d that, by the
position he now takes, strengthening our defensive position against the
annoyances of Smith, he can receive _more pecuniarily_ than he could
before. Please consult with Mr. Kendall on the form of any agreement by
which you and Alfred may be properly secured in the pecuniary benefits
which you would have were he to stand in the same legal relation to the
patent that he did before the expiration of its original term, so as to
give me the position in regard to Smith that I must take in self-defense,
and I shall cheerfully accede to it.

"Poor Alfred, I regret to know, torments himself needlessly. I had hoped
that I was sufficiently known to him to have his confidence. I have never
had other than kind feelings towards him, and, while planning for his
benefit and guarding his interests at great and almost ruinous expense to
myself, I have had to contend with difficulties which his imprudence,
arising from morbid suspicions, has often created. My wish has ever been
to act towards him not merely justly but generously."

In a letter to Mr. Kendall of July 17, 1854, Morse declares his intention
of publishing that "Defense" which he had held in reserve for several
years, hoping that the necessity for its publication might be avoided by
a personal understanding with Professor Henry, which, however, that
gentleman refused:--

"You will perceive what injury I have suffered from the machinations of
the sordid pirates against whom I have had to contend, and it will also
be noticed how history has been falsified in order to detract from me,
and how the conduct of Henry, on his deposition, has tended to strengthen
the ready prejudice of the English against the American claim to
priority. An increasing necessity, on this account, arises for my
'Defense,' and so soon as I can get it into proper shape by revision, I
intend to publish it.

"This I consider a duty I owe the country more than myself, for, so far
as I am personally concerned, I am conscious of a position that History
will give me when the facts now suppressed by interested pirates and
their abettors shall be known, which the verdict of posterity, no less
than that of the judicial tribunals already given, is sure to award."

While involved in apparently endless litigation which necessitated much
correspondence, and while the compilation and revision of his "Defense"
must have consumed not only days but weeks and months, he yet found time
to write a prodigiou