On motion of John Spear Nicholas, seconded by the Hon. John P. Kennedy, the following resolution was then considered:
Resolved, "That the President be authorized to afford Mr. Morse such facilities as may be requisite to give his invention a proper trial upon the Washington road, provided in his opinion and in that of the engineer it can be done without injury to the road and without embarrassment to the operations of the company, and provided Mr. Morse will concede to the company the use of the telegraph upon the road without expense, and reserving to the company the right of discontinuing the use if, upon experiment, it should prove in any manner injurious."
"Whatever," said Mr. McLane, "may be our individual opinions as to the feasibility of Mr. Morse's invention, it seems to me that it is our duty to concede to him the privilege he asks, and to lend him all the aid in our power, especially as the resolution carefully protects the company against all present or future injury to its works, and secures us the right of requiring its removal at any time."
[In view of the fact that no railroad can now be run safely without the aid of the telegraph, the cautious care with which the right to remove it if it should become a nuisance was reserved, strikes one at this day as nearly ludicrous.]
A short pause ensued, and the assent of the company was about to be assumed, when one of the older directors, famed for the vigilance with which he watched even the most trivial measure, begged to be heard.
He admitted that the rights and interests of the work were all carefully guarded by the terms of the resolution, and that the company was not called upon to lay out any of its means for the promotion of the scheme. But notwithstanding all this, he did not feel, as a conscientious man, that he could, without further examination, give his vote for the resolution. He knew that this idea of Mr. Morse, however plausible it might appear to theorists and dreamers, and so-called men of science, was regarded by all practical people as destined, like many other similar projects, to certain failure, and must consequently result in loss and possibly ruin to Mr. Morse. For one, he felt conscientiously scrupulous in giving a vote which would aid or tempt a visionary enthusiast to ruin himself.
Fortunately, the views of this cautious, practical man did not prevail. A few words from the mover of the resolution, Mr. Nicholas, who still lives to behold the wonders he helped to create, and from Mr. Kennedy, without whose aid the appropriation would not have passed the House of Representatives, relieved the other directors from all fear of contributing to Mr. Morse's ruin, and the resolution was adopted. Of the President and thirty directors who took part in this transaction, only three, Samuel W. Smith, John Spear Nicholas, and the writer, survive. Under it Morse at once entered upon that test of his invention whose fruits are now enjoyed by the people of all the continents.
It was not, however, until the spring of 1844 that he had his line and its appointments in such a condition as to allow the transmission of messages between the two cities, and it was in May of that year that the incident occurred which has chiefly led to the writing of this paper.
MR. LATROBE'S RECOLLECTIONS.
MY DEAR MR. POE: Agreeably to my promise, this morning I put on paper my recollection of the introduction of the magnetic telegraph between Baltimore and Washington. I was counsel of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co. at the time, and calling on Mr. Louis McLane, the President, on some professional matter, was asked in the course of conversation whether I knew anything about an electric telegraph which the inventor, who had obtained an appropriation from Congress, wanted to lay down on the Washington branch of the road. He said he expected Mr. Morse, the inventor, to call on him, when he would introduce me to him, and would be glad if I took an opportunity to go over the subject with him and afterward let him, Mr. McLane, know what I thought about it. While we were yet speaking, Mr. Morse made his appearance, and when Mr. McLane introduced me he referred to the fact that, as I had been educated at West Point, I might the more readily understand the scientific bearings of Mr. Morse's invention. The President's office being no place for prolonged conversation, it was agreed that Mr. Morse should take tea at my dwelling, when we would go over the whole subject. We met accordingly, and it was late in the night before we parted. Mr. Morse went over the history of his invention from the beginning with an interest and enthusiasm that had survived the wearying toil of an application to Congress, and with the aid of diagrams drawn on the instant made me master of the matter, and wrote for me the telegraphic alphabet which is still in use over the world. Not a small part of what Mr. Morse said on this occasion had reference to the future of his invention, its influence upon communities and individuals, and I remember regarding as the wild speculations of an active imagination what he prophesied in this connection, and which I have lived to see even more than realized. Nor was his conversation confined to his invention. A distinguished artist, an educated gentleman, an observant traveler, it was delightful to hear him talk, and at this late day I recall few more pleasant evenings than the only one I passed in his company.