The new telegraph was exhibited in New York and Philadelphia without arousing popular appreciation.  It was viewed as a scientific toy; few saw in it practical possibilities.  Morse then took it to Washington and set up his instruments in the room of the Committee on Commerce of the House of Representatives in the Capitol.  Here, as in earlier exhibitions, a majority of those who saw the apparatus in operation remained unconvinced of its ability to serve mankind.  But Morse finally made a convert of the Hon. Francis O.J.  Smith, chairman of the Committee on Commerce.  Smith had previously been in correspondence with the inventor, and Morse had explained to him at length his belief that the Government should own the telegraph and control and operate it for the public good.  He believed that the Government should be sufficiently interested to provide funds for an experimental line a hundred miles long.  In return he was willing to promise the Government the first rights to purchase the invention at a reasonable price.  Later he changed his request to a line of fifty miles, and estimated the cost of erection at $26,000.

Smith aided in educating the other members of his committee, and one day in February of 1838 he secured the attendance of the entire body at a test of the telegraph over ten miles of wire.  The demonstration convinced them, and many were their expressions of wonder and amazement.  One member remarked, “Time and space are now annihilated.”  As a result the committee reported a bill appropriating $30,000 for the erection of an experimental line between Washington and Baltimore.  Smith’s report was most enthusiastic in his praise of the invention.  In fact, the Congressman became so much interested that he sought a share in the enterprise, and, securing it, resigned from Congress that he might devote his efforts to securing the passage of the bill and to acting as legal adviser.  At this time the enterprise was divided into sixteen shares:  Morse held nine; Smith, four; Alfred Vail, two; and Professor Gale, one.  We see that Morse was a good enough business man to retain the control.

Wheatstone and others were developing their telegraphs in Europe, and Morse felt that it was high time to endeavor to secure foreign patents on his invention.  Accompanied by Smith, he sailed for England in May, taking with him a new instrument provided by Vail.  Arriving in London, they made application for a patent.  They were opposed by Wheatstone and his associates, and could not secure even a hearing from the patent authorities.  Morse strenuously insisted that his telegraph was radically different from Wheatstone’s, laying especial emphasis on the fact that his recording instrument printed the message in permanent form, while Wheatstone’s did not.  Morse always placed great emphasis on the recording features of his apparatus, yet these features were destined to be discarded in America when his telegraph at last came into use.