“’I am, gentlemen
“’Your obedient servant
“‘H.  COOPER.’

“I thus have obtained the evidence I desired in the most authentic form, but accompanied with as gross an insult as could well be conceived.  On the receipt of this letter I immediately wrote to F.O.J.  Smith, Esq., at Portland, who accompanied me to England, and at whose sole expense, according to agreement, all proceedings in taking out patents in Europe were to be borne, to know if this charge of the Attorney-General’s secretary could possibly be true; not knowing but through some inadvertence on his (Mr. Smith’s) part, this bill might have been overlooked.

“Mr. Smith writes me in answer, sending me a copy verbatim of the following receipt, which he holds and which speaks for itself:—­

“’Mr. Morse to the Attorney-General, Dr.
                            L s. d. 
Hearing on a patent . . . . 3 10 0
Giving notice on the same . 1 1 0
                            ------
                            4 11 0
  Settled the 13th of August, 1838.
    “‘(Signed) H. COOPER.’

“This receipt is signed, as will be perceived, by the same individual, H. Cooper, who, nearly ten years after his acknowledgment of the money, has the impudence to charge me with leaving my fees unpaid.  I now leave the public to make their own comments both on the character of the whole transaction in England, and on the character and motives of those in this country who have espoused Lord Campbell’s course, making it an occasion to charge me with having invented nothing.

“SAMUEL F.B.  MORSE.”

I have, in these extracts from an account of his European experiences, written by Morse at a later date, given but a brief summary of certain events; it will now be necessary to record more in detail some of the happenings on that memorable trip.

Attention has been called before to the fact that it was Morse’s good fortune to have been an eye-witness of many events of historic interest.  Still another was now to be added to the list, for, while he was in London striving unsuccessfully to secure a patent for his invention, he was privileged to witness the coronation of Queen Victoria; our Minister, the Honorable Andrew Stevenson, having procured for him a ticket of admission to Westminster Abbey.

Writing to his daughter Susan on June 19, 1838, before he had met with his rebuff from the Attorney-General, he comments briefly on the festivities incident to the occasion:—­

“London is filling fast with crowds of all characters, from ambassadors and princes to pickpockets and beggars, all brought together by the coronation of the queen, which takes place in a few days (the 28th of June).  Everything in London now is colored by the coming pageant.  In the shop windows are the robes of the nobility, the crimson and ermine dresses, coronets, etc.  Preparations for illuminations are making all over the city.