Samuel F. B. Morse, His Letters and Journals Volume II Part 27

The following account of his reception by the czar is written in pencil: "On the paper found in my room in Peterhoff." It differs somewhat from the letter written to his children and introduced by Mr. Prime in his book, but is, to my mind, rather more interesting.

"_August 14, 1856._ This day is one to be remembered by me. Yesterday I received notice from the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, through our Minister Mr. Seymour, that his Imperial Majesty, the Emperor Alexander II, had appointed the hour of 1.30 this day to see me at his palace at Peterhoff. I accordingly waited upon our minister to know the etiquette to be observed on such an occasion. It was necessary, he said, to be at the boat by eight o'clock in the morning, which would arrive at Peterhoff about 9.30. I must dress in black coat, vest and pantaloons and white cravat, and appear with my Turkish nishan [or decoration]. So this morning I was up early and, upon taking the boat, found our Minister Mr.

Seymour, Colonel Colt and Mr. Jarvis, attaches to the Legation, with Mrs.

Colt and Miss Jarvis coming on board. I learned also that there were to be many presentations of various nations' attaches to the various special deputations sent to represent their different courts at the approaching coronation at Moscow.

"The day is most beautiful, rendered doubly so by its contrast with so many previous disagreeable ones. On our arrival at the quay at Peterhoff we found, somewhat to my surprise, the imperial carriages in waiting for us, with coachmen and footmen in the imperial livery, which, as in England and France, is scarlet, and splendid black horses, ready to take us to our quarters in the portion of the palace buildings a.s.signed to the Americans. We were attended by four or five servants in livery loaded with gold lace, and shown to our apartments upon the doors of which we found our names already written.

"After throwing off our coats the servants inquired if we would have breakfast, to which, of course, we had no objection, and an excellent breakfast of coffee and sandwiches was set upon the table, served up in silver with the imperial arms upon the silver waiter and tea set.

Everything about our rooms, which consisted of parlor and bedroom, was plain but exceedingly clean and neat. After seeing us well housed our attendant chamberlain left us to prepare ourselves for the presentation, saying he would call for us at the proper time. As there were two or three hours to spare I took occasion to improve the time by commencing this brief notice of the events of the day.

"About two o'clock our attendant, an officer named Thorner, under the princ.i.p.al chamberlain who is, I believe, Count Borsch, called to say our carriages were ready. We found three carriages in waiting with three servants each, the coachman and two footmen, in splendid liveries; some in the imperial red and gold lace, and others in blue and broad gold lace emblazoned throughout with the double headed eagle. We seated ourselves in the carriages which were then driven at a rapid rate to the great palace, the entrance to which directly overlooked the numerous and celebrated grand fountains. Hundreds of well-dressed people thronged on each side of the carriageway as we drove up to the door. After alighting we were ushered through a long hall and through a double row of servants of various grades, loaded with gold lace and with _chapeaux bras_.

Ascending the broad staircase, on each side of which we found more liveried servants, we entered an anteroom between two Africans dressed in the costume of Turkey, and servants of a higher grade, and then onward into a large and magnificent room where were a.s.sembled those who were to be presented. Here we found ourselves among princes and n.o.bles and distinguished persons of all nations. Among the English ladies were Lady Granville and Lady Emily Peel, the wife of Sir Robert Peel, the latter a beautiful woman and dressed with great taste, having on her head a Diana coronet of diamonds.... Among the gentlemen were officers attached to the various deputations from England, Austria, France and Sardinia. Several princes were among them, and conspicuous for splendor of dress was Prince Esterhazy; parts of his dress and the handle and scabbard of his sword blazed with diamonds.

"Here we remained for some time. From the windows of the hall we looked out upon the magnificent fountains and the terrace crowned with gorgeous vases of blue and gold and gilded statues. At length the master of ceremonies appeared and led the way to the southern veranda that overlooked the garden, ranging us in line and reading our names from a list, to see if we were truly mustered, after which a side door opened and the Emperor Alexander entered. His majesty was dressed in military costume, a blue sash was across his breast pa.s.sing over the right shoulder; on his left breast were stars and orders. He commenced at the head of the column, which consisted of some fourteen or fifteen persons, and, on the mention of the name by the master of ceremonies, he addressed a few words to each. To Mr. Colt he said: 'Ah! I have seen you before.

