f our journals on
the subject of Popery has led to the belief that they are covertly under
the control of the Jesuits. And let me say, sir, that the modes of
control in the resources of this insidious society, notorious for its
political arts and intrigues, are more numerous, more powerful, and more
various than an unsuspicious people are at all conscious of....

"Mr. Y. falls into the common error and deprecates what he calls a
_religious_ controversy, as if the subject of Popery was altogether
religious. History, it appears to me, must have been read to very little
purpose by any one who can entertain such an error in regard to the
cunningest political despotism that ever cursed mankind. I must refer you
to the preface of the second edition, which I send you, for my reasonings
on that point. If they are not conclusive, I should be glad to be shown
wherein they are defective. If they are conclusive, is it not time for
every patriot to open his eyes to the truth of the fact that we are
politically attacked under guise of a religious system, and is it not a
serious question whether our political press should advocate the cause of
foreign enemies to our government, or help to expose and repel them?"

It was in the year 1835 that Morse was appointed Professor of the
Literature of the Arts of Design in the University of the City of New
York, and here again we can mark the guiding hand of Fate. A few years
earlier he had been tentatively offered the position of instructor of
drawing at the United States Military Academy at West Point, but this
offer he had promptly but courteously declined. Had he accepted it he
would have missed the opportunity of meeting certain men who gave him
valuable assistance. As an instructor in the University he not only
received a small salary which relieved him, in a measure, from the
grinding necessity of painting pot-boilers, but he had assigned to him
spacious rooms in the building on Washington Square, which he could
utilize not only as studio and living apartments, but as a workshop. For
these rooms, however, he paid a rent, at first of $325 a year, afterwards
of $400.

Three years had clasped since his first conception of the invention, and,
although burning to devote himself to its perfecting, he had been
compelled to hold himself in check and to devote all his time to
painting. Now, however, an opportunity came to him, for he moved into the
University building before it was entirely fin