However, as is usual in this life, the gay was mingled with the grave, and we find that he was one of the committee of prominent men to arrange for the entertainment of the Prince of Wales, afterward Edward VII, on his visit to this country.  I have already referred to one incident of this visit when Morse, in an address to the Prince at the University of the City of New York, referred to the kindness shown him in London by the Earl of Lincoln, who was now the Duke of Newcastle and was in the suite of the Prince.  Morse had hoped that he might have the privilege of entertaining H.R.H. at his country place on the Hudson, but the Duke of Newcastle, in a letter of October 8, 1860, regrets that this cannot be managed:—­

I assure you I have not forgotten the circumstances which gave me the pleasure of your acquaintance in 1839, and I am very desirous of seeing you again during my short visit to this continent.  I fear however that a visit by the Prince of Wales to your home, however I might wish it, is quite impracticable, although on our journey up the Hudson we shall pass so near you.  Every hour of our time is fully engaged.

Is there any chance of seeing you in New York, or, if not, is there any better hope in Boston?  If you should be in either during our stay, I hope you will be kind enough to call upon me.  Pray let me have a line on Thursday at New York.  I have lately been much interested in some electro-telegraphic inventions of yours which are new to me.

I am
Yours very truly,
NEWCASTLE.

Referring to another function in honor of the Prince, Morse says, in a letter to Mr. Kendall:  “I did not see you after the so-styled Ball in New York, which was not a ball but a levee and a great jam.  I hope you and yours suffered no inconvenience from it.”

The war clouds in his beloved country were now lowering most ominously, and, true to his convictions, he exclaims in a letter to a friend of January 12, 1861:—­

“Our politicians are playing with edged tools.  It is easy to raise a storm by those who cannot control it.  If I trusted at all in them I should despair of the country, but an Almighty arm makes the wrath of man to praise him, and he will restrain the rest.  There is something so unnatural and abhorrent in this outcry of arms in one great family that I cannot believe it will come to a decision by the sword.  Such counsels of force are in the court of passion, not of reason.  Imagine such a conflict, imagine a victory, no matter by which side.  Can the victors rejoice in the blood of brethren shed in a family brawl?  Whose heart will thrill with pride at such success?  No, no.  I should as soon think of rejoicing that one of my sons had killed the other in a brawl.

“But I have not time to add.  I hope for the best, and even can see beyond the clouds of the hour a brighter day.  God bless the whole family, North, South, East and West.  I will never divide them in my heart however they may be politically or geographically divided.”