h more
briefly and dispassionately. On the other hand, the provocation was great
and he was egged on by others, partly from motives of self-interest and
partly from a sincere desire on the part of his friends that he should
justify himself.

In a long letter to Vail, of January 15, 1851, in which he details the
whole unfortunate affair, he says: "If there was a man in the world, not
related to me, for whom I had conceived not merely admiration but
affection, it was for Professor Joseph Henry. I think you will remember,
and can bear me witness, that I often expressed the wish that I was able
to put several thousand dollars at his service for scientific
investigation.... The whole case has saddened me more than I can express.
I have to fight hard against misanthropy, friend Vail, and I have found
the best antidote to be, when the fit is coming on me, to seek out a case
of suffering and to relieve it, that the act in the one case may
neutralize the feeling in the other, and thus restore the balance in the
heart."

In taking leave for the present of this unfortunate controversy I shall
quote from the "Defense," to show that Morse sincerely believed it his
duty to act as he did, but that he acted with reluctance:--

"That I have been slow to complain of the injurious character of his
testimony; that I have so long allowed, almost entirely uncontradicted,
its distortions to have all their legal weight against me in four
separate trials, without public exposure and for a space of four years of
time, will at least show, I humbly contend, my reluctance to appear
opposed to him, even when self-defence is combined with the defence of
the interests of a large body of assignees.... Painful, therefore, as is
the task imposed upon me, I cannot shrink from it, but shall endeavor so
to perform it as rather to parry the blows that have been aimed at me
than to inflict any in return. If what I say shall wound, it shall be
from the severity of the simple truth itself rather than from the manner
of setting it forth."

In the year 1846 there still remained one panel in the rotunda of the
Capitol at Washington to be filled by an historical painting. It had been
assigned to Inman, but, that artist having recently died, Morse's
friends, artists and others, sent a petition to Congress urging the
appointment of Morse in his place. Referring to this in a letter to his
brother Sidney, dated March 28, he says:--

"In regard to the rotunda pict