rred, and acknowledged by all
civilized nations, and he died leaving to his children a spotless and
illustrious name, and to his country the honor of having given birth to
the only Electro-Magnetic Recording Telegraph whose line is gone out
through all the earth, and its words to the end of the world."

And now my pleasant task is ended. After the lapse of so many years it
has been possible for me to introduce much more evidence of a personal
nature, to reveal the character of those with whom Morse had to contend,
than would have been discreet or judicious during the lifetime of some of
the actors in the drama. Many attempts have been made since the death of
the inventor to minimize his fame, and to exalt others at his expense,
but, while these attempts have seemed to triumph for a time, while they
may have influenced a few minds and caused erroneous attributions to be
made in some publications, their effect is ephemeral, for "Truth is
mighty and will prevail," and the more carefully and exhaustively this
complicated subject is studied, the more apparent will it be that Morse
never claimed more than was his due; that his upright, truthloving
character, as revealed in his intimate correspondence and in the
testimony of his contemporaries, forbade his ever stooping to deceit or
wilful appropriation of the ideas of others.

A summary, in as few words as possible, of what Morse actually invented
or discovered may be, at this point, appropriate.

In 1832, he conceived the idea of a true electric telegraph--a writing at
a distance by means of the electromagnet. The use of the electro-magnet
for this purpose was original with him; it was entirely different from
any form of telegraph devised by others, and he was not aware, at the
time, that any other person had even combined the words "electric" and
"telegraph."

The mechanism to produce the desired result, roughly drawn in the 1832
sketch-book, was elaborated and made by Morse alone, and produced actual
results in 1835, 1836, and 1837. Still further perfected by him, with the
legitimate assistance of others, it became the universal telegraph of
to-day, holding its own and successfully contending with all other plans
of telegraphs devised by others.

He devised and perfected the dot-and-dash alphabet.

In 1836, he discovered the principle of the relay.

In 1838, he received a French patent for a system of railway telegraph,
which also embodies the principle of the polic