In the House of Representatives, in Washington, the Honorable S.S.  Cox offered a concurrent resolution, declaring that Congress has heard—­“with profound regret of the death of Professor Morse, whose distinguished and varied abilities have contributed more than those of any other person to the development and progress of the practical arts, and that his purity of private life, his loftiness of scientific aims, and his resolute faith in truth, render it highly proper that the Representatives and Senators should solemnly testify to his worth and greatness.”

This was unanimously agreed to.  The Honorable Fernando Wood, after a brief history of the legislation which resulted in the grant of $30,000 to enable Morse to test his invention, added that he was proud to say that his name had been recorded in the affirmative on that historic occasion, and that he was then the only living member of either house who had so voted.

Similar resolutions were passed in the Senate, and a committee was appointed by both houses to arrange for a suitable memorial service, and, on April 9, the following letter was sent to Mrs. Morse by A.S.  Solomons, Chairman of the Committee of Arrangements:—­

DEAR MADAM,—­Congress and the citizens of Washington purpose holding memorial services in honor of your late respected husband in the Hall of the House of Representatives, on Tuesday evening next, the 16th of April, and have directed me to request that yourself and family become the guests of the nation on that truly solemn occasion.  If agreeable, be good enough to inform me when you will likely be here.

The widow was not able to accept this graceful invitation, but members of the family were present.

The Hall was crowded with a representative audience.  James G. Blaine, Speaker of the House, presided, assisted by Vice-President Colfax.  President Grant and his Cabinet, Judges of the Supreme Court, Governors of States, and other dignitaries were present in person or by proxy.  In front of the main gallery an oil portrait of Morse had been placed, and around the frame was inscribed the historic first message:  “What hath God wrought.”

After the opening prayer by Dr. William Adams, Speaker Blaine said:—­

“Less than thirty years ago a man of genius and learning was an earnest petitioner before Congress for a small pecuniary aid that enabled him to test certain occult theories of science which he had laboriously evolved.  To-night the representatives of forty million people assemble in their legislative hall to do homage and honor to the name of ‘Morse.’  Great discoverers and inventors rarely live to witness the full development and perfection of their mighty conceptions, but to him whose death we now mourn, and whose fame we celebrate, it was, in God’s good providence, vouchsafed otherwise.  The little thread of wire, placed as a timid experiment between the national capital and a neighboring city, grew and lengthened and multiplied with almost the rapidity of the electric current that darted along its iron nerves, until, within his own lifetime, continent was bound unto continent, hemisphere answered through ocean’s depths unto hemisphere, and an encircled globe flashed forth his eulogy in the unmatched elements of a grand achievement.