of
equity. A movement of Smith was the cause of all."

Another sidelight is thrown on Morse's character by the following extract
from a letter to one of his lieutenants, T.S. Faxton, written on March
15: "We must raise the salaries of our operators or they will all be
taken from us, that is, all that are good for anything. You will
recollect that, at the first meeting of the Board of Directors, I took
the ground that 'it was our policy to make the office of operator
desirable, to pay operators well and make their situation so agreeable
that intelligent men and men of character will seek the place and dread
to lose it.' I still think so, and, depend upon it, it is the soundest
economy to act on this principle."

Just about this time, to add to Morse's other perplexities, Doctor
Charles T. Jackson began to renew his claims to the invention of the
telegraph, while also disputing with Morton the discovery of ether as an
anaesthetic, then called "Letheon," and claiming the invention of
gun-cotton and the discovery of the circulation of the blood. Morse found
a willing and able champion in Edward Warren, Esq., of Boston, and many
letters passed between them. As Jackson's wild claims were effectually
disposed of, I shall not dwell upon this source of annoyance, but shall
content myself with one extract from a letter to Mr. Warren of March 23:
"I wish not to attack Dr. Jackson nor even to defend myself in _public_
from his _private_ attacks. If in any of his publications he renews his
claim, which I consider as long since settled by default, then it will be
time and proper for me to notice him.... The most charitable construction
of the Dr's. conduct is to attribute it to a monomania induced by
excessive vanity."

While many of those upon whom he had looked as friends turned against him
in the mad scramble for power and wealth engendered by the extension of
the telegraph lines, it is gratifying to turn to those who remained true
to him through all, and among these none was more loyal than Alfred Vail.
Their correspondence, which was voluminous, is always characterized by
the deepest confidence and affection. In a long letter of March 24, Vail
shows his solicitude for Morse's peace of mind: "I think I would not be
bothered with a directorship in the New York and Buffalo line, nor in any
other. I should wish to keep clear of them. It will only tend to harass
and vex when you should be left quiet and undisturbed to pursue your