When did you arrive? I am glad to see you.' When he came to me the master of ceremonies miscalled my name as Mr. More. I instantly corrected him and said, 'No, Mr. Morse.' The emperor at once said: 'Ah! that name is well known here; your system of Telegraph is in use in Russia. How long have you been in St. Petersburg? I hope you have enjoyed yourself.' To which I appropriately replied. After a few more unimportant questions and answers the emperor addressed himself to the other gentlemen and retired.

"After remaining a few moments, the master of ceremonies, who, by the by, apologized to me for miscalling my name, opened the door from the veranda into the empress' drawing-room, where we were again put in line to await the appearance of the empress. The doors of an adjoining room were suddenly thrown open and the empress, gorgeously but appropriately attired, advanced towards us. She was dressed in a beautiful blue silk terminating in a long flowing train of many flounces of the richest lace; upon her head a crown of diamonds, upon her neck a superb necklace of diamonds, some twenty of which were as large as the first joint of the finger. The upper part of her dress was embroidered with diamonds in a broad band, and the dress in front b.u.t.toned to the floor with rosettes of diamonds, the central diamond of each b.u.t.ton being at least a half inch in diameter. A splendid bouquet of diamonds and precious stones of every variety of color, arranged to imitate flowers, was upon her bosom. She addressed a few words gracefully to each, necessarily commonplace, for what could she say to strangers but the common words of enquiry--when we came and whether we had been pleased with St. Petersburg.

"Gratifying as it was to us to see her, I could not but think it was hardly possible for her to have any other gratification in seeing us than that which I have no doubt she felt, that she was giving pleasure to others. To me she appeared to be amiable and truly feminine. Her manner was timid yet dignified without the least particle of hauteur. The impression left on my mind by both the emperor and empress is that they are most truly amiable and kind.

"After speaking to each of us she gracefully bowed to us, we, of course, returning the salutation, and she retired followed by her maids of honor, her long train sweeping the floor for a distance of several yards behind her. We were then accompanied by the master of ceremonies back to the large reception-room, and soon after we left the palace, descending the staircase through the same lines of liveried servants to the royal carriages drawn up at the door, and returned to our rooms. On descending to our parlor we found a beautiful collation with tropical fruits and confectionery provided for us. Our polite attendant, who partook with us, said that the carriages were at our service and waiting for us to take a drive in the gardens previous to dinner, which was to be served at five o'clock in the English Palace and to which we were invited.

"Two carriages called charabancs, somewhat like the Irish vehicle of the same name, with four servants in the imperial livery to each, we found at the door, and we drove for several miles through the splendid gardens and grounds laid out with all the taste of the most beautiful English grounds, with lakes, and islands, and villas, and statues, and fountains, and the most perfect neatness marked every step of our way.

"The most attractive object in our ride was the Italian villa, a favorite resort of the emperor, a perfect gem of its kind. We alighted here and visited all the apartments and the grounds around it. No description could do it justice; a series of pictures alone could give an idea of its beauties. While here several other royal carriages with the various deputations to the coronation ceremonies, soon to occur at Moscow, arrived, and the cortege of carriages with the gorgeous costumes of the visitors alone furnished an exciting scene, heightened by the proud bearing of the richly caparisoned horses, chiefly black, and the showy trappings of the liveried attendants.

"On our return to our rooms we dressed for dinner and proceeded in the same manner to the palace in the gardens called the English Palace. Here we found a.s.sembled in the great reception hall the distinguished company, in number forty-seven, of many nations, who were to sit down to the table together. When dinner was announced we entered the grand dining-hall and found a table most gorgeously prepared with gold and silver service and flowers. At table I found myself opposite three princes, an Austrian, a Hungarian, and one from some other German state, and near me on my left Lord Ward, one of the most wealthy n.o.bles of England, with whom I had a good deal of conversation. Opposite and farther to my right was Prince Esterhazy, seated between Lady Granville and the beautiful Lady Emily Peel. On the other side of Lady Peel was Lord Granville and near him Sir Robert Peel. Among the guests, a list of whom I regret I did not obtain, was the young Earl of Lincoln and several other n.o.blemen in the suite of Lord Granville.... Some twenty servants in the imperial livery served the table which was furnished with truly royal profusion and costliness. The rarest dishes and the costliest wines in every variety were put before us. I need not say that in such a party everything was conducted with the highest decorum. No noise, no boisterous mirth, no loud talking, but a quiet cheerfulness and perfect ease characterized the whole entertainment.

