So much for my rediscovering what was previously known in England.

As to the discovery that electricity may be made to cross the water without wire conductors, above, through, or beneath the water, the very reference by the editor to another number of the magazine, and to the experiments of Cooke, or rather Steinheil, and of Bain, shows that the editor is wholly ignorant of the nature of my experiment.  I have in detail the experiments of Bain and Wheatstone.  They were merely in effect repetitions of the experiments of Steinheil.  Their object was to show that the earth or water can be made one half of the circuit in conducting electricity, a fact proved by Franklin with ordinary electricity in the last century, and by Professor Steinheil, of Munich, with magnetic electricity in 1837.  Mr. Bain, and after him Mr. Wheatstone, in England repeated, or (to use the English editor’s phrase) rediscovered the same fact in 1841.  But what have these experiments, in which one wire is carried across the river, to do with mine which dispenses with wires altogether across the river?  I challenge the proof that such an experiment has ever been tried in Europe, unless it be since the publication of my results.

The year 1844 was drawing to a close and Congress still was dilatory.  Morse hated to abandon his cherished dream of government ownership, and, while carrying on negotiations with private parties in order to protect himself, he still hoped that Congress would at last see the light.  He writes to his brother from Washington on December 30:—­

“Telegraph matters look exceedingly encouraging, not only for the United States but for Europe.  I have just got a letter from a special agent of the French Government, sent to Boston by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, in which he says that he has seen mine and ’is convinced of its superiority,’ and wishes all information concerning it, adding:  ’I consider it my duty to make a special report on your admirable invention.’”

And on January 18, 1845, he writes:—­

“I am well, but anxiously waiting the action of Congress on the bill for extension of Telegraph.  Texas drives everything else into a corner.  I have not many fears if they will only get it up.  I had to-day the Russian, Spanish, and Belgian Ministers to see the operation of the Telegraph; they were astonished and delighted.  The Russian Minister particularly takes the deepest interest in it, and will write to his Government by next steamer.  The French Minister also came day before yesterday, and will write in its favor to his Government....  Senator Woodbury gave a discourse before the Institute a few nights ago, in the Hall of the House of Representatives, in which he lauded the Telegraph in the highest terms, and thought I had gone a step beyond Franklin!  The popularity of the Telegraph increases rather than declines.”

The mention of Texas in this letter refers to the fact that Polk was elected to the Presidency on a platform which favored the annexation of that republic to the United States, and this question was, naturally, paramount in the halls of Congress.  Texas was admitted to the Union in December, 1845.