgery, but that he really had made use of the sentiment quoted above, not only to Morse himself, but to others of the greatest credibility who were still living.
In the field of politics he came near playing a more active part than that of a mere looker-on and humble voter, for in the fall of 1854 he was nominated for Congress on the Democratic ticket. It would be difficult and, perhaps, invidious to attempt to state exactly his political faith in those heated years which preceded the Civil War. In the light of future events he and his brothers and many other prominent men of the day were on the wrong side. He deprecated the war and did his best to prevent it.
"Sectional division" was abhorrent to him, but on the question of slavery his sympathies were rather with the South, for I find among his papers the following:—
"My creed on the subject of slavery is short. Slavery per se is not sin. It is a social condition ordained from the beginning of the world for the wisest purposes, benevolent and disciplinary, by Divine Wisdom. The mere holding of slaves, therefore, is a condition having per se nothing of moral character in it, any more than the being a parent, or employer, or ruler, but is moral or unmoral as the duties of the relation of master, parent, employer or ruler are rightly used or abused. The subject in a national view belongs not, therefore, to the department of Morals, and is transferred to that of Politics to be politically regulated.
"The accidents of the relation of master and slave, like the accidents of other social relations, are to be praised or condemned as such individually and in accordance with the circumstances of every case, and, whether adjudged good or bad, do not affect the character of the relation itself."
On the subject of foreign immigration he was most outspoken, and replying to an enquiry of one of his political friends concerning his attitude towards the so-called "Know Nothings," he says:—
"So far as I can gather from the public papers, the object of this society would seem to be to resist the aggression of foreign influence and its insidious and dangerous assaults upon all that Americans hold dear, politically and religiously. It appears to be to prevent injury to the Republic from the ill-timed and, I may say, unbecoming tamperings with the laws, and habits, and deeply sacred sentiments of Americans by those whose position, alike dictated by modesty and safety, to them as well as to us, is that of minors in training for American, not European, liberty.
"I have not, at this late day, to make up an opinion on this subject. My sentiments 'On the dangers to the free institutions of the United States from foreign immigration' are the same now that I have ever entertained, and these same have been promulgated from Maine to Louisiana for more than twenty years.
"This subject involves questions which, in my estimation, make all others insignificant in the comparison, for they affect all others. To the disturbing influence of foreign action in our midst upon the political and religious questions of the day may be attributed in a great degree the present disorganization in all parts of the land.
"So far as the Society you speak of is acting against this great evil it, of course, meets with my hearty concurrence. I am content to stand on the platform, in this regard, occupied by Washington in his warnings against foreign influence, by Lafayette, in his personal conversation and instructions to me, and by Jefferson in his condemnation of the encouragement given, even in his day, to foreign immigration. If this Society has ulterior objects of which I know nothing, of these I can be expected to speak only when I know something."
As his opinions on important matters, political and religious, appear in the course of his correspondence, I shall make note of them. It is more than probable that, as he differed radically from his father and the other Federalists on the question of men and measures during the War of 1812, so I should have taken other ground than his had I been born and old enough to have opinions in the stirring ante-bellum days of the fifties. And yet, as hindsight makes our vision clearer than foresight, it is impossible to say definitely what our opinions would have been under other conditions, and there can, at any rate, be no question of the absolute sincerity of the man who, from his youth up, had placed the welfare of his beloved country above every other consideration except his duty to his God.
It would take a keen student of the political history of this country to determine how far the opinions and activities of those who were in opposition on questions of such prime importance as slavery, secession, and unrestricted immigration, served as a wholesome check on the radical views of those who finally gained the ascendancy. The aftermath of two of these questions is still with us, for the negro question is by no means a problem solved, and the subject of proper restrictions on foreign immigration is just now occupying the attention of our Solons.
That Morse should make enemies on account of the outspoken stand he took on all these questions was to be expected, but I shall not attempt to sit in judgment, but shall simply give his views as they appear in his correspondence. At any rate he was not called upon to state and maintain his opinions in the halls of Congress, for, in a letter of November 10, 1854, to a friend, he says at the end: "I came near being in Congress at the late election, but had not quite votes enough, which is the usual cause of failure on such occasions."