before the convention, but the members were so incredulous that there was an adjournment to await the report of a committee that was sent to Wash- ington to get reliable information on the subject.
Morse offered his telegraph to the U. S. govern- ment for $100,000, but, while $8,000 was voted for maintenance of the initial line, any further expenditure in that direction was declined. The patent then passed into private hands, and the Morse system became the property of a joint-stock company called the Magnetic telegraph company. Step by step, sometimes with rapid strides, but persistently, the telegraph spread over the United States, although not without accompanying difficul- ties. Morse's patents were violated, his honor dis- puted, and even his integrity was assailed, and rival companies devoured for a time all the profits of the business, but after a series of vexatious law- suits his rights were affirmed by the U. S. supreme court. In 1846 he was granted an extension of his patent, and ultimately the Morse system was adopt- ed in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden. Russia, and Australia. The following statement, made in 1809 by the Western Union telegraph company, the largest corporation of its kind in the world, is still true : " Nearly all the machinery employed by the company belongs to the Morse system. This telegraph is now used almost exclusively every- where, and the time will probably never come when it will cease to be the leading system of the world. Of more than a hundred devices that have been made to supersede it, not one has succeeded in accomplishing its purpose, and it is used at the present time upon more than ninety-five per cent of all the telegraph-lines in existence." The estab- lishment of the submarine telegraph is likewise due to Morse. In October, 1842, he made experi- ments with a cable between Castle Oarden and Gov- ernor's island. The results were sufficient to show the practicability of such an under- taking. Later he held the office of electrician to the New York, New- foundland, and London telegraph company, organ- ized for the pur- pose of laying a cable across the Atlantic ocean. While in Paris during March, 1889, Morse met Daguerre, and be- came acquainted
with his process
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of reproducing pictures by the action of sunlight on silver salts. He had previously experimented in the same lines while residing in New Haven, but without success. In June of the same yeai", after the French government had purchased the method from Daguerre, he communicated the details to Morse, who succeeded in acquii'ing the process, and was associated with John W. Draper (q. v.) in simi- lar experiments. For some time afterward, until the telegraph absorbed his attention, he was en- gaged in experimenting toward the perfecting of the daguerreotype, and he shares with Prof. Draper the honor of being the first to make photographs of living persons. Morse also patented a machine for cutting marble in 1823, by which he hoped to be able to produce perfect copies of any model. In 1847 he purchased property on the east bank of the Hudson, near Poughkeepsie, which he called "Locust Grove," where, after his marriage in 1848 to Sarah E. Griswold, he dispensed a generous hos- pitality, entertaining eminent artists and other notable persons. Soon afterward he bought a city residence on Twenty-second street, where he spent the winters, and on whose front since his death a marble tablet has been inserted, bearing the in- scription, " In this house S. F. B. Morse lived for many years and died."
He had many honors. Yale gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1846, and in 1842 the American institute gave him its gold medal for his experi- ments. In 1830 he was elected a corresponding member of the Historical institute of France, in 1837 a member of the Royal academy of fine arts in Belgium, in 1841 corresponding member of the National institution for the promotion of science in Washington, in 1845 corresponding member of the Archteological society of Belgium, in 1848 a member of the American philosophical society, and in 1849 a fellow of the American academy of arts and sciences. The sultan of Turkey present- ed him in 1848 with the decoration of Nishan Iftichar, or order of glory, set in diamonds. A golden snuff-box. containing the Prussian golden Hjedal for scientific merit, was sent him in 1851 ; the great gold medal of arts and sciences was awarded him by Wiu'tembei'g in 1852, and in 1855 the emperor of Austria sent him the great gold medal of science and art. France made him a chevalier of the Legion of honor in 1850. Denmark conferred on him the cross of the order of the Dannebrog in 1850, Spain gave him the honor of knighthood and made him commander of the royal order of Isabella the Catholic in 1859, Por- tugal made him a knight of the tower and sword in 1860, and Italy conferred on him the insignia of chevalier of the royal order of Saints Lazaro Mauritio in 1804. In 1856 the telegraph com- panies of Great Britain gave him a banquet in London. At the instance of Napoleon III., em- peror of the French, representatives of France, Austria, Sweden, Russia, Sardinia, the Nether- lands, Turkey, Holland, the Papal States, and Tuscany, met in Paris during August, 1858, to decide upon a collective testimonial to Morse, and the result of their deliberations was a vote of 400,- 000 francs. During the same year the American colony of France entertained him at a dinner given in Paris, over which John S. Preston presided. On the occasion of his later visits to Europe he was re- ceived with great distinction. As he was return- ing from abroad in 1868 he received an invitation from his fellow-citizens, who united in saying: " Many of your fellow countrymen and numerous personal friends desire to give a definite expression of the fact that this country is in full accord with European nations in acknowledging your title to the position of the father of the modern telegraph, and at the same time in a fitting manner to welcome you to your home." The day selected was 30 Dec, 1868. and Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the U. S. supreme court, presided at the banquet in New York. On 10 June, 1871, he was further honored by the erection of a bronze statue of himself in Central park. Voluntary contributions had lieen gathered for two years from those who in various ways were connected with the electric telegraph. The statue is of heroic size, modelled by Byron M. Pickett, and represents Morse as holding the first message that was sent over the wires. In the evening of the same day a reception was held in the Academy of music, at which many eminent men of the nation were present. At the hour of
