placed. You may
judge a little of this when I tell you that my absence has deprived me of
my usual source of income by my profession; that the state of the
University is such that I shall probably leave, and shall have to move
into new quarters; that my family is dispersed, requiring my care and
anxieties under every disadvantage; that my engagements were such with
Russia that every moment of my time was necessary to complete my
arrangements to fulfill the contract in season; and, instead of finding
my associates ready to sustain me with counsel and means, I find them all
dispersed, leaving me without either the opportunity to consult or a cent
of means, and consequently bringing everything in relation to the
Telegraph to a dead stand.

"In the midst of this I am called on by the state of public opinion to
defend myself against the outrageous attempt of Dr. Jackson to pirate
from me my invention. The words would be harsh that are properly
applicable to this man's conduct....

"You see, therefore, in what a condition I found myself when I returned.
I was delayed several days beyond the computed time of my arrival by the
long passage of the steamer. Instead of finding any funds by a vote of
Congress, or by a company, and my associates ready to back me, I find not
a cent for the purpose, and my associates scattered to the four winds.

"You can easily conceive that I gave up all as it regarded Russia, and
considered the whole enterprise as seriously injured if not completely
destroyed. In this state of things I was hourly dreading to hear from the
Russian Minister, and devising how I should save myself and the
enterprise without implicating my associates in a charge of neglect; and
as it has most fortunately happened for us all, the 10th of May has
passed without the receipt of the promised advices, and I took advantage
of this, and by the Liverpool steamer of the 18th wrote to the Baron
Meyendorff, and to M. Amyot, that it was impossible to fulfill the
engagement this season, since I had not received the promised advices in
time to prepare."

This was, of course, before he had heard of the Czar's refusal to sign
the contract, and he goes on to make plans for carrying out the Russian
enterprise the next year, and concludes by saying:--

"Do think of this matter and see if means cannot be raised to keep ahead
with the American Telegraph. I sometimes am astonished when I reflect how
I have been able to take the stand wi