"After dinner all arose, both ladies and gentlemen, and left the room together, not after the English fas.h.i.+on of the gentlemen allowing the ladies to retire and then seating themselves again by themselves to drink, etc. We retired for a moment to the great reception-hall for coffee, but, being fearful that we should be too late for the last steamer from Peterhoff to St. Petersburg, we were hurrying to get through and to leave, but the moment our fears had come to the knowledge of Lord Granville, he most kindly came to us and told us to feel at ease as his steam-yacht was lying off the quay to take them up to the city, and he was but too proud to have the opportunity of offering us a place on board; an offer which we, of course, accepted with thanks.

"Having thus been entertained with truly imperial hospitality for the entire day, ending with this sumptuous entertainment, we descended once more to the carriages and drove to the quay, where a large barge belonging to the Jean d'Acre, English man-of-war (which is the s.h.i.+p put in commission for the service of Lord Granville), manned by stalwart man-of-war's-men, was waiting to take the English party of n.o.bles, etc., on board the steam-yacht. When all were collected we left Peterhoff and were soon on board. The weather was fine and the moon soon rose over the palace of Peterhoff, looking for a moment like one of the splendid gilded domes of the palace.

"On board the yacht I had much conversation with Lord Granville, who brought the various members of his suite and introduced them to me,--Sir Robert Peel; the young Earl of Lincoln, the son of the Duke of Newcastle, who, when himself the Earl of Lincoln in 1839, showed me such courtesy and kindness in London; Mr. Acton, a nephew of Lord Granville, with whom I had some conversation in which, while I was speaking of the Greek religion as compared with the Romish, he informed me he was a Roman Catholic. I wished much to have had more conversation with him, but the time was not suitable, and the steamer was now near the end of the voyage.

"We landed at the quay in St. Petersburg about eleven o'clock, and I reached my lodgings in the Hotel de Russie about twelve, thus ending a day of incidents which I shall long remember with great gratification, having only one unpleasant reflection connected with it, to wit that my dear wife, my niece and our friend Miss L. were not with me to partic.i.p.ate in the pleasure and novelty of the scenes."

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

AUGUST 28, 1856--SEPTEMBER 16, 1858

Berlin.--Baron von Humboldt.--London, successful cable experiments with Whitehouse and Bright.--Banquet at Albion Tavern.--Flattering speech of W.F. Cooke.--Returns to America.--Troubles multiply.--Letter to the Honorable John Y. Mason on political matters.--Kendall urges severing of connection with cable company.--Morse, nevertheless, decides to continue.--Appointed electrician of company.--Sails on U.S.S. Niagara.-- Letter from Paris on the crinoline.--Expedition sails from Liverpool.-- Queenstown harbor.--Accident to his leg.--Valencia.--Laying of cable begun.--Anxieties.--Three successful days.--Cable breaks.--Failure.-- Returns to America.--Retires from cable enterprise.--Predicts in 1858 failure of apparently successful laying of cable.--Sidney E. Morse.--The Hare and the Tortoise.--European testimonial: considered n.i.g.g.ardly by Kendall.--Decorations, medals, etc., from European nations.--Letter of thanks to Count Walewski.

His good democratic eyes a trifle dazzled by all this imperial magnificence, Morse left St. Petersburg and, with his party, journeyed to Berlin. What was to him the most interesting incident of his visit to that city is thus described:--

"_August 23._ To-day I went to Potsdam to see Baron Humboldt, and had a delightful interview with this wonderful man. Although I had met with him at the soirees of Baron Gerard, the distinguished painter, in Paris in 1822, and afterward at the Academy of Sciences, when my Telegraph was exhibited to the a.s.sembled academicians in 1838, I took letters of introduction to him from Baron Gerolt, the Prussian Minister. But they were unnecessary, for the moment I entered his room, which is in the Royal Palace, he called me by name and greeted me most kindly, saying, as I presented my letters: 'Oh! sir, you need no letters, your name is a sufficient introduction'; and so, seating myself, he rapidly touched upon various topics relating to America."

