Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals / In Two Volumes, Volume II

by Samuel Finley Breese Morse

Richly as he deserved that his sun should set in an unclouded sky, this was not to be. Sorrows of a most intimate nature crowded upon him. He was also made the victim of a conscienceless swindler who fleeced him of many thousand dollars, and, to crown all, his old and indefatigable enemy, F.O.J. Smith, administered a cowardly thrust in the back when his weakening powers prevented him from defending himself with his oldtime vigor. From a very long letter written by Smith on December 11, 1871, to Henry J. Rogers in Washington, I shall quote only the first sentences:—

Dear Sir,—In my absence your letter of the 11th ult. was received here, with the printed circular of the National Monumental Society, in reply to which I feel constrained to say if that highly laudable association resolves "to erect at the national capital of the United States a memorial monument" to symbolize in statuary of colossal proportions the "history of the electromagnetic telegraph," before that history has been authentically written, it is my conviction: that the statue most worthy to stand upon the pedestal of such monument would be that of the man of true science, who explored the laws of nature ahead of all other men, and was "the first to wrest electron-magnetism from Nature's embrace and make it a missionary to, the cause of human progress," and that man is Professor Joseph Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution.

Professor Morse and his early coadjutors would more appropriately occupy, in groups of high relief, the sides of that pedestal, symbolizing, by their established merits and cooperative works, the grandeur of the researches and resulting discoveries of their leader and chief, who was the first to announce and to demonstrate to a despairing world, by actual mechanical agencies, the practicability of; an electro-magnetic telegraph through any distances.

Much more of the same flatulent bombast follows which it will not be necessary to introduce here. While Morse himself naturally felt some delicacy in noticing such an attack as this, he found a willing, and efficient champion in his old friend (and the friend of Henry as well) Professor Leonard D. Gale, who writes to him on January 22, 1872:—

"I have lately seen a mean, unfair, and villainous letter of F.O.J. Smith, addressed to H.J. Rogers (officer of the Morse Monumental Association), alleging that the place on the monument designed to be occupied by the statue of Morse, should be awarded to Henry; that Morse was not a scientific man, etc., etc. It was written in his own peculiar style. The allegations were so outrageous that I felt it my duty to reply to it without delay. As Smith's letter was to Rogers, as an officer of the Association, I sent my reply to the same person. I enclose a copy herewith.

"Mrs. Gale suggests an additional figure to the group on the monument—a serpent with the face of F.O.J.S., biting the heel of Morse, but with the fangs extracted."

Professor Gale's letter to Henry J. Rogers is worthy of being quoted in full:—

"I have just read a letter from F.O.J. Smith, dated December 11, 1871, addressed to you, and designed to throw discredit on Morse's invention of the Telegraph, the burden of which seems to be rebuke to the designer of the monument, for elevating Morse to the apex of the monument and claiming for Professor J. Henry, of the Smithsonian Institution, that high distinction.

"The first question of an impartial inquirer is: 'To which of these gentlemen is the honor due?' To ascertain this we will ask a second question: 'Was the subject of the invention a machine, or was it a new fact in science?' The answer is: 'It was a machine.' The first was Morse's, the latter was Henry's. Henry stated that electric currents might be sent through long distances applicable to telegraphic purposes. Morse took the facts as they then existed, invented a machine, harnessed the steed therein, and set the creature to work. There is honor due to Henry for his great discovery of the scientific principle; there is honor also due to Morse for his invention of the ingenious machine which accomplishes the work.

"Men of science regard the discovery of a new fact in science as a higher attainment than the application of it to useful purposes, while the world at large regards the application of the principle or fact in science to the useful arts as of paramount importance. All honor to the discoverer of a new fact in science; equal honor to him who utilizes that fact for the benefit of mankind.