On the margin of a photograph of himself, presented to Morse by the baron, is an inscription in French of which the following is a translation:--

To Mr. S.F.B. Morse, whose philosophic and useful labors have rendered his name ill.u.s.trious in two worlds, the homage of the high and affectionate esteem of Alexander Humboldt.

POTSDAM, August 1856.

The next thirty days were spent in showing the beauties of Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Brussels and Paris to his wife and niece, and in the latter part of September the little party returned to London. Here Morse resumed his experiments with Dr. Whitehouse and Mr. Bright, and on October 3, he reports to Mr. Field:--

"As the electrician of the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, it is with the highest gratification that I have to apprise you of the result of our experiments of this morning upon a single continuous conductor of more than two thousand miles in extent, a distance, you will perceive, sufficient to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Newfoundland to Ireland.

"The admirable arrangements made at the Magnetic Telegraph office in Old Broad Street for connecting ten subterranean gutta-percha insulated conductors of over two hundred miles each, so as to give one continuous length of more than two thousand miles, during the hours of the night when the Telegraph is not commercially employed, furnished us the means of conclusively settling by actual experiment the question of the practicability as well as the practicality of telegraphing through our proposed Atlantic cable.... I am most happy to inform you that, as a crowning result of a long series of experimental investigation and inductive reasoning upon this subject, the experiments under the direction of Dr. Whitehouse and Mr. Bright which I witnessed this morning--in which the induction-coils and receiving-magnets, as modified by these gentlemen, were made to actuate one of my recording instruments --have most satisfactorily resolved all doubts of the practicability as well as practicality of operating the Telegraph from Newfoundland to Ireland."

In 1838, Morse had been curtly and almost insultingly refused a patent for his invention in England, a humiliation for which he never quite forgave the English. Now, eighteen years after this mortifying experience, the most eminent scientists of this same England vied with each other in doing him honor. Thus was his scientific fame vindicated, but, let it be remarked parenthetically, this kind of honor was all that he ever received from the land of his ancestors. While other nations of Europe united, two years later, in granting him a pecuniary gratuity, and while some of their sovereigns bestowed upon him decorations or medals, England did neither. However, it was always a source of the keenest gratification that two of those who had invented rival telegraphs proved themselves broad-minded and liberal enough to acknowledge the superiority of his system, and to urge its adoption by their respective Governments.

The first of these was Dr. Steinheil, of Munich, to whom I have already referred, and to whom is due the valuable discovery that the earth can be used as a return circuit. The second was the Englishman, W.F. Cooke, who, with Wheatstone, devised the needle telegraph.

On October 9, a banquet was tendered to Morse by the telegraph companies of England. It was given at the Albion Tavern. Mr. Cooke presided and introduced the guest of the evening in the following charming speech:--

"I was consulted only a few months ago on the subject of a telegraph for a country in which no telegraph at present exists. I recommended the system of Professor Morse. I believe that system to be one of the simplest in the world, and in that lies its permanency and certainty.

[Cheers.] There are others which may be as good in other circ.u.mstances, but for a wide country I hesitate not to say Professor Morse's is the best adapted. It is a great thing to say, and I do so after twenty years'

experience, that Professor Morse's system is one of the simplest that ever has been and, I think, ever will be conceived. [Cheers.]

"It was a great thing for me, after having been so long connected with the electric telegraph, to be invited to preside at this interesting meeting, and I have travelled upward of one hundred miles in order to be present to-day, having, when asked to preside, replied by electric telegraph 'I will.' [Cheers.] But I may lower your idea of the sacrifice I made in so doing when I tell you that I knew the talents of Professor Morse, and was only too glad to accept an invitation to do honor to a man I really honored in my heart. [Cheers.]

"I have been thinking during the last few days on what Professor Morse has done. He stands alone in America as the originator and carrier out of a grand conception. We know that America is an enormous country, and we know the value of the telegraph, but I think we have a right to quarrel with Professor Morse for not being content with giving the benefit of it to his own country, but that he extended it to Canada and Newfoundland, and, even beyond that, his system has been adopted all over Europe [cheers]--and the nuisance is that we in England are obliged to communicate by means of his system. [Cheers and laughter.]

"I as a director of an electric telegraph company, however, should be ashamed of myself if I did not acknowledge what we owe him. But he threatens to go further still, and promises that, if we do not, he will carry out a communication between England and Newfoundland across the Atlantic. I am nearly pledged to pay him a visit on the other side of the Atlantic to see what he is about, and, if he perseveres in his obstinate attempt to reach England, I believe I must join him in his endeavors.

[Cheers.]

"To think that he has united all the stripes and stars of America, which are increasing day by day--and I hope they will increase until they are too numerous to mention--that he has extended his system to Canada and is about to unite those portions of the world to Europe, is a glorious thing for any man; and, although I have done something in the same cause myself, I confess I almost envy Professor Morse for having forced from an unwilling rival a willing acknowledgment of his services. [Cheers.]

"I am proud to see Professor Morse this side of the water. I beg to give you 'The health of Professor Morse,' and may he long live to enjoy the high reputation he has attained throughout the world!"

Soon after this, with these flattering words still ringing in his ears, he and his party sailed for New York and, once arrived at home, the truth of the trite saying that "A prophet is not without honor save in his own country" was soon to be brought to his attention. While he had been feted and honored abroad, while he had every reason to believe that his pet.i.tion to the European governments for some pecuniary compensation would, in time, be granted, he returned to be plunged anew into vexatious litigation, intrigues and attacks upon his purse, his fame, and his good name. On November 27, 1856, he refers to his greatest cross in a letter to Mr. Kendall:--

"I have just returned from Boston, having accomplished the important duty for which I alone went there, to wit, to say 'yes' before a gentleman having U.S. Commissioner after his name, instead of 'yes' before one who had only S. Commissioner after his name; and this at a cost of exactly twenty dollars, or, if the one dollar thrown away in New York upon the S.

Commissioner be added, twenty-one dollars and three days of time, to say nothing of sundry risks of accidents by land and water travel.

"Well, if it will lead to a thorough separation of all interests and all intercourse with F.O.J., I shall not consider the time and money lost, yet, in conversation with Mr. Curtis, I have little hope of a change in Judge Curtis's views of the point in which he decides that Smith has an inchoate right, and our only chance of success is in the reversal of that decision by the Supreme Bench, and that after another year's suspense....

"I wish there was some way of stopping this hara.s.sing, paralyzing litigation. I find my mind wholly unfit for the studies which the present state of the Telegraph requires from me, being distracted and irritated by the constant necessity for standing on the defensive. Smith will be Smith I know, and, therefore, as he is the appointed thorn to keep a proper ballast of humility in S.F.B.M. with his load of honors, why, be it so, if I can only have the proper strength and disposition to use the trial aright.... Write me some encouraging news if you can. How will the present calm in political affairs affect our California matters?"

The calm to which he referred was the apparent one which had settled down on the country after the election of Buchanan, and which, as everybody knows, was but the calm before the storm of our Civil War. He has this to say about the election in a letter to the Honorable John Y. Mason, our Minister to France:--

"I may congratulate you, my dear Sir, on the issue of the late election.

My predictions have been verified. The country is quiet, and, as usual after the excitement of an election, has settled down into orderly acquiescence to the will of the majority, and into general good feeling.

Europeans can hardly understand this truly anomalous phase of our American inst.i.tutions; they do not understand that it is characteristic that 'we speak daggers but use none'; that we fight with ballots and not with bullets; that we have abundance of inkshed and little bloodshed, and that all that is explosive is blown off through newspaper safety-valves."

The events of the next few years were destined to shatter the peaceful visions of this lover of his country, for many daggers were drawn, the bullets flew thick and fast, and the bloodshed was appalling.